This is a story born between reality and hallucination, woven with desire and denial, love and hate, disease and curse.....
CHP -1 [ HIM ] :
Today, the weather was terribly foul...
The sky was crowded with restless clouds. Thunder growled above, yet not a single drop of rain fell.
From the south, the wind blew steadily, carrying an ominous....poisonous scent,almost something rotten .. as though nature herself whispered of some unseen peril.
Ahi could not discern the source of the stench. Lately, his heart had been unsettled, heavy with an unspoken weight—though he could not say why.
For a long while, he stood in one place, lost in thought—though even he did not know what thoughts these were. Sometimes, he drifted into a private world of reverie, ensnared by musings that seemed to belong only to himself.
For the past five minutes, he had been thinking: Who is he? What is he? What does he want?
Suddenly, his homeroom teacher called him in a hurry.
What is happening? he thought, then remembered the documents his teacher had asked him to print.
Until now, he had stood like a statue in front of the printer. Hearing his teacher's voice, he hurried, running like a storm.
Suddenly, pain struck his left side. He slipped for a second but caught himself unconsciously. Everything happened so fast he could not even help himself.
Ahi felt an unbearable pain in his back—a pain that could consume him, even kill him, in a minute. It seemed to worsen with every heartbeat, yet his mind froze.
He saw something... Maybe he shouldn't..
Something so dark, so strange, so mesmerizing, so beautiful, and so deep that he couldn't even understand it—or what was happening to him.
Maybe he was hallucinating something . Or someone.
Possessed by someone's magnetic presence—, something seductive, dark, and corrupting.
He felt cold and hot at the same time. He slapped himself hard, trying to regain consciousness.
After a moment, he realized he was okay.
He lifted his head and saw someone in a school uniform.
Tied shoes. Black pants. White shirt. No tie at the neck. Funny ! he thought.
Fascinating, somehow.....
Oh… what… how…? No… not possible.
He shook his head, then tried to examine him closely.
Black eyes? Deep green? Brown? Light brown? He couldn't tell.
His eyes… were so deep.
Like a dark hole… no, like a deep forest with green water… or something he couldn't even imagine.
Ahi floated in the haze of his own thoughts.
Then, those eyes snapped onto him.
The world quivered.
Sounds vanished—the classroom noise, the rustle of the wind, even the faintest movement of people dissolved into nothing.
His legs felt like stone.
His eyes froze, unblinking, trapped in that gaze.
The eyes weren't just watching.
They pierced his fears, burrowed into his unease, into unspoken desires.
Reality bent. Imagination bled into it. Every breath burned. Every heartbeat jolted like a hammer. Time itself stopped.
It was as if they could see every secret… every trembling thought… every hidden longing he had never dared admit.
Ahi was untethered—suspended between what was and what could be.
The world cracked.
Thought, memory, and fantasy collided in a dizzying whirl.
He was caught in the gaze alone.
Every nerve, every particle of his being vibrated with a strange mixture of dread and awe.
Slowly, the storm receded.
The whirl of visions lost its edge.
Reality returned—but the shadow of those eyes remained, etched into his mind.
Patient. Waiting. Ready to shatter his world again in the blink of an instant.
What had happened? What had he seen? What had he felt? He didn't know.
The vision walked away, but before leaving, it cast a profound glance at him—as if something within him had been carried away.
A strange realization dawned—sudden, vast, mysterious.
He couldn't grasp it. It felt as though he had been inside an event, enclosed in it… yet in an instant, it was gone.
It seemed to have stirred something deep within him—yet in reality, nothing tangible had occurred.
Slowly, the haze lifted. Ahi blinked, wondering what had just happened.
Breathless, hurried, almost desperate, he had rushed up the stairs, driven only by the urge to reach his teacher.
When the teacher saw him, he said,
"Oh, so you finally remembered! I sent for you long ago, and only now you arrived. If this is the state of the class captain, then what are the other students to do? Now go—return to your desk. And until I come, if anyone in the class misbehaves, you will write down their names. Do you understand? Go now, and take your seat."
Ahi did not utter a word. He waited silently, then went and sat down.
Once seated, he gazed dreamily out the window, as though nature wore an uncanny beauty today.
The sky was heavy with clouds, yet still the rain did not fall.
A strange wind swept sharply from the east. In that wind lingered a scent, unfamiliar, unlike anything he had ever known.
And yet, it did not unsettle him. Rather, it stirred a restless awakening. He paid no heed to anyone around.
Suddenly, he rose from the desk. The bench scraped faintly against the floor. All eyes turned toward him.
Ahi said nothing. Leaving the bench, he cast a glance at his friends—Takashi and Nova.
He slipped onto the bench in front of theirs. Nova and Takashi stared, astonished.
"What's the matter?" Nova finally asked, leaning closer.
Ahi shook his head, calm yet distant. "Nothing… I just felt like sitting here."
"Hey, Ahi, what's wrong with you? Did you see a ghost or something?" Takashi blurted out.
"Stop talking nonsense," Nova scolded lightly. "Are we really chasing ghosts now? Ahi, he's only joking. Don't take everything so seriously, Ahi."
Ahi listened in silence. They were right. He shouldn't think too much.
The classroom fell into hush as the teacher stepped inside, a heavy book resting beneath his arm.
His eyes swept over the rows before settling on Ahi.
"Ahi," he called, low but commanding, "come here. I need to have a word with you."
The sound of his name struck Ahi like a knock at the door of his heart. For a moment, he froze, hands pressed to the desk as though it could anchor him.
Heat rose in his chest. Questions flickered: Had he done something wrong? Was it about studies? Or something else?
Swallowing hard, he pushed himself to his feet. The bench scraped softly. Every pair of eyes followed him.
"Ahi," the teacher said, "why do you look pale? Are you unwell? You seem to be sweating."
Ahi forced a faint smile. "No, sir, I'm fine—perfectly fine. What could I possibly do to make you worry?"
"Good," the teacher nodded firmly. "After all, you are the class captain. The responsibilities of this class rest on your shoulders. When I am not here, it is your words the others follow. Remember that."
He paused, letting the words sink in, then cleared his throat. "Now listen, everyone. A new student has transferred into your class. He will join today and introduce himself. Treat him well."
A ripple of murmurs ran across the benches. Ahi's head lifted sharply—disbelief rising.
A new student? In tenth grade? At this stage of the year?
His voice escaped before he could stop it. "A new student? In the tenth grade?"
The class stirred at his outburst, but Ahi barely noticed. His mind spun with questions.
The teacher asked angrily, "Why? Do you have a problem?"
He waved an arm.
"Enough ! Now I'll introduce your new classmate—Please come in."
A hush fell as the newcomer stepped through the doorway. Heads turned as if drawn by a quiet gravity. The room filled with soft rustle and whispers. Some called him unexpectedly handsome; others, startlingly striking. Few could meet such a face and keep composure.
Ahi, however, felt no shock. This beauty was not ordinary—but he had seen this kind of presence before, somehow.
Still, he could not look away. One glance became two, then more. The new student held the room like a slow, steady light.
Around him, the class mirrored each other—soft exclamations, quick glances, awed silence stretching a moment into an age.
Descriptions began and trailed off—how could anyone truly capture it?
There was something unusual about the boy's features, a beauty both familiar and utterly new.
Was it remarkable? Miraculous? Plain? Questions tumbled in Ahi's mind like stones in a pond, sending ripples across the lesson.
The new student stepped forward, quiet yet commanding.
"My name is Ozaki. Or Ishtar, if you like. But you may all call me Ozaki."
That was all. No elaborate introduction—just his name, left hanging in the air.
Yet every ear caught it, and somehow, the sound lingered.
Ozaki's gaze swept across the class, then paused. His eyes found Ahi.
In that instant, something shifted within Ahi, as if the ground beneath his world had turned upside down.
A sharp tremor of recognition pierced him. This face… this vision… cannot be…
The room, whispers, curious stares—all seemed to fade.
For Ahi, there was only Ozaki, and everything else felt hollow.
His heart began to ache; his breath became heavy.
Continues....