The Darkest Night

Moments like this should be cherished...

Friday finally arrived, and with it, the promise of an elegant romantic dinner with my beloved.

It was late, and as she showered, I carefully adjusted the knot of my tie and hummed one of my sonatas.

We had decided on a pasta restaurant. According to the description, it mimicked the dishes and ways of an old world nation called "Italy."

Suddenly, the hologram on my wrist vibrated. Someone was calling.

“Tats…”

“Isayama!” Tatsumi’s voice cut me off, frantic. “Listen to me!”

“What’s wrong?” The panic in his breathing unsettled me.

“It’s Yamaguchi-sensei! He’s disappeared!”

Disappeared?!

I turned toward the window.

“He’s not at his office or his home! I don’t know what to do, Isa!”

The happiness of the evening dissolved as his desperate cries reached my ears.

Sensei…

“He’d been rambling more than usual lately,” Tatsumi continued. “Talking to his wife’s ghost, forgetting who I was sometimes… But he never stopped working on the research.”

“Do you think he forgot about it, too?” I rubbed my neck, struggling to believe it.

“I don’t know, but this doesn’t look good…”

My eyes drifted to the bathroom door, searching for answers that weren’t there.

“I’ll head out in a second.”

“Isa, without him, the research—”

“I know, I know…”

This isn’t looking good.

“But I need a moment, Tatsumi…” The sound of running water had stopped. “I need to talk to Katy before I leave…”

“I see,” he said, understanding the weight of my words. “Call me as soon as you can.”

“Of course.”

I hung up and walked to the bathroom door. After hesitating for a few seconds, I gathered the courage to knock.

“Yes?” she called from inside.

“I’m sorry, Katy, but I have to cancel our dinner. Something’s come up…” I smiled faintly.

“Huh?” Her face fell, sadness pooling in her eyes. Wrapped in a towel, she was still surrounded by the lingering steam.

“I know it was supposed to be special, but I don’t have a choice…” My gaze flicked to the hologram on my wrist. Four unread messages from Tatsumi. One of them was the location where he had last seen sensei.

Her hands trembled.

Noticing it, she tried to hide them behind her back, but it was too late to erase the pain in my expression.

They haven’t stopped since...

“I’m sorry…”

“Isayama, is everything alright?”

“Y-yeah. It’s just Tatsumi. He wants us to check something together… Are you okay with that?”

“Just be careful,” she said softly.

…

After saying goodbye, I rushed down to the street as fast as I could.

We can’t lose him now! Doesn’t he understand how much the world depends on him?!

Under the flickering glow of streetlights, I sprinted through the night toward the only place I thought Yamaguchi-sensei might had gone.

“Isayama! Any news?” Tatsumi’s voice came through another call.

“Tatsumi, I’m already on my way!”

“I’ve searched his house from top to bottom, but there’s no trace…”

“Check the surrounding areas. Cafés, bars, anywhere you can think of. I think I have an idea of where he might be.” I gasped for air, dodging pedestrians and cars as I pushed forward.

“Got it. Be careful, Isayama…”

“You too. Let’s find him. We’ve got a virus to stop.” I tried to sound confident, despite the blood-tinged traffic lights stirring unease within me.

Yamaguchi-sensei… What are you trying to do?

The honks of cars, the murmurs of the crowd, the distant neon lights and faint music… None of it could drown the images of my past failures—their names and faces haunting me.

And what was yet to come…

Damn it!

Finding him was the only way to save the people I loved and atone for those I couldn’t.

Run, Isayama! Run!

Even under the unfathomable darkness of that sky, my hunch was correct.

On the verge of collapsing, I spotted him in the distance. I loosened my tie and undid a few buttons on my shirt to catch my breath.

There he was.

Beneath some streetlights that barely worked, in the deserted plaza outside Jiguroka Hospital, I found Yamaguchi-sensei.

He was muttering strange things, clutching his notebook as he wandered in circles.

“Isabel… Forgive me, please…” His entire body trembled.

I can never escape this place.

The darkness obscured his face, but his suffering was undeniable.

“Yamaguchi-sensei!” I clenched my fists and called out to him.

“Huh?”

“Do you still remember me? I’m Isayama Tore. We’re friends…”

“Isayama?” His trembling hand reached out.

“Yes, it’s me. What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”

“Isabel…”

“No, Isayama,” I said, stepping closer.

“I know it’s you, Tore. Where’s Isabel?” His frantic eyes darted around, like prey sensing a predator nearby.

“I’m sorry, sensei, but I don’t know anyone named Isabel…”

“Don’t come any closer! They’re watching us already!” He pointed his hands toward the sky.

It took me a few seconds to process what he had said.

“I couldn’t stop it, Isabel… Forgive me…” He crumpled to the ground.

“Sensei!” I caught him just in time. “Yamaguchi-sensei, you need to hold on! We must keep going! Katy might be infected, too!”

“Everything’s black… I can’t… So empty…”

“Hold on!” I pulled him to his feet.

“Huh? Tore? Where are we?” His expression changed entirely.

“W-what?” I stammered, terrified.

“Jiguroka Hospital?” Calm and composed, he seemed like a different person entirely.

What is he talking about?

“What are we doing here at this hour, Isayama Tore?”

I didn’t know how to respond.

“And this?” He looked down at his notebook, his hands trembling.

Suddenly, blood began pouring from every orifice on his face.

“S-sensei?” I froze in horror.

“I see now…” He coughed, splattering blood on my shirt. “So, it’s checkmate…”

“Are you alright?” I stared at him, unmoving, even as his body deteriorated at an alarming rate.

Panic consumed me. I knew the end was near for the only person who could save us.

“You can’t do this, sensei. You have to help us beat that thing!” I gripped his shoulders as he leaned too far forward. “Stay with me!”

“There’s only one move left… Isabel…” Bloodied, he lifted his gaze to meet mine. “Tore, listen to me. I don’t have much time…”

“What are you saying?”

“As soon as I finish, take this notebook and run. If you don’t, everything will be lost…” Blood dripped from his mouth. “Are you here?”

“Y-yes, yes. I’m right here,” I said, his tremors intensifying.

This can’t be happening…

I fought back tears.

“This is what all the affected have in common.” He raised a trembling finger to his temple. “Do you understand?”

“No, Yamaguchi-sensei!”

“All of us have spinal implants…”

“What?”

It’s true…

I understood, tears spilling over.

“Most of us also work with something related to implants…”

Distant buzzing reached my ears. My mentor looked skyward despite his state.

“My time is up…” he murmured.

“Sensei, are you saying the fifth evolution…”

“Isayama Tore, there is no fifth evolution," Silence engulfed the universe. “It’s not a virus—it’s a weapon.”

His calm tone made it almost impossible to grasp.

“S-sorry?”

More blood spilled from his mouth. He placed a bloody hand on my face as he answered.

“The fifth evolution doesn’t exist,” he repeated, exhausted. “It’s a biological weapon that hollows out your brain. Designed to kill selectively users of spinal implants. The enemy… is human.”

My chest tightened.

Humans? Why would humans attack humans? Why Katy?

A blinding light cut through the darkness.

The buzzing grew louder as surveillance drones surrounded us, illuminating the blood covering his face in stark detail.

Then their megaphones blasted through the night.

“Under the authority of Her…” They paused as they noticed me. “Get on the ground. Do not resist!”

The command repeated endlessly.

Yamaguchi grabbed my shirt.

“Why else would surveillance drones be here?” he shouted. “How did they know I was here?!”

Drones… again, far from the outer districts…

“Get on the ground. Do not resist!”

Paralyzed, my breath caught in my throat.

Flashes of the last month and a half rushed through my mind. I couldn’t keep up.

No, no, no, no…

“Who… who would do this…?” He collapsed against me.

“Sensei!”

“Do you hear that, Tore?” As sirens drew closer, he struggled to speak through the blood pooling in his throat. “The notebook…”

He was drowning in his own crimson.

“Take the notebook…”

“Get on the ground. Do not resist!” The megaphones continued their relentless chant.

“Stay with me, sensei!” I cried.

“The notebook…”

“What good is this fucking notebook if you’re gone?! Without you, the fight is over!”

“Think, Tore! Why would they want to kill us selectively?!”

“I don’t know!”

“What do we all have in common?! The enemy is human! There’s only one answer!” His breathing was faint now.

“I have no idea! I’m not a doctor! I’m just a useless wreck watching everyone I care about fade away one by one!”

The sirens roared louder, closing in.

“What am I supposed to do with your research?! Damn it!” My voice cracked with desperation. “Yamaguchi-sensei, I need you to save Katy and the rest of the world!”

I punched the ground beside him.

“Huh?”

I hadn’t even realized.

“Get on the ground. Do not resist!”

“S-sensei?”

“Get on the ground. Do not resist!”

The trembling stopped.

In my arms, Yamaguchi-sensei’s lifeless body lay still.

Gasping, I held his remains as vehicles from the quarantine team arrived fifty meters behind me…

The enemy is human…

The phrase echoed in my head, mingling with the cold light of the drones, the distant shouts of agents, and the endless megaphone commands.

The fifth evolution doesn’t exist…

I pried the blood-soaked notebook from his stiff fingers.

A biological weapon… Damn it…

I wiped away a tear streaking down my face.

Frustrated, I ran in the opposite direction of the agents and the figure accompanying them: Ilya Reutermann, who made no move to stop me.

Without looking back, I left my mentor’s lifeless body behind and disappeared into the darkness of the alleys.

Damn you, Yamaguchi!

I ran, heart pounding.

How the hell are we supposed to stop this without you?!

Later, I reached my room. The dead of night had settled in, and Katy was sound asleep on my mattress, unaware of everything.

Keeping quiet, I locked myself in the bathroom.

For a few seconds, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The face of someone hardened by the deaths of those he cared about stared back.

Eyes weary, streaked with blood.

A shirt wrinkled and stained.

A single dried tear, another invisible scar.

Silence.