DEVOURER OF RUH ESSENCE

They’d lost what made them human, then learned to hunt it until they looked human again.
---
Tokyo swallowed me in noise. Two years living here and the city still felt too big, too alive. Back home was quieter, slower… but at least the schools here were better.
“Zaaayne!”
I didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
“Zaaayne Yamada!”
Aoi Soraya. My neighbor, my classmate, and the one person who refused to leave me alone.
“Don’t look at me like that, you jerk! I told you to stop by so we could walk together!” she shouted, weaving through the crowd toward me.
She’d been saying that every day since high school started. I thought ignoring her would make her quit. Instead, it only made her cling harder.
“Stop walking or else!”
I stopped. I knew what “or else” meant.
She caught up and smacked the back of my head. “Learn to be a gentleman. Treat girls like queens.”
I smirked. “And trolls like you?”
Her kick hit my shin before I could dodge. Then she had my ear in a death grip.
“Okay, okay! I’m sorry!” I yelped. Experience told me it was easier to surrender now than suffer all day.
---
We reached homeroom. Mr. Sato stood at the front, smiling like nothing had changed. But the rumors said both his parents had died. He’d taken leave. And now he was back—too calm, too put-together for someone who’d lost everything.
“Thank you for welcoming me back,” he said. “Today I’ll ask you to stay after school. Our class will prepare for the festival this weekend. Form groups of three and begin after classes.”
A voice from the corner: “What time will we leave?”
“Miss Yamaguchi and I will supervise,” Mr. Sato replied. “No one leaves until we dismiss you. Is that clear?”
“Yes…” we all mumbled.
---
By evening most students had gone home. Only our class remained. I was grouped with Sosuke and Aoi, so I didn’t bother worrying.
Then Miss Yamaguchi appeared. “Girls, follow me to my office. Mr. Sato wants a word.”
All the girls left. Time dragged. Darkness crept through the windows.
“Forget this—I’m going home,” one boy muttered.
“But Mr. Sato said—” another started.
Sosuke cut in. “Let’s check what’s going on. Why are they taking so long?”
I wanted to sit tight, but the silence pressed too hard. Together we left the classroom.
The hallways were dark. The light switches were locked inside the staff room. The air was too heavy, too still.
We climbed to the second floor. Halfway up, my chest tightened. My legs screamed at me to stop. Fear? No—worse. Something in me said go back.
“Yamada!” Sosuke’s shout snapped me out of it.
I looked up. A woman’s voice drifted down the hall. “Yes… come to me. Don’t be afraid.”
Miss Yamaguchi. She stood pale and smiling, her arms cradling something limp.
A body.
Sosuke’s voice shook. “You see it too, right? She’s carrying a dead girl.”
“Come closer,” she cooed. Her smile didn’t reach her dull, lifeless eyes.
We bolted. But the school had shifted—the stairs were gone, the hallway folding into an endless loop. Miss Yamaguchi’s footsteps followed, slow and deliberate.
“Boys should’ve stayed in class,” she hissed. Her left hand darkened, stretching into a jagged spike.
---
We ducked into a classroom and locked the door. The lock exploded seconds later. She grabbed me by the throat and lifted me like a rag doll.
“Think I won’t break you piece by piece?” she whispered.
Sosuke slammed a chair into her. It splintered against her back. She didn’t even flinch. She tossed him across the room. He hit the wall and collapsed.
Her eyes locked on me. “Tell me… am I beautiful?”
“No,” I gasped. “Not into older women.”
Her grip tightened. My vision blurred.
Then steel sang. A shadow cut the air, and pain tore across her scream. I dropped, gasping, her severed hand still clamped around my neck.
“You were prettier before you started sucking life out of your own students,” said a calm voice.
A boy stood in the doorway—our age, wielding a black katana that seemed to swallow the light.
“Grab your friend and go,” he said evenly. “The others are unconscious in the staff room, but alive.”
I threw the severed hand aside, pulled Sosuke up, and staggered out. But the hall stretched the same—endless, looping.
Behind us, Miss Yamaguchi hurled the swordsman through a door. He landed hard, blood on his lip. She stalked forward, smiling like nothing had touched her.
“I told you to leave!” he shouted. “Why are you still here?”
“We can’t! The stairs are gone!” I yelled.
“Then jump out a window!”
Spikes erupted from the walls. He moved faster than my eyes could track, dragging us clear. Sosuke hung limp in his arms like he weighed nothing.
“This way,” he ordered. He shoved us into another classroom, slammed the door shut, and pulled out his phone. The glow lit his face, calm but tense.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Calling backup,” he said. “This one’s above my level.”
The door shuddered. Wood cracked. Miss Yamaguchi’s footsteps drew closer, deliberate, unhurried.
He pocketed the phone, raised his blade, and muttered:
“Stay behind me.”
The door exploded inward.
**To be continued.**