The Fifth Guardian

The Ambush

The afternoon sun filtered through the canopy of trees as the five of them headed toward the school’s front gate. Students spilled along the sidewalk, their laughter and chatter melting into the usual after-school noise.

Aihana felt it again—

that familiar pressure in the air.

The same one that had been pulsing too often around her these days.

Akihiro stopped walking.

His eyes narrowed sharply, like a blade slicing through silence.

Ayame sensed it instantly.

Rei tilted his head, calculating.

“Seven… no. Eight. Approaching fast.”

Miyu blinked, confused, but instinct nudged her closer to Aihana.

“Um… why do you all look like something is about to—”

“Rei. Ayame.”

Akihiro’s voice dropped—steady, commanding, nothing like the tone he used around normal humans.

“Protect Aihana and Miyu.”

Rei moved before the second syllable left Akihiro’s mouth, stepping forward with controlled tension. Ayame mirrored him, eyes sharp, posture drawn tight as a bowstring.

Aihana felt her stomach twist.

Their reaction told her more than their words.

“Not again.” her voice trembled.

The air plummeted in temperature.

A split second later, something tore out of the shadows near the park entrance—a swirling, twisted mass of dark mist, pulsing with hunger. It slid across the ground like a living nightmare.

A demon. Then another and another…

Miyu grabbed Aihana’s hand with a gasp.

“Aihana!? What is that—”

Aihana didn’t answer.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Everything happened too fast.

Demons lunged, shadow spikes curling toward them—

And before Rei or Ayame had time to transform,

before Akihiro could move—

Something inside Aihana broke open.

A shockwave burst from her body.

Not light.

Not darkness.

Something alive.

A surge so violent it cracked across the ground like thunder.

Ayame and Rei both shielded their faces on instinct.

Even Akihiro staggered back one step—just one—but recovered instantly.

Miyu screamed.

“Aihana!? AIHANA!”

Aihana collapsed to her knees—

then pitched forward, her eyes rolling shut.

The demons’ forms were obliterated.

Not defeated.

Erased.

As if they had never existed.

Miyu dropped beside her, panic shattering her voice.

“No, no—Aihana! Wake up! Please—”

Akihiro lifted one hand.

“Erasers. Now.”

The call didn’t leave his lips.

It traveled through the air.

Through the dimensional currents.

A shimmer rippled above the park.

Pedestrians paused, confused, eyes glazing over as memories began dissolving.

Miyu’s gaze went blank for a heartbeat—

then she blinked as if waking from a nap.

Rei crouched calmly beside her.

“Aihana’s exhausted. She hasn’t fully recovered.”

He said it like it was nothing. Like a student fainting after running laps.

Ayame added smoothly,

“She collapsed. Probably the stress of the last few days.”

Miyu frowned, trying to remember something on the edge of consciousness…

but it slipped away.

She knelt beside Aihana, gripping her hand tightly.

“Aihana… please… wake up…”

Akihiro was already lifting Aihana into his arms—gently, too gently for someone who was supposed to be “just a student.”

Her head rested against his shoulder as if it belonged there, her face pale even in the sun.

Rei motioned toward a bench near the park’s edge.

“There. Quickly.”

Akihiro carried her across the grass, Ayame guarding their flank, Miyu anxiously trailing behind them.

He settled Aihana onto the bench, brushing a hand along her cheek—not checking her pulse, but her energy.

“Aihana…”

His whisper was so quiet only Ayame heard it.

Rei kept watch at the path, reading every flicker of shadow.

Miyu squeezed Aihana’s limp hand.

“Aihana… everything’s okay… please wake up…”

Akihiro’s jaw tightened.

His eyes darkened.

This power… too fast.

Too early.

Ayame exhaled shakily.

“There’s no doubt anymore.”

Rei answered without looking back.

“The Fifth Guardian has awakened.”

Akihiro’s expression softened as he turned to her.

“It’s alright,” he murmured—more to himself than anyone.

And then—

Aihana’s eyelashes fluttered.

Her vision blurred—trees swaying overhead, light fractured through leaves, voices echoing through cotton.

Then warmth.

Her head rested on something firm, steady, alive.

She blinked.

And froze.

Akihiro sat on the bench, posture straight, eyes trained wholly on her. Her head wasn’t on the wood—

It was on his lap.

His hand rested gently against her forehead, guarding her like she was the most fragile thing in this realm.

Aihana’s heart jolted painfully.

“Wh-where am…?”

Akihiro lowered his hand but didn’t move away.

“In the park. You fainted.”

His voice was softer than anything she had ever heard from him.

She tried to sit up.

Miyu immediately leaned forward, gripping her hand.

“Aihana! Oh thank goodness—are you okay? They said you were tired but you collapsed—”

“She overexerted herself,” Rei interrupted, tone intentionally casual.

But the look in his eyes betrayed the truth:

he had been bracing for another attack the entire time.

Ayame spoke next, surprisingly gentle.

“How do you feel?”

Aihana struggled upright, legs trembling.

“I… I don’t know. What… happened?”

The air tensed.

Akihiro answered first.

“You’re exhausted.”

But she remembered demons. And fear.

Light.

Noise.

Then nothing.

“So I just… fell? In front of everyone?”

Miyu nodded, relieved.

“Yes! But it’s okay! Anyone would after these stressful days.”

Aihana glanced at her friend—

and realized Miyu remembered nothing.

Nothing at all.

Of course she didn’t.

Akihiro had made sure of it.

He lifted Aihana a little higher, his hands steadying her carefully.

“Can you stand?”

Her legs wobbled, but they held.

Then she looked at him.

Something in him was different.

A faint glow beneath his skin—

not visible but felt.

A subtle vibration.

Warm.

Pulling her in.

She tore her gaze away just as Miyu tightened her grip on her arm.

“Can you walk? Or should I call your parents?”

No.

She didn’t want her mother or father involved.

Not in this.

“I… I can walk,” she whispered.

Akihiro nodded.

“Slowly.”

Not a command.

A promise.

Rei’s ear twitched—receiving a silent message from the angelic network.

“Area clear. No further threats.”

Ayame’s aura settled, but only slightly.

“Residual traces only. No returning signatures.”

Miyu wrapped an arm around Aihana’s shoulders.

“Come on. Straight home. Bed. And I swear your mom will make you fifty pancakes if you ask.”

Aihana actually smiled.

For the first time since waking.

Akihiro stayed beside her—closer than before, close enough to catch her again if she swayed.

And for the first time…

he looked genuinely afraid.

Not for himself.

For her.

Aihana met his eyes for a heartbeat.

“I’m… okay,” she whispered, even though she knew she wasn’t.

Akihiro shook his head.

“Not yet,” he murmured.

“But you will be.”

Evening Realization — The Weight of Truth

The house was quiet. Too quiet.

Aihana lay on her bed, propped up on pillows, staring at the ceiling that had no answers for her. Her limbs felt hollow, drained, as if she had poured out more energy than a human should possess.

Miyu had walked her home, cheerfully assuring her it was “just exhaustion,” that she’d “pushed too hard preparing for the competition,” and that sleep would fix everything.

Aihana had lied.

Or withheld the truth.

Because Miyu remembered nothing—

no demons, no darkness, no pulse of power.

Aihana remembered everything.

And she remembered the moment fear for Akihiro had torn something open inside her.

No amount of words could convince her it was “just fatigue.”

She stepped onto her balcony, letting the cool night air wash over her. The city was quiet, but underneath it she felt that same vibration, that same tension she could sense only when the veil between dimensions thinned.

Her chest tightened.

Then—a tremor in the air.

She felt him before she saw him.

“…Akihiro,” she breathed.

A shift in the shadows near the tree.

Moonlight caught the edge of a silhouette.

And then he stepped forward.

He didn’t unfurl his wings,

but the energy of them rippled behind him—

soft light barely contained beneath his skin.

Aihana’s breath halted.

He was still Akihiro.

But also undeniably something more.

“Everyone almost died today,” she whispered.

“Miyu… Rei… Ayame… you.”

His green eyes softened.

“You saved us.”

“No,” she shook her head, stepping back.

“I don’t even know what came out of me. That wasn’t normal. That wasn’t ME—”

Akihiro stepped closer—slowly, carefully.

Not too close.

“It was you,” he said gently.

“Your energy. Your power. Unshaped, uncontrolled… but yours.”

Aihana clenched her hands into fists.

Her pulse was too fast.

Too real.

“You were right,” she whispered.

“My family… my classmates… Miyu… They could all be in danger if I stay.”

He said nothing.

He didn’t have to.

She looked at the city lights, trembling slightly.

“I can’t stay here,” she said softly.

A long silence.

Akihiro exhaled—a slow, relieved sound, touched with quiet sorrow.

He stepped one pace closer.

“At the A-Academy, you’ll be safe. You’ll be trained. Protected. And nothing—

no demon, no shadow Ravukaru sends—

will be able to touch you.”

Aihana turned back to him, meeting his eyes directly.

“Everything will change… won’t it?”

Akihiro didn’t flinch.

“Yes,” he said.

“And I know you’re afraid. But I also know…”

His gaze lowered to her trembling breath.

“…you were born for this.”

The moment between them tightened—

soft, charged, fragile.

Aihana inhaled.

And exhaled.

“Then… tomorrow,” she whispered.

Akihiro nodded.

“Tomorrow.”

He gave her a small, bittersweet smile—

the kind that lodged itself in the ribcage—

before his wings finally unfurled behind him,

light shimmering softly along the feathers.

He rose onto the branch, silent and watchful.

Aihana watched him until the shadows swallowed him again.

And when she finally went to bed,

she knew one thing with absolute certainty:

She wasn’t alone.

And from this moment on…

she could never turn back.