Shadow Clan

Yami was walking home from school. The streets were crowded with students from the same school, their voices overlapping—laughing, chatting, planning their evenings.

But none of it reached him.

He had missed his chance to talk to Akari.

“I wanted to ask her if she remembers that day… the day I used light magic in front of her,” Yami murmured to himself.

If she really came back to this city because of that incident, then she wasn’t safe here.

The thought tightened in his chest.

That was when a person in a black hood appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

“Nice to meet you, Hikensha.”

Before Yami could react, a black void expanded around them, swallowing the entire street. The world vanished—no sound, no movement, no other presence.

Only the two of them remained.

“What is this? Where did everyone go?”

“Oh, I removed the distractions. They were in the way.”

The hooded man’s voice was too calm. “Besides, it’s not like anyone will come looking for you.”

He smiled, a thin, cold curve of the lips.

“Because I erased you from their memory.”

Yami’s breath caught.

His lungs tightened.

His vision dimmed.

What was he saying?

Why was he doing this?

“Ah, looks like you’re running out of air,” the man said lightly, as if commenting on the weather.

Yami’s knees buckled, the world tilting. His vision blurred completely as he collapsed into unconsciousness.

⸻

“Yuki…” Akari whispered, her voice trembling yet strangely firm. “Tell me everything. Tell me who he is… and why it hurts so much not to remember him.”

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll tell you only the surface,” Yuki replied weakly. His breathing was uneven. “I’m a member of the Kageyama clan. Not many people know about us, but we can also use dark magic like Yami… just on a smaller scale. To compensate, we’re born with special abilities.”

He paused, gathering what strength he had left.

“The reason I still remember Yami is because of that. There are certain kinds of magic that don’t work on us. One of them is memory erasure. That’s also how I knew about Yami in the first place. We have special eyes that let us see the magic inside a person in the form of flames. Yami… has both flames.”

If he can really see flames, then why can’t he tell anything about me?

Akari clenched her fists.

“But there’s a condition,” Yuki continued. “These powers only awaken when we see someone use magic with our own eyes. That’s why, at first, even I had trouble believing all this.”

Akari swallowed.

This was too much. Too fast.

“I know it’s overwhelming,” Yuki said quietly. “If you have questions, I’ll answer them later. For now, we need to find Yami. We still don’t know who that hooded man is or what he wants from him.”

“I still can’t remember Yami… and where do we even start looking?” Akari asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Don’t worry. My father should know something. Let’s ask him.”

It was all too sudden—too heavy—for Akari. She couldn’t bring herself to fully trust Yuki yet, but she had no choice except to keep moving. Standing still—thinking too much—would only slow them down.

She followed Yuki, her body trembling from the magic she had used earlier. Yuki wasn’t in great condition either. He had only managed to teleport them into his home’s storeroom, and the distance from there to his father’s room now felt impossibly long.

His house had a large, well-maintained garden—rare in a city dominated by apartment buildings.

But Akari knew at least one more house like this.

It was dark outside.

How many hours had passed since the attack?

They finally reached his father’s room.

It was huge yet simple, furnished only with the essentials. His father sat inside, reading through some papers.

“I told you not to get involved too much,” his father said without looking up.

“I’m very sorry, Father,” Yuki apologized, bowing deeply.

Akari, confused, bowed her head too.

“I was on my way home when I saw Yami using both magics,” Yuki continued. “That’s when my powers awakened, Father.”

So… his father didn’t know until now, Akari realized.

“We need your help, Father. I want to save my friend.”

His father’s eyes finally lifted, cold and sharp.

“Think about it once more. Once you step into this… you won’t be able to undo anything.”

“Yes,” Yuki said. “I’ve made up my mind, Father.”

A long silence followed.

Then his father stood.

“Come with me. Both of you.”