The Note at Sunrise (夜明けの書き置き / Yoake no Kakioki)

The first thing Hajime heard was the creek.

Soft water over stone, the same steady sound that had carried him into sleep. For a moment, he let it roll through his head, eyes still closed, body loose in his bedroll. The air was cool and damp. Somewhere above, birds were starting a half-hearted morning chorus.

He reached out to the side, expecting to bump into Izumi’s shoulder or catch a stray lock of her hair.

His hand found only cold fabric.

Hajime’s eyes opened.

Her bedroll was empty. The blanket was folded in a neat line, like someone had stood and smoothed it out with care. Her pack was gone. Her sandals were gone. The little pile of petals she kept near her things was disturbed, with a few scattered across the blanket as if brushed aside.

“Izumi?” Hajime pushed himself upright and called toward the creek. “Hey. You up already?”

No answer.

Rei’s voice came from the treeline. “You’re too loud for it being this early.”

Hajime turned. Rei stood on a low slope overlooking the water, coat hanging loosely from his shoulders, one hand resting on Seraphion’s hilt. His hair was still a mess from the night, but his eyes were clear. He had been awake for a while.

“Did you see Izumi?” Hajime asked. “Maybe she went to wash up or something.”

Rei’s gaze flicked to the empty bedroll, then back to Hajime. “She isn’t with you?”

Kiraha was closer to the creek, crouched with her back to a boulder, arms on her knees. She had removed her boots during the night and was pulling them back on now, the metal fittings glinting faintly in the pale light. Her stare moved from Hajime to the bedroll, then to the treeline around them.

“She never left camp,” Kiraha said. “Not on my watch.”

Hajime’s heartbeat began to climb. “Maybe she just... slipped past you both somehow?”

He heard how weak that sounded even as he said it. Rei and Kiraha traded a look that said the same thing without words.

Rei straightened and walked down toward them, eyes scanning the ground. “I took second watch. Kiraha had first. We switched when the moon was still high. I didn’t sense any Seiki during my shift. No footsteps or irregular sounds from the creek.”

Kiraha rose to her feet and dusted off her legs. “I heard you snore once or twice. That’s it.”

“I told you I don’t snore,” Hajime muttered, but his throat was dry.

He stepped closer to Izumi’s bedroll, crouched, and finally noticed it.

A folded strip of parchment lay where her head would have been, weighed down by a single white petal.

Hajime stared at it for a long breath, then reached out with slow fingers and lifted the petal away. It felt wrong in his hand, like he was touching something more fragile than it had any right to be. He unfolded the note.

Three lines of clean, sharp handwriting looked back at him.

If you want her back,
have Adam’s heir come alone
to Five-Point Crossing.

There was no signature. The parchment smelled faintly of smoke and something metallic, but there was no Seiki trace, no lingering pressure in the air.

Hajime’s fingers tightened, crinkling the edge of the note. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Rei stopped beside him and read over his shoulder. Kiraha stepped in on the other side, brow knitting.

“Adam’s heir,” Rei said quietly. “So they know exactly who you are.”

“Five-Point Crossing,” Kiraha added. “Of all places.”

Hajime looked between them. “What is it?”

Kiraha exhaled in irritation, like she was already tired of the day. “It’s a town sitting right where all five borders meet. Celestine Order, Verdant Veil, Thorned Pact, Crimson Legion, Chainbound Doctrine. They all touch there.”

Rei nodded once. “It's a neutral city not affiliated with any of the five great Factions.”

“Which means no faction law,” Kiraha said. “You walk in, you either live or you die on your own terms. Just be smart. The city has markets, smugglers, mercenaries, and people who ran from every army. We stop there when we have to, never by choice.”

Hajime swallowed. The words blurred for a second in his hand, then hardened again. “So whoever took her wants me in a place where no one can claim jurisdiction.”

“Whoever took her stepped into camp past a commander and two Lords,” Rei said. “They took her without sound, without a spark of Seiki strong enough for us to notice, and left a note like this right under our noses.”

His tone was even, but there was a tightness under it that Hajime wasn’t used to hearing.

Adam’s voice stirred in the back of Hajime’s mind, deep and level.

You slept through it. That bothers you more than anything.

Hajime pressed his teeth together. Not now.

“What about tracks?” he said, forcing his voice steady. “We can follow, right? If they took her physically, they had to leave a trail behind.”

Rei nodded toward the dirt around camp. “It's already been checked at morning patrol.”

Hajime looked properly this time. The ground near Izumi’s bedroll was a mess of footprints, but most were old, overlapping, smoothed by the night’s damp. Their own prints from setting camp. A few broken twigs. Marks from their boots near the fire pit. Nothing stood out as fresh.

“No drag marks,” Rei said. “No extra weight in the soil. No pattern that doesn’t belong to you, me, or Kiraha. Whoever came in either walked on air or covered their trail perfectly.”

Kiraha clicked her tongue. “And if they walked on air, we're not catching them by sniffing dirt.”

Hajime’s hands shook. The note fluttered as he clenched it, and he had to force himself to relax before he tore it. Images pushed into his head uninvited: Izumi waking in the dark with a hand over her mouth, or calling his name and no sound coming out. Then he thought about Izumi being carried away while he lay a few meters away, sleeping like an idiot.

You can drown in those pictures, or you can move, Adam said. Decide, Hajime.

Rei stepped back, giving him a little space. “Whoever wrote that wants you alone. This is an obvious trap.”

“I don't give a damn, I have to save her,” Hajime said.

Kiraha turned on him. “Are you brain-damaged?” She gestured at the note. “This is written by someone who understands Seiki, factions, and the value of leverage. You are a walking beacon of hope, currently boiling this continent. If you march into Five-Point Crossing by yourself, you are not just risking your life. You're risking whatever happens if they get their hands on you.”

“They already have Izumi,” Hajime shot back. “What happens to her if I do nothing?”

Silence stretched between them, broken only by the creek and a distant crow’s caw. Kiraha looked away first, jaw tight.

Rei folded his arms. "We should ignore the warning and go together."

“The note says alone,” Hajime said. “If I walk in with a parade, they'll kill her to send a message. You know that.”

Rei’s eyes narrowed. For a moment, his expression was unreadable. Then he looked at the note again, as if searching for something that might change the answer.

Uriel’s voice brushed the edge of his mind, bright and heated.

Let him go and be ready to burn the world if he does not return.

Rei ignored it.

“We still have the deal with your people,” Kiraha said to Rei. “We are supposed to bring you to Barakos so you can speak with Rokuro and the elders. If we disappear into some neutral rat nest chasing rumors, that entire arrangement stalls out.”

Rei let out a slow breath. “Your mind is made up. I support my brother without question.”

Hajime looked at him. “Rei...”

“You're going to go no matter what I tell you,” Rei said, meeting his gaze. “You decided the second you read the first line of that note. I can either pretend I can change your mind and waste time, or I can help you not get killed on the way there.” He looked toward the road, where their horses grazed lazily in the early light. “Kiraha and I will continue to Barakos. Someone has to keep this alliance moving before the rest of the world implodes.”

Hajime opened his mouth, then closed it again. “You’re really fine with splitting like that?”

“I haven't been fine since the moment I first drew breath,” Rei said. “Save Izumi, and meet us at the Crimson Legion capital.”

Hajime looked down at the note again, the neat lines cutting across the parchment like thin wounds.

If you want her back...

He could still feel her laughter from the night before, the way she had splashed creek water at his face and then pretended not to know what he was talking about when he retaliated. The way her shoulders had finally relaxed after days of tension. He thought of the promise he’d made himself back then, unspoken but solid.

No one was going to hurt a friend of his ever again.

“Do you know how to get there?” he asked Kiraha.

“Rough idea,” she said. “From here, you follow the trade road until it splits at the old stone marker shaped like a spearhead. Take the smaller path that curves south. Keep the lone hill with the dead tree on your left. You will hit Fivepoint Crossing by late afternoon if you push hard.”

She frowned, thinking, then added, “Keep your Seiki hidden going into town. God only knows what trouble you might run into.”

Hajime nodded. “Got it.”

Rei stepped closer and lowered his voice, so Kiraha pretended not to hear. “Remember what Kiraha taught you in training. Seiki can be condensed to fine particles, not just dumped into your body like a torch. You are a vessel of Adam. You have humans' full potential inside of you. Learn to use it effectively.”

Hajime managed a small, humorless smile. “You mean don't explode my joints to look cool?”

“Save that for when we have a healer again,” Rei said. “I'm entrusting this mission to you.”

Hajime’s chest loosened a fraction. “I’ll bring her back no matter what!”

“You better,” Rei said. “Or I'll kick your ass.”

Kiraha clapped a hand on Hajime’s shoulder with enough force to rattle him. “Time for you to get going, dead meat.”

“I thought Crimson people were supposed to be inspiring,” Hajime said.

“I'm inspiring you to survive,” she replied. “Now move.”

They broke camp quickly. Bedrolls were tied, fire fully smothered, ashes scattered. Hajime kept the note folded in his pocket, the crease lines digging into his thumb every time he adjusted his belt.

They walked together to the road.

Three horses waited where they had left them, tails flicking lazily. Hajime stroked the muzzle of his mount, then tightened the straps with quick, practiced motions. His hands moved on instinct while his mind ran ahead of his body, already tracing the path Kiraha had described.

Rei mounted first. Seraphion glinted at his hip as he settled in the saddle, his posture relaxed but ready. Kiraha swung up on her horse in one smooth motion, warboots locking into the stirrups.

Hajime grabbed the reins, then stopped and looked at them.

“Thank you,” he said.

Rei shrugged lightly. “Don't hog all the cool battles while I'm gone.”

“Bring her back in one piece,” Kiraha added, “no matter what it takes.”

Hajime nodded. “Count on it.”

He pulled himself into the saddle, then paused. Five-Point Crossing felt very far away and painfully close at the same time. The creak of leather, the smell of the morning road, the low snort from his horse all seemed too normal for what waited ahead.

Adam’s voice settled over his thoughts again.

This means they have Eve's Will, too. I will allow you to pull from my Seiki energy as well.

“Fine, I'll accept the help,” Hajime muttered.

Rei tilted his head. “What?”

“Nothing,” Hajime said. “I’ll see you in Barakos.”

Rei studied him for a heartbeat, then raised two fingers in a lazy half-salute. “Make us proud... The son of God.”

Kiraha snorted. “That's got a ring to it!”

They watched as Hajime nudged his horse forward. He rode down the road until the curve threatened to hide him from view. Then he hauled on the reins, drew a breath, and slid down to the ground.

He could not ride all the way if he wanted to make it by afternoon. Not at the pace he was picturing.

Hajime patted the horse’s neck. “Sorry, buddy. I need my legs for this one.”

He loosened the reins so the animal could graze at the roadside and stepped into the center of the dirt track. The sun was just clearing the treeline now, painting the world in pale gold. The road stretched ahead, empty and quiet.

He closed his eyes.

Seiki answered like a tide pushed by a full moon, rising from his core, filling his chest with a familiar weight that was not quite physical. He inhaled, guiding it down, feeling it flow through his spine, hips, thighs, settling into the network of muscle fibers in his legs.

Not a flood this time. Not the wild, bursting rush that had almost shredded him in earlier fights. A directed stream, threading into tendon and muscle, lining each fiber with warmth. As he exhaled, steam rolled out of his mouth.

His calves tingled. The soles of his feet hummed. He flexed his toes inside his boots, feeling the ground more clearly than before, every grain and shift.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Let’s go get her.”

He leaned forward and pushed off.

The world blurred at the edges. The first step landed several body lengths farther than it should have. The second flowed out of the first, his foot catching the road with a soft thud, Seiki cushioning the impact. Wind pressed against his face, streaming his hair back.

Hajime ran.

Trees flickered past on either side, dark trunks and flashes of green. The birds that had been calling earlier fell away behind him. His breath fell into a rhythm that matched his stride. Seiki pulsed in time with his heartbeat, each surge reinforcing the muscles, preventing strain from tipping into damage.

He thought of Izumi’s smile.

He thought of the way she had stood in front of him against demons and monsters bigger than either of them, roses curling around her hands like she hadn’t been afraid.

He thought of the note’s straight, careful letters.

Have Adam’s heir come alone.

“Fine,” he said between breaths. “You'll see God's wrath in its most human form.”

Up ahead, the road bent toward a distant rise where the land tilted slightly downward. Somewhere beyond that, past the spearhead marker and the dead tree, lay Five-Point Crossing.

The neutral town where all five paths met.

Hajime kept his eyes on the horizon and ran into the lifting sun.