Chapter 1:weight at fourteen

The day I turned fourteen felt like any other: quiet, heavy, and haunted by questions I didn’t have the words to ask.
In the back of the classroom, I sat motionless, staring out the window. Outside, cherry blossom petals drifted lazily through the air, caught in a gentle draft before settling into the dark earth. The sky was a brilliant, taunting expanse of soft blues and whites. The warmth of the sun radiating through the glass was a silent herald of the approaching summer break.It was beautiful—almost painfully so.
The shrill ring of the school bell shattered my trance. Instantly, the hallway flooded with a cacophony of life. Students laughed and shouted, their voices a blurred roar of summer plans and newfound freedom. Lockers slammed with rhythmic thuds, and footsteps echoed like a heartbeat. Everyone seemed to be vibrating with happiness.Everyone except me.
While the others dreamed of rest, I knew exactly what awaited me behind the high walls of my home: endless, grueling training. Shins bruised by wooden slats. Sword practice until my muscles screamed and my arms trembled. All because of my sister’s favorite mantra:
“You have to get stronger—no matter what.”
Stronger for what? I was just a middle schooler. Why did I need to swing a blade? Why was my life a preparation for a war I couldn’t see?
Before I could sink deeper into the shadows of my mind, a sudden weight collided with my shoulders. I flinched, spinning around to find Ayomi grinning ear to ear. Her boundless energy felt like a physical force, her brown hair swaying as she leaned in, eyes sparkling with uncontained mischief."What do you want?" I asked, the words coming out harsher than I intended.
She laughed, a bright, melodic sound. "Wow. Rude much? No need to be a meanie, Kaito!" She tilted her head, her gaze suddenly piercing as she studied my face. 
"So? Any plans for summer break?"I looked away, focusing on a stray petal on the floor. "I’ll be busy. My sister… Kiyomi. We’ve got things to do."
It was only half the truth. The other half was a secret I didn’t even understand myself."Ohhh, right!" Ayomi stepped closer—far too close. Before I could recoil, something warm and fleeting brushed against my left cheek.
I jumped back as if burned. "W-W-What was that?!"
She giggled, completely unfazed by my panic. "Relax! Just a birthday kiss."
My face felt like it was on fire. "You’re impossible," I muttered, pulling my collar up.
Ayomi smiled, but for a split second, the mischief vanished. There was a flicker of something curious, something knowing in her eyes, as if she could sense the invisible weight pressing down on my shoulders. Then, with a quick wave, she was swallowed by the crowd.
The silence returned, louder than the noise.The Training Ground
I walked home through the chatter of other students, my own thoughts drowning out their laughter. When I reached the front steps, the massive iron gates loomed over me like sentinels. To most, it was a mansion; to me, it was a fortress.
The gates groaned open. As I crossed the threshold, rows of maids bowed in perfect, eerie synchronization.
"Welcome home, Master."
I sighed, waving them off with a tired hand. Then, a blur of movement.
"Kaitooo!!"
Kiyomi came flying toward me, her arms wrapping around me in a suffocating hug. Tears streamed down her face, her long, crimson hair catching the late afternoon sun like a spill of fresh blood. Her red irises glowed vividly—sharp, yet momentarily softened by a strange, desperate tenderness.
"I missed you so much!" she wailed.
"I just went to school," I replied flatly.
"It still gets lonely in this house," she muttered, pulling back.
"You are weird" I respond flatly 
 Her expression shifted, her eyes narrowing. "That’s rude. I practically raised you, you know."
Then, the warmth vanished. Her posture went rigid, and her gaze turned cold as a winter gale. She gestured toward the backyard, toward the training grounds.
"Change. We’re training."
The massive wooden bokken felt heavier than lead. I swung the blade into the empty air, the wood whistling a mournful note.
Again.
The wood bit into my palms.
Again.
"Your stance is sloppy."
Again.
"You hesitated."
Again.
"You’ll die like that."
Each strike sent a jarring shock up my spine. Sweat stung my eyes, and my breathing became a ragged, desperate sound in the quiet yard. My vision blurred, the world turning into a haze of green grass and red hair, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. Not under the weight of her stare.
Finally, she raised a hand. "That’s enough."I nearly collapsed, the sword tip digging into the dirt to keep me upright. Kiyomi studied me in a silence so thick it felt physical. For a heartbeat, I thought I saw a shadow of pity in her eyes. Then it was gone, replaced by a chilling resolve.
"Tonight," she said, turning her back to me. "I’ll show you something."
My heart skipped. "What... kind of something?"
She paused at the doorway, her silhouette sharp against the fading light. "A truth. You’re old enough now."
The door clicked shut. I stood alone in the darkening yard, my hands trembling against the wood. A chill that had nothing to do with the evening air ran down my spine.
Nightfall came with a suffocating suddenness. When Kiyomi knocked on my door, her face was a mask of stone. "Follow me."
I followed her through the winding hallways, past familiar doors that now looked like strangers in the dark. We descended to the living room, sitting on the edge of the velvet couch. The air felt charged, static-heavy.
Kiyomi’s expression softened, just a fraction. "Anyway," she said, reaching for the table. "I have something for you."
She picked up a bundle wrapped in old, dirt-stained cloth. As she placed it in my hands, the muffled clink of metal against metal echoed through the room.
"What is this, Kyo?" I whispered.
"Fourteen years ago," she said, her voice dropping to a haunting quiet, "those two swords came with you. You were holding them so tightly... even as a babe. Your mother made me promise to keep them until today."
With trembling fingers, I began to unwrap the cloth.
Two swords lay nestled in the fabric. The first was a blade of pure midnight black, its surface shimmering with a faint, sickly purple glow. A gemstone embedded in the hilt pulsed with a violet light—rhythmic and slow, like a living heart.
A cursed blade. I remembered the lore from the ancient scrolls she made me study. The moment my skin touched the hilt, my strength vanished. My knees buckled, my lungs felt crushed by an invisible hand, and the sword slipped from my grasp, clattering against the floor with a hollow ring.
Kiyomi watched, her eyes unblinking.I reached for the second sword. This one glowed with a dark, predatory red, its gemstone blazing like a trapped star.The moment my fingers closed around the handle, the world vanished.
Blood.
A sea of it. So much blood. I looked down in the vision and saw my hands—soaked, dripping, stained to the elbows. The ground beneath me was a carpet of the fallen. Screams tore through the air, a thousand voices crying out at once in my ears."Did... did I kill someone?" I gasped, snapping back to the present. I stared at my palms, shaking, checking for the blood I could still feel in my mind.
Kiyomi placed a firm, heavy hand on my shoulder. Her voice was steady, but it carried the weight of a thousand years."Kaito... it’s time I tell you everything."