Chapter 3: When Rats Become Men

Rei sat in the darkness, his lungs feeling tight. He wanted to believe it was his imagination—that the footsteps in the attic were just rats and the whispers were just the wind. But the scrap of skin in his pocket was real. The smell of bleach was real.

He crawled over to Daichi, who was sleeping.

"Daichi," Rei whispered, his voice trembling. "We have to go. Now. There are people here."

Daichi looked at him, annoyed. "Rei, it’s just an old house. Go to sleep. What the hell are you talking about?"

"I found skin, Daichi! In the bathroom! And I heard them... they’re coming to kill us."

Daichi saw the sheer terror in Rei’s eyes and finally realized his friend wasn't joking. Rei showed the flesh skin. Before he could speak, the front door didn't just open—it was kicked off its hinges.

BANG!

The heavy wood hit the floor, and six men stormed in. They weren't ghosts. They were muscular, scarred men with eyes like hungry wolves. The leader, a man with a jagged tattoo across his neck, pointed a rusted machete at the group.

"Don't move, and maybe you'll live ten minutes longer!" the leader roared.

The room exploded into screams. The "Elite" students, the girls, and Hiro were all caught in their sleeping bags. The gang began kicking and hitting everyone, dragging them into the center of the main room.

Rei and Daichi slipped back into the shadows to hide.

The leader scanned the girls and pointed his blade at Saki. "This one is the prettiest," he laughed, his voice making Rei’s skin crawl. "I’ll take her to the back room for some fun. The rest of you, stay on your knees."

Rei and Daichi, who had been in the shadows near the back hallway, scrambled away just as the gang began their assault. They hid behind a thin wall, listening to the sounds of their friends being beaten.

"Teacher!" Daichi hissed, peeking through a crack.

Their professor was trying to protect the students, pleading with the men. One of the gang members stepped forward, but he didn't use a knife. He raised his hand, and a sickly red energy crackled around his palm. With a flick of his wrist, the magic slammed into the teacher’s chest like a sledgehammer.

CRACK.

The teacher flew back against the wall, coughing up blood. The students wailed in terror.

"What is this? Magic...?" Daichi whispered, his face turning white. "How...is it possible? what can we even do against that?"

Rei was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering. He felt a hot sting in his eyes. He wanted to cry. He wanted to wake up in his bed in Tokyo.

"I’m going to die," Rei thought, shaking. "We’re all going to die."

Then, he heard Saki’s muffled scream from the other room. The leader was dragging her away.

Rei looked down at his cricket bat. For a second, the fear didn't go away, but a strange, cold sensation started to spread from his chest to his arms. It was the feeling as if the clock was ticking toward zero.

The teacher was being tortured. His friends were being hurt. And Saki was being taken.

Rei watched from the shadows, his eyes wide. The man named King stood over the teacher, his face twisted in a cruel sneer. Every time the teacher begged, "Please... they’re just students..." King would bark a laugh and raise his hand.

"Mercy? There is no mercy on this island, old man!" King shouted.

A red beam of energy shot from King’s palm, slamming into the teacher’s shoulder. The smell of burnt cloth filled the room. The teacher screamed, his body convulsing as he collapsed into a pool of his own blood.

But Rei noticed something.

He noticed it because he was a man of schedules and precision. King didn't just fire the magic instantly. Every time he wanted to use the red beam, King’s hand would shake. He had to close his eyes for three seconds, gritting his teeth as if he were trying to pull a heavy weight out of the air. The red glow would flicker, dimming and brightening, before finally snapping into a beam.

He’s struggling, Rei realized.

"Daichi," Rei whispered, his voice no longer shaking. "Look at his hand. He can't do it easily. It takes him time to start the magic."

Daichi looked, his breath hitching. "You're right... It's like he's fighting the energy just to let it out. He’s wide open while he’s charging it."

Rei looked back toward the room where the Leader had taken Saki. Another muffled scream echoed through the thin walls. The "cold sensation" in Rei's chest finally reached his brain. It was like a switch had been flipped.

Rei and Daichi locked eyes. The fear was still there, but it was being pushed down by the need to act.

"I'll take the one in the main room," Rei whispered, his eyes fixed on King. "He's the biggest threat because of that magic. If he finishes charging that beam, we're done."

Daichi nodded, his face hardening. "Then I'm going for the leader. I won't let him touch Saki."

They split up. While the gang members were distracted by the teacher’s cries, Daichi stayed low, crawling through the shadows of the hallway. Every floorboard felt like a landmine, but his gym training kept his movements light and steady. He reached the back room and saw the door was slightly ajar.

Inside, the Leader had tossed his machete onto a table. He was laughing, reaching for Saki, who was backed into a corner, crying.

Daichi didn't hesitate. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick, industrial nylon rope he had taken from the bus’s emergency kit. He looped it into a noose as he burst into the room.

The Leader turned, his eyes widening. "You little—!"

Before the man could reach for his weapon, Daichi lunged. He threw the rope over the Leader’s head and pulled with all his might.

THUD.

They hit the floor together. The Leader was a grown man, a criminal used to violence, and he fought back like a cornered animal. He thrashed, his heavy boots kicking against the wooden walls, trying to find Daichi’s face with his elbows. He was strong, but Daichi was younger and fueled by pure adrenaline.

"You... brat..." the Leader wheezed, his face turning a deep, bruised purple. He tried to claw at the rope, but Daichi tightened his grip, planting his knees firmly into the man's back.

"Don't. Move," Daichi hissed through gritted teeth. His muscles were screaming, but he didn't let go.

The Leader began to suffocate, his hands flailing wildly. He tried to speak, tried to threaten him with the "Master's" name, but only a wet, gurgling sound came out. Saki watched from the corner, her breath hitching in her throat as she saw her classmate—the "Elite" Law student—turning into a silent executioner.

Inside the back room, the struggle reached a deadly peak. The Leader’s eyes turned red with rage. He stopped clawing at the rope and slammed his palm against the floor. A small spark of fire magic ignited, a flame licking at the wood, but because he was being choked, he couldn't focus. The fire sputtered and died, missing Daichi’s leg by inches. With a final, desperate heave, Daichi pulled the rope tighter until the Leader’s body went limp.

The sound of the struggle—the thumping of boots and the gasping—finally reached the main room.

"Boss? You good in there?" one of the gang members called out, pausing his torment of the teacher.

Rei knew he had to act fast. If all five men rushed into that back room, Daichi and Saki were dead.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. With a steady hand, he tossed it across the hallway. It hit a pile of old glass bottles with a loud CRASH.

"What was that?" a man grunted. "Someone else is in the house!"

Two of the gang members stood up, drawing their knives. They walked toward the dark hallway where the sound came from. Rei pressed his back against the wall, his breathing perfectly rhythmic. He had noticed earlier that the floorboards near the hallway entrance were sagging and rotten from years of moisture.

As the first man stepped onto the weak spot, Rei didn't use his bat. He didn't even use his hands.

He waited for the man's weight to shift forward, then Rei stepped out of the shadows and slammed his heel down on the structural joint of the rotten wood.

CRACK-BOOM!

The old, brittle wood gave way instantly. The man screamed as the floor vanished beneath him. He fell through the jagged hole, dropping six feet into the dark, stone-filled crawlspace below. A loud thud and a sickening snap of a bone followed.

"My leg! My leg!" the man wailed from the darkness below.

Rei stood at the edge of the hole, looking down with eyes that showed no pity. He realized his theory was correct: Among the gang, only King, the leader and perhaps one lieutenant could wield real sorcery.

These were just men—thugs using fear to hide their own weaknesses.

The second man froze, staring at the hole where his friend had just disappeared. He looked up and saw Rei. He expected to see a terrified student, but instead, he saw a boy with a blank face, holding a cricket bat like a professional executioner.

"You... you brat!" the man hissed, lunging forward with his knife.

Rei didn't flinch. He counted the seconds in his head.

One.

He adjusted his stance.

Two.

He raised the bat.