A broken murmur floated through the air. Barely a thread of a trembling voice, coming from a parched throat. He heard it.
-N-no... please...
His eyes widened. The trembling that was already shaking his body became an icy shock. One of the girls... was still conscious. He didn't know which one. He dared not look. Just the sound was enough to paralyse his soul.
The air became thicker. Colder. More unbreathable.
Without thinking, he took a step back. Then another. His hand slammed against the doorknob and he turned it in desperation. The headmaster's office burst open with a dull thud that shook the silent corridor.
And he ran.
The corridor stretched like an endless tunnel. The magic lights of the lamps flickered softly as his feet echoed against the marble. There was no time to think. He could only run away. As if what he had witnessed would spread like a stain and overtake him.
Voices began to emerge from the corners, murmured at first.
-Isn't that Hideyoshi...?
-What the hell...?
-Look at his face. He looks out of his mind.
He did not stop. He did not look at them. He did not respond. His only reaction was to run faster, ignoring the words that floated like blades behind him. They were not new insults. Ever since he had come into this world with this body, with this name, he had known what they thought of him. A middle-ranking nobleman, arrogant and ridiculous. A spoiled child who played at being a villain.
But now they saw it differently. It wasn't contempt... it was fear.
The sound came. A voice charged with gravity and authority that pierced walls, windows and hearts.
-Attention all present: if you see Tokugawa Hideyoshi, stop him immediately. He is potentially dangerous. Do not confront him alone.
He paused for a moment. His chest rose and fell with difficulty. The echo of that voice was not just a command... it was a judgement.
He was not Tokugawa Hideyoshi.
But no one else knew.
He turned into a side corridor, down a staircase and through a random open door. He entered an abandoned magic practice room. Dust hung in the air, trapped by the dim light from a tall window.
He let himself fall.
His hands were shaking. He looked at them. They were not stained. They weren't. But the feeling was still there, clinging to her skin, as if she could remember something she never did.
He rested his forehead on the cold ground.
-It wasn't me... it wasn't me...
Somewhere beyond, the magic sphere was still spinning.
At the top of the council tower, a woman with white hair pulled back in a severe bun watched a projection suspended before her eyes. Her fingers, scarred with age, closed tightly around her cane.
The recording showed shaky images of the director's office. The magic camera had captured everything from its hidden corner: the opening of the barriers, the young man's entrance, the collapse of his will, and his final escape.
But it showed no more.
The angle of the camera was kept over the top of the room. The female figures on the floor were barely silhouetted against the gloom. The security magic had activated its protocol of discretion.
The headmistress exhaled, partly relieved... equally horrified.
He clenched his fist tightly.
-How is it possible... Why did the darkness come back now?
When she reached the office, she made sure to seal the entrance before allowing anyone else to cross the threshold. She alone witnessed the scene. She cast a cloaking spell on the girls and ordered them to be transported discreetly to the infirmary under a visual barrier.
No one should see them like that. No one should remember that image.
And yet everyone was already talking about Tokugawa Hideyoshi.
The monster's face had returned.
But this time... something in his eyes said otherwise.
And she, more than anyone else, knew it.