The wind howled unusually sharp that afternoon, rattling the windows as if the sky itself had caught a fever. Kazuki sat in the classroom with Jun and Souta during the last period, trying his best to pay attention to the dull drone of history class.
But the sky outside—murky and pressed low against the horizon—kept drawing his eyes.
"I swear, this weather feels like it's watching us," Souta muttered, chewing on a pencil and flipping through his barely-legible notes.
Jun shrugged. "Probably just a storm rolling in."
Kazuki frowned. "Doesn't feel like rain."
It felt like something else.
Something watching.
---
After school, the hallway buzzed with students eager to leave before the first drops fell. But Yui wasn't waiting at the school gate today, and neither was Miyu.
Odd.
They always beat him there.
He thought about calling Yui but hesitated. She was probably just running errands. And Miyu? She did whatever she pleased.
Still, a strange anxiety tugged at the back of his thoughts.
He turned left instead of right—toward the hill shrine.
---
The path to the shrine was lined with tall trees that whispered secrets in the wind. The torii gate at the top swayed slightly despite being made of solid stone, and a silence had settled over the area. Not peaceful. Hollow.
Kazuki climbed the last few steps, breath misting in the unnatural chill.
"Yui?"
No answer.
He stepped forward.
That's when he heard it.
Crack.
A sound like splitting glass—but no glass in sight.
He spun toward the main shrine building and stopped. The air shimmered. The wood of the old steps trembled faintly beneath his feet, as if something below them had shifted.
There was no one there.
But the shrine was breathing.
---
Behind the main altar, down a stone path rarely used, the scent of incense lingered faintly—mixed with something acidic. Foul. Wrong.
Kazuki's foot touched the edge of the stone floor.
And the sound returned.
Not a crack this time. A cry. Low and strangled. Not human, but not inhuman either. Like a name trying to escape someone's throat underwater.
He took a step back.
And suddenly—
"Miyu!?"
She appeared out of nowhere, right beside him.
"Wow, you're worse at following the 'go home when it's creepy' rule than I thought," she chirped, hands behind her back.
Kazuki stumbled. "W-What are you—? You scared me!"
Miyu smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You shouldn't be here."
Her voice was still playful—but firmer. Serious.
He hesitated. "Did you hear that?"
She tilted her head, listening. "I hear a lot of things."
"Miyu…"
Before he could say more, she stepped between him and the shrine path.
"Let's walk home together. I'll even buy you a soda."
Kazuki frowned. "You're deflecting."
"And you're too curious."
"I swear there was something under the—"
Suddenly, a pulse of energy rippled beneath them. It wasn't wind. It wasn't movement. It was… like reality had skipped a heartbeat.
Miyu's eyes narrowed.
She grabbed his hand.
And everything blurred.
---
They were back at the school gate.
Kazuki gasped and stumbled, nearly falling.
"What the hell was—!?"
"I blinked us out," Miyu said casually, dusting off her uniform. "You were about to step into something bad."
"Blink—what? What do you mean!? How did we get back here!?"
Miyu grinned.
"Magic."
He stared at her.
She winked and twirled away, already walking down the street.
"Come on, Kazuki~! You owe me a soda now!"
He stood there, frozen.
He didn't know which was more terrifying—the fact that something was under the shrine… or the fact that Miyu hadn't even tried to deny it.
---
Meanwhile, back at the shrine, Yui stood silently where Kazuki had been moments before. Her eyes were sharp. Her breath fogged the air.
She knelt and touched the stone.
A glowing barrier flickered beneath her fingers—straining.
Cracks spidered through the protective ward she had reinforced just last week. Something was forcing its way up from beneath the shrine's foundations.
Yui pressed her palms together and began to chant quietly, weaving layers of spiritual reinforcement across the seal.
"Miyu was right," she whispered.
"They're waking up."
---
Far beneath the earth, below ancient roots and forgotten tunnels, a figure stirred. Wrapped in old cloth and darker whispers, it opened its eyes.
Two burning orbs, like coals.
"They've grown careless," it hissed.
"And she is still fractured."
A voice echoed beside it. "Then strike while she is still in her shell."
The shadows listened.
And began to climb.
---