The trio had escaped under the cover of night—Kaito, Renn, and Taru—leaving behind the walls of the academy and everything they once believed safe. No goodbyes. No explanations. Just the weight of their own truths and the quiet resolve to face what the adults refused to.
Rain fell lightly against their cloaks as they huddled beneath a crumbling stone arch deep in the mountain pass. Taru crouched by the fire they'd managed to start, the flickering embers dancing in his white eyes. Kaito sat across from him, silent, still processing everything—the letter, the confession, and the truth of Taru's bloodline.
"So," Renn said, leaning against a damp stone pillar, arms folded and voice unusually quiet, "your sister… she was taken because of her powers?"
Taru gave a faint nod, then passed the worn letter to Kaito. "The letter was hidden in the lining of the bag Akira left behind. It was addressed to me. He knew I would find it someday."
Kaito's eyes scanned the page. The writing was familiar—Akira's flowing script. And there it was… mention of a girl with rare Venin potential, taken during the same attack that orphaned Taru. The reason Akira had taken him in.
"I had no idea…" Kaito murmured. "You've been carrying this all this time?"
"I was waiting for the right moment. I thought… maybe the school would help me find her," Taru said, his voice steady but low. "But then I overheard you both. And I knew—if I didn't follow, I'd regret it forever."
A long silence followed, broken only by the crackling fire and the soft sigh of wind between the peaks.
"She might be with the Hollow Gale," Renn said. His voice had hardened again. "The same ones who tortured me. The same ones my brother joined."
Taru glanced at him, startled. But Renn didn't elaborate. He just stared into the fire, lost in something ancient and painful.
"So we all have ghosts," Kaito muttered.
"No," Renn said. "We have purposes. That's why we're here."
Kaito clenched his fists, the weight of their journey pressing down on him. He still didn't understand the full extent of his own power, but something had awakened in him. The Dragon Breatha fierce, burning energy that had erupted during his fight with Kazuki. It was only the beginning.
"Then it's settled," Kaito said, rising to his feet. "We find your sister, Taru. We find Hollow Gale. And we end what they started."
The wind howled through the night, as if whispering its approval.
And somewhere in the distant dark, far beyond the peaks and forests, something stirred. Watching.
Waiting.
Two days had passed since Kaito, Taru, and Renn vanished from the academy grounds. The once-buzzing hallways now echoed with an eerie quiet. Whispers filled the air like smoke: rumors, fears, speculation.
They were gone.
And the letter they had left behind—the one that claimed they were on an urgent mission from a summoned teacher—was a lie.
"...It was me," Erina finally admitted in front of the faculty office, her voice trembling as she stood before Miss Mizuki and Principal Rogiru. "Renn… asked me to deliver it, and I—I didn't know they were planning to disappear. I swear I didn't."
Rogiru, usually so lighthearted, said nothing. His expression, for once, was stripped of jest. His large demonic tail drooped behind him as he paced silently, arms folded and eyes narrowed in thought. Something had clearly disturbed him.
Miss Mizuki, stern as ever, stared down at Erina, arms crossed. "You've jeopardized the safety of your classmates. Do you have any idea what lies beyond the academy walls? Especially for students like them?"
"I didn't know," Erina whispered again, her voice cracking. "I thought… I thought Renn just needed to clear his head…"
Shouta Aoi, normally brash and careless, now sat silently at the edge of the training field, fingers clenched into fists around a wooden sword. His usual snide remarks were nowhere to be found.
Kazuki Tetsuya stood beside him, the faint bruise on his cheek from the fight with Kaito still visible. "I told him he was weak," Kazuki muttered. "But I didn't think he'd just vanish. Idiot."
Nearby, Himari, Erika, Yume, and Akiho stood together under the shade of a large sakura tree. The petals, once beautiful, felt like a quiet mourning for their absent friends.
"Why didn't Kaito tell us anything?" Himari asked, tears welling in her eyes.
"He did this alone again," Erika whispered. "They always do this. The boys always try to shoulder everything."
"Maybe they're in danger," Akiho said, unusually serious. "We don't even know if they're safe…"
Rogiru finally turned back to the gathered students and faculty, his voice grave. "They may be foolish—but they're not lost yet."
Miss Mizuki frowned. "You think this was part of something bigger?"
"I know it," Rogiru replied, eyes glowing faintly. "The wind hasn't whispered clearly since they left. And when the wind is quiet… war is near."
Shouta looked up suddenly, eyes sharp for once. "Then what do we do? Wait here like statues while they're out there fighting ghosts?"
"No," said Rogiru.
He walked to the center of the courtyard, raising one clawed hand toward the sky. "We prepare. Because if they stirred something dangerous out there—sooner or later, it's coming here."
Kazuki exhaled slowly and muttered under his breath. "Then Kaito… you better stay alive long enough for me to finish our fight."
The academy had changed. The halls no longer echoed with laughter. Every student, even the bullies, felt it.
A storm was coming.
And the ones who disappeared might be the only ones who could stop it.
The academy was no longer just a place of learning. It was now a ticking clock, every moment filled with the echo of what had been left behind.
Inside Class 1-A, the atmosphere was thick with unease. Kobito sat in the back of the room, head low, arms folded tightly. He hadn't spoken to anyone since Kaito left. Not even Renn's name passed his lips.
Across the room, Yume tapped her fingers on her desk, eyes fixed on the door like she expected them to walk in at any moment. "I had a weird dream last night," she muttered. "I saw Renn… in chains."
"You too?" whispered Erika, looking pale. "So did I. But he wasn't alone."
Akiho, usually playful and chatty, leaned against the wall with a frown. "Something's wrong with the world. I can feel it. Like something's cracking open… slowly."
Riku Onizawa—one of the more recent students in Class 1-B, tall with a single red streak in his hair—raised an eyebrow. "Maybe they left because they were stronger than the rest of us. Maybe they got tired of pretending."
"Or maybe they were trying to protect us," said Kana Shirogane, a quiet, silver-haired girl from Class 2-A. "You didn't see the way Kaito looked the night before they left… like he'd already made peace with dying."
Yuri Kamado, one of the top-ranked female students, folded her arms. "If we stand around waiting, we're as good as dead. If something forced Renn, Kaito, and Taru to move without warning—it's only a matter of time before it reaches us."
Tensions between students began to rise. A training spar ended with two injured. Miss Mizuki had to intervene. Even the usually lighthearted Rogiru had stopped eating snacks during lectures.
In the faculty lounge, Captain Rino stood silently at the window, watching the sky with narrowed eyes. "They're moving too early," he said.
"You mean Hollow Gale?" asked Miss Mizuki.
Rino nodded. "Something forced those boys into action. They may be fools, but they're not reckless without reason."
Back in the student courtyard, Kazuki was practicing his forms more intensely than ever. Shouta watched him from a distance.
"You still pissed?" Shouta asked.
Kazuki didn't reply immediately. "He unlocked something… didn't he? That fight we had—he wasn't holding back. But it was like he was something else… something bigger."
Shouta grunted. "He caught me off guard too. But I don't like being left behind."
Kazuki turned, sweat running down his face. "We're not the only ones who feel that way."
From the dorm rooftops, Kana and Yuri stood together in silence, watching the sun set beyond the academy gates.
"They've gone to war," Kana said softly. "Even if they don't know it yet."
Yuri nodded. "Then maybe it's time we prepare for war too."
The academy was no longer quiet. It was holding its breath.
And somewhere, far beyond its walls… three students were stepping deeper into the shadows of a battle far older and far darker than anyone had ever been told.
The forest whispered things no human tongue could mimic—ancient, brittle voices caught in the wind like forgotten chants. Tree trunks curved unnaturally, moss pulsed with strange luminescence, and the deeper they went, the colder the air became. Yet none of the three stopped walking.
Renn moved ahead, silent and focused, his eyes sharper than usual. He hadn't said much since they left, but every motion of his body betrayed tension, readiness, and memory.
Taru glanced at Kaito, his voice low. "You've been quiet."
Kaito exhaled, his breath visible. "I keep thinking about Akira… about our mother. About the letter in your bag. None of this makes sense—and I think we're going to find the answers right where we don't want them."
Taru nodded. "You know… I keep wondering what kind of person my sister became. If she's alive… if she's still her."
"I know that feeling," Renn said suddenly, voice low but firm. "The wondering. The waiting. I used to ask that every night about my brother." He turned to face them. "But I stopped asking the day I saw what he became."
Kaito's eyes widened. "You saw him?"
"He's one of them," Renn said, voice taut with restraint. "Part of the Hollow Gale. A commander, I think. He didn't even flinch when he saw me."
Taru swallowed hard. "I'm sorry…"
"Don't be. He made his choice. I'll make mine."
They continued in silence for several more minutes before a strange echo met their ears. Metal clashing. Screams, distant but real.
They ducked behind a large root. In a clearing just ahead stood two Hollow Gale scouts—dressed in ragged battle armor, their weapons drawn, faces hidden behind masks of bone and cloth.
Renn whispered, "No Venin. We take them down quietly."
Kaito's grip tightened on the hilt of his training blade. "Got it."
The three boys lunged forward in unison, and what followed was a swift, brutal dance in the mist:
– Renn struck first, sweeping low, using a stone as leverage to kick one of the scouts in the face before flipping over and driving his elbow into the back of the man's neck.
– Taru moved like lightning, his body responding on instinct, ducking under a wild swing and slamming his knee into the scout's stomach before driving him into a tree.
– Kaito, though less experienced, held his own—parrying a strike with both arms and ramming his shoulder into the opponent's chest, knocking him to the ground. For a moment, Kaito hesitated—but then he moved forward, fist clenched, knocking the scout out cold with a clean blow to the temple.
When the fight ended, the three stood over the unconscious enemies, breathing heavily.
"No Venin," Renn muttered, checking their bodies. "They weren't expecting a fight."
"They will now," Kaito said, eyes darkening.
Taru suddenly knelt beside one of the scouts, his fingers trembling. "This insignia…" he whispered. "It's my family's crest. Worn on his belt."
Renn and Kaito looked at each other.
Renn placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then this… this is just the beginning."
As night fell deeper over the cursed forest, the three walked on—toward the lair of Hollow Gale, toward the ghosts of their past, and toward a truth that could break or forge their fate.
The forest opened slowly into a desolate basin, ringed by black trees whose bark wept sap the color of rust. In the distance, lights flickered—torchlight or magic, it wasn't clear—but the architecture they revealed was unmistakably manmade. Old stone walls, broken towers swallowed by vines, and in the center: a massive shrine, ancient and sunken into the earth like it was trying to escape time itself.
"That's Hollow Gale's hideout?" Kaito whispered.
"No," Renn answered grimly. "That's one of them."
Taru scanned the surroundings, unease forming in his chest. "There's something off. That place feels… watched."
And he was right.
The air twisted with unseen eyes, and though there were no footsteps, no rustling of leaves, each boy felt it—the pressure of something wrong. Not just human malice. Something deeper. Something crafted to unmake.
As they approached the outer wall, they dropped to a crawl beneath the brambles. Hidden in the roots was a collapsed tunnel—old, with strange markings scrawled in red chalk. Renn brushed his fingers over them.
"Old sealwork," he said. "Worn. But not inactive."
He turned to them. "We go in. We find information. If Taru's sister is here, or if your brother had anything to do with it…" He paused. "We end it."
The tunnel was narrow and suffocating. Every breath echoed like a whisper in a coffin. After minutes of crawling, it widened, revealing an old chamber filled with scrolls, shackles, and rows of surgical tools too cruel for any doctor to use.
"Interrogation chamber," Kaito muttered, bile rising.
"No," Renn said, picking up a broken mask. "Conversion chamber. This is where they break you. Where they rewrite you into one of them."
Taru's gaze landed on an old sketch pinned to the wall. It was faded… but the girl in the image had eyes that mirrored his own. "Mika," he breathed.
Just then—click.
A pressure plate beneath Kaito's foot hissed, and a steel grate slammed down behind them. Doors creaked open around the chamber. From the shadows, figures stepped out—hooded, masked, silent.
Six of them.
Renn pulled his blade. "This just became a test."
"No Venin?" Kaito asked.
"None," Renn confirmed. "They want to see what we can do without it."
The scouts rushed them.
Kaito ducked the first strike, his reflexes faster now. He was learning to move with his instincts, flowing with the fight rather than resisting it. He took a blow to the ribs but responded with a backhanded strike to the jaw that sent one scout sprawling.
Taru moved like a blur, using his environment—walls, pillars, even broken chains—to maneuver. He caught one of the Hollow Gale fighters by the neck and drove him into the ground, then twisted and blocked a second with his shoulder before sweeping their legs.
Renn's fight was almost poetic. Every movement had intent—dodge, feint, strike, disable. It wasn't flashy. It wasn't loud. But it was decisive. He took down two with calculated calm, barely even sweating.
But then—
A seventh figure appeared, different from the rest. Taller. No mask. A cracked smile across his face.
"Welcome back, little brother," the man said.
Renn froze. The others saw his posture shift not out of fear… but fury.
"Kaito. Taru. That's him," Renn growled. "That's Togaki."
The brothers stood facing each other, the tension in the room turning molten.
"Miss me?" Togaki asked, voice slick with venom. "You're always running away from your real family."
"I have no brother," Renn answered, stepping forward.
"Shame," togaki smirked, stepping into a battle stance. "I was hoping you'd finally wake up."
"Stay back," Renn warned the others.
Togaki charged.
The clash between them was unlike any fight so far—not just strength, but emotion. Memories laced into every strike, guilt buried beneath every parry.
Kaito watched, heart pounding. "He's faster than before…"
"He's holding back," Taru murmured. "So is Renn."
Togaki ducked under a swing, grabbed Renn's arm, and threw him into the wall.
"But you're stronger now," he grinned. "Maybe they didn't break you completely."
Renn wiped blood from his mouth. "They tried. You let them."
Before the fight could escalate, an explosion rocked the upper levels.
Sirens. Alarm bells.
"More are coming," Taru said. "We can't win this if we stay."
Kaito helped Renn up. "We'll finish this later."
Riku chuckled, not following. "Run, little brother. But the forest won't forget you."
The trio sprinted out through the chaos, following an alternate exit Renn remembered from long ago. As they emerged back into the cold night air, panting and bruised, the weight of what they'd seen pressed down on them.
Mika. The conversion chamber. Togaki .
And something worse they could feel looming, waiting.
The fire crackled softly, casting long shadows across the clearing. A hush had fallen over the trio—each lost in thought, the adrenaline of the earlier fight fading into a weary silence. The trees still loomed around them like old guardians, whispering with the wind, but for now, the danger felt distant.
Taru sat cross-legged, hunched over a small, weathered cloth he'd pulled from his pouch. He unfolded it carefully, revealing a torn and faded photo. A girl stood there—smiling faintly, holding a bundled infant in her arms.
"My sister," he said softly. "Ayaka."
Kaito, who had been tending the fire, looked up slowly. "I thought you said her name was Airi… yesterday."
Taru blinked. His brow furrowed. "Did I? No, I—I meant Ayaka. That's what… I think that's what it was."
Kaito hesitated, then nodded, though the confusion flickered behind his eyes. Just the day before, when they'd been ambushed near the Hollow Gale scouts, Taru had whispered Mika.
Renn, sharpening a thin blade at the edge of the firelight, glanced toward them, saying nothing.
"You don't remember her name clearly, do you?" Kaito finally asked, his tone not judgmental—just… careful.
Taru looked down at the photo. "I was barely a baby when she was taken. Everything I know about her is secondhand—pieces Akira told me, pieces I imagined. It's like… trying to hear a song in a storm. Sometimes it's Ayaka, sometimes Airi, sometimes I hear Mika. I don't know which one is real anymore."
"You remember what she meant to you," Kaito said quietly. "That's still something."
Renn's voice cut through the quiet. "Names can be taken. Memories twisted. Especially by the Hollow Gale." He stood, letting the blade rest against his shoulder. "They'll bury the truth so deep you won't recognize it when you find it."
Taru clenched the photo in his fist, his jaw set. "Then we dig it back up."
Kaito looked at him, his voice a murmur. "And if the truth hurts?"
"Then we face it together."
Silence lingered. The wind swept past, carrying that strange hum again—the one that made the forest feel alive.
Kaito watched Taru closely, a sliver of doubt slipping in—not about Taru's determination, but about what they might find at the end of this journey.
What if Taru's sister wasn't the girl in the photo anymore? What if she didn't even remember him?
Still, he said none of it. Because Taru had hope and sometimes, that was stronger than certainty.
The flames danced higher as the three of them sat together, alone against the shadows, walking unknowingly toward a truth that would test all they had left.
The morning sunlight filtered in through the large arched windows of Shinsei Combat Academy, but it did little to ease the heaviness that hung over the halls. The usual vibrant buzz of students sparring, bickering, and shouting challenges was subdued, replaced with murmurs and darting glances.
Classroom 2-B, once the rowdiest of the lot, now sat in uncomfortable silence. Even the notorious duo—Kazuki Tetsuya and Shouta Aoi—were unusually quiet. Kazuki leaned against the back wall, arms crossed, his jaw set in frustration. Shouta kept drumming his fingers against the desk, eyes flicking occasionally toward the empty chairs where Kaito, Taru, and Renn used to sit.
Erika Yui sat with her head down, whispering something to Himari Saki. Himari's brows were furrowed, her lips pressed in a hard line. Akiho Rei kept twirling a pen between his fingers, looking distracted. Even Yume, usually cheerful, kept glancing out the window like she expected them to just come walking up the path.
Kobito hadn't said a word since that morning. He sat alone, unusually tense. Ever since the three vanished, he'd been getting more stares than ever—and none of them were kind.
"They're not back," Erika whispered.
"They've been gone six days," Akiho muttered, "and it's not like the teachers are telling us anything."
Miss Mizuki entered, her heels clicking sharply against the wooden floor. Her expression was tight, unreadable, the usual annoyance in her face replaced by something sterner.
"All right. Quiet."
No one argued.
She surveyed the class, her gaze lingering on the empty seats. "You've all heard the rumors. But here's the truth. Kaito, Taru, and Renn left without permission. We don't know where they went."
Kazuki stood abruptly. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"Exactly what I said," she replied coolly. "Principal Rogiru is handling the matter. Your job is to focus on training."
"Training?" Shouta echoed. "When our classmates might be—"
"Enough." Mizuki's voice snapped like a whip. "They made a choice. Now you need to make yours. Will you fall apart, or rise stronger?"
A hush fell over the class again. The silence was interrupted only when Kobito finally stood up, his voice surprisingly firm.
"They'll be back."
Everyone turned.
"I don't know how. But they will."
Miss Mizuki eyed him for a moment, then turned back to the board. "We'll see."
As class resumed with half-hearted drills and dull repetition, Erika leaned toward Himari again. "You think he's right?"
Himari didn't answer at first. She stared ahead, fists clenched under her desk. Then, quietly: "He has to be."
Meanwhile, hidden in the school's archives, Principal Rogiru sat alone in a darkened chamber, a large sheet of parchment in front of him. Names. Reports. Dates. Venin levels.
And one word circled multiple times in deep red ink: Hollow Gale.
He leaned back, chewing on a rice cracker thoughtfully, his smile nowhere in sight.
"They're about to walk into a storm," he murmured. "Let's see if they come back with lightning in their bones... or not at all."
The sky above the academy bled into twilight, its purples and oranges washing over the training grounds like a bruised memory. A storm hovered in the distance—low, growling thunder that hadn't yet struck, but promised it would.
Most of the students had either retreated to their dorms or sat gathered in hushed clusters around the campus, each group whispering some new theory about where Kaito, Taru, and Renn had vanished to.
Inside Dorm 2, Erika Yui and Himari Saki sat together on the balcony ledge. A light breeze carried the scent of iron and scorched grass from the training field, where an earlier spar had gone wrong.
"I overheard Miss Mizuki talking to Captain Rino earlier," Erika whispered, her silver hair swaying in the breeze.
Himari blinked. "What did she say?"
"They found signs… outside the academy. A broken insignia from a Hollow Gale scout."
Himari's heart dropped. "No…"
"They're not saying it out loud, but they know where the boys went. They just can't follow them without risking war."
Himari bit her lip, silent for a while, before saying softly, "We should've stopped them."
"No." Erika looked at her with a strange fire in her eyes. "They were protecting us. If this has anything to do with Hollow Gale… then they're already carrying more than we ever could."
Below them, Kazuki and Shouta had just returned from another round of forced drills. Both were battered and bruised, sweat dripping from their foreheads.
"Still pissed?" Shouta asked as they walked.
Kazuki didn't answer immediately. Then: "I'm angry they left without saying anything. But I'm angrier we're sitting here doing nothing while they're probably bleeding somewhere."
Shouta gave a half-smile. "Yeah. Doesn't sit right with me either."
"Tomorrow," Kazuki muttered. "We talk to Rogiru. If he won't let us act, we'll find another way."
At the same time, Akiho Rei was in the library with Kobito, Yume, and another student—Riku Tenma, a quiet strategist with a gift for surveillance-type Venin. Riku had been pouring over maps, markers scattered around like an invisible war council.
"I've been tracking some minor Hollow Gale movements," Riku said, tapping a location deep in the forest. "No full deployment. Just shadows. If your friends are going anywhere… it's there."
Kobito narrowed his eyes. "How do you even have this?"
"Rogiru doesn't erase my access like he should." Riku grinned. "He forgets I wrote half of the school's surveillance code."
Kobito looked at the coordinates. It was just south of the Wailing Pines, near a ruin no one dared to explore. "Then that's where they'll go."
Akiho leaned in. "If we track them, we may be able to help."
"We're not strong enough," Yume said. "Not yet."
Kobito clenched his fists. "Then we train. Harder than ever. Because I refuse to let Kaito fight that alone."
Riku closed the map. "Good. Then tomorrow, we start. Even if Rogiru doesn't approve."
Above, lightning finally cracked the sky.
And in that moment, as if drawn by fate, every student looking up felt the air shift.
Something was coming.
And this time…noone would be able to ignore it .