The midday sun hung high and heavy in the sky, casting long, sharp shadows across the training ground like the edges of unsheathed blades.
Kaito stood near the center of the field, his shirt soaked through with sweat. Lightning sputtered at his fingertips, each flicker pulsing like a heartbeat—quick, unstable, barely contained. He gritted his teeth as the sparks fizzled out again.
"Come on…" he muttered, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
Maito and I sat on a low stone wall nearby, watching.
Or, at least, Maito was watching. I wasn't. Not really.
My eyes were on Kaito, but my mind… my mind was still stuck back in that quiet moment earlier—when Maito had told me things I never expected to hear.
Things about me.
About my past.
My origin.
Even now, hours later, it felt like a part of me had split in two—who I thought I was, and who I might really be. I hadn't decided which one felt more real yet.
"You're zoning out again," Maito said beside me, voice low.
I blinked and looked away. "Sorry. Just… thinking."
He didn't press. He just crossed his arms and kept his eyes on Kaito.
The wind shifted slightly, carrying the scent of scorched grass from where Kaito's latest lightning strike had scorched the earth. He let out a groan of frustration and shook out his hands.
"Still can't control it," he mumbled. "Ugh… why is lightning so damn stubborn?"
"Because you're stubborn," Maito called back. "It's probably just reflecting your personality."
"Hey! That's mean!" Kaito yelled, but there was no real bite to it.
Then, before any of us could say more, a deep voice sliced through the air—calm, steady, and impossible to ignore.
"You all look troubled."
I turned immediately. That voice didn't belong to just anyone.
Ryoji Kasama.
He walked toward us with a presence that could silence a battlefield. Not because he was loud—but because he wasn't. He didn't need to be. His very presence made you listen.
He stopped in front of us, his eyes moving over each of us like he was scanning the pieces of a chessboard. Sharp. Measuring. Patient.
Even Kaito straightened up like a kid caught slouching in front of a strict parent.
Ryoji let out a quiet sigh and folded his arms. "You all wear your emotions on your faces. Anyone with eyes can see you're weighed down."
Nobody said anything. Not right away.
Maito gave a small shrug. "We're thinking. That's not a crime, is it?"
Ryoji walked past him and placed a steady hand on Kaito's shoulder.
"This one's still pushing forward, even if he's struggling," he said. "Why are the rest of you just sitting still?"
Kaito grinned under the pressure. "That's 'cause I'm the best. Obviously."
Maito rolled his eyes. "You're just terrified of your father's lectures."
I snorted quietly, but Ryoji wasn't smiling. His tone dropped, and suddenly, the air around us felt… heavier.
"Listen to me, all of you," he said. "No one here met by accident."
The world slowed.
His words weren't dramatic.
They were just… true. Something about the way he said it made your heart pay attention.
"There is no such thing as coincidence," Ryoji went on. "This world—your path—it's not random. God doesn't throw dice for fun. Every soul is pulled toward its fate like iron to a magnet."
He turned to me.
"You too, Hiroshi."
I tensed under his gaze. There was no malice in it—but there was weight. It was like he was looking through me.
"You were brought here for a reason. It might not make sense now. That's fine. You don't have to understand it yet. But you will. One day."
I lowered my gaze, unsure how to respond.
Was that true?
Was everything I'd gone through—being pulled into this world, being trained, being tested—all part of something planned?
Maito spoke up.
"And what about us?"
Ryoji glanced at him with a smirk. "You think you're special? You too. All of you. You wouldn't be here otherwise."
He stepped back and looked at the whole group now. "Don't waste this time. There's too much to learn. Too much coming."
His gaze flicked back to Kaito.
"Even this idiot, for all his recklessness, keeps moving. That's what matters. He keeps going."
Kaito beamed. "See? See?! Father finally acknowledges my greatness!"
Maito didn't miss a beat. Flick. He thumped him hard on the forehead.
"Don't let it go to your head, dumbass."
Ryoji shook his head. "You two… still children."
Then the shift came.
He straightened.
His voice turned cold and still, like the surface of deep water.
"I didn't come here just to talk."
We all fell quiet.
"There's something you need to know," he said. "Something I wasn't planning to say so soon. But things are… accelerating."
I frowned. "Accelerating how?"
He didn't answer right away.
Instead, he looked up at the sky—at the way the clouds hung perfectly still, unmoving. Like they were waiting for something.
Then, he said it.
"A storm is coming."
At first, I thought he meant it metaphorically.
But the way he said it… no.
He didn't mean weather.
The silence that followed was thick and charged. Even Kaito, normally the loudest among us, went still.
Ryoji's eyes locked onto mine again.
"You must all be ready," he said. "The world won't wait for you to catch up."
I felt it then.
Not fear, exactly.
Not excitement either.
Something in between.
Like standing on the edge of something massive, something ancient, and knowing it's about to wake up.
We had been training. Preparing. Struggling to master our magic and understand our purpose.