The school bell had rung over an hour ago, but Kaito Ishida still wandered the empty halls, his bag slung over one shoulder and his eyes half-lidded with boredom.
He didn't have any friends to rush home to. No club activities. No crushes waiting by the gate.
Just himself.
And maybe dinner.
"What should I cook tonight?" he murmured as he exited the back gate. "We still have that leftover rice… Maybe fried rice? Or curry again…?"
The streets were quieter than usual. It was the kind of stillness that made you feel like something was about to happen—but not in the exciting, movie-kind of way. The sky was starting to darken, not from sunset… but from something else.
Kaito slowed his pace.
That's when he saw it.
A thick black smoke curling up into the air, far in the distance. Dark. Heavy. Wrong.
His heart stuttered.
"Where is that coming from?" he said aloud, blinking. He turned to a man who had also stopped to stare. "Excuse me, do you know what that is?"
The man looked concerned but calm. "I'm not sure. Looks serious. Could be a house fire."
Kaito nodded, whispered "thank you," and then bolted.
His feet slapped the pavement hard, faster than they ever had in gym class. He didn't know why, but something deep in his chest—something primal—told him to run.
And as he turned onto his street, he felt the breath leave his body.
His home—the one with the crooked mailbox and the blue potted plants outside the door—was burning.
Kaito ran past the caution tape, past the crowd of neighbors, past the firefighter shouting for him to stop.
He didn't hear them.
He could only hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.
"Mom!? Dad!? Riku!? Aiko!?"
The front door was wide open, smoke curling from inside. He stumbled through the scorched entryway, coughing, eyes stinging.
Everything was charred. Broken. Twisted.
He moved room to room, panic mounting with every step. Until he found them.
They hadn't died in the fire.
They'd been murdered.
His mother and father lay side by side, blood staining the tatami mats. His younger brother, Riku, looked like he'd tried to protect Aiko. His hand was stretched out toward her… but he hadn't made it.
Kaito froze in place. The heat pressed against his skin, but he couldn't feel anything.
His legs gave out.
He collapsed to the floor, shaking, unable to even scream.
"Who… did this?" he thought. "Why…?"
But there were no answers. Just smoke. Blood. And silence.