Time: 6:43 a.m.
The city lights flickered through the window, but Haruki didn't notice. The pendant lay in his hand, unnaturally warm, its soft glow pulsing like a heartbeat.
He hadn't told anyone-not his friends, not even his mother. The message that came with it still rang in his mind.
"It's time to remember."
Remember what?
He stared at the scroll again. Symbols danced across the page like fire-foreign, yet familiar. His fingers traced them, and for a brief second, he saw his father's face-not in memory, but something deeper. A flash. A whisper.
Then, just like that, it was gone.
Ten years since he disappeared. No note. No answers. Just a closed case and a cold silence his mother never dared to break.
But now, something was changing. He could feel it something stirring inside him. And the pendant... it responded to his touch.
That night, sleep didn't come easy.
When it did, it brought a dream of fire.
A glowing shrine hidden among misty peaks. Shadows kneeling in silence. And at the center, a burning ember suspended in the air-small, radiant, alive. A voice called his name from the dark.
"Haruki..."
He woke up gasping.
Outside, the moon hung low-bright, watchful.
Inside his veins, something ancient had begun to burn.
Haruki stood at the edge of the dusty storage closet, the door creaking open like it hadn't been touched in years. His mother rarely came in here-it was filled with boxes of old clothes, tools, and the past she never talked about.
He crouched and pulled out a wooden chest, the kind his father used to keep locked. The key was long gone, but the latch gave way with a firm push.
Inside were fragments of a life: an old photograph of his parents in the mountains, a torn martial arts certificate... and a folded piece of black cloth. He unwrapped it slowly.
A small, weathered notebook fell out.
The cover was blank, but inside, the pages were filled with tight, controlled handwriting his father's. Names, places, symbols-some matched the ones on the scroll. But one stood out:
Kuroyama Shrine Do not return until he's ready.
Haruki's breath caught. He had never heard of that place. A hidden shrine? His father wrote this after leaving?
Flipping to the back, he found something else an envelope, sealed and addressed only with one word:
"Haruki."
His hands trembled.
Somewhere deep inside him, that ember pulsed again-stronger this time.
Haruki turned the envelope over in his hands. It felt heavier than paper should-like the words inside were waiting for the right moment to be heard.
He slipped his finger under the seal.
A sudden click echoed from the hallway.
His head snapped up.
Footsteps.
He stuffed the envelope back into the notebook and slid everything into his backpack. The storage closet door hadn't fully shut before his mom's voice drifted in.
"Haruki? You're up early."
"Yeah, just... looking for something," he said, trying to sound casual.
She lingered in the doorway for a second too long. "Your father used to do that too.
Always tinkering with old boxes."
Haruki managed a smile, though his mind was racing.
When she walked away, he exhaled.
The letter would have to wait.
But now he had a name-Kuroyama Shrine.
He didn't know where it was or why his father had written about it. But something told him it wasn't just a memory.
It was a door.
And he had just found the key.
Next Chapter Teaser:
School seems ordinary... until a mysterious new girl arrives with eyes that know too much. As the pendant stirs and secrets tighten their grip, Haruki begins to realize -he's not the only one drawn to the ember.