Ren stared at the photograph lying on the floor.
His heart seemed to stop.
There had been three people in the picture.
Now there were four.
The fourth figure stood behind them, almost completely hidden by darkness. Only its eyes were visible.
Ren bent down and picked up the photograph.
"Kazuki… this person wasn't there before."
"I know," Kazuki said quietly.
Ren looked at him. "Who is it?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying again."
Kazuki shook his head. "I'm not."
The photograph suddenly became warm in Ren's hand.
A thin line of red appeared across the fourth figure's face.
Then the image changed.
The three people disappeared.
Only Ren remained in the photograph.
And behind him stood the same shadow.
Ren dropped it.
A voice whispered through the corridor.
"You finally found the missing piece."
Ren turned around.
"Show yourself!"
Nothing answered.
Kazuki stepped beside him. "We should leave."
"There is no way back."
"Then we find another way."
Ren looked down the corridor.
A faint light had appeared at the far end.
"I think that's our way."
They walked toward it.
The walls slowly changed as they moved. The roses disappeared, replaced by old paintings and photographs.
Ren stopped beside one.
It showed a large house surrounded by trees.
At the entrance stood his father.
Ren touched the glass covering the picture.
"This is our old house."
Kazuki looked at it carefully.
"There is something written here."
Beneath the picture were four words:
THE NIGHT EVERYTHING BEGAN.
Ren's eyes narrowed.
"When?"
Kazuki pointed toward the date beneath it.
Ren recognized it immediately.
The night he was born.
A strange silence filled the corridor.
Ren stepped backward.
"My father knew."
"Knew what?"
"That something would happen to me."
Before Kazuki could respond, a door opened at the end of the corridor.
Warm light spilled across the floor.
A familiar voice came from inside.
"Ren."
Ren froze.
He knew that voice.
It was the voice he had remembered from childhood.
His father's voice.
Kazuki grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
Ren pulled his arm free.
"If that's really him, I have to know."
He walked toward the doorway.
"Ren, wait."
But Ren kept going.
Inside was a small room.
There was a desk, several old books, and a single chair facing the window.
Someone stood beside it.
An older man.
Ren couldn't move.
His eyes filled with disbelief.
"Dad?"
The man slowly turned.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then the man smiled sadly.
"You've grown."
Ren's voice trembled.
"You're alive."
His father nodded.
"I've been waiting for you."
Ren took another step.
"Why did you leave?"
His father's expression changed.
"Because staying would have put you in greater danger."
"Danger from who?"
His father looked past him.
Toward Kazuki.
Ren turned.
Kazuki stood in the doorway, completely silent.
His father spoke quietly.
"From the people who believe your blood belongs to them."
Ren looked between them.
"What are you talking about?"
His father stepped closer.
"The truth is, Ren, you were never meant to inherit this secret."
He paused.
"But someone has already chosen you."
The door behind Kazuki suddenly slammed shut.
And from the other side came a slow knock.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
His father looked toward the door.
Then his face went pale.
"They found us."