In the heart of darkness...
A body was plummeting—falling into a bottomless abyss.
Or so we thought.
Renji... was falling.
Powerless.
---
Completely surrendered to his inevitable fate.
The cold air lashed at his face like invisible whips, leaving no visible marks—
But he felt them.
Each one.
He was thinking.
---
Not about death.
Not even about pain.
But about the threads—
How they pierced through his body, shredded him apart, then vanished...
As if they had never existed.
---
As if they were nothing but a hallucination.
But his focus had long since narrowed to one single thing—
A name.
A name that echoed endlessly in his mind like a cursed chant:
"Marokai Zenshinta..."
---
Renji whispered the name under his breath.
Then spoke, weakly:
"Raizen... kept repeating it.
What did he mean when he said I was that man's grandson...?
Who even was he?"
---
A dry laugh escaped him—
Empty, lifeless.
"Heh... looks like... I won't live long enough to find out."
He took a slow breath in...
And exhaled, softly.
---
"Ffffffff…"
Still falling.
Deeper.
And deeper.
Into a pit with no end.
---
His head dangled downward.
Eyes half-closed... exhausted, like his soul.
No resistance.
No screams.
No denial.
---
Only... acceptance.
He accepted that this—
Was his end.
The ground rushed toward him, terrifyingly fast.
The screech of the wind grew louder—
---
And the pressure of the fall threatened to rip him apart.
Renji shut his eyes.
A faint smile curled his lips as he whispered:
"...So this is what the end looks like."
He paused.
---
Then murmured:
"It's... cold."
His face inched closer to the ground...
And in just a few more seconds—
This would be it.
---
"Renji…"
"Reeeenjiiii!"
His eyes flew open.
Pupils shrunk.
Breath—shallow and fast.
---
His whole body flinched.
"RENJI! WAKE UP!"
The voice returned.
Familiar.
Then—
---
"Him—ARGHH!"
"THUD!"
Silence.
A silence loud enough to scream.
And then—
---
"Khh—HHAAAH!"
Renji gasped violently—
As if his soul had just slammed back into his body after an eternity of drowning.
His eyes shot open.
He was lying on the floor,
---
Wrapped in a warm blanket.
Wooden flooring beneath him...
The smell of tea in the air...
Sunlight pouring in from the window.
He was...
---
In Miss Yumi's house.
He turned his head slowly—
There she was.
Himari, smiling sweetly as she said:
"Renji… breakfast is ready!"
---
He nodded gently, still half in shock.
She giggled softly:
"Don't take too long. The food's gonna get cold."
But Renji didn't move.
He kept glancing around—
---
Again.
And again.
Trying to process it.
He was alive.
He wasn't dead.
---
He exhaled slowly, and muttered:
"Just... a nightmare..."
But—
Another voice answered him, laced with a mocking tone:
"Ah… you're right.
---
Just a nightmare."
His eyes widened.
He spun around—
...no one.
His whole body trembled.
---
Heart pounding.
He sprang up—
Bolted out of the house.
Ran until he reached the old well.
He drew a bucket of water—
---
And splashed it on his face.
"SPLASH!"
Then—
"SLAP!"
He slapped himself hard.
---
"This... is just a hallucination.
Yeah. Just a hallu—"
He stopped.
Staring into the water—
He saw it.
---
A smile.
A strange smile forming on his face.
Unnatural.
Unwanted.
He lifted a trembling hand to his cheek...
---
He really was smiling.
He tried forcing it down.
Tried to relax his face.
But the more he resisted—
The more it hurt.
---
Until—
"RIP!"
The skin of his cheek tore open.
Shimmering green threads burst from beneath—
They gripped the tear—
---
Pulled it tight—
And stitched it back together.
Then vanished.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Renji screamed.
---
Clutched his face.
Dropped to his knees.
His eyes were twitching.
His breathing, frantic.
He could feel them.
---
The threads.
Slithering inside his body.
Crawling on his face.
His eyelids.
But the worst part—
---
Wasn't the pain.
It wasn't the threads.
It was the smile.
That smile—
Refused to disappear.
---
Fixed on his face like a cursed mask.
The more he tried to drop it...
The tighter the threads pulled.
Tighter.
And tighter...
---
Renji's eyes—
They glistened with terror.
But that smile…
It remained.
Despite everything.
---
Despite the pain.
Despite the screams strangling themselves inside his throat.
Tears welled up, slowly gathering in the corners of his eyes.
One of them betrayed him.
It slipped from his right eye, slid across his frozen cheek, paused briefly—
---
And fell.
One drop.
Then another.
Two... three... four...
"Mmmmmm…"
---
A soft hum escaped his trembling lips.
"Why is this happening to me...?"
He spoke with a cracked voice—
While still smiling.
Smiling with force.
---
Smiling under duress.
Another tear fell...
And struck the ground, right where his shadow lay.
Suddenly—
Renji's shadow moved.
---
On its own.
Its head tilted slightly to the side—
And then...
Its eyes opened.
Two glowing red orbs shone from within the pitch-black silhouette.
---
And it... smiled.
But not like Renji.
Not like a human.
This was an empty smile.
No lips. No gums.
---
Just an abyss curling upwards at the edges.
Then, in a voice that sounded wrong—
Heavy. Mocking. Almost serpentine:
"Aww...
You look so adorable when you're this broken."
---
---
Renji flinched violently.
He stepped back, fear gripping his spine:
"R-Raizen…?"
The shadow answered with a monstrous grin:
"Yes... it's me.
---
And now, I can move freely...
As long as we're together."
Raizen raised one finger—
A signal.
"More importantly," he added with a smug smile,
---
"I'll never die...
thanks to Lord Ronzzztan's curse."
Renji felt a chill crawl through his spine.
An unnatural cold gnawed at his skin.
He looked up—
---
And saw Raizen standing inside his shadow,
Moving.
Breathing.
Smiling—
Like he belonged there.
---
"What... are you going to do to me now?"
Renji's voice was low.
A twisted smile still frozen on his lips.
Raizen, with a glint in his eye:
"Hohohoho...
---
So many things."
He paused.
Then added with a wider grin:
"I mean—we will do so many things."
"W-What do you mean by 'we'?"
---
Renji stood slowly, trembling.
Raizen approached.
Step by step.
His voice dropped to a devilish whisper:
"I mean we are now... the hunted.
---
And we only have two choices...
Fight—
Or die like sheep."
Suddenly—
Renji shouted, his fear exploding into rage:
---
"What the hell do you mean by that?!
You've made me face death over and over again!
And now you say fight or die?!"
Raizen stared back coldly.
"That... wasn't the point of it all.
---
Everything I did was for—"
Renji cut him off, voice cracking:
"Then what the hell was the point?!
I can't even get rid of this cursed smile on my face!
Every time I try—
---
My skin rips, and those threads come back!
You did this to me!!"
Raizen didn't answer.
He just... smiled.
He raised his right hand—
---
Slowly—
Then—
Snap!
A crisp finger snap.
Renji's face tightened instantly.
---
"What the hell are you doing now?!
Why aren't you saying anything?!"
Raizen didn't move.
Didn't respond.
Just—
---
Snap! — Snap! — Snap!
Three more snaps.
Renji's body—froze.
He couldn't move.
His limbs twisted.
---
Distorted.
His mouth began to tear open—
That smile stretched wider...
From ear to ear.
Shimmering threads now covered his lips—
---
Moving with each word,
As if puppeteering him,
But never silencing him.
Then—
His eyes.
---
They turned a glowing, radiant blue.
His eyelids wrapped in shimmering threads,
Like parasites latching onto prey.
Unremovable.
Incomprehensible.
---
And every joint in his body—
Split open.
From beneath his skin—
Threads emerged.
Threads that lived inside him.
---
Pulling his body together.
Binding him from within.
His body—
A puppet.
But not from the outside.
---
A puppet that had been swallowed—
From the inside—
By the threads of darkness.
A whisper soaked in agony and horror—
Escaped from deep within Renji's soul as he screamed...
---
A muffled scream.
Barely audible:
"What… did you do to me…?"
Raizen smirked—
A smug, lifeless smile as he answered:
---
"Simple.
I made you compatible for the merge."
He took a step forward into the shadow,
His voice echoing like a diseased whisper inside Renji's mind:
"So I can live inside your shadow...
---
So I won't die.
So I can move freely—"
He paused.
Then added:
"Almost freely."
---
He winked, added a cocky half-smile—
And raised a finger.
Snap!
A single finger snap—
Renji's body returned to normal.
---
The threads vanished.
His skin healed.
The mutations disappeared.
But...
The smile—
---
Remained.
Frozen.
Fixed to his face like a cursed mask.
Renji touched his body in panic.
Ran his hands across his arms, his chest, his face—
---
Making sure he wasn't still that thing.
And then—
Raizen spoke in a voice calm... and dangerous:
"This was the only way to bind us together."
Silence.
---
Then he continued:
"Now... neither of us can separate from the other.
When one of us feels pain—so does the other.
And death...? Same rules."
Renji tried to calm himself.
---
Took a deep breath.
Spun around a few times, as if trying to find distance between him and the nightmare.
Then said, half-composed:
"So now... you live in my shadow."
Raizen, smug:
---
"Obviously."
"And our lives are linked?"
"Yep."
"And you turned me into a monster...
But I can go back to normal...
---
Except the smile."
Raizen shrugged, completely unbothered:
"Perfect.
Want a medal for repeating everything I said like a parrot?"
Renji snapped:
---
"You're impossible!"
Then sighed hard, calming down a little.
"Also... since you live in my shadow...
Can you touch things?
Or can others touch you?
---
You know... since you're a shadow.
Shadows aren't supposed to be touched."
Raizen let out a dry, mocking laugh:
"Of course I can touch things.
But no one can touch me...
---
Unless I allow it.
Or unless it's you."
He stepped closer as he explained:
"Because every human cursed by Lord Ronzzztan...
Can touch me.
---
And I… am a curse on you.
And you... are my host."
Renji opened his mouth to reply—
But a sudden voice—
Feminine.
---
Familiar.
Pure.
"Reeeenjiiii!
Where are you?
Miss Yumi's looking for you!"
---
It was Himari's voice.
Innocent.
Childlike.
So full of light—
That had no place in this world of darkness.
---
Renji turned—
So did Raizen.
And in that moment—
Raizen began to solidify.
His body forming from shadows, like smoke turning into flesh.
---
Gaining features.
A face.
Limbs.
Then he spoke, voice dripping with disgust:
"Oh... so your little sister is looking for you?
---
How pathetic."
His face twisted—
More sharp.
More bitter.
"I feel like vomiting."
---
But Renji didn't answer.
Something... froze him.
He felt a presence.
Drawing closer to Himari...
Something inhuman.
---
A creature.
Something ripped from the pages of that cursed book...
And its insides—
Burned with the desire to kill.
---
TO BE CONTINUED...