Around her, the heirs of noble houses sat in neat rows—their uniforms flawlessly tailored, their golden pens gleaming.
A sharp pang of inadequacy pulled at her chest.
Why must this wall exist? Why does their world shine so bright while mine is trapped in shadow?
She bit her lip. She had worked harder than anyone, and yet... In this academy, effort alone was never enough.
The teacher's voice shattered her thoughts.
"Are you even listening, orphan girl?"
Shizumi froze.
The teacher's glare was a cutting knife. "Late. Do you imagine this academy is a charity shelter? Does your pitiful scholarship give you the right to drag your feet and waste everyone's time?"
A cold, collective murmur ran through the classroom.
The teacher stepped closer, her words dripping with poison. "Children born without a name, without a family, should remember their place. You don't belong among heirs of greatness. You're nothing but a shadow clinging to a light you'll never reach."
The words struck like whips.
Shizumi's breath hitched, her throat burning. She kept her eyes down, her nails digging crescent shapes into her palms.
Don't cry. Not here. Don't cry.
The teacher's voice rose, crueler still. "Even your parents abandoned you, isn't that right? No legacy, no honor. Just a burden we are forced to tolerate—"
The air grew heavy with tension. Every pair of eyes waited—some with open mockery, others with chilling indifference.
The teacher's voice cracked like a whip.
"So this is what a charity case looks like? You truly think your stipend makes you equal to them?"
Shizumi's fingers trembled over her desk. She couldn't look up. Her throat ached with words she couldn't utter.
The teacher's lips curled into a bitter sneer.
"Do you even know how much this academy spends on you?"
A ripple of thin, cruel laughter ran through the class. Hollow. Endless.
Shizumi's eyes shimmered, fixed on the floor—until she felt it.
A soft, unexpected contact.
Ren's hand—steady, warm, protective—closed over hers.
He didn't speak immediately, but the look in his eyes was eloquent: Calm. Firm. Defiant.
"Teacher," he began quietly, his voice controlled but edged with steel, "I think that's enough—"
The teacher froze, startled by the sheer audacity of the interruption. No one ever challenged her. Especially not him.
And in that moment, at the far end of the room, someone else stirred.
Renjiro Kurogane.
From his isolation by the window, he had been a silent observer—but now his gaze shifted, dark and unreadable.
He focused on Ren's fingers around Shizumi's hand. Her trembling lashes. The faint, tell-tale flush on her cheeks.
Something flickered across Renjiro's eyes—brief, sharp, and utterly unfamiliar.
It wasn't just anger.
It burned somewhere between acute irritation… and a searing jealousy.
He didn't understand the feeling. Why it mattered. Why his chest felt so impossibly tight.
For the first time in his life, Renjiro Kurogane—the silent, untouchable Second Heavenly Prince—found himself compelled to interfere.
He rose from his seat, his voice cutting through the classroom like cold steel.
"That's Enough."
The single word was low, sharp, and commanding, carrying the unmistakable weight of nobility and absolute authority.
The teacher stopped mid-sentence, her face instantly blanching.
Every student turned, their breath held captive.
Renjiro Kurogane had spoken.
The Second Heavenly Prince stood at the front, his posture composed, but his storm-blue eyes burned with suppressed fire. His hand rested on the desk, clenched into a fist.
The teacher stammered, "Ah—Renjiro, I was only—"
Renjiro's tone was glacial.
"You are here to teach, not to humiliate. Remember your place."
A unified gasp swept the class. Never—not once—had the Second Heavenly Prince used his authority to shield anyone.
At the front, Itsuki leaned back lazily in his chair, a hungry smirk curling across his lips. His golden eyes gleamed with immediate amusement.
"Well, well… this is very interesting," he drawled, clearly savoring the brewing chaos.
Beside him, Akihiro's expression twisted in utter disbelief. His fists clenched against his desk as he hissed under his breath, his pride visibly shaken.
"Why... why would he take the side of a worthless scholarship girl?!"
Shizumi, still trembling, dared to lift her eyes.
For a fleeting second, her gaze met Renjiro's.
He did not look away.
The whole class erupted in a frantic buzz of whispers—shock, envy, rage—because the unshakable hierarchy of the Heavenly Princes had just shifted, and all of it... was for her.
The weight of the unanswerable question settled over them all:
The Second Heavenly Prince had stepped down from his throne of silence—to shield someone else.
And no one… not even he… understood why.
****************
The bell had rung.
In the silence of the classroom, only the faint rustle of books being packed away echoed.
Renjiro Kurogane's challenge still hung heavy in the air. For the first time... he had broken his silence and raised his voice for someone.
🌌 Rooftop:-
"Renjiro."
Akihiro's cold, absolute voice cut through the air.
Renjiro turned.
Standing before him were the First and Third Heavenly Princes—Akihiro and Itsuki.
Itsuki, lips curled into a sly smile, spoke,
"What got into you down there, Renjiro? Defending scholarship trash?"
Renjiro remained silent.
Akihiro grabbed his shoulder, his eyes sharp as blades.
"Answer me, Kurogane. Why would you compromise our position?"
Renjiro's fingers tightened into a fist.
He didn't know the reason. He just... couldn't endure the sight of it.
He tore his gaze away.
"I… don't know."
Akihiro's brows furrowed in dismissal.
Itsuki chuckled, his laughter echoing lightly yet eerily across the rooftop.
"How amusing... the mighty Heavenly Prince caught defending a street urchin. This is pure entertainment."
His golden eyes shifted downward, toward the courtyard below.
🥀 Classroom:-
Ren and Kaishiro instinctively moved closer to Shizumi—
Their expressions were tight with protective worry as she stood frozen, trembling beside her desk.
Before either of them could utter a word of comfort, Sakura's sharp voice sliced through the heavy, tense air.
"Stop."
Ren spun around.
Sakura's cold gaze swept the classroom—taking in the jealous rage of the other girls, and the hungry, expectant eyes of the surrounding students.
His eyes narrowed.
If they stayed, the drama would escalate. If they left, something terrible would surely happen. Either way, danger was circling like a vulture.
But Sakura didn't flinch. He drew a slow, deliberate breath, carefully masking the unease beneath a chillingly calm expression. Then, in a quiet, brittle tone, he commanded,
"Let's go. We'll talk later."
Ren hesitated, his fingers twitching with the urge to reach for Shizumi again. But Sakura's icy, authoritative stare held him in place.
Without another word, Sakura turned and walked out, his decisive steps echoing faintly in the unnatural silence. Ren followed, though his eyes were locked on Shizumi until the very last moment.
Just before the door clicked shut, Sakura glanced back. His expression was utterly unreadable, yet his gaze was sharp and calculating. It held no sympathy, no hate—only a profound, chilling suspicion.
And as the door closed behind her last two potential protectors, Shizumi realized, with a sickening drop in her stomach: she was utterly alone.
The moment the door closed—
all eyes locked onto her, the prey.
The group of girls advanced, their voices laced with venom.
"First, you tried to charm our Three Heavenly Princes…"
"And now you've got those three—Ren, Kaishiro, and Sakura—trailing after you too?"
She let out a cold laugh.
"Girls like you don't deserve that kind of attention."
"Do yourself a favor, stop chasing what you'll never have."
there smiles sharpened.
"You're nothing but a pathetic distraction—an eyesore that should've known her place."
Each word was a lash.
Shizumi's breath caught in her throat.
She tried to explain—
"I… I was only—"
But she never got the chance.
"Shut up!"
Someone yanked her hair, hard.
She screamed.
The classroom is filled with claps and laughter.
Someone tore her notebook into pieces,
another shoved her desk away.
Then together, they dragged her, throwing her down, pulling her across the floor by her hair.
Her palms scraped raw, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Please… don't…"
But the cruelty was intoxicating to them.
Her sobs drowned in their merciless laughter.
🌑 Rooftop:-
Itsuki leaned forward, watching everything below.
Shizumi being dragged, her tears, her humiliation—all of it.
His laughter deepened, a sound of pure satisfaction.
"Ah… look. Isn't this a perfect scene? A tragic play written just for us. True entertainment."
Renjiro's teeth clenched, grinding together.
His chest tightened painfully.
In his ears, her cries still echoed.
In his vision, her trembling face wouldn't leave.
And yet…
in the immediate, icy presence of Akihiro's stare, Renjiro couldn't utter a single word. His paralysis was absolute.
His fists trembled, useless.
But his lips… remained sealed.
Shizumi's breath tore apart in desperate gasps.
Her legs pumped, trembling, a frantic rhythm against the ground. Her hair was a wild mess, her face streaked with tears and grit.
But she kept running.
Relentlessly. Breathlessly. Running.
Behind her, the shadows of the girls still clung, their cruel laughter mocking her every ragged scream.
At last—
Her momentum failed. Her steps shuddered to a halt.
Standing before her was...
The old school building.
It was a fortress of black stone, its surface layered with time and clinging dampness. Heavy iron chains and massive locks dangled from the main gate.
Upon them clung red and black talismans, etched with frantic, forbidden chants.
From every lock, a chilling, supernatural wind seeped out—the cold breath of something imprisoned.
Shizumi gasped, whispering through trembling lips, "Must... must escape... there has to be a way in…"
Her eyes frantically scanned the perimeter, landing on a small, broken gap at the corner of the wall.
With shaking hands, she pulled at the loose bricks, slid down onto her knees, and desperately squeezed herself into the darkness.
The girls who had been chasing her—
stopped instantly, frozen on the spot.
Raw terror flooded their eyes.
"No… she… she actually went in there," one stammered, her lips vibrating.
Another clutched her arm in panic. "She's a fool! The stories are true! Anyone who goes inside… never comes out alive!"
A third girl stumbled backward, the color draining from her face. "We... we should leave her. We'll just tell the Principal the scholarship girl broke the rules. But going in there?… That's death."
Their voices quivered, suddenly stripped of their cruel confidence. Sweat beaded and rolled down their necks.
"You know the forbidden things that lie inside that building…"
"Let her be. Whatever happens to her now… let her suffer alone."
The old school stood in the gathering darkness—
like a slumbering beast,
Having finally caught its prey.
Inside:-
Shizumi dragged her body through the gap.
Inside, the world dissolved into pitch-blackness.
The heavy stench of rot, mildew, and stale iron invaded her lungs. This wasn't an abandoned classroom; this was a tomb.
Broken ceiling fans hung loosely above; the walls were smeared with inexplicable, old bloodstains; and a freezing wind seeped through shattered windows.
She whispered with a barely audible, trembling breath, "What… what is this place…?"
Her heartbeat thundered so loudly, so quickly, it seemed to be the only sound echoing through the vast building.
And then—
from deep within the crushing darkness, the sound began.
Iron chains. They scraped slowly, heavily across the dusty floor.
Silence shattered.
The absolute darkness… had noticed her.
~To be continued~