The wind didn't howl that night it whispered- as if afraid to disturb the shadows watching from beyond the veil. Somewhere between midnight and memory, a boy named Blessing sat alone, fingers trembling around a cold cup of tea, listening to a silence that seemed alive. His sister was asleep, the world was still, and yet something unseen paced just outside the walls waiting, not for the right moment, but for him.
The sun rose like it always did, quiet, indifferent. In a cramped apartment where peeling wallpaper and duct tape fought to keep the walls together a boy was already awake.
Blessing Chiaki, shirtless and focused lowered himself into another push-up. His muscles trembled slightly with effort but his face remained still. Each push up felt like a silent promise.
"One more… just one more."
On the couch nearby wrapped in a worn out blanket, a little girl stirred. Esther, barely twelve peeked out from under the covers. The TV flashed old cartoons, their laughter far too loud for the early morning hush.
"You're doing those again," she yawned, rubbing her eyes. "You're gonna break the floor someday."
Blessing didn't pause. "If the floor breaks, that's on the floor."
Esther giggled, but her voice carried concern more than humor.
He finally rose, silent and deliberate grabbing a towel and heading towards the kitchen. No wasted movement just control, always control.
"You act like a robot. Do you even sleep?" Esther asked, now fully awake watching him from the couch.
"If I sleep, who's gonna pack your lunch?" he said with a rare smirk.
She grinned, unfazed.
In the kitchen he set out two slices of dry bread, a tomato and one egg. Not much but it would do. With practiced care he folded the sandwich, slipped it into a plastic bag and added a smiley face wrapper which had been used to many times but yet still stuck.
Esther leaned at the doorframe watching, not saying anything- but she smiled. That sticker always made her day.
"You're the best, you know that?" she sincerely said "Eat fast you'll miss homeroom"
Moments later Blessing arrived at Fushino high. A small school that was found just outside the city limits. As he entered through the old gray school gates groups greeted him quietly. He's well known not because he speaks but because he listens, always watching always somewhere just outside the center of things.
Blessing entered class and sat in the back window seats. Outside the trees sway slightly, he shifts his eyes to see a paper air plane hit a smaller kids head outside. Naoki Kobayashi, a twelve year old boy with snow white hair and deep blue eyes that shimmered like the ocean before a storm, calm on the surface but hiding something fierce beneath.
Blessing watched but didn't step in not because he's cold, but because he knew fights like these, how they started and how they ended. And sometimes it was better not to get dragged in.
Time passed and it's time for school rooftop lunch break. Student sat in groups but Blessing sets alone lunch unopened. He looked up as wind brushed his face gently. "The wind doesn't listen to anyone it just moves were it wants" he muttered under his breath eyes following the rustling leaves above.
A girl from his class approached with a hesitant smile. "Would you like to eat lunch with us?" Blessing gave an instant smile as he replied. "No thanks I just wanna be alone for a while." She left giving Blessing a look of concern.
After school, Blessing walked Esther home, taking a quiet alley shortcut. The air was still too still as shadows stretched deep in the alley like claws. Then suddenly the air shifted, spiraling unnaturally around him.
Esther flinched "Did you…hear someone?" He paused for a split second, he did a whisper faint like a thought but not his own. "It's nothing," Blessing said trying to keep his voice even. "Keep walking."
But it wasn't just nothing for the first time the wind didn't just move it spoke.
That night he lay in bed twitching in his sleep, breath shallow.
In his dreams, he stood in the eye of a violent windstorm. Shadows twisted around him like dancing ghost and then a voice echoed, low and ancient. "You want to protect them? Then listen to everything"
Blessing turned, eyes wide but the wind struck him back.
He jolted awake, gasping, soaked in sweat. The room was silent for a moment then slam, the window flew open as the wind howled everywhere in his room as if it were alive.
High above the street, a man in a long black coat stood at the edge of a rooftop. His face hidden in the shadows of the night, but eyes gleaming with cold intent as he locked onto the room below like a phantom of the dark watching the unsuspecting soul inside. "So the wind has chosen." He said.
Blessing woke up the next day he heard something but the room is quite. "Again with the whispers." Blessing murmured as he rubbed his temples trying to shake off the unease.
He grabbed his hoodie as he went out for a morning jog.
The street is empty and shrouded in thin mist, Blessing jogs with his hoodie up and slow down as the wind unnaturally sharpen. "Their watching from behind." The wind whispered.
He spun sees no one there and then the trash bin falls. "Nope I'm not doing horror movie logic." He shouted as he sprints off even faster.
Back at his apartment Esther eats her cereal on the counter with a smile of pure delight on her face as Blessing stares at his toast deep in the thought. "What's the matter?" Esther asked "You look like someone tried to cook your brain." Blessing smirked as he looked at Esther "That's kinda accurate." A flicker of concern danced in Esther's eyes "Is it those nightmares again?"
Blessing didn't answer and just grabbed his bag as he walked out. "If something happens at school just stay calm ok." Esther looked at him puzzled by his brother's words "That's really comforting."
At school Blessing walks past a bunch of rowdy older kids "I bet he'd flinch if I coughed really loud." One of them thought but Blessing actually turned in time to see one of them actually cough. He flinches and the group burst out laughing. "What, did I just." Blessing wondered.
He then hears something else another thought this time from a senior student. "I'm gonna stick my leg out so this Naoki kid trips and falls." Blessing turned around swallowed by unease "Wait no" he shouted as a gust of wind rose and tripped the bully instead. "Ok that'… not normal" he muttered.
Blessing walked into class and took his usual sit and then a large unsettling pressure built in his head as the teacher flipped through papers on his desk. He then hears the words of his teacher before he actually spoke. "Ten minute pop quiz." Blessing looks at his teacher his eyes filled with suspense. "Ten minute pop quiz" the teacher said. Blessing froze "Wait, what?" heads turned, all eyes in classes landed on him.
"S ss… sorry. I just don't like pop quizzes." He stammered sinking deeper into his seat as chuckles broke out around him.
After class, he splashed cold water on his face in the bathroom, his reflection stared back at him worn and restless.
"Hearing voice… predicting things… is this déjà vu? Or… stress? Or… ghost?"
He muttered to himself while walking the hallway, thoughts spiraling until a voice interrupted him on the rooftop during lunch.
"Sorry if this is weird," someone said. Blessing turned, Naoki was standing a few feet away, fidgeting. "You're not in my class." Blessing said.
"Yeah I kinda followed you. Not in a creepy way of course, that'd be weird." Naoki smiled awkwardly as if he was forcing it.
"I wanted to thank you for what you didn't do" Naoki said as he unwrapped a crushed sandwich. "Huh, what are you talking about?" He asked fully confused by Naoki's words.
"Well not doing anything is better than pretending you didn't see it." He muttered with a grin on his face. "So do you believe in heroes." Blessing looked at Naoki voice firm and eyes narrow. "No I believe in consequences."
Naoki laughed slightly confused. "My name is Naoki and I'm gonna become a hero better than, you." Blessing looked at Naoki with amusement "Aha good luck." He thought as he watched Naoki leave. And then out of the blue he sees paper weapon transform to real one as they emitted an eerie glow.
Blessing goes on to read a book in the school library, the room is quiet until words pop out of the book in a pattern as if a message filling his head before he even reads them. "The time is near the veil." They flooded into his brain too fast for him to keep up. "What if the mind sees the storm before the clouds arrive." He wondered as he slummed the book shut. "Ok no more poetry classes for me."
Meanwhile back at his apartment Esther practices tiny fireballs in a plastic jar and then leaves. "Brother," She called out. "You ever feel like your body's changing… but not in a puberty way?"
Blessing stared at her and give out a half laughs. "Every single day lately."
Blessing left the house alone as he tried to refresh his mind. He walked in an alley, cold wind, lights flickering and oppressively silent, suddenly… he sensed someone behind him, his vision blurred, a thought screamed into his head "Break him, make it art."
He spun sees no one, then a shadow appears briefly at the end of the street just watching. Blessing froze as the wind slammed past him, a chill ran down his spin he couldn't move, swallowed by his on unease. "It's not my head it's the air." He thought.
The shadow then vanished into smoke. Silent once more.
He quickly ran back home and grabbed his note book and started to write. "Voices before words, wind reacts to danger, boy with paper powers, shadow equals real." One word stood out to him "instinct" He stared at it his mind racing.
High above the sleeping city, a lone figure stood on the rooftop in a black coat, the wind brushing the edges of his silhouette. Below school lights flicker faintly. The figure's face was hidden beneath the hood and a faint blue light blinked from their earpiece.
"Subject B-47 has shown signs of mental fluctuation and elemental response," the figure muttered quietly. "Early stage resonance confirmed."
The voice on the earpiece replied calmly, "Continue surveillance. Do not engage, if the wind chose him he's not just another stray." "Understood," the figure answered.
And just like that, he vanished into the night, the wind swallowing him whole. Only his words remained, carried by the breeze. "The air is starting to listen, let's see if the boy does the same."