"Dad...?"
Shido's voice fractured as his fingers dug desperately into Kento's trembling shoulder. He stared up at his father, his chest heaving. "Dad!"
The tall man didn't move. He remained frozen in front of Kashima's hollow, unblinking form, his entire posture locked like stone. He didn't answer. He didn't even blink.
"Dad!!!" Shido screamed much louder, the word ripping out of him as his own nerves completely shattered.
"Dad, look at me! Kento isn't responding! He's not responding to me at all!"
Hearing that devastating shout, Hori completely broke down. A fresh flood of hot tears streamed down her pale face as her eyes darted frantically between both boys.
"W-What is wrong with them...?" she sobbed, her whole body shaking violently as her fingers fumbled with her phone again.
"They were fine... they were completely fine just a few minutes ago...! Why is this happening?!" With trembling, blind movements, she quickly forced the call to dial through again.
"Dad! Please!" Shido yelled out once more, his voice echoing sharply against the kitchen tiles.
Finally, like a man breaking through a thick layer of ice, Mr. Kamitani gasped, his head snapping around as his eyes darted here and there. "What...? What happened?"
Shido felt a cold spike of absolute horror slam into his stomach. Seeing his father look that lost and disoriented sent a terrifying, breathless thought running through his mind.
'No... please, no... What if Dad isn't alright either? What if whatever hit them is hitting him too?'
"Dad..." Shido asked, his voice dropping into a scared, hesitant whisper. "By any chance... are you... are you also not—"
"I am completely alright." Mr. Kamitani cut him off instantly, his voice snapping back into its firm, authoritative weight as he forced his consciousness to lock down. "Nothing happened to me. I am fine."
Right then, the line on Hori's phone finally clicked. "H-Hello? Dad...?" she wept into the receiver, her knees trembling.
Mr. Kamitani's sharp eyes noticed it immediately. He stepped away from Kashima, extending a firm, unyielding hand toward her.
"Hori. Give me the phone."
Tears spilling heavily from her eyes, she blindly handed the device over without a single word.
Mr. Kamitani pressed the phone hard against his ear, his expression turning deathly grim as he paced toward the center of the room.
"Hello, Kaneki..." Mr. Kamitani spoke rapidly into the line, his tone dropping into a heavy, suffocating seriousness.
"Where are you right now...? "
"No, you need to get here immediately. The situation is completely getting out of my hands."
But back on the floor, the real nightmare was expanding.
Kento was sweating continuously, the collar of his shirt completely soaked through. His green eyes were wide, blown-out, and utterly lost as he suddenly raised both hands, clamping them tight over his ears. He looked completely terrified.
"...Lady Luna..."
"...was taken."
Kento let out a sharp, ragged gasp, his head twisting violently as he stared at the empty air.
"Wh-Who is it...?! Who's speaking?!"
Hori dropped straight to her knees in front of Kento, sitting heavily right beside Shido on the hard floor. She reached her hands out, her face twisted in pure heartbreak.
"Kento! There's no one there! There is no one speaking, I swear!"
"Kento, what the hell are you hearing?!" Shido asked, shaking his brother's shoulders to force him to focus. "Tell me!"
Kento looked here and there, his eyes darting frantically from corner to corner in absolute desperation. "Can you... can you guys not hear them?!"
"No!" Hori wept, shaking her head.
Shido's head snapped back up toward his father, who was still holding the phone. "Dad! Kento is hearing things! He's hearing strange voices right now!"
Hearing that across the room, Mr. Kamitani's breath hitched completely. "What...?"
Suddenly, another voice tore through the dark static of Kento's mind. It wasn't a whisper this time. It was a violent, agonizing male shout that shattered his eardrums.
"LUNA!!"
"LOOK AT ME!!"
"DON'T LOOK AT HIM!!"
The pure, raw violence of the sudden shout made Kento flinch violently, his body shaking against the floorboards.
"No... no, no!" he screamed out loud, shaking his head frantically as tears spilled down his cheeks. He pressed his palms against his ears so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Kento, what is it?!" Shido shouted through his own rising terror.
"S-Someone's... h-hic... s-shouting...!" Kento wept violently, his voice completely splitting as hot tears streamed down his face. "S-Someone... s-someone is sh-shouting... inside my h-head...!"
"JUST KEEP LOOKING AT ME!!"
"I'M RIGHT HERE!!"
"N-No...! N-No...! S-St-Stop it...! P-Please... j-just... s-stop it...!" Kento gasped desperately for air, his chest heaving up and down as the tears completely blurred his vision.
Mr. Kamitani abruptly ended the call, holding the phone in his hand as he rushed back down to the floor, dropping near his sons.
"Kento! Look at my face! What are you hearing?!"
Kento couldn't see him. He could only gasp, his breathing turning into hard, suffocating hiccups as he squeezed his eyes shut.
"H-Hea-Heartbeat..." Kento whimpered brokenly, his voice trembling violently as he struggled to breathe. "A...h-heartbeat..."
Hori and Shido exchanged a sudden, completely confused and frightened look.
"Shouting what?!" Shido yelled, trying to drown out the invisible sound. "Kento, who is shouting?!"
But Kento could only hear the sound.
BA-DUM.
BA-DUM.
It was a heavy, suffocating rhythm. The sound of a desperate, broken heart—someone whose entire soul was screaming in agonizing pain.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!!"
"DON'T TOUCH MY CHILD!!"
"STOP IT!!! GET OUT!!!" Kento suddenly screamed at the absolute top of his lungs, his voice echoing violently off the kitchen walls.
"GET LOST! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!"
Shido, Hori, and Mr. Kamitani all froze, staring at Kento with completely frightened, pale, and horrified faces. The sheer desperation in the boy's voice was unlike anything they had ever heard.
But before anyone could breathe, a low, cold sound cut through the room.
"Vaelor en thaeris, o ruvaen."
The three of them snapped their heads around instantly.
Kashima was speaking.
The words were unlike anything they had ever heard.
Ancient.
Hollow.
As though they had been buried beneath the world for thousands of years... only to be spoken again.
Every syllable rolled from Kashima's lips with quiet, unnatural perfection.
Not a single stumble.
Not a single pause.
Slowly...
He lifted his head.
His neck moved with an eerie stiffness, as though something unseen had taken hold of it.
His wide, unblinking eyes rose from the floor...
...and settled upon the empty ceiling.
He wasn't looking at it.
He was looking at...
someone.
_DREAMSCAPE_
"NO!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"
The frantic scream tore through the darkness, sharp and full of raw terror. It was a voice desperate to escape, running blindly from the suffocating lights of a kitchen, terrified of a trap, terrified of questions, terrified of going to jail.
Then—the voice snapped.
A pair of brilliant, striking blue eyes suddenly shot wide open.
There was no kitchen. There were no suffocating lights. Above him, there was only a gentle, quiet canopy of green leaves swaying softly against a strange sky.
He didn't move for a long moment. He was lying flat on his back, the surface beneath him soft, cool, and damp. He blinked slowly, his mind feeling strangely detached, as if the heavy panic from a second ago had been forcibly washed away.
'Wait... why am I lying in the grass?' He slowly let out a breath, trying to piece his thoughts together through the lingering fog.
'I... I remember being in the kitchen. Everyone was shouting. I was running... and then...'
He remembered the collision. He remembered the sudden, hard impact of bumping straight into Shido Kirishima's shoulder.
It was him.
Kashima Kanzaki.
The same boy who, only a while ago, had been completely losing himself in panic against the kitchen cabinets — screaming, trembling, and desperately trying to escape a nightmare he couldn't understand — was now sitting quietly beneath a massive tree, surrounded by a silence that felt almost impossible.
For a moment, the chaos that followed him everywhere seemed to disappear.
The frantic boy was gone.
In his place sat a boy with messy blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and a heart that had somehow survived far more confusion than it ever deserved.
Perhaps that was the strange charm of Kashima Kanzaki.
No matter how absurd the situation became...
No matter how terrifying the world decided to be...
He always somehow found himself standing right in the middle of it.
Usually with absolutely no idea what was happening.
And yet...
Still moving forward.
But right at this moment, resting on the cool, lush grass, his racing heart had completely slowed down. He felt unsettlingly relaxed. Totally calm.
Slowly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He raised a hand, brushing his messy hair straight back away from his face as his blue eyes scanned the unfamiliar greenery.
"Is this... is this just a dream or what...?" he muttered to himself, his voice sounding entirely too quiet in the open air.
He turned his head to look straight ahead.
And instantly, his whole body froze.
The calm vanished in a single fraction of a second. A heavy lump formed in his throat, and he swallowed hard, a cold drop of sweat suddenly appearing on his forehead. His brilliant blue eyes widened in pure disbelief.
"Oh, hell..." he whispered, his voice cracking as his mind completely spiraled. 'I'm done for... What is that thing doing here...?!'
Standing right in front of him, framed by the quiet trees, was a lion.
But it was not an ordinary lion.
It was massive, its entire body radiating a silent, heavy power that made the air feel thick. Its coat was a soft, pale silver-white, and a thick, magnificent mane cascaded around its head like a silver cloud.
But the most striking part was its eyes—they were a deep, piercing color, shining with a calm, ancient intelligence that didn't look like a wild beast at all.
Kashima stared in complete shock. A cold bead of sweat rolled slowly down his temple, his throat tightening as he gulped.
The lion didn't growl. It didn't bare its teeth. It just stood there, those piercing eyes locked onto Kashima, watching his every move.
Kashima stared back, his mind racing in a panic. 'Am I going to be eaten alive?'
He immediately began to strategize, his mind frantically scrambling to calculate his chances of survival.
'Think.'
His blue eyes swept over the lion's enormous body, measuring it almost instinctively. 'Running isn't an option.'
His gaze dropped briefly to the beast's powerful limbs before looking to his own. 'Four legs against two... It would catch me before I made it ten meters.'
His fingers tightened unconsciously against the damp grass.
'Stay still...?'
He hesitated.
'No... If it wanted to attack, it would've done it the moment I looked away.' His breathing slowed just enough for his thoughts to sharpen.
'Then why isn't it moving?'
The lion hadn't taken a single step. It hadn't lowered its body. It hadn't bared its fangs. It was simply... watching him.
Kashima swallowed hard, refusing to break eye contact. 'It's observing me...'
A cold sensation crawled down his spine.
'Or...'
His heartbeat quickened. '...waiting for me to make the first mistake.'
But his dark thoughts broke mid-sentence.
Very slowly, the magnificent beast turned its massive head away. With a quiet, heavy grace, it began to walk in the opposite direction, its silver-white tail flicking slowly as it disappeared deeper into the greenery.
Kashima watched it go, his eyes wide. 'Where is it going...?' A sudden, nervous thought hit him. 'Is it going to call its pack? No, wait... lions usually hunt in groups, but males sometimes walk alone.'
As the giant silver shape completely faded into the trees, the suffocating tension in Kashima's chest finally broke.
He let out a long, shaky sigh, letting his body fall completely backward onto the cool ground. He looked up at the green leaves, his mind still spinning.
Why was he here?
Why was he suddenly lying on some random grass instead of dealing with the screaming chaos of the kitchen?
Slowly, Kashima let himself sink back onto the soft grass, lying flat on his back. His tired body melted into the cool earth beneath him, as if the ground itself was quietly carrying away the heavy weight on his shoulders.
He closed his eyes.
A slow, trembling breath escaped his lips.
"Hah..."
The gentle breeze brushed across his face, carrying the fresh scent of leaves and damp soil. It slipped softly through his messy blonde hair, feeling wonderfully cool against his warm skin.
For the first time in what felt like forever... there were no screams. No frantic questions. No terrifying fear chasing after him.
There was only the quiet whisper of the wind.
The soft rustling of the leaves above him sounded almost like a peaceful lullaby, while distant birds drifted lazily across the strange sky, their quiet songs blending with the steady hum of insects hidden among the trees.
The loud, scary world had finally stopped chasing him.
For a boy who carried such a heavy, suffocating burden every single day—always running, always terrified of his secrets breaking him—this silence was the most beautiful thing he had ever felt.
The forest felt endless.
Calm.
It was as though time itself had decided to stop... just for him.
The tightly clenched muscles in his shoulders slowly relaxed, and the heavy, suffocating knot inside his chest loosened little by little.
"...I wish..." he whispered so softly that even the wind almost carried the words away. A faint, tired smile finally touched his lips. "...I wish I could stay here forever."
GRUMBLEEEEEE.
A long, pitiful growl escaped his stomach, breaking the peaceful silence.
Kashima's eyes snapped wide open. Still lying flat on his back, he lifted his head just an inch, staring blankly down toward his abdomen before dropping his head right back into the grass with a miserable frown. He raised a hand, slapping his palm over his eyes to block out the sky.
"...Seriously?" he muttered to himself, his voice dripping with pure annoyance. "Of all times, now?"
He moved his hand just enough to gaze back up at the view. The trees surrounding him were stunningly beautiful, thick with countless lively, vibrant green leaves that swayed elegantly in the breeze.
But as his blue eyes scanned the branches, he realized something. There wasn't a single piece of fruit hanging anywhere. Not a berry, not an apple, nothing.
"...Heh..."
A faint, dry half-laugh escaped his throat, carrying a sudden weight of bitterness. He slid his hand beneath his head for comfort and closed his eyes again.
'Even if there was food up there... it's not like I'd know how to climb a tree to get it.'
The thought felt heavy.
For a boy who had grown up strictly restricted within the perfect, majestic four walls of a house that felt more like a cage, trees were just things to look at through a window. They were decorations looked after by professional gardeners.
Climbing them was completely impossible.
"...Haah..."
He let out another sharp sigh, rolling over onto his side. He curled his legs up slightly and squeezed his eyes shut, determined to just force himself to sleep and forget the hunger.
SHHHHHH... SPLASH...
A sudden, fluid sound drifted through the quiet air.
Kashima's eyes opened. He stayed perfectly still on his side, his ears twitching as he listened.
WHOOSH... SPLASH.
It was a continuous, rushing sound. To anyone else, it would be peaceful.
But to a boy raised in total isolation from the wild world, the sound was completely alien.
He knew the artificial splash of a swimming pool or the steady drip of a kitchen faucet, but this sound felt heavy, wild, and unpredictable. It sounded entirely unnatural to his ears.
His practical alarm immediately went off. 'Is it dangerous? A trap?'
Confused and deeply suspicious, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, his blue eyes darting frantically through the thick greenery. The sound didn't stop. It seemed to be breaking through his desire to just lie down and give up.
Unable to fight his own quiet curiosity, Kashima finally got to his feet. He brushed the loose grass off his clothes, kept his posture low, and began walking straight in the direction of the noise.
With every single step he took through the forest, the strange rushing sound grew louder, deeper, and much more intense.
He pushed his way past the final thick group of green trees, stepping out into the open air as his eyes widened in sudden realization.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
His breathing completely caught, the air trapping itself deep within his chest. His lips parted just a fraction of an inch, his brilliant blue eyes expanding in pure, absolute disbelief.
For one long moment, he simply stared as his mind completely failing to process the sight in front of him.
It Was A River.
But it wasn't like the chemically treated blue water of the massive swimming pools he had grown up around. It wasn't the man-made, artificial stone fountains that stood strictly decorated in the courtyards of his wealthy, cage-like childhood.
This Water Was Alive.
It was an impossible, glowing crystal-blue, so clear that it looked as if the bright summer sky itself had melted and started flowing along the earth.
Across its moving surface, tiny, brilliant points of light danced and shimmered like a million scattered stars, catching the warm gold of the sunlight filtering through the canopy.
The endless emerald trees grew right up to the edges, their lively green branches bending gracefully over the current as if leaning down to whisper secrets to the stream.
Above the dense forest, a grand, quiet mountain watched over the entire clearing, standing tall against a bright sky filled with soft, lazy white clouds.
Everything felt untouched.
Wild.
Alive.
To a boy raised inside perfectly square rooms with pristine marble floors and closed glass windows, that open clearing didn't even feel real.
There were no walls.
There were no boundaries.
It Was Completely Free.
Kashima stood completely frozen at the edge of the trees, his lips parted just a fraction as his dazed blue eyes stared unblinkingly at the glowing river.
The brilliant, crystal-blue light from the water reflected upward, casting soft, dancing shadows of blue across his pale face and messy blonde hair.
Slowly, a soft, genuine expression began to take over his usually grumpy face. His shoulders relaxed completely.
He took a few slow, silent steps forward, approaching the edge of the water with quiet hesitation.
He didn't splash around. He didn't kneel down carelessly. Instead, he carefully extended a single hand, dipping just the very tip of his index finger into the sparkling current.
He slowly pulled his hand back, holding it up in front of his face.
A clear droplet rested on the tip of his finger, catching the sunlight like a tiny crystal. A tiny, perfect drop of water slowly ran down the side of his finger, glowing under the warm sunlight before slipping off his skin.
Kashima stared at it, his eyes softening into a look of wonder. He rubbed his wet index finger against his thumb, feeling the cool moisture vanish between his skin.
A tiny, breathless smile slowly spread across his face, and a soft, innocent little laugh escaped his lips—a quiet, private sound meant only for himself.
"...Cold..." he whispered absentmindedly, almost as though he were afraid the river would disappear if he spoke any louder.
He looked back at the vast, sparkling river, his small smile widening just a little bit more, as if a massive, invisible weight had finally been lifted from his chest.
"It's... really water..." he murmured softly, his voice trembling with a pure, quiet happiness.
"...I've never—"
He stopped.
The words cut off instantly. Kashima stared blankly at the rushing blue ripples, the sentence dying completely in his throat as a heavy, sudden silence fell over the clearing.
He swallowed hard, his fingers tightening slightly against the damp grass before he let out a quiet breath.
"...It's real."
---