Changing his name was not difficult.
Kyle Noir had changed entire cities' names before—so how hard could one name be?
But this time, it wasn't about escaping the law, an enemy, or death.
This time… he was running from himself.
He stood before the mirror, gazing at his reflection for a long moment. Same face, same features… but the eyes were different.
Kyle Noir did not sleep.
Leon Carter had to appear as someone who had never known insomnia.
He put on his school uniform with precise calm. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. A calculated simplicity that hid more than it revealed.
Before he left, Raven stood behind him.
— Are you sure about this decision?
Kyle did not turn.
— The world has started tying me to everything. Blood, fear, public executions.
He paused, then added:
— I need another shadow to move in.
— School? — Raven asked, a note of disbelief in his voice — among children?
— Among hearts that have not yet been tainted.
Then he added in a low voice:
— And… because suspicion hates ordinary places.
No one opposed him.
Kyle Noir is not questioned… he is obeyed.
The school gate buzzed with students: laughter, whispers, curious glances.
But when Leon Carter entered… silence fell.
Not complete silence, but the hidden kind that happens when eyes sense something unfamiliar—something you don't know whether to fear… or be drawn to.
The girls turned first. Some smiled immediately, others exchanged glances.
One whispered:
— Who is that?
He entered the classroom quietly, and behind him the teacher announced:
— A new student, Leon Carter.
The name sounded ordinary… but his presence was anything but.
He sat in the empty desk next to her. Ilara did not look at him immediately, and this… caught his attention more than all the other glances.
Whispers began to circulate, this time directed at one point:
— Did you hear?
— That's the new guy.
— Very handsome…
— But a little intimidating, isn't he?
Kyle heard everything. He had learned long ago to listen without seeming to.
Then came the conversation that filled the entire morning:
— Did you see the news last night?
— The mafia boss…
— Who was executed on camera!
The small screen in the classroom replayed the footage: the wooden chair, the bound hands, the calm that preceded the shot.
Ilara watched silently, as Leon leaned slightly toward her, his voice low, warm, as if it had nothing to do with that world:
— Did you hear the news?
This time she looked at him, briefly… sincerely.
— Yes.
— Did what you saw scare you?
She shook her head slowly:
— No…
She hesitated, then said:
— I just… felt something strange.
— What?
She looked at the screen, then back at him:
— There was sadness in his eyes.
She smiled slightly, shyly:
— I know it sounds strange… but he looked lonely.
Something inside him stopped. Something that had never stopped in years.
— Lonely? — he asked quietly.
— Yes… — she whispered — as if the whole world saw him as a monster… but at that moment, he was just a person with no one.
Leon looked forward:
— Sometimes… the one who carries all the fear on his shoulders finds no place to lay his heart.
Ilara shivered lightly.
— You speak as if you know him.
He smiled a small, incomplete smile:
— I just… understand this kind of loneliness.
The school day ended. The girls said goodbye to him with glances; some tried to talk, but he only offered brief smiles.
Ilara left without looking back, and that was enough for him to know… she was different.
Outside the school, the black car waited.
As he entered, true silence returned.
— How was your day? — Raven asked.
Leon removed his mask. Kyle Noir returned.
— I found what I was looking for.
— A girl?
— A heart.
A pause.
— And that is the most dangerous.
That night, the mafia men gathered.
A man had betrayed them. Everyone awaited the arrival of the boss. Kyle entered, everyone stood and shouted:
— Long live the boss!
Kyle sat, surveying the room, and said quietly:
— Leon Carter does not kill.
He raised his eyes, his voice heavier:
— But Kyle Noir… does.
The sentence was carried out.
Elsewhere, a girl thought about the new student…
Unaware that his real name was written in blood.