Volume 3.5
Shadows of the Elite
Chapter 1: The Torch Gets Passed On
Kei's Perspective
December 28th, 2026.
Winter break.
Snow fell quietly beyond the windows of the Fushimiya estate.
Three days had passed since Naoki's speech.
Three days since the realization that another obstacle had stepped onto the board.
A rival.
A challenge.
A problem.
I sat alone in my room, staring at the pale winter sky through the glass.The funny thing was that I didn't care.
Everyone seemed obsessed with legacies, talent, status, bloodlines, destiny.
I wasn't.
I had spent years trying to bury the name Fushimiya.
I hid behind an alias.
I avoided attention.
I enrolled at the NIFL hoping for something simple.
Normality.
Yet somehow every road led back to the same place.
Back to this family.
Back to this curse.
A knock echoed through the room.I ignored it.
A few moments later, a maid entered.
"Apologies, sir. Someone has come to see you."
I sighed.
"Who?"
She hesitated.
"...Miss Sakura."
For the first time that day, my attention shifted.
A few minutes later, we stood outside the mansion.
Snow drifted between us.It had been nearly two years.
Sakura looked different.
Older.
Tired.
There was a heaviness in her eyes that hadn't existed before.
"It's been a while, Kei," she said.I dismissed the maid and waited.
She hadn't come all this way for small talk.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"You said you were done with this family."
Sakura lowered her gaze.
"I was."
The wind blew between us.
"But I don't want history to repeat itself."I remained silent.
She continued.
"I don't want you becoming like Aoi."
Her voice weakened.
"Or your father."
I looked up toward the gray sky.
"As if I'd ever become either of them."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Sakura suddenly asked,
"What keeps you moving forward?"I glanced at her.
"What?"
"What motivates you?"
A strange question.
I thought about it.
The answer should have been simple.
Yet nothing came.
"I want a normal life."Sakura shook her head immediately.
"No."
I frowned.
"No?"
"That's what you tell yourself."
She looked directly into my eyes.
"I'm asking about the reason beneath that."
I thought again.
Still nothing."I don't have one."
"Everyone does."
"Then maybe I'm the exception."
She sighed.
The conversation felt pointless.
Then something else caught my attention.
The way she stood.
The way she occasionally shifted her weightThe slight hesitation in her movements.
The way she instinctively rested a hand near her stomach.
Small details.
Almost invisible.
Almost.
I looked down briefly.
"You're pregnant."
Sakura froze.
Silence.
Then she laughed softly.
"...You noticed.""It wasn't difficult."
Her expression changed.
The amusement vanished.
What remained was fear.
Genuine fear.
"Kei."
Her voice trembled."I need to ask something of you."
I already knew I wouldn't like whatever came next.
"I need you to stop your father."
I stared at her.
"Stop him from what?"
Tears began gathering in her eyes.
Not dramatic tears.
Not forced tears.The kind people try desperately to hide.
"I don't know everything."
Her voice cracked.
"I only know fragments."
"Things I've overheard."
"Things I've seen."
She grabbed my shoulders.
"What he's doing... it's wrong."
Her grip tightened."Our great-grandfather had ideas."
"Dangerous ideas."
"But your father twisted them into something worse."
I could feel her shaking.
"I have a child now."
For the first time, I understood.
This wasn't about her.
It wasn't about me.
It wasn't even about the family.
It was about someone who hadn't been born yet.
"I don't care about saving the world, Kei."The tears finally escaped.
"I know humanity will keep making mistakes."
"I know people will keep hurting each other."
"But please..."
Her voice broke completely.
"Protect the next generation."
I didn't answer.
I simply watched her.
People rarely entrusted me with their hopes.
Most feared me.
Most misunderstood me.
Yet somehow she stood before me asking forexactly that.
Why?
I couldn't understand it.
Sakura wiped her eyes.
Then she said something unexpected.
"Your whole life they've told you free will doesn't exist."
I remained silent.
"You don't have to believe them."
Snow landed softly on her hair."You have a choice."
Her eyes met mine.
"You can stay trapped inside this family's curse."
"Or you can break it."
The wind howled.
Neither of us moved.
Finally, she stepped away.A taxi arrived.
She opened the door.
Then she paused.
One final sentence.
One final warning.
"Don't let the pursuit of knowledge become humanity's curse."
She looked at me."Because sometimes the pursuit of knowledge becomes the pursuit of evil."
Then she entered the taxi.
And left.
I stood there for several minutes.
Thinking.
Not about her words.
About why they bothered me.
Eventually I headed toward my father's private office.The door was locked.
Expected.
So I used the window instead.
The room was dark.
Silent.
I searched quickly.
Drawers.Cabinets.
Documents.
Nothing.
Then I heard keys jingling outside.
Someone was coming.
I moved immediately—
A hand grabbed me.
Before I could react, I was pulled into a closet.
A hand covered my mouth.
I turned.Aoi.
Of course.
His expression was as unreadable as ever.
The office door opened.
Our father entered.
He grabbed a phone and began speaking in another language.
Several minutes passed.
Then he left.
The room fell silent again.Aoi released me.
Neither of us commented on the situation.
There was no point.
"Help me find the second document," he said.
Straight to business.
Typical.
A few moments later he pulled a file from a drawer.
"Found it."He handed me another document.
As I skimmed through the first pages, one term caught my attention.
Subject Negative.
I stopped.
"What's this?"
Aoi glanced over.
"Not what."
His expression darkened slightly.
"Who."
I looked back at the file."He was Eiji's first experiment."
The words hung in the air.
My eyes narrowed.
"He's still alive?"
"Barely."
Aoi closed the drawer.
"He's eighty-one."
Then he turned toward the door.
"We're going to meet him."I stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because he knows things."
Aoi opened the office door.
"And because we're running out of people who do."
No explanation.
No discussion.
No hesitation.Just another move forward.
As always.
Aoi walked away.
After a moment, I followed.