Chapter 6

The ring pulsed faintly against Kusho's finger.

Another card has been chosen.

The message was more like a whisper across the nerves, a soft press on his awareness. Someone, somewhere, had been found worthy. The Circle had grown.

He walked to school in silence. The clouds were low today, dragging along the rooftops like lazy thoughts. Montrosier had the sleepy chill of early fall: leaves skittering down cobblestone streets, shutters creaking open, coffee steam in the air.

His steps slowed outside Lycée Jean Fournier. He looked up, exhaled, and walked in.

In class, Yui noticed instantly the bandage on Renji's arm. 

"Renji, what happened to your arm?"

Renji had a sleeve rolled up. Bandages wound around his forearm, trailing up under the cuff. He flinched slightly, already bracing.

"Nothing," he muttered, avoiding her eyes.

Yui leaned closer, not buying it. "That doesn't look like anything."

"I dropped something. It broke."

"You don't drop things. You punch things."

"Then maybe I punched something that was already broken," he grunted, rubbing the back of his neck.

She frowned, crossing her arms. "That's not funny, Renji."

"I wasn't trying to be."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine."

But the tightness in his voice didn't go unnoticed. Yui's eyebrows drew together, but she relaxed herself, barely. 

Renji shifted in his seat. "Why are you even worried?"

"Because I care, dumbass."

That stopped him cold. His ears turned faintly red. "Oh."

Kusho sat behind them, still and unreadable. He didn't need to glance to sense the sparkle of Renji's pride, the frustration in Yui's concern, or the quiet heartbeat of something tender between them. It was noticeable in their pauses. In the words they didn't say.

Renji kept glancing sideways. Not at Yui. At Kusho.

Kusho, as always, said nothing.

Then the door opened.

"Sorry I'm late," said a smooth, sharp voice. "Administrative stuff. You know how it is."

Heads turned.

Caelen stood in the doorway, dressed in a nice suit, glasses, and a tie he hadn't bothered to tighten properly. He looked older than the students, but barely. Way too confident.

He was, unfortunately, stunning.

Several students whispered immediately:

"Is he single?"

"Holy crap, he's hot."

"Too handsome to be a teacher!"

Caelen ignored them with the practiced ease of someone who'd lived with attention his whole life.

"I'm your new math instructor," he said, walking up to the desk. "Caelen Dros. You can call me Mr. Dros. Or don't. I won't respond if I'm annoyed."

A few students laughed nervously.

Kusho didn't move. But his eyes caught Caelen's for a half-second.

Caelen didn't blink. Neither did Kusho.

A full conversation happened in that pause; both interacted in that brief moment via their eyes. Caelen started.

There's a new member. 

I know.

The Lord's Right Hand had a meeting.

I see. We'll talk later.

Caelen turned to the class. "Anyway. Numbers are just thoughts we gave shape to. So let's start with imaginary ones, since reality is overrated."

At lunch, a group of students gathered around Yui.

"Hey," said Camille, a short girl with a bright blue hoodie. "We're having a little hangout tonight at my place. Pizza, board games, maybe a horror movie. You guys in?"

Yui nodded immediately. "Yeah. I'm in."

Renji hesitated for half a second. "If she's going, I'll come too."

Kusho blinked. "Okay."

Camille grinned. "Awesome. My parents are away, so we won't get yelled at for being loud."

Camille's house was cozy and cluttered. A warm cottage-style home at the edge of town, filled with cat figurines and pastel rugs. They took over the living room. A stack of pizza boxes. Soda cans. Music was humming faintly.

There were ten students in total.

Camille was the loud, excited one, always buzzing with energy and making friends without even trying. Mathis talked way too fast, especially when it came to magnets or anything vaguely scientific. Élodie loved glitter pens and wore so many bracelets you could hear her coming. Rayan was smug, smooth-talking, and annoyingly unbeatable at board games. Margot, on the other hand, was quiet but always five steps ahead, with a dry humor that caught you off guard. Lucien was the gamer, is awkward, yes, but genuinely kind. Zahra had a poet's soul, speaking softly but always cutting straight to the truth. Theo was the tall, clumsy one who somehow managed to be allergic to half the pizza toppings. Yui, Renji, and Kusho completed the ten students. 

Yui laughed a lot more than usual. Renji, too, though his laughter came hesitantly, as if he didn't trust himself to relax. He stayed near Yui the entire time. Close, but never touching. Watching her the way someone watches a campfire from a little too far away.

Kusho mostly listened. He liked the edges of things. The way people shifted when they thought no one was watching. Yui doodled on a napkin while pretending not to look at Renji. Renji kept tensing whenever Kusho looked in his direction.

And in corners of the room, people whispered about him.

"He doesn't have a last name?"

"Lives with that doctor guy, right? The one who lost his family?"

"He's weird but like... really cute."

"Kind of delicate looking, you know?"

"Not soft. Just... quiet."

They didn't know what to make of him. Not dangerous. Not completely. Just unfamiliar. Like a painting you weren't sure was finished.

Halfway through a game of Mafia, someone asked Kusho what he wanted to be when he grew up.

There was a pause. A longer one than most expected.

Kusho never really thought of that. Not once, not seriously. What did it mean to want something when you'd already been everything? A God, a ghost, a tool, an echo. He thought of all the versions of himself he'd shed like skins, the titles, the power, the burdens, but never this one. And in this room, it struck him how absurd it all was.

He looked up.

"Alive, I guess."

The room laughed, not unkindly. Someone nudged him. Camille threw a pillow at him.

Outside the house, Caelen leaned against the porch rail, sipping a soda quietly.

He smiled without humor.

"You, Kusho, my friend," he murmured, "dying? You're really a fool. A stubborn, brilliant fool."

His eyes drifted toward the sky.

"You were never meant to end. That's what makes you dangerous."

Later, Yui told stories about her childhood. The time she got stuck in a tree trying to rescue a cat that turned out to be a squirrel. Her first drawing it was supposed to be a duck, it looked like a cloud having an identity crisis.

Renji offered his own: a gang fight he once stopped because he tripped on a scooter and knocked three guys down by accident.

Everyone laughed harder.

But afterward, Renji sat a little quieter. Less sure of himself. Still close to Yui, but fidgeting, his fingers brushing the hem of his sleeve.

Being around people wasn't easy. But being near her made it almost worth it.

Kusho sat on the edge of the room, arms around his knees. Not smiling. But his breathing was easier.

That night, in the Realm, Seren sat alone in her room within the Empyrean Empire.

Untouched books, candles, and the hum of distant, sacred magics surrounded her. The stained glass behind her caught no light.

She sat cross-legged on the floor. A piece of paper was in her lap. A pen she hadn't touched in hours.

She whispered, just loud enough for no one to hear.

"Are you still out there?"

Silence.

She folded the paper. A song not yet written.

"I would've gone with you."

Another silence. This one was heavier.

Seren closed her eyes.

"You said you wanted to feel."

She smiled, faintly.

"Then feel this, Kusho. I miss you."