Chapter 18 – His Shadow

At first, I didn’t know.

I moved through a world of noise and faces, a world of expectations and meaningless smiles.

I was the school idol.

It was a role I played, a mask I wore.

Underneath, there was just a quiet emptiness.

A feeling that something important was missing.

Then I lost my grandmother’s locket.

It was the only piece of her I had left.

The silver chain felt cold against my skin, a constant, familiar weight.

Then, it was gone.

I searched everywhere.

My friends helped, their faces etched with pity.

But the locket was gone, and a piece of me went with it.

The emptiness grew into a hollow ache.

The next morning, it was sitting in my shoe locker.

It wasn’t just returned.

It was polished.

The tiny, intricate engravings were clean and sharp, gleaming under the fluorescent lights of the hallway.

It looked newer, brighter, more beautiful than I had ever seen it.

It was a miracle.

An impossible, anonymous kindness that asked for nothing in return.

That was the first thread.

The second was the school network crashing before mid-terms.

Panic.

Chaos.

The IT guys said it would take a week to fix, a week none of us had.

The next morning, it was back online.

The code was patched with a fix so brilliant and elegant that no one could figure out who did it.

I heard Kenji talking about it later.

He said he saw someone leaving the computer lab at three in the morning.

He said it was Ryuuji Sato.

The third thread was Daisuke.

He was about to be kicked off the kendo team for his grades.

He was devastated.

Then a study guide appeared on his desk.

It was handwritten, explaining complex math problems with a simple clarity that even he could understand.

He passed his exam.

He stayed on the team.

He told me the handwriting looked familiar.

He thought it was Ryuuji’s.

The threads began to connect.

A quiet boy who sat in the back of the class.

A boy who never spoke unless spoken to.

A boy who tried so hard to be a ghost, to fade into the background.

But he wasn’t a ghost.

He was a guardian.

He was a secret angel, moving through the shadows of our lives, mending the broken pieces and asking for nothing.

He wasn’t a loner.

He was a protector who hid his own wings.

And I was the only one who saw him.

Now, in this new world, I watched him.

He stood in the town square, talking quietly with Kenji and Daisuke.

The setting sun painted his dark hair with streaks of gold.

He looked so small.

So fragile.

My hand drifted to the dagger at my belt.

The cool leather of the hilt was a familiar comfort.

Every time I saw that mayor, Pedro, looking at Ryuuji, something cold and sharp twisted in my gut.

He had the eyes of a predator sizing up its prey.

Eyes full of contempt and calculation.

An urge, primal and hot, rose in my throat.

The urge to walk over to that man, to take my dagger, and to carve that disgusting smile off his face.

But I couldn’t.

Because Ryuuji trusted him.

My sweet, kind, perfect Ryuuji saw something in that man that we couldn’t.

His judgment was absolute.

His kindness was a law of nature.

If he decided this man was worthy of his trust, then I would not harm a single hair on his greasy head.

I would simply watch.

And wait.

If the mayor ever broke that trust, I would make him pray for a quick death.

A shadow fell over me.

“Reina. Ryuuji’s right-hand woman.”

I turned.

It was Siegfried.

The fake hero.

He stood there, bathed in the golden light of the sunset, his armor gleaming.

His smile was a perfect, polished lie.

I did not return it.

“What do you want?”

He chuckled, a smooth, practiced sound.

It was the sound of a salesman trying to close a deal.

“I simply wish to speak with an ally. I can see how much you care for him. You protect him. You are his shield.”

He stepped closer, his voice dropping.

“That’s why I’m worried.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Worried about what?”

“About him,”

Siegfried’s face was a mask of false concern.

“Ryuuji is a gentle soul. His heart is pure, but his judgment is clouded by his own goodness. He is naive, Reina. He cannot see the snakes in the grass.”

He gestured vaguely toward the mayor’s office.

“That man, Pedro, is a snake. And the fruit Ryuuji gave him is the key to this entire kingdom. In his innocence, Ryuuji has handed our greatest weapon to our greatest enemy.”

He was insulting him.

He was calling my Ryuuji a fool.

A slow, cold calm settled over me.

The world seemed to sharpen.

The colors grew more vivid.

The air grew still.

I gave him a small, sweet smile.

“So you think he’s naive?”

Siegfried saw the smile and mistook it for agreement.

His own grin widened.

“Exactly! He needs a guiding hand. Someone with a more… practical view of the world. Someone to protect him from his own trusting nature. Someone who can see the threats he cannot.”

He leaned in, his eyes gleaming with ambition.

“Someone like me. Or perhaps, someone like you. Together, we could ensure he is safe. We could take the fruit back from that corrupt fool and use it properly.”

I let my smile widen.

I tilted my head, my expression one of pure, innocent curiosity.

“You don’t understand him at all, do you?”

Siegfried blinked, his confidence wavering for the first time.

“What do you mean?”

“You see kindness and you call it weakness. You see trust and you call it naivete. You look at the sun and you only see a light bulb.”

My voice was a soft, gentle murmur.

It was the voice I used to soothe a frightened animal.

“Ryuuji-kun is not naive. His actions are like the tides. They follow a logic so vast and profound that little people like you and I could never hope to comprehend it. He gave that fruit to the mayor for a reason. A reason that is so far beyond your greedy little schemes that you cannot even begin to see the shape of it.”

I took a step closer to him.

The alley suddenly felt much colder.

“You talk about protecting him. Guiding him.”

I laughed.

It was a light, airy sound.

“Let me tell you what would happen to anyone who tried to ‘guide’ my Ryuuji-kun. Let me tell you what would happen to anyone who tried to take advantage of his goodness.”

I looked him directly in the eyes.

My smile never faltered.

“First, I would remove their fingers, one by one. I would make them count along with me. Then, I would take their eyes, so they could never again look upon his perfect face with their filthy, undeserving gaze. And finally, I would peel the skin from their body, salt it, and fly it from the town’s flagpole as a warning to any other insects who might think of crawling into his light.”

I said it all with the gentle, pleasant tone of someone discussing the weather.

Siegfried had gone pale.

A sheen of sweat coated his forehead.

His perfect, heroic mask had shattered, revealing the terrified, pathetic man underneath.

He started backing away slowly, his hand trembling as it reached for the hilt of his sword.

“You… you’re insane.”

“No.”

My smile finally reached my eyes.

“I’m just devoted.”

He turned and fled.

He didn’t just walk away.

He ran, his polished armor clattering on the cobblestones like a child’s dropped toys.

I watched him go, my heart filled with a quiet, peaceful warmth.

I hate fake heroes.

The only hero in this world is Ryuuji.