The room was small. Cold. Bright enough to burn one's vision. Kairo stared at the wall mirror, fully aware that someone was watching from the other side.
Yuto was sitting next to him, nervously fiddling with the hoodie string. He pulled a lollipop out of his pocket, biting it nervously.
"This is officially the most absurd thing that's ever happened to me," he muttered.
Kairo didn't respond. His eyes were fixed on a red camera in the upper corner.
A click. The door opened.
Two agents entered. One of them was tall, balding, with a blank stare like an empty shell. The other... had a badge on his chest: Detective I. Hanazawa.
"Kaiaba Kairo. Kaiaba Yuto. Well, I see you like playing dangerous games."
"We didn't—" Yuto started, but Detective Hanazawa silenced him with a gesture.
"You violated the central system of the Saito Corporation. You know what that means, right?"
Kairo glared at the man, clenching his fists, the atmosphere was tense, almost suffocating. "The only crime we committed... was looking for answers." His words echoed in the room.
Hanazawa didn't smile. He sat down, gesturing to his colleague, "Leave us alone." Without asking too many questions, the agent left.
But Kairo noticed something unsettling—a purple light emanated from the guard who had just left, a faint glow, exactly like Azrael's Remembrance. Yet only he seemed to have noticed it.
Yuto kept his eyes on Hanazawa, appearing confident, strong, and determined—qualities clearly emanating from the man.
Detective Hanazawa pulled out a tablet and began to read.
"Kaiaba Kairo, 18 years old, student at Tokyo Metropolitan Kurohane High School, excellent grades—" he looked straight into Kairo's eyes and then continued, "—you joined the Kyumeinkan Dojo at the age of 5, a young kendo prodigy."
He looked at him again with a hint of a small smile. "After winning 3 regional competitions, you dropped everything after your father, Kenji Kaiaba, disappeared. No criminal record." In front of the two boys, the detective lit a cigarette.
Yuto muttered, "Do you really think you can smoke in here, dude?"
"I do whatever I want. Now don't interrupt me," he continued, taking a puff.
"Then we have Kaiaba Yuto, 17 years old, also a student at the same school as his brother, a genius in cybersecurity and hacking protection." He raised his gaze. "But it's not your first digital offense, is it?"
Yuto opened his mouth to speak, but the detective silenced him again by raising his voice. "We have evidence of cryptocurrency mining, access to a girl's laptop—"
Kairo glared at him. "Tell me that girl isn't who I think she is."
Yuto bit into his lollipop and admitted, "Oh, come on, I just wanted to check on Lyra, see if she was okay through her webcam."
Kairo cracked his knuckles and punched him on the head. "You pervert!"
At that moment, a policeman entered the room, catching the detective's attention:
"Detective, we have a problem, can you come for a second?"
"Ah, what a pain, what's going on in Tokyo these days? We have more domestic abuse cases than last year," Hanazawa sighed, putting out his cigarette on the floor with his sole.
"What's going on?" Kairo asked suspiciously.
Hanazawa looked Kairo in the eyes. "Mind your own business, kid. You're not off the hook regarding the Saito incident." He opened the door and, without turning back, declared:
"When this matter is resolved, I'll be back. In the meantime, we'll inform your mother that you're here." He followed the agent who had called him, mumbling to himself, "She's probably worried because she couldn't find them at home."
Kairo crossed his arms, casting a stern judgment toward his brother.
"You're an idiot, you know that? What the hell were you doing, spying like a creep?"
Yuto, embarrassed and with his eyes lowered, apologized.
"Sorry, Kai... I know she's your friend, but I didn't have the courage to ask her out. I'm way below her standards."
"And spying on her is a better solution? How do you know she'll say no if you never ask?"
Yuto resumed nervously chewing on the lollipop, and then Kairo ruffled his hair without looking at his face.
"I'm disappointed, but you're still my brother. Just don't do it again, or one day I'll beat you up!"
"Understood, boss," the boy smiled.
Meanwhile, in her room, Aenna continued to feel sharp pains in her head.
Panic was starting to seep in. Clenching her teeth, she noticed a small glow on her smartwatch with a message:
"Subject Yuki Aenna - Memory Drift 18% - Curse of Oblivion in progress"
Aenna, stunned, didn't understand what it meant. She took it off and threw it against the wall, gasping,
"What kind of joke is this?"
The pain became more intense. She began to see a shadow forming in the corner of the room, glitching, moving erratically.
With a distorted voice and a white mask that continued to take shape on its face, it spoke,
"Yuki Aenna, you will be the next."
"Who are you, what do you want, LEAVE ME ALONE!" the girl screamed, trembling.
Azrael reached out his hand, but then disappeared in a flash as Aenna's mother burst through the door, exclaiming,
"Aen, what's going on?" Finding her daughter in tears.
She had a pained, confused expression.
Looking at her mother, for a moment she didn't recognize her and asked,
"Who are you?"
Her mother, Misa, looked at her worriedly, hugging her tightly,
"Sweetheart, it's me, Mom."
Aenna burst into tears,
"Mom, I don't want to disappear!"
While her mother continued to console her, Azrael watched them from a rooftop, whispering,
"Anomalies will be eliminated."
And then vanished into the shadows.
At the police station, two officers at the reception desk were waiting for Hanazawa.
One of them held a phone, but suddenly both officers felt a sharp headache. A faint violet light flashed in their eyes, but they didn't notice. Their hands trembled, and cold sweat formed, while a figure outside the window watched them.
Then they froze, the violet light enveloping them. A moment later, they returned to their tasks, like machines that had just been reprogrammed.
Detective Hanazawa arrived at the reception, while the officers pretended to work, all the while keeping an eye on him.
"Detective, a call for you," one of the officers said, handing him a raised smartphone.
Hanazawa took the phone with a bored expression.
"Hello, this is Detective Hanazawa. How can I help you?"
"Oh, I already know who you are; no need for introductions." Hanazawa glanced around to spot anything suspicious but saw nothing. Still, his instincts screamed that something was wrong.
"Who am I talking to? Listen, if this is a prank, I'll report you for obstruction of a public officer!"
"Relax, Detective. I just want to have a little chat. Time is running out," the mechanical voice intensified. "I want the two kids you have in custody right now! Or I'll have you killed."
Hanazawa leaned on the counter, his voice calm and steady.
"Listen here, asshole. I get threats like this twice a month. So, screw you. I'm not handing over those kids just because some prick called me on the phone."
Silence.
A long, unsettling silence as if time itself had stopped. For a moment, Hanazawa's confidence wavered.
Then the voice returned.
"Very well, Ien Hanazawa. You've made your choice."
"Who the hell are you?" Hanazawa shouted.
"A nobody. But you can call me Azrael. Enjoy my friends." The call ended.
Hanazawa's heart pounded. He had faced the worst criminals from the Yakuza, but something about this felt different, more sinister. He hung up and rushed back to the interrogation room, his only thought being the safety of Yuto and Kairo.
But before he could take a step, a police officer manifested a violet light around him and charged at Hanazawa.
The detective barely managed to deflect the blow, leveraging his training to fend off the attacker.
"What the hell, Yuji? What's wrong with you?" he demanded, but the officer didn't respond.
In the reflection of a nearby mirror, Hanazawa noticed another officer behind him, holding a taser baton. Same mechanical stance, same violet light.
Hanazawa quickly blocked the officer's wrist, throwing him to the ground.
Yuji advanced, this time holding a pair of scissors, aiming for Hanazawa's eye.
Hanazawa was anxious, not understanding why his colleagues were attacking him without reason.
He raised his hands defensively, trying to reason with them.
"Okay, let's all calm down. Whatever is going on, we can resolve it peacefully, right?"
The officers paused momentarily, their violet eyes glowing, unsettling, as if filled with an abyss of negative thoughts but at the same time completely empty.
Hanazawa was baffled. These were skilled officers, model employees, men he had known for years.
"I need to figure out what's going on, and fast. How did they change like this?" he thought.
Then the officers spoke in unison.
"We serve the Keeper of Oblivion." They took combat stances, moving their weapons forward menacingly.
"We will eliminate the anomalies." They fixed their gaze on Hanazawa and charged again.
"We serve Azrael."
Hanazawa barely managed to sidestep as Yuji lunged at him with the scissors. He twisted his body, using the momentum to knock the weapon from Yuji's hand, sending it skittering across the floor.
Yan, the other officer, swung the taser baton with mechanical precision, forcing Hanazawa to duck.
"What the hell happened to you two?" Hanazawa muttered, his back pressed against a metal cabinet.
The violet glow around his colleagues pulsed, their movements twitchy and unnatural.
Yuji's expression flickered, his eyes briefly losing the violet sheen. He gritted his teeth, his voice strained.
"Ien... help me... Azrael... he's... in my head!" He clutched his head as if trying to fight off something invisible.
Hanazawa hesitated, seeing a glimpse of his old friend trying to break free.
"Yuji! Focus on my voice! Whatever this is, fight it!"
But as Hanazawa moved closer, the glow intensified, and Yuji's eyes glowed brighter, his body stiffening again. He lashed out with unnatural strength, sending Hanazawa stumbling backward.
"Serve the Keeper of Oblivion... Eliminate the anomalies..." the two officers droned, their voices devoid of any human warmth.
Suddenly, the computer monitor on Hanazawa's desk flickered to life, displaying a disturbing message:
"Subject Yuji Kashiro and Yan Ozutaki - Memory Drift 72%
Subjects Possessed"
"What the hell does that mean?" Hanazawa whispered, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Yuji and Yan closed in, movements synchronized like puppets on strings.
Hanazawa looked around desperately for an escape route. He spotted a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. In one fluid motion, he ripped it free and aimed the nozzle at his possessed colleagues.
"Sorry, guys," he muttered before blasting them with a freezing jet of foam.
The cold spray made them stagger, their movements slowing momentarily. Hanazawa took the chance to slip past them, rushing down the corridor.
"Think, Ien, think! What's controlling them? And how the hell do I stop it?"
As he reached the staircase, he saw more officers approaching from the lower floors, their eyes flickering violet.
"Damn it... they're everywhere!" He hurried up the stairs instead, heading for the roof.
---
Meanwhile, in the interrogation room...
Yuto frantically typed on his smartwatch, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Almost got it... Just one more firewall to break through..."
Kairo strained against the door, holding it shut as someone kept banging on it from the other side.
"Yuto! Whatever you're doing, do it faster!"
"I'm trying!" Yuto shouted, his fingers flying over the screen.
A loud crack echoed through the room as a bullet pierced the door. Kairo cursed, pushing his weight harder against it.
"We can't stay here, Yuto! We need an escape plan!"
"Working on it!"
Finally, Yuto's device pinged, and the fluorescent lights in the station flickered.
"Done! I hacked the central control. I can open emergency exits and lock down some areas."
"Then do it! Now!" Kairo shouted.
Yuto swiped through the interface, activating the lockdown protocol. Suddenly, the alarms blared, and security shutters began descending in the corridors.
"That should slow them down," Yuto panted.
Kairo looked at his brother with a mixture of relief and pride.
"Nice work, genius. Now let's find a way out before they break through."
As they moved toward the ventilation shaft in the corner, Yuto hesitated.
"Hey, Kairo... What if... what if Mom is also affected?"
Kairo clenched his fists. "One problem at a time. First, we get out. Then we figure out what's going on."
"But what if Azrael—"
Kairo grabbed Yuto by the shoulders, forcing him to look into his eyes.
"Listen. I'm not letting anyone hurt you or Mom. Got it?"
Yuto nodded, swallowing his fear.
"Now, let's move," Kairo said, helping his brother climb into the ventilation shaft.
---
Outside the station, on the opposite rooftop...
Azrael watched the chaos unfold with a distant expression. The ciondolo in his hand glowed faintly, symbols on it shifting like static.
"Oblivion consumes all... This reality is no different," he whispered to himself.
He turned his head slightly as he sensed something. A presence. A distortion.
"So... you're resisting after all, Kairo"
He clenched his fist around the ciondolo, eyes burning with a cold determination.
"But this world will break just like mine did. The anomaly must be erased, even if it means destroying everything."
Azrael melted into the shadows, his last words hanging in the air.
"This time, I will succeed. I will save what's left of existence."