Chapter 19: The Betrayal

  Shiro had always believed there was order in the world. A set of rules that dictated survival.

  You fight back, you win.

  You act strong, they won't test you.

  You help someone in need, they remember it.

  They owe you.

  That was the illusion.

  The day Daiki betrayed him, that illusion shattered.

  Back Then…

  Middle school had its rulers, and Shiro had never been one of them.

  For years, he was the nameless victim—the boy shoved into lockers, the one whose voice never carried weight, the one who learned to walk quickly through hallways with his head low, just to avoid notice.

  Until Ryo Kurogami saw him.

  Until the worst day of his life unfolded in three cruel steps.

  Step one: The mistake.

  "Hey! Stop it, don't do that!"

  The words had come out of his mouth before he could think.

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  The bully—a senior student, his face sharp with malice—had been pressing a smaller kid against the lockers, his hands gripping the front of his shirt like he was ready to crush him.

  Shiro saw that boy's bruises.

  Saw the way his fingers trembled, his breath shallow.

  For the first time in his life, Shiro stepped forward instead of turning away.

  And when the bully sneered, "What are you going to do about it?" Shiro punched him in the jaw.

  The rush that followed—that brief, electric moment—was intoxicating.

  The kid gasped and scrambled away.

  Shiro felt something shift.

  But that feeling lasted only one day.

  Step two: The consequence.

  He never asked the kid's name. Never stopped to check on him after.

  But the next day, as he walked toward the bathroom, he saw him again.

  Standing beside Ryo Kurogami.

  Laughing.

  Shiro froze in the doorway.

  Ryo looked up. Smirked.

  "Thought you were tough, Hoshigaki? Guess you didn't think about the real rules."

  Then Daiki stepped forward.

  Not hesitantly. Not reluctantly.

  Confidently.

  Like he had been waiting for this moment.

  Shiro didn't understand.

  "We were the same," he wanted to say. "You were a victim, just like me."

  Daiki didn't even look sorry.

  And when Ryo grabbed Shiro's collar and yanked him forward, Daiki didn't flinch.

  He just watched.

  "Shiro," Ryo roared, "YOU PICKED THE WRONG PERSON TO BEAT UP, YOU PIECE OF S—! I'LL KILL YOU!"

  Shiro wanted to fight back.

  Wanted to say something.

  Wanted to believe Daiki would step in and stop it.

  Instead—

  Daiki shoved him into Ryos’ waiting hands.

  The laughter echoed.

  And something inside Shiro fractured.

  Present—The Void

  In the abyss after death, Shiro watches it all over again.

  He sees Daiki's face replaying in slow motion—the way his lips curved into something subtly cruel, the way his eyes held no regret.

  "Was he always like this?"

  "Or did I make him this way?"

  Shiro's fingers twitch in the void, reaching for something solid—for a way to rewrite what he knows to be true.

  "I should've seen it. Should've known."

  But there's no stopping it now.

  Daiki betrayed him.

  And he never looked back.