There was only one thing that crossed his mind upon seeing a small, yellow gate open before his eyes: wraiths. The humanoid ones.

Kino tried to get up, but his injuries and stab wounds won’t let him. His hands and shirt were all covered in blood. He just might die of blood loss any minute on that cold, asphalt ground. Grunting, he started crawling out of the cold, dark alley, trying his best to survive even with the tiniest chance he had.

“Help… Somebody help…” He weakly muttered. Every little move of his limping body hurts his stomach wound, but he still wants to live.

If someone could just magically–

Light steps coming from behind made his chest pound until he almost puked. Even without looking, Kino knew what it was. He gulped hard.

He’s wounded, and defenseless, and what just stepped out of the yellow gate is a creature that’s been threatening humanity’s survival for ages.

He firmly closed his eyes. I’m not making it alive, am I?

The creature muttered something in an alienated language. It sounded unfamiliar, yet his head automatically understood it through telepathy.

“Give me,” It said.

The cold, deep male voice sent shivers down his spine. Kino slowly turns around and finds what seems to be a male humanoid wraith standing tall behind him. Silver hair, greyish-blue skin, sharp claws. It was in its devil form. The light of the yellow gate enveloped its body in the shadows making its red eyes the only visible part of him.

The H-type wraith raised an arm. He panicked. He desperately crawled away with all his might, groaning in pain and excessive bleeding until he urged himself to stand up to save his life. Kino knew it was impossible to escape such a monster, especially if someone was an ordinary human, but he still wanted to try. He needs to live. He has to.

An image of Reno in front of his grave crossed his mind, crying and hopeless. No, he absolutely cannot die. Reno is just a little kid, who can’t hear the world around him. The only family left he has is his older brother. He cannot leave him alone, not in this hell.

Before he could even reach the end of the dark alley, he felt a sudden emptiness in his chest. Blood spilled out of his lips. Looking down, Kino sees a large hand gripping his throbbing heart coming from his back.

"Freedom..."

“N-No…”

Not like this… I don’t wanna die.

The hand pulled out, still gripping his heart. Kino’s body turns around unconsciously, and he sees the H-type smiling sinisterly as it squeezes his heart in its hand.

“G-Give it back…”

"From now on, you and I are one."

“Please, I don’t wanna die...”

But he did.

He lived.

Kino woke up in his bed, much to his surprise. First, he expected to die after what happened that night. Second, it turns out he’s alive and sleeping comfortably in his room. Upon trying to process everything he could remember, he got up on the white futon with a shocked look on his face.

That night, what happened that night?...

His left hand automatically reached for his stomach. He felt nothing unusual. He raised his shirt, with no wounds or scars. It looks normal, and nothing feels painful.

Was it all just a dream?

“From now on, you and I are one…”

A vague memory of a silhouette and its cold words sent shivers down his spine. He unknowingly touched his chest as his breathing grew ragged, and cold sweat formed on his forehead despite the fan already on.

Huh?

A knock on the door ended his inner monologue. Reno’s head popped in with his sketch pad in hand. Kino’s eyes lit up upon seeing his brother. His eyes watered for whatever reason. He still didn’t know if the images in his mind were real or just a horrible nightmare.

“Reno… g-good morning.” Reno flashed a gentle longing smile and wrote something on his sketchpad.

Right. It was just a dream. No way I was stabbed and had no-

‘YOU WERE ASLEEP FOR 2 DAYS’

The smile on Kino’s face suddenly vanished. “W-What?”

Reno kept writing.

‘I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD’

His eyebrows creased in confusion. His heart which had just been calming down started racing at a fast pace again. With trembling hands, he pointed to himself. “M-Me?”

Reno put down his sketchpad and answered back in sign language. According to his brother, he was sleeping with bloody clothes on the road, and his “friend” (co-worker) from work had found him and was the one who brought him to the hospital.

Kino touched his stomach once more. He’d collapsed with blood-stained clothes, yet he didn’t have any wounds or injuries on his body. He can recall the stabbing incident very well, but not what happened next. Maybe because he already had lost consciousness right away due to his injuries.

“NO INJURIES SO YOU’RE HOME. DOCTORS SAID YOU WERE DRUNK” Reno wrote.

“B-But I don’t drink!” Kino muttered. “But…”

If the memory of him getting stabbed by a drunk man was true, that meant the man’s smell had stuck to him. Yet, he still couldn’t be convinced it happened in reality because he didn’t have any bruises or stab wounds!

He was surprised when Reno hugged him tightly. “Brother… I-I missed you,” He tried to murmur in a tiny voice. He wrote on his sketchpad. ‘I DON’T CARE IF BROTHER BECOMES DRUNK EVERY DAY, AS LONG AS HE IS ALIVE. RENO IS HAPPY’

Kino flashed a faint smile and nodded, “Yeah.”

Reno’s right. What happened to him may be weird, but as long as he's alive, he can ignore it and go on normally with his day-to-day life.

Reno went out to prepare breakfast. Shortly, Kino decided to get up and stretch his body to start the day. He missed a lot from school for sure, and the Wraith Hunter application! He set aside the weird feeling that’d been bothering him as soon as he opened his eyes to face the day. His being alive is what’s important.

Who cares about all that? I’m still alive, and that’s what matters! He convinced himself.

He sat and checked his phone, but was immediately interrupted when his head throbbed painfully–as a male voice kept speaking inside his head.

“Give me… freedom..”

“From now on, you and I are one…”

Kino looked around in paranoia, everything around him was spinning. He was very confused. He felt drunk. Maybe he did get drunk? But it’s been three days! The cold baritone voice that kept whispering mysterious words only made the throbbing worse. Where is it even coming from?

Kino tried to remember, but he couldn't no matter what he did. It hurts so much. The voice keeps playing in his mind like a broken record. Speaking about “freedom” and “being one” on repeat.

Like a true drunkard, he sprinted his way to the connecting bathroom and washed his face with cold water to “sober” himself.

“From whom is this stupid voice coming from? Am I the only one who hears it?!” He yelled uncontrollably.

Kino stared at his reflection, he focused on his face trying to compose himself. The moment he blinked, he noticed how his blue eyes slowly changed to a red hue, like the colour of blood, making him startle.

“Whoa?”

He blinked, and they were back to blue.

“Okay? What… was… that?”

He scratched his eyes and checked his reflection over and over again. It didn’t change any more. As soon as he woke up, weird things started happening. Was it the effect of being asleep for 2 days?

He knew he was stabbed that day, but the doctors discovered no wounds or injuries on his body, so he doesn’t know if it happened or if it was just part of a dream from his 2-day coma. Then as soon as he woke up, his world was spinning while an unknown voice pestered his head on repeat, now it seems he’s developed hallucinations.

Kino closed his eyes firmly and relaxed. The headache was subsiding. A ring from his phone made him open his eyes. The world wasn’t spinning anymore.

“Right. My phone,” He muttered. He was greeted by a series of messages, mostly from Morris, and some from the school office due to his absence, just like what he’d expected. But the recent notification that rang his phone was from the WHA. He opened it first.

Hello, Mr. Rosen. We would like to congratulate you for being officially hired as a hunter in the Wraith Hunters Association. You are to start your work and training on April 12, 20XX. See you there!

Best regards,

Ms. X

Kino gripped his phone tightly. Five days from now, his life as a Wraith Hunter will start. He couldn’t help but grin in fear and excitement. He can almost grasp the comfortable life he wants for himself and his brother.

He looked at his parents’ photo sitting in the drawers in the corner of the room. May they guide him, especially his mom, on his journey for the sake of her children’s survival.