It’s been a week since Kino was appointed as a wraith hunter in the WHA Itaport Headquarters. For the past few days, the missions they’d assigned the team were easy compared to what he thought wraith hunters do every day. According to Ellis, it’s a normal routine, and there were times when no Gates opened for several days straight. The longest they had in history was for 2 weeks straight several years ago.

“Researchers in the headquarters theorize that it happens when wraiths lose a huge number in their population and are lying low until they gather as many troops as they can.” The enforcer said.

Another Monday came. Kino got up from the futon and sensed someone watching him. His senses heightened and he turned around to see where he felt the eyes coming from. When he met a pair of tearful, big blue eyes similar to his, he screamed in surprise.

“Reno, you scared me!”

Reno wiped his tears and wrote trembly on his sketchpad. Kino immediately panicked as he saw the state of his brother. “W-Why are you crying?” He accompanied his words with sign language. Reno sniffled and wrote something.

‘SORRY. I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU’

Kino gave him a questioning look. Reno wrote once more.

‘YOU WERE NOT BREATHING’

A loud pang hit Kino’s chest upon reading the message. His throat ran dry and he felt as though bile was stuck in it. “R-Really? But brother is still alive so… there’s nothing you need to be worried about.” He followed it with a shell of a laugh, messing up his little brother’s hair and getting up. After telling him to wait for him downstairs, he went for a quick shower to prepare for school.

“From now on, you and I are one.”

“I wasn’t breathing?” He brushed his teeth in silence at the sink.

Reno must be imagining things.

He convinced himself with any possible reasons he could think of. But deep inside, Kino was as worried as his little brother. What if what he said was true? But then, why? He remembered the nightmare he had when he collapsed from a fever at school and the very painful headache he experienced before those happenings.

After gurgling, he looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. That nightmare traumatized him from looking at his reflection. Upon blinking, he noticed the change in his eye colour. From blue, it turned to red, like blood.

“What the hell… A-Am I dreaming again?”

“Kill them all, Kino.”

It was that voice again. Kino clenched his jaw. It still may have given him chills, but this time he felt more anger than fear.

“Shut up! Leave me alone!!!” He looked at himself in the mirror again, as if he knew that Magnus would see him from there. He stared intently at his reflection with sharp red eyes, waiting for it to change into someone else again, to Magnus with his silver hair past his shoulders and black robes, just like in his dream.

But Magnus didn’t show up. His reflection stayed the same. Kino sighed a deep breath. He didn’t know if it was from relief that he wasn’t dreaming anymore, or frustration because of his bloody set of eyes that changed for no reason.

The door of his room opened. Reno returned to check up on him with a remaining worried expression on his face. It was all sudden. Since the door to the bathroom was open, his little brother spotted him right away. He didn’t have any time to cover his eyes.

“R-Reno–”

Reno took a step back. Kino felt a light squeeze on his chest. He thought Reno was about to run upon seeing his eyes similar to an H-type wraith, but he pulled out his sketchpad and wrote something very quickly.

‘BROTHER, YOU HAVE NICE HAIR’

Upon reading those words, Kino went back to the bathroom mirror to take a look at himself. Even he took a step back. It was the second time that he feared himself. Suddenly, he felt like he didn't know himself anymore.

“W-Who… Who is this…”

His hair which was dark as the skies his mom loved so much was all gone, leaving naught but silver strands of hair.

“What should I do now?” Kino roamed the room as Reno watched his brother pace back and forth. The boy wondered why he looked paranoid, why his skin was pale, why he locked the doors all over the apartment and shut the curtain windows as if he was allergic to the sun. Reno tried his best to make him breakfast, which consisted of assorted cereal and milk, yet the milk was already warm and the cereal had turned soggy. He pouted his lips and hugged his little sketchpad in silence. The kid had no idea what was going on with his sibling.

Kino opened the closet wide and began taking out his jackets and sweaters, then went through the drawers to look for shades he rarely wore. His father has given them to him on his 15th birthday. He wore whatever he could find that could cover his hair and eyes.

“I’m… I’m going out to look for something. Stay here.” He muttered as if Reno could read his lips very well. Due to fear, his mind isn’t thinking properly anymore. For a second, he wished he could buy Reno a pair of hearing aids for times like this. Fortunately, Reno knew that he would go out somewhere else that wasn’t the school. Wearing a large gray hoodie that covered his entire face and a pair of shades, Reno took his pen.

‘TAKE CARE’

Kino arrived at the nearby local mart in the neighbourhood 10 minutes from home. He stops there often to buy ready-to-eat meals whenever he is exhausted from his old job, or to rent DVDs for Reno. As soon he stepped inside, an uncomfortable aura consumed him. He turned around to look at everyone who passed him, trying to find out the reason why. But he cannot pinpoint it.

What is this feeling?

Still feeling nervous due to unknown reasons, he swept the entire store to do what he originally planned. Then, he went to the counter as soon as he got what he needed.

The cashier guy eyed him weirdly with a mix of shock on his face. It might be because of how ridiculous he looked. Kino doesn’t recognize the guy called “Rom” on his name card (probably a newly hired employee). Yet among all the people in the whole store, the uncomfortable aura he’d been feeling the most as soon as he stepped in, was coming from that dude.

But why?

“A royalty?...”

“Huh?”

“I-I mean, not to be nosy but this hair dye sucks if you’re planning to cover it up for 6 months…” Rom whispered. The guy leaned on the glass counter to say something more, but it was in a language Kino couldn't physically understand, but the accent and sound were similar to the voices he kept hearing in his head.

“I’m sorry, what language is that?”

“The Altera language?” Kino eyed him in confusion. “Oh, sorry. You’re probably born and raised in the human world, am I right?”

His red eyes dilated behind his glasses. He leaned forward and whispered as realization dawned on him. “Are you… one of them, Rom?”

Rom creased his eyebrows in confusion. “You mean one of us. Yes.”

“Fuck.” He formed his fist.

Rom had many questions on his mind, but since many people had been entering the store at that hour, he took something from below the counter to finish his business that could help the poor guy. It was a different hair dye product. “I know exactly what's best for our disguise…” He slid it into the plastic bag together with the blue contact lenses he brought. “It’s good for one year. I don’t know what you’re going through but I wish you the best. Welcome to our world, your high–”

“Your?” Kino looked clueless and was starting to get pissed off. As much as he wants to be respectful to strangers and usually has been for the last 18 years of his life, he cannot do it upon learning what he just turned into. A monster. First, he discovered he turned into a wraith as soon as he woke up. Secondly, the first person he talked to outside was one of them.

“Uh… Y-You’re welcome.”

“Thanks.” Kino took the plastic bag without looking back and left. The cashier guy was left scratching his head.

Kino kept feeling the uncomfortable aura from some of the people he got close to on his way home. Some from a child, an elderly woman, a student, an office worker, he already got an idea, but he just doesn't want to consider it. He wants to be as normal as possible.

His infuriated expression about everything was soon wiped off his face when he spotted a group of hunters smoking just outside of a small restaurant down the street. Those were probably a group of night-shift hunters having breakfast before going home. Kino took a large gulp as his eyes fell on their guns, swords, and herald brooches.

Once they find out what he is, he's dead for sure.

An image of him getting brutally beheaded by their hands formed in his head.

Out of fear, he turned to a nearby alley to take a shortcut. Is he going to live in fear for the rest of his life? The sudden ‘ting!’ on his phone didn’t help, making him jump and scream out of surprise.

“Damn!!!” He groaned stressfully.

He looked at the notification and panicked. His mind was filled with the possible worst-case scenarios.

What if it’s the headquarters? What if they found out?

With trembling fingers, he opened the message. It was from Morris asking him if he was coming to school. Out of frustration, he kicked a pebble and it hit the nearby house’s windows followed by a dog’s loud barking. Fuming mad, Kino hurriedly ran away before someone could see him.

No human ever expected that it was possible to turn into a monster. Never in history did he hear a similar case happen and it was driving him insane.

“What should I do now?” He pleaded as he shut the front door closed.

Kino was in shambles. He didn’t even notice Reno’s farewell to go to school alone. All he did was strongly remind him not to talk about what’d happened to him to anyone else, which his brother readily agreed upon. He decided to stay home and hugged himself in bed the whole morning. The curtain windows stayed closed, and the breakfast his little brother had left him remained untouched. He succumbed to depression in the pitch-black room. All he could think of was how his life was now over.

But I don’t wanna die. I’m afraid to die. But if I did die, I don’t want to be remembered as a wraith. This isn’t me. I didn’t want to be like this. What should I do? Who would help me?

His phone rang once again for another new message. As Kino opened his laptop, he was surprised to see a message from Henrietta. Confused, he opened it.

Henrietta here. I got your number from your friend. When will you send your part?

Kino cursed at himself when he remembered the research they’d been working on together. Fortunately, he was almost done. If Henrietta, Morris, or anyone in the school sees his new appearance, what will they do to him? An image of their hysterical faces pointing him to the hunters made his expression crumble from the feeling of betrayal.

After working on the last part for half an hour, he sent it to her email.

Sorry. Can’t come today. He replied and put his phone down.

His eyes flew to the full-length mirror and saw his reflection sitting on the bed. Bloody red eyes and silver hair greeted him. Just like those wraiths…

Then beside the mirror, his eyes moved to the navy trench coat hanging in the open closet when he searched for a hoodie that morning. His palms went to his face upon seeing his hunter uniform.

What should I do now? Quit?

It’s the best thing to do. Joining the WHA as an H-type wraith is suicide. Who would even think of doing such a thing? Unless it’s a wraith pretending to be a human hunter to destroy the headquarters from within, just like in the movies. He isn’t crazy to stay on a job like that.

He’ll just find another work. There are plenty of other safe jobs out there that pay a nice amount without having to risk one’s life, anyway. He opened his laptop once again and started typing his resignation letter with trembling fingers.

But…

He stopped typing. If I quit, the mafia won’t stop bothering us. The casino debt my late father had will grow larger. They’ll never leave us alone. I will be the one to suffer about the money, and soon Reno will too.

He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. No. I need to save myself first before anything in this world. I’ll… I’ll talk to them about this.

He went to his contacts and pressed a number he saved but never contacted.

[What made you call first? Thinking of paying now?] He remembered well, that rough, brusque voice insulted his father in front of his whole family for not paying him the money he promised when Reno suddenly fell sick when he was little. How the man over the phone pointed a gun to his mother’s head, and how he ordered his men to beat his father as a threat and shoot him in the thigh before leaving the door–laughing his ass off. If he’s only old enough, it’ll happen to him sooner or later.

Kino sniffed to prevent himself from crying out of hatred. “I-I need to talk to you first.”