The sun filtered through the hallway windows, casting sharp shadows on the marble floor. For anyone, it was just another morning at the academy. Students walked with books in their arms, muffled laughter echoed between columns, and the sound of disciplined footsteps marked the rhythm of the day.
For Tokura Yoshi, it was just another act in his silent theatre. One where every gesture was carefully measured, every word calculated to leave no trace.
-Good morning," he said as he passed a group of students, without looking directly at anyone.
The response was automatic, without interest. It was perfect. It went unnoticed. One shadow among many.
In class, Haruto joked with his classmates. His hearty laughter seemed to light up the corners where even magic couldn't reach. Yoshi stood in his usual place in the back, writing down each formula in his notebook even though he already knew them by heart.
During the pause, she glanced sideways at Liz. Impeccable as ever, sitting with her back straight, chatting briefly with Haruka. Both kept their expressions serene, but Yoshi could see the tensions hidden beneath the surface. He didn't know if they had a nightmare that night too, but something in the way they looked suggested it.
The day passed without visible incident. But the weight of the previous night's dreams did not dissipate. Not on him. And perhaps not on them either.
-
As he left the academy, the afternoon was shrouded in purple clouds that portended rain. Yoshi walked along the stone path to the inn where he was staying, his backpack hanging to one side and thoughts flitting like crows in his mind.
-Another night. Another dream, probably," he muttered.
But it did not reach its destination.
At a fork in the road, by the archway of the central gardens, two figures emerged on the opposite side. One with night-black hair and princess-like fringes, the other with a similarly coloured ponytail and part of the fringes falling across her face. They wore the combat uniforms of the advanced division. Kyria and Charlotte.
Yoshi's heart stopped for a moment.
They both stopped at the sight of him. Their eyes showed not surprise, but something more primal. Recognition. Instinct. Like something asleep that had just opened an eye.
-...
Charlotte was the first to look away. Kyria, on the other hand, took a step forward, tilting her head to one side as if trying to remember. Or confirm something.
-Have we met before? -he asked, his tone soft, almost curious.
-No... I think you have me confused with someone," said Yoshi, swallowing. His voice was a trembling note in the middle of a tense symphony.
Charlotte gave him a sidelong glance, but said nothing. They both continued on their way, their footsteps echoing behind him like hammering hammers in his mind.
Only when he was sure they were out of sight did Yoshi allow himself to breathe hard. Sweat trickled down his neck, cold, clammy.
-It was... too close.
-
That night, the tiredness was enough not to avoid it. He fell asleep unintentionally, barely touching the bed.
And the dreams returned.
But this time, they were different.
It was as if his mind had collapsed in on itself. The setting was the same: the cursed office. But now, she saw it from every angle. Every detail. Every tear. Every word he - not he - had said.
And then he felt something else. A connection. As if someone else was dreaming about him.
-What... is this...?"
I could hear her voice, but I could also hear Charlotte's voice. Kyria's. And worse... he felt what they felt. The fear. The disgust. The hatred. The confusion. The contempt. All mixed together in an unstoppable tide.
Hideyoshi's" body moved inside the dream, repeating the actions like a programmed shadow. But Yoshi was outside that body. He floated. He watched. He suffered.
And then, he understood.
His passive ability: "Immersive Dreams", which allowed him to recreate any lived memory with absolute sensory accuracy, had been activated by the recent trauma.
But he was not alone.
His active ability: "Mastery", still dormant for lack of mana, reacted to this altered state. Both abilities, acting at the same time, had created an anomaly: an emotional resonance between minds marked by the same event.
What I was experiencing now was not just a memory.
It was a shared dream, a distortion between the pain of the victims and that of the one who inhabited the executioner's body.
And then she saw him: in the middle of that dream, Charlotte turned her face and looked straight at him. Her eyes met his.
-Tokugawa Hideyoshi...? -he whispered.
Yoshi woke up screaming.
Her room was dark. Her hands were shaking. His body was covered in sweat. But the cold that invaded him came from inside.
-This wasn't a dream. It was a bloody connection...
He lay there, panting, not knowing if going back to sleep was an option. Outside, the rain was finally starting to fall.
And somewhere in the academy, two other people were also waking up, with the same name echoing in their minds.
"Tokugawa Hideyoshi"