*Back to Kai*
The door clicked.
Kai didn't move.
Not immediately.
He expected Hina... or maybe he wanted her.
He had probably expected more silence. More guilt wrapped in her trembling frame.
But the steps that followed were different.
Lighter. Confident. Almost… playful.
Then a voice.
"Hey. Sorry to barge in. You look like you could use a visitor that's not here to break your spirit."
Kai's eyes finally shifted upward.
Standing in the doorway was someone he had never seen before.
Short—maybe five foot one.
A lean but curvy build, dressed in the black tactical uniform that Rei's elite wore. But unlike the rest, she didn't carry herself like a ghost or a machine.
There was something human in her stance.
Her hair caught his eye first—gray, but not from age. Natural. Like smoke frozen in time, cropped to just below her ears. Her eyes were light blue, piercing, but not cold. Not analytical.
There was warmth there.
And something else.
Familiarity?
Kai wanted to be alone, but, for some strange reason, the presence of this girl didn't seem to have bothered him.
Instead, he seemed... pleased...?
"You're…?" Kai asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
She smiled, walking in as the door closed behind her.
"Hiromi. Hiromi Tanaka. Captain of Unit 3. Or, as the guys like to call me, the goblin with boobs." She said, with a really friendly tone of voice.
Kai blinked, stunned into silence by her bluntness.
She plopped herself down in the room's single chair like she belonged there.
"Don't look so surprised. I heard about what happened in the hallway. Not bad for someone who's supposed to be civilian class."
Kai didn't answer.
But she didn't seem to mind.
The, he spoke.
"Are you here to teach me a lesson or tell me that I overreacted?" Kai said, with a sigh.
The girl smirked an shook her head.
"I watched the camera feed," she continued, crossing one leg over the other. "The way you disarmed that guy? Flawed technique, sure, but instinctually… damn sharp. You ever train?"
Kai shook his head slowly. "No. I just… reacted. I don't even remember what I felt, to be honest. It seemed like someone possessed my body during those instants."
"Hmm," she hummed. "Well, if you keep reacting like that, I'm gonna have to promote you."
He then looked at her. Really looked.
She didn't seem dangerous.
But Kai could feel it.
This wasn't a soldier pretending to be nice.
This was probably a killer hiding behind a bright smile.
"Why are you here?" he asked, flatly.
Hiromi tilted her head, her smile softening.
"Because you look like you're on the edge of snapping," she said, voice gentler now. "And trust me—I've seen that look before. A lot of good people don't come back from it." She said, with a gentle tone of voice.
Judging from her words, it seemed like she was speaking from her own experience.
Kai sighed and leaned forward again, elbows on knees, his head sinking into his hands.
"I don't even know what I'm feeling anymore."
Hiromi stayed quiet, letting him talk.
"Everything hurts," he said. "Not physically. Not really. But it's like there's this thing growing inside me—grief or rage or… I don't know. Something heavy."
He looked up again.
"I feel betrayed. I feel stupid. And most of all… I feel empty."
His voice cracked.
"I'm not happy. I haven't been happy in a long time, and sometimes I wonder why I have arrived to all of this."
Hiromi's expression didn't shift.
She just stood up and walked over to him, lowering herself to sit beside him on the bed.
"I get it," she said softly.
Kai turned his head slightly.
"You do?"
"I'm not gonna give you some speech about how 'pain makes us stronger' or whatever crap Rei likes to spit out when someone breaks down," she said, almost rolling her eyes. "But I will say this—when life punches you in the face hard enough to knock your heart out of your chest…"
She turned to face him directly.
"You can either stay there on the floor… or you get up and hit back. But not for the goal, but to have your happiness back."
Kai stared.
Her words weren't dramatic.
But they hit something in him.
"What if I don't know how to hit back?" he asked.
Hiromi smirked.
"Then learn."
Silence.
Then she added, "I'll teach you everything you need to know. Quietly. After school hours. Just you and me. No Rei. No cameras. No girlfriend. Just fists and truth."
Kai blinked, stunned.
"Why… would you do that?"
She shrugged.
"You remind me of someone."
"Who?"
She looked away for a moment.
Then smiled again, but this one was sadder. Softer.
"My brother."
Kai didn't press.
But something clicked in him.
That familiarity—maybe it wasn't genetic.
Maybe it was grief recognizing grief.
Pain recognizing pain.
She stood, brushing off her uniform. "You've got two choices, Kai."
He looked up.
"You keep living like a ghost. Letting pain own you, failing to protect what you love."
She walked to the door, hand hovering just over the handle.
"Or you start fighting. Not for revenge. Not for blood."
She glanced back, eyes bright.
"But for something better. Something real."
Then, she opened the door.
But before leaving, she turned one last time.
"Rei gave me some informations about you, so expect my call one of these afternoons."
Kai didn't answer.
But Hiromi didn't need a reply.
She saw the way his fists clenched slightly.
The way his breathing steadied.
And most of all—the way the storm in his eyes had shifted, even just a little.
A flicker.
A spark.
And that's how it always started.
With something small.
Something that could grow into a fire.
She smiled to herself and stepped out, letting the door close behind her.
Kai sat there for a long time.
Then whispered, "Hiromi Tanaka…"
A name he wouldn't forget.
Not now.
Not ever.
And a strange feeling wrapped around his heart: Anxiety.
He was feelking a strange sensation.
He knew that one day, this girl would've teached him something... unexpected.