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I was eight when they took me. The night was quiet, too quiet, like something in the dark was waiting. I remember waking up to the sound of heavy footsteps, the creak of a door, then hands—strong, cold hands—grabbing me from my bed. I screamed for my parents, but the voices outside were muffled, distant, like a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from. The last thing I saw before they forced me into the van was the shadow of my house fading into the distance.

Inside the van, there were five others, kids like me—scared, confused, too young to understand what was happening. For a moment, seeing them made me feel less alone, but that feeling quickly disappeared. The smell of fear was thick in the air. None of us spoke.

We were taken to a place I had never seen before—a massive facility, cold and unwelcoming. Everything about it felt wrong. The walls were too white, the lights too harsh. We were ushered into a room where a man was waiting. He wore a black suit, his face hidden behind a featureless mask that made my skin crawl.

"You have all been selected," the masked man said, his voice deep, hollow. "From now on, forget your families. Forget your homes. Forget everything. You belong to us now."

I couldn’t breathe. The walls felt like they were closing in. Without thinking, I ran. I ran past the other kids, screaming for my parents, for anyone, for help. But it didn’t matter. They caught me. A guard grabbed me, his grip tight, unyielding.

“I’m sorry,” the guard whispered, his eyes full of something I couldn’t understand. “We’re not the bad guys. We need your help.”

The masked man approached me, moving silently, like a shadow. He knelt down beside me and rubbed my head as if I were some stray animal.

"This is how it has to be," he said, his voice soft, but the words felt like ice. I sobbed, tears blurring my vision, the only thing I could think of was how much I wanted to go home.

“I want my parents back!” I cried.

The masked man leaned closer, his hand lingering on my shoulder, a cold, lifeless touch. "Let me guide you," he whispered, reaching out his hand. "Japan needs you. The world needs you."

His words didn’t make sense at first, but something in his tone—something dark and certain—made me stop struggling. He told us of a war brewing, a war that would one day consume the world. A war that no one knew about yet, but one that we were being prepared for.

China. They were planning something, something huge. He told us we were to become soldiers, assassins for a war that hadn’t even begun yet. But it would come. We were to be raised in this facility, trained in secret to kill, to protect our country.

I was eight, and they told me my childhood was over. I didn’t understand, not fully, but I knew one thing—I was never going home.

Years passed in that facility. Days blurred into nights, and the horrors we witnessed became our new reality. The year was now 2027. The world outside was on the edge, and inside these walls, we were being turned into something… something not quite human anymore.

Ichika, one of the only friends I’d made, was talking to me when the bell rang, echoing through the hallways like a death knell. We knew what it meant. We always knew. The masked man was calling us again.

As I stood up, a chill ran down my spine. It was happening. The war, the one we had been preparing for. It was almost here, and I was no longer sure who the real enemy was—China, or the people who turned us into this.

As the bell echoed through the sterile halls, I felt it again—that suffocating weight in my chest. Fear. Anxiety. The same feeling that always crawled up my spine whenever the masked man summoned us. Ichika walked beside me, her steps quiet, but I could tell she felt it too. It was something we couldn’t escape—an unspoken dread that clung to all of us.

The others were already gathered by the time we arrived, faces pale, eyes wide with that familiar terror. We were supposed to be assassins, trained killers, but deep down we were still just kids. And no matter how hard they tried to shape us, fear still had its hold.

I glanced around, heart pounding in my ears. Why now? Why the sudden call? The masked man never held these meetings unless something serious—something terrible—was happening. The silence in the room was heavy, pressing down on us like a thick fog. My mind raced, and I could feel the tension building.

Then he appeared.

The masked man, standing tall, his presence casting a long, dark shadow over us. His mask—a cold, blank void—made him unreadable. But his voice, low and deliberate, was like ice, sending a chill through the air.

“Tokyo has been hit.”

The words hit like a punch to the gut. Everything around me seemed to blur for a second. *Hit? What does he mean?*

“A missile,” he continued, his tone as indifferent as always. “This means Code Black.”

The moment those words left his mouth, it felt like the floor was falling away beneath me. Code Black. The declaration of war. The nightmare we had been trained for since the day they took us. It was here. It was real.

I looked over at Ichika, my throat tight, barely able to breathe. Her face was pale, eyes wide with disbelief, but beneath the surface, I saw it—she understood. We both did. We’d known this day would come, but knowing didn’t make it any easier.

It was time. The war, the violence, the bloodshed—it was all about to begin. And we were part of it, whether we were ready or not.The masked man’s voice echoed through the cold room, chilling us to the bone.

“Get your katanas, knives, and spy gear ready,” he said, his tone flat, empty of anything resembling warmth. “It’s time, my children. You will continue the legacy I’ve given you.”

His words twisted in my gut, filling me with a familiar sense of dread. Legacy. That’s what he called it. But we knew better. This wasn’t a legacy—it was a curse. Seven years trapped in this nightmare, trained to kill for a war we never asked to be part of.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Reo stand up, trembling with rage. He couldn’t take it anymore.

“What about the kids who’ve been killed during these seven years you’ve been enslaving us?” Reo’s voice cracked, filled with anger and fear.

The room fell deathly silent. No one dared to move. We all waited for the masked man’s reaction.

Without a hint of emotion, the masked man simply said, “They are nothing but collateral damage.”

Reo’s face twisted in fury. “YOU ARE A—”

Before he could finish, I lunged forward and clamped my hand over his mouth, my heart racing. Reo had been standing right next to Ichika and me when the bell rang, and now he was on the edge of something dangerous. Something he wouldn’t come back from.

“You idiot,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “Who the hell do you think you are? You’ll get yourself killed with a mouth like that.”

Reo struggled beneath my hand, his muffled voice filled with fury. “Who the hell are you?”

The air grew colder as the masked man approached us. I could feel his presence, dark and suffocating, looming over us. He stopped in front of Reo, towering over him like a nightmare made real.

“Know your place, child,” the masked man said, his voice calm but laced with something far more sinister. Without warning, he flicked Reo’s head, the gesture more terrifying in its casualness than any act of violence.

“Be prepared for war, my children,” he said, turning away from us. “The time has come.”

With that, he left, his figure disappearing into the shadows, leaving us with the suffocating silence of what was to come. Slowly, the others began moving, heading off to gather their weapons. I let go of Reo, who looked shaken but still burning with defiance.

“You idiot,” I said, my voice low but firm. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

Ichika stepped forward, her eyes full of concern as she examined Reo. “Are you okay? I’ll get you some tea from our dorm.”

She rushed off, leaving me alone with Reo, whose anger had barely subsided. He shot me a look, still fuming.

“You know, it’s pretty strange for you—a boy—to be sharing a dorm with a girl,” Reo muttered.

“Shut it,” I snapped, my voice sharper than I intended. “Next time you try something like that, the masked man won’t be so merciful.”

Reo fell silent, and I could see the realization dawning on him. The masked man didn’t care about us. To him, we were just tools, weapons to be sharpened and thrown into a war we couldn’t escape from. But I knew that defying him, challenging him like Reo had, was a death sentence.

As I watched Reo, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was only the beginning. The war outside was about to start—but the real battle, the one within us, had already begun.

ichika 's perspective

---

As I returned with the tea, my hands trembled just slightly, though I tried to keep calm. When I reached Rinku and Reo, I could see the tension still hanging in the air, thick and suffocating. Reo’s face was flushed with anger, but there was something else too—fear, the kind none of us wanted to admit we felt.

“Come on, Reo,” I said softly, trying to keep my voice steady. “Come to our dorm. We need to talk.”

He started to refuse. “Sorry, but n—”

“Just shut it and come to our dorm, idiot,” Rinku cut in, always direct, never patient. His tone was harsh, but I knew he was worried too.

Reo, his expression hardening, muttered, “And what will that do? We’re nothing but tools to the masked man.”

His words sank into me like a weight, but I pushed the feeling down. I reached for Reo’s arm and helped him up gently. I could feel his hesitation, his resistance, but there was something else too—an odd softness in his gaze.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” I said, doing my best to soothe him. “Please, come with us.”

For a moment, Reo stood frozen, staring at me, then finally relented. “Fine,” he muttered, almost shy, like my presence had pulled him out of whatever dark place he was sinking into.

Rinku, never one for patience, grabbed Reo by the ear. “Alright, let’s go already.”

I chuckled despite everything—the tension, the war, the fear. Rinku always found a way to break through the darkness, even if it was just for a second.

As we stepped into the dorm, Reo’s eyes widened in surprise. I could see his mind trying to process something as simple as the tidiness of our space. It seemed strange, almost surreal, that we still cared about something so normal, so human.

“Take off your shoes,” Rinku said with an exasperated tone. “Do you know what manners are?”

Reo gritted his teeth. “I only accepted because Ichika asked politely.”

I smiled, but it was thin, forced. The truth was, none of this mattered. Not the tidiness of the room, not the banter between Rinku and Reo. Not even the tea. Not when we were on the verge of war, a war we had been trained for, a war that would kill us.

“I’m going to miss this room,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “They said tonight our schedule changes. We’ll sleep at 8 p.m. and wake up at 4 a.m. Aren’t you guys concerned?”

Rinku, always trying to stay tough, shrugged it off. “I’ll be fine. But I don’t think *Mr. Suicidal* over here will be.”

Reo shot him an angry look. “Are you really giving me nicknames now, Rinku?”

Before they could argue more, I snapped, my frustration bubbling over. I punched them both, maybe harder than I meant to. The weight of everything we’d been through, everything we were about to face, was crushing me from the inside. I couldn’t stand their bickering.

“Guys, we could die in a week because of this war!” I shouted, my voice breaking. “I don’t want to lose either of you.”

The room fell silent. For a moment, I felt like the walls were closing in, like the air itself was choking me. I looked at them both—Rinku, my oldest friend, the one who never showed fear, and Reo, still shaking with anger and confusion.

Rinku, always trying to lighten the mood, chuckled softly. “You never change, Ichika. And that’s why I’ll never abandon you.”

The words caught me off guard. I felt a warmth in my cheeks, but the sensation was fleeting, drowned by the overwhelming fear that sat heavy in my chest.

Before I could respond, Reo cut in. “So… what age were you guys when you were abducted?”

The question hit me like a punch to the gut. Memories I had buried deep, memories I tried to forget, began to resurface. My heart raced, and the room suddenly felt too small, too suffocating.

“I don’t like to remember it… sorry, Reo,” I muttered, my voice cracking. I couldn’t stay in the room anymore. I couldn’t breathe.

Without waiting for a response, I left. The air outside the dorm was cold, sharp against my skin, but it didn’t help. Nothing could ease the suffocating weight that was pressing down on me. I leaned against the wall, trying to calm my racing thoughts.

All I could think about was how close the end felt. War. Death. It was coming for us, and I wasn’t sure I had the strength to face it.

I wasn’t sure if any of us did.