Track 1 - Not As It Seems

“On this beautiful day, as the sun shines down on us brightly, we as the new students will now hold our entrance ceremony into this venerable place of learning…”

An entirely uninteresting and tedious spiel.

I was dispassionately reading an often-heard passage from a formal address.

It was at the entrance ceremony for junior high school.

The children living in the 3rd and 4th wards were gathered in the gymnasium, watching me on stage.

As I stood there as the student representative, my gaze searched for the person who should have been standing here—the scoundrel I was once close with, the one I once called “Xiaoya”...

"Kiba", who had gone missing without a trace since disappearing into the storm.

The figure of the person who I knew clearly now was my enemy and not my friend, was nowhere to be found.

Anger and uncanniness.

A nauseating feeling of revulsion flashed through me as I thought about Kiba, and my fingers clenched and crumpled the ceremonial paper in my hands.

However, no one noticed these feelings.

Applause erupted after the speech was over.

The teachers and guardians looked at me with admiration.

It was a sign that I had finished the task as usual.

As I got off the stage, I saw a flash of red hair from the corner of my eye and felt a surge of irritation.

I looked away and simply watched the rest of the ceremony quietly, with no emotion at all.

The feelings one has towards a foreign body that has wormed its way into their life depend on whether said foreign body brings fortune or misfortune with it.

On the first day of school, the students, unused to my presence, looked at me curiously as I walked down the hallway.

The female students had gazes of heated anticipation.

The male students mostly had complex gazes filled with a mixture of envy and jealousy.

They were gazes I had also experienced in elementary school.

“Lu…Liguang, kun!”

A male student, after apparently mustering up all his courage, called out to me.

I stopped and turned around.

“W-We’re in the same class, y’know.”

His voice was full of nervousness.

The people that had gathered in the hallway looked at us with a mix of admiration for his courage, as well as worry and anxiety.

They were all people of HAMA Ward 4, which I was destined to govern, so I would never treat them unfairly.

“I see. What’s your name?”

When I asked, he replied with surprise. I repeated his name once aloud and said, “Let’s get along.”

The spectators around us, who had been watching our conversation with bated breath, instantly relaxed.

The students became lively and started whispering to one another.

“Liguang-kun might actually be nice.” “He’s easier to talk to than I expected.”

—This would likely continue for the next several years.

At the very least, through middle school and high school.

A voice I had heard once suddenly echoed from the recesses of my mind.

“It really is more comfortable talking to you. I don’t have to force myself to act my age.”

It was from a time when we were still close enough to call each other friends.

If he were still here, the same as always…

I tasted bile from the foolishness of even entertaining such a thought.

“H-Hey, Liguang!”

At that moment, a loud voice cut through the crowd and called out to me.

I directed a meagre amount of attention in the direction of the voice.

The students looked at the owner of the voice with surprised expressions.

The person standing there was—

“That guy’s from the Nishizono family… Oh yeah, the child prodigy, Renga Nishizono, right?”

“From that famous family? It’s about as prestigious as the Lu family, right?”

Came the students’ superficial whispers.

I knew who the boy standing behind me was, without even seeing his face. “Renga Nishizono,” who looked like the mirror image of Kiba, revealed a brief moment of unease upon hearing the rumors from the crowd, but then he suddenly raised his voice.

“W-We’re at the same school after all! Our classes are different, but I’ll come visit you sometimes!”

I silently ignored him.

One of the idly curious students asked, “Are you friends with Liguang-kun, Nishizono-kun?”

The looks on their faces said they were dying to know what kind of relationship the two eldest sons of two of the most prominent families in HAMA had.

Renga Nishizono seemed to give his agreement, clearly looking pleased with himself.

“Me and Liguang, um, we’re both kids from famous families, and we’re both gonna become the heads of tourism districts in the future, so we have a connection…Um, we’re kinda like best friends, yeah!”

…Who put that thought into your head?

That was the first thought I had, but of course, I didn’t voice it.

His gaze, fixated on my profile, was filled to the brim with expectation, and the students around us also had similar looks.

I would not treat them unfairly.

However, I would not do more than necessary to meet their expectations either.

And above all else—I had already decided on my attitude towards this boy, whom I saw as nothing more than an anomaly.

“H-Hey, where are you going!”

I ignored his panicked voice and headed towards the classroom.

The foreign body calling itself Renga Nishizono, along with the students around him looked shocked, but I paid no mind.

The feelings one has towards a foreign body that has wormed its way into their life depend on whether said foreign body brings fortune or misfortune with it.

Therefore, my reaction was a matter of course.

“Hey, heeey, Liguang!”

“I-I didn’t know you could get this many textbooks for free!”

“Hey, let’s go home togther… Wait, why’re you ignoring me!?”

His voice was grating to my ears.

On the day our pictures were taken, when the textbooks were distributed, and even several days after school had started and the new students had settled down, “Renga Nishizono” still continued to try to talk to me.

And of course, I continued to ignore him.

I had no idea what he was thinking or what his intentions were in trying to get close to me. His true essence was a mystery to me.

Whenever that distinctive head of red hair caught my gaze around a corner at school, a heavy feeling would settle in the pit of my stomach.

Merely acknowledging his existence would cause an inexplicably unpleasant feeling to well up, and an uncontrollable loathing would surge from within.

I must not let something like this disturb me.

Losing control of one’s emotions is a weakness. Time and time again, Kiba has used it against me to steal the things I hold dear.

“Liguang-kun, just asking, but…do you and Nishizono-kun not get along?”

I turned my eyes to the classmate who nervously asked me the question.

Only a child would be able to ask a question like this.

I had only one thing to say to my fearless classmate.

“Mind your own business.”

They didn’t press the issue, and that single phrase travelled through the entire grade like a ripple in an instant.

Despite being young and inexperienced, they had the sense to fear stepping on a tiger’s tail.

Regarding Renga Nishizono and I, those around us decided to adopt the role of silent observers.

CW: Graphic descriptions of violence and death

“Guh….uh…”

A man was groaning.

I was in a dream.

One of the common, horrific lives I had lived through repeatedly.

I watched that life’s demise.

Straddling the man—Kiba—and pinning him down, I strangled him with both hands.

Kiba glared at me with eyes full of hatred, and stabbed my side repeatedly with the hairpin I had given my sister.

Blood gushed from my stomach, and pain shot through me.

But that didn’t matter.

The sister that would have been wearing that hairpin in her hair was no longer here.

She had been murdered by the man I had pinned beneath me.

My soul was stained black with anger, hatred, and indescribable rage.

I pressed down with my thumbs, as if to crush his Adam’s apple.

His neckbones creakily groaned.

He finally began to convulse, and the hairpin slipped from his hand.

For a moment, his expression seemed to morph into a smile.

—So it’s my turn to be killed this time.

He didn’t actually say them, but I could almost hear those words being spoken.

It didn’t matter.

I simply wanted to kill this man.

I wanted him to die even a second before me.

I put all of my strength into the hands that were crushing his neck.

Kiba’s eyes became vacant, and a small breath escaped his lips.

Soon after, a crack sounded from under my hands, and his life was extinguished.

That was the sensation I felt.

I woke up drenched in sweat.

The darkness of the night spread throughout the room.

I looked at my hands without thinking. My eyes that had now adjusted to the darkness saw the hands of a young boy.

They appeared unsullied, yet the sensation of breaking Kiba’s neck still lingered in them.

A sigh escaped me.

No matter how far I went, the pain of killing and being killed would never truly disappear.

I got out of bed and went towards the cages placed in my room.

I could sense the presence of the rabbits I kept.

Choosing one of them, I crouched down.

What I saw was a rabbit curled up inside the wooden house that was placed in the cage.

“Shacha…”

I softly called out.

The komatsuna he used to love was barely nibbled at, and compared to before, his fur had lost some of its color.

When I opened the door and gently petted him, I felt his weakened back.

A faint warmth still remained.

But “that time” would soon arrive.

As I felt the flame of Shacha’s life wavering, the shadow of “Renga Nishizono,” lurking within my daily life, flickered within my mind’s eye.

What was he exactly?

The impostor Kiba had given me.

He had a foolish look to him, but it was likely a trap set by Kiba.

He may even be eagerly waiting for the moment I let my guard down.

Before I know it, he’ll kill my family, my comrades.

A shiver ran down my spine.

—Kiba. Where are you?

There was no response.

When I lowered my gaze, I saw my own young reflection in Shacha’s eyes.

…Even if we were to have another battle to the death soon.

I wished that at least this life I now held in my hands would pass away peacefully.

With my hands still etched with the vivid memory of broken bones and extinguished life, I gently cradled Shacha’s withering body.