I See You
Silence.
The kind of silence that didn't mean peace...
But meant everyone was waiting for the moment something finally exploded.
Jinsu stood in the middle of the room, watching the man before him.
Ivo.
His red-and-white hair fell along both sides of his face, while his crimson eye, marked with a strange symbol, watched Jinsu without blinking.
Tsukiro...
Stood beside him in silence.
Jinsu looked at the two of them.
Then at the sword Ivo carried.
And finally...
He sighed.
Jinsu gripped the handle of his sword and lowered it until its tip rested against the floor.
Clack.
The sound echoed throughout the room.
Then he said,
"Fine."
He raised his eyes toward Ivo.
"I won't fight."
Jinsu raised an eyebrow.
Ivo...
Smiled.
"Hooo..."
He tilted his head slightly.
"You might be reckless..."
His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.
"...but you're not stupid."
Jinsu didn't answer.
Ivo took a step forward.
Then said,
"Now..."
His tone changed.
The mockery disappeared from his voice.
"Let's get back to what actually matters."
Jinsu raised his eyes toward him.
And suddenly...
The air changed.
Ivo didn't move.
He didn't raise his hand.
He didn't draw his sword.
And yet...
A heavy spiritual aura erupted from his body.
The ground beneath Jinsu's feet trembled.
His eyes widened.
He tried to steady himself.
But the pressure kept increasing.
More...
And more.
Until Jinsu felt as though his own body had become too heavy to carry.
He clenched his teeth.
"What is this..."
He couldn't finish.
Ivo looked at him.
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And simply said,
"Sit."
BOOM.
Jinsu dropped to one knee.
He placed a hand against the ground, trying to push himself back up.
But the pressure wouldn't allow it.
His eyes were filled with anger.
And yet...
He laughed.
A short.
Mocking laugh.
Ivo raised an eyebrow.
Even Tsukiro looked at him in confusion.
"Is something funny?"
Jinsu slowly raised his head.
The smile remained on his face.
"Are you trying..."
He paused to catch his breath.
Then continued:
"...to show off your strength in front of Kaizen?"
Silence.
"Or do you simply enjoy attacking someone..."
He looked directly into Ivo's eyes.
"...who can't even fight back?"
The smile disappeared from Ivo's face.
His expression froze.
For a moment...
He said nothing.
Then he moved.
BOOM!
Ivo kicked Jinsu with tremendous force.
Jinsu slammed into the floor.
Slowly, he raised his head.
There was blood at the corner of his mouth.
But...
He laughed again.
"Is that all?"
Ivo's eyes changed.
He stepped forward.
Another strike.
Then another.
Jinsu couldn't even stand, but he refused to stop looking at Ivo with that infuriating smile.
Ivo said,
"You..."
Then stopped.
He raised his foot again.
And just before the next strike could land...
"Ivo!"
Tsukiro stepped forward.
But...
Ivo's foot stopped in midair.
There was nothing visible stopping it.
And yet...
It stopped.
Only for a fraction of a second.
A strange expression appeared on Ivo's face.
Something resembling fear.
Then it vanished.
Tsukiro noticed nothing.
But Ivo...
Did.
And as he had since childhood...
He noticed far more than he should have.
It was one of the things he had hated about himself his entire life.
He saw the details others ignored.
Glances.
Tiny movements.
Changes in breathing.
The slightest tremor of a finger.
And now...
He saw something in Jinsu's eyes.
It wasn't pain.
Nor fear.
It was...
Contempt.
The gaze of someone who saw himself above everyone else.
A gaze that didn't belong to Jinsu.
Ivo knew it.
And he knew its owner.
So...
The hesitation disappeared from his eyes.
He drew his sword.
SHING!
And lunged toward Jinsu.
But...
Before he could reach him...
Figures appeared out of nowhere.
They hadn't come through the door.
They hadn't jumped through the windows.
Jinsu hadn't even sensed their presence.
They simply...
Appeared.
As if they had been there from the very beginning.
Two of them grabbed Ivo.
A third seized his arm.
A fourth locked down his shoulder.
And in an instant...
Ivo was pinned to the ground.
Jinsu's eyes widened.
"Huh?"
He looked around.
"Where did they come from?"
But what Jinsu didn't know...
Was that they hadn't come.
They hadn't appeared.
They hadn't entered the room at all.
They had been there from the beginning.
The Zero Division.
A unit Jinsu couldn't even understand how had managed to conceal themselves inside the room.
An elderly man slowly stepped forward.
He wore a long red robe.
And across his back...
Was the unmistakable mark of a dragon.
As for his sword...
It was unnaturally thin.
Thin enough to immediately catch Jinsu's attention.
Jinsu stared at it for a moment.
Can that sword really kill a Yami?
He didn't know why the thought had crossed his mind.
But there was something about that sword...
Something unnatural.
The old man stopped.
And the moment he appeared...
Everyone present bowed.
"We salute the Shirokin."
The man raised his head.
Then walked toward Tsukiro.
He stopped in front of him.
And without any introduction...
He said,
"I missed you, old friend."
Tsukiro smiled.
"Me too."
Shirokin paused.
Then looked at Tsukiro's severed arm.
Silence filled the room for a second.
Then he said,
"I see you're still alive..."
He gestured toward his arm.
"...though it seems you're no longer in one piece."
Tsukiro burst into laughter.
"HAHAHA!"
He raised his remaining arm.
"And I missed you too."
He glanced at the thin sword across Shirokin's back.
Then said,
"Looks like it's finally time for you to lend me that fork on your back..."
He grinned.
"...so I can clean my teeth with it."
Shirokin laughed.
"You haven't changed."
"Neither have you."
For a few moments...
The two men ignored everything around them.
The people present.
Jinsu.
Ivo.
Even the tension that had filled the room.
As though they were simply two old friends meeting after years apart, rather than two men standing in the middle of a crisis threatening the world.
But...
Ivo wasn't sharing the moment.
With a single movement...
He hooked his foot around one of the Zero Division members.
The man lost his balance and fell.
In the same motion...
Ivo twisted through the air with astonishing agility.
He struck another member, knocking him out of his path.
Then landed.
No one had time to react.
He lunged toward Jinsu.
And in an instant...
He was standing directly in front of him.
Ivo grabbed Jinsu by the face.
Tsukiro tried to intervene.
But Shirokin caught him by the arm.
"Leave him."
Tsukiro looked at him.
"Shirokin..."
"Let him."
As for Jinsu...
He stared directly at Ivo.
He said nothing.
He didn't try to pull away.
He simply...
Stared.
Ivo stared into his eyes for a long moment.
As though he were searching for someone else behind them.
Then he spoke in a low voice.
"You see me..."
Jinsu's breathing stopped.
Ivo moved closer.
"Don't you, Kaizen?"
Jinsu didn't answer.
But something in his eyes changed.
Ivo smiled without humor.
"I see you hiding..."
He tightened his grip slightly.
"...inside this boy's body."
"Where is your arrogance?"
"Where is the king who once believed the entire world existed to stand before him?"
He paused.
Then said,
"Where is your majesty?"
Jinsu didn't move.
But something inside him...
Started moving.
A strange sensation.
Heavy.
As if Ivo's voice wasn't merely reaching his ears...
But something deeper.
Ivo lifted Jinsu's face slightly.
"You can hear me."
"And I know it."
His expression changed.
There was no trace of amusement left.
Only genuine anger.
Anger that had been buried for a very long time.
"So..."
He leaned closer.
Until there was barely any distance between them.
"Listen carefully, Kaizen."
Silence.
"I won't let you hide forever."
The aura around Ivo began to rise.
The air trembled.
Several people instinctively stepped back.
But Jinsu...
Felt something burning inside his chest.
"I'll keep seeing you..."
Ivo said.
"Even if you hide behind a thousand faces."
Then his voice rose.
"And I swear to you..."
His aura exploded.
"As long as I'm alive..."
The entire room froze.
"I will never let you forget what you did."
Jinsu's body tensed.
His heart began pounding violently.
Then he felt it again.
Anger.
An overwhelming rage.
But it wasn't his.
"Is... is this anger?"
He tried to understand what was happening.
"No..."
His breathing trembled.
"I'm not the one who's angry."
Then...
The world changed.
He could no longer see the room.
He could no longer see Ivo.
Or Tsukiro.
Or Shirokin.
Not even himself.
---
Darkness.
Absolute darkness.
No ground.
No sky.
No sound.
Only...
Consciousness.
And deep within that darkness...
Something appeared.
A pair of eyes.
Familiar eyes.
So familiar that Jinsu's heart seemed to stop for a moment.
They weren't merely eyes.
They had a gaze of their own.
The gaze of someone who didn't see the world from its level...
But from above it.
A gaze accustomed to seeing others as lesser.
To seeing everything from above.
But this time...
Those eyes weren't cold.
They weren't mocking.
And they weren't calm.
For the first time...
They were angry.
Truly angry.
And beneath that anger...
There was something else.
Something Jinsu couldn't understand.
He continued staring into those eyes.
And the eyes...
Stared back at him.
Then...
The darkness opened wider.
As though something deep within those eyes...
Was preparing to awaken.