Chapter 15: Reckoning Flame
The air hung heavy the morning after everything fell apart. The students of Shirasagi High moved through the corridors like shadows, voices hushed, eyes constantly glancing toward closed doagain
Rumors didn't merely spread—they clung, like ash to a fire-ravaged landscape. And at the epicenter of that fire stood Rei Kisaragi, bruised but unbowed, her reputation ignited anew after what had transpired at the courtyard.
Rei hadn't returned to the council room since that night. The scuffle with the masked instigator had confirmed more than she let on—there were enemies within the school walls who weren't just spreading rumors anymore.
They were organizing, plotting. Their moves had escalated, and so would hers.
She stood alone on the rooftop now, gazing down at the quadrangle where it had all happened.
Her hand rested over the stitched wound hidden beneath her uniform—souvenir of the blade that had nearly grazed her ribs.
Her mind replayed every movement, every deflection. Whoever they were, they knew how she fought. That terrified her more than she would admit.
Footsteps approached from behind. She didn't turn.
"It's bad down there, really really bad," Ichika said quietly, hands buried in his pockets.
"Council's in shambles of chaos. Arisa hasn't spoken to anyone. Yuto's called for an emergency disciplinary summit. They're saying you provoked the fight."
Rei exhaled slowly. "Of course they are."
Ichika studied her profile. "You're thinking of quitting, aren't you?"
Silence.
"I want to burn the whole rotten system down," she finally said. "But if I do that, I'll become the villain they already see me as."
Ichika stepped beside her, leaning against the railing. "Then don't burn it. Take it. Reshape it. You've already started."
Rei closed her eyes. "I'm not a leader."
"You led me," he said simply. "And you didn't even try."
...
...
The following day, Rei returned to the council chamber. Heads turned the moment she entered—half out of surprise, the rest out of silent accusation.
Yuto sat stiffly at the far end of the table, flanked by his allies, brows furrowed in disdain. Arisa sat at the center, expression unreadable, fingertips pressed together.
Rei dropped a folder on the table. "I want five minutes."
Yuto scoffed. "We're not giving the suspect a platform."
Arisa raised a hand. "Let her speak."
Rei met every eye in the room. "Last night wasn't an isolated incident. Someone staged a coordinated attack not just against me, but against the authority of this council. Against the school."
Yuto rolled his eyes. "So now you're a patriot?"
"No," Rei said sharply. "I'm a realist. And I know threats when I see them. Someone wants to dismantle the current order. They started with me. They won't stop."
She opened the folder, revealing photos, scribbled notes, a floor plan of the school's maintenance tunnels.
Ichika had helped her gather the intel after discovering unusual movement during late-night shifts as a janitorial assistant—a cover he had taken to watch over her from the inside.
"There's a network," she continued.
"Students and outsiders. Coordinated through burner accounts, message boards, even drone surveillance." She tapped an image of the drone that had hovered above the courtyard fight.
"We have something bigger than a school feud on our hands. And it's time we acted like it."
Arisa took the papers slowly, her demeanor still calm but with a chill underlying her motions. Yuto sneered. "You're paranoid. This is delusion."
Ichika stepped forward from the doorway. "Is it?"
He held up a device—an audio recorder. With a click, it played a conversation:
"…wait until she's alone. Make it look like she started it."
"She's smart. We'll need the masks. No real names."
"We end it before the summit. No more Kisaragi."
Silence fell like an avalanche.
"I took that from a trash bin outside the north wing," Ichika said. "Guess who frequents that corridor? Riku's little friends."
Arisa's eyes narrowed. "Then we bring them in."
But Rei raised a hand. "No. Not yet. If we expose them now, we lose the trail. We need to bait the web."
Yuto slammed a palm on the table. "You're not in charge in any of this, Kisaragi!"
Rei looked at him. "Then act like someone who is. Or step aside."
...
...
The bait was simple: Rei would be alone after hours, walking near the back storage hall. No guards. No Ichika. Vulnerable.
The information would be leaked to the message boards via a ghost account. Ichika and Arisa monitored the network. When the trap was laid, they waited.
Rei stood alone beneath a flickering hallway light. Her hands were in her pockets, but her senses were razor sharp. She felt them before she heard them—two sets of footsteps, then three more. Shadows moving at the edge of sight.
Then, a whisper.
"Now."
Figures surged forward. Rei moved like wind—low, silent, and unforgiving. She ducked the first punch, countered with a sweeping kick, pivoted, elbowed a masked attacker in the ribs.
The hallway erupted in chaos. Hidden cameras streamed the fight to the council chamber. Ichika and Arisa watched, tense.
"She can't hold them all," Ichika muttered.
"She's not supposed to," Arisa replied. "Wait."
Rei backed into a corner, blood on her lip, breath heavy. More attackers came. But just as one raised a baton—
The hallway lights blazed. Sirens echoed. Dozens of council members, staff, and disciplinary officers flooded the corridor.
The masked assailants froze.
"Gotcha," Rei breathed.
...
...
The next morning, arrests were made. Several students were expelled. Others confessed under pressure.
It was a network all right—coordinated by a disgruntled alumni group trying to "cleanse" the school from delinquent influence. Rei had been their trial run.
In the aftermath, Arisa formally called for restructuring the student protection protocols. Rei was offered co-head status over security initiatives. Yuto resigned in protest.
In the halls, silence gave way to cautious admiration. Students whispered not in suspicion, but respect.
And Rei… she didn't walk the halls alone anymore.
She had earned her place not through fear—but fire. And nothing would burn her down again.