A Gift that should never see the light of day. A smile that's too perfect to be real. And a classmate who's about to find out the truth.
Kazama Shinji hates Mistrea Island—the isolated academy where the Gifted are caged until eighteen, and where his ability to manipulate corpses makes him a freak among the "talented." He keeps his head down, counts the days, and tries not to think about why his childhood friend Yuuka's smile sometimes looks hollow.
Then Hiiragi Nana transfers in. Sweet, popula
Talentless Nana: The Shadow Observer - Night of the Accomplice — The Deal on the Cliff
The moonlight shone down on the cliff.
Kazama Shinji couldn't move, still hidden in the shadows.
His breathing was shallow. His lungs wouldn't draw air properly. His fingertips had gone cold as ice.
(What just happened?)
The scene from moments ago spun round and round in his head.
Nakajima Nanao had vanished beyond the cliff's edge.
A short scream. A body swallowed by the dark. And the sound of the waves.
That was no accident.
Hiiragi Nana had pushed him.
Her hand had definitely shoved hard against Nanao's back.
And I saw it.
(Shit. If she finds me, what happens?)
His heart was pounding, deafening. Something deep in his chest throbbed violently.
Nana was still looking this way.
Her amber eyes caught the moonlight, glinting coldly.
Not a trace remained of that bright smile she wore in the classroom.
There was only a flat, inorganic gaze—like she was appraising prey.
"...Oh my."
Nana's lips moved slightly.
Her voice was nothing like the soft, polite tone she used during the day.
Low, flat, utterly without warmth.
"Someone's over there, aren't they."
Shinji couldn't make a sound.
His throat seized; only air escaped.
(I have to run. I have to get out of here, now.)
His mind was screaming it.
And yet his legs wouldn't move—nailed to the stone.
Nana took a step toward him.
Under the moonlight, her shadow stretched slowly longer.
Just as that shadow was about to touch his feet—
"Aaah, guess I've been found out."
Suddenly, a bright voice came from right beside him.
He spun toward it on reflex.
Standing there was Sasaki Yuuka.
Her short black hair was gathered atop her head, and a slightly springy cowlick swayed in the night breeze.
Her big, light-brown eyes were peering into his.
" Hey, Shinji. Hiding doesn't really work—you know that, right?"
Yuuka was smiling.
How could she smile at a time like this?
Shinji was thrown off.
"Yu—Yuuka... what are you doing here..."
His voice was shaking.
It sounded so pathetic and weak that it made him sick.
" What do you mean, why? I'm the one who called you out here, Shinji."
Yuuka tilted her head slightly.
That gesture was so her.
The familiar, friendly little motion she always showed him—in the classroom, in the cafeteria, right beside him.
But now, somehow, it was eerie.
"...Called me out—to make me see this?"
His voice came out hoarse.
Yuuka smiled brightly.
" Yep. That's right. I wanted to tell you that I saw it too."
Something cold crawled slowly down his back, from the nape of his neck to his waist.
"Saw it—Yuuka, do you even understand what just happened?"
He forced the words out.
"Nanao fell. Hiiragi pushed him—"
" Yeah. I know."
Yuuka's answer was far too casual.
As if she were discussing the weather.
"You only just saw it, Shinji. But I've known for much longer."
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
" I've been watching Nana-chan ever since the day she came to this island. Who she meets, what she does."
Yuuka glanced toward Nana as she said it.
Nana was still staring at them.
Her expression was unreadable.
"Yuuka, you..."
" We'll get to the details later. Right now, I need to have a little talk with Nana-chan first."
With that, Yuuka slipped past him and started walking toward Nana.
"Wait—hold on, Yuuka! It's dangerous!"
He reached out.
But he couldn't grab her arm.
His fingers closed on empty air.
Yuuka didn't look back.
Her back looked different from the one he knew.
Like the back of a total stranger.
" Good evening, Nana-chan. Thanks for all your hard work at this hour."
Yuuka stopped about three meters from Nana.
"...Sasaki-san. And Kazama-kun."
Nana's voice was cold.
" How long have you two been standing there?"
" Since a little while ago. I saw everything—from the moment Nanao-kun fell off the cliff."
Yuuka's voice was calm.
Shinji felt like his heart was about to leap out of his mouth.
(How can she just say that like it's nothing?)
Nana's fingertips trembled faintly.
" I see. Then I suppose there's no helping it."
Nana slowly approached Yuuka.
Shinji tried to step in front of Yuuka on instinct.
But his legs wouldn't move.
No.
It wasn't that his legs wouldn't move.
His body wouldn't move.
"...Huh?"
His own body was ignoring his will.
As if bound by invisible threads.
" Sorry, Shinji. Just stay still for a little bit, okay?"
Yuuka turned and smiled at him.
That smile was so gentle.
And that gentleness was, conversely, terrifying.
"Yuuka... what are you..."
" My ability. I never told you about it, did I, Shinji?"
Yuuka touched her fingertip to the nape of his neck.
A cool sensation.
The next instant, his body was no longer his own.
"Ugh—ah..."
He tried to speak.
But his mouth wouldn't move.
He couldn't even blink.
He couldn't move a single finger.
(What is this. What's happening.)
Terror raced through his entire body.
His heart was still beating.
He was still breathing.
And yet his body was rigid as a doll.
" Corpse manipulation. My real ability isn't super strength—it's controlling the dead. And if I touch a living human's body, I can rob them of their freedom like this, just for a little while."
Yuuka's voice came from far away.
Her tone was the same bright one as always.
But the content of her words turned his mind blank white.
(Corpse manipulation. Yuuka's ability wasn't super strength?)
(That's the same as mine...)
His own ability was corpse manipulation too.
He could move corpses he touched.
But to completely dominate a living human like this—
Yuuka's ability was on another dimension from his.
" It's okay, Shinji. I'll put you back to normal right away."
Yuuka said it and gently touched his cheek.
Her hand was warm.
But his body still wouldn't move.
" ...I see. So that's your true ability."
Nana stepped forward.
" That's right. I wanted to show you properly, Nana-chan. This is my real power."
Yuuka turned to face Nana.
" And? What do you want from me?"
Wariness was plain in Nana's voice.
" Let's make a deal, Nana-chan. I'm the same as you. I just don't want to stand out. Let's cooperate."
Yuuka said it cheerfully.
Her tone was as casual as inviting a friend out to play.
Nana stared at Yuuka's face for a while.
" Your ability is corpse manipulation, isn't it. So you intend to threaten me with it?"
" It's not a threat. I want to be your accomplice. In exchange for keeping your secret, I want you to keep mine."
Yuuka laughed.
But behind that smile was emptiness.
It was the first time Shinji had ever seen her smile look so cold.
" ...I have a condition."
After a long silence, Nana spoke.
" You don't lay a single finger on Shinji-kun. He's my watcher."
The moment he heard those words, Shinji doubted his ears.
(Watcher? Me?)
" Oh my, how unexpected. Nana-chan, you're kinder than I thought."
Yuuka's eyes sparkled with interest.
" Don't misunderstand. I simply don't want to waste my pawns."
Nana said it coldly.
" Fufu, let's just say that's what it is, then."
Yuuka laughed and released her hold on his body.
Suddenly, he was free.
Shinji dropped to his knees on the spot.
"Hah—hah—"
Ragged breaths escaped him.
Sweat was seeping over his whole body.
" From now on, the three of us will cooperate together, okay, Shinji?"
Yuuka peered into his face and smiled.
That smile was exactly the same gentle one as before.
But to him, it looked manufactured.
A perfectly calculated, pasted-on smile.
And he had seen it.
Yuuka's hand was trembling faintly.
She too was fighting fear.
That's what he thought.
"...Yuuka."
He called her name.
But he didn't know what else to say.
On the way back.
Shinji, Yuuka, and Nana walked the road toward the academy in silence.
The moonlight stretched their three shadows long across the ground.
The sound of the waves echoed in the distance, a steady rush.
" Kazama-kun."
Suddenly, Nana spoke to him.
"Wh—what..."
" Do you follow her, knowing you're being controlled?"
Nana's voice was quiet.
But the question pierced deep into his heart, sharp and clean.
"...I can't resist. My body won't move."
He answered without lifting his head.
Pathetic.
But it was the truth.
" I see. Then you're my pawn. Keep watching Yuuka-chan."
Nana gave the order in a cold tone.
But somewhere deep in that voice, he thought he caught something else mixed in.
Pity, perhaps.
He raised his head and looked at Nana's profile.
Her face, lit by the moonlight, was expressionless as ever.
But deep in her eyes, for just an instant, something seemed to waver.
The next morning.
The classroom was in an uproar from the start.
"Hey, they say Nakajima hasn't been reachable since yesterday."
"Again? There've been a lot of disappearances lately."
"Seriously, what's going on? Is this island cursed or something?"
His classmates were buzzing with rumors.
Shinji sat at his desk, staring out the window.
The sky was overcast again today, heavy and gray.
" I'm sure they'll find him soon! You guys worry too much~"
Yuuka's bright voice rang through the classroom.
She joined the circle of classmates and said it with her usual smile.
The naturalness of it sent a chill down his spine.
(After what happened last night, how can she smile like that?)
" That's right. I'm sure everything will be fine."
Nana stood beside Yuuka, wearing a gentle smile too.
Their masks were perfect.
No one knew the faces hidden beneath.
Shinji looked down, fighting back nausea.
After school.
Shinji had come to the rooftop alone.
A quiet place where no one else was.
Beyond the fence, he could see the gray sea and the green Mt. Zenova.
"...What am I supposed to do from here?"
He murmured softly.
Not to anyone—just toward the sky.
The wind blew, ruffling his bangs.
" Hey, Shinji."
Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.
He turned. Yuuka was standing at the rooftop entrance.
"Yuuka..."
" I want to get closer to Nana-chan. Will you help me?"
Yuuka looked straight into his eyes and said it.
For just an instant, her eyes went hollow.
Unfocused.
(Ah. There it is again.)
He had a premonition that this accomplice arrangement would make no one happy.
That night.
Lying on his bed in his dorm room, his device buzzed.
A message from Yuuka.
"Starting tomorrow, keep a watch log on Nana-chan. Who she meets, what she talks about—tell me everything."
He clutched the device and couldn't move for a while.
He hesitated to reply.
But the next message arrived immediately.
"If you refuse, I'll control you again."
That one line was terribly cold.
It was like a completely different person from the gentle Yuuka of yesterday.
Holding back tears, he typed a reply with trembling fingers.
"Understood."
He sent only that.
He looked out the window.
In the distance, he could see the black silhouette of Mt. Zenova.
That darkness was deep and quiet, as if watching him intently.
"...What am I even here for?"
His murmur reached no one, dissolving into the darkness of the night.
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