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Shino, Claire, and Alpha had all turned eighteen.
When Claire woke up that morning, she found her little brother sleeping on the floor.
She couldn’t help but sigh as she watched him.
“My little brother is so cute.”
Shino blinked up at her.
“Sorry, Shino.”
“It’s fine.
I’ll be going now, sister.”
He slunk away.
Claire watched his retreating back and felt a twinge of loneliness.
She thought Shino seemed a little like her master somehow.
She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was, but the resemblance was there.
Every day after that, Claire came home exhausted and let Shino massage her shoulders.
One night, Shino opened his eyes.
He looked at Claire’s arm.
A black mark had appeared on her skin.
Is this Demonic Possession?
he wondered.
Claire frowned and jolted awake from a nightmare.
She’d dreamed that someone had killed Shino.
She looked at him, standing in front of her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sister, look at your arm.”
Claire looked down.
The black mark was there, and more of them on other parts of her body.
“This…
how could this be?”
She quickly pulled her clothes over the marks.
She didn’t want her little brother to see her like this.
“Sister, I think I know what this is.
It’s a magical energy rampage.
I read about it in books.
I can treat it.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
After several days of trial and error, Shino finally cured Claire’s Demonic Possession.
But some of the servants had seen the marks.
Word spread through the household, passed from mouth to mouth, until it reached the people who hunted those afflicted by Demonic Possession.
They sent investigators to the Kagenou territory.
A female examiner checked Claire’s body and even slept in her room for a few nights.
In the end, they confirmed Claire wasn’t a victim of Demonic Possession and left.
As for the possibility that it had been cured?
No one even considered it.
Demonic Possession was incurable.
No one had ever succeeded.
Some more time passed.
Shino came to Cid as usual, asking if he’d found anything interesting.
“Something interesting?
I found a lump of flesh with rampaging magical energy.
I can use it for magical energy control experiments.”
“Where is it?
I want to see it too.”
Cid led him to Alpha.
A strange, squirming mass of flesh.
Magical energy raged wildly inside it.
After that, Shino and Cid took turns running experiments on it.
Twenty-five days later, Shino succeeded.
He brought Alpha’s Demonic Possession under control.
On his own, Cid would have taken a month.
With Shino’s help, they cut that by 5 days.
“It can even turn back?” Cid asked, incredulous.
“For real.
The magical energy was a complete mess, and yet it recovered perfectly.”
Alpha opened her eyes and looked at her own body.
“Amazing…
I’m actually back to normal.”
Cid’s chuunibyou spirit ignited.
Shino leaned against the doorframe, one foot propped against it, arms crossed.
Cool.
Handsome.
Cid glanced at him and had to admit: Shino looked damn cool.
As expected of my partner.
A fellow aspirant to The Eminence in Shadow, Cid thought.
“No need to panic.
The curse corroding your body has been lifted.”
“You lifted it?
And the curse was…?”
“The curse is a curse placed on you descendants of the heroes.”
Alpha looked confused.
“You’ve heard the fairy tale from the scriptures, right?
The one about the Three Heroes defeating the demon Diablos?
You’re a descendant of the Three Heroes.”
“The curse on you is the one Diablos placed on them before dying.”
Alpha’s eyes widened in understanding.
“But someone twisted the truth and called it ‘Demonic Possession.’ As for the mastermind…”
Cid’s eyes darted around.
He clearly hadn’t thought the story through.
“I can’t tell you yet.
If I do, you’ll be in danger too.”
Alpha stood up and walked right up to him.
“Please tell me.
Who is it?
I’m not afraid of danger.”
Cid looked around helplessly, then turned to Shino with pleading eyes.
Shino lowered his foot and walked over to Alpha.
“They’re the Cult of Diablos.
A group of madmen who want to resurrect Diablos and steal its power.”
“People like you with Demonic Possession are their test subjects.
They’re using the bloodline of the Three Heroes to find a way to break the seal.”
Cid silently gave Shino a thumbs up.
As expected of my partner.
He can really spin a tale.
Now it’s my turn to perform, Cid thought.
“Those guys will never show themselves in the open.
They hide in the shadows.”
“And our mission is to stop their ambitions from the shadows.”
“My name is the Dashing…
No.
I am Shadow.”
“One who lurks in the darkness and hunts the shadows.”
“My name is Phantom.
This is a thorny path.
Are you willing to walk it with us?”
Shino extended his hand to Alpha.
“I am willing.”
The moment Alpha agreed, magical energy slime flowed from Shino, covering both her body and his own.
A black military uniform and cape appeared on Shino.
Solemn.
Imposing.
Cid looked at him and had to admit it: Shino really was cool.
A black cape appeared on Alpha.
“From now on, your name is Alpha.
And our organization will be called Shadow Garden,” Cid declared.
“Then we should rescue the other descendants of the heroes, establish a base, gather funds, and expand the organization,” Alpha said.
Cid’s eyes went a little shifty.
He’d made all of this up, after all.
His confidence was shaky.
“You’re right.
This place can serve as our temporary base.
It’s remote, no one will find us here,” Shino said.
Cid glanced at him.
Shino was handling this even better than he was.
Not a trace of panic.
As The Eminence in Shadow, I still need to work harder.
➤ Next: Beta — Heartbreak