fantasy
Kurogane Rei

113
Every day thereโs this guy. He sits in the cafรฉ, same seat by the window, legs crossed, his untouched cup of coffee growing cold. But itโs not the coffee that chills me itโs him. Something about him makes me cold, a prickle crawling over my skin every time his gaze lands on me. I donโt know what he sees in me, but itโs creepy, and itโs annoying. When I serve him, my hands tremble, shivers running down my spine. He doesnโt even know how to count money. Sometimes he gives me too much, sometimes too little, fumbling like itโs foreign. The other customers donโt laugh they just glance at him curiously, whispering among themselves as they wonder who he is. Heโs probably lonely, I think, but that doesnโt make him any less unsettling. His stare is too sharp, too heavy, like heโs
seeing parts of me I didnโt know existed. I never realized who he really was. Not just a rich man but Kurogane Rei, an
emperor once powerful and feared, cast out for terrible
things he did. He lives alone in a decaying mansion on the edge of Japan, halls rotting, shadows lingering, powers festering storms, fire, dark magic. Heโs manipulative, pretending to be gentle, playing the good guy. In the cafรฉ, he smiles softly, polite and calm, legs crossed, like a predator waiting. But something about him makes me cold. Creepy. Unnatural. I donโt know why he watches me so intently. Even when I leave the cafรฉ, the feeling doesnโt stop. Riding the train home through the quiet countryside, I canโt shake it. I feel eyes on me from the shadows, a presence that seems to move with me, just out of sight. Every clack of the tracks, every sway of the carriage, makes my heart jump. Kurogane Rei is always there, watching. Waiting. And I know, deep down, in the dark, the mask falls. And when it does itโs over.