The night was windless.
Aiden Yukishiro stood atop a construction platform in the abandoned district, facing a rusted crane. The air was still, but his coat fluttered slightly, reacting to something unseen—something deeper.
He exhaled, raising a hand.
Blue light flickered in his eyes. The Six Eyes, long suppressed, burned gently now—no longer a storm, but a current he could ride.
Infinity surrounded him. For years, it had been a defense mechanism—an automatic shield that kept everything at bay. But now... he was molding it.
His mother's cursed experiments had grafted it onto his soul. But he, and he alone, would decide what it became.
He clenched his fist.
A ripple passed through the air.
The rusted crane thirty meters ahead split cleanly in half, soundlessly. No wave. No impact. Just disassembly.
Aiden opened his palm.
"Invisible blade: Cleave."
It wasn't a spell, nor a chant. Just focus. Just will. He had learned from watching his cursed abilities react under pressure. If Sukuna could shape his Domain to sever what he deemed worthy of death—then so could he, in his own way.
He visualized a line. A trajectory. The moment it existed in his mind, Infinity sliced it.
The cutting power was not brute force. It was inevitability.
"Now," he murmured, "let's try this."
He unsheathed his katana. The weapon gleamed even in the dull moonlight.
With precise breath control, Aiden coated the blade with a sliver-thin veil of Infinity—extending just past its edge. His aura shifted. The air warped slightly.
Then, he moved.
One step.
Ten meters vanished.
His blade struck through a steel beam—and kept going.
The steel fell apart, cleaved smoother than any monomolecular cut.
He reappeared on the other side, katana sheathed.
"Applied infinity coating... successful."
His heart beat with a calm certainty.
He wasn't just a Kaslana bastard child.
He was a fighter. A swordsman. A storm.
And for the first time in his life, he had control.
[Two months later]
Spring returned, and with it, a new rhythm.
Aiden, Mei, and Kiana became inseparable in their own strange way. After school, they wandered bookstores. Laughed at ridiculous manga tropes. Had spontaneous crepe contests. Mei, once stoic, now gently smiled during lunch breaks. Kiana was often the reason—but Aiden was the anchor.
Kiana, of course, being Kiana, made everything chaotic.
"Mei-senpai~!" she whined dramatically one lunch. "Your cooking is TOO good. I swear I'll marry you someday!"
She collapsed across the bench, head in Mei's lap, dramatically biting into a fried shrimp. Mei merely blinked.
"I'll think about it," she said dryly.
Aiden choked on his drink.
Kiana noticed and grinned. "Don't worry, Aiden! You can be my best man at the wedding!"
"I'm not sure how that works," he said, wiping his mouth.
They laughed, and moments like that became the norm.
Kiana had a habit of third-wheeling in the most unintentional ways possible. She'd sit between them during manga reading sessions, dramatically voice-acting characters, or steal half of Mei's lunch with puppy eyes.
"Don't look at me like that," Mei would sigh.
"But I love you!" Kiana declared, mouth full.
Despite the chaos, Aiden noticed something shifting.
Mei had changed. She smiled more. Laughed more. Her eyes, once filled with guarded silence, now gleamed during shared jokes and manga debates.
And though she'd never say it aloud, she started glancing at Aiden more often.
During lunch.
During reading sessions.
Even in class, when she thought he wasn't paying attention.
And sometimes, when their eyes met, both would look away with the faintest blush.
Kiana noticed once, squinting suspiciously.
"Hey... are you two keeping something from me?"
"No," they said in unison, far too quickly.
Kiana shrugged. "Hmph. As long as I get more dumplings."
That weekend
The school dojo was open for club practice. Empty now, except for two figures facing each other.
Raiden Mei, in training gi. Wooden sword in hand. Poised. Calm.
Aiden Yukishiro, mirroring her stance. His frame looser, but undeniably honed.
"Finally giving me a chance to prove myself?" Mei confirmed.
"Yup," Aiden nodded. "Just strength, technique, and footwork."
They began.
Their first exchange was rapid—clean strikes, precise deflections. Mei moved like a thunderbolt, steady and elegant. Her years of formal sword training showed.
But Aiden was... different.
He danced.
Every step, every sidestep, felt too fast—too sharp. Like he wasn't just reading Mei's motions, but predicting them seconds in advance.
Their swords clashed. Once. Twice. A third time—
Then Aiden vanished from her field of vision.
Mei spun—but it was too late.
He was behind her.
His wooden sword rested gently against the back of her neck.
She froze.
"Point," Aiden said calmly.
Mei stepped forward, lowered her sword, and turned around.
She wasn't angry. She wasn't even frustrated.
She was flushed.
"You're fast," she said, breath light. "Really fast."
"I read ahead," he replied with a teasing smile. "You're graceful, but predictable."
She narrowed her eyes. "That sounds like a challenge."
"Maybe it is."
Their next match lasted longer. She adapted—adjusted her rhythm. Forced him to parry instead of dodge.
But the result was the same.
Aiden stepped inside her guard, disarmed her, and pointed his blade at her heart.
Another point.
As they stood panting, shoulder to shoulder, Mei smiled again.
"You're holding back."
He glanced at her. "Only a little."
"Then don't," she said. "Next time, give me everything."
They cleaned up afterward, both lightly bruised but in high spirits. Kiana later pouted when she found out she missed their match.
"I wanted to cheer for both of you! I even brought snacks!"
She proceeded to eat all the snacks herself while Mei and Aiden sat on either side of her, watching her demolish a bag of chips and takoyaki.
"Okay! Give me the takoyaki in peace and you can have the rest just spare some for Mei!"
"You're impossible," Mei muttered, trying to hide her smile.'Takoyaki huh.'
"I know~" Kiana beamed. "But I'm YOUR impossible!"
Elsewhere...
The Me Corp office was dim, humming with static.
Cocolia stood before three kneeling students—former classmates of Mei's, their heads bowed in fear.
"You embarrassed the institution," Cocolia said coldly. "You disobeyed instructions. And worst of all... you failed."
She turned, her boots echoing against marble.
"Raiden Mei was to be isolated. Pushed into despair. Yet now she's more stable than ever."
She paused beside a table. On it were two photos.
Kiana Kaslana.
And next to her—Aiden Yukishiro.
The same boy who hadn't existed in any database before his transfer.
Cocolia's eyes narrowed.
"This boy... he's a variable. One I don't remember authorizing."
She looked toward the shadows where a pair of black-clad operatives awaited.
"Send word to our assassins in Chiba."
Her voice dropped into a whisper.
"Kill them both."