Chapter 24
The voice still echoed in him.
WAKE UP.
It was not a memory he could brush aside. It wasn't also a dream either
What did I just see? He mustered to himself the command felt etched into his very marrow, like an order his soul had always known but only now remembered.
"Renji," Choji whispered, his usually sharp, confident tone cracked with hesitation. He crouched closer, hands hovering nervously above his friend's shoulder. " Please talk to me what… happened just now?
You... you were screaming like something was tearing you apart from the inside
Renji's mouth opened, but no words followed. He was lost between breath and silence.
The room tilted, his vision blurred, and he squeezed his eyes shut because even the darkness behind them was not empty.
Flash!!
Ahhh he screams !!
He still saw the fragments.
Burning feathers the collapsing stars the screams. The faceless storm and the flames.
"Big brother!" Lily's small voice pierced him. She had grabbed his sleeve now, shaking him with all her strength.
"Please! Look at me!" Her eyes were wide with panic, tears streaming down her cheeks, her breaths coming fast.
Renji forced his gaze downward. He saw her fragile frame, trembling hands, the way her fingers dug desperately into his arm as though afraid he would vanish if she let go.
Something inside him ached. He reached out with a hand that shook uncontrollably and placed it over hers. His skin was clammy, his grip unsteady, but Lily stilled under it.
"I…" His voice cracked. He swallowed hard, throat dry. "I saw… something."
Choji stiffened. "What did you see?"
Renji hesitated. The images clawed at his tongue, demanding to be spoken, yet the moment he tried, his chest tightened as if warning him. How could he explain? How could he put into words the sight of giants themselves falling in battle?
The suffocating presence of flames that bent reality itself?
He lowered his head, strands of hair falling into his face. His voice came barely above a whisper.
"It felt like a dream but it wasn't just a dream it almost like I was there"
Choji's eyes narrowed.
But before he could speak, another voice deep, calm, steady cut through the tension.
"Tell me exactly what you saw."
It was Takeda
He had been silent until now, standing near the doorway like a sentinel. His arms were crossed, his frame casting a long shadow against the faint glow of the lantern in the corner. His eyes sharp, calculating, old beyond his years locked onto Renji with an intensity that made the boy's chest tighten further.
Renji's lips trembled. His pulse rising so hard he could hear the sound of his heart beat. Takeda's gaze wasn't cruel or mpatient. It was measuring, as though weighing every flicker of fear, tremor and hesitation in Renji's voice.
"I…" Renji struggled. His hand pressed harder against his forehead, nails scraping skin. "I don't… know. Six giants they were like monsters I can't describe them
They we're fighting and .. and eerything was burning I could see the sky, the stars His words stumbled over themselves, raw and uneven.
Everything was collapsing into nothing
"There was something… in the chaos Something that looked at me. It...." He froze, shuddering. "It told me to wake up."
Then the room went still..
Choji blinked, his mouth slightly open, disbelief flickering across his feace. Lily bit her lip, too frightened to speak. But Takeda… Takeda remained unreadable. His arms lowered slowly, deliberately, and he stepped into the dim light.
Renji looked up at him, still gasping, still trembling, but unable to break the pull of his stare.
Takeda finally spoke again, his tone level but heavy.
Hmmm I see now
You..
"You saw fragments of a war."
Renji's heart jolted. "Fragments…?"
Takeda gave a slow nod. His expression betrayed nothing, but his words carried weight.
A WAR!
The same war I just told your friend and sister
"A war that tore the heavens apart. A war not meant for mortal eyes. This was a war that happened hunters and mana " He paused, his gaze narrowing. "And yet… you saw it."
Renji shook his head, his voice hoarse.
"Why me? Why would I see that?"
Takeda didn't answer immediately. His silence felt like a stone pressing against Renji's chest. At last, he said, "Because, Renji… you are not who you think you are."
Renji's breath caught. The words sank into him like ice.
Not who he thought he was? Then… who? Who am I ?
Choji frowned, breaking the silence. "Mr takeda with all due respect… I know you think he's some god killer but he's not he's Renji
He's...
SHUT UP!! Takeda replied
Takeda raised a hand. Choji fell silent, though his jaw clenched.
"This is not a conversation for denial," Takeda said quietly. "It is a truth waiting to break through. And it already has, tonight."
Renji clutched the blanket tighter. His voice trembled.
"What truth? What am I, what are you talking about?
Takeda's eyes softened slightly not with kindness, but with the weight of recognition. "That is not a question I can answer for you fully. Not yet. But I can tell you this what you saw were not illusions. They were echoes more like nemories buried so deeply they bleed into your consciousness
Renji's throat tightened. "Memories? Of what? Of who?"
Takeda's gaze did not waver.
"Of the gods… and of the being they fought."
The air in the room grew heavy, so heavy even Choji's fists curled at his side. Lily pressed closer to Renji, clutching him as though the word gods itself threatened to steal him away.
Renji's mind reeled. He pressed both hands against his head, groaning as if to hold it together.
"Why me?!"
The question tore from his throat, raw and desperate. His voice cracked, echoing faintly off the walls. He looked at Takeda with eyes wide, filled with terror but also something else
"Why do I see this?! Who am I supposed to be?!"
Takeda stepped closer. His shadow stretched over Renji like a mantle.
You are januza boy !!
"An you are beginning to remember," he said, voice like iron. "And that is only the beginning."