That night, Regulus collapsed into bed like a boulder dropping into a pond. Within seconds he was snoring, one arm hanging off the mattress, drool threatening to drip onto the floor.
Rei lay in the other bed, staring at the faint cracks in the ceiling. The mask was hidden beneath his pillow, wrapped in cloth. He turned it over in his mind a thousand times. The woman's black hair, her eyes, the blade sliding into him twice now, in two different timelines.
He clenched the sheets in his fists. Why me? Why does she keep finding me?
Sleep didn't come easy. When it finally did, it was shallow and restless.
Morning came with the thunder of boots in the hallway. A horn blared once. Twice.
"UP! OUT! TRAINING STARTS NOW!"
Rei sat up instantly, alert. Regulus groaned, flailed, then rolled right off the bed with a thud.
"…I'm up," he muttered into the floorboards.
They stumbled outside with dozens of other trainees. The air was sharp and cold, clouds of breath fogging above the group. At the front stood one of the academy instructors, a mountain of muscle with arms thicker than tree trunks.
"Five hundred push-ups. Ten kilometer run. No excuses." His voice boomed like a hammer striking iron. "You want to fight sin itself? Then prove you're worth the training ground!"
Groans spread through the group. Someone whispered, five hundred? that's impossible! Another muttered, ten kilometers? I'll die…
Regulus swore under his breath, then dropped into the dirt with the rest. "Guess this is how we die, Rei."
Rei lowered himself beside him, calm. The first push-up came easy. The next, easier still. By the hundredth, his breathing was steady, arms pumping like pistons.
Regulus, on the other hand, was purple in the face. "H-how… are you not even… sweating?!"
Rei didn't answer. He just kept moving. Push-up after push-up. His body, forged from two lives of war, didn't complain. This was nothing compared to crawling through minefields, or running with half a squad bleeding out behind him.
By the time they hit five hundred, Regulus collapsed flat on the ground, wheezing. Rei stood, brushing dust off his clothes, heartbeat steady.
Then came the run.
Ten kilometers over rough dirt paths and forest trails. Most of the recruits staggered, legs buckling before they even hit halfway.
Rei ran like a machine. Steady pace, steady breathing, eyes sharp on the horizon. Regulus stumbled behind him, somehow refusing to quit, yelling insults at trees to keep himself motivated.
By the finish line, Rei looked untouched. Not a drop of sweat on him. The instructors gave him a long, calculating look.
Regulus, meanwhile, collapsed face-first into the dirt, groaning, "I'm… gonna die here…"
The group dragged themselves back to the fortress, muscles burning, lungs screaming. But Rei walked in at the front, calm as ever, as though the training had been a warm-up.
And for the first time, whispers spread among the recruits.
"That kid… has no magic, right?"
"Then how the hell did he do that?"
"Maybe he's not human…"
Rei ignored them. But deep down, he knew: the gap between him and the others wasn't magic. It was something else.
The instructor wasn't done with them yet. After the push-ups and the grueling 10 km run, the group barely had time to catch their breath before the order came:
"Five hundred squats. Now."
Groans rippled through the trainees. Mimi stretched her legs, trying to stay positive. Takan adjusted his goggles, muttering formulas under his breath about muscle fatigue. Regulus smirked, rolling his shoulders like it was no big deal.
Rei dropped down and started immediately. His body moved with steady rhythm, legs burning but not giving out. Compared to the others, he held up well, almost unnervingly well.
"Oi… you're a monster," Regulus spat between squats, sweat already dripping down his face.
Mimi panted, cheeks red. "H-How are you not tired…? We already—ah—ran ten kilometers!"
Rei kept quiet, eyes fixed on the ground. He wasn't showing off, but his endurance set him apart from the rest. His mind wasn't even fully on the exercise—his memory of that dagger flashing into his chest the night before kept returning, the masked woman's face burned into his thoughts.
By the time they hit the four-hundredth squat, most of the group was trembling, some collapsing into the dirt. Rei, however, powered through to the last rep, his legs shaking but his will holding steady.
When the instructor finally called it off, Regulus flopped onto his back, laughing breathlessly. "This is insane…! Are they trying to kill us?"
Mimi fell forward, hands on her knees, gasping. "I'm going to… pass out…"
Rei stood there, chest rising and falling, but still upright. Not unharmed, but composed like the punishment hadn't really touched him.
It only made the others look at him differently.
At the end of the day, after the drills, after Mimi and Takan had stumbled back to their rooms and Regulus had collapsed on his bed grumbling about "insane instructors," Rei stayed up a little longer. His body was tired, but his mind wouldn't let him sleep.
The memory of the dagger sliding into his chest, the suffocating cold of death, and then the sudden reset—it wouldn't leave him.
He pushed open the bathroom door quietly. The academy's washroom was dim, lit only by the weak glow of a single lantern hanging in the corner. The air smelled faintly of soap and damp stone.
Rei leaned on the sink, staring at his reflection. His face looked pale under the flickering light, his eyes shadowed. He traced his fingers lightly over his chest where the blade had pierced him the night before. The skin was unmarked, perfectly smooth as if it had never happened.
"…What did I do to deserve this?" he whispered hoarsely, voice almost cracking.
The mirror stared back, showing the same boy who everyone else thought was just another trainee. No scars, no proof. Just Rei haunted by something no one else could ever know.
He gripped the sink tighter, knuckles white.
The silence stretched, heavy, broken only by the faint dripping of water from the faucet.
Finally, Rei let out a shaky breath and splashed cold water over his face. He couldn't tell anyone. He couldn't explain. If he even tried, he knew his own body would betray him.
So he swallowed it down. Again.
And walked back to the dorm like nothing was wrong.