The golden light had slammed into Itami, ripping through the cold, pervasive influence that had held him captive. He collapsed, the world spinning, a cacophony of muffled screams and distant roars echoing in his mind.
Then, silence. A profound, agonizing silence, broken only by the frantic hammering of his own heart.
He lay there, limp, for what felt like an eternity, slowly regaining awareness. The cold, precise clarity that had defined his recent existence began to recede, replaced by a flood of raw, overwhelming emotions. Fear. Confusion. And a crushing wave of guilt.
Ren.
The name echoed in his mind, sharp and clear. He remembered everything. Every chilling command, every cold observation, every calculated move. He remembered the feeling of that dark, invasive shadow taking root, drowning his true self in a sea of blissful, terrifying emptiness. He had been there, a prisoner in his own mind, watching, unable to act, as his body moved, spoke, and fought under another's will. It was like being submerged in deep water, seeing the surface, hearing the faint sounds, but unable to break free.
He remembered the fight. Ren's desperate struggle, the sudden eruption of golden light, the sheer, overwhelming power that had shattered the shadow's hold. Ren had done this. Ren had saved him.
With a gasp, Itami's eyes snapped open. He pushed himself up, his body aching, his head throbbing. He was in the school corridor, lying on the cold linoleum floor. The air still hummed with a faint, residual energy. He looked down at his hands, trembling slightly. The shadow was gone. He could feel its absence, a void where something cold and alien had resided. But he could also feel... something else. A faint, dark hum beneath his skin, a resonance that was both terrifying and strangely familiar.
He scrambled to his feet, his mind racing. Maya's screams. He remembered them, raw and terrified. He remembered Sakura's chilling voice, her plan to use Maya. Ren was in danger.
He ran. He didn't know how, or why, but his legs pumped with a desperate urgency he hadn't felt in days. He ran down the corridor, his spectacles slipping slightly on his nose, his hair falling into his eyes, the familiar clumsiness of his old self returning.
He burst into the classroom, his eyes wide, scanning the scene.
Kenji Tanaka was there, huddled in a corner, his face pale, his eyes wide with terror. He was muttering under his breath, his hands clasped tightly, rocking back and forth. He looked utterly distraught.
Kenji's head snapped up at the sound of Itami's entrance. His eyes, already wide with fear, widened even further, fixing on Itami. A fresh wave of terror washed over his face. He scrambled back further, pressing himself against the wall, his hands rising defensively.
"Itami! Stay back! Please! I... I don't want any trouble!" Kenji stammered, his voice trembling. He then squeezed his eyes shut, burying his face in his hands, and began to pray aloud, a desperate, incoherent plea. "Oh, Lord, please, please make it stop! I don't want to see any more of this! Protect us from the darkness!"
Itami ignored Kenji's terrified reaction. His gaze swept the room, his heart sinking. Maya was still there, slumped against the lockers, almost entirely consumed by shadows, though they seemed less active now, merely clinging to her.
And Ren... Ren was gone. Swallowed by the shadows that now coiled menacingly in the center of the room, a dark, impenetrable cocoon. Sakura was nowhere to be found, but the air still vibrated with her malevolent presence.
He knew what had happened. He had seen it, felt it, from the depths of his own internal prison. Ren had defeated the shadow that controlled him, but in doing so, had left himself vulnerable. And Sakura, ever the opportunist, had seized the moment.
"Kenji!" Itami said, his voice surprisingly steady, cutting through Kenji's frantic prayers.
"It's okay. It's... it's me. The real me." He took a step towards Kenji, then stopped, remembering the fear in Kenji's eyes. "Ren... Ren knocked the shadow out of me. It's... it's unconscious. I don't think it'll be waking up soon."
Kenji slowly lowered his hands, peering through his fingers at Itami. He looked from
Itami's slightly disheveled, familiar appearance to the still, dark cocoon where Ren had been. "You... you're back?" he whispered, disbelief warring with relief. "But... what... what is all this?"
He gestured wildly at the shadows, at Maya, at the lingering sense of wrongness in the room.
Itami's gaze hardened, focusing on the swirling darkness that held Ren captive. He remembered Sakura's chilling words, her plan to use Maya, to break Ren. He remembered his own helplessness.
But now... now he wasn't helpless. He could feel the faint, dark hum beneath his skin, the residual power of the shadow that had once controlled him. It was still there, dormant, a part of him.
He had to act. He had to save Ren. And if he was going to pretend to be Sakura's pawn, he needed to make it convincing. He needed to use this power.
Itami closed his eyes, focusing on the dark hum within him. He remembered the manga he loved, the dark magic mages who wielded shadows, who commanded unseen forces. He remembered their poses, their incantations, the way they channeled their power.
Itami extended his hand towards the shadowy cocoon that held Ren, mimicking a pose from his favorite series. He muttered words under his breath, not ancient spells, but lines from the manga, words of command and power he had memorized countless times. "From the depths of the void, I call upon thee! Shadow, heed my will!"
A faint, inky tendril, almost imperceptible at first, snaked out from Itami's outstretched hand. It was thin, hesitant, but undeniably there. It stretched towards the shadowy cocoon, a dark counterpart to the golden light Ren had wielded.
Itami gritted his teeth, pouring all his concentration, all his desperate will, into the nascent power. The tendril thickened, growing stronger, pulsating with a dark energy. It reached the cocoon, and instead of being repelled, it seemed to merge with the shadows, becoming one with them.
A low, guttural growl, filled with frustrated rage, echoed from within the cocoon. Sakura's voice.
Itami's eyes snapped open, a fierce determination in their depths. The flat, vacant look was gone, replaced by a newfound, chilling resolve.
He felt the connection, the subtle pull of the shadows, a dark power that was now, somehow, his to command. He was no longer just Itami, the nervous student. He was something new. Something powerful. A dark magic mage, just like in his manga. And he was going to save his friend.