Shinkai - The Eyes That Shouldn't Exist

Rei frowned. "The Hollow Veins? "Kazuo turned. "You've heard of them?"

"Everyone's heard of them. No one goes." He hesitated. "Because the ones who do don't come back."

Gramps waved a hand. "That's dramatics. Most who vanish go for the wrong reasons — debt, desperation, delusion. Kazuo's different. This is your only chance to escape the crown"He looked at him firmly."You've got something the city fears. And fear breeds orders. Orders breed blades. They are already alarmed."

Kazuo didn't speak. He just stood — quiet, steady — and then paced across the floor once, boots creaking."How long will I be gone?"

Gramps exhaled through his nose. "Until no one's watching."

Rei stepped forward. "Then I'm going too." "No."

Kazuo turned. His voice was calm — but final. "I won't let you get dragged into my mess." "You think I care—?"

"I need you here," Kazuo said. "To listen. Watch. I need someone I trust above ground."

Rei clenched his fists.

"That's a lousy reason," he muttered.

Kazuo shrugged. "Then make it a better one. Give me a reason to come back."

Rei looked away. "Tch."

Gramps raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so I wasn't reason enough?"

Kazuo smirked. "You're on the list. Just… further down."

Gramps snorted. "Ungrateful brat."

He turned to a shelf, rummaging behind old scrolls. He returned with a small cloth bundle and handed it to Kazuo.A scarf — dark, weather-worn, edges frayed from years of use.

"Wrap your face. Down there, names don't matter. Only what people think you are."

Then, as Kazuo tucked it into his belt, Gramps added in a low voice:

Gramps stepped closer, voice lower now — not giving orders, but something deeper.

"I don't know if or when we'll see each other again. But I do know this — you're not safe with me anymore."

His hand moved to Kazuo's chest, resting lightly over the fabric where the medallion hung beneath.

"I kept that thing locked away for years, thinking maybe you'd never need it.""But now?" He paused, gaze steady."Now I'm sure. That medallion holds something — a key, a connection. I don't know to what. But if the world ever locks every other door…"

He pressed slightly, just enough to feel the weight beneath the shirt.

"Then maybe it will open one more."

Kazuo didn't speak. He just nodded — once, sharply — and then stepped forward into the hug.Gramps held him tight, firm.

"Stay alive," he whispered. "That's the only rule."

The entrance to the Hollow Veins wasn't marked.Just a rusted plate behind the old aqueduct tower — swallowed in vines and forgotten coins.Gramps had called it a crack in the city's memory.

Kazuo crouched and lifted it, revealing stone steps winding into darkness.The air below smelled of rust, ash, and old roots.

He adjusted the scarf.

The cat — the same one from before — had followed them all the way to the aqueduct, tail flicking, claws silent on the stone.

Just as Kazuo reached for the rusted plate, she meowed once and tried to climb into his cloak.

"Seriously?" Kazuo muttered.

But before she could vanish into the folds, Rei scooped her up.

"She's smarter than you," he said, holding her like he'd done it a hundred times before.

Kazuo looked at the two of them — Rei with the cat in his arms, trying not to look worried.

He nodded once. "Then keep her safe."

Rei smirked. "Only because she bites people I don't like."

Kazuo looked back one last time.Rei — arms crossed, trying not to look worried.Gramps — silent, unreadable, hands behind his back.And behind them, Yurelda — glowing in the dusk like a city unaware of its own cruelty.

He touched the medallion under his shirt.Then he descended.

The steps were colder than he expected.The city noise faded.Water dripped in places unseen.And somewhere deeper down… something moved.

Not wind. Not breath.Something that pretended to be wind.

Welcome to the Hollow Veins, Kazuo thought.A place so easy to enter.And nearly impossible to escape.

But up there — he was already marked.And someone was already looking.

A tall window stood open, letting in the cool night air.The man before it didn't move. He stood with arms folded, gaze fixed on the stars as if searching for a crack in the sky.

Behind him, a cloaked figure knelt.

"We've confirmed it," the messenger said. "The boy has vanished. Our sources say he's not to be found anywhere in the city."

A pause.

"Lord Cedric's orders were clear. He is to be eliminated."

The man by the window said nothing at first. Then — a faint grin.

"So he went to the Hollow Veins, huh?"

He chuckled softly — not mockingly, but like someone who'd just been handed a challenge worth savoring.

"This will be fun."