Light.
Too bright.
I squinted as I woke up on a white bed inside the school infirmary. The sharp scent of antiseptic filled my nose.
“You’re awake?”
That voice… the school nurse.
“Relax. You just fainted,” she continued. “Someone found you in an empty room. No serious injuries.”
I nodded slowly.
But something was wrong.
I closed my left eye.
Darkness.
Not ordinary darkness—
emptiness.
As if a part of me had been torn out.
So… this is my first payment.
My sight.
-----------------------------
The days that followed felt wrong.
I could still see—
but not properly.
Distances felt distorted. Shadows lagged behind reality. My head throbbed with even the slightest effort.
Worse than that—
I could feel iron.
Everywhere.
The spoon on the cafeteria table.
The hinges of the classroom door.
The nails buried in the walls.
They all whispered.
“Please… not now,” I murmured whenever the subtle vibrations flooded my mind.
--------------------------
“Rinne.”
Iych stood beside my desk.
“You look paler than usual.”
“I’m fine.”
A lie.
Her gaze lingered on my face.
“Your left eye… your vision’s deteriorating, isn’t it?”
I fell silent.
“You don’t have to answer,” she said quietly. “I already suspected it.”
“You knew?”
“Every Miracle Seat pays a price,” she replied. “The form differs for each of us.”
I clenched my fist beneath the desk.
“And you?” I asked.
Iych gave a faint smile.
“That’s a secret.”
----------------------------------------
That night, I didn’t go straight home.
I wandered through the lower district, where rusted metal littered the streets and broken streetlights flickered weakly.
I stopped in a narrow alley.
Several men stood at the far end.
“Hey, kid. You wanna pass? Pay up.”
I stepped back.
IRON.
The voice returned.
They moved closer.
My hands trembled.
“Don’t…” I whispered.
IRON ANSWERED.
Rusty nails embedded in the walls began to shake.
“WHAT THE—”
SRRANG!
The nails shot forward.
Blood sprayed.
I clamped a hand over my mouth.
Bodies collapsed to the ground.
Silence.
I stared at my trembling hands.
“I… killed them…”
You lived.
The voice whispered, satisfied.
And you paid properly.
I dropped to my knees.
Tears mixed with blood as they fell onto the asphalt.
I knew it then—
There was no way back.