The morning sun hung low over the school building as waves of seventh graders poured through the front gates. Lockers slammed, voices echoed down the hallways, and the usual chaos of another school day began.

Among the crowd walked Jacoby Morrison.

Jacoby stood out almost immediately. While most students wore simple hoodies or plain clothes, Jacoby wore something brighter—an outfit that showed his personality. His style was cute, expressive, and confident, though the confidence sometimes hid a deeper nervousness.

As he stepped through the hallway, whispers started almost instantly.

Some students stared.

Some laughed quietly.

Some just watched him walk by like he was some kind of spectacle.

Jacoby tried not to react. He had gotten used to it by now… at least, that’s what he told himself.

He pulled out his phone while walking and opened TikTok. His account—Jacobyurmom—had dozens of notifications lighting up the screen.

New follower.

New comment.

Your video reached 10,000 views.

A small smile appeared on his face.

Online, people liked him. They complimented his outfits, encouraged his confidence, and called him brave for expressing himself the way he did.

For a moment, the hallway noise faded away.

Then a voice snapped him back to reality.

“Yo, Jacoby!”

He looked up to see Gravi walking over with a couple of friends. Two girls from their group followed behind, smiling.

“Another new outfit?” Gravi said with a grin. “You’re trying to start a fashion show in the hallway or something?”

Jacoby laughed a little.

“Maybe.”

One of the girls leaned closer and said, “Honestly, it’s cute.”

Jacoby scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed but grateful for the support.

For a brief moment, things felt normal.

But across the hallway stood Carter and Jacob.

Carter leaned against a locker, arms crossed, watching Jacoby with a smirk.

Jacob stood next to him, whispering something that made the group around them laugh.

Carter spoke just loud enough for Jacoby to hear.

“Look at him,” Carter said. “Walking around like he’s famous or something.”

Jacob scoffed. “Yeah, because of those stupid TikTok videos.”

Jacoby pretended not to hear, though his shoulders tensed slightly.

Gravi noticed the tension and glanced over at the bullies, but Jacoby quickly changed the subject.

“Anyway,” Jacoby said, forcing a smile, “I posted a new video last night.”

The girls immediately leaned closer.

“Oh my god, the pink outfit one?”

Jacoby nodded.

“Yeah.”

Meanwhile, Carter rolled his eyes.

“Cringe,” he muttered.

—

Later that day, students gathered in the cafeteria for lunch.

Jacoby sat with Gravi and the others, quietly eating while scrolling through his phone.

The peace didn’t last long.

A chair suddenly scraped loudly against the floor.

Carter dragged it close to their table and sat down backwards in it, resting his arms across the backrest.

“Well, well,” Carter said. “Nice outfit today, Jacoby.”

Jacob stepped beside him, glancing down at Jacoby’s clothes.

“Did your mom dress you or something?”

A few students nearby chuckled.

Jacoby froze for a second but tried to remain calm.

“I’m just eating lunch,” he said quietly.

Carter leaned closer.

“Yeah, we can see that.”

Jacob kicked the leg of Jacoby’s chair slightly.

“Try not to make a TikTok about it.”

Gravi glared at them.

“Why don’t you guys just leave him alone?”

Carter shrugged.

“Because it’s funny.”

The tension hung thick in the air until a teacher across the room called out for students to quiet down.

Carter stood up slowly.

“See you later, Jacoby.”

Jacob smirked before following him away.

Jacoby looked down at his food.

His hands trembled slightly.

—

The afternoon brought woodshop class.

The room smelled like sawdust and machine oil. Students worked on small projects while tools clanged and buzzed in the background.

At one table, Jacob repeatedly slammed a hammer into random pieces of scrap wood.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

The loud noise made several students glance over.

Jacoby finally sighed and spoke up.

“Hey… could you stop hitting random stuff?” Jacoby said carefully. “You might break something.”

Jacob slowly turned his head.

For a moment, the room went quiet.

Then he walked over.

Without warning—

He shoved Jacoby.

Jacoby stumbled back, nearly falling.

“What?” Jacob said. “You gonna cry about it?”

Some students laughed nervously.

The teacher looked up from across the room.

“Hey, be careful over there!”

But that was it.

No real punishment. No real stopping it.

Jacoby steadied himself, breathing slowly.

Inside his chest, something twisted tightly.

Something angry.

Something that had been building for a long time.

Over the school speakers, the intercom suddenly crackled.

“Attention students,” the principal’s voice announced. “There will be an assembly tomorrow regarding recent behavior issues—vandalism, disruptions, and disrespect toward staff.”

Students groaned.

But Jacoby didn’t react.

He just stood there quietly.

His hands slowly clenched into fists.

And for the first time in a long while…

Jacoby felt something inside him begin to crack.

The next morning, the atmosphere at school felt different.

Students filled the hallways as usual, lockers slammed shut, and conversations buzzed loudly—but this time the whispers seemed louder when Jacoby Morrison walked in.

It started with a few snickers.

Then it spread.

“Did you guys hear?” someone said.

“Jacoby has a boyfriend.”

Another voice laughed.

“Yeah, some dude named Matthew.”

Jacoby froze for a moment when he heard Matthew’s name.

Matthew wasn’t at this school. They mostly talked through messages and late-night calls, supporting each other through tough days. Hearing his name dragged into the bullying made Jacoby’s stomach twist.

A group of seventh graders gathered nearby.

“Yo Jacoby,” one of them called out. “Where’s your boyfriend today?”

More laughter erupted.

Another student mocked him, pretending to hold an imaginary phone.

“Hey Matthew, come save your little princess!”

Even students who usually ignored Jacoby began joining in.

Sarah and Maddie stood nearby with a group, giggling.

“Maybe he’ll cry on TikTok about it,” Maddie said.

“Yeah,” Sarah added. “Post another outfit video for Matthew.”

Jacoby’s breathing grew heavier.

He tried to walk past them.

But then Carter stepped in front of him.

Carter crossed his arms and grinned.

“So it’s true,” he said. “You actually have a boyfriend.”

Behind him stood Wesley and Kannon, both snickering.

“Does he borrow your clothes too?” Wesley joked.

More laughter.

Something inside Jacoby finally snapped.

“STOP!”

The scream echoed through the hallway.

Students went quiet for a split second.

Jacoby’s face was red, his eyes shaking with rage and pain.

“I’m sick of all of you!” he shouted.

Before anyone could react, Jacoby grabbed a nearby stack of books from a desk and threw them across the hallway.

The books slammed into the lockers near Sarah and Maddie.

Both girls yelped and jumped back.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Maddie shouted.

Jacoby grabbed a loose water bottle and hurled it.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”

The hallway erupted into chaos.

Wesley stepped forward angrily.

“Dude, chill!”

Jacoby lashed out, kicking Wesley in the leg, causing him to stumble.

Kannon tried to grab Jacoby’s arm.

Jacoby shoved him and kicked him back, knocking him into another student.

Then Jacoby locked eyes with Carter.

The anger inside him boiled over.

Jacoby rushed forward and swung his fist.

But before it could land, a teacher grabbed him from behind.

“JACOBY!”

Two staff members quickly pulled him back as he struggled.

“LET GO OF ME!” Jacoby shouted, tears already forming in his eyes.

Students stared in shock as he was dragged down the hallway.

—

Moments later, Jacoby sat in the principal’s office.

The room felt quiet. Too quiet.

His breathing slowed, but the tears wouldn’t stop.

The principal sighed and folded their hands.

“Jacoby… what happened today?”

Jacoby wiped his face but immediately started crying harder.

“You had that assembly yesterday,” he said between sobs. “You talked about respect and behavior… but nobody listened.”

His voice cracked.

“They bully me every day. Every single day!”

The principal looked uncomfortable.

Jacoby slammed his hands on the desk.

“You didn’t stop them! None of you did!”

Silence filled the room.

Finally, the principal spoke.

“Jacoby… because of the incident today, you’ll be suspended for one week.”

Jacoby stared at the floor.

It felt like everything had collapsed at once.

—

That night at home, things got worse.

His parents were furious about the suspension.

“You’re grounded,” one of them said firmly.

“No phone. No TikTok.”

Jacoby’s heart sank.

His phone was taken away.

That meant no way to text Matthew.

The one person who always listened to him… was suddenly unreachable.

Jacoby sat in his room, crying quietly.

Minutes passed.

Then an hour.

Finally, he couldn’t stay there anymore.

Jacoby slipped out of the house and started running.

Cold night air hit his face as he ran down the empty street.

Tears blurred his vision.

“I hate this…” he whispered. “I hate all of this…”

Above him, the night sky suddenly streaked with light.

A meteor tore through the atmosphere, burning bright as it crashed into the woods just outside town.

Jacoby slowed when he saw the glow in the distance.

Curiosity pulled him closer.

Smoke rose from a small crater where the meteor had landed.

Inside the crater was something strange.

A small pink parasite-like creature, pulsing faintly.

Jacoby stepped closer.

“What… is that?”

The creature twitched.

Suddenly—

It lunged.

Before Jacoby could react, the parasite shot forward and forced its way into his body, disappearing into his stomach.

Jacoby collapsed to his knees.

“What—what was that?!”

After a few seconds, the pain faded.

Everything felt… quiet.

Confused and scared, Jacoby slowly walked back home.

He snuck into his house and quietly returned to his room.

His hands trembled as he sat on his bed.

Then suddenly—

FWOOOSH.

A blast of thick black liquid shot from his hand and splattered across the wall.

Jacoby stared in shock.

“What… did I just do?”

The liquid slowly dripped down the wall like living ink.

Inside his mind, something ancient stirred.

A voice echoed faintly within him.

A presence.

Jacoby didn’t fully understand it yet…

But the parasite had chosen him.

Jacoby Morrison had just become the vessel of the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu.

Jacoby barely slept that night.

The black liquid he blasted from his hand had stained part of his bedroom wall. He spent nearly an hour wiping it away with tissues and a towel, afraid his parents would notice in the morning. Even after cleaning, a faint dark smear remained.

He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his hands.

“What… is happening to me?”

The memory of the pink parasite entering his body replayed in his mind again and again. Every time he thought about it, his stomach twisted with anxiety.

But something else was there too.

A strange warmth deep in his chest.

It wasn’t painful. It felt… powerful.

Jacoby slowly lifted his right hand.

“Okay… maybe that was just stress,” he whispered to himself.

He focused hard.

Nothing happened.

He sighed in relief.

“Good… maybe I imagined—”

Suddenly a thin stream of black liquid shot from his fingertips, splashing onto the floor.

Jacoby yelped and jumped back.

“WHAT?!”

The liquid wriggled slightly before turning still like spilled ink.

Jacoby’s heart pounded.

He crouched down carefully, poking the strange substance with a pencil.

It didn’t feel like water.

It was thicker… almost alive.

He quickly wiped it up again before anyone could see.

“I definitely didn’t imagine that…”

For the next hour, Jacoby experimented quietly.

He tried focusing again.

Sometimes nothing happened.

But sometimes—

Small bursts of the strange black liquid shot from his hands.

Each time, he felt that same warm energy inside his chest.

Eventually he stopped, exhausted.

“What am I supposed to do with this…?”

⸻

The next morning felt strange.

Jacoby didn’t have to go to school because of his suspension.

Normally that would’ve felt relaxing, but today he felt restless.

Without his phone, the house felt silent.

He couldn’t check TikTok.

He couldn’t text Matthew.

That thought hurt the most.

Matthew would definitely be worried.

Jacoby sat on the floor of his room, hugging his knees.

“I wish I could tell him what happened…”

His stomach suddenly pulsed with a strange sensation.

Not pain.

More like… energy moving.

Then something unexpected happened.

Inside his mind, he heard a faint voice.

Soft.

Ancient.

Calm.

“Child…”

Jacoby froze.

He looked around the room.

“Hello?”

No one was there.

The voice echoed again, quieter but clearer.

“You carry my light.”

Jacoby’s heart began racing again.

“Who said that?!”

Silence.

Then a sudden flash filled his vision.

For just a second, Jacoby saw something impossible.

A glowing figure surrounded by brilliant sunlight.

Long flowing hair.

Radiant warmth.

A presence that felt powerful beyond imagination.

Then the image vanished.

Jacoby gasped and grabbed his head.

“What… was that?”

The warmth in his chest grew stronger.

He stood up suddenly, overwhelmed.

His hands began glowing faintly with dark energy.

“Okay… okay… calm down…”

He tried to breathe slowly.

But the energy surged again.

BOOM.

Another burst of black liquid blasted from his palm and splattered against his bedroom door.

Jacoby stared at it in shock.

This power was growing.

And he had no idea how to control it.

⸻

Later that afternoon, Jacoby quietly slipped out of the house again.

He needed fresh air.

The woods where the meteor crashed were still on his mind.

Maybe if he returned there, he could figure out what happened.

The forest was quiet when he arrived.

The crater where the meteor landed was still there, though smaller now.

Smoke had faded, but the ground was still scorched.

Jacoby stepped carefully toward it.

“Whatever that thing was…” he muttered, “it changed me.”

Suddenly his chest pulsed again.

Stronger this time.

The strange voice returned.

“You are my vessel.”

Jacoby froze.

“What does that mean?”

The warmth spread through his body like sunlight.

“You will carry my power.”

Jacoby looked down at his hands.

The black liquid slowly formed around his fingers again, swirling like living ink.

A mix of fear and amazement filled his mind.

“I… have powers.”

For the first time since the bullying, since the suspension, since everything fell apart…

Jacoby felt something different.

Not weakness.

Not fear.

But strength.

And somewhere deep inside him, the ancient power of Amaterasu was beginning to awaken.