"Everyone, go back inside," Okami ordered, her tone sharp. The refugees dispersed without argument, and the courtyard gradually emptied, with the murmurs fading not long after. The refugees' gazes averted as their emotions were buried again beneath the routine of their daily life.
Shinji, Haruka, and Daichi had each drifted in a different direction, like three stones tossed into still waters. Okami turned to Yoru. "You, come with me." he didn't respond; he nodded silently, his expression closed off.
They descended the central corridor of the refuge, the one few ever used. At the end, a room with bare stone walls. A single torch burned there, lazily and at the center, resting on a black metal altar…the blade, the one Shinji hadn't dared to take back when Okami confronted him.
Okami entered without a word. Yoru followed, and when he saw the weapon, his gaze changed. He didn't flinch or make a sound, but his eyes screamed a rage he had never let out.
Okami noticed as she turned her head slightly toward him. "Sit down," she requested simply. "Tell me. Everything." Yoru took a long breath, his gaze still fixed on the blade. "Haruka and I went to gather information… about the upcoming auctions." He paused. "The girl will be there. It's confirmed."
Okami nodded slowly. She was about to ask the next question she asked them about Shinji in the courtyard, about his condition and what they had seen under the bridge, but Yoru cut her off. "He's been here less than a week, Okami. Less than a week and he's already put the refuge in danger."
Okami raised a brow slightly but didn't respond when Yoru clenched his teeth. "If Haruka hadn't stepped in… I would've sided with Daichi." He shamelessly affirmed. She closed her eyes for a second, then, slowly, her voice dropped. "Enough. I don't know what you hold against him." She locked her eyes on his. "But we can't abandon him. Not now. Not after what I saw earlier."
A heavy silence settled before Okami continued. "Yes… He deserves punishment for what he did, but it's not up to you, nor me, to make that decision." She paused. "They made it; the people of the refuge."
Yoru, under his breath, muttered, barely audible: "Tch… I've been here for over a year. And you don't even trust me…" She heard him but pretended not to.
She approached the blade slowly. "I didn't include you in the mission because I have to leave." He raised his head slightly. "I have a matter to settle in Tartara." She crossed her arms, then continued: "And in my absence, someone has to protect this refuge."
She turned her eyes to him. "I can't entrust that responsibility to just anyone and certainly not to someone I don't respect."
Yoru seething inside, looked at her; he opened his mouth to respond, but the door creaked slightly. Daichi appeared standing in the doorway, leaning against the stone wall, arms crossed, a half-smile on his lips.
"So that's how you treat me, Okami…" his voice was calm but laced with bitter exhaustion. He entered slowly, his gaze sliding from Yoru to the blade, then to Okami.
"Me, the one you saved nearly ten years ago…" he shook his head, as if the words drained him. "And yet, you choose to trust a guy… You didn't even deem me worthy of a simple scouting mission." His tone shifted. "Too unpredictable, wasn't it? That's how you described him, right, Okami?"
Yoru stood abruptly, the chair tipped over behind him, crashing to the floor with a sharp thud. He stared Daichi down, his fists trembling faintly. "If it weren't for the respect I owe Okami…" but he didn't get to finish, Daichi raised his hands, took a step back, mockingly:
"Oh, come on, calm down. You're stronger than me, I don't want trouble." his smile faded as quickly as it had appeared when he shot a sidelong glance at Okami. "Can I stay? I've got something to tell her." Okami sighed before she turned her head to Yoru. "Leave us."
Yoru hesitated, his gaze flicked between Daichi and her several times, but in the end… he left the room silently, his jaw clenched as he closed the door behind him.
Daichi waited a few seconds longer, just enough to be sure no one was listening, then he took two steps forward and locked his gaze with Okami's. "I want to go with them." The words came out sharp, but Okami didn't hesitate for a second: "No, because earlier, your blade… I saw it." Her voice grew harder. "You were ready to act, you were going to do it."
"So what?!" Daichi exploded. "It's either that… or you let me take charge in your absence!" he took another step forward. "You're letting him go with Haruka alone? You saw it too, you saw the glow when she sheathed her blade."
Okami stayed silent for a moment, then she replied, calm as stone: "Gerald will go with them." Daichi's eyes widened slightly. "Gerald? You mean the first one you took in here, right?" She nodded. "He's loyal. He won't betray us."
Daichi gritted his teeth. "Loyal? Yes. Strong? No. You know full well Haruka could overpower him if she wanted. She'd break him." He paused. "And besides… I've heard things." His eyes narrowed. "About Shinji."
He let silence settle in the room before continuing: "Before Haruka and Yoru found him… he supposedly killed a man." Okami froze for a second. Daichi saw it, the reaction on her face, the slight crease of her eyelids, and he smiled, a discreet smile.
"You're sure?" Okami asked, her voice deliberately neutral. Daichi crossed his arms. "Positive. They said when Yoru and Haruka arrived… he was still holding the knife. The body was already on the ground under the bridge, at the market."
He paused and dropped the rest like a soft provocation: "Imagine for a moment… If the Zephyrs had been there." He shrugged slightly. "They'd have had no trouble capturing him."
Okami's gaze hardened instantly, and her voice snapped, cold and sharp: "The Zephyrs? And how, exactly, would they have known he was there?"
Daichi instantly realised the mistake he had made; he had spoken too quickly. His pupils trembled faintly, and Okami had seen it; she took a step forward. "I don't know what you're hiding, Daichi, but if the Zephyrs are potentially aware of Shinji's existence…" She paused. "…then I'll allow you to join the mission."
Daichi raised his brows slightly, but she didn't give him time to respond: "They'll need more strength, and if what you say is true, you'll bear the consequences on the field." She turned her back. "Get out." Daichi stood still for a moment, then nodded slowly."Fine."
He pivoted on his heels, before crossing the threshold, he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with a discreet gesture, and a smile stretched across his lips, a smile of silent victory.
---
Shinji sat on the edge of his bed, his back slightly hunched and his hands clasped between his knees, when he felt a soft brush on his right leg.
"Neko," murmured Shinji. Neko leapt soundlessly onto the bed, then slowly climbed to Shinji's knees. He curled against him, purring softly.
Shinji placed a hesitant hand on his back. "Where were you…?" His voice was barely a whisper. "Since Daichi raised his blade… You were gone." He grimaced."You can't talk, I know, but you were there, right?"
He closed his eyes for a moment when he heard the door open softly. His body tensed immediately, and his muscles froze. A name flashed in his mind like an alert. "Daichi"
"It's just me," said a calm voice. When Shinji saw Okami entering his room, Shinji straightened slightly, confused. "Come to the courtyard. I need to talk to you." He nodded and rose slowly, Neko leaping to the floor with a discreet bound.
A few minutes later, they were in the refuge's back courtyard as the night had nearly swallowed the faint light that had pierced through the clouds earlier. A small fire burned at the center, lit by Okami. She sat cross-legged on a flat stone. "Sit."
Shinji obeyed without a word. He felt the warmth of the flames against his skin. But his gaze… drifted to the window, the one through which he had overheard Okami and Daichi just before he fled.
Okami followed his gaze discreetly, then spoke, her tone neutral: "So my intuition wasn't wrong." She turned her head slowly toward him. "You really were eavesdropping on us that day."
Shinji opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He lowered his eyes. "I… I just wanted… to understand… I wasn't…" But she raised a hand. "Don't worry. I understand, you were lost and you heard talk of people like you, who didn't come from this world."
Shinji raised his eyes, a weight lifted from his chest. He wanted to thank her, but…Something had changed in the air; tension started to form when Okami opened her lips. "Daichi told me you killed a man." Shinji's breath caught. The image returned: the man on the ground, the blood coming out of him, the rusty knife he was holding. Then the scene in the bar, the blade and his gaze locked with his old self's before succumbing to darkness.
He was suffocating, and his eyes widened; he wanted to speak, but he couldn't. His throat was dry, knotted.
"Maybe I'm not meant to exist, not here, not anywhere."
That was all Shinji could think. Okami, unrelentingly continued: "Answer me, Shinji." but before he could say a word— "Okami!" Haruka screamed. She arrived quickly. "I'll explain everything." She stood beside Shinji, her expression resolute. "Yes, he killed a man."
She raised a hand, cutting off any reaction. "But he was only defending himself. The man was the one who attacked him. Me and Yoru, we were there… we saw what happened, just before we reached the bridge." Okami turned slowly to Shinji. "Is that true?"
But Shinji…Shinji didn't answer; his gaze was empty, like that of a man watching himself from the outside.
Haruka moved closer, concerned: "Shinji…?" but Okami stopped her with a gesture. "If you're not lying," she said softly, "then he'll have to learn to live with it." She sighed. "Take him back to his room."
Okami rose slowly, her hand brushed the hilt of her blade, and in the soft darkness of the fire, a shadow slipped from it, pointing at Haruka. "Your blade, earlier…" Okami paused for a moment. "No. We'll talk about it when I return." Then she turned her back. "Take him." Haruka nodded. She gently placed an arm around Shinji, helping him stand.
They left the courtyard, and Neko followed silently. In the room, when Haruka helped him lie down, Shinji remained mute, his gaze still hollow, like a man who had lost everything, whose even forgotten memories couldn't save him from what he had become.