The city on this side was quiet and the sun slowly went down.
It was only natural as they left the centre.
Kagami walked beside Tohru, scanning every passing face.
"Nothing," Kagami muttered.
Tohru flipped her notepad open and wrote something.
"What do you actually need," Kagami asked, "for your ability to work I mean?"
Tohru pushed her glasses up, thinking for a moment. "A face is best. Or something that belongs to the person—clothes, weapon, hair, even their handwriting. Anything tied to them. Then I can trace them."
"But it also works, once I find enough evidence of someone."
"Got it." Kagami's gaze fixed another empty alley. "Then let's get you something to work with."
They turned a corner—
—and a scream pushed away the quiet.
Both froze.
Then they sprinted.
Their shoes hit the cobble on the floor, making their steps hearable even from afar, as they arrive at the source—a narrow street behind a small bakery.
A woman knelt on the ground, eyes wide with panic, as a tall figure loomed above her.
One gloved hand wrapped tight around her throat.
A child boy beside her screamed, his tears streaming.
A plague doctor, whose mask reflected the sunlight.
Tohru's pen slipped from her fingers.
…I remember, Sora mentioned, that one of them encountered a Plague doctor once.
They stopped just out of sight, hearing his voice, low and distorted through the mask.
"Where is he…? Where's Meichi?"
"I—I don't know who—" the mother choked.
He squeezed harder. The boy cried out.
Kagami didn't hesitate.
She burst from the corner, pulling her spear and slicing straight at his wrist.
Idoku twisted his hand, snapping it back, releasing the woman an instant before impact. The spearhead cut the air where his arm had been.
He clicked his tongue behind the mask. "Not again."
His gaze snapped to Kagami.
"…You're not who I was hoping for," he said, voice warping with something almost like amusement.
He tilted his head slightly, the beak glinting. "A month ago, someone named Meichi attacked me here. He had a—"
Kagami lunged.
The tip of her spear thrust at his mask and he slid backward effortlessly.
His tone sharpened. "Oh?"
Then he surged forward.
Kagami met him head-on, as her spear attacked Idoku.
Tohru stepped back a few steps, her heart pounding.
He's… terrifying.
She clutched her notepad to her chest, trembling. This isn't like training. This isn't a simulation. This is—
—I can feel his killing intent.
Her knees locked.
If she falters, we both die.
A man with heavy eyebags passed at the edge of the street, a baby tucked into his arms.
He paused briefly, eyes flicking to the clash and looked around as if he felt the wind on his neck—then disappeared without a word, like he hadn't seen it.
Kagami moved with precise, measured thrusts and sweeps, driving Idoku back.
He caught one thrust barehanded and grabbed Kagami by the throat, a menacing aura building at his palm.
"Poison immunity? No."
Kagami said nothing, twisting the spear away, pivoting low.
So he uses poison to attack, but not real poison.
As long as it's aura based, I can negate it.
Her next strike rammed into his shoulder and tore his cloth, blood spilling out.
He froze in a heartbeat.
Then he caught the next thrust mid-air with his hand, stopping it.
"…I'm done playing, you annoy me."
Rust bloomed across the spear in seconds, eating it away under her grip.
Idoku's hand reaches out and grabs Kagami by the head.
"Good Night."