"Hoo…"
"Hoo…"
At night, rapid breathing suddenly echoed through the forest.
A young girl pushed aside the bushes in front of her, completely disregarding her already blood-stained hands, and ran down the mountain like a madwoman.
Her pupils trembled violently, and the sound of branches breaking as she ran entered her ears, tensing her mind.
Her hands pressed against her chest.
Her heart pounded like a drum.
She occasionally looked back at the forest behind her, but it was too dark to see anything.
However, the clear raindrops on the leaves reflected her expression, as if facing a formidable enemy.
"I…I have to escape!"
"My dad, my mom, they were all killed by that monster. Why, why does something like that exist…"
Recalling the tragic deaths of her parents, recalling how they tried to send her away to escape even in their dying moments…
Kanzaki Aoi wanted to cry, but due to extreme panic and urgency, she couldn't even squeeze out a single tear.
She frantically asked herself in her heart.
Why is all this happening!?
Clearly…
Before dusk, everything was so harmonious.
Laughter, and the fragrant aroma of tea and food.
However.
After the sun set.
Only a pool of dark red blood flowed.
What kept replaying in her mind was the image of the door being torn open, and then a sharp claw cutting her mother's throat.
"Ugh…"
Extreme panic and grief made her stomach churn. She leaned against a tree trunk and instinctively bent over, dry heaving for a while.
Before she could straighten up and force herself to continue running despite the discomfort, a distinct whooshing sound suddenly reached her ears.
Whoosh!
She turned her head sharply.
Vaguely, in the dim moonlight, amidst the sparse forest, a small figure had turned into an afterimage, leaping rapidly through the branches.
Just that one sight.
An extreme chill instantly climbed from her tailbone to her spine!
—The monster! It's coming down the mountain!
…
"Ah!" Kanzaki Aoi shrieked, sitting upright, her face covered in sweat and still reeling from fright.
She looked around with lingering fear, trying to recover from this sudden terror.
Suddenly, she realised that everything she had just experienced was only a dream.
But the dream was so real, as if she had returned to that moment when she encountered the demon years ago.
"What's going on?" she murmured, the dim candlelight around her illuminating her slightly pale face.
She managed to wipe the sweat from her forehead, her gaze inadvertently falling on the red-haired man sitting not far away, her heart filled with confusion.
Splash, splash… The pouring rain outside reminded her of where she was at the moment.
It turned out that this place was a dilapidated temple.
And she, as a logistics staff member of the Butterfly Mansion, had encountered this sudden downpour while going down the mountain to purchase daily necessities.
Helpless, she could only take shelter in this temple, planning to make do for the night.
And the red-haired man seemed to have already been there when she entered.
Pressing her hands against her chest, she barely managed to calm her breathing.
Kanzaki Aoi counted the supplies by her side.
Not long after.
The sky gradually brightened.
Rustle~
She suddenly stood up.
The unusual environment made her feel slightly uneasy, and she was already preparing to leave.
The moment she took a step with her right foot.
Yoriichi slowly opened his eyes and warned, "Don't go, it's a trap."
"?"
Upon hearing this.
Kanzaki Aoi slowly turned her eyes, full of confusion at Tsugikuni Yoriichi's words. A question mark slowly appeared above her head.
Finally.
She smiled dismissively.
"Uncle, what are you talking about?"
Yoriichi's tone was too flat, without any persuasiveness. Kanzaki Aoi didn't even know what he meant by a trap.
But soon.
She would know.
Creak~
The moment she pushed open the temple door.
A dark figure outside swiftly lunged in.
The figure's eyes glowed with a warm light like the sun, which quickly extinguished as it attacked.
Kanzaki Aoi only managed to see an afterimage.
Then.
She was pinned down by some enormous creature.
—This was a demon.
A demon, dripping with saliva.
"Ah!"
Her expression dazed, Kanzaki Aoi belatedly screamed.
Hearing this, the demon opened its bloody maw and prepared to bite down.
Its yellowish teeth mixed with crimson flesh gleamed dangerously, as if it could bite off Kanzaki Aoi's head in one go.
Instinctively, Kanzaki Aoi tried to draw the nichirin blade she carried with her, but after fumbling for a long time, the blade didn't even leave its sheath.
She instinctively kicked upwards, attempting to buy some time.
However.
The next moment.
Boom!
A winding fire dragon incinerated everything in the air.
Kanzaki Aoi only managed to see a fleeting flash of fire before the demon in front of her turned into ashes and silently vanished. This scene left her stunned for a long time.
—Just now…
What happened?
The pressure on her body suddenly dissipated, and she barely managed to look up behind her.
At this moment, Yoriichi had already sheathed his blade.
The feeling he gave Kanzaki Aoi was like he just glared at the demon, and then the demon turned to ash…
She must have seen an illusion!
But…
The lingering temperature in the air didn't seem fake.
An incomprehensible scene, is a demon that is easy to kill? What about the weakness being the neck… Oh, it disappeared along with its entire body.
Taking a deep breath.
She was about to open her mouth to express her gratitude and inquire about Yoriichi's origins.
Suddenly, by the reishi that had suddenly increased in the air, she seemed to see a doorway appear behind Yoriichi.
The doorway appeared strangely, born from the void, and slowly opened.
Inside, an endless white light emanated. Although she couldn't see it, only a hazy shadow, it was truly there.
This scene.
Made her mouth drop open.
She even forgot how to speak.
"Apologies, it's time."
The token at his waist beeped, and Yoriichi looked at the Senkaimon behind him, not caring about Kanzaki Aoi's reaction, and stepped inside.
He had never forgotten his promise with Senjuro, but as a Shinigami, he couldn't ignore the sudden appearance of the Senkaimon.
Anyway, in his eyes.
He could return at any time.
It wouldn't matter if it were a few days later, and it would also be a good opportunity to increase his spiritual pressure and prepare, otherwise, exhausting his spiritual power during Shikai would be disastrous.
Thud!
The sound of the door closing was exceptionally loud, startling Kanzaki Aoi awake.
Although the heavy rain outside had stopped, her heart remained unsettled.
Looking at the empty temple.
Kanzaki Aoi opened her mouth, seemingly unable to believe everything she had just seen.
If she hadn't been mistaken, that person disappeared into thin air, right?
Huh!
So scary!
An inexplicable chill climbed into her heart; even in the relatively bright environment, it now seemed full of danger in her eyes, like a spider web covered with spiders.
Ignoring the urge to guess the truth, she gathered her belongings and quickly left.
She rushed to the Butterfly Mansion that very night and told Kochou Shinobu about the incident.
…
Meanwhile.
At the Rengoku household.
Senjuro, who had secretly gotten up in the middle of the night and opened the family registry, suddenly showed a look of horror.
On the first page of the family registry.
The five large characters for Rengoku Shinjuro.
were written there.