---
The forest swallowed him whole.
Akari pushed forward through the twisting trees, each step sinking into damp leaves, each breath a cloud in the night air. His lantern flickered weakly, the flame quivering as if afraid.
The path forked and turned on itself until he couldn't tell if he had gone forward or backward. Every trunk looked the same — wet bark glistening, moss crawling high. He stopped, trying to catch his bearings.
Akari (to himself): "…Lost. Or worse. Led."
Izan floated just above the ground, silent, the massive eye scanning the darkness. But the forest gave nothing. No owls, no wind, no life.
And then — it moved.
A blur, fast and jagged, broke from the treeline and slammed into Akari, knocking him back. His lantern shattered, sparks spitting into the mud. The Thing loomed over him, a mass of flesh twisted into human semblance, its mouth gaping too wide, its shriek rattling his ribs.
Akari raised an arm out of instinct, but Izan intervened first — a ripple of black force slammed outward, throwing the creature against the trees. The impact split bark, but the Hatonome staggered back to its feet, confused, snarling, still hungry.
Akari (panting): "It's not stopping…"
His hand brushed against his coat pocket. The paper edges. The talisman.
Akari grabbed it and slammed it onto the ground.
The world shifted.
Flame erupted, a perfect circle roaring up around them. The trees illuminated in violent red, the air trembling from the heat. Akari stumbled back, shielding his face, the Hatonome thrashing against the barrier but unable to pass through.
Izan: "The circle binds. Nothing leaves, nothing enters. To cross it is to burn until nothing remains. Exorcism is your task, fraud."
Akari swallowed, hands trembling. He was no priest. No shaman. He had words, tricks, and Izan. That was all.
Akari: "Exorcism? Me? You expect me to—"
Izan (calmly, coldly): "But that won't be needed."
Akari froze.
Akari: "…What do you mean by that?"
From the shadows of the trees beyond the fire, a figure emerged.
The father of Ayaka. His steps were slow, deliberate, his hand gripping a knife slick with his own blood from where he'd carved his arms. His eyes burned — not human, but blazing with grief and fury that twisted into something else.
Father: "I won't let you kill… any more girls. If a sacrifice is needed to end this bloodbath… then I'll be it."
Akari (shouting): "Wait—!"
But the man had already stepped into the fire.
His body ignited instantly, flames crawling over his skin, tearing screams from his throat — but he did not falter. Rage drove him, consuming pain itself. He charged the Hatonome, a torch in human form.
The creature shrieked, retreating, but there was nowhere to go. The father's knife plunged into its chest again and again.
Akari fell to his knees, clamping his hands over his ears as the forest howled alive.
The Hatonome's death wail split the night, but it wasn't alone — a thousand voices cried with it. The lost women, the victims, their souls dragged into the air. Their lament wove through the trees, choking the world in grief and rage.
Screams, sobs, curses, names.
And through it all, the father's roar:
Father: "AYA—KA!!"
The fire roared higher, swallowing everything inside the circle.
And then… silence.
---
Dawn.
The villagers gathered at the blackened clearing. The talisman was gone. The circle had burned itself into the soil.
At its center, two bodies lay fused together — the father and the chief, Daigo. Charred, indistinguishable, locked in eternal struggle. Only the knife still glinted among the ash.
Whispers rippled through the crowd. The chief had been the Hatonome. Their protector, their leader — the predator in disguise.
No one cried. They simply turned away.
---
Later, Akari stood at the edge of the village, coat draped over his shoulders. Izan floated silently above him, for once saying nothing.
Sae approached, her steps hesitant. Her eyes were red, but she held them steady.
Sae (meekly): "The village… it won't last. People are already planning to abandon it. Too much blood in the soil."
She fidgeted with her hands.
Sae: "So… I thought… maybe… maybe I could go with you. Work for you. Anything. Just… don't leave me here."
Akari turned, studying her. She looked small, fragile, but there was steel beneath her fear.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
Akari: "Of course."
Izan blinked once, slowly. The great eye regarded her, then him, then drifted upward into the gray sky.
The road waited.
---
End of the Hatonome Arc.