When faced with suffering innocents, Tendō Kisara would normally sympathize, even help if she could.
If not for her family's sins, she was, at heart, just a fairly ordinary high school girl.
She could be compassionate, selfish, tender, or cold.
Watching people die horribly—skulls crushed, heads severed, hearts torn out, bodies smashed to pulp—she felt disgust, pity. But that was the natural reaction to grisly deaths.
To save them, though? She wouldn't. If they weren't good people, then death was deserved.
Cruel, perhaps. Excessive, perhaps. But deserved.
And standing against Zeroy to do it? She knew she wasn't strong enough.
For such trash, to oppose Zeroy and throw her life away—she'd have to be mad.
Yet Rentarō was about to do exactly that.
It was lunacy. Not only was his compassion misplaced, but if he opposed Zeroy, she might kill him too.
And she didn't look like someone to bargain with.
So even if she had to draw her blade, Kisara would stop him—from throwing his life away for nothing.
Steel flashed, shaving a lock of his hair, forcing him back.
"Kisara, don't stop me."
His voice was low, fists clenched so tight his knuckles whitened, eyes burning with fury.
"You'd have me watch you walk to death? Rentarō!"
"And what, just watch those people die?!"
"They were never innocent to begin with!"
Her childhood friend's stubbornness drove her to fury.
"Kisara... I thought you'd understand..."
His voice fell, heavy with disappointment and hurt.
That look cut into her heart like a blade. She could hear her own heartbeat.
"How am I supposed to understand you?!"
She stepped forward, rage spilling like a flood.
"If it were for the children, I could understand! But for them? How could I?!"
"It's absurd!" she shouted, voice echoing amid fire and chaos.
"It's not absurd!"
Rentarō roared back.
They glared at each other, tension ready to snap.
Another scream from below. Rentarō gritted his teeth, a flash of resolve in his eyes.
"Forget it. I should've known. I can't change you, Kisara..."
He had always felt the darkness in her heart. Though they left the Tendō family together, they would not walk the same path. They weren't the same.
Kisara was consumed by vengeance. No—she lived only for it. He knew, so he'd always tried to change her, to pull her free.
Nonetheless, vengeance filled her heart. She cared for nothing else.
Now he realized: they were never alike. Even without vengeance, they would never be the same.
"We aren't the same, can't understand each other. We never should have walked together."
His voice steadied.
"Thank you for everything, Kisara. I'll remember. Anyways, now—"
He drew his gun, ready to fight.
"Don't stand in my way."
He couldn't save Kisara; still, he could try to save others.
"You dare say that, Rentarō..."
Her voice turned cold.
"Think what you want. I brought you out of the Tendō house, so it's my duty to stop you from throwing your life away. I won't stop until you're crying on the ground!"
···
Zeroy soon finished purging the plaza. Still, she didn't stop. She was here, so why wait? She'd begin Tokyo's purge now.
Abruptly, then Rentarō, with Enju Aihara at his side, stood in her way.
After seeing the sea of corpses, he'd gone berserk and defeated Kisara.
"Stop!" His voice was hoarse, shaking with rage. "Why?! Why do this?! Everyone believed you were the savior!"
"So it's you..."
Zeroy turned, eyes falling on the battered Rentarō.
She wasn't surprised. This protagonist was always the same—his sense of justice and kindness twisted, nearly blind.
A good person, yet one who saved few and hurt others with indecision.
She wondered if his gentleness was false, hypocrisy in disguise.
She disliked his nature. But since he glowed half black, half white—not fully evil—she chose to speak, not condemn him as a pest.
Besides, this wasn't the Rentarō from the story she remembered. That one was flawed. This one, she would judge anew.
"I'm cleansing pests," she tilted her head. "Problem?"
"They're people, not pests!" Rentarō roared, fury breaking his voice. "How can you slaughter them like this?!"
A cold smile curved her lips.
"No. They're pests. When they bully the weak, when they harm innocents, when they revel in cruelty—what else are they?"
"Even so, this isn't justice!" he shouted, stepping forward, fists trembling. "If guilty, they should face law, not your slaughter!"
"Justice?" she sneered. "How many have you saved with yours?"
"Look at this square. Every one of them was a pest. Killing them spared countless innocents from suffering. Thousands, tens of thousands saved."
"Listen. I won't allow pests to live. Maybe my means seem extreme, hard for you to accept. That said, when cockroaches infest your home, you crush them. I only kill more thoroughly."
"You..." Rentarō's voice faltered, eyes full of pain. "Do you even see them as human?"
...
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