The last line of the letter lay flat on the table, as if it had weight.
Neither spoke. The little room had its own noises - the thin breath of the vent, a slow drip somewhere behind the wall...
Raizen's fingertips rested on the edge of the page.
Hikari's hands were in her lap, palms pressed together.
Dim rays shone from a lantern through the narrow window, on the torn envelope. It sat on the table, ripped, careless in a way that now felt wrong.
A wet line gathered at the corner of Hikari's eye and slipped down without her noticing. It reached her cheekbone, hesitated, and fell to the floor.
"Huh…?" she looked at it as if she had never seen a tear before. Her brows bent, not from pain - from confusion.
She never cried before.
Raizen didn't say anything.
He just slowly stretched his hand and wiped off Hikari's tear.
Inside, a heavy thing shifted. He had carried it for a long time.
It felt like anger. It told him to sharpen himself and shatter everything that stood in his way.
It had a voice and the voice was filled with bloodlust.
He could hear it now, sharp and wrong. It wanted the letter to be a list of names he could kill.
Revenge.
The kettle sat cold on the burner. Raizen turned the dial, and waited for the spark.
He found three cups and measured leaves by habit. One cup near Hikari, one for him and one... Where Takeshi used to sit.
He could still hear the old man's voice from the page. Plain and not pretty, just as he said himself .
Hikari read the letter again.
And again.
And again.
Her gaze found a paragraph in the middle - cups washed because someone forgot, a chair fixed quietly... Her shoulders lifted and settled, in small, uneven, confused breaths.
A small sound tried to climb out of Raizen's throat. Only a strangled exhale came out.
He remembered the day his own village had gone quiet.
When he cried until he couldn't anymore.
Now, it felt the same. Like knocking at a door and just finding out the room was empty.
For a moment the light made steam look like a curtain. Hikari closed her eyes while the warmth touched her face and another small tear decided to roll down her cheek.
She... Didn't recognize this feeling. She didn't know why her eyes were watering, why she felt like she wanted to hug a pillow and bury her face in it.
She wrapped her hands around the burning cup but didn't drink. The heat soaked into her fingers. That still didn't feel like it was enough. Her face was completely cold.
Raizen didn't tell her that everything would be alright - there was no need to bend the truth to make it easier to hold. He did not say what he felt either, because it would only make everything worse.
He just stood behind her and let his nearness be the silent consolation.
He steadied his own breathing until it made a soft pattern.
Hikari tasted a tear absently. It felt weirdly salty.
She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand and sniffed.
Raizen's thoughts laid themselves in his mind like tangled roads. He had 2 choices:
He could let the sharp voice lead his feet - go looking for smoke with a blade and call it justice. It would feel like power and end like hunger: never enough.
Or he could lift the weight - the legacy Takeshi had left on the table and carry it.
In other words, keep the world lit. That road was slower. It asked him to stand where he was and make a promise he would never break.
To protect
First, her. Hikari.
Then whoever stands behind when the chaos comes.
He picked up the letter and refolded it along the original creases.
He slid it back into the envelope and pressed the flap down. Then set it upright against the wall above the table.
Proof. Witness. Call it however you want.
Hikari didn't move, tears kept coming, slower now. She kept her eyes on the letter standing against the wall.
He couldn't cry. He wanted to. He really did.
But sometimes the world steals all of your tears and doesn't leave room for any more.
Raizen looked at Hikari once more.
The heavy thing in him, the one that shifted, finally settled where it needed to live. He could finally all see it now.
His vow changed. Now, it wasn't "I swear. I'll kill all Nyxes. All of them." anymore.
The mysterious whisper slid through the back of his thoughts yet again.
I see.
If that's your choice...
So be it.
Protect her.
Protect them all.
Whatever it takes.
Raizen opened his eyes. The fear was gone. The doubt was gone.
Only that new vow remained.
If the world insisted on being dark…
Then he would become the light that hunts the darkness all the way to the end of the world.
Light sharp enough to cut.
Light strong enough to win.
And this time - he would not apologize for surviving.
He will keep the world lit.
Because the darkness never stays silent for too long.
Because somewhere in the depths of the Underworks... Takeshi finally found his enemy.