"Rengoku-kun," Akari said softly. "You… you came here to hunt, right?"
"..."
Kagerou was startled, but he didn't show it.
Still, the faint pause in his movement, the brief hesitation as he brought the kiseru to his lips, was answer enough.
And Akari noticed.
"Rengoku-kun…" she murmured. "You are-"
"Let's stop right there, Fujimoto-san," Kagerou raised one hand, cutting her off before she could say any more. He set the kiseru down atop the table, smoke still curling faintly from its bowl. One hand rested openly on the tabletop.
The other slipped beneath it.
"What do you know?" he asked calmly. Then corrected himself, his voice sharpening just a fraction. "No. What do you want?"
Akari met his gaze head-on.
The playful smile she'd worn all night was gone.
There was no hesitation. No wavering.
"I want revenge," she said clearly. "Revenge for my husband"
Her fingers clenched lightly in her lap.
"Give me that," she continued, eyes unwavering, "and I will give you everything I have. My home. My information. Even myself, if that's what it takes"
Her voice trembled, not with fear, but with restrained fury.
"I want revenge, Rengoku-kun," She leaned closer, just slightly. "…Will you give me that?"
Kagerou didn't answer her.
Not yet.
He would kill the demon regardless of her request. That was his duty. His responsibility.
But...
"…What happened?" Kagerou finally asked. "…What are you hiding, Fujimoto-san?"
"My husband… he didn't disappear," she said quietly. "He was killed"
"…"
Kagerou remained silent.
And within that silence, Akari began to speak.
---
- Seven Years Ago
Seven years ago, their ryokan was nothing special.
Small.
Modest.
The kind of place travelers only stayed at when they had no better option.
Even now, Akari could remember that night clearly.
The way the lanterns swayed in the warm air. The scent of cooked rice and aged wood.
And then... The overpowering stench of sake.
Too much sake.
Too many voices.
Too many people.
A group of travelers arrived all at once, dusty, loud, and drunk. They claimed every other inn in town was full and flooded into the ryokan as if it belonged to them.
They laughed as they settled in.
Drank as if tomorrow didn't exist.
Demanded food and alcohol with careless confidence.
The ryokan wasn't prepared.
It never was.
With only a handful of employees, everyone moved nonstop, refilling cups, clearing plates, bowing in apology with strained smiles. Akari barely had time to breathe.
Then...
The sake ran out.
Empty barrels.
Dry cups.
Complaints rose like heat.
"More!" the guests demanded.
Akari checked the storage once.
Then again.
Then a third time.
Nothing.
They hadn't expected this many guests. They had never stocked that much.
The staff was overwhelmed. No one could leave their post.
So her husband stood up.
"I'll go," he said, already tying his coat. "It won't take long"
Akari frowned.
"Now? It's already night"
He smiled at her, gentle, reassuring.
"It's fine," he said. "I know the way"
Then he stepped outside.
Lantern light swallowed his back as the door slid shut.
That was the last time she ever saw him alive.
At first, Akari told herself not to worry.
Buying sake didn't take long.
He had done it dozens of times before.
The seller knew him.
The path was familiar.
But... Minutes passed.
Then an hour.
The guests grew drunker. Louder. Angrier.
And still… he didn't return.
A quiet fear began to coil in Akari's chest.
When the night finally thinned and the guests staggered to their rooms, she couldn't wait any longer.
She grabbed a shawl and stepped out into the moonlit streets.
---
The sake seller shook his head.
"He never came," the man said, confusion clear in his voice.
Akari's heart sank.
She retraced the road back.
Nothing.
She walked faster, then ran, calling his name, her voice trembling more with every step.
She checked every familiar path.
Every corner he might have taken.
The night felt too wide.
Too quiet.
Worry twisted into panic.
Was he robbed?
Did he collapse somewhere?
Was he hurt… or worse?
Akari didn't know.
She only knew she couldn't stop moving.
Hours passed.
Her legs burned. Her breath came uneven. The moon hung high above her, cold, distant, uncaring.
And just as exhaustion began to drag her down, just as despair whispered that maybe she should give up... She heard it.
Metal striking metal.
Sharp. Violent.
A sound that tore through the stillness.
A battle.
Akari froze.
Every instinct screamed at her to turn back.
But something deeper, something desperate pulled her forward.
She followed the sound.
And what she found shattered her understanding of the world.
A man stood in a clearing.
Human.
Clad in a black uniform unfamiliar to her eyes.
On his back, a single white kanji stood out starkly in the moonlight.
滅 (Metsu)
Destroy.
Before him stood something shaped like a man, but it wasn't human.
Its movements were wrong. Too fast. Too sharp.
Its body twisted and bent in ways no living person should, joints bending at impossible angles, flesh stretching unnaturally.
Akari's stomach churned.
Fear locked her body in place.
She couldn't scream.
She couldn't move.
All she could do was watch.
The man drew his katana.
Steel flashed beneath the moonlight.
He slashed.
Again.
And again.
Each strike precise. Merciless.
The creature screamed not in pain, but in fury, and then, at last, was cut down.
Its body collapsed.
And then... It burned.
Ash scattered into the night wind, dissolving as if it had never existed.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Final.
Akari didn't remember falling to her knees.
She only remembered understanding.
Understanding why her husband never came back.
Understanding that there were things in this world that wore human shapes, but were not human.
Understanding that the night had taken him.
The man in black never looked at her.
He wiped his blade clean, sheathed it, and vanished into the darkness.
Leaving Akari alone.
Alone with the truth.
And with the certainty... That her husband would never return.
---
Throughout her story, Kagerou remained silent.
Not because he didn't understand.
Not because he didn't care.
But because he chose to be.
Around them, the ryokan slowly began to settle. Some guests drifted upstairs to their rooms, choosing rest over revelry, bringing their day to an end. Others remained, laughing softly over the last cups of sake.
Employees moved quietly, clearing tables, wiping floors, restoring order.
The night was thinning.
"From that night on…" Akari said softly, breaking the silence, "Something inside me changed"
Her fingers tightened slightly against the fabric of her kimono.
"I tried to find anything I could," she continued. "Anything about that thing… about you"
Kagerou didn't react.
"It wasn't easy," Akari said, her voice steady but worn. "But seven years… seven years was enough time"
She lifted her gaze, eyes sharp now.
"I turned this ryokan into more than just a place to rest," she said. "It became a place where information flows. Where rumors gather. Where secrets loosen their tongues"
Her voice lowered.
"I did it for seven whole years," she said quietly. "All with a purpose of... Truth and revenge"
"I'll give you everything I've gathered," Akari said, leaning forward. "Every rumor. Every pattern. Every name"
Her breath trembled, just once.
"I'll help you however you need," she continued. "I'll do anything it takes"
Her voice broke, not into hysteria, but into something raw and honest.
"So please…" she whispered. "Please kill them"