"So why are you like this, Kanatimeline Kagerou demanded, turning fully toward her.
Kanae met his gaze without hesitation.
Their eyes locked.
For several long seconds, neither of them spoke. The noise of the street continued around them, footsteps, distant vendors, the creaking of cart wheels, but between the two of them, there was only silence.
"…Did I do something wrong?" Kagerou asked again, his voice lower now. He tried to keep it steady, but confusion and restrained frustration slipped through. "If I did, then tell me. What did I do?"
Kanae didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes didn't waver.
"I don't know," she said at last.
Kagerou's brows drew together.
"What do you mean you don't know? You can't be serious, Kanae-san"
"…I am," she replied calmly. "I feel like you did something"
That answer only made things worse.
Kagerou clenched his jaw slightly. He didn't understand why this bothered him so much, why he was trying this hard to avoid being on her bad side.
Maybe it was because they had stood back-to-back for a week during Final Selection. Maybe it was because one mistake back then would have meant death. Maybe somewhere along the way, Kanae had stopped being just another slayer and become something more, a friend… a comrade he trusted without thinking.
"You appear different," Kanae continued quietly.
Her tone wasn't accusatory. It was observational.
"The way you carry yourself… You seem more certain. More resolved. Something changed"
Kagerou said nothing.
Kanae had always been like this, perceptive in a way that bordered on unsettling. She noticed what others dismissed. Small shifts. Subtle fractures. The slightest inconsistency between words and intent.
"And just now," she went on, "you tried to avoid me"
Her eyes sharpened, not with anger, but clarity.
"People don't avoid someone unless they're hiding something. Or feeling guilty"
A faint breeze drifted between them, stirring the loose strands of her hair.
"What is it, Kagerou-san?"
Silence.
Kagerou remained still, but something in his expression shifted.
His pupils widened slightly. His lips parted, just barely as if he were about to speak.
Akari's face surfaced in his mind.
If he said it plainly, it would end here. One sentence. One explanation.
He could do it.
But the words refused to move. They lodged in his throat like something solid, immovable.
'…Why?'
He didn't understand.
Without realizing it, he broke eye contact first.
He turned his head slightly, watching the crowd pass by. Merchants argued over prices. Children laughed. A man hurried past with a bundle of fabric under his arm.
The world moved quickly, blurring into streaks of motion.
Yet between him and Kanae, time felt slow. Thick... Heavy.
He felt it then, a quiet, unwelcome truth.
If he told her…
Something would change.
And he was afraid of that.
'…But why?' he asked himself again, silently.
"Kagerou-san," Kanae said softly, though the softness did nothing to lessen the weight behind it. "What have you done?"
"I… I didn't do anything bad," Kagerou replied.
He still wasn't looking at her.
Kanae watched him carefully. The way his shoulders were held was just a little too tight. The faint hesitation before each word.
"Kagerou-san," she said again, firmer now. "Look at me when you say that"
He didn't move.
"…Did you kill someone?" she asked quietly.
A beat.
"…A human?"
"What?!" The reaction burst out of him instantly, loud enough that a passerby glanced their way. Kagerou's head snapped toward her, eyes wide in disbelief. "How could you even think that?!"
Kanae didn't flinch.
"So that's a no?" she asked calmly.
He stared at her.
"But your reaction confirms something," she continued. "You did do something"
Her gaze sharpened.
"You didn't kill anyone. So what is it? What's bad enough that you won't even look at me while denying it?"
Kagerou's mouth opened.
"This..."
He stopped.
Realization flickered across his face.
"…You trapped me"
Kanae didn't deny it.
They stood there, the air between them suddenly heavier than before.
"…Didn't we need to bring those supplies to the orphanage?" Kagerou tried, gesturing vaguely at the bag in his hand.
"This is for dinner," Kanae replied evenly. "We have time"
She adjusted the bundle in her arms without breaking eye contact.
"Plenty of time"
Kagerou swallowed.
"Enough time," she added quietly, "for you to tell me what you're hiding"
The noise of the street seemed distant now.
The smoke from his kiseru had thinned, curling upward and disappearing into the open air.
"…Can we just," he tried again, his voice losing some of its earlier sharpness, "forget about this? Move forward?"
Kanae tilted her head slightly.
"Is that what you want?" she asked.
Not accusing.
Not angry.
Just asking.
And somehow, that was worse.
Because to Kagerou, it didn't sound like a question. It sounded like a judgment already passed. If he refused to answer, something between them would crack. If he answered... something else would change. And running away would only make it worse.
"…Do you really want to know?" he asked quietly.
Kanae didn't hesitate.
"Kagerou-san, we are comrades," she said. "We'll be fighting side by side for years. There has to be trust between us"
Her voice softened, but her gaze did not.
"It's not that I need to know every secret you carry. We all have things we keep to ourselves. I do too"
A small pause.
"But this one… feels different"
She tightened her grip on the bundle in her arms.
"It feels like something you would tell others… but not me"
Her eyes searched his face.
"Why?"
Kagerou stared at her.
'…This girl's logic is strange,' he thought.
And yet… she wasn't wrong.
If his father asked him, he would answer. If Kagaya asked, he would hesitate, but he would answer.
But Kanae?
For some reason… he didn't want her to know.
He couldn't explain why.
That realization unsettled him more than her questions.
"…Do you really want to know?" he asked again, more quietly this time.
"Yes," Kanae replied instantly.
Her answer didn't waver.
Kagerou swallowed.
"If I tell you…" His voice dropped slightly. "You won't hate me? You won't distance yourself?"
Kanae didn't respond immediately.
The street continued around them, footsteps, chatter, wind brushing past rooftops.
After a long moment, she gave a small nod.
"I won't"
Kagerou studied her face, searching for hesitation.
There was none.
He lifted the kiseru to his lips, inhaled slowly, then let the smoke drift upward between them, thin, fragile, disappearing into the air.
"…Alright," he said.
His shoulders lowered a fraction.
"I don't know if it's related to the change you mentioned. But something did happen during my first official mission"
Kanae waited.
"And?" she asked softly.
Kagerou closed his eyes for a second.
Then opened them.
"…I spent the night with a woman"
The words felt heavier once spoken.
As if they had weight.
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#A/N: "Kanea is someone with a very sharp intellect, her observation skills are almost absurd. That's why she's able to see through Doma's acting and lies, and deduce that he's truly emotionless and empty beneath the surface. Also, sorry for the past few days. I've been reading a few romance novels/manga to get into the right mindset for the upcoming chapters I want to write. I also feel like I've already laid down the foundation for this story, so for now, I want to focus more on Kagerou's relationships and character dynamics before fully diving into the main plot and entering the canon timeline"