Kaito looked at Aiko, his expression thoughtful as he considered her question. The quiet peace of the morning surrounded them, a fragile bubble in the midst of a silent war.
"What happens now," he began, his voice low and serious, "is that we change the game."
He put down his coffee mug and gestured for her to sit on the sofa. He didn't sit beside her, but took a chair opposite them, creating the feeling of a serious, formal meeting. It was a clear sign that the quiet morning was over. Business had resumed.
"My attack on the Kageyama was a success," he said. "They are weakened, isolated, and paranoid. The other clans are watching them like vultures. But a cornered animal is a dangerous one. They will not stop hunting you. They will become more desperate, more reckless. Hiding you forever is not a viable long-term strategy. This," he said, gesturing around the luxurious apartment, "is not a life."
Hearing him admit that sent a wave of relief through her. He saw her. He saw this gilded cage for what it was.
"Aiko Tanaka, the convenience store clerk, ceased to exist the moment you fed that Inugami," he stated, his words blunt but not cruel. "You can never go back to that life. It would be a death sentence. So, we must build you a new one."
He leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him. "They target you because they perceive you as a weakness. A civilian caught in the crossfire. A leverage point against me. So, we will take that weakness, and we will turn it into a strength."
His dark eyes burned with a fierce intensity. "I want to train you."
Aiko stared at him, speechless. "Train me? To do what? To fight?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I have enough soldiers. What I don't have is you. You see things no one else does. You have a foot in both the human and the supernatural world now. I want to teach you. I will teach you about the yokai, their names, their powers, their politics. I will teach you to control the 'sight' you now have, to sharpen it from a random occurrence into a tool. You will learn to spot a lie, a glamour, a threat, from a mile away."
It was a radical, terrifying, and exhilarating proposal. He wasn't offering to hide her better. He was offering to empower her.
"This would mean giving up your old life completely," he warned, his voice soft, giving her an out. "It would mean stepping into my world. Willingly. You would have a new identity, a new purpose. A place within the Ishikawa-gumi. Not as a soldier. As an analyst. An advisor. As my partner."
He was offering her a choice. Her life had been a series of things that had happened to her. This was the first time someone was asking what she wanted to do. She thought of her old life—the lonely nights, the monotonous stocking of shelves. It was safe, but it wasn't living. This new life was terrifying, but it was vibrant. It was dangerous. And it had him.
She met his gaze, her decision clear and absolute.
"Okay," she said, her voice firm. "Teach me."
A flicker of something—pride, relief, respect—passed across Kaito's face. He stood up. "Good. Your training begins now."
He led her not to the window, but to a plain, unassuming wall at the back of the living area. He pressed his hand against a specific point, and with a soft hiss of hydraulics, a section of the wall slid away, revealing a hidden room.
It wasn't a dojo or an armory. It was a library. Floor-to-ceiling shelves were filled with old, leather-bound books and long, silk-wrapped scrolls. The air smelled of old paper and incense. It was a treasure trove of ancient knowledge.
"To control the world," Kaito said, stepping into the room, "you must first understand it."
He walked to a large wooden table in the center of the room and unrolled a long, beautifully painted scroll. It was covered in intricate drawings of different yokai. He pointed to a drawing of a sly, multi-tailed fox. "Kitsune." He pointed to a drawing of a two-tailed cat. "Bakeneko."
Then, his finger moved to a third drawing. It was a creature made of shadow and wind, with claws like sickles. It was the same shape she had seen behind him in the alley, the thing that had terrified the Kageyama thugs.
"To understand the yokai," Kaito said, his eyes meeting hers, a deep, ancient secret held within them. "You must first understand the ones closest to you."
"Let's start," he said, his voice a low whisper, "with what my family is."