AN: This is mostly a random story I wrote in my time off, helps with fleshing out ideas for my existing stories and test them out without worry. There were many stories I wanted to try out randomly in a oneshot-ish (or a serie if people want that) chapter to see how good it can be.
I did this with a Bleach story last 2 months and asked people if they wanted to continue or write another story from the polls. They picked Taimanin.
So I am doing another poll on my p@treon, where you can choose again if I should continue this one in the next extra update, the bleach one or another story entirely.
Took some time cause I had to research all the Taimanin stuff. Games, VN, anime and so on.
Fair warning, this is Taimanin so be prepared for some intense stuff since this world is of the similar kind to Kuroinu.
Hope ya like it.
Tell me your thoughts.
That is all,
Author Nimthewriter out!
Beta read and Co-written by Paragon of Awesomeness, Shigiya and Gamercrusher55
Special thanks to FabledLife and Kyugan.
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-???-
[HUMAN ORDER PROTECTION SYSTEM – ONLINE]
— Collective Will Stabilization: ACTIVE
— Crisis Evaluation Grid: SYNCHRONIZED
— Counter Force Response Channels: OPEN
[THREAT DETECTED]
"Unregistered metaphysical time-space fluctuation identified."
"Source signature: NON-HUMAN."
"Alignment: HOSTILE to Human Order."
"Unique Identifier: EDWIN BLACK."
[THREAT ANALYSIS]
"Analyzing anomalous capacity…"
"Result: Universal reset type authority detected."
"Classification: Reality-Override Capability."
"Function: Complete erasure and reconstruction of cosmic state, dating back to original conception."
"Projected outcome if activated:
→ Human history Approval: NULL and VOID.
→ Human future Affirmation: NEGATIVE.
→ Anthropocentric existence: TERMINATED."
[IMPACT EVALUATION]
"Human Order Stability Index: CRITICAL."
"Temporal axis destabilization probability: 99.98%."
"Multiversal ripple impact: CASCADE FAILURE INEVITABLE."
"Acceptable threshold exceeded by 14,782%. Immediate correction required."
[LOCATION LOCK]
"Pinpointing anomaly position."
"Coordinates triangulated."
"Sector: Boundary Region intersecting Japanese Territory – centered around Tokyo Metropolis and nearby dimensional layers."
"Energetic density: HIGH-THREAT QUADRANT."
[COUNTERMEASURE SELECTION]
"Searching for viable intervention pathways…"
"Option A: Direct timeline overwrite — FAILURE… Resulted from Interference."
"Option B: Universal seal compression — REJECTED… Universal connections already established and active… SEPARATION FAILURE."
"Option C: Grand Servant Intervention — PENDING APPROVAL… BLOCKED… Human Order Value not high enough… interference from Non-Human Order's."
"Option D: Counter Force, Heroic Spirit Intervention — PENDING APPROVAL…
Interference from Non-Human Order's… powerful human signal detected… triangulating as a beacon… APPROVED."
[DEPLOYMENT PROTOCOL]
"Activating Guardian Selection Algorithm."
"Filtering candidates by probability of successful interdiction."
"Evaluating 4,231,901,766 possible outcomes…"
"High level Human Order Corruption…"
"Possibility of Affirming Human Order Success Rate… Extremely Low…"
"Pending Immediate Solutions…"
"Highest success rate: COUNTER GUARDIAN."
"Evaluating compatibility with threat-class 'Reality Override Entity'…"
"Searching for the agent with the highest interception potential…"
"Searching… Sakamoto Ryouma… Kawakami Gensai… Okita Souji Alter…"
"Match found: EMIYA-UNITS… Searching most likely to succeed… Heroic Spirit EMIYA selected."
"Success projection: 48.04% (DENIED)"
"Recalibrating Saint's Graph… Life Scale adjustment and agumentation… Altering data…"
"New Success Projection: 98.76%
"Calculating for any Factors that could alter current projections."
"Beacon Signal… Fading…"
"New Success Projection: …97.47%… 96.38%…95….
"Emergency Action Initiated… (APPROVED)"
Primary function assignment:
→ Neutralize assigned target.
→ Neutralize reset trigger.
→ Neutralize contaminated areas.
[OPERATION EXECUTION]
"Opening causal deployment aperture."
"Stabilizing entry vectors."
"Materialization authorized."
"Counter Guardian dispatched."
[CONTINUED MONITORING]
"Human Order current preservation cycle: ACTIVE."
"Awaiting anomaly suppression confirmation."
"Counter Force remains engaged."
[END OF TRANSMISSION]
.
.
.
-Demon Capital Tokyo, Chaos Arena-
(Year 2072)
She had failed.
Those thoughts drifted through Igawa Asagi's mind as her unfocused eyes swept across the arena. Her body lay sprawled on the sticky and wet ground, the mixture of sweat, blood, and abundant amounts of semen clinging to her skin like a second layer she could not shake off. Dozens of people surrounded her and Sakura in a wide circle that felt more like a cage than an audience. Both human men and demons stood shoulder to shoulder, their silhouettes shifting under the harsh lights while perverted chuckles and crude whispers pressed against her ears.
The crowd roared with a twisted excitement that carried the same energy one would expect from a public execution, cheering for what felt like her final collapse and the slow descent into a personal hell she could never have imagined.
"I'm sorry, Kyousuke…"
The words echoed in her mind with a dull ache.
She had retired from this life, choosing instead to build something quieter outside of the Gosha Village, the home of the Taimanin Ninja. Imagining mornings spent beside her boyfriend, the two of them planning small things together with the unspoken understanding that one day he would get down on one knee and ask her to spend the rest of her life with him. She'd pictured a future where they would raise a family, where the shadows of her past would fade behind simpler days filled with peace with her love, her sister, and her family.
She'd stepped away from everything she used to be, setting aside the bloodshed, the harsh expectations, and the responsibilities of being one of the most skilled Taimanins ever produced by the Gosha Village and the Igawa Clan. She had been the best among them, cutting down demons and traitors to humanity with the efficiency expected from a prodigy, carrying out missions for so long that the timeline of her life blurred into a single streak of combat.
Three years had passed since she left it all behind with the blessing of the Elder and thus allowing herself to become just Asagi, someone who could laugh beside Kyousuke and walk the streets like any other citizen — with a man who failed to become a Taimanin, forced instead to live a simple civilian life. She never cared about that difference, for he loved her like no other. All she had wanted was a life where both of them could cherish one another without blood on their hands.
For a beautiful and ordinary love such as theirs could not exist in the lives of any Taimanin, prohibited as it acted as shackles. To a Taimanin, what mattered was the mission above all else, not the people outside it, not their comrades, and certainly not oneself.
That small happiness shattered the moment she returned to her duties after the rising number of Taimanin deaths filled every news report. Responsibility anchored itself to her again, and she felt she had to act. But by the time she realized she had been walking straight into a trap, everything had already been set in motion. An old enemy she thought she had eliminated long ago had orchestrated it… using Kyousuke as a tool to lower her guard and capture her.
"Just look at you, Asagi, so pathetic. All traces of the woman you used to be are gone. What? Will you not stand up to save yourself? Your sister? Not even your precious Kyousuke?" The magenta-haired woman, Oboro, said with sadistic glee. Asagi glared at her hateful foe as the cruel woman continued to taunt her, poking at any wound she could find.
Oboro stepped next to a monstrous entity who used to be the man Asagi loved. Her hands gently caressing every part of him as a way to trigger the young woman. "Look at him. Look how eager he is while watching you like this. It's fully erect even after being used so many times… ah~! I am getting excited just seeing it!"
Asagi forced her eyes upward and glared at the bitch responsible. Oboro stood there with a smug expression, her smirk stretching wider as she controlled Kyousuke like a puppet. The familiar face of the woman she had once slain, now revived and savoring every second of her suffering. Helpless, Asagi could only watch as Kyousuke was manipulated and forced into actions he would never choose of his own volition.
Her own body had already been marked by a similar yet different fate, even if she was allowed to keep her form.
She could still remember it even though all she wanted was to forget.
Everything had dissolved into a nightmare once Oboro sprung her trap. She had been dragged into the Chaos Arena and subjected to torture that mixed cruelty with unwanted pleasure. Demons surrounded her, using drugs and modifications that twisted her senses until she no longer knew how much time had passed. Pain blended with forced ecstasy, dragging her deeper into confusion. The only thought that kept her mind from breaking completely was the desire to save Kyousuke and end Oboro's existence with her own hands once this hell was over.
But things continued to get worse when, of all people, Sakura came to save her only to be captured and then subjected to the same treatment almost immediately. At first, Asagi wanted to believe it was part of the girl's plan, a hidden move that would turn the situation around. Instead, she now stared in despair as her sister lay unresponsive in front of her.
Sakura's body was smeared with a thick white coating, her skin streaked with trails of dark blood that trickled down to the filthy floor. The entire scene felt like a brutal reminder that every part of this nightmare had unfolded because of her.
It was her mistake, her failure, her sin, and nothing in her mind could soften the guilt of being the one who led Sakura down this path… that her own blade led the blonde girl to end up on the ground, bleeding profusely.
At this point, Asagi felt drained in every possible way. Her muscles ached, her thoughts slowed, and the faint spark that once kept her fighting for revenge had now dimmed into a dull flicker.
"Urgh!"
A sharp boot collided with her stomach. The impact forced a painful grunt out of her and drove a bitter, pungent substance up her throat and onto the ground. Her ears rang as she struggled to breathe. Tentacles slid from the twisted form of the monstrous Kyousuke who lumbered toward her. Whatever humanity he once had was gone. Under Oboro's command, he had already stained and violated Sakura, and showed no hesitation as he closed in on Asagi now.
"You fucking bitch!" Oboro screamed while driving another kick into Asagi's ribs. The pain mixed with an unsettling pulse of forced pleasure from the modification, leaving her unable to even react properly. All she could do was lie there as her mind drifted in and out of awareness. "Just because you are Black's favorite, you think you matter? Tell me what's so special about you. Is it your face? That body you like showing off like some attention-starved whore?"
Oboro leaned closer, pulling her by the hair painfully, her voice carrying a bitterness that felt years old. "Guess what? I had all of that too. Now look at you. You don't have anything left."
She clicked her tongue with a mocking grin.
"Nothing but a worn-out toy that demons pass around to warm their cocks. You don't even have the right to be called beautiful anymore."
The resentment in her tone was impossible to miss. The look in her eyes made it clear she wanted to dismantle Asagi completely, to strip away whatever remained of her identity before ending her life; the tragic part was that she had already succeeded. Asagi no longer had the strength to stand or even raise an arm. She simply endured it, letting the blows sink into her without resistance.
"And you know what? I'm not going to kill you yet."
Oboro grabbed another fistful of Asagi's hair and yanked her up until their faces hovered just inches apart. Her grin widened into something twisted.
"I'll send you down to the orc breeding pits. They'll be thrilled to get Black's favorite toy all to themselves. And you can help produce a fresh batch for us to build up our army. Even in this pathetic state, that Taimanin body of yours is still useful for breeding the next generation of our demons. Black will appreciate the thought."
She released Asagi's hair, letting her collapse to the ground again. The young woman groaned as her vision blurred even further with black spots appearing one after the other. The image of what awaited her filled her mind and a dreadful panic ran through her. Her throat tightened and her eyes filled with tears. Her limbs shook from both fear and exhaustion. She wanted to escape, but her strength had long since been stolen from her.
Left only with bitterness, she whispered, barely loud enough for anyone to hear, "I… will make… you pay."
"Oh, still clinging to that delusional goal?" Oboro replied with a smug smirk. "I'll let the orcs scrub out whatever's left of your spite after we finish here."
She stepped past Asagi and gestured toward Kyousuke.
"Stay quiet unless you want your precious Kyousuke to give you one last pity fuck in front of everyone and give the crowd another show."
Moving ahead she faced the skybox seats in the audience, Oboro dropped to one knee and lowered her head.
"I have survived the trial, Black. Both Taimanins failed to stop me."
A slow, deliberate clap echoed from above. The sound rolled over the arena, steady and confident.
Edwin Black. Asagi had heard the name countless times from Oboro and many others who fought in the war to decide humanity's future . He was a madman driven by a desire for utter domination, the current director of Nomad, and the architect of far too many tragedies.
"That was a magnificent show, I might say."
A deep voice rose from above.
Everyone's attention shifted toward the upper level where, behind a tall pane of reinforced glass, a man stepped forward into the light. Even though he remained inside the elevated room, his voice carried through the entire arena with a strange clarity, as if he were speaking right beside their ears.
It took Asagi a moment to register the details of his appearance, her dazed state doing her no favors. Even so, she forced herself to focus. This was the first time she had ever seen this man directly.
And the very first thing she noticed was the absence of one of his arms, replaced by an advanced prosthetic. A metal hand clapped against his remaining flesh-and-bone appendage, creating a muted but distinct sound. His long black suit hid most of the mechanical structure beneath the sleeves, leaving only the mismatched palms visible. His sinister face showed black eyes that looked like they were just a black vortex, and his silver slicked back hair would have made him look dignified, if not for that twisted grin on his face.
The sight alone did nothing to weaken the weight of his presence. The Chaos Arena, which moments ago had been a swirl of disorganized noise and nonsensical movement, fell quiet and still in an instant. Even the air itself felt constrained, as though every spectator sensed the shift in authority.
"I did it all for you, Black-sama." Oboro's voice cut through the silence with immediate enthusiasm. She stepped forward without hesitation, eager to recount her accomplishment. As she spoke, another figure appeared beside the man. This one was a woman with dark skin and long pink hair, who held out a tablet. Black accepted it with a slow nod before she disappeared back into the shadows behind him. While lifting a glass of wine to his lips, Black made a thoughtful noise that resembled a light hum.
"An impressive display of martial prowess. Your skills have certainly improved since the last time I watched you fight, Oboro."
"Thank you, Black-sama!" Oboro responded, pride filling her tone.
"But I must say, I am quite disappointed in you, Asagi."
The shift towards the person behind her was immediate. Oboro's expression lost all its earlier elation as Black's attention moved away from her and settled on the dark-haired woman collapsed in the center of the arena. His gaze held no anger, only a cold disappointment for some reason… as if he'd expected more from her.
"So much potential… You were one in a thousand, a million even. Deadly and beautiful, carrying a willpower that very few warriors in a thousand years ever manage to possess." He paused while studying her collapsed figure. "Even after countless hardships, you stayed hopeful, stubborn, and undeniably unbroken. Yet now, as I finally decide to make my presence known, this is what you choose to show me. Such a lifeless display. Where has that fire inside you gone?"
"…"
She remained silent, not because she was unable to answer, but because speaking felt useless. There was nothing left to argue. What purpose was there in continuing to struggle when she believed she no longer deserved to live after contributing to Sakura's suffering and failing to protect both the people she loved most from these monsters?
Sakura's screams still echoed in her thoughts, replaying every confession about everything she had lost. She had wanted to save her first experience, something precious, for someone she loved in the future, just as Asagi had done with Kyousuke as a seal of their love. Instead, it had been taken by a creature who saw her only as a toy.
And her beloved Kyousuke… Oboro had transformed him into a monster, denying him not only his mind and dignity, but even his humanity.
The guilt clung to the woman like a second shadow.
"Is this truly all that remains of you, Asagi?"
"…"
"Do you not desire revenge? Do you not seek power to strike down those who shattered your world?" His voice deepened as he continued. "Power that could erase your enemies from existence with a single snap?"
Power.
Yes. She wanted it. If only she had been stronger, if only she had moved faster or been smarter, perhaps everything would have unfolded differently. Kyousuke might never have become a monster forced into a fate he never asked for. Sakura would not have needed to throw herself into danger for Asagi's sake, nor would she have been captured and left a heap of trembling flesh by Asagi's own failure.
All of it looped through her mind with a dull, familiar ache.
"Black-sama…" As if sensing the shift in the overall atmosphere, an expression of panic and disbelief surged across Oboro's face. She turned sharply toward the man behind her, as if hoping she had misunderstood his intention. "Surely you cannot be still thinking about—"
"Silence." With that single word, he cut her off. The violet-haired woman lowered her gaze at once, though she did not waste the chance to glare toward Asagi with a look that carried more hatred than any insult could convey. The fury in her eyes suggested she was already considering killing Asagi outright rather than indulging in the prolonged torment she had previously planned.
"Well, Asagi, I am awaiting your answer. Even in your current condition, I can see that part of you continues to resist. You do not want this to end in such a way, do you?" Black opened his arms in a slow, deliberate motion. The gesture was an invitation laid plainly before her, and he acted as if he had all the time in the world to await her answer.
A wave of confusion washed over Asagi's weary mind, yet beneath that confusion one stubborn thought remained steady enough to hurt. What purpose was power supposed to serve when every person she cared about had already been taken, leaving her standing alone in a nightmare that only worsened by the hour?
"I-I… I refuse," she whispered between her clenched teeth. The sound came out faint, but it carried the last small piece of dignity she had been trying desperately to keep alive within herself, even as the surrounding darkness pressed down harder and harder to try and smother it.
"Hahaha! I knew it! You never change," Black said. Instead of anger or disappointment, he let out a loud and genuine laugh. His amusement filled the chamber, as if her defiance was nothing more than a familiar joke he had been waiting years to hear again.
"It seems you still have some work to do on our dear guest." He snapped his fingers toward Oboro. "I leave her in your capable hands."
"Yes, Black-sama, I will do my best." Oboro's initial proud expression had dissolved into that of frustration when the man started to speak with the person she detested, only for her lips to curl in pleasure upon receiving her newest assignment. "I will make sure she regrets that decision for the rest of her miserable life." She looked toward the orcs waiting deeper in the hall. "And the orcs will be thrilled to have a new toy." She turned slightly. "Kyousuke, why don't you deliver her to the orcs with your own hands? A final goodbye from you~! They will definitely appreciate your little gift."
The creature beside Asagi, once known as Kyousuke, lunged forward with a cluster of twisting tentacles. He grabbed her with a bruising grip and lifted her off the ground. Asagi tried to struggle against his appendages, her legs kicking slightly, but her body had long since reached its limit. Her resistance lacked any strength, leaving her helpless in his hold while her breath escaped in a thin, strained gasp.
Oboro stepped closer with a dark grin. She seized one of Asagi's breasts with a harsh grip and yanked her forward. "You had your chance, and you threw it away. Not that I expected anything less from such a fool. I will make sure that when Black sees you again, the idea of recruiting you will never cross his mind. You will be so broken that not even he will find a use for you aside from becoming a living urinal."
Any remaining hope of survival drained entirely from Asagi's thoughts. She looked around with dim, hollow eyes, seeing the wicked grins on the faces surrounding her, each of them eager for what would come next. She saw the crowd cheering as if this abhorrent cruelty was premium entertainment. Above them all, Black stood calmly with his wine swirling in its glass, enjoying the scene as though the sight of her suffering added flavor to his drink.
She caught a glimpse of Sakura, dragged by the hair through the crowd by several demons. The girl's fate was more than sealed at this point, nothing about it suggested mercy. If she survived, she would likely be shaped into something unrecognizable.
Asagi no longer wished to witness any of it.
She no longer wanted to remain in a world that offered nothing but pain.
Her awareness started to fade even as her body continued to be used and abused. The noise around her grew hazy and distant, every one of her senses slipped away one by one. To Asagi though, this was a mercy as it caused the pain to be dulled, as though her nerves were finally surrendering. Her eyelids drooped, slowly, and the darkness waiting for her began to close in from every side.
…
Crack!
Only the faintest sound of glass cracking reached her ears before a powerful tremor rolled through the entire arena.
"Ah!" The jolt pulled her mind back to reality just long enough to notice Oboro no longer watching her, her focus fixed instead on the ceiling high above. She forced her blurry gaze upward as her lips parted.
"What is going on?" she whispered.
Similar murmurs spread across the crowd in growing confusion. Even Black, who had sat unmoving until now, suddenly rose from his chair with an abruptness that betrayed a flash of panic. Even from her low vantage point her heightened Taimanin eyesight could still detect a strange presence of tension in his shoulders, and the faint yet unmistakable trace of fear flickering in his eyes.
With the last scraps of strength her body could muster, the defeated woman lifted her head a bit higher and bore witness to a sight that carved itself into her memory for all eternity with a clarity like none other. The bright ceiling of the Chaos Arena, illuminated by countless floodlights, began to fracture one by one with some even being knocked loose from their bolts from the intense shaking. They crashed onto the stage and broke into pieces with shards of hot glass being sent flying everywhere.
Thin cracks appeared in the ceiling itself, spiderwebbing outward, followed by deeper breaks running across the metal plates. At the very center, the steel shifted in color, changing slowly from its dull grey to a molten orange glow. The hue intensified and expanded in a widening radius, brightening into yellow and then pure white, the heat radiating downward in suffocating waves strong enough to make her skin prickle with sweat.
The supporting metal pillars started to break apart, snapping under the pressure as the ceiling sagged.
"Watch out!" Oboro shouted, her alarm aimed at Black as she prepared to move to his side. The woman tried to leap away from the arena floor, but the warning came a moment too late. The ceiling above them collapsed inward as if it had been softened to the consistency of molten wax. A heartbeat later it tore open completely, ripped apart by a violent burst of energy as a massive column of fire plunged through the breach and struck the center of the arena.
Boom!
It was as if someone had unleashed the mother of all bombs directly overhead. The explosion tore across every direction, swallowing the stage in a wave of destruction and ripping up the entire Chaos Arena from top to bottom.
"Aaaaa-argh!" Meanwhile, Asagi's body was hurled backward by the force, smashing her into a concrete pillar hard enough to rattle her bones. She was forced into a brief moment of unconsciousness where only the sharp pain of the glass beneath stabbing into her skin managed to bring her back to a lucid state, forcing her eyes open just in time to witness Oboro, Kyousuke, Sakura, and everyone else who had been standing in the arena's center to disappear beneath the roaring flood of flames.
None of them even managed a final cry. Their silhouettes vanished instantly and simultaneously, reduced to drifting ash in the blink of an eye.
"Sakura…"
Seeing someone so precious to her be violated endlessly because of her failure, and then witnessing their life be snuffed in an instant by an outside force brought two sets of strong emotions that tore her apart. Tears streamed down her face at the knowledge that even now she remained powerless to protect the ones she loved.
Yet that catastrophic blast was only the beginning.
The entire ceiling, along with the greater structure around it, disintegrated as if it were all made from brittle paper. The explosion tore everything apart and exposed Asagi to the open sky for the first time in days. The cold wind momentarily offered her a strange sense of comfort, only for it to be replaced by heat drifting from nearby. She stared up at the sky, expecting to see the familiar sprawl of the Demon Capital Tokyo from her memories. With countless towering skyscrapers huddled together, the night illuminated by the surrounding buildings that towered above with such intensity they served to hide away the very stars from those on the ground.
Instead… Instead the Taimanin saw devastation stretching all across the land.
"Is this real?" she breathed.
The once dense and crowded metropolis that used to teem with humans and demons now existed as little more than a field of ruins blazing with fire. Entire districts had collapsed into heaps of burning rubble and craters spanned across the entire landscape, as if a meteor shower had come crashing down.
Several tall structures had crumbled into broken heaps of twisted concrete, with her spotting several people falling from the upper floors to their demise.
Bridges lay snapped and scattered. The asphalt of the streets had melted and twisted, forming warped black rivers of molten infrastructure.
The air carried the distant wails of thousands, perhaps millions, of people as they suffered the same fate as Sakura. Humans and demons alike were swept away by a fiery disaster that had arrived without warning. Helpless individuals on the streets tried to find safety but instead were met with death the very next moment. Whether they be demon or human, one by one they all burned together under the omnipresent grasp of the flames.
It was like the world had come to an end.
When she forced herself to her feet and tilted her head further upward, Asagi finally understood where the destruction had begun. The once darkened night sky was now brimming with lights numbering in the thousands. She saw what looked like the stars themselves plummeting toward the earth. Hundreds, no thousands of bright streaks of red, white, and flickering gold light descended like a rain of burning meteors. Each impact erupted into a dome of fire hundreds of meters wide that erased everything in its radius.
The ground convulsed with every strike as more shapes streaked downward faster than anything she had seen before. With each passing second more and more of the city just… disappearing, leaving nothing behind but craters. The very earth beneath looked like it kept sinking or burning with each impact.
But something was not right…
"Swords?" she whispered, barely able to believe her own words.
Even through her injuries and exhaustion, Asagi's eyes remained sharper than any ordinary human's, allowing her the ability to notice tiny details in the far distance. The falling objects were not rocks from space or missiles or any kind of manufactured weapon fired from an enemy nation; they were twisted swords. Hundreds of different kinds, each one brimming with some kind of unstable energy. Cracks glowed along their surfaces, their impacts releasing bursts of power that triggered explosions beyond anything she had ever witnessed in her life.
Edwin Black stood in the center of what could only be described as a ruin carved straight from hell on earth.
A number of the city's residents had somehow survived the first onslaught, a lucky few clinging to life amid melted concrete and burning streets. From the cracked glass room where Black had been observing her, the same pink-haired woman from earlier who seemed like his personal bodyguard reappeared again. She stepped in front of him while gripping her sword, planting her feet firmly as another one of the countless projectiles hurtled down toward their position.
She moved in time to intercept them, though her efforts at protecting her master lasted less than a second. A twisted red light tore through the sky, parting the dense pillars of smoke rising from the fire and struck her directly. All of her being was ripped apart on contact before the woman could even register the sensation of pain, twisted and shredded entirely while the beautiful silver and red longsword was broken into dust along with her remains splattering across the walls and even Black himself. The man, now fully visible to her through the fractured glass, wore an expression of pure rage.
"Not again! Useless fool!" he shouted, loud enough for her to hear even through the crackling fires. His limbs shook violently as he backpedaled, barely managing to get away from some of the projectiles while ghostly dark constructs resembling claws burst from his back to protect him.
His form began to change, the once refined suit getting torn apart with his body growing in size, more shadows emerging from his body, taking the shape of several kinds of weapons and even monstrous limbs. His appearance twisted into something more monstrous than Asagi had seen from any demon, but even with the changes he somehow looked like an ant struggling to survive amidst a hurricane.
"Why won't you just die!" he yelled again, though she had not the slightest idea whom he was screaming at.
"Argh!" Her voice broke out involuntarily.
One of the bladed projectiles slammed into the ground right beside her, destroying the other half of what little remained of the Chaos Arena in a fiery blaze. The explosion burned her body the same way it had doomed Oboro and the others — but she had managed to avoid the direct center of the blast by instinctively using her Taimanin art to buy herself time to dodge. It was enough to keep herself from being instantly vaporized, but the agony that followed surged through every remaining nerve and she collapsed again soon after.
The scent of her own burned flesh and broken bones finally proved too much for the already overwhelmed woman. Especially when she looked down to find her lower body had been torn open. Both her hands and one of her legs were completely gone. The attack had ripped her apart so thoroughly that she could no longer tell where flesh ended and burnt debris began.
Yet somehow she remained conscious. Whether it was a curse or a testament to her willpower, she frankly had no way to tell.
Did it even matter anymore?
'So this is it,' Asagi thought.
She had no delusions about her own survival at this point. Not even a miracle could save her from this. She did not possess a Taimanin art that granted her high speed regeneration like Murasaki or Kuro. A hundred questions ran through her mind about what was happening and who had caused this devastation, but none of it mattered. Whether this was the end of the world or a strike by some unknown faction trying to start a war against Nomad or all of Japan, she could not bring herself to care.
As the embers of her life dwindled one by one, Asagi exhaled slowly one final time.
In her last fading moments, something shifted at the corner of her vision. Through the remnants of the collapsed roof, she saw a figure standing tall, their figure outlined against the crimson-tinted sky. The person's appearance was hard to discern, wearing a dark hooded cloak in tatters that obscured their face and most of their body, and in their hands rested a black western bow as long as an orc was tall. It was difficult to tell if it was a man or a woman… but just from what little showed of this individual's lower jaw, Asagi leaned toward the former. A few strands of short white hair and the outline of black armor beneath the cloak were the closest things she had to clues as to their identity.
The cloak fluttered with the wind, showing the figure's muscular arm holding the black bow; yet the weapon seemed to vanish into motes of light the very next moment. In its place appeared a massive greatsword that seemed like an oversized gladius given the shape of the guard, which emitted a bright glow that turned the sky's flaming red into the dull orange of dawn. The light grew stronger and stronger, and the rising heat around it pushed the air into a wavering haze.
Edwin Black had completed his transformation into a creature that should not exist even in nightmares, yet despite his terrifying appearance instead of confronting the figure, he flew desperately in the opposite direction.
Each flap of his newly grown vampiric wings created a powerful gust of wind.
"Why, why! Why do you always—hn!"
His cry was cut off when his attempt at escaping ended with several projectiles forming right above him and descending downwards in a rain of steel. Slicing and piercing through his wings as if they were paper, they brutally pinned him to the ground.
Black was fully exposed, an opportunity the cloaked figure took by closing the distance between them moving faster than her eyes could perceive, raising his arm with the blade shining brighter than the sun… and bringing it down in an executioner's stroke.
Then the world burned.
In her final instant, Asagi saw what looked like the sun itself descend upon the arena and city as a whole. The impact engulfed Black entirely, and the scorching wave followed outward, consuming what little remained of her body. Her vision dimmed as her physical form disintegrated into ash.
Strangely enough, even with such an abrupt and painful conclusion — she felt no regret. No fear. No despair.
Only gratitude.
For whatever catastrophe had descended upon them all, it had at least finally allowed her suffering to end. It even brought about the deaths of those responsible. She accepted the quiet darkness that followed with a small smile she could no longer physically make.
All of this was shortly followed by a flash of incomprehensible static, merging her existence with the surrounding void and swallowing everything.
.
.
.
-Igawa Old household-
"Iaaaahhh!"
With a cry of pure panic, Asagi opened her eyes and shot up from her bed. Sweat soaked her dark nightgown and caused it to stick against the outline of her figure. Gasping for air, she looked around the room, expecting and even dreading to find herself staring at the old moldy wall of a jail cell or the loud, blinding lights of an arena full of demons.
What she found instead was her normal, quiet bedroom decorated in her own mild and practical style with a vase filled with flowers and an old Clan Igawa katana hanging on the wall. Aside from those, the place was mostly kept spartan, though a few photos hung on the wall to soften the place and give it a personal touch. One showed her standing beside a blonde girl wearing a high school uniform, and another showed the two of them with a younger blue-haired girl squeezed between them several years earlier. The next thing her eyes caught was the mirror of her makeup table, where she saw her reflection…her long dark blue hair was spread out and a mess, her spikey bangs parting to see her tired face, as her sharp teal eyes looked exhausted. She could see herself drenched in sweat to the point that even the sheets of her bed and pillow were damp. Her heart was hammering like a stubborn drum, and a phantom pain flickered across her body for a brief moment before it faded.
The sound of birds chirping in the distance seeped slowly into her awareness. Asagi pressed her palms over her face and let out a long sigh.
"Hah… hah… hah… Another dream. Damn it."
This had become a recurring problem for the last few months, starting without reason and defying any attempt she made to understand them.
The dreams always left her feeling nauseous.
They showed her being captured and tortured in ways that made her heart twist, sometimes by enemies long dead. Sometimes by people she had never even met, and many other times by the hands of a multitude of demons.
"Hm," she grunted as she pushed herself out of bed, working to calm the uneven rhythm of her breathing. The most troubling thing about these nightmares was how vivid they were, even though they became blurred quickly after waking. They always slipped away within minutes no matter how much she tried to hold onto them, leaving only scraps that refused to form a full picture.
"Maybe I should start noting them down in a diary." She voiced the thought but rejected it immediately. Even now her stomach churned at the idea of reliving any of those horrid details. Writing them down felt far too close to experiencing them again, and she refused to subject herself to that.
More importantly though, every dream shared a single common aspect aside from her own suffering. They all ended in pure, absolute destruction for everyone involved.
No matter the setting or the sequence, the final moments were always the same. A city burning. An overwhelming presence tearing everything apart, the image of the metropolitan city rendered into burning rubble or just erased from the very surface of the world. Whether they be demons or innocents, all perished without discrimination.
She could never recall whether whatever was responsible was a being, a force, or a weapon. Every time she tried to focus on it, the imagined heat of the flames brushing her skin forced her back into reality.
"Onee-sama! Breakfast is ready!"
Her brooding ended immediately when a cheerful voice called from the other side of the wall. Asagi rose quickly and decided it was best not to dwell on this latest nightmare for too long. Maybe it was a symptom of stress, or maybe just a streak of bad luck. If things grew worse she could visit a therapist later, but for now she wanted to start her morning without letting the heaviness of her dreams cling to her.
After taking a quick shower and putting on a clean set of clothes, she felt lighter and more like herself. When stepping into the living room, she was greeted by a warm, mouth-watering fragrance drifting from the table. A full spread of traditional Japanese dishes awaited her; miso soup simmered in a lacquered bowl, grilled salmon rested on a wooden tray with a slight sheen from its glaze, and a plate of tamagoyaki was arranged neatly beside pickled vegetables, steamed rice, sliced daikon, and a small serving of natto with green onions. The sight alone near made her drool, and her stomach grumbled audibly.
"Wow, this is amazing," she muttered under her breath as Sakura, her little sister, placed the final dish on the table with a wide grin.
"Surprised, right?" Said the blonde haired girl with a prideful grin etched onto her face, her bright sky blue eyes the color of Ionite gemstones glimmered in proud excitement. "I made it all myself! It took me about two hours to get it done, and I had to wake up before dawn, but seeing that look on your face makes me know it was all worth it~!"
Her enthusiasm was contagious to say the least, and Asagi chuckled softly and picked up a small piece of food to taste it. The flavour spread warmly over her tongue, making her want another bite almost instantly.
"This is… amazing, Sakura! It's even better than my own cooking. When did you get this good?" she asked with genuine surprise.
Having always carried a bit of pride in the meals she made, especially after years of trying to craft the best dishes she could for Kyousuke, the man who constantly pushed her to refine her everyday skills. Yet here she was, beaten in the kitchen by her little sister who only months ago could barely boil water without threatening to start a fire, or that one time she tried to make a soup for her and Murasaki… After all, they had discovered a boiled cockroach inside it.
"How is this possible?"
"What's with that question? You make it sound like someone like me can never learn how to cook in the first place!" Sakura pointed a ladle at her sister with a faint scowl.
"Because you couldn't come up with a single decent dish before now and it took us dipping into our savings to repair the kitchen. Even Murasaki nearly had to be hospitalized from the abominable soup you made that one time."
"I swear I didn't put the cockroach inside the soup! It appeared out of nowhere and must have slipped in before I noticed it!" Sakura's voice cracked under her own embarrassment.
"A cockroach found its way inside a soup by accident?" Even a deaf person would be able to hear the disbelief and sarcasm in her tone.
"Someone was plotting against me!"
"Sure…"
Well there went her appetite again, but thankfully another bite brought it back. She took a slow breath before speaking. "Alright then, what's the occasion? Out with it." Her dear sister was many things, stubborn especially, but for her to go this far and even sacrifice her own sleeping schedule just to cook an elaborate breakfast was not something she did for the fun of it. She was not the type to wake up early or try new recipes unless something important pushed her to do it or if it was part of an important assignment. There was definitely a motive behind all this, and Asagi found herself growing cautious.
"I want to start doing Taimanin field work." Sakura said it as if she were announcing a minor change in her routine, but Asagi reacted instantly and shook her head before she could stop herself.
"Absolutely not! I won't allow it!" She reacted instantly, almost shouting at the top of her lungs. A suffocating heaviness tightened across her chest as images of what had happened to Sakura in the previous dreams began to surface. The memories threatened to rise again, unwelcomed, and she forced them back down, wanting to avoid that path at any cost.
"What do you mean you won't allow it?" Sakura blinked at her, shocked and confused at her sister's reaction. "Are you that offended at the idea of me being better than you at cooking?"
"What?" Asagi stared back at her sister's puzzled expression. She was certain she had heard those words earlier, trying to recall it clearly, yet nothing came to mind. She looked around and felt that this setting, and conversation were strikingly similar to something that already happened before… almost as if she were experiencing déjà vu.
No sound, no voice, only the strange impression that something important and strangely familiar had been said. It felt like a faint echo of a moment that just… appeared out of nowhere. She rubbed her forehead, realizing she must have imagined it. Something was really wrong with her. She needed to go see the doctor soon. Those nightmares were getting too frequent and were starting to disrupt her daily life. Was someone cursing her with some kind of remote Taimanin art, forcing her to experience disgusting and horrifying night terrors? She doubted it, since most enemies who wanted her dead did not even know who she was, and the ones who did were long gone.
"Is it those nightmares again?" Sakura asked softly. The older woman did not deny it and simply nodded.
"Maybe it would help if you told me some of the details so we can figure out what's going on."
"That's the thing. I don't even remember them. Only the lingering feelings stay behind when I wake up, but that's a dream for you."
She spoke only half the truth. There were scenes she could recall at least faintly, but all the details turned into mist as soon as her mind could try to grasp them. Moments that once seemed vivid now dissolved whenever she tried to look at them directly inside her mind, leaving nothing but a cold sense of unease.
Not to mention even if something at all clear remained, they were far too horrifying to describe to her sister. Some were even of Sakura herself, and those Asagi would never describe, ever, to anyone.
"You know, I read somewhere that nightmares are sometimes connected to stress, or maybe some kind of worry you have in real life. They can show up in a different form because of the tricks your own mind can play on you. Like if you're late on an assignment and dream about some guy chasing you across town even though you're still in a car. I used to have them too whenever I got late for an assignment. You might be going through something similar"
"Most likely. Don't worry, I'll handle it." Asagi replied quietly, though her thoughts remained scattered.
"Speaking of which, I did actually have something I wanted to tell you." The moment Sakura said that, Asagi's fingers froze in place and she felt that wave of déjà vu hit her again. Unlike last time she did not react immediately. Instead she kept still and waited for her sister to continue.
"Actually… um, hehe… Don't get shocked, but I got a job."
Asagi blinked.
"A job?"
"A part-time job more accurately. I tried to make my shifts full-time but the boss has weird working hours."
The words startled Asagi more than she cared to admit. She had no idea where this came from and it threw her off track entirely.
"Why did you get a part-time job to begin with? Is something going on?" Her voice tightened with suspicion. Information gathering had always been one of the many duties a Taimanin had to deal with. It was common for them to work undercover as waitresses in shady districts, as well as prostitutes, strippers, exotic dancers, or anything that allowed them to blend in and gather intel in the most dangerous areas all over Tokyo. So for Sakura to suddenly get a job as a waitress made Asagi uneasy.
She could not help but think there was something hidden behind it. And the bit about her boss having 'weird working hours' wasn't exactly reassuring either.
"Well there's nothing bad about having some extra income. Plus it's a neat little job where I don't have to do much for how much I'm paid, not to mention I get paid vacations. It's at this new café that opened a few months ago a couple of blocks away from here near the entertainment district. Despite the weird choice of location it's actually a really nice place and the pay is awesome. I make like three times the minimum wage! The owner didn't even ask me if I had any prior experience and just hired me on the spot! All while doing half the work I thought I'd have to do since that guy refuses to let me anywhere near the kitchen. Even so, I was able to learn a lot about cooking some really great meals just from watching him work. He's also been giving me some great tips, even if he's still not willing to let me make food for the customers."
She gave a light laugh at that last part, though Asagi did not share the same amusement.
The more she listened, the odder this whole thing started to sound. This kind of job was way too good to just fall into a random girl's lap, and the possibility of the guy trying to get something from Sakura was seeming more likely by the second. Her sister could be quite naive and too trusting at times…
"He's not after my body," the young girl said as if she read Asagi's thoughts. "I was suspicious at first myself and pretended to drop my guard, but the guy did not even spare a glance at me!"
"What do you mean by dropping your guard?" Asagi asked with a frown, only for Sakura to ignore her and continue her story.
"Pretty sure he gets hit on by some of the call girls that stop by there given we're near the red light district. Some of the male customers did the same with me early on before he made sure they behaved themselves. So I think he just wanted to use me as a kind of buffer to get some of their attention off of him."
The explanation eased her concerns, but only slightly. It was a… unique explanation for sure, never had Asagi ever heard of a restaurant owner hiring someone with no experience because of such an outcome. Also, the mention of high pay, a new business near a shady area, and someone specifically restricting Sakura from ever entering the kitchen were all details that made her mind wander through possibilities she would prefer not to think about. But for now she kept listening, trying to understand more lest she react emotionally again.
Sakura started to recite more stories about her new job and especially this boss of hers, many of which were complaints on how strict he was. She did not seem visibly angry, only mildly miffed when talking about him, and she even seemed amused by things in retrospect.
That alone made Asagi pause. It was something she had not expected from Sakura. That girl never showed any real interest in holding a part-time job, not even once in all the years Asagi had known her. The lack of interest had always been consistent, almost stubbornly so, and that made her all the more curious about what had changed recently, or what exactly was going on here to cause this change.
"So whenever you or Kyousuke want to go on another date, you should definitely stop by! The food this guy makes is gonna blow your mind!"
"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm even thinking of dropping by today to see you at work on my own," she said, letting out a small breath before entering the address into her phone. Sakura was thrilled at the response, as she then got ready for her job and left.
Asagi shook her head with a faint smile, deciding that if it truly was just a normal part-time waitressing job and not something connected to Sakura's Taimanin training, she would support her without hesitation. Not that it would stop her from always keeping an eye on her regardless, just in case the girl had gotten involved in something reckless without thinking it through. Even being in the general vicinity of the entertainment district could easily become very dangerous for a pretty young girl commuting alone.
Beep!
The notification sound of her phone cut through her thoughts. Asagi looked down to see a text message from Kyousuke, asking if she wanted to meet later on.
"…"
She moved her hand to type out a reply, but strangely enough her fingers hesitated over the screen. The movement stalled and her mind went blank in a way she rarely experienced, finding herself unsure if she should reply at all, as if her body had decided for her before her mind caught up.
The discomfort from the nightmares lingered in her chest. She still felt uneasy, and she did not want him to think something was wrong with her or imagine she was avoiding him because of a silly nightmare she should have put out of her mind by now.
"Maybe next time."
She managed to write a message, declining the invitation and asking if they could meet another time. Her message was marked as read, yet no reply followed. She stared for a moment before whispering, "I'm sorry, it's just for today," with a sad smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
They had planned to meet later that evening because he mentioned having a surprise prepared for her. Asagi wondered what it was or whether it had anything to do with the project he'd been working on these past few days. Whatever it was, it could surely wait until tomorrow.
She promised Sakura earlier that she would visit her at her place of work, and she intended to keep that promise.
.
.
.
Given there was not much to do as a former Taimanin living a retired civilian life aside from taking care of the house and indulging in her hobbies for a bit. Asagi just followed the news for a bit, seeing reports of several of her former Taimanin comrades being found early on in the morning unconscious next to a pile of dead demons.
Strangely enough, none of the women could even remember how they ended up in those circumstances. And all security cameras would get destroyed wherever a massacre would ensue. Because of this, crimes and other demons in general had started to become quieter lately.
'Should I ask the Elder about what's truly going on?' she wondered, but once more held herself back. She again had to remind herself that she'd left that life behind to be with Kyousuke.
At this rate, her desire to go back out into the field to help her fellow Taimanins protect people would continue to grow. That was not her goal. She did not retire just to jump back in.
Yet in a way she found difficult to explain even to herself, her body did miss the action. At times the woman even felt like movements that had once been ingrained into her muscle memory were becoming rusty, annoyingly slow, and all of it left a faint sense of dissatisfaction in the direction her life had taken.
'No, it's best to get my mind off of this matter. I should go, Sakura must be looking forward to my visit.'
Grabbing a few of her belongings and the keys to the house after cleaning the dojo, Asagi left to go pay this café a visit.
Soon arriving at the address Sakura had sent her, Asagi found it to be a small location tucked inside one of the shadier parts of Demon Capital Tokyo. The neighbourhood looked exactly as she expected. It sat dangerously close to the red light district where brothels lined the streets side by side, each one running their questionable business openly.
The narrow streets were filled with flickering neon lights, shady bars, cheap stripclubs with their interiors hidden behind thick curtains, and alleys that looked like trouble even from a distance. Her eyes shifted to the far end of the street, and her hands clenched when she caught sight of the large dome rising above the buildings. It stood as a lonely titan, yet it somehow attracted the attention of anyone who so much as glanced its way. For a fleeting moment, a single flash of the mind, the image before her wavered and with perfect clarity she could imagine it in flaming ruins instead of its pristine state.
Asagi quickly shut the memory out and continued walking.
After a few minutes of searching, she finally arrived at the location where her sister worked.
"Copenhagen?" she murmured, reading the name carved across a wooden sign which had a small black cat engraved into the corner of the wood, its tail curled into a loop. The place stood out like a sore thumb compared to the neighbourhood around it. The walls looked clean, the windows polished, and there were even flower pots resting neatly along the window beside the entrance. Every time a customer walked in or out, a wave of culinary fragrance drifted into the street and mixed with the cold air, causing passersby to halt in their tracks and turn their heads.
Seemed a strange name for a café, unless there was a ministore inside.
For a moment Asagi even forgot she was standing right at the edge of the most dangerous area of the city.
After double checking that she indeed had the right address, the young woman pushed the door open. A small bell rang above her head, announcing her arrival.
"Welcome to Copenhagen Cafe! How may I serve… Onee-sama! You really came!" Sakura's voice rang out across the room. The girl was carrying a tray filled with drinks, moving with practiced ease between crowded tables while wearing a maid outfit that looked at least one size too small. Probably two.
Especially around her chest, as the outfit revealed a lot of cleavage, and even the contours of her nipples. But maybe that was to be expected, given the location. And Taimanin like herself were rarely strangers to such outfits, Asagi had to admit.
Something told her that this was probably the 'lowering her guard' part Sakura mentioned earlier.
"I promised, didn't I? This certainly seems like a nice place, if rather lively," Asagi said, looking around the interior. "Is it always this busy?"
"Right? This is pretty normal for this hour, but things here are rarely quiet anytime we're open for business. As for the decorations, some of them were actually my suggestions! The boss is a bit of a minimalist cheapskate who wanted everything plain when he opened the place. I told him no one would walk through the door with his boring idea of decor no matter how good the food is. So I brightened everything up, and now look at the place. He is making a fortune! Come on, have a seat. There is one space left at the counter!"
Outside she could see the streets were nearly empty, with most people avoiding this area due to the high number of demons and the amount of crime reported daily. Even if lately there were less cases of Taimanins being killed and rumors of demons getting eliminated in droves swirling about the underground — people still remained cautious and afraid. Yet here inside the café, the atmosphere was the exact opposite. The place was filled to the last chair, every table occupied, and the final remaining seat being the one set aside just for her.
She went to take a seat and tried to settle her thoughts, feeling a touch more reassured now that she could see Sakura working here without any trace of trouble. The earlier tension faded from her shoulders, replaced by a quiet comfort in knowing that she no longer needed to worry about what kind of place her sister had chosen to spend her time in.
Even so, she had to admit that a part of her carried a nosy kind of curiosity about this establishment and the man in charge of it whom she still had yet to meet. She wanted to see who exactly was responsible for teaching Sakura how to cook anything more complicated than a basic omurice. She wanted to feel proud and satisfied with Sakura's growth, yet there was a small part of her that could not help feeling as if she had missed the chance to guide her sister on her own and be a role model to her.
"Hm?" Her eyes drifted over the menu for a moment, wandering without much focus, before the clink of a plate and the soft thud of a cup sounded right in front of her. The sound tugged her attention back to the present, and she lowered the menu to see what had appeared. Someone had placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of her, along a small plate with a pastry on it. She blinked, startled by the unexpected and unprompted service, and then lifted her gaze to finally see the person responsible.
"—!"
Teal eyes met steel gray orbs, and in that moment her heart shuddered and goosebumps spread across her skin. A sensation of fleeting dread crept into her heart, and for a brief moment the woman was genuinely about to jump away and take out a sword she did not have on her person.
'Noooo! W-What am I thinking!?'
To have such a strange reaction to a total stranger made no sense. He had not even said anything, yet for some reason she was behaving like this just from seeing him.
After a few seconds of silence, she regained her composure.
Upon further observation of him, one word that crossed her mind was how he looked to be a foreigner.
Then again, Demon Capital Tokyo had long become a gathering point for just about every kind of business and shady deal imaginable, attracting people from all across the world, along with more than a few demons as well. Seeing foreigners on the streets was of no surprise to her, so his appearance itself was not unusual. It was more the details of his features that stood out to her for a moment. In fact upon closer inspection, he did not actually seem like a foreigner at all. His tan skin and white hair simply gave her the wrong idea at first glance, but if one looked closer he definitely had Asian roots.
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face" He asked her in a deep tone that went well with his physique. Asagi calmed herself as she realized she had been acting very strange.
"Oh, sorry, I was just a bit surprised since I didn't order anything yet," she said quickly while watching the man casually wipe a glass nearby. He barely looked at her, giving only a short side-eyed glance before replying with a calm, steady tone.
"It's on the house. Consider it the establishment's way of welcoming you."
He returned to his work without adding anything else. The simplicity of the gesture confused her even further. She looked between him and the cup of coffee, then at the small pastry on the plate. It was a slice of strawberry shortcake. Her favorite. She used to order the same combination whenever she went out with Kyousuke during their early dates. The memory made the gesture feel strangely personal, even though she knew it likely was not meant that way. Or if it was then it was probably Sakura's suggestion.
Gingerly, she accepted the coffee and took a sip. The flavor immediately washed over her tongue with the same surprising brilliance she had experienced that morning, only more. Her taste buds tingled with joy, and she knew without any lingering doubt that this man was the one who had taught Sakura how to cook.
If she had to describe the taste with a single word, then the only fitting one would be perfection.
"Ah," she sighed blissfully, savoring the sensation for a heartbeat longer. By the time she reached out to take another bite of the cake, her spoon clinked against an empty plate. Only then did she realize that she had eaten the entire thing without even noticing.
"…Oh."
The man returned, a faint smirk lifting the corner of his mouth. "Hoh. It is rare for a customer to get so lost in the taste. I'm flattered."
Her cheeks heated instantly. Embarrassment spread across her face before she could stop it. Asagi opened her mouth to defend herself, but the man had already placed something new in front of her. This time it was an opera cake, another pastry she treasured more than she would ever admit out loud.
Regardless, she couldn't help but feel a bit suspicious even as she took up her fork. Receiving the first slice on the house might have been an act of kindness, but offering her a second one for no charge made her suspicious.
He seemed unbothered by her reaction though, and continued on as if what he did was normal. "Take it as a gesture of goodwill. Since you are Sakura's sister, you probably deal with her every day. I know she can be a handful at times."
Her eyes widened. "You knew?"
"She literally shouted 'Onee-sama' the moment you walked in and rushed over to meet you," he said dryly while giving her a deadpan stare, "She often spoke of the kind of desserts you liked, so I figured I'd already have you try out our newest flavors."
"Ah…"
The urge to bury her face in her hands nearly overwhelmed her. She resisted out of pure respect for her own dignity, but she could still feel the growing desire to dig a hole and hide inside it. Having made a fool of herself in the span of the first minute of meeting her sister's boss who from the look of things cooked everything himself. The best solution she could think of was to focus entirely on the food in front of her. She took a bite of the opera cake, and once again the flavor lit up her senses. This one was honestly just as perfect as the strawberry shortcake.
'This is heaven.'
While eating, she continued to observe the man behind the counter. He handled both the cooking and the cleaning with smooth, practiced motions with an ease that bordered on superhuman. Sakura meanwhile assisted with serving customers and clearing tables, moving with an enthusiasm she rarely showed at home. The longer she watched, the more her initial suspicions faded. This man did not give her the impression of someone shady or dangerous, despite her earlier worries. If anything, he seemed surprisingly normal for someone working in a city like this.
Just as Sakura had mentioned earlier, a small group of call girls came in occasionally dressed in extremely skimpy outfits that revealed pretty much everything. They seated themselves right at the stools along the counter where they'd be able to give their orders to the owner rather than Sakura, and leaned in closer to him, speaking in suggestive tones to see whether he would take the bait they offered. A few even tried to bargain for a free meal by hinting at private services behind closed doors. Every time, he dismissed them politely or with a dry stare, then simply returned to his work without wasting time. The women did not seem insulted or surprised either. It was obvious they were familiar with this pattern and had elected to turn it into their own little game.
"It must be quite tiresome," Asagi said, just loud enough for him to hear as he passed nearby. "Does this happen every day?"
"Basically. I know how they tick, they just like to have a bit of fun trying to mess with me and get a reaction."
That was what he said, though Asagi was certain they had been completely genuine with their earlier offers. She had dealt with people like that before and had even worked alongside a few of them during some of her covert missions in which she played the role of a prostitute. Their mannerisms were familiar enough that she could read their intentions with the ease of one who once had to walk in those same shoes.
"By the way, my name is Igawa Asagi. Nice to meet you, and thank you for taking care of my sister." Her next words were spoken in a more relaxed tone, feeling that she owed the man an apology for the doubts she had carried before they had even met.
"Don't mention it."
"If you do not mind me asking, why did you open a café in this part of the city? I am not judging you, but this area is not exactly known for being safe. You must be fairly new to Tokyo." She looked around the small restaurant, taking in the wondrous aroma of roasted beans and the steady sizzle coming from the six pans he was working with.
The man hummed with a small smile as he focused on the dishes in front of him, flipping one of the pans where butter crackled quietly. "It has a troubling history, yes. But there are plenty of people who work hard to keep this area mostly safe. I have not had any real problems yet since I opened, and to my knowledge neither has Sakura. As for choosing this place in particular, the rent was cheap all things considered, and Tokyo is an expensive city to set up shop in. That is really all there is to it." He lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug, his answer far more ordinary than she expected.
Still, Asagi felt a faint concern continue to tug at her. Having such a warm and comfortable shop caught in future trouble would be unfortunate.
"You sure do trust the nearby authorities a lot."
"I guess? They are strange individuals. They always seem to end up buried in the same kind of trouble one way or another. But they do try to keep the peace around here. And it seems to be working lately."
So he said, but even the news reports made it clear that whoever had been killing the demons was no Taimanin. They themselves could not recall anything about the incidents, and to her knowledge Gosha Village had no idea who could be responsible.
As they continued talking to each other, Asagi felt only more unusually comfortable with him. After several minutes of easy conversations about small things and even the types of desserts he made, Asagi finally voiced the question that kept resurfacing every time she studied his face.
"Um… Listen, this may sound strange, but… Have we met before?"
He stared at her blankly for a few seconds before answering. "I do not believe so. Unless we crossed paths while walking through the streets, then maybe. You might have seen me before from a distance, but I can assure you that this is the first time we have ever spoken."
That sounded right, not to mention perfectly reasonable. Yet for some strange reason Asagi felt a headache threaten to burst out of nowhere if she were to think about this much more.
"Yes, that must be it." Indeed, it did make sense. A man with his appearance could easily be difficult to forget even if spotted from a distance, and he mentioned he had been living here for a couple of months. She might have noticed him during one of her outings with Kyousuke without giving it much thought at the time. "Sorry for the strange question… Uh… I never caught your name." She hid her face slightly, realizing she had been seconds away from addressing him by name before noticing she had never even asked.
The man chuckled. "You can call me Emiya. Nice to meet you, Igawa Asagi. Now, seeing as you seem so very fond of my humble café's services, could I interest you in another slice?" He gestured toward the tray on the counter, and she only then noticed the empty plate in front of her. Just like the strawberry cheesecake earlier, the opera cake had disappeared without her even realizing it. "I just developed a new black forest cake recipe I'd appreciate a second opinion on. Or perhaps caramel shortbread or angel food cake would be more to your taste?"
At that moment she felt another flush of embarrassment rising in her chest, aware that she was behaving more like an airheaded child than a prodigal Taimanin, even if she was now retired. Yet despite that, the atmosphere remained pleasant enough for her to bounce back with a laugh.
"I think it'd be best for you to start charging me. With the way things are going I might end up eating too much and you won't have much left for your actual customers," she said, trying to turn her growing embarrassment into a small joke.
"That sounds like a challenge," he answered with a quiet smirk. The expression made her laugh in a light, unexpected yet genuine way, though their exchange barely lasted a second before Sakura suddenly appeared at her side.
"Hey hey, what are you two talking about? You're making me feel excluded!"
"Oi, don't ignore your work," he replied.
"I already served everyone! Also, what's with this VIP treatment you're giving my sister? Where are my free slices of cake? I want some too!"
"I indulge your appetite more than enough as it is. This place may genuinely go bankrupt if I keep giving you free stuff."
"It's still not fair that my sister gets this treatment just because she's a grade-A beauty! I'm cute too!"
"Sakura, you really shouldn't make things difficult for Emiya-san," Asagi said, stepping in before the girl pushed things further.
The three of them continued talking, their voices weaving together with the soft noise of utensils and the faint warmth of the small café, creating a pleasant atmosphere. Minutes slipped into hours, and without Asagi even noticing the passage of time, she found herself staring at a tower of plates stacked so high it looked like it could topple from the slightest breeze. There were several dozen dishes, the sheer amount leaving her feeling stuffed and mildly horrified at the number of freebies she had casually accepted while lost in the good vibes of pleasant company mixed with fantastic food.
By the end of it, she and Sakura walked back home together. Sakura hummed a cheerful tune, the rhythm matching the slight skip in her steps as she enjoyed the evening breeze.
"See? I told you he wasn't a sketchy guy," her little sister smiled.
"I know. But it is unfortunate that he had to open a place here, given how things tend to be in this area." Asagi looked back at the café in the distance, her expression caught between curiosity and unease. "He really does look quite familiar too."
That white hair…
Something about him made her feel like it was not just a passing moment where she saw him in the past.
But no matter how much she tried, the current Asagi could not get a clear answer for what those emotions were.
{Break}
As the day's working hours came to an end he began to close shop. Completing all the cleanup, rearranging the chairs, wiping the counters, and checking the inventory for the next morning, EMIYA made sure each routine step was handled with care. Once everything was in place, he locked the door and watched the two sisters walking farther down the street.
Seeing them depart, his relaxed expression from earlier faded into his usual thoughtful frown, and this time there was a thin layer of confusion behind it as he focused specifically on Asagi. She had kept glancing back at him all day, and more than once it felt like her gaze had stayed on him longer than she intended.
"Strange. She kept looking at me the entire time. Even going so far as to ask if we met one another. Does she remember?" he muttered. "Can't be, memories don't carry over with each world reset. So then what's the reason?"
The surprises did not end there. The sisters were never supposed to appear in this area. Every reset had differences, yet their general paths usually remained the same unless something happened to throw those events out of order. Their presence here was a shift he had not expected and it was hard to say if that man was responsible for this deviation or not.
"Does opening a café really change so much?"
It was a question without a clear answer, and he knew no one could give him one. Oh well, as long as he avoided drawing too much attention while gathering enough information about Black's activities discreetly, it shouldn't be that much of a shift. Hopefully the latter would not discover him too late, get spooked, and end up using those irritating powers again before EMIYA had a proper chance to reach him and finally end things permanently.
That guy… he really had earned his description as a slippery worm from the Counter Guardian, with how many times he escaped his grasp. Things had been even worse lately considering how paranoid Black had become. The vampire would now immediately use that ability whenever he so much as suspected EMIYA was nearby.
One of the resets had even occurred when he was just sitting at the beach near Nomad's headquarters, trying to come up with another plan.
He was going to have to think of another way to break this stalemate.
Letting out a deep sigh followed by cracking his neck a bit, he closed the curtains and stepped away from the window.
"Twelfth time's the charm."
Alaya really gave him a troublesome target.
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AN: Yes, this is full CG EMIYA without any nerfs with all the benefits/buffs any other CG gets from the Counter Force.
If you want to support me and choose which extra story I should update or write next. Then you can do so on p@treon at /Nimthewriter