I tried every spell I knew. Every creature inside me, deity, demon, fairy, every last fragment.
And he was still going to kill me.
I fought in my elf form. It wasn't just a demon I was up against.
It was Age No.10 of the Ten Golden Ages. A syndicate of savage creatures with abnormal power levels.
His name was short. Unassuming. Harmless-sounding.
Mizu.
Yo. I'm Kiyoshi.
You're probably wondering why someone is trying to kill me.
Well… it all started with two humans who loved each other to the very end.
Itadori and Misuzu.
They loved each other even though they were pathetically poor.
And I was the product of that love.
My parents were human.
I wasn't.
I turned out to be a mix of every creature in this world.
People said things.
Like my mom must've cheated with a lot of creatures.
Humans are weird like that. They just can't mind their own freaking business.
When I was eight, they decided I was a threat, to society, to the human race, to the entire world.
They said I had to be killed before I unlocked the power they feared.
My mom was given a choice.
Give me up, live on, have normal children.
She didn't.
Neither did my dad.
How pathetic, right?
They were killed by the Imperial Police.
And when they tried to take me away…
I felt something.
Not sadness.
Not rage.
The closest word I have for it is trauma.
My power triggered.
Everything came out.
The magic was too much. It destroyed my hometown.
In other words,
I think I went off like a bomb.
I wiped out the entire area.
I was eight years old when I started wandering.
Eight years old, looking for a place to call home.
I went weeks without food or water.
By the time I reached a small town of dragons, I was barely conscious.
No one bothered me. Everyone minded their own business.
I liked that.
I stumbled across a stall selling all kinds of fruit. Apples. Berries. Things I couldn't even name.
Before I could grab one,
Everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, I was under a roof.
Sunlight slipped through the window, warm and gentle. The air felt clean.
It had been days since I'd slept on a real bed.
Maybe longer.
The door creaked open.
A young girl stepped inside. She had golden hair and eyes that matched, bright and curious.
The moment she saw me, her face lit up.
She ran out of the room.
"Papa! Papa! He's awake!"
She came back dragging a middle-aged man behind her. He had a cigarette between his fingers and tired eyes that had seen too much.
"You're awake," he said.
I just stared.
He studied me for a moment, then sighed.
"C'mon," he said. "You must be hungry."
He turned and walked out.
I was starving.
So I followed him.
I reached downstairs, and the scent of food sent a shiver down my spine.
There was a tall, slender woman at the stove, stirring something that smelled unreal.
The man with the cigarette stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist like it was second nature.
She had golden hair too.
Golden eyes.
The little kid dragged plates onto the table, then grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.
"C'mon! You're going to love Momma's cooking!"
I didn't resist.
I took a seat.
When the food was finally set down, the couple stared at me quietly. I stared back, unsure what I was supposed to do.
The woman spoke first, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Hey there. My name is Ayumi," she said gently.
"That's my husband, Hikigaya… and this is our son, Saki. Please, feel free."
She smiled.
It took me a second to process that.
Our son, Saki.
The kid who'd been dragging me around and shouting earlier,
was actually a boy.
That was…
pretty much the only part of her sentence I heard.
"Now what's your name?" the woman, Ayumi asked gently.
"Kiyoshi," I said, suddenly unsure of how much of myself I was allowed to give.
Hikigaya nudged my arm.
"Welcome to the family," he said. "Now dig in."
I took my first bite.
It was… unreal.
I'd never tasted food like that before. Rich, warm, filling. They must've used quality ingredients.
Just like that, I landed myself a family.
They never asked about my past.
They didn't look at me like I was broken.
They treated me like I belonged.
Saki and I grew close over time.
Somewhere along the way, I became the brother he never knew he wanted…
and he became the only family I had left.
He was happy. Truly happy.
Back then, I didn't understand how valuable that was.
I only learned its worth after everything was taken from me.
He was an idiot, loud, reckless, impossible to ignore.
But we shared one dream.
To enter the magic academy together.
Ayumi was a midwife. Hikigaya was a merchant, if I remember correctly.
Ayumi taught Saki and me how to read and write. Etiquette too. How to sit properly. How to speak without sounding desperate.
Hikigaya took us both under his wing.
He taught us the world was a cruel place, where only the strong and the wealthy survived.
He taught us magic.
Combat tactics.
And most importantly, how to make money.
He was a good man.
Until he died of emphysema when Saki and I were thirteen.
He really did smoke a lot.
After Hikigaya died, Saki stopped talking.
Not completely… just enough for the silence to feel wrong.
Days passed where he barely moved, barely ate, barely looked at anything.
I thought… maybe this was what grief looked like for him.
Then one morning, he laughed.
Loud.
Careless.
Like nothing had ever happened.
He started cracking stupid jokes again, teasing people, smiling too much.
Everyone said he was finally getting better.
But I knew.
Saki only laughed that much when he was trying not to cry.
A year after Hikigaya passed, Saki and I enrolled in a magic academy.
Saki changed after his father's death.
I still regret not knowing how to cheer him up.
Because his family took in a monster…
without ever realizing it.