Kouji sat in silence, elbows on his desk, fingers curled loosely around the handle of a weapon he had no reason to hold.
It was clean. Sharp. Precise.
The metal had been fused with a polymer base, reinforced with dust pulled from training dummy fragments. A blade that could cut through reinforced Kyokai shielding. Something an A-Rank would be proud to wield.
He wasn't proud.
He didn't feel much of anything.
"You've gotten good at this," the Devil said in his mind — not smug, not cold, just quiet.
Kouji stared at the weapon. "Is that what I'm supposed to be?"
"That's not the kind of answer I can give."
He rested his chin in his hand. "That man — back on the mission. He said… the Anomaly lives. What did he mean?"
The devil was silent for a moment.
Kouji placed the weapon down gently. It didn't feel like it belonged in his hand anymore.
The next morning, he entered one of the quieter training halls in the lower Association wings. No instructors, no observers. Just the low hum of ambient generators and the echo of his own steps.
He didn't warm up.
He didn't need to anymore.
He extended his hand toward the metal beams in the corner and pulled.
They responded immediately.
Metal flowed like liquid around a core of copper and glass — a triple-fused staff weapon formed in less than four seconds, reinforced with aura threading from his fingertips.
No stress. No backlash. Just execution.
Kouji didn't smile. But he felt something calm.
Elsewhere, Ryo flipped through digital logs with a focused expression. He hadn't slept much. Akechi's recent reports on his screen.
He looked closely at a specific one:
Demon Type: Flame (Incompatible Sync)
Instability Window: Controlled manually
Source: Unknown
Late afternoon. Kouji walked through downtown Kanzaki Ward with his hoodie up and his headphones in.
It wasn't raining, but the clouds looked like they could break at any moment. The street was peaceful — vending machines humming, shop signs blinking lazily, and a dog barking somewhere far off.
Then he bumped into someone.
"Sorry," Kouji muttered instinctively, stepping back.
The man he'd run into blinked — white hair with bangs, hands in his pockets, casual jacket. He looked about thirty. Not a Hunter. Not armed.
But the way he stared at Kouji made the air tense for just a second.
Then he smiled, raising a hand slightly. "Nah, my bad. Wasn't paying attention."
Kouji hesitated.
The man studied him for a beat longer than necessary.
"You're a Hunter, right?" he asked. "Got that walk."
Kouji nodded. "Just came off a mission."
"Figured. You've got the tired-but-not-allowed-to-look-tired vibe."
Kouji cracked a weak smile. "Do I?"
"Yeah. I used to work in that mess too."
They walked a short stretch of sidewalk together, neither really directing it.
"You left?" Kouji asked.
The man shrugged. "Didn't like the direction things were going."
His tone was light, easy — but the weight behind it wasn't.
As they neared the train station, the man slowed.
"Name's Rintaro, by the way."
"Kouji."
They exchanged nods.
Then, before turning into the crowd, Rintaro looked back slightly and said:
"Don't let them turn you into a tool, Kouji. Even sharp ones break."
Then he was gone.
He returned to HQ just past nightfall.
Yumi was still at reception, scrolling through reports with one hand, sipping from a can of vending machine juice with the other.
"You look like someone just whispered conspiracy into your soul," she said without looking up.
Kouji leaned against the counter. "I think I met a ghost."
She finally looked up — smirked. "Well. That's new."
She reached into her desk drawer and slid him a slim access card.
"Higher clearance. They updated your Rank, Grats"
"Guess your serious about your future"
Kouji stared at the card.
"…Are you?"
Yumi paused, then smiled — smaller this time.
"I am", "But"
"I don't know what they're making you into," she said. "But I know who you've been."
She stood, stretched, and added as she walked away:
"Just… keep being him. Okay?"
Kouji said nothing.
He pocketed the card, then looked back at the empty hallway behind her.
Later that night, he sat alone again.
The city outside blinked in red and white.
The passcard lay on the desk beside his hand.
"The closer I get to them…"
"…the further I feel from myself."