The wind was colder in Mizuhara now. The kind of cold that made you check behind your shoulder, even when no one was there.
Kouji, Yuusuke, and Ketsu stood at the edge of the lot where the old lab had once been something more than ash and silence.
It was gone.
No rubble. No server wreckage. No trace of the corrupted aura from before.
Yuusuke stepped forward first. "They cleaned it."
Kouji scanned the lot slowly. "Erased it."
Ketsu, knelt by the cracked curb and ran his fingers over the newly dried cement. His black jacket shifted slightly with the breeze, showing the ragged edges of old scars just above his collarbone.
"This was intentional," he muttered. "Fire didn't do this."
They spent the afternoon circling the block — rooftops, alley cameras, drainage access, all empty. No signs of activity, no leftover aura residue. Whoever had cleared the scene knew exactly what they were erasing.
By the time the sun dipped low behind the distant skyline, the three of them sat together on a rusted bench outside a long-abandoned corner store.
Yuusuke tossed a broken cap from a soda bottle into the street.
"I hate this kind of silence," he muttered. "Like something's about to bite, but won't show teeth yet."
Kouji didn't reply.
Instead, he looked at Ketsu, who leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, black eyes half-lidded under short hair ruffled by the wind.
"You said Ryo found you," Kouji said quietly. "But before that… what happened?"
Ketsu was quiet for a while. When he finally spoke, his voice was even.
"My family," he said. "Old-school Kyoukai extremists. Believed fear was fuel, not weakness. Thought they could shape a 'final weapon' — a countermeasure against Devils and Curse-bearers."
"These Kyoukai-Clans are constantly in a cold war"
Yuusuke sat up straighter, eyes narrowing.
"They used me for trials. Said my aura was 'pure potential' but too dormant. So they started... forcing it."
He looked down at his gloved hand, flexing the fingers slowly.
"They'd cut. Break. Sever. Then watch me heal. Faster each time. Turns out pain wakes things up."
Kouji's jaw tightened. "They cut off your limbs?"
Ketsu smiled — not like someone amused, but like someone who no longer had anything left to flinch from.
Neither of them spoke for several seconds. The sounds of the city were muffled by distance and disbelief.
"But you escaped?" Kouji asked eventually.
"Yeah," Ketsu nodded. "Slaughtered my way out. Was bleeding to death when Ryo found me."
He exhaled, slow.
"I don't know what he saw in me. But he didn't treat me like a weapon. He let me exist."
Kouji stared at him for a long time, something unspoken passing between them.
Yuusuke broke the silence with a light punch to Ketsu's arm. "Damn. You're messed up."
Ketsu smirked. "And you're loud."
"Means we'll get along."
Back at the Association that night, Kouji barely had time to enter the dorm before a message pinged through his phone.
[PRIORITY MISSION — Clearance: Joint Field Deployment]
You have been assigned to a mission under S-Rank Akechi and A-Rank Hanzo.
Objective: Field data retrieval and asset protection.
Departure: 06:00.
He stared at the names. His stomach sank.
A few minutes later, he was knocking on Yuusuke's door.
"You're coming with me," he said flatly.
Yuusuke blinked. "Wait—why?"
"Because I asked. And I don't want to go alone."
The request was approved. Barely.
As the confirmation pinged back, Kouji stood alone in the hall for a moment, eyes low.
The Devil whispered, softly:
"You're stepping into something deeper than orders."
Kouji didn't answer. He didn't need to.
He already knew.
And so, Kouji, Yuusuke, Akechi and Hanzo, made their way to the mission objective.