The crying had faded. Mizuno Kengo looked down, saw his daughter was asleep.
He lifted her gently, carried her towards the dojo.
Akiyama Keisuke followed, close behind. He couldn't take his eyes off her.
The police officers with their broken arms, the bodies, the chaos... They were forgotten.
Back in the bedroom, Mizuno Kengo laid his daughter on the bed. Taeko woke up.
She sat up, a jolt of fear snapping her out of sleep. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for danger.
"We're here!"
"Don't be afraid, Taeko! You're home!"
Her father and fiancé soothed her. Taeko slowly calmed.
Mizuno Kengo held his daughter's hand, his grip tight. "Taeko, what happened? Where have you been?"
A flicker of terror crossed Taeko's face, a shadow of the horrors she'd endured. But it faded. She began to speak, her voice quiet, telling her story.
Mizuno Kengo and Akiyama Keisuke listened, their faces growing dark with rage.
"Monsters! Animals!"
"They deserve to die!"
"So it wasn't demons. It was men, using the demon's name to hide their sins!"
"The police! We need to call the police!"
Mizuno Kengo was furious, but he was calmer than Keisuke. "Those men built a hell in this city. Calling the police won't be enough!"
Taeko was calm now, her voice steady. "Don't worry, Dad, Keisuke. That hell is gone. That's how I escaped."
"It's gone?"
They blinked, looked at her, eager for details.
Taeko bit her lip. Her eyes held a strange light. A mixture of awe and fear.
"I don't know how it happened.
I was locked up, punished for not learning fast enough. I felt hopeless. Then, a man appeared in my cell.
He asked if I was Mizuno Taeko. He asked about the place. Then, he left. He said he'd come back to save me.
At first, I thought it was a dream.
Then, an hour later, he came back. I walked out of my cell. The place was a river of blood. All the guards were dead." Her voice was hushed, a ghost story whispered in the dark.
"He gathered the victims, said, 'You're free.' Then, he vanished." Her voice broke, a sob caught in her throat.
"Whoever he is, I want to thank him," Keisuke said, his voice full of awe.
Mizuno Kengo noticed a detail. "Taeko, you said he knew your name. Had you met him before?"
Taeko shook her head. "He had golden eyes, like a cat. I'd remember eyes like that."
"Golden eyes?" Mizuno Kengo and Akiyama Keisuke spoke at once.
Taeko looked at them, puzzled. "Have you seen someone with golden eyes?"
Keisuke spoke quickly. "Was he tall? Strong? Black hair? Did he carry a yellow gourd?"
Taeko thought. "He had a gourd."
"It was Aomura!" Keisuke whispered.
"Aomura?" Taeko's eyes widened.
The name held a jumble of emotions for her. Fear, gratitude, a strange curiosity.
"A student at the dojo..." Mizuno Kengo explained quickly, his mind racing.
Before yesterday, his only thought about Aoki was "talented student." Keisuke had recommended him.
Now, in two days, Aoki had changed their lives, changed the city.
He was a force of nature, a whirlwind of destruction and salvation.
"That was Aomura's gift," Keisuke said, his voice full of wonder.
"Gift?"
Mizuno and Taeko looked at him, curious.
Keisuke said, "Before he left, Aomura said he had a gift for me. I didn't understand. He meant Taeko!"
Mizuno Kengo said, "A gift? It's a miracle! He saved her life! But Aomura's gone. I don't know if we can ever repay him."
Keisuke sighed. "Tomorrow, Azabu will shake because of Aomura."
Hundreds of missing women, the Fujita family, powerful men, a hundred deaths... Each was a bomb. Now, they were all exploding. Azabu would be torn apart.
That was why Aomura had left. He'd known the storm was coming.
Fujita Seiyu seemed small now, a petty squabble compared to the scale of Aoki's actions.
Mizuno Kengo's face hardened. "This isn't over."
He'd built a dojo this big. He wasn't helpless.
He wasn't as powerful as the Fujitas, but he was a force in this city.
More important, they weren't the only victims.
When they joined together, even the Fujitas would feel their wrath.
...
One story ends, another begins.
Aoki had said goodbye to Keisuke. Two uses of Space Warp carried him to Mitsuri Kanroji's house.
He'd searched the area for demons. He knew where she lived.
He stood at the gate, lifted his hand to knock.
Click!
The gate opened. The pink-haired girl stood there.
"Miss Kanroji," Aoki said, smiling.
"Aomura!"
Mitsuri Kanroji's face lit up. Then, she remembered. She covered her mouth, glanced around. She grabbed Aoki's arm, pulled him into the yard, closed the gate.
The yard was quiet. Six people stared at them.
A middle-aged couple, four children. Mitsuri's family.
Aoki bowed. "Hello. I'm Aomura. A friend of Miss Kanroji."
"Oh, you're Aomura," the kind-faced man said, smiling. "Good, good."
The gentle woman gathered her children. She smiled. "You talk. We'll go inside."
The yard was empty. Just Aoki and Mitsuri.
Mitsuri's cheeks were pink. "Aomura, the people at the dojo told me to tell you... Don't go back."
"I know."
Aoki nodded. "I came to say goodbye, Miss Kanroji."
"Goodbye?" Mitsuri blinked, confused.
Aoki said, "I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?" Mitsuri asked, her voice small.
"Nowhere special. I'm traveling," Aoki said.
He knew his first stop. After that, he'd decide.
He paused, took out a pair of black stockings.
"This is for you."
Mitsuri covered her mouth. Sadness turned to joy. "You're giving them to me?"
"A parting gift," Aoki said, smiling.
He didn't mean anything by it. He just thought the green stockings were ugly.
Mitsuri's face flushed. "But... I didn't get you a gift."
"You don't need to. Just go easy on me next time we meet," Aoki said, waving.
"Go easy?" Mitsuri looked puzzled.
"Goodbye, Miss Kanroji."
Aoki didn't explain. He smiled, leaped. He landed on the wall, vanished into the night.
Mitsuri watched him go. Then, she turned, walked inside.
Her kind father looked up from his book. "Aomura's gone, Mitsuri?"
Mitsuri hugged the stockings, her face bright. "He came to say goodbye. He's leaving."
She skipped away, her heart light.
The kind man stared, confused.
Why was she so happy about a goodbye?
---
Hello there ShixT9 here, caught up already?
Extra Chapters in my patreon right now go check it out.
patreon.com/ShixT9
Don't forget to drop stones and a good review if you like the story so far ^-^