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"Trust. And people that you can trust.
It could probably be one of the most important things you got in your life, right?
I mean with it, you can do many things together with those that have each other's best interest in mind.
And speaking of trust, those little shits from The Inside that I ended up meeting…
All of them….
Well, most of them.
Some of them weren't just little shits, but massive turds. The elephant ones.
And especially those people of the Oymyakon… They seem like a nice group of people.
Though regrettably, I wasn't able to stay for very long…
But my brief, well, extremely brief visit to said frosty lands did net me with some new herbs that I never thought I'd see before.
This place just seemed to be a treasure trove of herbs with different usages just hidden under the snowy climate, with some being capable of blood-clotting, anti-inflammatory, and several other nifty benefits.
To an extent that is.
It ain't some kind of S*nzu Bean I'll tell you that.
But with a good enough concoction, not to mention nifty tools of modern plus ancient medicinal science, I bet that as long as the patient doesn't have something crazy serious, like a huge gaping hole in their body, I would be able to patch them up appropriately.
Though, whenever a situation like that would happen… Is something only left to time itself.
So I will.
And when a time comes that I could put my skills to use, then I will."
-Myoujou Kurogami's Oymyakon Travel Journal Entry (Excerpt), 2002.-
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-Kuremisago Forest.-
'Hold on a minute…' Myoujou thought, scratching his head as he went through his journal that listed the herbs he collected so far and their uses.
'So if you mash it up into a paste and apply it to the skin, it helps somewhat with blood clotting, but if you eat it, it causes stomach sickness and maybe death?'
'I can see the stomach sickness part, that makes sense... But where the hell does death come from?!'
'Like in poisoning… or from diarrhea?'
'What even…'
'But for Mother to know all of this, she must have been quite the adventurous one back then, eh…?' Myoujou sighed, shaking his head as he leaned against a tree.
'Don't tell me Mother knew about this because she ended up experiencing it…'
'No Myoujou. Do not think about that.'
He really didn't want such images in his head right now.
He was busy within the Kuremisago Clan's mountains, waiting on Shintarou alongside Saiga after the man excused himself for a 'bathroom break' in the woods.
'Seems like Mother had a whole world's worth of journal entries filled with journeys and stories within these letters.'
'But I can tell that these are just torn pages from the total story of what the journal should be…' Narrowing his eyes, Myoujou placed the letter between his journal and back within his red coat.
'So in that case… Where are the rest? The rest of the journal entries?'
Thinking so, Myoujou opened the amulet resting around his neck.
He didn't know why he decided to wear it at a place like this, but whatever it was deep down within his soul, he had no plans to fight it.
-click!-
-And inside said amulet was a picture of his mother; Misao Kurogami holding baby Myoujou in her arms.
If you were to compare the two facially now in a way, despite gaining the facial ferocity and aura of his father Yujiro Hanma; The Ogre, it seemed that most of his facial features were borne from that of his mother's.
It was just the way they were arranged and constructed that set them apart.
She was a lean woman, slightly thinner due to her illness with long raven-black hair similar to his, and a piercing set of hazel-brown eyes that drew a kind expression with thin eyebrows and full lips that were slightly raised.
Though her fair if not ghastly pale skin complexion was many tones lighter than the tanned-skin Myoujou, alongside his rather thick eyebrows that brought his somewhat chiseled face into a slight perpetual frown.
-A 'Thinker's frown'.
-'It's not an angry face, but the frown of a thinker.' He would tell Shintarou, to which Shintarou refused to call it so, labeling it an 'Angsty Pout', to much of Myoujou's annoyance.
'Could it be that the ogre has them? The other notes left by Mother I mean…'
'-No… I doubt it, he didn't seem like the cultured type…I mean, does he even read books?'
The Ogre surely didn't have time to read books, right?
-rustle, rustle-
Hearing the rustling from the bushes, he knew that his rest time was nearly up and it would be time to move once again.
'Questions for a later time, I guess.'
But the one who came from the woods wasn't Shintarou, but Saiga Furinji. Which in other words his, or rather his 'Sensei's' client who hired him on a little mission…
Well, if you could call it a little mission that is.
Their so-called mission was to follow Saiga and assist him in getting to the bottom of all the mess that was the Kuremisago Clan War; especially the instances of their own non-combatants getting massacred at that.
He didn't know much about the inner workings of said clan entirely, but what he did know was that they'd be paid handsomely for this mission.
But honestly though? He sort of felt bad for Saiga.
The man before him was a 'salt-of-the-earth' kind of fellow, a real stand-up guy in his opinion, with a family he wanted to protect and keep safe in these turbulent times, and then shit hits the fan twice over causing him to work overtime.
'It's like swimming in sewer water, and then when you finally get out of the sewers, a garbage truck dumps its load all over your face.' Myoujou shook his head at his own figurative example of Saiga's situation, before nodding at Saiga in acknowledgment.
"Hmmn. It's you."
Saiga gave a half-smile, something surprising for Myoujou considering the situation he was in. "Yeah, I wanted to chat with Mr. Shintarou, though it seems he may be a bit busy."
"Well, you don't have to know him to know how he carries himself." Myoujou snorted. "Even at a time like this, Shintarou would say; 'When nature calls, man should answer.' before going to do his thing."
"Haha… That seems like something he would do."
"Well, that's because it is."
A silence wafted through the two and their surroundings as the frosty chime of the wind steadily blew throughout the forest.
It may not have been something akin to a comfortable silence, but it sure wasn't an awkward one by any means, as neither of the two forced any conversation that they'd have no interest in continuing.
The shining-white snow with a hint of crimson from the morning sun piled up little by little upon the trees, its leaves, and the multicolored reddish-brown to green forest floor brought back many memories from the Oymayakon in Russia to Myoujou.
"Haaaah." Myoujou exhaled at the familiar feeling, his mind focusing even more as he cooled off.
The crimson morning light of dawn invoked a yawning sensation in many who saw it, as it attempted to dye the living world in its own shade of morning light-red.
To many, this light would be an omen of what is to come, but for Myoujou, it was just the start of a brand-new day.
"Seems you have a lot on your mind, Myoujou?" This silence however was broken by Saiga who stood beside Myoujou as he stared into the crimson morning sky.
Saiga looked over at the young Myoujou. Though it seemed like he was somewhat blank-faced, he could tell that the boy was trying to suppress the emotions on his face, to remain calm at all times.
In a way, it kind of reminds him of his best friend Senzui when they first met nearly a decade ago.
"Not much more than you would have, especially with a situation like this," Myoujou took a glance at Saiga, his eyebrows quirked with curiosity. "---But even then, what's it to you, Uncle Blondie?"
-'Uncle' + 'Blondie'
It was the final compromise between the rude boy named Myoujou and Saiga for him not to call someone who wasn't even in his late thirties yet an old man.
Apparently, to Myoujou it was one hell of a compromise to even consider, much less carry-out, but he did so regardless.
'No skin off of my back.' He thought.
-But still, why'd he ask?
"I'm just curious, is all." Saiga casually replied with a wave of his hands.
"I already know about Mr. Shintarou, the 'Phantom Titan's' story… Well, whatever I do know from hearsay anyways."
"But other than you being some prodigy disciple picked up from the slims of The Inside, there isn't much known about you… Probably explains why there's a lot of stray eyes peering at you these days."
"Ain't that so…"
To the surprise of none, he knew that there were a lot of hostile eyes on him because of Shintarou's work in the mercenary business, and he knew it would cause problems sooner or later for him.
"Well, I've got no intentions of living a peaceful lowkey life any time soon, so if problems come my way… As much as a pain they are, I'll deal with it head-on."
After all, if he wanted to get stronger, he would need to fight others, and to fight others he'd need to meet others.
So a lowkey life was the furthest thing away from what he wanted and needed.
"So, other than accompanying Shintarou, what would be your reason for getting intertwined in all of this…" Saiga asked.
"Reason, huh…" Myoujou murmured. "What is my reason…"
'Well, what even is my reason…'
It wouldn't be the first time he'd ponder on something like this, and the blonde standing across from him speaking to him would only bring it up within his mind once again.
"Hmnn… That's something I've been asking myself too."
It was an honest admission coming from the very heart of the boy named Myoujou Kurogami.
No matter how much he mulled over it, other than 'getting stronger', he just couldn't genuinely focus fully on a concrete goal.
'I remember saying before that I fought just to survive…'
'But before that, I said years ago that I wanted to be ruler… A King… The Prime Minister…' Myoujou frowned at the thought, as it was bringing up some rather sore memories for him.
' —Then I realized that the reason why I wanted to get stronger probably wasn't there anymore… Wasn't alive, so to say…'
'But really, how much of it could be true, and how much of it could just be childish gibberish?'
Chuckling softly at the sight of a frowning Myoujou who was deep in thought, Saiga continued as he turned his gaze at the now morning winter sky, ignoring the snowflakes that settled on his vest and light-blonde hair.
"You see…" Saiga continued, snapping Myoujou out of his thoughts. "I've always wondered about things of that nature for a long time."
"---That so?" It wasn't surprising to hear in the least as Myoujou had somewhat expected it, but hearing it from the horse's mouth was a whole other deal.
"Yeah, about my role in life. My fate. My destiny. Actions one can take, good, bad, or even in between, and whether they even matter in the end." Saiga said.
"But, the most important part to me is… 'How I can help others'. It's my 'raison d'etre' of sorts."
"No clue about what you just said, your 'raisin' or whatever, but I'm gonna guess it's another word for 'reason' or 'goal'."
"Mmhmn."
The sound of Saiga's faint chuckle caused Myoujou to raise his eyebrows, wondering what was up now.
"Hahaha, My bad. Seems like I was just rambling on, wasn't I?"
"Yeah, you were. But, it's cool. You made me think about it once again." Myoujou sighed. "Besides, it's not like I've never thought about it anyway."
"Is that so…"
"Yeah. So to answer your question, Uncle Blondie," Myoujou turned his gaze to the frost-filled snowy sky. "Right here, right now… The reason I want to gain strength…"
Myoujou thought back to the past, the twilight era in which he lived in peace and prosperity with his mother and her aides, the troubling times together with his father; The Ogre, and finally his tumultuous times within The Inside.
What was the reason he kept on persevering?
"It would be… so that my words could matter." Myoujou firmly said.
"So your words— could matter?" Saiga asked.
"Well, yeah. That's the best way I put it at this point in time."
A brief flicker of emotion flared across Myoujou's face, it being a tinge of embarrassment once he was self-aware of his own words which he firmly believed in.
" —Sounds like a silly excuse, huh? Like a child starved for attention, but hey, that's my reason."
"Now I'm not one of those speaker guys..." Myoujou trailed off, "A Philo...something..."
"A philosopher." Saiga aided him.
"Yeah, that. But I do know that when you got money, power, and influence, then whenever you talk, people will listen, and if you've got those three at once and lots of them at the same time, then most things will be easier at the very least…"
"So basically it's kinda like this;" Myoujou gestured with his hands as he mimicked a scale weighing two different scenarios. "-If you're poor, then you can't really donate much to charity by yourself, since you'll have to live within your means…"
"So instead of trying to help others out, you should make sure that you're the one that's doing fine, y'know?"
" —But if you got loads of cash, you could donate and help out even more."
Looking at Saiga who stayed silent whilst listening to him, Myoujou scratched his head in a rare show of bashfulness. "Well, it's an idealistic scenario sure, but that's what I believe anyway."
-caw, caw-
And as Myoujou was lost in his thoughts, an eagle soaring in the air swiftly flew past.
"?"
'A Japanese eagle!' Finding something that was in his opinion noteworthy, a bright twinkle shone in Myoujou's bright hazel brown eyes on his otherwise calm face. 'And it's a mom at that too...'
It was a dark brown eagle that soared gracefully, with lighter golden-brown plumage on its nape and white markings on its tail and wings befitting of young and immature age.
'-But wait, aren't they kinda rare or maybe endangered or something? To see one of them around here… Must be migration season or something…'
'It looks so peaceful…' Myoujou mused as he found himself lost in thought staring at the avian creature. 'If I had wings, I would like to fly like that as well…'
"You see, Uncle? Like that." Myoujou pointed at the distant avian creature.
Seconds went by as he watched it soar into the distance until he soon lost sight of it, but he still couldn't stop staring in the direction in which it left.
"Haaa… How youthful." Hearing what the young Myoujou said, Saiga sighed deeply.
'So that's your reason.'
For a kid to keep on striving in a world like this…
—A reason like that isn't so bad, now is it?
Everyone has a reason to keep on moving, and in the end, the only thing that differed with each individual was the intensity.
How far would one go for their own goals if it meant that they would be fully realized?
Even Saiga himself was desperately seeking answers to these questions.
-rustle, rustle-
Taking both Myoujou and Saiga out of their thoughts the rustling bushes beside them parted to reveal a satisfied Shintarou who had yet to pull his pants all the way up.
"Alrighty then, let's get going." Shintarou said, still fidgeting with his belt buckle.
"Took you long enough, were you shitting your soul out or what?" Myoujou's face scrunched up. "And pull up your pants, you geezer."
"Pipe down, ya' cheeky brat! A man gotta do what a man's gotta do!" Walking over to where Myoujou stood, Shintarou swiftly placed him into a rough headlock.
"You should know this by now kid; 'When Mother Nature calls'…"
"-'Man should answer!' I get it, I get it, so let go, Old Man! Did you even wash your hands!?" Myoujou yelled as Shintarou nuzzled his head. "And your pants are still down!"
"Haaa…"
Looking at the Master-and-Disciple pair bickering in a rather laidback fashion during a situation like this, Saiga sighed as he rubbed his forehead.
'Gaining the strength needed to have your words matter in this life…'
His mind still wandered on the thoughts of the young Myoujou arguing beside him.
Even if Myoujou's wording wasn't the most eloquent thing in the world, the meaning and purpose of his words were already delivered to Saiga succinctly.
'I can somewhat see where this kid is coming from, or rather. what he's trying to say.'
Shortly after, the three took off once more, heading to the manor in order to both find Senzui and end this civil-like war.
Gaining strength to have your words matter huh
'Senzui, this bloodshed between both sides, we need to end it.'
Saiga's eyes shone a determined blue.
It was the look of a man that had made up his mind, and wouldn't budge even when facing pressure as large as a mountain.
It was the look of a man on a mission.
'With our power, I'm sure we can do it.'
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-Thirty Minutes Later-
-Kuremisago Forest-
The trio of martial artists; Furinji Saiga, Satou Shintarou, and his disciple Kurogami Myoujou made their way through the Kuremisago Forest with a somewhat tense swiftness.
Their strides weren't exactly filled with enough intensity to be called a sprint nor a rush, but it wasn't relaxed enough to be considered a jog either.
-To them, it was a simple and quick orderly movement meant to save stamina for the future.
That was when you take into consideration the physique of a martial artist in this world of course.
The trio cut through the wind at a speed that put nearly all of the fastest Olympian sprinters at their best to shame, as they blurred past a seemingly endless amount of trees and forest life that thanks to the snow were slowly turning snow-white rather than its earthly green
-And this was done without going all out.
What they saw along the way paled to the utter destruction of the manors previous to it, but the sight of crimson blood and unmoving corpses strewn about never failed to send danger signals to the trio.
Just like the old days when the ancestors walked across the commercially-undeveloped Earth and came across a dead body, whatever it was, these danger signals usually meant; 'Beware. Whoever/ Whatever caused these deaths are still lurking on this very land.'
Myoujou cast a solemn glance at a particular corpse that seemed to have a fist-sized hole in its chest.
"Not liking this one bit, Shintarou." Myoujou scowled.
Myoujou knew when someone was trying to show off.
It was too showy. Myoujou had seen death. He had seen executions. And he had seen when it was carried out swiftly, and when the executioner wanted the victim to suffer.
And in this instance, the culprit or culprits were clearly trying to show off.
It was as if they knew they were being watched and just threw anything they could in the way, not to hide, but to display it all in a 'LOOK WHAT I DID!' kind of manner.
"Whoever did it's sending a message all right, and they don't care who's seen it."
"If we were to say that it's the same freak that's going around killing people, then who's to say that this fella doesn't want things to get crazy between both sides?"
"And if these Kuremisago fellas are supposed to be highly trained ninja-assassin-combatants, and they're all spread out and dead, then things are gonna get a lot crazier when whichever group of sickos decide to show their faces.."
"You may be right on the money, kid." Shintarou nodded. "Seems like you've got a real monster up in your home, eh Saiga?"
"A man." Saiga corrected, "A human being who's about to be caught given their due payment."
"Hmmn?" Shintarou hummed.
"I mean that there's no such things as monsters Mr. Shintarou. They don't exist after all." Saiga said. "What does exist are animals called humans, and the rest of the animal kingdom. No more, no less."
"And at the end of the day, no matter what this culprit tries… They're only human…"
"---And humans are not infallible. So we'll catch the culprit without fail."
Myoujou couldn't see Saiga's expression since he was facing in front of him, but he could tell what Saiga might be feeling at this instance based on how cold yet resolute his voice sounded.
'Uncle Blondie's pissed. But then again, if some freako started shanking people I cared about and then showboated about the whole deal, then I'd also get pissed. Anyone would for that matter.'
"Aye. You Furunji's sure are scary when you get riled up." Shintarou said as they kept their brisk pace.
Striding through the once-green forest trail, there was something that slowly settled in Myoujou's mind.
You see, if Myoujou's mind was a succulent sweet little apple sitting on the porch, then this thought was a pile of worms crawling all over said fruit, eventually burrowing their way into its core.
It wasn't like a literal worm, like the ones currently being devoured by an Ja[anese Golden Eagle as it attempted to bring it back to its nest in order to feed its young, but a more... literary worm.
-A literary worm-like thought.
And this worm-like thought in question was quite the nagging one, prodding and poking about in his brain.
It started out fairly mild, like the pitter-patter of snow falling, before pilling up into something big at the back of his mind.
It wasn't some grand question about the theory of life, or the morality of taking said life, and while it was morbid, in the grand scheme of things it was but a seemingly innocuous one.
'Two, four, six, eight…'
'Twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight…'
Naturally, this wasn't him counting the two and twelve times table.
His formal education ended the moment The Ogre plucked him out of his comfy home and shucked him into The Inside after all.
What he now learned in terms of academics mainly belonged to the books he bought with spare change Shintarou would leave him with.
But rather, what he was counting was the number of corpses he'd seen on his way to their destination.
"Hey Geezer, Uncle Blondie!" Myoujou spoke up. "How many people usually live in a village, huh?"
"Usually a couple hundred, kid," Shintarou said as raised his eyebrow in thought. However, just by Myoujou's question, he seemingly grasped the gist of his disciple's inquiry. "---But if you're asking about the Kuremisago… Then I've got no clue."
"Roughly seven-hundred and fifty.' Saiga said.
"Roughly?" Myoujou said.
Saiga nodded. "I said 'Roughly' because, at one point in time, the total estimate of those that lived here together was into the late-hundreds to early-thousands.
"Then…" Myoujou trailed off as his brows furrowed, thinking back on the corpses he passed by.
"Well, those numbers are definitely not the same at this moment, Myoujou." Saiga simply said.
Myoujou realized. It meant that these guys have been doing this for a long, long time.
'Why…?' Myoujou thought.
It wasn't like he felt some kind of remorse or sympathy for said people who passed away.
'Why are they picking each other off like this?'
He knew it was because of a disagreement— frankly, nearly all events that erupt in fighting between others started with a disagreement.
He just wondered why.
"But aren't you guys super strong?" Myoujou spoke in Saiga's direction, drawing his attention.
"Hmmn?"
"Yeah so, I've been meaning to ask this, but what's so serious between you guys that are so strong, you could probably go against the military and win that you have to pick off your own fellas…" Myoujou said, his eyebrows pulled downwards.
"So you're wondering about that too, huh?" Shintarou said.
For the longest while he'd seen these clansmen go at each other in a seemingly endless fashion, only being able to put some sense into the madness as of late.
Myoujou said, "Yeah I am. I can't help but wonder why. I know this is kinda naive, and I know that you fellas don't get along, but after this many casualties, there still isn't a conclusion?"
Even if Saiga was someone typically considered an 'outsider' despite marrying the 'crown jewel princess' of the Kuremisago Clan, Myoujou still thought that maybe Saiga's own perspective on this situation could help clear things up for him.
"Well… This is all I've collected as an outsider," Saiga breathed out as he continued, "---But things have always been skewed with the Kuremisago from a long time ago…"
"You see, from the beginning the Kuremisago Clan was solely fine-tuned for one main aspect; The pursuit of power."
"Gaining… Strength?" It wasn't much different than what Myoujou wanted, so it wasn't something hard for him to believe.
"Yes. To put it shortly, it was gaining strength to assist the continuous progression of the bloodline no matter the cause." Saiga resumed.
As silhouettes of buildings steadily eased their way into their sights past the collection of many snowy forest trees, Saiga thought he should wrap up his explanation quickly.
"But as the years passed there grew a drift between those that wanted to continue such methods, versus those that wanted strength but by different means."
"The Traditionalists Mainline versus the Rebels, the Liberationists as they would call it." Saiga finished his explanation.
'Which is natural since said Traditionalists don't look very fondly regarding my marriage with Shizuha… Which I'm sure fueled it somewhat…' Saiga thought to himself.
"Is that so? Huh." Myoujou muttered.
"That's correct. Though as you can see, evident by all this destruction and death, is what Shizuha, the others, and I were trying to avoid" Saiga said.
"Though it seems that something is trying to get in the way of that." Shintarou reminded the two.
Seeing his disciple's silence he patted Myoujou's back, but as usual, he did it with enough force plus the speed that they were running that it nearly sent Myoujou flying face-first into the patchy snowy ground.
"Ack—!? W-what the hell!?" Myoujou yelled, regaining his sense of balance just in time to avoid face-planting into what appeared to be snow… Or rather a snow-covered boulder.
— A quite large snow-covered boulder.
And although wouldn't hurt him that much, it would be a pain to deal with.
"It's the way things go kid, with all of this infighting and stuff." Shintarou sighed. "At the rate this place is going, if it keeps up, I bet this place might turn into a ghost town soon enough."
"..."
Hearing Shintarou's words, Saiga's face crumpled a bit, before returning to his previous blank expression.
"We're here. Here's where most of the Rebellion stays..." Saiga said, his voice slowing down to a crawl as his eyes widened.
"Well, I'll be damned..." Shintarou in a rare showing of surprised rubbed his eyes.
"What the hell is this..." Myoujou murmured.
It was carnage.
Myoujou knew this scent by heart.
This scent was a familiar one alright, and although it was a scent that was usually brought up as a result of violence, the scent back then couldn't even compare to what he smelled at this moment.
It was an odious stench, he recognized from even before he took his first steps on the path he walked on today, and no matter how masked it was, or how different the situation was, he'd always be able to tell exactly what was it with pinpoint accuracy.
-This scent was none other than the scent of blood.
"Blood."
-Fresh. Blood.
"Can you all smell that?" Myoujou asked the two men. "It's damn tragic what's going on here."
The base Saiga and his comrades stayed at now lay in ruins, with shattered wood and unmoving bodies lying about within the dying fire that had already climbed throughout the building. Sizzling as the fire stayed put, it appeared as if the fire was finally satisfied after devouring portions of the manor within its hungry flames.
'It's like a storm went through here…' Myoujou stood still as he stared at the fiery blazes, his mind going a million miles a second as he tried to decide his next course of action from here. 'I can't feel nor sense the presence of those inside at all... They're all gone...'
'So what happened?'
'No. I know what happened- A bloody massacre happened, that's what.'
Walking throughout the fallen manor left in disarray alongside Shintarou and a deathly silent Saiga, they witnessed many things, the hinges of the doors were pulled off, walls being torn down ,and sizeable crater-like holes were common on the ground.
"What the..." Myoujou felt unnerved.
No, that wasn't quite right, now was it?
What had unnerved him wasn't quite the result of violence but the needless brutality of it.
The Kuremisago clan was a clan that prided itself on having no attachments when it came to performing their jobs and the mercenaries had seen some stuff growing up but still-
What kind of grudge did the perpetrator have to do this?
-creak…., creak…., creak…-
Unfortunately, though they searched each and every room, meeting area, and even obscure places thought to be hidden away within the manor, the search would prove unsuccessful as the more they reached into the other rooms, the more deceased people they met.
-A total 'Clean House', as some would say. It was a term that was only brought about by the complete annihilation of all the lives that lived within the manor; the guards, the maids, and everyone else alike.
However, if that wasn't morbid enough their very own group, too, would meet similar tragedies.
After a brief fifteen minutes passed, they returned to the outside of the manor in which they had originally arrived to discuss their findings.
-Casualties within the manor were at an all-time high, as there were no survivors.
'This is some crazy shit...' Myoujou rubbed his forehead.
In the end, you can call it ignorance, instinct, or a super strong gut feeling, but Myoujou felt that things were about to get even crazier if not more tragic.
'So this is it, huh? The final stretch of this arc of sorts.' Myoujou thought. 'I don't know, but something's telling me that a 'ceasefire' is the last thing that's gonna go down in this place.'
'I don't wanna think so negatively and be a 'negative-nancy', but my instinct is yelling...'
'---And when it yells, I can't help but listen.'
And Myoujou knew...
-That not only would tonight be the last night that he'd be able to sleep somewhat comfortably for a while...
-And not only that tomorrow would truly be the beginning of a hectic if not disastrous day ahead for nearly everyone involved.
-But that whoever is the one behind all these murders, will surely be there to target them tomorrow.
"I genuinely can't believe this." Saiga muttered to no one in particular. The emotions swirling in his eyes were vast and nearly indecipherable.
But Myoujou caught it. And he could tell with 99.9% accuracy.
That at this moment, right here right now...
That Saiga briefly felt like murdering someone.
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Chapter 13: What Makes You Stive/Drive (REDUX) [END]
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13th Chapter Out!
Here We Are!
Now We Practically Completely Caught Up To My Original Fic.
Now It's Time To Go Even Further.
This Arc Will End In About 5 Chapters.
Thank You, And Stay Tuned~
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