[WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS TOPICS THAT MIGHT BE TRIGGERING FOR SOME READERS.]
Katagiri accompanied me and Chikao on our trek to Kyomachi. "I'm going to need your complete attention. I'll start with the matters that concern the both of you as of now. The Serpent Deceit is certainly here. Their objective is to collect the eight heads of Yamata no Orochi to reawaken it."
"How many are left remaining?"
"Five. Meaning he only has the power of three of Yamata no Orochi's heads. Three heads is already too much, and if he acquires his fourth head here, it's going to be troublesome for him."
Chikao chimes in. "Now that we've pinpointed where he is currently residing, where can we find the head located here, though?"
"I cannot intervene with fate. My intervention could lead to your pitiful end much sooner than you want it." Her cold demeanor pours out of her words.
"Can you give us something to go off at least?"
She shakes her head. "You two will need to investigate Otsu for yourselves." She leans to look at Chikao walking on the other side of me. "You won't be able to hear me and Yukimura for a bit. Our conversation won't be too quick."
A sound-blocking barrier surrounds us as we continue to walk. Katagiri's expression suddenly became enraged. "Yukimura. You've met only one deity of good alignment. I recommend that you find all of the vessels before ▣ ▣ occurs."
Loud beeps erupted in the middle of her sentence, causing it to make her words incoherent. "What was that?"
Katagiri frowns. "The information I tried relaying would have interfered with fate somehow. I'll just give you this." She handed me a silver pocket watch. She speaks as I open it. "That's all I can give you right now. If you can figure it out, then your fate might be able to change. Izanami is really reluctant about me giving you any information that could help you right now."
The inside of the clock watch was unintelligible. It was wavy and blurry. No one could read the time on something like this.
"You look confused. Ah, yeah, you won't be able to see what it says for quite some time. Just keep a hold of it, okay? I'll be watching over you." The barrier shut down, and Katagiri vanished.
"What's that pocket watch for? Is it blessed with her love?"
While showing the opened pocket watch to him, I said, "If that's her definition of love, then I'd be disturbed."
"What's the point of such a useless item?"
"Katagiri told me that I'll be able to see it one day, but it's not going to happen for a while."
The sun shines brighter as we walk into Kyomachi. Chikao begins acting like a child in a toy shop. "This is a spectacle! Where is our first destination?
"There's a café down the street if that's good."
"Sounds like a deal!"
The aroma filling the café's air made me feel euphoric. The piano's jazzy tunes set a lax tone. Chikao hums to the rhythm of the piano. The clink of our mugs being placed on the table interrupts our soothing moods.
Chikao takes a large sip before initiating the conversation. "Have you relayed a message to your sister about leaving for a while?"
"It wouldn't have mattered if I did or didn't. Life would still remain the same for her."
"How'd you come to that verdict?"
"Well…" My words took a minute to gather. "After my father's death, she's been avoidant of me all the time. She would always be popular at school and caring for everyone, except me. This might be off-putting to say, but I think I died; she wouldn't even notice. She cares about her new mother more than me despite the fact that she was skeptical of our new parents a few days ago."
There was a pause. Chikao's eyes were filled with commiseration. He places down his cup and rests his head on his fist, with his usual thinking face. "What happened earlier today, Daitan? You care about your family, so why were you so quick to come here with little to no thought?"
"Having some time with a new friend who strives for the same goal I have would really help me. You're also very wise and a good guide for me. Finding myself along with accomplishing things with you is all I care about."
"Though you did skip a question, I am content with your answer." He raises his cup to mine. "Promise me you'll check up on your family once we execute this deceit."
"It was one of my list of plans already." Our cups clink together, signaling the start of our journey.
———————————————
Recovery lasted overnight due to there not being any wounds. Of course, with such an event happening, I'm blinded by the flash of cameras and a gaggle of news reporters swarming me with questions posthaste. The only problem was that the headline went national, meaning Fumiko will stumble upon this.
The boss commanded my presence not long after the reporters left. He looked at me with a grin on his face. "I'm rather astounded by our accomplishment yesterday. You've garnered quite the audience, haven't you?"
"I would have been flattered if they hadn't done a post-game interview before I could even completely gain consciousness."
The boss scoffs. "I hope that you've completely awakened, because I have something for you." He reaches under his desk and throws a black DES uniform onto the desk. My eyes widen. "You are now a Rank 1 Executioner. With this, you'll be able to do executions outside of the DES of Kyoto and without my permission."
An uncountable grin appears on my face. I admire the uniform. It had the same design, with only the color changing from my original one, but that small change is a huge honor. "I can't put into words how much I appreciate this."
"With this, the case of the illegal executor is void. You'll be assigned to execute this Serpent Deceit. No matter what happens, you cannot drop this case. Now go on; I don't want to waste your time with any pointless blabber."
The soothing sound of the rain tapping my umbrella helped me retain my thoughts. Not only am I now free from the boss's damn orders, but the execution order on Yukimura has been dropped. It wouldn't be a surprise if they still had some sort of private eye looking out for him, though.
I wonder how they've been holding up for the past few days. All my enthusiastic emotions have never been compiled together like this before, or maybe it's the fact that I've been looking through a negative lens ever since I got this job, with Fumiko being the only source of drive I had left. Her optimism always put me at ease.
"Guess who's back?" I announce as I enter the house.
Wailing could be heard in the distance. Turning the lights on, I see Fumiko slumped on the dining table beside the kitchen. Broken glasses of beer and crushed cigarettes were scattered across the table. I bolted to Fumiko's aid. "What the hell is going on?"
Fumiko turns her head, and her blue, woebegone eyes send a sense of dread creeping up on me. I noticed her arm was with blood-stained bandages. She begins to speak with a raspy voice. "H-honey… I'm sorry…"
At that moment, a soul-crushing epiphany began to sink into me. "You're out of your fucking mind! What even drove you to this point!?"
Fumiko turns her head away and says, "You… can't see me like this…"
My body was struggling to figure out what it should do. My throat became tight as the air began to feel heavy. I sat on the chair next to her and gently pulled her arms away from her face. As I move the hair covering her face, I say, "Just calm down, okay? I'll clean up this mess and we can talk about it after I finish, alright?"
I begin throwing away broken bottles of glass and cigarette butts. This was all new to me. Not seeing her usual clingy self threw me in for a loop. Did Yukimura and Mya see this? It's unlikely that she applied those bandages to herself. Hopefully, I could get all these questions cleared up soon.