"Was it you?!"
"That... that illegitimate son who murdered his father!!"
Kujo Ran's face twisted completely with fear and shock.
"No wonder... no wonder you chose me as the scapegoat!"
"Because I'm part of the Kujo family... you came for revenge!"
"Revenge?"
Outside the cage, Kujo Shiyan could not help letting out a cold laugh at those words.
"No, no, don't misunderstand."
"After all these years, my hatred for the Kujo family had long since ended."
"That damned old man had already paid the price he deserved."
"That slash back then—I deliberately spared his dog life and severed his central nerves."
"I made him spend the rest of his life in bed like a cripple."
"That was the greatest torment I could give him."
Kujo Shiyan rose to his feet and looked down at Kujo Ran.
"As for why I chose you?"
"That was because I knew perfectly well that anyone with the Kujo family's filthy blood in their veins would make an attempt for the sake of profit."
"Just like thirty-three years ago... those people killed my mother like a dog for the sake of so-called 'pure bloodlines'..."
"And made me lose the only love of my life!"
Kujo Shiyan's expression gradually turned grave. His fists clenched tight, his nails digging into his palms.
In a daze.
The dim warehouse vanished, and the bloody smell dispersed.
Time seemed to begin flowing backward, the hands of the clock spinning madly in reverse.
Back to that spring when cherry blossoms fell, yet the air carried a chill.
March 9, 1993.
Thirty-three years ago, at a tram station in the suburbs of Ban City, Cherry Blossom Country.
"Ding-dong!"
"Attention, passengers. The next stop is Rose Middle School..."
The announcement from the old-fashioned tram echoed across the empty platform.
The young Kujo