Chapter Summaries

Michael accepted an invitation from the Ryougi family head, while Shirazumi Rio confessed his feelings to Ryougi Shiki and was rejected. Rio left the school wondering what Shiki meant by calling him weak.

• Michael healed Asagami Fujino’s ankle, then agreed to visit the Ryougi family head after Suzuriaki Akiryu delivered the invitation.
• Shirazumi Rio prepared roses and waited for Ryougi Shiki, whom he had secretly loved.
• Rio confessed to Shiki and asked her to go out with him.
• Shiki rejected Rio, saying she hated the weak, and left without hesitation.
• Rio tossed his wilted roses into a trash can and wondered what counted as strength.

Michael visited the Ryougi family estate, where the family head asked him to formally become Shiki's swordsmanship teacher. Michael said he had no harmful intentions toward Shiki and would accept her as a disciple if she agreed, though he doubted she would.

• Michael arrived at the Ryougi family estate and discussed the family's history and influence with its head.
• The Ryougi family head asked Michael why he had come to Kanbōzi City and offered the family's support.
• Michael said his business in the city was already resolved and invited the family head to speak plainly about what he wanted.
• The Ryougi family head asked Michael to formally teach Shiki swordsmanship, partly to build ties with Animusphere and gauge their relationship.
• Michael said he would accept Shiki as his disciple if she agreed, but doubted she would.

The head of the Ryougi family told Michael that his younger brother had died after being caught in the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, and revealed he intended to challenge Michael despite understanding the risks. After Michael acknowledged Shiki’s extraordinary value and accepted the challenge, the head of the family invited him to the Kendo Dojo.

• The head of the Ryougi family explained that Shiki’s upbringing was guided rather than closely controlled because of the family’s unusual heirs and their risk of mental collapse.
• The head of the Ryougi family told Michael that his younger brother, Ryougi Shiki, had died after being caught in a battle involving BT Group during the Holy Grail War.
• Michael said he did not recall a Master named Ryougi, and the head of the Ryougi family clarified that his brother had not been a Master and denied seeking revenge recklessly.
• The head of the Ryougi family said he had installed Shiki as family head and was willing to trust Michael, believing Michael had stayed in Kanbōzi City because Shiki held special value.
• Michael confirmed that Shiki’s value exceeded the head of the Ryougi family’s understanding but kept its nature secret, then said he forgave the coming offense.
• The head of the Ryougi family stood and gestured toward the Kendo Dojo, inviting Michael to face him.

Michael tested the Ryougi family head’s swordsmanship in the dojo, where the head achieved a breakthrough with a single Iaido strike. Michael evaded him effortlessly and left him with advice, while the head’s sword shattered into equal fragments.

• Michael examined the Uchigatana and invited the Ryougi family head to attack first.
• The Ryougi family head focused himself and unleashed a powerful Iaido strike, reaching the threshold of a Sword Saint.
• Michael vanished before the blade could hit him, then appeared behind the Ryougi family head and praised his swordsmanship.
• The Ryougi family head considered the possibility of Shiki and Michael joining together, then accepted a towel from Suzuriaki Akiryu.
• After Michael had left, the Ryougi family head handed the sword to Suzuriaki Akiryu, and the blade shattered into equal fragments.

After Ryougi Shiki called him weak, Shirazumi Rio decided to prove his strength by beating someone up and chose a troublesome blond junior as his target. He challenged the junior at an arcade and, after winning the first fighting-game match, found himself exhilarated by provoking him as their second match began.

• Shirazumi Rio reflected on his lack of fighting experience and decided that beating someone up would help him become strong.
• Shirazumi Rio chose a blond junior who had embarrassed him and often bullied arcade customers as his target, planning to confront him in a quiet alley.
• Shirazumi Rio challenged the junior to a fighting game at the arcade and deliberately let his opponent take an early lead.
• Shirazumi Rio defeated the junior in the first match and mocked his skills, making him furious.
• Shirazumi Rio savored the excitement of provoking the junior as their second match began.

Shirazumi Rio lured the blond underclassman into a fight and accidentally killed him with a wooden club. Panicking about arrest, Rio decided to conceal the murder by eating the corpse, though he had not figured out how.

• Shirazumi Rio repeatedly defeated the blond underclassman at an arcade until the enraged boy dragged him into an alley.
• Shirazumi Rio grabbed a hidden wooden club and struck the blond underclassman on the head, killing him.
• Shirazumi Rio checked the boy for a pulse, realized he was dead, and feared that the police would ruin his life.
• Shirazumi Rio decided to hide the corpse and hit upon the idea of eating it, but wondered how he could consume so much flesh.

Souren Araya found Shirazumi Rio after Rio killed a blond junior and struggled to dispose of the body. Araya awakened Rio’s aberrant nature and secured his agreement to gain power, leaving Rio identified as the first to make their promise.

• Shirazumi Rio tried to drink the dead junior’s blood but choked and despaired over the body.
• Souren Araya appeared and questioned Rio about morality and his desire to consume the corpse.
• Souren Araya touched Rio’s face, awakening his sense that he was an aberration.
• Shirazumi Rio disposed of the body with his bare hands, shattering his jaw and tearing his muscles.
• Souren Araya offered Rio power beyond common sense, and Rio nodded in agreement.
• Souren Araya introduced himself as a magus, learned Rio’s name, and remarked that one character separated it from becoming a lion.

Shirazumi Rio hunted a homeless man in a secluded Kanbōzi City alley, convinced that the world was ruled by madness and that he needed a companion. He killed the man brutally and left believing he could improve his technique by practicing on more victims.

• Shirazumi Rio prowled Kanbōzi City at night, searching for prey and thinking about finding a lioness to accompany him.
• Shirazumi Rio found a homeless man asleep in a dead-end alley and prepared to kill him.
• The homeless man woke, and Shirazumi Rio severed his arm when he tried to defend himself with a sake bottle.
• Shirazumi Rio mocked the homeless man's pleas, then stabbed him in the neck and dismembered him.
• Shirazumi Rio judged his killing technique unskilled and decided he could keep practicing on the city's many potential victims.

Michael accompanied Shiki on her night walk and found a murdered homeless man in an alley, where he explained that Shiki’s Origin gave her a powerful urge to kill. He helped her release that urge in a fight, then carried her home while promising to seek a lasting solution.

• Suzuriaki Akiryu asked Shiki to return early, and Michael met her outside for their night walk.
• Michael sensed a dying human in an alley, where he and Shiki found a homeless man’s bloodied remains.
• Michael told Shiki that her Origin was death and that she, rather than Ori, possessed the urge to kill.
• Michael gave Shiki a dagger and offered himself as a target; overwhelmed by his blood, Shiki attacked him.
• After their fight, Michael carried the exhausted Shiki from the alley, and she trusted him to find a permanent solution to her urge to kill.

Ryougi Shiki visited Michael after hearing classmates discuss a gruesome murder and asked about controlling her urge to kill. Michael gave her an annotated copy of the Zhuangzi as a tool to tame the impulse, leaving her with a possible way to manage it.

• Ryougi Shiki heard two male students discuss a brutal murder in the shopping district and left the rooftop, her appetite spoiled.
• Ryougi Shiki went to Michael’s office, where he offered her tea and pastries.
• Michael explained that he could not eliminate Shiki’s urge to kill but had found a way to help her control it.
• Michael gave Shiki an annotated handwritten copy of the original Zhuangzi, warning that reading the immortal-level original could overwhelm her.
• Ryougi Shiki recognized the effort Michael had put into copying the text and thanked him.

Shirazumi Rio murdered Bottle-Cang Meizi, his fourth victim that month, and arranged her dismembered body into a Taijitu. At the scene, Akimi Daisuke connected the symbol to “The Two Principles” and went to confront Meizi’s agitated husband.

• Shirazumi Rio found Bottle-Cang Meizi drunk on the street and lured her into his embrace.
• Shirazumi Rio stabbed Bottle-Cang Meizi, killed her, and cut her body into pieces arranged as a Taijitu.
• Akimi Daisuke examined the fourth murder scene and noted that the killer had left no useful clues or surveillance footage.
• Akimi Daisuke recognized the Taijitu and began reasoning about its meaning, muttering about “The Two Principles.”
• An officer told Akimi Daisuke that Bottle-Cang Meizi’s husband, Bottle-Cang Changhong, was arguing with police and that their estranged son was named Bottle-Cang Guangliu.
• Akimi Daisuke left Officer Kobayashi in charge and approached Bottle-Cang Changhong.

Shiki rejected Shirazumi Rio when he confronted her at school, and he grew furious while deciding to awaken her suppressed murderous impulse. On his way home, he encountered Mother of Kanbōzi and approached her fortune-telling table, considering her as his next victim.

• Shiki reflected on the murders and her progress in controlling her urge to kill as she walked home.
• Shirazumi Rio called out to Shiki and criticized her for supposedly blaming others, but she dismissed him and walked away.
• Shirazumi Rio left campus enraged and resolved to provoke Shiki into revealing her murderous self.
• Shirazumi Rio entered an alley and found Mother of Kanbōzi offering fortunes.
• Shirazumi Rio approached Mother of Kanbōzi, considered making her his fifth target, and asked about his future.

Shirazumi Rio heard a fortune-teller predict that he would die at the hands of the person he yearned for most, then went to a bar to distribute his drug, Blood Pill. He left more people poised to fall into madness alongside him as he sought companions after Ryougi Shiki rejected him.

• A fortune-teller told Shirazumi Rio that his wish would fail and that he would die at the hands of the person he yearned for most.
• Shirazumi Rio prepared to kill the fortune-teller, but he put away his dagger and left when a group of students entered the alley.
• Shirazumi Rio went to a bar frequented by delinquent students and drug users to sell his drug.
• Shirazumi Rio promoted cheap Blood Pill samples, hoping to draw more people into madness and make them his companions.

Ori trained against the Ryougi family head and won by using her extraordinary physical strength to overcome his superior swordsmanship. After changing, she chose the red leather jacket and prepared for her expected night out with Michael.

• Ori and the Ryougi family head fought a real-blade kendo match, and he recognized how quickly her skill and strength were improving.
• Ori restored her stamina and defeated the Ryougi family head in their next exchange by relying on her inhuman physique.
• Ori met Suzuriaki Akiryu after the match, showered, and dried her hair while looking forward to seeing Michael that night.
• Ori picked out a kimono and took the red leather jacket from the wardrobe, deciding she would wear it.

Michael and Ori wandered together through the streets before New Year, teasing each other until four mindless attackers confronted them at an intersection. Michael left the fight to Ori, who prepared to draw her short blade.

• Michael met Ori outside the Ryougi family's bamboo grove and teased her for arriving late.
• Michael and Ori talked about New Year's wishes, and he told her that Ori was the girl he liked best.
• Michael showed Ori her embarrassed expression in a mirror and photographed her, prompting her to chase him through the streets.
• Four apparently drug-altered people emerged at an intersection and moved to surround Michael and Ori.
• Michael left the attackers to Ori, who gripped her short blade and prepared to fight them.

Ori returned to the Ryōgi Residence and learned that Suzuriaki Akiryu had been attacked by a woman who looked like her. Elsewhere, a frightened witness described a kimono-clad girl killing four punks, leaving the attacker’s identity unclear.

• Ori beat four drugged young men unconscious and continued through the city with Michael.
• At the Ryōgi Residence, a maid told Ori that Suzuriaki Akiryu had been attacked and was being treated.
• Ori visited Akiryu in the infirmary and asked who had attacked him.
• Akiryu told Ori that his attacker was a woman who looked very much like her.
• A drunken office worker saw a kimono-clad girl kill four punks with a dagger and silently watched her leave.

Kiritou Kaguya learned that a kimono-wearing serial killer had murdered four people and left evidence at the scene, including a badge from Miki School. When Akimi Daisuke asked whether Kaguya knew a student matching the witness's description, Kaguya decided to name someone.

• Kiritou Kaguya found Akimi Daisuke awake after working through the night and learned that the serial killer had killed four people nearby.
• Akimi Daisuke said the witness described a young woman in a kimono and that investigators had found evidence they believed could identify the killer.
• Akimi Daisuke showed Kiritou Kaguya a report about an illegal drug found on the victims and warned that the killer might escalate to breaking into homes.
• Akimi Daisuke revealed that a Miki School badge had been deliberately left on a corpse and said police would investigate the students.
• Kiritou Kaguya recognized someone who matched the killer's description and told Akimi Daisuke he knew a person who fit.

Ryougi Shiki tried to draw out the serial killer who resembled her, and Michael accompanied her while discussing what separates murder from slaughter. As they ate ice cream, Michael told her that killing was merely a tool and that the killer’s feelings gave it meaning.

• Ryougi Shiki walked the nearly deserted streets with Michael, hoping the killer targeting her would eventually appear.
• Shiki explained that she considered murder distinct from slaughter because a killer did not regard their victims as people.
• Michael flicked Shiki’s forehead, promised to handle the killer, and suggested they wait for him outside a Häagen-Dazs shop.
• Shiki and Michael ate strawberry ice cream, and Shiki asked Michael whether he had killed anyone.
• Michael said he had killed too many people to remember, described why his reasons for killing had changed, and said the act itself was only a tool.

Michael pointed Ryougi Shiki toward the north, claiming the stars had guided him, while she remained unsure which of two competing views on killing to accept. Elsewhere, Officer Kobayashi encountered the kimono-clad serial killer, but a sudden metallic clash stopped her dagger from reaching his neck.

• Michael left Ryougi Shiki to consider her own choice, then pointed north and suggested they might find something special there.
• Officer Kobayashi patrolled the streets as police searched for the serial killer before the New Year.
• Officer Kobayashi spotted a dagger-wielding girl in a dark green kimono and recognized her as the killer.
• The girl dodged Officer Kobayashi's gunfire and rushed at him with her dagger.
• The girl's dagger snapped in half just before it could pierce Officer Kobayashi's neck.

Michael saved Officer Kobayashi from Shirazumi Rio and noticed that other magi had targeted Shiki, while Shiki recognized Rio and confronted him in the alley. Their fight began, and Shiki asked whether Rio had killed the earlier victims.

• Michael shattered Shirazumi Rio’s dagger and saved Officer Kobayashi, who saw Michael and Shiki together.
• Michael revealed that Rio’s Origin had awakened through magecraft and sensed another mage beneath the starry sky.
• Shiki recognized the murderer as Shirazumi Rio and faced him with her short blade.
• Rio charged Shiki, concealed his approach with the shadows, and attacked, but Shiki blocked his blade.
• Rio praised Shiki and asked her to become his companion, while Shiki dismissed him and asked whether he had killed the earlier victims.