Under the dim incandescent light, two figures with feeble auras gazed deeply at each other.
"What if I said I was willing to give everything I had in exchange for your life?"
"That's not a funny joke. I'll take it seriously, you know."
"It's not a joke."
Igarashi Amaha looked at the serious-faced Aoki Akawa and asked in confusion, "Can you tell me why? And don't give me anything about how I look like your little brother. Not even a dog would believe that."
Aoki Akawa staggered over to Igarashi Amaha, pointed at his own collapsed chest, and said with a bitter smile, "What do you think I could do even if I made it out alive like this? A former genius jujutsu sorcerer, imprisoned by a bunch of monkeys for seven whole years. I'm afraid of the humiliation. How's that for a reason?"
"...I'm not someone who doesn't know how to appreciate kindness, but have you really made up your mind?" Igarashi Amaha asked after a moment of silence.
Aoki Akawa answered without hesitation, "Of course. My sense of humor isn't so twisted that I'd use something like this to amuse myself at your expense."
"Come on," Aoki Akawa said softly, spreading his arms and wrapping Igarashi Amaha in an embrace.
"This is just... so inexplicable..." Igarashi Amaha had never expected his first embrace with someone in this life to happen under circumstances like these. He squeezed his eyes shut, opened his trembling jaws, and bit down hard on Aoki Akawa's throat.
Splurt!!
"Ngh!" Aoki Akawa let out a muffled groan.
Scalding blood flowed freely into Igarashi Amaha's mouth. After an unknown length of time, he opened his jaws. Utterly drained of strength, Aoki Akawa staggered backward and dropped straight onto the floor.
"That... should do it... hehe..." Aoki Akawa forced out a harsh voice through the excruciating pain.
"Don't... feel guilty... this was all my own wish... maybe... it's my... mind playing tricks on me... I'm always in a daze... mistaking you for that brat Tokikawa... tell me... someone at such a wonderful age... with such wonderful talent... dying alongside a gutter rat like me, living in the dark... wouldn't that be too much of a shame..."
Aoki Akawa gave a dry laugh and slowly raised one hand. Using the last of his strength, he clenched it into a fist and bumped it against Igarashi Amaha's.
"I'll die here and fulfill the final meaning of my life. Don't grieve. I've long been like a dried corpse, rotting and wasting away here. But you, with your momentum that cuts through the wind, shouldn't end up like this. Go. Carry me with you and go fuck up this cruel world, Amaha... no, my little brother."
Thud!
With that, he toppled over stiffly. Staring at the ceiling, he smiled. "Tokikawa, your big brother's coming to see you."
The basement fell silent. Even Aoki Akawa's usually coarse breathing had disappeared...
Igarashi Amaha stared blankly at Aoki Akawa lying on the floor, unable to make sense of what was in his heart. Suddenly, he felt a trace of warmth on his cheek.
Was it a tear? No, it wasn't. It was Aoki's blood...
He smiled mockingly at himself. He had killed his friend with his own hands, yet couldn't even spare a single tear. Was it selfishness... or cold-bloodedness...
If Aoki knew, would he regret it...?
Igarashi Amaha closed his eyes. His consciousness sank slightly, and he fell asleep.
...Day and night alternated. After an unknown length of time, he slowly opened his eyes.
Drip! Drip!
The familiar scene was his inner world, its surroundings unchanged: an azure sea and an ink-black chessboard.
As he looked at the fifth "pawn" floating above the board, shimmering with light, a wave of sadness suddenly welled up in his heart.
He picked up the piece and gently stroked it, thinking, Aoki, thank you. Don't worry. I'll carry you with me and slaughter every cursed spirit in this world. Rest easy... big brother.
Clack! The fifth "pawn" entered the game!
The very next second after he placed the piece-
Rumble!! Rumble!!
The calm sea suddenly began to boil.
Hisssss!!!
The hiss of evaporation as water met fire rang out. A vast white mist suddenly billowed up from the ground, shrouding everything outside the pavilion until nothing could be seen.
Roar!!!
A shrill, fierce roar rang out, its piercing sound sending chills down one's spine.
Whoooosh!!
A fierce wind abruptly rose, and an enormous purple-and-white figure appeared within the white mist. He held one eye open and the other closed, as though he had seen through all the ways of the world, carrying an air of weathered age.
Boom!! It spread its wings, whipping up tremendous wind pressure. The white mist dispersed in an instant, and enormous waves rose on the sea, yet Igarashi Amaha remained completely unaffected inside the pavilion.
His eyes stayed on the chessboard as he extended two fingers without turning his head and pointed them at Crimson Owl. An ethereal voice echoed between heaven and earth: "Crimson Owl!"
Roar! Roar!!
As though frightened, Crimson Owl's body instantly exploded, turning into several white threads burning with purple-and-white flames that flew toward Igarashi Amaha.
The threads shifted through countless forms as they circled Igarashi Amaha. The next second, they began dancing wildly, plunging into different parts of his body!
At that moment, the transformation began!
Boom!! Purple-and-white flames began burning all around him.
Igarashi Amaha abruptly clenched both fists. A scorching, burning sensation filled his internal organs. He could feel the threads formed from Crimson Owl rampaging through his body, flowing along his meridians into his bones!
The intense pain dragged him back to reality. The heat radiating from his body had already melted the "Blood Claw" handcuffs. His lips were now parched and cracked, his vision blurred, and his face flushed red. He held his hands in front of his chest and panted heavily.
Through his haze, he seemed to see something squirming beside Aoki's corpse.
His pupils focused. Taking a closer look, he found that it was actually a rat gnawing on Aoki's corpse.
Igarashi Amaha immediately rose, wanting to drive the rat away.
But as soon as he stood up, he toppled over again. His legs felt as though their tendons and bones had been stripped out, limp and utterly devoid of strength.
Hearing the noise, the rat glanced back at Igarashi Amaha, who had fallen to the floor. It squeaked as though mocking him, then turned back and continued feasting.
He tried several times to stand, but his legs seemed to have melted and would not obey him.
"Fuck, I really am a mess." Looking at the state he was in, Igarashi Amaha gave a dry laugh and frantically mobilized his cursed energy. Every muscle in his body abruptly contracted.
Boom!!
He instantly vanished from where he was and appeared beside Aoki, clutching the rat that had been hoping to flee.
He gave the rat a bloodthirsty smile. Boom!! A burst of purple-and-white flame erupted from his hand, burning the rat to ashes.
After doing all this, he felt his head begin to grow heavy. Everything spun, and he collapsed onto the floor beside Aoki, falling asleep.
Just then, a purple barrier expanded outward from within his body, enclosing them both. A soft purple glow rose from his body, and beneath its light, the wounds all over him began healing rapidly.
Igarashi Amaha remained completely unaware of any of this.
Please support this in any way you can. I'd be endlessly grateful.