Late at night, all was silent.
Moonlight spilled over the entire village, as though draping this peaceful land in a thin veil of silver.
The cool night breeze blew gently, carrying the scent of grass and earth and lending a touch of freshness to the silent night.
At that moment, Teiichi was darting across the rooftops of the town, scanning his surroundings, hoping to spot the demon in time when it hunted and prevent a tragedy.
This was the only way Teiichi could currently think of to find the demon.
This had been going on for five days.
Over those five days, Teiichi had also gathered clues around town during the day, hoping to find more information about this vicious demon.
From what he had learned, this vicious demon had already killed five people. The intervals between its hunts varied, with the longest being nine days and the shortest three.
Although Teiichi knew that, based on its previous pattern, the demon probably would not hunt again within three days, he could not wait easy. A life was at stake, after all. Teiichi could not simply assume that the demon's killing pattern would follow those previous cases just to give himself a few easy days.
So, starting five days ago, Teiichi had been running back and forth across the town's rooftops every day.
A long time passed.
The distant horizon had already begun to turn pale.
Teiichi finally slowed to a stop, a trace of fatigue in his expression, yet a faint, relieved smile on his face.
"What should I have for breakfast?
Hmm... I'll have two servings of tea over rice and three egg pancakes today."
Teiichi spoke to himself. Then he jumped down from the roof, brushed the dust off his clothes, and headed toward the restaurant at the village entrance.
"Kato!"
Teiichi had just returned to the inn after lunch when the owner urgently waved him over.
"What is it, sir?"
The innkeeper looked grave as he asked Teiichi, "Have you heard footsteps on the roof while you've been sleeping lately?"
Teiichi's heart tightened at those words, but he tried to remain composed as he answered, "N-no, I haven't. What's wrong?"
The innkeeper sighed. "Lately, some people in the village have been saying they hear footsteps on their roofs while they're sleeping at night. I didn't believe it at first, but I was sleeping rather lightly yesterday and heard them too. I'd been meaning to ask if you'd heard them."
An awkward smile crossed Teiichi's face. He wiped nonexistent cold sweat from his temple and answered, "No, I go to bed fairly early. I haven't heard anything."
The innkeeper patted Teiichi on the shoulder and cautioned him, "Good, then. Listen, even if you do hear something, don't go poking your nose into it. Just stay in your room and sleep."
Then the innkeeper glanced around. After making sure no one was coming in, he lowered his voice. "I suspect it's a demon running around on the roofs, deciding whose family to eat!" His voice was filled with worry and fear.
With that, the innkeeper returned to his normal volume and continued, "So don't sleep too soundly, either. If you hear someone opening your door or coming into your room through the window, you must run out right away."
"Got that?" the innkeeper asked sternly.
Teiichi nodded solemnly, then walked numbly back to his room.
Once inside, Teiichi silently unfastened the weights strapped to his body, then looked at the Nichirin Blade set to one side. He hesitated for a moment, shook his head, and dismissed the impractical idea.
He had to bring the Nichirin Blade. How else would he kill the demon? He could hardly find the demon, come back for his Nichirin Blade, then go over to kill it. By then, it would be far too late.
With only a Nichirin Blade on him, his nighttime running should be much quieter. Unless someone was awake or a very light sleeper, they probably would not hear him running.
If that still disturbed them, then Teiichi could only say there was nothing he could do.
"For the town's safety, you'll have to sacrifice a little sleep quality," Teiichi sighed, speaking to himself.
It was not as though Teiichi had never considered running on the ground.
But first, running on the ground meant having to go around obstacles like houses. Staying at ground level would waste a great deal of time, and this demon was very stealthy when hunting. If he failed to spot him in time, he could very well get away;
second, visibility was poor on the ground, with houses easily blocking his view. From a rooftop, he could see several nearby areas, but on the ground, he could only see the surroundings along the road.
Thus, after weighing everything up, Teiichi decided to keep running across the rooftops.
Early the next morning, in a simple, old-fashioned courtyard in the northwestern part of Yamada Town, sunlight slanted across the laundry hung out to dry, gilding it with a golden glow.
Kawashita Sachiko stood in the courtyard, still holding a bundle of freshly washed clothes. As she hung them up, she called softly:
"Amaru..."
Yet after a while, there was no response in the courtyard apart from the sound of wind rustling the leaves. Kawashita Sachiko frowned and raised her voice. "Amaru! Stop sleeping and get up."
Her voice echoed through the morning air, but there was still no response. Kawashita Sachiko began to grow impatient. She hastily finished hanging up the remaining laundry, then picked up a clothes hanger and marched toward Amaru's room.
As she neared the door, she began calling, "Amaru, didn't I tell you to answer when Mommy calls you? And why aren't you up yet? Didn't I say that today we were going to..."
Her words stopped as she pushed open the door and found an empty room.
"Amaru... Amaru..."
Kawashita Sachiko began shouting. The empty room brought the recent rumors in town back to her.
"Amaru... Amaru..."
Her voice echoed through the empty room, but no one answered.
At that moment, a middle-aged man came out of another room. Having heard his wife's cries, he grumbled loudly, "What's going on? What are you shouting about so early in the morning?"
At the sight of her husband, Kawashita Sachiko seemed to find her pillar of support at once. She hurried to his side and said in a trembling voice, "Amaru... Amaru's missing!"
The man's face instantly turned deathly pale. He, too, remembered the recent rumors around town about the vicious demon that appeared at night and preyed specifically on children.
The two quickly returned to the child's room and searched it carefully once more, but apart from Amaru's toys and clothes, they found nothing. They even searched the entire house, leaving no corner untouched, yet Amaru seemed to have vanished into thin air.
"Dear, what are we going to do?" Kawashita Sachiko asked in a trembling voice, tears already spilling uncontrollably from her eyes.
Kawashita Kenichi took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Holding his wife's hand, he comforted her. "It's all right, Sachiko. It's all right. Amaru might just have gone out to play on his own."
But once the words left his mouth, he realized himself that the explanation was rather far-fetched. Nevertheless, he repeated, "That's right. He just went out to play on his own."
After saying that, he seemed to believe the explanation himself and grew much calmer. He turned to his wife and said, "Let's do this. We'll split up and look for Amaru. I'll search around town. You go to the homes of the children Amaru usually plays with and see if he's gone to play at one of their houses."
Kawashita Sachiko nodded and wiped away her tears.
Teiichi had just finished breakfast and was walking toward the town, his steps steady, his gaze occasionally sweeping his surroundings. Just then, a series of urgent calls broke the morning stillness.
"Amaru... Amaru."
The calls were filled with anxiety and worry. Teiichi's heart tightened as well, and he hurried toward the voice.
After following the voice for a stretch, he saw a middle-aged man not far away, anxiously asking the people around him about something. Four or five people had already gathered around the man, standing together with grave expressions.
The man kept asking the people gathering around him whether they had seen his child.
Teiichi walked over, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "Has your child gone missing?"
"Has your child gone missing?" Teiichi walked up beside the man, a trace of disbelief in his voice.
Hearing Teiichi's question, Kawashita Kenichi turned his head, a flicker of hope in his eyes.
Yet instead of answering Teiichi's question directly, he asked urgently:
"Have you seen my child? His name is Kawashita Wakamaru. He's around seven or eight, with short black hair, about this tall."
As Kawashita Kenichi spoke, he gestured to indicate his child's height, looking at Teiichi expectantly.
Teiichi gazed into Kawashita Kenichi's eyes, which were filled with hope and anxiety. It was as though he could see through that layer of hope to the despair deep within Kawashita Kenichi's eyes.
He slowly shook his head and said in a low voice, "I haven't seen your child."
At that, a flicker of disappointment crossed Kawashita Kenichi's eyes.
He did not linger with Teiichi, instead continuing to question the people around him.
Yet every inquiry brought the same answer-no one had seen Kawashita Wakamaru.
Watching Kawashita Kenichi's retreating figure, Teiichi lowered his eyes. His heart felt shrouded in thick, dark clouds, so heavy he could barely breathe.