Another dreamless night. Or is it?
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A dark forest stretches for miles and miles without an end, without a beginning, and I'm placed right at its center.
Laying in a puddle formed by remnants of the tears from past rains, I find myself being stared at by a small monster, a wolf with chains stuck to its body.
The wolf cries a million times over, but all I can do is keep lying down, my strength all drained out. A single drop of blood fall from its face, or maybe it was mine.
The sound of paws approaching and knocking down trees comes from the north. Or is it east? I can't tell, but it does, slowly but surely.
The small wolf shows its teeth to the massive beast, a one-eyed wolf, before all goes silent. A wag of tail from the small white wolf happens before it locks tails with the bigger one.
For some reason, warmth envelopes my chest before I'm surrounded by darkness, being pulled down onto the puddle.
My breath starts to disappear, lungs scream for more, but all I can see looking up is the moon. The water blocks all sound, but I know it's mocking me from up there.
Vision goes first, and then only despair.
I wake up breathless, and my eyes madly wander around the unfamiliar room I am in. The memories of yesterday—or is it still today?
No matter, I remember everything—the big beast, the temple fight—and it all ended with us being crushed, or almost as the case seems to indicate.
My gaze falls on the other bed in this room, where I spot Aoha's sleeping face. Lazily, she hugs the sheets close to her body and keeps on rewarding herself with the rest she deserves.
Today was all about her; maybe I should reward her with something, like finding a good place to eat sweets. She liked the dangos from last time, so I'm sure there'll be something in this city to suit her taste.
Sitting up, I feel the strange hint of a body next to mine, which explains the pleasant warmth I was feeling a second ago, but this person, as I move, wakes up and mimics my action.
"You woke up a little earlier than expected, feeling fine?" A strangely familiar voice asks, putting a hand on my shoulder and wrapping the free arm of theirs around the back of my neck.
"What time is it?"
"Night, but if you are wondering, you passed out four hours ago.
"Since then, your fire friend and I brought you here to a hotel so you could rest."
"I have only two questions."
"Go ahead." The figure, the girl beast from before, with their yellow glowing eyes, approaches my neck with their sharp fangs and nibbles at it. "Ask anything you want."
"Okay. First, why are you so clingy to me right now?" I ask, but don't really react to the girl's advances, neither positively nor negatively; part of the perks of growing up around brothels is that you kind of create resistance to these things. "And second, where are your clothes?"
"Isn't it obvious?" I can feel her smirk as the sharp fangs of hers brush against my neck, with the promise of pain and maybe pleasure. "That's what you asked for.
"You wanted me as a reward if you won, and you did win, so I, as a beast of my word, am here dutifully making sure I fulfill your request as best as I can.
"And let's be real, the clothes? They only get in the way of that."
Nodding my head in understanding, I grab the pillow and fluffy a bit before letting my back fall back onto the comforting sheets of the bed. I wasn't expecting something like this; when I said I wanted her to 'become mine', I meant like my deal with Aoha.
But hey, who am I to complain? The sad news to her is that things don't happen like that for me. When we build a real connection and all, she can try again.
"I'll go back to sleep; you do whatever you want."
"You don't wish to claim your reward, then?" The girl asks, confused, laying her head next to mine on the pillow.
Sighing, I turn my head to face her and stare at her yellow eyes. "You misunderstood my words from earlier; I need you to be mine, but more as a person to share my goals and reach them."
..."Like a wife?"
"Wha- no, I mean as a companion, travel buddy, or whatever you call a person you fight alongside with."
"Well, that certainly makes things easier. But still," The girl hugs my body and rests her head against my chest. "Your body is already marked, so even if I wanted, I wouldn't be able to leave you. You and I, right now, are married forever."
Wait, what? She was grazing her fangs on my neck. Raising my hand, I slide my index finger on my neck and soon enough find what she was talking about: a bite mark deep embedded in my skin, a scar that doesn't seem like it will heal.
Upon opening my mouth to talk to her about it, the beast girl snores loudly, already deep in sleep within seconds. I don't know if it will bring me much headache, but as she isn't complaining, I won't either, beggars, choosers, and all that.
So, letting my body relax, I close my eyes and surrender my body to be used as a pillow by the sleepy girl beside me.
No dream tormented me anymore in what remained of last night, but the feeling from that dream still bothers me. Maybe it all has to do with what she said: 'Marked'.
One more thing on the list of things to ask her about, right below asking her name, as I can't keep thinking or calling her 'Beast Girl'.
Rising from the bed, there are no signs of any of the two girls, besides the well-made bed where Aoha was, all cleaned and looking like no one even slept in it.
Putting on my boots that they probably took off of me while I was passed out still, I stretch my arms and allow the deep yawn to escape my throat.
Taking my time, I look outside of the window and try to localize myself to where we are in Asakusa, and to my surprise, this hotel seems to be near the entrance gate.
Looking a little up, I see the temple and loads of guards going up the hill to check on what's left from yesterday's ordeal.
That's right. How do we explain to the guards that we took care of the beast without solid proof that we did?
I just need a piece of evidence to show them, and then I can entrust it to Mouse so she takes it to the Hunters Association, or I could do it myself. I'll think more about it later.
Grabbing my equipment, I walk towards the door and leave the room.
The sweet fragrance of alcohol and food catches me by the nose and guides me along the long hall containing other rooms people rented and are currently leaving to eat breakfast as well.
I spot a trio of guards leaving one room after sleeping together. I don't know if it's better than their place or if something else entirely makes up their reasoning for why, but hey, good for them.
A couple walks right in front of me; for the ears and other animalistic features, I can see they are fox people, or something like that; I believe they called them kitsunes or whatever.
Everyone takes the stairs at the same time, and going down, the couple in front of me blocks the view until the very last step, where they beeline towards a table.
Looking around, I try spotting my companions, but the big breakfast room, or whatever they call this place, is so full that it is hard to spot them, especially when they are not on fire or in a giant wolf form; they are normal-looking people.
A whistle calls my attention, and shifting my gaze towards it, I spot Aoha with her arms crossed and clearly uncomfortable as the beast girl stands up and waves at me.
Adjusting the quiver on my kimono, I see no arrows are left from yesterday, but letting it go for later, I walk towards my waiting companions.
"Morning." Aoha nods her head to me and returns her uncomfortable gaze to its reason: the girl.
"Good morning." I nod back to her, and as I go sit down, the beast girl pulls the chair with her feet so I can sit.
"Thanks." Sitting down, I crack my neck and rest my elbows on the table, with my cheek pressed against the solid wood surface of it.
"So, before I forget to ask," I shift my eye to the girl, and at that, she rests her back further on the chair, resting her arm around the back of it. "What's your name?"
"You don't know?"
"Yeah, you didn't tell me, so by consequence, I don't."
"The mark I left on you, it should connect us to a deeper level. I can see things from your past as blurs that slowly clear up, showing me the memories that make you who you are today, but it takes time, as of course, you will instinctively shield those memories away from my reach.
"And that should work to your side as well; perhaps you need more time to adjust. But for now, let me introduce myself.
"My name is Vio, and you are Zero, correct?"
I give her a thumbs up as an answer and look at Aoha. "That right there is Aoha, if you two didn't introduce yourselves."
"We didn't have the chance to, but it is a pleasure to meet you, Aoha." The tone in Vio's voice isn't too friendly, and Aoha doesn't answer her words, nor does she seem to care past the distrust she seems to have.
"Can we talk about the plan, or better, make one?" Aoha turns her head to me and uncrosses her arm, placing her hand on the table to affirm her need to know what we will do.
Which is fair; I promised to have one when we got settled on some coin, so I guess it is time now.
"Okay, to start, we need to have in mind the end goal," I say, crossing my arms and getting serious.
"And what would that be?" Vio asks, putting her hand on her chin, mimicking my seriousness.
"Kill the current emperor and all of his sons and daughters."
"But why do it? Why get into a fight with one of the most powerful people in the whole country?"
Sighing, I clench my fists and look down at the table, letting a dry laugh escape my throat. "I would love to say the reason is for the people, because of how the guards terrorize the population and steal from them to maintain the emperor's wealth and power.
"But in reality, my reasons are not noble. I want this fucker dead because of what he did to people I care about."
Aoha steels her face and looks at me, resonating with my words, maybe because of what I told her or because of her own wounds with him, but it doesn't matter. Vio raises an eyebrow and leans closer to me.
"The plan to do it can be considered either easy or hard depending on the things we will have to deal with, but to take down the emperor, we need to kill his family, and to do so, we need to get the right equipment.
"They are trained by the best magical professors money can buy and have the best magical items from the market; that means we need to go off-marked to acquire something from the same level."
Aoha's eyes widen as she understands where I'm going with it. "You can't mean that we need to-"
"The dungeons, yeah. This city doesn't have one, so we will have to travel the country after them. On the way we make money with the monsters, we kill and sharpen our combat techniques."
"Well, I stated this before, and I'll do it again." Vio puts her hand on my shoulder and grins evilly. "Your wishes are mine too, so if we need to kill things, I'm all on to do it."
Aoha, on the other side, looks deep in thought. I know that delving into dungeons is the last thing a sane person would resort to, but we are without options if we want our revenge.
With the expectant stare of both Vio and I, Aoha sighs, but her eyes stop on mine, deeply and almost intimately. We stay like that for a long second before she nods her head. "If that's what you think is best, I'll follow you."
A small smile comes to my face, and so I turn to my companions. "Let's eat then; later, we explore the city, and if something interesting comes up, we leave.
"Now, let me pay for some food for us." Searching for my coin pouch, I find nothing. "Where is that damn thing?"
Vio drops the pouch on the table, and the sound I was expecting doesn't happen. It had some coins in it, but it looks so empty; how can it be?
"Sorry, we needed to pay for the hotel, so I took the liberty to grab some money from you and do so." Vio comments and all I can do is grab the poor thing and stuff back in my kimono.
"Change of plans, we go claim the reward so we get our coin back, and then we eat."
"But won't we need proof of the hunt for that? We didn't get anything that could count as it, like a tooth or eye." Aoha comments, but at this point, I have a very bad plan.
"That's where you are wrong; we do have proof that we defeated the beast." Moving to behind Vio's chair, I hug her head from behind, letting the back of it rest on my stomach as I smug.
The silence from Aoha is plenty, but without options, we leave the place to do exactly what I said.
Walking towards the hunting association, the city's situation after yesterday becomes clearer, with people muttering about loud noises and guards reporting the disappearance of the beast in the temple.
Aoha asks for directions from a family of dog-like people, and they point us towards a more secluded street at the end of the city, leading to the exit gate. She starts to guide us to the place.
Resuming our way, some guards start walking in front of us—the same guards from the hotel.
"I heard from the captain that the beast seems to have been scared away by someone. There were signs of fire all around the place." One comments with a relieved sigh.
The closer one to him puts his hands on the guard's shoulder and grins. "Finally, now things can go back to normal around here. Well, if we disconsider the rebuilding of the temple aspect and all."
"I don't think that will be the case." The more gloomy one comments.
"And why's that?" The more happy one asks.
"Cause who do you think will be used as the workforce to rebuild the temple?"
All three stop walking, and we pass by them, with me taking a last look at them as their happiness from before became tiredness. Sheesh, sorry guys.
Wrapping my arms around Vio's shoulder, I start whispering to her. "You think you could, like, hypothetically, half transform when I ask you to?"
"I could try," Vio answers with a shrug. "But it isn't as easy as fully transforming, so I can't promise anything."
"It already helps, thanks."
I pet her head and watch as she nuzzles slightly, almost unnoticeably, at my hand before I take a step away from her to not make it so obvious to Aoha that I was whispering something.
The road becomes more inhabited and abandoned-looking; near the end of it, we see the association for the hunters we were looking for, a place all fallen to pieces and embraced by time.
Vines and overgrowth are taking over the wood walls and even the lower windows, giving a sad feel to this once-important building.
"This place is, in the best way possible, ugly as fuck." Vio says as she takes a closer look at the windows to see if there's anybody inside.
"Yeah, that's what happens when everyone is capable of defending themselves with magic. If it isn't a powerful magical being or a big monster, people can at least have a chance to punch back and run."
"Hunters became less and less needed, and most still believe in fighting without magic as the 'real way' to honorably do it." Aoha finishes my words with almost the same thing I was going to say.
"You had the pleasure to meet some?" I ask with a smirk.
Aoha nods her head and walks to the door, placing her hand on the knob. "This honor of theirs is the reason why most die before accomplishing anything. Stupid beliefs."
Without leaving me the chance to satiate my curiosity over her last addition to her phrase, she opens the door and walks inside, making me follow her as well as Vio, whom I pull by the arm.
Inside the building—which looks even more abandoned than outside with wildlife taking part of the ceiling—is a flower bed of exotic white flowers with soft purple on the end of their petals that make their house in the middle of the way leading to the bar, and talking about the bar, there's a cat man dressed in a formal wear cleaning some glasses and some bottles of alcohol. Talk about knowing where to put your money.
Around us, my eye is able to spot the empty tables people sit hidden on by the dark corners, all bruised up and with broken members, probably from the fight they had against Vio in the temple.
I guess there's no reason to postpone this any longer. I start walking towards the set of stairs leading up so I can get to the leader. It would be complicated to tell the whole association that the beast that almost killed them walks beside me.
If my memories don't fail me, and with a whole lot of luck, the one leading these people must be-
*Whoosh*
A left punch flies by my face, almost hitting me. My agility permits me to dodge, but by doing so, I fall backward, hitting my head on the back of a chair, and falling to the flowers that serve little to lessen the fall, now with a headache.
Aoha draws her katana and positions herself in front of me as Vio gets to my side and inspects my head. The big man responsible for this crosses his arms like a bodyguard and warns us.
"The boss doesn't wish to see anyone at the time, so scatter off strangers before I have to make you lot leave."
Aoha slowly puts her katana away at the warning and shakes her head. "There was no need for this action; a simple warning would have sufficed."
"Zero, you're bleeding." Vio cleans the blood from the back of my head and looks at the man with a death stare, growling loud enough to shake the wood tables. "You have signed off on your death, boy."
As Vio strides off in the men's direction, Aoha grabs her by the arm and pulls her back, whispering something in her ear that makes her gaze at me with preoccupation before calming down.
The hunters at the bar look at the woman whose growl can move objects and start to look at us with more attention.
My ears burn hot with rage, my head echoes a nauseating song, and before I know it, I'm pushing myself to my feet, moved fully by instinct like the times I wish to forget. It is like pushing a button; in my mind, there's only one wish: to fuck this guy up till he begs to die.
"Grab Zero and let's get out of here; we can come back later," Aoha orders Vio, and before anything can happen, I move without thinking.
Slowly walking towards the big man, I move with my head low, not even looking forward.
"You really want to do this, kid?" The man cracks his fist and raises his hands defensibly. "Then come on already."
One step closer and a jab flies, just like before, but this time I react accordingly. I tilt my head to the side and let my feet slide forward until I am beside him with a bloody knife in my hand.
The practiced movement is swiftly done; the room takes a second to realize what happens because it is the second the man changes his weight to the other leg and almost falls.
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A big stab hole on his left thigh is fully visible as his light-colored pants darken with the liquid and highlight the wound.
The man, grunting in pain, attempts another punch; this time my knife slices part of the top layer of his skin, leaving his forearm muscles exposed to the air so he can feel it burning.
I don't even notice the smile on my face, but everyone does. Raising my knife high up, I bring it down with everything I have on the man's face. In a desperate attempt, the man grabs his leather belt and makes it so my dagger gets stuck in it.
Using all my body, I push it further and harder; the leather belt starts to rip off, and the man's face gets into the danger zone. The point of the dagger reaches so close to his eye that one slip of his would mean his demise.
But in the reflection of the polished dagger blade, a figure approaches from behind, putting a hand on my shoulder. In an unthinking motion, I free my dagger from the belt and attempt to drive it to the person behind me.
The blade stops as the person blocks the attack with the hilt of a sheathed sword.
"Didn't I say this when we met? 'Control yourself, or others will control you'." Pushing my blade away, the ever-familiar figure with the long braided orange hair grabs me by the ear and pulls me towards the stairs.
"I'll be by my office; someone please take care of Gaap." The familiar voice belonging to an old friend, Arioch, orders the other members of this association, and they do so. "You two, come with me."
Arioch gestures for my companions, who don't lose any time following.
Inside the office, Arioch throws me against a wall and punches my side with enough force to have me almost cough my insides. Vio and Aoha get there just in time to see it.
"Did you become stupider with time? We are not in the forest anymore; pulling things like that has consequences."
Arioch, as I raise my face to respond, kicks my face and sighs heavily, rubbing her clearly tired eyes and letting herself fall to her chair.
"My deep respect for you is the only reason why I don't have you killed right now. So tell me, why did you come to the Hunters Association?
"And you two, sit down and put down the blade." She orders both my companions, who, without knowing what to do, stay on the defensive, Aoha with her katana on full display and Vio hiding her claws behind her back, but both, after a quick exchange of looks, comply.
Rising from the floor, I grab my dagger that fell by her pushing me and clean it on my kimono as I store it back on my clothes.
"What a hell of a greeting to an old friend who, let me remind you, saved you how many times, Arioch?" I say, limping to a chair and sitting down.
Laughing, Arioch looks at me with a more friendly gaze. "You forget the time we first met? When you did the same to me as I did to you now?"
Yeah, before all of this situation of saving Aoha, I was a very different person; those three years after Sino's death were rough.
The first week I ran away, I got back in deep contact with my instincts, hunting all the food I could get and scaring away those who dared to delve deeper into my personal territory.
Many hunted me down; one of those hunters was Arioch, the Queen of the Two Swords. I humiliated her in front of her own man, punching and kicking her until almost nothing was left of her.
But somehow I earned her respect by doing so; she said that the fact I used no powers made me the member she was looking for in the association, and she tried her best to make me join.
For a whole year, I ran away from her while moving forward into the country that, at the time, still had parts healing from the war the emperor caused.
But she convinced me to accept; then, for most of the time we traveled together and hunted beasts, as well as the emperor's high-profile guards.
"Fair enough." I rub my hurting cheek and calm myself down, holding my right hand as it shakes uncontrollably.
"You still have not been able to get full control, huh?"
"It is not as easy as you think to fight against who you are."
"We both know that it isn't like that; you're a good person-"
"I would like it if we could skip the therapy part because, about that beast in the temple, we were the ones who did the job," I comment to avoid hearing those words; I don't need them now.
It takes a second for Arioch to fully process my words, but once she does, she nods her head. "Okay, that makes sense considering your abilities. You have a part of the beast with you?"
With a grin on my face, I turn slowly toward her. "Something better than that; I have the beast with me."
Not waiting for Arioch to react, I walk to Vio and place a hand on top of her head, giving her the nod she needs to try half-transforming.
With a little bit of difficulty, Vio's head starts to transform until her whole body does too; in the end, she becomes a smaller version of the one we fought, resembling a normal wolf's height.
"Good girl." Patting Vio's head, she wags her tail and looks at me with appreciation. Arioch, on the other side, doesn't take it too well, putting her hands on her two swords and staring at Vio with a death stare.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. I know she did some bad things, but she's with me now."
Arioch stares at Vio for more seconds before looking at me, finally acknowledging my words. "You tamed her?"
"A little more complicated than that, actually." Turning my neck, I show her the mark on my neck. You don't need to be an expert to know what it means, cause it's not so rare to see it happen these days.
But the common is that the ones that connect with humans are a lot smaller, like small spirits that help old women take care of their houses or dogs that make company for hunters.
Not a beast or high spirit; those have too much pride to allow themselves to be tamed, and even so, they never truly connect with a human.
"I pity you." Arioch comments with a sad expression.
"Thanks, but it's not so bad-"
"Not you, the beast."
"...Okay?" I look to Arioch, but she doesn't provide any more context to her words, and between words, Vio goes back to her human form and stands beside me.
"So I assume the reward is what you're after, right?"
I nod my head, and Arioch smiles.
"Well, one gold coin for you. Minus the price of what we will have to pay for the mess you made, the price of medical care to my hunters, and my cut.
"So that leaves you with this." She slides three silver coins on the table, even saddened by the outcome. I reach for the coins; after all, some coins are better than none. Before I can, Arioch pulls the coins away.
"I forgot about the association's share, which leaves you with nothing."
...
"Meanie," I say, turning my face away with a pout.
"That's just how things work, and it's not like you didn't get a reward in the end."
"Well, all we came here for is done, so now is the part we leave; come on." I gesture for my companions and force on my face an unhappy expression, but it is not like this truly matters... Okay, it does, but better not to think of it or I'll cry.
I leave the office and walk outside of the building without looking back, so I only notice that I'm alone when I get outside.
Closing the door behind me, I take a deep breath and sit down on the ground, hugging my knees close to my chest and thinking about what happened—the way I lost control—it's been a while.
The guard I killed back in Yoshiwara, this man I wounded. The worst part is that I didn't feel bad until right now, all because I found Arioch. What a cruel world.
"I truly have not changed, huh?"
Aoha's POV
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Vio and I rise from our seats and walk towards the door to leave, but a strong wind strikes the door close in front of us.
"I'm sorry, but I have a question. Depending on the answer, you two can go, or I'll ask you to hear me for a second."
"If there is no other option, then ask what you want," I say with a frown.
"I would like an individual answer from both of you," Arioch grabs a kiseru and stuffs tabaco on the tip before tapping her finger on the side and lighting it up. "Before that, do any of you mind if I smoke?"
"Not really," Vio answers with a shrug as I settle with a shake of my head, permitting her to go on.
"Then don't mind me." The woman takes a deep breath of the smoke and turns her mouth towards the open window. Her lips turn into a smile as she looks at something outside. "Now, for the question I have,
"What's the reason the two of you have to accompany Zero?"
"I'm seeing this will take some time, so I'll sit back in the chair," Vio warns me and walks back to the seat. With the same mindset, I stand beside her, leaning my side on her chair. "Well, I'll answer first.
"Mainly for me, there are two reasons, the first being that we agreed that if she defeated me, I would become hers, and I'm not one to back out on my own words."
"That sounds like something she would do." The woman smiles and continues to smoke her tobacco.
"The second reason is that I know that girl is what I was searching for."
"And what would that be? If you don't mind me asking."
"A wolf is a wolf, even in a leash, even dressed in silk. That girl, I feel it in her; she understands the feeling; I seek to make her my moon."
Vio talks, and in her face is both the smile of a completely unhinged beast and that of a desperate girl.
"I can't say that I truly understand your reasoning, but this isn't my business. Thank you for answering." Arioch puts her Kiseru to the side and fixes her gaze on me. "Now, your turn."
"Do I have to answer?"
"Not really; it is your choice to do so or not," Arioch responds with a small smile playing on her lips. I see her game now. We don't leave until I answer.
Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, I am the first to pull away from her gaze and look out the window, seeing the remnants of yesterday's trouble at the summit of the mountain.
It's a hard answer to give. Yesterday, it was like she... needed me; not only that, but I needed her too. If it weren't for her words, this power of mine, I wouldn't have unlocked it. She doesn't fear the flames; worse yet, she embraces them even if they can turn her into dust.
Clenching my fist, I frown deeply at my own thoughts. I don't really care now, do I?
"She freed me from the emperor's hold; I'm just paying my debt before I leave."
Arioch stares deeply into my eyes, and as it gets uncomfortable, I turn my face away from her gaze.
"My fear isn't that you're not being honest with me, but with yourself. Let me tell you two a story about Zero."
"Two years ago, when I was still trying to make that dumb girl join the association, we were in a forest deep in the north, going through the worst winter of the century. There was snow everywhere on the roads, making it almost impossible to move, and the times we could, it was slowed down by the piled-up snow.
"But we did keep moving forward; Zero had caught a scent with her nose and told me to stay away, and of course I didn't; I followed right behind, but she was smart. She used the trees to move faster; the agility and balance of that girl were and still are something else.
"When I got close to her, there was a big fight going on that, unfortunately, I didn't get on time to see. But several of the emperor's guards were dead, and Zero's hands, feet, and teeth were all bloody, but the blood was not only her own.
"Six trained guards, dead in a span of seconds. They of course used magic on her to fight back, but she didn't bother to dodge, so the ice shards stuck on her shoulder and the electrified burn on her back left some pretty bad scars on her; to the collection.
"She was a different beast back then—efficient, fast—everything one hunter could dream of achieving. But that day, with what we found that the guards were transporting, all changed; Zero changed.
"Prostitutes were being taken to the imperial city—something about finding the perfect wife for the emperor's second son. But the girls were not any girls; they knew Zero.
"When Zero freed them, they hugged themselves and stayed away from her, but recognition came when they saw the scar below her missing eye. That day, we escorted those girls back to the city we had just left, and I paid for their transport back to Yoshiwara.
"For the first time, that beast turned into a normal girl; that was when she smiled and laughed for the first time in the year I followed her. When the girls were gone Zero finally admitted to be walking aimlessly until that time. She first spoke to me truly.
"'I accept', those words of hers shocked me at first, but her eye when she said them had a different fire. 'Put me on a leash or whatever; I'll be yours: your dog, your weapon, whatever you need me to be.'
"Of course, I took her in without a second thought. I showed her around the association, and she made home of the old headquarters four walls. For a whole year, me and the boys tried to humanize that girl and train her to be better, and in the end, we learned the truth about walking alongside a beast.
"They are beasts at the end of the day, like you said, girl. She killed a member in a discussion. The dumb boy was young and talked badly about a brothel girl; I believe her name was Ume or something. He described her body and said how good she was at her job, bragging to other members.
"Reduced her to just that, and Zero didn't take it lightly. Every time she connected to this part of herself, she didn't care, as I believe it felt good to be powerful. But the little humanity we gave her made her break down after what she did instead of feeling the rush.
"I believe you two can tell the end of this story."
"She ran away," Vio answers and hangs her head low, deep in thought, for a second before widening her eyes and whimpering towards the window. "We need to go. NOW."
Vio runs to the window and jumps down, running the street down as fast as she can. And as I'm about to leave the office to take the stairs, Arioch's last words reach my ears.
"That girl has a deep hatred, but the emperor is not the only thing she hates." The meaning behind those words is not so easy to understand, but I think I got the idea.
Rushing to the door, I leave the association to go after Zero before it is too late.
The streets, surprisingly, are not flooded with people as expected in the middle of the evening, so it makes it easy to spot Vio running in a random direction.
Speeding up, I catch up with Vio and tackle her down to the ground, pressing her back down with my knee.
"Are you crazy? Unhand me." Her order is met with a slap on her face, which makes her enter a state of change from confusion to anger, leaving me with little time between both feelings to talk to her while she's not fully hot-headed.
"Hear me out for a second before you try striking me down; you won't find Zero just by running aimlessly around. So let's use our heads to figure something out." Getting out of her, I extend my hand to help her up, and she accepts with just a little of her pride hurt.
Vio dusts off her clothes and looks at me with her arms crossed. "What do you propose we do then, captain?"
Ignoring her mocking tone, I close my eyes and start to think. There should be a way to find Zero or something to make it easier, at least. The places in the city she could go to resume to the alley where we found her friend: Mouse.
"Let's start by that alley there." I point towards the last location where we found Mouse, and we quickly walk there.
Getting to the alley, I gesture for Vio to wait and look at the darkness of the alley for the girl.
"Mouse, I'm the girl who was with Zero yesterday; I'm a friend." Raising my hands, I wait for anything—a reaction or her appearance in the darkness—but nothing materializes from it.
A sound rings to my right; on a trashcan, a thin tail raises high, and soon a pair of big ears too. "What do you want?"
The shy mouse girl hides half her face on the trashcan and only perks up her ears to tell most of her feelings. They stand up and ready, like she will run if I push my luck too far.
"We are just here to see if you know where Zero is; she separated from us." Keeping my distance and my hands up, I let the girl get comfortable with my presence first.
"Oh no, that's not good." Mouse shakes her head with a little bit of desperation.
"Why, that's not a good thing, Mouse? Did this happen before?"
"No, but I don't like the thought of my friend alone in the city."
"I see, then that means she didn't come to you." Putting my hands down, I look at the other end of the alley, seeing Vio staring at me expectantly. "I need to go now, Mouse. If she comes to you, tell her we are looking for her."
Mouse nods her head and shyly waves me bye. "Bye friend, come visit more."
Back with Vio, I shake my head, and she starts to pace around with her eyes glowing more than yesterday. "What do we do now? If she goes away, we might not find her."
"Wait, wasn't it you who said something about connecting with her?"
"You mean the soul-bound? Yes, why?"
"Can't you use that to find her?"
"Maybe. I've never tried before; it's not like these things have a book where I can read how they work. It is mostly trial and error."
"Just try it already."
Vio sits down on the alley ground and starts to concentrate; her tail moves from side to side rhythmically, matching the bpm of a heartbeat. It is fast at first, but as she calms down, it slows up.
Time goes by, and the sunset starts. Vio decided to take her time and try to feel where Zero is by their connection, and I used the time to run around and look for her physically.
All the places I searched made little sense for her to be but they were the only option, so I gave up on trying to brute force my way and started going back to Vio to see if she had more luck, but a conversation piqued my interest.
"The cleaning of the temple was suspended, and apparently some hunter said that there is a chance the beast is returning. Something about paw prints found in the forest nearby pointing to the city."
"Did you double-check to see if they were telling the truth? You always have to be careful. Just remember that strange girl we found in the alley stealing food from the trash a month ago."
"Look, they had the face of someone who wouldn't lie; their missing eye and assassin vibe were enough to show they were serious enough for me to not want to mess with them."
"Well then, get some rest and mobilize the team back. This night we rest and, if safe, we return the clearing of the debris by tomorrow morning."
So she's on the temple, but why? Did she really do it just because it would be the last place we would look because of the guards? It would be very smart and bitchy of her.
I would take my time and warn Vio, but night is almost here, and it is best to not risk wasting any time.
Stone road and a long climb after, I make my way up the mountain and reach the temple's main area.
There's a sign telling those who wish to visit to wait for the reconstruction and a drawing of a guard on the side. The center area of the temple is still a mess from yesterday but a little bit cleaner; all the dust was swiped away and some of the lighter debris was taken away.
Atop all the destruction, like a flower blooming from the rubble, on the same place I almost broke my nails to dig, I see the shadow of a person against the moon. Even with their face and body darkened by the shadows, I recognize the bow on her back and her blue kimono.
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