“And that’s why you walked into our territory?” Manekamaru asked, starting to see it all come together. Yuki had an odd mystery about him and acted nothing like any of the other humans that he knew. The most surprising aspect was that he seemed to have almost no fear or prejudice against them, unlike Yumi. He didn’t really seem to fit into the world. Something that he felt his Lord likely saw in him.

Nodding to the demon, Yuki folded his legs up, taking a more natural posture that didn’t make him look like he was an invalid. “Seeing Yumi come back from killing demons, I grew worried about how the world was affecting her growth. She’s become too comfortable killing, which is never a good thing. Even if that doesn’t carry with her directly out of her, it’s still going to influence her.”

“You don’t approve,” Saki noted. She didn’t say it aloud, but it came out pretty clear that she referred back to Hiroshi. Yuki’s unwillingness to kill Takako even though she had gone too far beyond saving. And his speech to Chiharu about killing out of revenge. If it had been the younger Yuki, she wondered if he would still feel the same way about it. She agreed it wasn’t a good thing to do, but when it was necessary there didn’t need to be hesitation either, a difference between the two of them.

“It’s a little more complicated than that. I understand the necessity for it sometimes, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me to approve of it either. I’m still going to disapprove of it, even though I know it’s going to happen. I will try to stop it though, we can resolve things other ways. With Yumi, it’s less me being bothered by her killing and more bothered about the look I see in her while talking about it. There’s coldness in her eyes that worries me like she’s getting caught up in the fighting and violence. I think she’s starting to enjoy the thrill.”

“I can definitely confirm that,” the demon added, from his own experience in fighting her. “However, if you don’t wish her to, you still seem to have time. When I confronted her about her enjoyment in our fight, she denied it quite strongly. She’s still in conflict with herself and refuses to accept herself enjoying battle.”

Saki stared at Yuki seeing how much he worried and watched over Yumi. ‘He’s worried that she’s going to walk down the road he did. He’s trying to make sure she doesn’t make the same mistakes as him.’

“But didn’t you say you wanted Yumi to make her own damn mistakes and do things on her own?” asked Seiji, calling Yuki out on its contradiction. “You want her to do things her own damn way, but you're trying to control how she goes about it.”

“I just don’t want her to fall into darkness.”

“That’s the hell for her to decide though. Besides, do you really believe that’s a risk? Do you believe so little in Yumi?”

“It’s not about believing in her. She’s a good person and kind. She’s also not used to the world that she’s stepped into by following us. I know where the path can lead. I’d rather she avoid them.”

“Isn’t that the damn mistakes that she needs to learn though as you said?”

“But…”

Saki could see how much it was affecting Yuki. She knew what he wanted to say and couldn’t. Watching his arms shake and him trying to hide it made it clear enough for her how it bothered him. “Seiji, you don’t understand what he’s saying.”

“No, Saki, I do understand. And Yuki said before that this is about her, dammit, and we should let her stumble. Either commit to that shit or don’t at all. If you want her to be free to take a damn path, you shouldn’t be covering up some of them. She needs to see them as well. We are her friends and we support her. So if she makes a mistake we’re here to point that out, but if you want her to see this on her own don’t interfere. We pick her up and let her keep going forward, but we can’t be damn selective.”

Yuki looked over at Saki after his berating. His hands closed up tightly over the thought. Memories of his past continued to pop up for him. Everything that he did he hoped to have her avoid. It seemed like the right thing to do. Protect her from the worst parts of things. “Maybe Seiji’s right. Maybe I’m being too protective of her. I know how dangerous the path she’s walking is and I want to hide her from the awful parts of it.”

“If she keeps following us, she’s going to see that anyway. Didn’t this all start because her personalities were trying to protect her from the same thing?”

“Yes…” Yuki stared over at the door that Yumi would eventually come back through. Dropping his head back against the wall, it was a painful thing for him to accept. But Seiji was right in what he said. He couldn’t be half hearted about it. There was going to be pain and trouble, he had to accept that. It wasn’t going to be easy. “Seiji’s right. I wasn’t being a real friend to Yumi. I’ll stop interfering. This is Yumi’s story.”

Chapter 418 – Painful Past

With their decision agreed upon by everyone, they sat around and waited for Yumi to return. Food in tow, she handed out what she picked up from the tavern, easy carrying food. And then she sat down and looked over at Yuki. “Did Nerine fix you up already?”

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“Yes, she did. I’m feeling much better now. Sorry for slowing you down the whole time.”

“I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”

Everyone looked around at each other with restrained expressions. However, Seiji didn’t keep that going for long. He recalled the reason for all of the excitement to begin with as they hadn’t even got to the most important thing. “Dammit, we’re forgetting to tell Yumi, Saki!”

“Oh right! With everything that happened, it slipped my mind.”

“Tell me what?”

“How and why we found you.”

“What do you mean? Is something wrong?” I stared at Saki and Seiji with some confusion. They got really serious quickly about what they had to tell her. It remained a question in the back of her mind as well. She didn’t expect to run into them so randomly.

“Nothing that we can confirm with certainty, but have reasonable fears.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll start from the beginning. I picked up a rumor about you in the East, which is why we went looking for you.”

Manekamaru rubbed his chin, curious about this little bit of news. “She’s made it outside of the West? That is surprising and significant. I can see why you’re concerned.”

Yumi looked back and forth between the two as though they were exchanging words in secret underneath their spoken words. A conversation that only they could hear and follow. She needed to know what was happening. She leaned into the group more, making her presence pronounced. “What’s significant about it? What aren’t you telling me?”

“So that’s why you’re here then.”

“Yes.” Saki got a very annoyed pouting glare from Yumi that made her pull back a little. A bit of sweat dripped down before she focused to give a proper explanation. “There’s a couple of details you need to know about this country. First is, it is divided in half. The demons control the West and humans control the East. Humans and demons still live in both, but it’s sort of the agreement that they came to, I’m guessing.” She looked over at Manekamaru, since she really didn’t know anything about the peace treaty between the two.

“You’re not mistaken. The end of the war centuries ago gave territorial ownership of the West to the numerous clans. Both sides agree to uphold it regardless of the side that they make their home. Though what happens within the territory isn’t well governed. It’s more than a little one sided. The humans don’t engage in conflicts that would violate the peace, while the demons mostly just do whatever they want within their territory so long as they follow the treaty outside of the West.”

Yumi dropped her hand on the floor looking over at the demon. “Are you telling me that they agreed to a peace that just sold off half of the human population to the demons to do whatever they wanted?!”

“It likely would have meant utter defeat otherwise. It’s hard to say, the only reason the treaty came to exist was that many of the clans lost interest in the war. So they were looking for any reason to just stop. We can’t go home and most of the warriors that wanted a good fight lost that with the last of the strong humans. So while the humans within the West are subject to the whims of the demons, most still live.”

“They live in fear of dying. What sort of life is that?”

Saki pressed her hand over Yumi’s hand, getting her attention. “I think we’re leaving out the important subject.”

“What?! Saki?”

“She’s not wrong.”

“Of course you’d say that.” Yumi pulled back seeing that it wasn’t a topic anyone wanted to continue. “What is it then?”

“As we’re explaining, there’s a treaty in place. However disadvantageous it might be to humans, it keeps the peace. The problem however is your appearance.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s saying that Demon Hunters are in essence the peacekeepers in the East and upholders of the treaty. The few that do come into our territory have been disavowed by their organization and looking for death. There are no active members working in the territory. That’s basically having enemy soldiers in your territory.”

“But I’m not a Demon Hunter,” she stated flatly.

“What?! You’re not a Hunter?”

Yumi looked at the demon with some surprise. He looked more than a little taken back by that slip she casually dropped. She figured there was no good reason to keep up the lie around her friends or the demon. He was the least of her concern, since he knew her power. Yumi just didn’t expect to see him reacting so poorly about it.

Manekamaru looked over at Saki with an even greater understanding. “Now I see why you’re here. This is even worse than I thought.”

“You going to fill in the gaps?” she muttered with annoyance over being left out of the conversation.

“He’s talking about a war, Yumi. And a dangerous one. The Demon Hunter Association knows you’re not a Demon Hunter, they would be aware of it. There’s probably a few people that make such claims, but they probably get killed or not believed. However, the problem is that your power is very real and very much a threat. The Association can’t allow you to keep claiming that you’re Hunter as it would give any demon that wants to fight a reason to break the treaty, since it would appear the humans broke it first. And as we said, humans aren’t treated well in the West, only demons travel freely, not humans. This means the rumors come from demons and not humans. So demons already know about you and your achievements.”

All of it started to fall into place for Yumi. She could see the picture that the others already had in their mind. Yumi leaned back, nearly stumbling over her own arm. The weight of what she had been doing finally started to be felt. Sweat started to bead up on her skin as her body warmed up. “Are you saying I’ve triggered a war between the demons and humans?”

“Not yet, we don’t know the situation here. But the risk is very real.”

“If I just stop fighting it’ll be fine though, right?” No one gave her an answer and the looks on their faces didn’t give her any hope. Things might have gone past the point of no return. She never imagined that she would have been the cause of a war. Yumi sank in her spot.

However, she didn’t get a moment to dwell with noises coming from outside. Panic and screams erupted from the streets. Everyone jumped up and bolted for the door to find out what was wrong. Yumi was too slow to react as Saki rushed out to grab one of the locals. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s the demons! They’re attacking!”

“What?! Why now?”

“They’re looking for a woman!” The man then yelped as an explosion ripped away a house in the distance. He ran away as fast as he could from the chaos.

Yumi started shell shocked at the destruction. Screams and cries poured in around her as flames burned everything. It all rushed towards her. “They’re here for me. This is my fault...”