Akira finally left Kentarou's body, and he recovered days after. He acknowledged what he had done, and decided to turn himself in to the guardians for Akira's past killings. Yato was buried in the public cemetery, not far from Kyuuto's parents.

"Sorry I couldn't help," Kazuki was also there, he was fully recovered from his past injuries, "if only I could recover faster," he looked at Yato's gravestone with tears trickling down his cheeks.

"It's alright, no one could've seen this coming," Rin tried to calm him. Looking at Kyuuto, his fists were clenched tight. He glanced at his parents' gravestones while ruminating about his past and how maybe he could change things from the beginning.

Kanata turned her head to the others and asked, "So... what now?" quietly.

Ishigaki was also there, he left right after Kanata asked that without saying anything. Yato's death was so devastating for him, that he remembered the moment when his mother died in the wake of the curse. He was not able to help her back then, and he felt the same now.

"I need some fresh air," soon after, Kyuuto also left the team in the opposite direction. He then headed into the woods.

----

After some steps into the woods, Kyuuto felt he was being followed. After turning his head around, he knew who was coming, "Get out, I know you're there," Hikiri then emerged from behind a tree.

"Kyuuto, look---"

Before Hikiri could even continue, Kyuuto cut his sentence, "Why--- why don't you tell me anything about this? I thought you were one of the heroes, but no... you're all the same, all of you, ancestors!" once again rage rose inside him, "you're only thinking about yourself and the legacy you left behind... not for the future,"

"We... made an unforgivable mistake. You're right, perhaps it wasn't wise to borrow the power of the devil for good, but we were consumed by fear... the fear of being defeated. Even though Kurouzu took a toll over his contract with Volkus, the kingdom managed to rise again to its full glory," Hikiri explained the other side of Aotori's decision.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He then mentioned the speculation that perhaps someone wanted the curse to be active again by persuading Kyuuto's parents into letting him be born. Either to trigger Volkus' resurrection, or to stop him by force, overcoming their fears of the curse itself. "We need to dig deeper into your own past," he reckoned, "and the first step to do that... is for you to go home,"

----

A few days later, the team with Hikiri took the rotation back to the city. Armed with their goal to get back to Kyuuto's house, the team got a glimpse of base 37 and the warriors there were on high alert, with guards along the border. As the chopper landed and the warrior's exchange was on the way, Aosuke burst from among his warriors directly approaching the chopper. He demanded all of the incoming warriors to be inspected thoroughly one by one.

When asked why, he answered, "The warriors here saw something strange in the last few weeks. They saw their doppelgangers among the possessed," as he continued to inspect each new warrior. Kyuuto's team stared at each other, remembering what Yato warned them prior about doppelgangers.

The exchange was then done a few hours later. In the evening, Kyuuto then shared what had happened to his team before they got there to Aosuke and others. "I'm sorry to hear that," Aosuke lamented as the warmth of their bonfire got to his face. The warriors were staying in the open area outside the hospital building that they use for gathering.

"Where's Hoshikawa?" Kazuki asked, as he had not seen his brother since afternoon.

"He's most likely in the back, visiting his fallen comrades," Aosuke pointed with his thumb, "they were victims of the doppelgangers I mentioned. Hoshikawa's team were wiped out in seconds, when we're trying to clear the borders off of the possessed. After that, he wouldn't talk to anyone about it,"

The effect of seeing doppelgangers was really horrifying to the warriors, that some of them have to be admitted to rehabilitation. As the ones they saw were not of themselves, but their friends, even families. The ones who chose to stay remained in paranoia, not trusting their own teammates.

"Don't go any closer," Hoshikawa unsheathed his sword slowly when sensing his brother approaching from behind.

Kazuki tried to convince him in return, but he replied with, "I don't want to talk to you after what you've done to my teammates,"