With Koori's diary in his hand, Kyuuto received a lot of new information. When he went through more pages, Kyuuto found another figure depicted with purple markers and red eyes. He assumed that this figure was Volkus himself. After reading, Kyuuto packed the diary into his sling bag, and asked Hikiri outside of the house.

"Yusuke was essentially Yamisuke's advisor back then. He also monitored his actions as well as making decisions of what the kingdom should do next. Basically, his right hand. But nothing is known beyond that, we didn't know him personally, as he was very quiet and mysterious," Hikiri remarked. He also explained that if Yusuke for whatever reason wanted Volkus to be awakened, then he would not be alone in doing it.

Kyuuto then went back into the house, he saw Rin investigating the living room, opening up every drawer and looking carefully at each and every painting in the room because there were a lot of them, there was also a painting potraying three men looking at the sunset, with their back towards the viewer. When asked, Kyuuto answered that his father likes to paint in his free time. Rin then explained that she was looking for any possible clues hidden inside his paintings. But after a good look at each and every one of them, they found nothing of importance.

----

The evening rolled by, and Hikiri suggested Aotori go back to their hideout, the supermarket. But Kyuuto insisted on staying, he wanted to feel the comfort of his room again, the comfort of his house. Even though the people in it were already displaced.

"Can I also stay with you here?" Kanata asked him.

Kyuuto then turned to her and answered, "Sure, you can sleep in Koori's room," he then entered his room to check if everything was already in order.

"Oh..." Kanata sighed in disappointment, Rin then approached her from behind, asking the obvious, "what were you expecting?" to which Kanata just chuckled nervously.

Hikiri and Karito also stayed around the house, they volunteered to patrol the outside. While Aosuke went back to the warriors to make sure they do not suddenly ambush Aotori while they are sleeping.

When the night came, Ishigaki went to Kyuuto's room, and commented, "So this is your real room. It's smaller than the dorm room Yuukai gave you," he chuckled while leaning on the door frame.

Kyuuto laughed, then asked him, "How's Natsuki?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Well, we're trying to take turns on who should pilot my body according to the situations we're in. But..." Ishigaki took a deep breath and a long pause, "I think we have different visions now. I feel like I can't do this anymore, but I don't know anything to reverse this curse. We still have to play by its rules,"

Ishigaki then went to explain what Natsuki had observed when they fought Akira on the island. About the mysterious purple glow on people's eyes whenever their emotional extremes were triggered. And how they'll always say the same thing, along the lines of "This is how your story would end," he then ended with Natsuki's belief that those could be signs of Volkus' influence over their souls.

"I'm gonna ask Kurouzu about this. And about Yusuke as well. I feel things are connecting... hope to meet him in my sleep tonight," Kyuuto explained his plan, he also assumed that sleeping in his own room perhaps boosts his ability to talk to his ancestor. Ishigaki agreed, he also planned to try to talk to Natsuki that night.

----

Kyuuto closed his eyes and drifted asleep, then shortly after he arrived at his own subconscious. After looking around in the all-white space, he finally met Kurouzu again, seemingly spawned behind him. "I see you're having no difficulties reaching me now," he commented. Then conjured two white blocks from the ground for them to sit on. Kyuuto then asked about Yusuke, and what kind of man he was.

Kurouzu answered, "We didn't talk much throughout adulthood, but we got along since we were little. We used to share our dreams in the morning right after we woke up. But there's one last dream that cut our relationship short," when Kyuuto asked what kind of dream Kurouzu meant, he then told him a story of how their relationship as brothers gradually phased out after that last dream he mentioned.

A few hours in the morning after waking up, Kurouzu went to Yusuke's room to check on him just like all the times before. Usually Yusuke greeted him with a big smile, but that day, he seemed to be a bit off, something was surely in his mind. When asked, Yusuke began to tell his dream.

He was walking in a forest, and encountered a wounded black wolf. He then tried to look for medicinal herbs in that unfamiliar area, but to no avail. He looked far enough so that he was separated from the animal for quite some time.

After worrying about the wolf, he finally found it again. But that time, it was not alone. A tall figure was with it, and cured the wound on one of its legs. And when Yusuke asked who the man was, he answered, "'I am you from the future'. After that, Yusuke was changed... he became a very calculated, surgical person with visions for the kingdom. He interpreted the dream as curing the Wolves (Ookami is wolf in Japanese), our clan. He learned politics, history, and tactics both violent and otherwise... to win anyone's mind,"

"Wait a second, did you say he met his older self in his dream?" Kyuuto asked in disbelief.

"Yes---" Kurouzu answered, right before their mind was blown at the same time.

Something finally clicked.