Tooyama Naruhito

“Naruhito! Come here! She’s badly hurt, damn it… She’s still a child.”

“Y-Yeah. Niko, why…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, brother… I caused trouble for you. I’m sorry…”

Lazaar gently caught Niko as she nearly collapsed. Niko was muttering to herself, and she had clearly been hurt with malicious intent.

“Do you know her, Naruhito?”

“Yeah, she’s a resident of this city who helped me look for you. It hasn’t even been long since we parted, but…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know I’m trouble… But you were the only person I could rely on… So…”

Her voice sounded like it might vanish, and the marks of blows were painful to see on her small face.

“Naruhito…”

Lazaar turned his gaze toward Tooyama.

“Yeah. Niko, what happened?”

Tooyama crouched down and spoke to Niko.

“The Crows are looking for you, brother… The robed man. They told me to tell them where the robed man looking for the lizard was…”

Niko coughed, and tears gathered in her eyes.

“The Crows… No, before that, young lady, can you open your mouth? Yes, good girl.”

“Lazaar?”

Tooyama asked Lazaar, who had taken a small bottle from his breast pocket.

“It is a spiritual medicine passed down in my tribe. It eases pain and stops bleeding. Its drawback is that the ingredients are rare, so it cannot be made often in the Empire.”

They carried Niko to a corner of the plaza and laid her on her back. Then Lazaar brought the contents of the bottle to Niko’s mouth.

“Cough, cough. Thank you, Mr. Lizard… It’s bitter.”

“That is proof it is good medicine. Young lady, those wounds…”

“Y-Yeah. They did it to me… They dragged us into a narrow alley. I somehow managed to let only Shiro and Pero escape, but… we were caught after that…”

“Pero… Surely you mean the blond, curly-haired child? The one always carrying a little child on his back with a strap…”

The one who had apparently seen Lazaar was Pero. They must have been acquaintances, at least.

“Yeah, that’s right… The Crows caught us, and then they took us into an alley… Cough.”

“…What a thing. Why would the Crows…”

“Someone who saw me talking with these kids snitched? What about Rida and Luca?”

It was probably because they had gotten involved with Tooyama. The Crows had been after Lazaar. Tooyama, the man searching for him, seemed to have caught the Crows’ interest.

“They defied them so I could escape… Luca used his skill to put me on the roof… and I managed to run away. But Luca can’t use his skill anymore… What should I do… The two of them are going to be killed.”

“They have no mercy even for children… Naruhito, what will you do?”

“What will I do, you ask…”

Tooyama shuddered at Lazaar’s question.

“My life is something you saved. So I have decided. From now on, whenever I stand on the edge of whether to risk my life or not, I will follow you.”

“Brother…”

Niko looked at Tooyama. Her eyes were pleading. Tooyama consciously pretended not to notice that gaze.

“The Crows are an organization, right? How large are they?”

“Their business reaches throughout the entire Empire. They likely have connections to royalty, nobility, and even the adventurers’ guild in the Imperial Capital.”

“So they’re like a crime syndicate… No good, then. Sorry, Niko. I can’t save Rida and Luca.”

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Tooyama reached his conclusion.

“Huh…”

“Naruhito, that is…”

Niko’s eyes opened wide. Lazaar’s did as well.

To both of them, Tooyama’s reaction was probably unexpected.

“Lazaar, you understand, don’t you? The risk and benefit don’t balance. If, for example, they kidnapped you, I would chase after them without hesitation. But Lazaar, that’s because you’re my partner, and because you’re someone I need.”

Tooyama Naruhito needed a reason.

Tooyama was probably the sort of person one could call insane, but he had not yet gone all the way.

If he were truly, hopelessly insane, a true madman who had lost all chance of turning back, he would have nodded immediately at Niko’s words.

“I don’t like it.” A true madman was the sort of being who destroyed the world for such a truly worthless reason.

But Tooyama was not that.

Even when doing something insane, he needed a reason. And they—Rida, Niko, and Luca—could not become that reason.

“Ah… Brother…”

“Sorry, Niko. This is the kind of person I am. You and I were supposed to have an equal business relationship. With ten copper coins, the relationship between me and you kids ended. I feel bad for you, but I can’t save them.”

“Ah… Ah…”

Would she cry?

Or would she get angry?

Tooyama predicted Niko’s reaction to his cold argument.

“But, brother, you were so kind to us…”

“That’s your misunderstanding, Niko. I’m… not kind. This is the kind of person I am.”

He was used to that kind of thing.

Not human. Inhuman. Monster. Trash. Scum. Garbage.

—Demon.

Those were the many words people around him had hurled at Tooyama.

When Tooyama Naruhito followed his desires, he was a man who would laugh at all the world’s absurdity and injustice while going off to kill.

He had sent Lazaar away and challenged Alice because that had been Tooyama’s desire. Because he had not wanted Lazaar, who shared the same dreamscape, to die. Because that had been Tooyama’s desire.

Now was different.

Niko and the others could not become a reason.

“I… can’t risk my life for you kids. Sorry…”

Yes, those children were different.

Simply put, Tooyama could not include them within the range of his greed.

So please.

Cry and scream miserably. Spit curses at me. Throw your helpless anger and sadness at me.

Make me disappointed in you. Make me abandon you. Please.

Tooyama wished for the children to fall outside that range.

Otherwise, it would be far too—

“…Rida, Luca.”

Niko, who had drunk the medicine and recovered a little, slowly stood up.

Her face was utterly exhausted. Her ragged clothing was torn here and there, her red hair was covered in dust, and there were fresh wounds on her cute face that must have been inflicted only moments earlier.

And now, Tooyama had shaken off her final hope.

Niko stared at Tooyama. Tooyama could not help but look away from her straight eyes.

Come on, shout. Get angry. Then it will all be over.

Tooyama closed his eyes—

“Thank you, brother!”

“………………Huh?”

He murmured that without thinking. What had this girl in front of him just said?

She had sunk into despair, and while her own life and her friends’ lives were in danger, she had mustered all her strength and held out her small hand asking for help.

Why would she look like that at an inhuman man who had so easily brushed it away—

Tooyama turned his exposed eyes toward the girl.

“No, Niko. Why…”

She was smiling.

Her body was battered.

There was a bruise around one eye. Her clothes were torn in places and covered in dirt.

“Rida and Luca weren’t the only ones who were happy. It was my first time too, being treated kindly by an adult.”

Niko stood up unsteadily. The medicine was clearly working, but the way she walked made the damage obvious.

“H-Hey, you…”

“I’m sorry for troubling you. And Mr. Lizard, thank you for the medicine.”

“…Why can you say that? I abandoned you.”

“Huh? Why? Isn’t that obvious? I’m sorry. You were so, so warm that I forgot… We have to do something about our own problems ourselves.”

“And, you know, I probably won’t be able to see you again, so I wanted to say it! Thank you! Brother, thank you for treating us like human beings!”

She bowed her head firmly in a loud voice.

Tooyama and Niko’s eyes met.

Her large green eyes caught Tooyama and smiled brightly.

There was nothing special about it. It was simply the smile of an innocent young girl.

“Goodbye!”

“…Yeah. Goodbye.”

The girl gave a little bow and walked away. She was tottering, probably because the damage had not left her body.

Her cheerful voice clearly came from her own kind of strength.

Tooyama looked away from it.

They overlapped. They overlapped.

They overlapped so much with his old self and that furry friend that he could not help it.

They were weak. That was why things were taken from them. Just like him and his friend long ago.

He hated it now. He should have stopped wanting weak people. Because they were weak, they vanished so quickly. They disappeared.

Tooyama understood himself. The range he could hold in his hands, in his greed, was smaller than he had thought.

“Naruhito… Are you sure?”

“…I’m not a philanthropist. What would I gain from helping them?”

He had saved Lazaar because Lazaar shared the same dream and, above all, because he had known Lazaar was an adult and strong.

Tooyama had understood that Lazaar was someone who could look after himself. In fact, that was exactly what had happened, since Lazaar had managed to escape for a whole month from the hands of the Empire as a nation and various other forces.

“…I see.”

“Yeah.”

Surely, he would never meet them again. Tooyama would live according to his desires.

They were not in the scenery of that life. Tooyama simply could not find that much value in them.

They were not within his greed.

So this was fine.

This was fine.

“Why…”

What the hell was with that thank you?

Niko’s smile. She had surely wanted to cry, in truth. Tears had gathered at the corners of her eyes.

He glanced sideways at her back as she went into the crowd.

Right now, her heart must be packed with despair. Even so, she dragged her small body back to her friends.

Even if nothing but a tiny tragedy waited ahead.

“I don’t know… It has nothing to do with me.”

He should have been doing as he pleased.

He should have been doing exactly what he thought was right. Because that was true, wasn’t it? He had originally come here to find Lazaar. Those kids were only strangers he had happened to meet along the way.

“I don’t know… I’m not wrong or anything…”

He looked away. Hurry up. Hurry up and disappear.

He was weak to that kind of thing. But no. There was no reason. No reason.

This was fine. Move on. He had finally found someone who could share his dream. Lazaar was necessary, but the children were not.

Tooyama turned his face away from the departing Niko.

As though waiting for a storm to pass, he squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath.

“I was excited at that time.”

It was a low voice, yet it carried clearly. Lazaar’s voice.

“Huh?”

“At that time. When you called my name. Do you remember, Naruhito?”

“When I fought Drako…? What about it?”

“I was excited. When I saw your face then. A face that looked as though you could devour even a dragon. It looked as though you were drunk on something, or burning with fever. Your face.”

“It was the face you had when you told me, ‘Let’s meet again.’ At that moment, I thought from the bottom of my heart that I wanted to meet you again.”

“So what are you trying to say, Lazaar? Say it plainly.”

“…What is it that you truly want to do right now?”

“Hah, that’s obvious. I have a plan. Let’s run a shop in this city. You can bake bread, right? That was delicious. Believe it or not, I’m quite the gourmet. I’ll supervise, conduct market research, and develop products, while you make them. Our bakery will sell. We’ll earn money there. I’ve been thinking about all kinds of things—”

Tooyama’s words were rougher and faster than usual. It seemed as though he wanted to cover something up.

“Naruhito, what is it that you want to do right now? Ignore me and everything else, and tell me.”

In contrast to Tooyama, Lazaar wove his words quietly and briefly.

“What do you mean? I just told you, didn’t I? Let’s get away from here quickly. We can’t afford to get caught up in trouble.”

“No. That is not the face you have.”

“……………Huh?”

“We will be together for a long time from now on. You are my benefactor, but I will say what I want to say. It has not been long since I met you, but I will say it.”

Lazaar drew in a breath.

“That is not like you. That is not like you at all, Tooyama Naruhito.”

“…What did you say?”

“You did not have that face back then. What is with that miserable look? What are you holding back? It is not like you. You are not being yourself, Naruhito.”

“W-Wait a second, Lazaar. What are you saying?”

“According to your desires.”

At Lazaar’s words, Tooyama stopped moving.

“Those are your words. Is the current you truly doing that?”

“…Yeah. That’s right.”

“Then smile! Smile like you did back then! Why do you look so pained, Naruhito!”

“Huh? I look… what? Pained…?”

He sank into the chair.

The bottle sat forgotten on the scrap-wood table.

Beyond the amber liquid, Tooyama’s face was reflected in distortion.

Surely, it was an optical illusion. But for an instant, Tooyama saw it.

His childhood self, with his furry friend at his side.

The two of them had been walking somewhere. If he had made it in time back then, perhaps there might have been a future like that.

“Ah…”

That possible scene immediately melted away beyond the amber, and his usual self was reflected in the bottle.

His face was terribly tired and terribly weak-looking as it wavered there.

“…That’s a terrible face.”

He scratched his head.

Back then, he had not made it in time. Back then, both Tooyama and his friend had been weak.

What about now?

Back then, if Tooyama had been strong. If he had had money, power, and ideas.

Perhaps he would not have lost that furry, fluffy friend.

“Damn it.”

A message danced in his field of vision.

What did Tooyama have now?

Throb. The core of his body ached.

It was the budding of desire.

He began to want to know. The desire to explore the unknown and the what-if was also a human desire.

“If the current me were in the same situation as back then…”

The enemy was injustice. An external enemy trampling the weak and trying to invade Tooyama’s territory while using their own desires as weapons.

“Back then, I couldn’t do it. Tarou died. …We couldn’t stay together anymore.”

He had been young, foolish, and weak.

Then what about now?

“I’m older now, and I’m stupid. But… I can kill them. I can kill most people.”

Something inside Tooyama caught fire.

Setting aside Lazaar and the dream, curiosity became the lure for his desire.

He wanted to know. He wanted to know what would have happened back then if he had been strong.

When those unreasonable bastards tried to steal from the weak, what would happen if the current him were there?

He wanted to know. He wanted to know. He wanted to know.

“…That is becoming a good face, Naruhito.”

“Shut up.”

Tooyama was this kind of person. His heart might sway for others, but it would not move.

But once that power within him, that greed, began to ache, he would never resist it again.

He wanted to know what the current him could do to this shit-filled world.

That was Tooyama’s current desire.

“No matter what you choose, this much is certain.”

Lazaar stared at Tooyama.

“—I will follow you, Naruhito.”

He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.

Tooyama Naruhito did the same.

“…Lazaar, a bakery needs employees, right? Preferably people who work obediently. I have some in mind. It’s time for Lazaar Bakery’s first recruitment drive.”

“Heh. Very well.”

“Niko!!! Wait!”

Tooyama Naruhito’s loud voice pierced through the slums.

The girl heading toward a place of death stopped and turned around.

“………………Huh?”

He could tell from her eyes that she had cried after she started walking. Apart from the bruise, they were red and swollen.

“You can cook, right?”

Tooyama strode over to her. He placed a hand on Niko’s shoulder, knelt there, and met her eyes.

“H-Huh? Brother? C-Cook? N-No, I’ve only cooked things like roasted rats.”

“Very goooood!! You’re hired!! If you can roast rats, that means you can cook! Niko, you have passed the interview for my glorious bakery company, Lazaar Bakery!! From this moment on, you are already our employee! My asset! Okay?!”

“H-H-Huh? B-Brother?”

“There are some others too!! Niko, introduce me to your friends! We’re going to scout them. If, by chance, they happen to be on the verge of being brutally murdered by someone, then I, the department head of Lazaar Bakery’s sales department, human resources development department, public relations department, product development department, security department, and management department, must deal with the matter strictly!”

Fast-talking. Far-fetched.

But this was what Tooyama needed. He had created a reason.

Rida and Luca, Niko, Shiro and Pero.

He needed all of them. He wanted all of them.

“Huh? Um, brother, I don’t really understand what you’re saying…”

Niko’s eyes darted in confusion. Being normal, she could not understand what the madman before her was saying.

“Ah, enough!! I’m saying that! Guide me to where Rida and Luca are! I’m saying we’re going to save them! Ah… Damn it, this is so uncool.”

“…!! I love you!”

With tears in her eyes, Niko clung to Tooyama’s waist. Tooyama caught her terribly light body and smiled, then froze with a startled look.

“Whoa? L-Lazaar, this isn’t a problem, right?! Niko touched me first, so it’s safe, right?!”

“What are you talking about? Young lady, guide us. It seems our stubborn man has finally found a reason to save you.”

Kukuku, Lazaar chuckled in his throat. His reptilian eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

“Who are you calling stubborn? Who?”

“Okay!! Okay! This way, this way! I’ll guide you!”

Full of energy. She was covered in wounds, but hope made Niko’s body light.

Watching her, Tooyama and Lazaar each took one step forward.

“Lazaar, I have a plan. As promised, I’ll have you work hard with all your abilities on the line. I’m pretty rough with how I use people, you know?”

“Yes. I am prepared. That is a good face. That is exactly how you should be.”

The two stood side by side and began walking after the girl.

Without even looking at each other, the fists they had both thrust out bumped together with a knock.

“Let’s go, partner.”

“That is exactly what I want, my friend.”

Tooyama and the others began advancing through the slums. Their target had been decided. What they would save according to desire, and what they would destroy, had now been decided.

………

……

…

In a dark alley, predators continued to grin and laugh.

“You know, honestly, how should I put it? I got pretty annoyed, actually.”

A tall, handsome man with a crow-feather tattoo on his cheek. The smile floating on his face looked down at them.

“Geh?!”

The toe of the tall, handsome man sank into the stomach of Rida, who had been pinned down.

He wore a cloak over black leather armor. That appearance was proof that he was a member of the Crows who had been allowed a certain degree of freedom to act independently.

“Rida?!”

Luca was also being pinned down. His face was battered. He had already been punched, kicked, and tortured.

“Oops, don’t move. Hey, hold him down properly.”

“Y-Yes! Hey! Don’t thrash around, brat!”

Firmly restrained by the members of the Crows, Rida and Luca continued to be lynched in the dark alley.

Their desperate move had only been enough to let Niko escape.

“All right, all right, all right. Let’s see, you were Rida-kun, right? Hey, isn’t it about time you talked? I’m not as free as you kids, you know. I don’t like having my time taken, you see!”

The handsome man relentlessly kept targeting Rida. This man already understood. Rida was the pillar of this group.

If he broke him, things would move faster.

“Ugh?! …I re, fuse. I don’t know anything. Don’t know the robed man or the Lizardonian.”

But no matter how many times he was kicked or hit, Rida would not speak.

The name of that emotion, which even he himself did not know, was pride.

Betraying someone who had treated him as an equal was something heavier than physical death to Rida.

“No way that’s true. All kinds of slum trash saw you kids with the robed man looking for the lizard, you know. Why are you protecting him? I don’t get it.”

“Hah, hah… I don’t know what I don’t know…”

He spat out gastric fluid. There was already no vomit left to throw up.

“Hmm. Hey, could it be that? Do you kids think the girl you let escape earlier will bring the robed man here? Do you think he’s going to come save you?”

The handsome man laughed while grabbing Rida’s hair and lifting his neck.

His pasted-on smile, with only his eyes not smiling, stared at Rida.

“………What are you talking about?”

“No, no, no, no. If you’re thinking something like that, I thought I should deny it early for you! There’s nobody who would come save worn-out rags like you.”

In the middle of speaking, the handsome man struck Rida’s neck and stood up.

Violence that was just short of breaking someone was nothing difficult for a member of the Crows.

“Guh?! Cough, cough!”

“I just kind of, just kind of feel like you kids might be misunderstanding something. Were you taken in by the robed man? Did he treat you kindly and make you misunderstand?”

“Misunderstand… what…”

Rida was barely breathing, yet the light in his eyes alone did not go out as he looked up at the man.

“I mean, maybe you kids misunderstood and thought you were human. Haha. Slum brats like you are worthless specks of trash, though. Hilarious.”

The words were spoken with a smile. But to the people of this world, they were ordinary words.

The bottom of society, the slums. A place for those who had nowhere to go and nowhere lower to fall. Among them, the weakest were Rida and the others, the orphans.

“I honestly don’t even want to touch dirty things like you kids, but it’s work, so it can’t be helped. Come on, hurry up and tell me. I’m busy after this too.”

“I don’t know…”

At Rida’s words, the handsome man sighed. He dropped his shoulders, looking truly annoyed.

“Hah, this is getting annoying. Well, there are still two little worms left, so fine. Let’s do this.”

He clapped his hands and slowly pulled something from his waist.

The blade slid free. Just before evening, it gleamed dully under the slanting sunlight.

“Huh? What…”

“Ri… da…?”

With a smooth motion, the man stabbed the knife into Rida’s side.

Rida collapsed face-down on the spot. He remained on his knees, but his upper body hung limply.

He desperately pressed a hand to the wound. But a dark red stain spread more and more across his ragged tunic.

“I missed the vitals, you know. But if he doesn’t get treated soon, well, he’ll die. Come on, come on. Even little worms don’t want to die, right? So here’s another question for you.”

The handsome man smiled cheerfully while waving the bloodied knife, looking truly delighted.

“Where is the robed man? Where did he go to search for the Lizardonian? Say it. If you tell me, I’ll treat that brat.”

After his bright voice, he questioned Rida and Luca in a cold voice.

“If I really tell you…”

The one who broke was not Rida, but Luca.

“Lu… ca, stop…”

Rida’s voice came in broken fragments.

The sight broke Luca’s heart even further.

“Tch. Okaaay, stay quiet.”

“Geh.”

The handsome man kicked the dying Rida as though kicking garbage.

Even if Rida truly died, he did not care. That kick conveyed the handsome man’s state of mind more clearly than any words could.

“S-Stop! Stop it. O-Okay, I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you, so stop kicking Rida!”

Luca was already half crying.

Fear and anger. But not everyone could turn those into the strength to stand against something.

Rather, more people would probably yield to them. Luca still did not have the heart or strength to stand against fear.

“Take this. Oops, I kicked him one time too many. Come ooon, you should have just told me honestly from the start. There, sorry for kicking him. So? Where is he?”

The handsome man of the Crows tormented Rida while working up a pleasant sweat.

“Lu… ca, you idiot…”

“I told you to shut up. Oh, if it turns out to be a lie, I’ll come back and kill you all, okay? Go on.”

He would definitely do that. Luca understood as much.

Ignoring Rida’s attempt to stop him, Luca spoke.

“The old mansion on Abandoned House Street… The mansion closest to the place where you go down into the sewers. That man should be there.”

He told them the place where he had parted from that man without a single lie.

“Should beeee? Okay, that’s a vague answer, so minus five points. Here we go!”

But that vague wording seemed to irritate the handsome man.

Rida was kicked mercilessly again.

“Ugh…”

Even Rida’s scream had lost its strength. Red stains sank into the stone pavement.

“Stop it! It’s not a lie! We parted right away! That’s why I don’t know whether he’s still there now!”

“Hmm, hmm. I see. We certainly haven’t searched around there much. Okay, let’s try searching there. You guys, come with me.”

“Sure thing.”

Luca had said it. He had sold out that man.

But with this, Rida would—

Luca clung to that. To hope.

But Luca did not know.

“Wise-san, what should we do with these ones?”

“Hmm, they’re not even worth killing, so who cares? The short-haired one over there will die soon enough, right? Leave him, leave him. Even sharpening a knife isn’t free, you know.”

Hope given by someone else was the most unreliable thing of all. Luca now learned that such hope could easily transform into despair.

“…………………Huh? N-No, wait. Wait. What about Rida? You said you’d heal Rida.”

“Huh? What? Is there still something?”

“Don’t play dumb! You said it, didn’t you?! You said you’d treat Rida! You promised that if I told you where that man was, you’d treat him—”

Luca’s words stopped.

He saw their expressions and realized. From the beginning—

“Pfft.”

“Did you hear that? Hey, did you guys hear that?”

“Yes, I heard it. Heh, heh-heh-heh. H-He really believed Wise-san’s words.”

“Heh-heh, ahahahahahahahaha!! Brat, are you really a slum brat!? You trust people too much! Who’d treat him, dumbass?”

Gyahahahaha.

The jeers of the followers surrounded Luca and Rida, who lay limp and unmoving, yet continued bleeding.

“Ah… Ah…”

“Like I’d ever keep a promise! Me, a proper human being, keeping a promise with a little worm like you! Ah, that was funny. That was really funny. Well, make sure you say a proper goodbye to your friend as he gets cold there. All right, you guys, back to work! Let’s get going!”

“Sure thing.”

“Hahaha, Rida’s finally done for now. He’s been an eyesore all this time.”

The older slum children also grinned as they looked down at Luca and Rida, then began to leave.

“Why…”

“…Luca.”

“Rida?! Rida, ah, there’s so much, so much blood… No, no, Rida, don’t die!”

“Lu… ca… Sorry… I messed… up…”

“Rida, no! If you talk, the blood will…”

“Oh? This looks interesting. You guys, let’s watch that to the end before we go.”

“Wise-san, you’ve got bad taste.”

“Shut up. Okay, then I bet one silver coin that the brat snaps and comes at me. Stone, you be the bookmaker.”

“Got it.”

“Ah, then I bet five large copper coins that he cries and can’t do anything!”

“I’ll bet one large copper coin on that too!”

“You’re cheap. I’ll bet two large copper coins on him snapping!”

“You’re not any different!”

Laughing cheerfully, they began to bet.

They were betting on Luca, who was about to lose his friend this very moment.

Would he come at them, or would he give up? These men always did similar things when working.

“Lu… ca… Forget about… me. Take care of… Niko, Pero, and Shiro…”

“What are you saying? There’s no point if you’re not there too, Rida! Stop it. Stop it. You guys, don’t laugh. Don’t laugh!! Rida is about to die…!!”

“Gyahahahahahahaha!! Did you hear that? ‘Rida is about to die,’ he says.”

“So what, brat?! Isn’t it nice for one piece of slum trash to get cleaned up?”

“Ahahaha, wow, Luca-kun and Rida-kun are great. Yeah, this is the fun part of the job, really. Playing around with little worms like you. Just die already.”

“Why us? Why, when we’re alive too!”

“Ahahahaha! Did you hear that, you guys? ‘When we’re alive too,’ he says! You guys should just die. You have no worth being alive. No parents, no money. You gather like rats in filthy places and survive by eating scraps… Ah, gross, gross. So dirty I can’t stand it. Come on, die, die.”

Clap, clap.

The handsome man with the crow-feather tattoo on his cheek began clapping his hands. It was like a chant used to egg on someone drinking.

Adults continued to laugh at a dying child and a child covered in tears and snot.

“Die, die, come on.”

“Hahaha, that’s seriously bad taste. Come on, die, die!”

“““““Die, die.”””””

Laughter and words surrounded Luca and Rida.

Luca was in deep despair. His friend was bleeding and on the verge of death. Even his soul had been thoroughly insulted, and his pride had been trampled.

“Lu… ca… It’s fine. Stay… quiet… Don’t react.”

Rida’s complexion was getting worse and worse. Even so, while quietly pressing down on his wound, he spoke to Luca.

Let it pass. Do not react. Do not resist. If you do, it will pass.

Luca realized it. Rida had already given up on his own life. He had switched his thoughts to getting through this situation and letting even Luca alone survive.

“Ah, ah… Rida…”

He could do nothing for his friend, who was heading toward death. He could not do anything for him.

Why?

Those guys were laughing, and Rida was dying.

What was this difference?

Luca desperately thought with his small brain. He thought and thought, but in the end, he understood nothing.

He did not understand why those guys lived while Rida died.

But Luca had no power to answer that question. He lacked intelligence, violence, everything.

“Why… Angel…”

So what he murmured was a prayer to the angels. Words to the creators that everyone living in this world knew.

It was the way of the weak, who could do nothing else.

“Oh?”

“That way, huh? Relying on the angels, huh? Did anyone bet on that?”

The boy’s wish and prayer would not reach.

There was a fact common to every world.

Usually, at the most important moments, angels—or gods—were absent. The prayers of the weak did not reach them, and they were never heard.

“All right, well, it doesn’t look like this is going to get any more interesting, so let’s withdraw. Boring.”

“He’s mumbling something, but is that okay, Wise-san?”

“Ah, it’s fine. He’s a little worm who can’t even snap when it matters. I guess if he prays to the angels like that, he feels like he did something. Weakness really is a sin.”

They laughed and tried to leave. It was the usual thing. They acted however they wanted, took from the weak, and that was the end.

The grudges and prayers of the weak did not reach them.

Yesterday, the day before yesterday, and every yesterday long before that had all been the same. They had trampled the weak and lived.

And all of them were certain. It would continue forever.

Today and tomorrow, they would keep trampling the weak and remain predators. That was what they believed.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Suddenly, one member of the Crows noticed.

His vision. It was cloudy.

The air had become cold.

“Huh? What the hell is this? Fog?”

A white haze had suddenly wrapped around them.

“Rida, Rida, please, angels, save Rida…”

The boy’s voice, his prayer, did not reach the angels. Those beings would never hear human prayers.

But there were beings that occasionally heard them.

Beings closer to humans than angels, more arrogant than gods, and though not as wicked as humans, still villainous.

A concept created by humans. Something that rather often heard prayers and wishes.

A “demon”—

“It’s fog… Hey, hey, hey, what the hell is this? You guys, hurry up and get out of here.”

“Yeah, this feels kind of creepy… Hm? Wise-san, did something just move over there?”

One member of the Crows saw it for an instant beyond the thin mist.

A black shadow had drifted through the fog.

“Huh? What are you talking about? Don’t scare me. There’s nothing there.”

“…Huh? Wait, Wise-san, um, the brats…”

“Huh?”

The man turned around. Beyond the white haze, the brats who should have been by the wall were—

“…Hey, brats, where did you go? Did anyone see them?”

The brats had vanished.

The blood they had spilled remained, but they had disappeared from the spot as though it were a lie.

“No, I didn’t see anything. Actually, isn’t this fog getting thicker and thicker?”

“…I don’t like this. Hey, you guys, we’re leaving.”

The handsome man’s judgment was quick. Faced with an abnormality, he prioritized retreat.

But against that “Mist,” everything was already far too late—

“Ow!! Huh? Why am I bleeding…”

One of them began bleeding from his finger. Suddenly, without even understanding why.

That was the signal for the beginning.

“Hey, what happ—Gya?! It hurts! It hurts?! Why? Gyaaaaaa!!”

Screams began echoing within that Mist.

Flesh was torn, skin was sliced, and blood began to spray.

“What happened? Hey, you, o-ow?! I was bitten—no, that’s not it. I’m being cut…?! Ah, my finger—H-Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!”

Flesh flew. Life flowed away.

“Hey, what’s going o—Bebe-bababababa!”

They were inside the Mist. Inside a pure-white Mist that had, at some point, grown so thick they could no longer see ahead.

Red blood and filthy screams scattered, and the prey died. This was already their hunting ground.

“H-Hii?! What? What’s happening?!! Hey, you guys, what happened?!”

There was no longer any composure on that handsome man’s face. The mocking laughter he had directed at Rida and Luca was gone, and only the terror of prey was plastered there.

They had forgotten. Because they had continued hunting and tormenting the weak, they had forgotten.

Yesterday would not continue forever. They had pretended to be the strong. They had acted like predators. And now, they would learn.

“Kill them all, Relic Blade.”

They would learn just how terrifying a true predator could be.