Apathy In The Air

"I am not only Katsuragi Reizō. I embody two minds in one vessel."

The words hung like frost in the air.

“Huh…”

Danjiki blinked hard — his vision doubling, then stabilizing only to blur again. His breaths were ragged, each inhale scraping his ribs like broken glass. The adrenaline that had been his last lifeline now drained from him in cruel, heavy waves.

The fact that he had landed even one cut on Reizō felt less like skill — and more like a divine accident.

Reizō tilted his head. Calm. Too calm.

"Young man… do you truly believe I would permit that fool Tenkai to ramble about his pathetic ideology of nobility to someone like me?"

Danjiki coughed, fighting to keep the world from spinning.

"What do you… (pant)… mean to say?"

"He spoke often of his upbringing — of how he was taught to see virtue in all people. How even though society shunned him, he sought the good in everyone."

Reizō’s tone was so even, it bordered on insulting.

Danjiki forced a smirk he didn’t feel.

"Yeah… (pant)… that sounds just like him, alright."

"He even told stories of my daughter," Reizō continued, unfazed, "attempting to evoke sympathy. As if his infant ideals could reach me."

Danjiki frowned.

"He?"

"The other me," Reizō clarified.

He spoke with the detachment of one describing weather patterns.

"I call him Raizo. The docile half. Amiable. Deluded. I was merely awaiting the chance to reclaim control… and dispose of that troublesome boy."

Danjiki spat blood into the snow.

"You’re nothin’ but a mentally ill.. scoundrel with delusions too twisted to exist in a human mind. If you stayed that Raizo fella, even Tenkai could’ve handled you."

Reizō chuckled softly.

"Ah, but no."

He pressed a hand to the wound on his shoulder — Danjiki’s single proud achievement — yet his composure didn’t falter even an inch.

"I assure you…

Raizo is the one who stabbed Tenkai."

Danjiki froze.

"Tch… you absolute bastard." The words trembled with rage.

"So you’re a monster all in all out, filthy through and through."

"Bastard. Monster. Call me what you wish," Reizō said, unfazed.

"What I do is necessary. It is for the betterment of our nation."

He began pacing, his voice taking on a disturbingly scholarly rhythm.

"I forced myself to sever all sentimentality in youth. Morality is a luxury that weakens judgment. All lives are identical — thus the loss of one holds no meaning, particularly when it is required."

Danjiki had nothing left. His legs buckled. "What did Tenkai do for you to do that then..?

(He dropped to his knees, sword embedding into the ground to keep him upright. Even then, his body sagged, ready to fall face-first into the frozen earth.)

"His nursing of me could've proved hazardous to my identity or my true intentions." Reizō explained subtly.

"Tch.. Damn you." Danjiki grunted, lengthening his words from the anger.

Reizō exhaled softly.

"It appears you have reached your limit."

He lifted his sword — Tenkai’s blood still staining its edge.

"After I dispatch you, I shall visit the Office to inform His Majesty of the dangerous upbringing you ruffians hail from. Then I shall return… and eliminate

Every. Single. One of you."

The declaration shattered the silence. Cold. Formal. Absolute.

Reizō walked toward Danjiki, steps slow, savoring the inevitability.

Snow spiraled around him like white ghosts gathering to witness the kill.

As Reizō advanced, he flicked his sword, sending droplets of Tenkai's blood splattering across the snow — and onto Danjiki’s cheek.

He stood over the boy, his silhouette blotting out the sky.

"Oukan Danjiki," he declared,

"As I managed your father, so shall I now manage you. I could not execute him personally — suspicion would have followed — but you…"

His grin widened.

"You will suffice."

He raised the sword.

Then began a sermon.

"I am the only one awake — others live in dreams, so I may do as I please. When I end a life, I free it from the illusion of permanence. Love made me weak; love blinded me; love demanded blood.

I am the blade through which samsara cuts itself free.

To free the soul, one must cut the threads that bind it.
To love the world, one must destroy its illusions.
I am but the quiet wind through which all attachments fall away."

(He ended his odd recitation and made the effort to share one last, formal judgment.)

"Attachment to old ways, fear of change. These egregious reasons are why this nation is weak, why so many object to how far behind the world we are, why we are allowing Westernization for this country to be a better place."

"I shall not permit mere runts to impede my judgment.

FAREWELL!"

(Reizō slashed his sword down!)

FLASH

"Ngh?!" (Reizō was profoundly surprised. His sword was parried.)

"And I think that oughta be the last o' the information sharin' ye'll ever be doin' on this hill, ye old buffoon."

(Jinko arrived, his sword now locked in a clash against Reizō's blade, having stopped it inches from Danjiki's neck.)

"I-Impossible, Saitou Jinko! How could I not have perceived your approach?!" Reizō is astounded.

"Quiet as a shinobi, flamboyant as a samurai." Jinko smiles, before continuing,

"Maybe if ye didn't spend a hot minute rantin' 'bout yer ideologies and sermons ye coulda rubbed a finger in that ear and get it cleared."

(Jinko used brute force to lift the sword up and parry Reizō away from Danjiki.)

Danjiki: "Hey... mop-head. Took you.. long enough, huh?"

(Jinko held his guard against Reizō, briefly looking back at Danjiki.)

Jinko: "Be glad I'm even here.

Or more so, be glad I brought some help to take him away 'cause our pal's still alive, he just needs medical attention."

Danjiki is startled, "Huh?!"

"That's right, it's gonna take more than a stab to the tums fer good ol' Tenkai to kick the bucket, that damned fool." (Jinko smiled, addressing Danjiki's confusion.)

(Jinko faced Reizō.) "As for ye, I'm sick o' yer dumb logic to go around killin' people so how 'bout I put an end to ye right now."

"That shall not be a task so facile for one of your skill. Being provocative of my ideas and mentality to change this country shall not hinder me; I suggest you abandon that tactic." Reizō replies.

"Huh, is that so, I jist parried yer sword away, and yer on less than half strength with one arm bleedin' out from Danjiki's strike, yer a no-go right now."

"Yes, it would certainly appear that I am at a disadvantage, would it not?"

Reizō grinned. A grin of certain triumph, one that spoke of a plan Jinko was not expecting. 

Jinko furrowed his brows, refusing to be caught off-guard.

"Let him go." A familiar voice says from afar, approaching.

"Huh." Danjiki and Jinko question audibly in unison.

"M-Michinori..?"

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Afterword*: I am having a lot of fun switching the story narrative from a slow-burn style to sudden suspense and using Reizo to drive that plot in general, for the record, some of his reasonings sound like they don't consist of correlation, it will make sense eventually but for now that's kind of the point, he's mentally insane, oddly aware of it, and we often see on newsfeeds or something how someone is convicted of from the dumbest reasons to kill, he kind of resembles that, but with political power.