Chapter 25: Faith?

Buildings that pierced the sky became visible in the distance. Kuro found himself humming a tune as he was now strolling through West Shinjuku. Even though he’d wanted to head straight home to kick back and laze about, he needed to shake off this extra energy.

Today’s shaping up pretty nicely…

He panned his gaze around, mixing into the stream of pedestrians ambling through the streets. Cafés were tucked pleasantly into the lower floors of towers. Clicks of heels against stone came from office workers swinging their briefcases.

Looking up, elevated walkways extended above him. Kuro watched the people flowing through them. The flow of wind brushing against his skin felt different. Having to funnel its way in must have been the cause.

Inches kept the people moving from bumping into him. That distance was something ingrained into them.

A lot of space existed between the structures, making the environment feel less crowded than some older districts. Outlines of antennas and maintenance rails were sharp against the sky.

Surrounded by the all this impressive architecture, Kuro began to think back to a project the Demons had proposed.

It was an ambitious plan, one he didn’t know exactly how to feel about. An external world—in another dimension—was to be created, where Demons would mainly reside in. With the aid of the most powerful members of their clan, a space separated from the realm of humans and Heroes should be a feasible.

The obstacle preventing this from coming to fruition lay somewhere between the sustaining and maintaining of the world.

They couldn’t just turn one of their own to a living battery. That’d be like ordering Talmarius to use one of his spells, then telling him to keep it up until… Well, forever.

Kuro sighed, knowing that his butler would probably leap at it if he ordered him to. He himself wasn’t too fond of the idea, so he didn’t actively contribute to that front.

Their plan did have its benefits. He pictured the young Demon from earlier. It was obvious that he was being homeschooled. Letting their child out of their sights for too long could be fatal.

But if a sort of “Pseudo-Demon Realm” was established in place of Hell—which they had no access to—that problem would be alleviated.

Kuro exhaled steadily, wondering why his happy mood was already turning into a fleeting memory.

He sensed someone. Depressing couldn’t capture the vibes Kuro felt coming from where the person stood.

With gentle strides, he began walking in that person’s direction.

● ● ●

A girl with a slender, frail-looking frame was peering over the ledge of a building fourteen stories high. She had a hood pulled over her head, and it cast shadows over her features.

Sunken cheeks, and dark circles under the eyes gave her a tired disposition—tired of everything, that was.

With a shaky lift of her leg, she placed a foot on the very edge the roof and looked down to the ground below. She pulled the leg back, taking deep breaths—she winced as she did that.

Her teeth now clenched tight.

She balled both of her fists.

Her eyes now gleamed with fortified resolve.

The girl approached the ledge again, leaning over it slightly—

“Hey…”

“….?”

Horrified, the girl watched as the young man in black delicately walked over to the ledge, and sat on it. He threw a curious glance at ground below, too.

He whistled. “That’s quite the drop, huh?”

“…?!”

She couldn’t fathom what had just happened. Didn’t people normally try to “defuse” situations like this?

“What’s up?”

His expression was calm and relaxed, like he was simply striking up a conversation with someone he’d just met. Actually, that’s exactly what he did just now.

She didn’t answer. He didn’t press further.

They both stared outward at the clusters of buildings up ahead. At some point, the young man began swinging his legs back and forth, whistling a tune.

If she wasn’t mistaken, it was definitely the opening theme to a series she was fond of. She’d been following it religiously until she found it to be a futile effort at clinging to happiness.

But the strange man kept at it, whistling the tune with flawless execution.

Subconsciously, she hummed a section along—

“Ha! I had a feeling you’d love that show. You a fan?”

Hesitation gripped her. She didn’t want to rack up any more conversations in her lifetime. Something about him made her give in.

She nodded. “Yeah. I used to love that show…”

“Used to?”

“There’s no need for me to enjoy stuff anymore. It’s all pointless in the end.”

“Hmm… Why do you think it’s pointless?”

She slouched, sighing with irritation, “Because there isn’t!”

He turned to fully face her.

“My lungs are as good as gone. The chemo’s just a formality. My friends say they believe I’d get better, but I know they’re just trying to be supportive. My parents have already accepted the doctor’s verdict… Why don’t I cut to the chase and end it already—?!”

“Did you hear about the asteroid that would have ended the world some days ago?”

She wondered if he’d listened to anything she’d just said, but she tilted her head upwards, recalling the news flashes she’d seen on her phone concerning the incident. “I did… I wasn’t scared of what would’ve happened to me, though. Only of what would happen to everybody else…”

“Hmm… I see.” He stared into the distance thoughtfully. And after a few seconds of silence, he’d finally broken it.

“Faith…”

● ● ●

“Faith?” She asked, nearly scowling. “What will something as dumb as that possibly help me?!”

She broke into a coughing fit after yelling.

“To be honest, I don’t quite know myself,” he said. “But, think about this. Why am I talking to you right now?”

She didn’t respond. She only gazed deeply into his unnaturally dark eyes that pulled her in.

“You hadn’t completely accepted it was hopeless, right?”

“W-What do you know?!”

“When there’s something you absolutely believe in, no matter how unachievable it may seem, it can do wonders…” He thought about what he had faith in. “Some put it in gods, money, intellect, facts, knowledge, power…”

“Then tell me. What do you have faith in?”

“I have complete faith in the life I want to live. Whatever tries to stand in the way of that would be wasting its time, because, I’d just crush it.”

“Well, I can’t think of anything I’d trust that much in—”

“Really? There’s a lot to choose from. There’s yourself, the next day, the day after that. Then, there’s the next week, and the week after that. Heck, you could even put it in the words of a stranger like me! Wait, maybe that last one might not make the cut…”

He shrugged, then got up. “Well, later.”

He patted her on the shoulder—a spark of black.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, must’ve been static, or something.”

He spun around, striding gingerly to the exit.

“Aren’t you going to stop me?!” she questioned, very confused, slowly stepping down from the ledge.

“At the end of the day, it’s your life, right? Can’t go around telling you how to live it,” he responded, reaching the door.

“Hey… Wait! What’s your name…?”

“It’s Kuro. Kuro Kurosu. And yours?”

“****”

“Nice meeting you. I hope we run into each other some other time. That’d be great.”

As he shut the door, Kuro grinned.

I really shouldn’t mess with people’s lives like this…

● ● ●

Kuro was lounging around in his room as planned. He clicked the remote, switching channels nonstop. There was nothing good on TV right now.

It was late at night. He’d wandered around the city much longer than he’d originally intended. And suddenly, a wonderful idea popped into his mind.

“Time to grind Caverns & Wyverns for a bit”

Switching on his console, he checked his progress in game, before getting right into playing it.

Meanwhile…

In a dimly illuminated space, a voice echoed within it…

“Go! Go my Sapienculi! Head to the Higashi Shinjuku Academy, storm the place, and retrieve a single strand of this person’s hair for me! Go!!!”

Glass shattered, spilling the contents inside it.

Bodies writhed around in the dark, faintly catching a shimmer of the sparse light.

Muscular, malformed human-like physiques staggered to their feet, and started chanting, “One… Strand… One… Strand… One… STRAND!”

Their distorted voices continued chanting in unison, as they disappeared into the corners of the room.

They navigated through sewers, sprinting with animalistic movements. Bursting out of manholes, the creatures scaled towers, leaping across them in impractical bounds.

And in a couple of minutes, they’d reach the destination where they’d carry out their assignment…

To retrieve a single strand.