Hito-mane Extermination: Obstreperous

A man. A cracked face. An empty throne. A council of puppets. The cracked face peers into the king. The king sits back and stares. Nothing. A girl who lives in fantasy. A boy who knows the truth. The king ignores the cracked face. He tells him off. The man leaves. His face cracks once more. The king ponders. A horn. A defection. Perfect. Not perfect enough. A flaw. One horn cracked. A scar. Not forever. His face. His cursed face. Not his. Not anymore. The king stands. The king hesitates. The king leaves the empty throne. The king leaves his council of 9 men. His puppets. His creations. His regret. His illustration masks his intent. Gone. His soul. More god. Less human. 

The devil who walks from the empty throne is a devil that is content in the world's dehumanization.

-E.K., All of the beauty has rotted with my death.

                                 ...

The Titan Bridge Train didn’t feel like a train once you were actually on it.

It felt more like someone had ripped a highway out of the ground, threw it into the sky, and decided gravity was optional if you believed hard enough.

Iron rails floated between nothing and nothing, held up by massive steel balls that ran faintly with Zyn energy. The wind up here wasn’t normal wind either. It hit different. Like the air itself had teeth. Inside one of the glass-walled carriages, the main group sat scattered across padded seats that were bolted into the floor like the engineers didn’t fully trust reality either. Zhenyu was leaning near the window, watching the clouds slide beneath them like slow-moving oceans.

He spoke without looking away. “Alright… I’m gonna be real with you guys. I’ve never been on something like this before. This is way outside my comfort zone.” Tatsuchi, who had been sitting with her legs crossed and her eyes glued to the screen of her device, paused her scrolling. She glanced over at him with an expression of genuine confusion, like she wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly or if he was playing some sort of strange joke. “You say that like it’s normal to have a ‘first time’ on a sky train, Zhenyu,” she remarked, her voice dry. “Most people go their whole lives without ever seeing a rune pylon, let alone riding a rail held up by literal magic and prayers.”

Zhenyu shrugged, his eyes still fixed on a particularly large cloud formation. “I don’t know. It feels normal enough now that I’m here. It’s just… higher than I expected.”Asumi leaned back in her seat, one leg crossed over the other in a pose of relaxed indifference. She looked between the two of them, a faint smirk playing on her lips. “Okay, but now I’m actually curious. If you’ve never used the Bridge, how did you even get to the capital for the tournament? That’s thousands of miles of some of the worst terrain on the planet.”

Zhenyu finally looked away from the window. The reflection of the Zyn energy faded from his pupils as he turned to face her. He blinked once, slowly, as if processing the question. Then, with a casual tone that suggested he was talking about going to the kitchen for a glass of water, he gave his answer.

“I walked.” The silence that followed was heavy. It was the kind of silence that usually preceded a punchline, but none came. Tatsuchi stopped scrolling entirely and just stared at him, her mouth slightly aground. “…You what?” she asked, her voice flat. “I walked,” Zhenyu repeated, looking slightly confused by her reaction. Asumi squinted at him, trying to find the lie in his eyes. “Like… from where, exactly? Give us a starting point, Zhenyu.”

“From where I started,” he replied simply. “I just kept going until I saw the tall buildings. It took a while, I guess.” Tatsuchi leaned forward a little, her device forgotten on her lap. “No, no, no. Be serious for one second. You’re telling us you crossed the wastes, avoided the predators, navigated the canyons, and did it all on foot just to get to a tournament?”

Zhenyu tilted his head to the side, looking at her like she was the one being strange. “I am being serious. My boots were pretty much falling apart by the time I got to the gates, but I made it.” Asumi laughed under her breath, a sharp, skeptical sound. “Okay, that is either the most impressive thing I have ever heard in my entire life, or you are just a world class liar looking for attention. Walking that distance is basically a death sentence.”

“I’m not lying,” Zhenyu said, his voice calm and steady. “It was a long walk, but the stars are easy to follow at night.” Tatsuchi leaned back slowly, exhaling a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “…You’re insane. You are actually, genuinely insane.” Zhenyu didn’t argue. He just went back to looking out the window, watching the horizon, acting as if that settled the matter entirely. The carriage gave a soft, rhythmic jolt, and a deep, vibrating hum ran through the floor and up through their seats. The pitch of the wind outside shifted, losing its sharp whistle and becoming a low roar.

The sound changed. The friction was increasing. They were getting close to a destination. Zhenyu spoke again, his voice much quieter this time, almost a whisper. “Something’s coming up. I can see it through the haze.” Tatsuchi stood up slightly to look past him, straining her eyes against the glare of the desert sun reflecting off the clouds. And then, she saw it too. The Harpyra Capital, Pyrrhocore. The City of Glass

At first, the city didn't even look real. It rose out of the desert like a fever dream, as if someone had carved a metropolis out of a heat haze and forced it to stay in the physical realm through sheer force of will. Massive mountain walls surrounded it on all sides, towering so high that their jagged peaks disappeared into the permanent cloud cover. The entire place looked locked in, a fortress of stone and glass.

The only entrance was also the only exit to the city, with the exception of the floating train line of course. The city itself sat in the center of the valley like an oasis pretending not to be in a cage. Fullglass buildings stretched upward toward the sky, catching the harsh sunlight and bending it into warm, liquid gold reflections that hurt the eyes. The streets were wide and clean. In fact, they were almost too clean. There was no grit, no trash, no signs of the chaos that usually defined a bustling capital. Water channels cut through parts of the city like blue veins, feeding pockets of lush green vegetation that felt almost out of place in a desert this harsh and unforgiving.

But something was wrong. Even from the height of the descending train, you could feel a heavy, oppressive atmosphere. “It’s too quiet,” Asumi muttered, her hand moving instinctively toward the hilt of her weapon.

The train began its final descent, the massive runes on the pylons glowing brighter as they handled the breaking force. The city center station grew closer, a structure as massive and suspended as the rail itself. Tatsuchi shifted in her seat, her posture turning rigid. Her eyes went sharp and analytical. “Alright, listen up, both of you.” Asumi glanced over, a small smirk returning to her face despite the tension. “You’re doing your ‘leader voice’ again, Tatsuchi. That’s never a good sign. It usually means we’re about to get shot at.”

Tatsuchi ignored the comment, her focus entirely on the mission. “We land, we do not split up under any circumstances. The first stop is the government section stationed here near the terminal. We get the info we need, figure out where the local Gate Guard division is operating, and we move from there. No distractions.”

Zhenyu nodded slightly, but his brow was furrowed in thought. “I still don’t get it. Can you re-explain why that’s normal for capitals here? It seems like a lot of bureaucracy for a desert city.” Tatsuchi exhaled, trying to find the patience to explain the political landscape. “Yeah, it’s the 13 Guard system. It spreads everything out so no one person has total control. Each major capital has one Gate Guard unit for defense and one government division assigned to it for administration. It’s supposed to keep power balanced and prevent a single entity from seizing the region.”

Asumi added, her voice flat and cynical, “Keyword there: supposed to. In reality, it just means they spend more time arguing than actually protecting people.”

The train locked into its docking position with a heavy, jarring mechanical sound that echoed through the station. The doors hissed open, releasing a pressurized gust of air. The group stood up, each of them adjusting the backpacks they wore. They were packed for a long haul, containing essential supplies such as water, various random tools, and at least two changes of clothes.

Heat hit them immediately. It wasn't just normal, dry desert heat. It was aggressive. It was the kind of heat that made your skin feel like it was being slightly pressured from all sides, a physical weight that sat on your shoulders.

Tatsuchi stepped out onto the platform first. She stopped instantly, her face twisting into a grimace of pure annoyance. “…I already hate this place. The air feels like it’s boiling.” Tatsuchi actually tried to turn around and walk back onto the air-conditioned train, but Asumi was faster. She grabbed Tatsuchi by the collar of her jacket and forcefully turned her around. Asumi walked past her, lightly smacking the back of her head as she went.

“Stop whining and let’s move. We aren’t here to window shop.” Zhenyu stepped out last, adjusting his coat as he looked around the station. The city looked beautiful from the train, but up close, the emptiness was jarring.

There were no kids running around. No vendors shouting about their wares. There was no background noise of life happening. No music, no chatter, no clatter of daily business. Just a heavy, suffocating silence stretched across perfect, sun-drenched streets.

Tatsuchi frowned, her hand moving to her belt. “This is wrong. A capital city shouldn’t be this quiet at midday.” Asumi scanned the rooftops and the alleyways, her eyes narrow. “No merchants either. Not even a stray cat. It’s like the whole place just held its breath.”

Zhenyu tilted his head, looking down a side street. “No cult guys either Itaka warned me about.” That got an immediate reaction from both of them. Asumi looked at him, her interest piqued. They’d heard the reports already. There was seemingly a growing cult issue across the various capitals. Usually, they were hard to miss. People preaching in the squares, shouting that freedom itself was an illusion. For the most part, they were considered harmless nuisances. Loud speeches, strange gatherings, but no real reports of violence. But here? There was nothing. Not even the whispers of a peep.

They started walking, their boots clicking loudly against the pristine pavement. The deeper they went into the heart of Pyrrhocore, the worse the atmosphere felt. The buildings, made of that incredibly dense fullglass, reflected their every movement back at them. It felt like the city itself was watching them from a thousand different angles. Fullglass was one grade above even the best tempered glass; it was ten times as dense and extremely hard to break. To even scratch it, you would need something like a handheld thermobaric grenade and then some.

The heat was becoming unbearable. Zhenyu pulled his coat off properly and draped it over his shoulders, letting it hang loose so that the movement of his walking would bring in air to cool his skin.

Asumi glanced at him, her eyes rolling. “You’re really doing the dramatic wind thing right now, emo boy? You think you’re in a music video?” As she said it, she realized she was doing the exact same thing with her own outer layer to catch the breeze. “I’m hot, Asumi. It’s functional,” Zhenyu replied defensively.

“You’re dramatic,” she countered.

“You’re loud,” he shot back. Tatsuchi cut in before it could escalate, her voice sharp. “Both of you shut up. We have eyes on the destination.”

That actually worked. For a moment, the bickering ceased. Just up ahead, the silhouette of the government embassy started to make an appearance, its spires reflecting the golden light of the afternoon. Then they saw them. Five men on horseback appeared at the far end of the street. They didn’t move like normal people entering a city. They didn't look like travelers or even soldiers on patrol. They moved with a slow, arrogant confidence, as if they already owned every brick and pane of glass in the district.

The horse hooves stopped in perfect sync, the sound echoing in the empty street. Masks covered the riders' faces, with long strips of cloth trailing behind them like torn, dusty banners. The leader of the group sat slightly forward in his saddle, his posture relaxed but ready.

He had long, messy brown hair and piercing crystal blue eyes that seemed to cut through the heat. There was a presence around him that didn't match the silence of the city. It was like something inside of him was leaking pressure into the air, a physical weight of Zyn energy that made the oxygen feel heavy. He spoke first. His voice had a thick Southern drawl. It was calm. Almost friendly. “So… what we got here? A bunch of tourists who took a wrong turn at the clouds?” Tatsuchi stepped forward, her hand resting openly on her weapon. “I’m a captain of the 13 Gate Guards. We’re here on official business with the government embassy. Move aside.”

The man studied her for a long second, his blue eyes roaming over her uniform. Then he tilted his head, a small, mocking smile touching his lips. “What kinda business involves three kids wandering into a graveyard? Seems a bit morbid for the Guards.”

Tatsuchi didn’t even blink. Her gaze was like ice. “Not yours.” A pause followed. The air between the two groups shifted slightly, turning cold despite the desert sun. The riders behind the leader moved their horses back half a step. It wasn't a move made out of fear. It was a move made out of understanding. They knew what was about to happen. The man slowly dismounted his horse. His boots hit the ground with a heavy thud. 

The sound felt far too loud for how quiet the city was, like a drum in a library. He reached behind his back, his hand disappearing into the folds of his gear. He pulled out a weapon. It was a terrifying piece of hardware: an 8-foot whip attached to a heavy, brutal hatchet. 

Zyn energy pulsed through the length of the whip in thin, controlled lines of light. Tatsuchi’s eyes narrowed, her feet shifting into a combat stance. The man smiled slightly, resting the hatchet end of the weapon on his shoulder. “Name’s Graham G. Léon. Most people around here call me ‘Sir’ if they want to keep their teeth.”

He looked around the empty city with a sense of pride. “And I run the Grim Bone Devils. This is our territory now.” Zhenyu stepped forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the man. “…That’s a terrible name. Honestly, it sounds like something a middle schooler would come up with.” Graham chuckled, not seeming offended in the slightest. “Yeah? 

Well, it works. It keeps the soft people in their houses and the loud people in the ground.” He gestured to the vacant streets. “And I made sure this place stays real quiet. Peace through superior firepower, you could say.” Tatsuchi’s hand hovered near her blade, the Zyn within her beginning to stir. “What have you done with the people here, Graham?” Graham tapped his weapon against his shoulder. “ My Zyn technique: Chain Gang."

He didn’t wait for an answer. He began to pace in a small circle, like he was explaining something simple to a group of students.

“Chain Gang,” he said, the words rolling off his tongue. “It’s a simple concept of spatial tethering. You leave a piece of yourself somewhere. Hair, skin, bone… it don’t really matter what it is, as long as it’s yours .”He lifted his hand, showing it to them. “And I use it to anchor space. Equivalent exchange is the law of the land. You give a bit of yourself to the world, and the world lets you hold onto a piece of it.”

He gestured vaguely toward the horizon. “The bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the reach. That’s how it works.” Tatsuchi’s eyes narrowed further. She activated the Zyn flow in her vision, filtering the world through the spectrum of energy. And then she saw it.

A massive, shimmering square barrier stretched across the entire capital. It was vast. It didn't just cover the streets or the buildings. Even the mountains surrounding the valley were included in the grid. Zhenyu muttered, his voice full of disbelief, “…That’s not small. He’s tethered the entire valley.”

Graham continued casually, enjoying the look on their faces. “And once it’s set, I know where every living thing inside is. Every heartbeat, every breath, every little twitch of a finger. Always. You can’t hide from the landlord when you’re living in his house.” Tatsuchi noticed something else as she looked at his hands. Four fingers were missing. Two on each hand were gone, the scars old and clean.

Graham smiled like he saw her looking at his stumps. “Yeah. The price for a cage this big wasn’t cheap. But look at the results. Not a single crime in the streets for weeks.” Then, without warning, he lifted the whip. He was incredibly fast. The attack came out of nowhere, a sudden crack of movement that broke the sound barrier. It was a blur of leather and Zyn energy.

Tatsuchi barely managed to turn her head in time. The hatchet at the end of the whip skimmed her cheek, the wind of its passage cutting a tiny line into her skin. She stepped back instantly, her hand flying to her waist. She drew her blade in a single, fluid motion.

It was a sword of black steel, deep and light-consuming. Graham whistled, genuinely impressed. “Well damn. That’s a rare piece of metal. You must be higher up in the food chain than you look.” Tatsuchi didn’t respond with words. Her blade ignited with a roar of Zyn fire, the heat of the weapon rivaling the sun above.

“Rosaleda del Infierno.”

Flames wrapped around the sword like burning, overlapping petals of a dark rose. The air around her began to shimmer and distort. Graham laughed, spinning his whip in a complex, whistling pattern. “That’s just Nero with a bit of attitude, girl. I’ve seen fire before.” Tatsuchi moved. She was a blur of motion, launching herself at him with her blade held low. But when her strike reached the spot where he had been standing, he was gone. She hit nothing but empty air. The whip cracked again from her left. Then again from her right. Every angle changed in an instant. His movements were completely unpredictable, his position shifting through the space he had anchored with his missing fingers.

Zhenyu stepped back, his eyes darting around to track the movement. Asumi drew her weapon slowly, her expression one of deep annoyance. “This just got incredibly annoying. I hate spatial users,” she muttered.

                            … 

The fight escalated with terrifying speed. Steel and whip collided over and over, the ringing of metal echoing through the empty streets like the city itself was listening to the rhythm of the duel. Minutes passed, then more, as the two combatants tore through the plaza. Graham never stayed still for a second. He was always shifting, always pulling distance, using the whip to keep Tatsuchi at bay while he looked for an opening. Tatsuchi pushed forward harder, her breathing beginning to tighten.

She realized he was testing her. He wasn't being serious. Not yet. He was playing with his food, gauging her strength before deciding how to kill her. That realization made it worse.

Then she noticed something that chilled her. Zhenyu and Asumi weren’t behind her anymore. The street was empty. They were just… gone. Her focus slipped for half a second. In a fight of this level, that was all the opening a man like Graham needed. The whip snapped forward. It wrapped around her face in a sharp, stinging arc. Pain hit her instantly, blinding and hot. She dropped to one knee, her black blade clattering against the stone. Blood ran down her cheek, dripping onto the pavement. Graham exhaled, his whip coiling back around his arm like a snake. “Now we can talk like civilized people. 

You’re good, I’ll give you that. But you’re outmatched in my house.” Tatsuchi didn’t respond at first. She stayed on her knee, her head bowed. Then, she began to smile. It was a slow, unsettling smile. It looked wrong on her face. “…You think I was being serious just now?” she asked, her voice sounding different .Graham tilted his head, his brow furrowing. “You’re bleeding on my street, girl. Seems serious enough to me.” Tatsuchi’s voice dropped to a whisper that seemed to carry through the entire plaza. “You only survived that because I wasn’t trying to deal with you yet. I was curious about your little cage.”

Something shifted in her expression. 

Memories hit her like a physical blow. She remembered the sound of Brass and his technique. She remembered the smell of snow and the feeling of control slipping through her fingers like shaved ice. The chill ran down her spine as if she could hear the sound of his revolver firing and the swing of his saber. Her fingers moved into complex mudra forms, her Zyn energy changing its frequency.

Flower. Blood. Sacrifice.

Graham frowned, his grip tightening on his hatchet. “…What are you doing? What is that stance?” Tatsuchi whispered, her eyes glowing with a dark, rhythmic pulse. “You brought more than just your five men here, didn’t you, Graham? You have scouts in every building.” Graham’s eyes narrowed. He didn't answer. Tatsuchi continued, her voice gaining a haunting edge. “There are twelve more hiding in the shadows of the fullglass. I can feel their blood pumping. It’s very loud in such a quiet city.” Silence fell over the square. Then-

“Resonance Kai: Blood Refining Lotus.”

A flashback flickered through her mind. She saw Signa, her voice calm and steady as she stood in a library of ancient scrolls. Her grimoire was open to a page that seemed to bleed ink. “This isn’t a normal release, Tatsuchi,” Signa had told her. “Standard techniques use energy to create an effect. Kai techniques are different. They trade something real, something physical, for overwhelming power. Even if only temporarily.”

She had tapped the page with a her finger. “But Resonance Kai? That is the dangerous one. It forces opposites together into a single point. Fire against water. Life against decay. It shouldn’t work.”

“How do you control it?” she had asked. “That's the neat part, you don't.” Signa had replied, looking up at her with eyes that had seen too much. “You break it. You let the conflict create the power.”

Back in the present, something terrifying started happening in the city. Hidden figures began to stumble out from the surrounding buildings. They weren't walking right. Their movements were jerky, like puppets with tangled strings.

They weren't normal. Blood began to run from their eyes, their noses, and their ears. They collapsed one by one, their bodies twitching as their own Zyn energy was forcibly turned against them.

Behind Tatsuchi, the spilled blood on the pavement began to gather. It rose into the air, swirling and thickening until it formed the shape of a giant, crimson rosebud. Then, it bloomed. Graham stepped back, his face pale. “…What did you just do? What is this?” Tatsuchi stood up, her wound already beginning to close. “I used your own setup, Graham. Your Chain Gang anchors the space, right? It connects everyone inside the barrier. I just sent a resonance frequency through your own lines. I used your connection to find your friends.” The giant blood rose opened wider, its petals lifting like scythes. Then, they shot outward with the speed of bullets.

Graham dodged, his body twisting through the air. He survived, but only barely. A petal sliced through his shoulder, drawing a spray of red. Tatsuchi moved with the petals. She used the solidified blood shapes as stepping points mid-air, leaping from one to the next as if she were walking on solid ground. She launched herself forward, her black blade aimed at his throat.

She missed by an inch as he warped space. Graham swung his whip in a desperate arc. The leather caught her arm, biting deep. Just then, the petals that had flown past him suddenly hardened and reversed direction. They struck through his back and legs. He staggered, a cry of pain escaping his lips. He wasn't down yet, his sheer tenacity keeping him upright, but he was badly hurt.

Tatsuchi landed on the ground, her breathing heavy and labored. The blood rose dissipated into a fine mist. She didn't finish him. She simply walked past him as he struggled to stand. “…Should’ve charged the government more for this job. You’re a headache,” she muttered. She reached down and took the heavy coin purse from his belt. Then she kept walking toward the embassy, not looking back.
                                 …

Elsewhere in the city, the sound of gunfire echoed through the narrow streets. Zhenyu and Asumi were moving fast, navigating the back alleys. They were being pursued by the remaining riders. Flintlock rounds cracked through the air, shattering the fullglass windows and sending lethal shards everywhere. Asumi skidded to a halt and slammed her blade into the ground.

“Spinnennetz Vergeltung!”

Energy spread outward from the impact point like a glowing, spiderweb. The ground beneath the riders didn't just crack; it completely collapsed into a deep, jagged ravine. The horses screamed as they and their riders fell into the darkness below. Silence returned to the alley. Zhenyu stood there, staring down at his hand. He had hit one of the riders earlier when they tried to corner him. He had hit him too hard. Something felt off in his chest. A coldness that wasn't from the wind.

Asumi noticed his hesitation. She stepped closer, her weapon still smoking. “…Zhenyu? You okay? You look like you saw a ghost.” He didn’t answer. He just kept looking at his palm. Then Tatsuchi showed up at the end of the alley, looking disheveled and covered in a mix of her own blood and Graham’s.

“Yo,” she said, her voice tired. Asumi blinked, surprised to see her so soon. “You’re done already? I thought that guy with the whip was going to be a problem.” “Yeah. He was. But he’s dealt with for now,” Tatsuchi replied. A pause followed as they stood in the wreckage of the street. Then, the sound of heavy boots approached. Government escorts arrived, emerging from the embassy. They looked too clean. Their uniforms were pressed, their armor polished. They had arrived far too fast for people who had supposedly been hiding.

“We suggest you leave the city immediately,” the lead official said, his voice devoid of emotion. “Your presence here is no longer required, and your methods have caused significant property damage.”

There was no explanation for why they hadn't helped. No thank you for clearing the streets. Just bureaucratic pressure. “Fine by us,” Tatsuchi said, spitting a bit of blood onto the ground. “This place sucks anyway.”

They left quietly, retracing their steps back toward the massive gates. At the outer perimeter, they could see a figure standing on a distant dune. It was Graham. He was leaning on his weapon, waving at them with his mangled hand. He was laughing, the sound carried faintly by the wind.

Tatsuchi stopped, her hand twitching toward her sword. Asumi reached out and pulled her back, her grip firm. “Not worth it, Tats. We got what we came for. Let the clown have his desert.” They walked out of the gates and into the open waste. Outside the city, the heat was even worse without the shade of the glass towers. They found a spot by the side of the road and sat down, the adrenaline finally fading. Zhenyu exhaled a long, shaky breath. “So… that place is cooked. Completely done.”

Asumi nodded, staring back at the mountain walls. “Fully. The government is in bed with the Devils, and the people are too scared to breathe. It’s a dead city walking.” Tatsuchi leaned back against a rock, looking up at the sky. “Government won’t help us. They’ll probably put out a warrant for the damage we did to their precious glass.” Zhenyu looked ahead at the shimmering horizon. “So what now? We can’t go back to the train.”

Asumi answered, her voice grim. “We go to the Badlands. It’s the only place the Guards and the Devils both avoid.” Tatsuchi stood up, brushing the dust from her pants. “Then we move. We have a lot of ground to cover before dark.” 

Ten hours later, the desert still hadn't cooled down. It just changed colors, shifting from a blinding gold to a deep, bruised purple. 

Three moons rose above the dunes, casting long, overlapping shadows across the sand. The small town of Kokohama appeared in the distance. It was a small settlement, but compared to Pyrrhocore, it looked like a paradise. It was alive. There was the faint sound of Western music drifting in the air. There was the smell of cooked food. Different types of meat and bread. There were people laughing in the streets.

Zhenyu blinked, rubbing his eyes. “…This feels fake. After today, it feels like a hallucination.” Asumi smirked, nudging him with her elbow. “It’s just normal life, Zhenyu. Weird, right? People actually enjoying themselves without a care in the world.” They checked in at a small, dusty inn near the town square. They paid with Graham’s money, which felt like a small bit of justice. They got their rooms, one for the girls and one for Zhenyu.

Later that night, the exhaustion finally set in. Asumi and Tatsuchi shared a room, dropping their packs and collapsing onto the beds. Zhenyu had his own room across the hall. He had complained about the price of the single room. Tatsuchi had called him annoying and told him to shut up. A door had slammed.

Then, a soft, hesitant knock came at the girls' door. Tatsuchi looked up from where she was cleaning her blade. “Who is it?” The innkeeper’s voice came through the wood, sounding nervous and thin. “…I need to warn you about something before you go to sleep. I saw your weapons.”

Tatsuchi stood up and opened the door. The man swallowed hard, looking down the dark hallway. “What is it?” she asked, her voice dropping.

“There’s a serial killer in this town.”