Solemn talk of distant rain.

This is probably set in between the first and second games, when Gouto still isn't back. The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for October 17, 2009.



The silence unsettles Raidou at times, when he's been too long on the road without a human being in sight and only too many miles between where he is and the next stop that might have people in it. It's peculiar, really, because he never really needed company when he was a child and still growing his hair out for the ceremony meant to make him a man – he hadn't, in fact, particularly liked people any more than he had to, because they were harder to understand that oni were. Now he's left to wonder what changed, why he puts the fire out and curls up in his cape and finds himself staring out into the darkness of the forest or the roadside for a good long time before he manages to drift off.

The impeccable timing of his demonic companions saves him every time. They weren't supposed to be able to let themselves out of their tubes unless he commands them to and he knows that any other devil summoner would move to discipline their subordinates accordingly for it, but it is an indiscretion that Raidou turns a blind eye to. It never does him any harm, and there's something comforting, really, in the endless chatter, or the almost ridiculous gravity, or even the occasional loving offer to devour him quietly in his sleep.