I'm doing much better getting back on track this year after the holidays. Hope they turned out alright for all of you, even if things are a little strange and tense in the world right now.
None of them had quite known what to do or say, the first time one of the infected had died at their hands.
It wasn't as if it was a deliberate action on her part, just a moment of panic - the Jorou-Gumo she'd run through with Shiro had lost more mana than a smaller Yokai would have had in her entire body.
Then the spider-woman had pushed herself up Shiro's haft with enough force to nearly put Rei through a wall.
Far from debilitating the eastern Arachne-variant, losing mana had sent the Jorou-Gumo into a frenzy.
Hemmed in by a cage of stabbing chitinous limbs, Rei had kept the woman's red-painted lips away from her throat only by virtue of releasing Shiro to catch the spider-woman by hers.
Kohta had crashed into the spider like a charging bull, smashing her away from the desperately struggling Rei. The Jorou-Gumo had eight legs coiled beneath her, ready to pounce on the marksman when Shiro reentered the fight.
… The blood had stood out so vividly against the pale, flawless skin of the Yokai.
The limbs were still twitching when Rei had finished emptying the contents of her stomach.
She had wanted to deny. That it wasn't her fault, that she hadn't meant to, that-
But the words never made it out, because Rei had known from the moment Shiro had left her hand.
… That when it came right down to it, somewhere in the back of her mind, Rei had thought 'us or them'.
She had made her choice, and so far, she simply hadn't had the time to figure out how she was supposed to live with it.
… But what was she… what were they supposed to do?
How were they supposed to warn anyone when they had no idea why they themselves weren't sick, hadn't the foggiest idea of whether or not they could still pass the infection on?
If it was an external danger, some brigand or monster threatening the people, they could put themselves in between them and their intended victims.
Even if the threat wasn't a living being, even were the danger some natural disaster- like a storm or a forest fire- they had means to deal with that too to some degree, perhaps not by stopping said disaster, but at minimum they could help the people get out of the way.
But how does one fight an infection?
Where is it you're meant to thrust your spear, which direction must the bolt fly, which spell do you use to strike down something that you can't see coming, and by the time it's arrived, the fight is over, with the loser being you and the audience?
They weren't trained for this.
They had never seen anything like this.
… Had anyone?
Two more nights had passed since they'd fled the seaside port, and the infection that had consumed it.
During that time, fleeing deeper into the mainland, trying to break their way past any populated areas, Rei, Saya and Kohta had found four different settlements, one almost large enough to be a town, and the rest little rural farming villages.
The villages had been gutted, filled with nothing but the dying or the dead… the eater or the eaten.
The almost-town had seen them running for their lives, and thanking any god that would listen that none of the fast kinds of Yokai had been in the screaming mob they'd fled from.
It was the third village, though, that had stood out in the worst possible way- there, Kohta had been blooded when he had shot a Crow Tengu from the sky.
The first time the bird-woman had swooped down on them, she had nearly flown off with Saya's head.
The first shot he put through her back had just made her fly faster- wings flapping with such maddened force it seemed they were trying to bludgeon down the air beneath them.
… He didn't let her get near anyone on the second pass, and she'd broken her neck falling out of the sky with one wing short of a pair.
They'd then decided on a team exercise of emptying the contents of their stomachs when the single wing of the… body kept flapping for a solid minute after the rest of the twitching had stopped.
Ironically, the second night was the first night they'd properly been able to sleep- too tired to be stressed out, they hadn't even gotten as far as deciding a watch, just passed out around the fire during dinner.
If Rei and fire had not been such close friends, she would have likely awoken with one hand less then she fell asleep with.
Instead, she'd woken with the burning Wings of the Valkyrie wrapped around her like a blanket, Celestial Flame keeping its earthly counterpart in line.
They woke up rested in what felt like the first time in years.
Resolved, or perhaps resigned, to face what was to come.
There was a certain irony to be found in the idea that the resolve they found was put to the test almost immediately.
It felt like her world had gotten just a little bit bigger.
Saeko felt like she was on the edge of epiphany- that an important, integral 'something' was about to make itself known.
As if on cue, a break in the forest canopy brought the warmth of the sun shining down- bringing a hint of pleasant heat to both bare skin and soft cotton.
Ah, that was it…
Takashi was her sun- the warm, unshakeable center of everything.
So if Takashi was her sun, then Shizuka was quickly becoming her moon. The smaller, gentler light- unobtrusive but ever present.
Saeko would never forget the day she found her 'sun'- the way he'd burned through the shadows in her heart, exposed her to the light- to his light.
She would always cherish that light.
But just because she'd found her sun did not mean she would forget the nights where the moon was her only companion.
Of the countless nights she'd prayed upon it for even the slightest glimpse of the life she'd now been blessed with.
To Saeko, the moon was a symbol of hope.
Yes, she believed that suited Shizuka rather well.
They had no way of knowing that Shizuka was the only reason that they hadn't encountered the madness slowly but surely engulfing the island.
After all, she wasn't aware of it herself- Shizuka merely followed the whims of her heart and the whisperings of the wind and the trees.
How was she to know that those whisperings were quietly guiding her safely around tragedy after tragedy?
After all, Shizuka was loved by the forest.
It only made sense that the forest would desire to protect her, and her companions.
At least… as long as it could.
When the wind shifted, the force of it struck them all at once, with all the subtlety of a charging Minotaur.
'It' was the stench of blood- fresh enough that it had only just begun to dry in the otherwise pleasant warmth of summer.
The forest sighed in regret as the footsteps of the trio carried them towards the scent, rather than away.
It was a sizable farmstead- not quite large enough to be considered a farming village, but with multiple residences on it- small, but comfortable huts for the workers and their families, with a larger house for the owner and theirs.
They weren't all that far from one of the main highways- their meandering south-eastern path had taken them more south than east that day, approaching Zipangu's largest and southernmost mountain range.
And in the height of summer, approaching the middle of the day- it made sense that no one would be out and about right now, whether at work on the farm or travelling along the highway.
Unlike them, who had cut through the forest and avoided the heat, mild though it was- most would choose this time of day to take a break.
Thus, it made total sense that everything was silent.
Maybe the farmers had just butchered a cow, and that explained the stench of blood.
… Takashi concluded that wishful thinking was something he still sucked at, and pulled Titan out his inner jacket pocket.
With a flick of his wrist, the enchantment undid itself, turning a little metal baton half the length of Takashi's forearm into a studded silver war club as long as his body was tall, and as thick around as his bicep at its thickest point.
Shizuka had used magic to shrink his weapon... so that he had a hand free for both Saeko and her on the road. She'd been both surprised and impressed when they pointed out that there were other practical benefits.
Seeing as they'd intended to travel side-by-side for the foreseeable future, they'd at least discussed what Shizuka was capable of in a fight.
Unsurprising due to her gentle nature, Shizuka had very little in the way of direct combat ability- she was a healer and a protector, not a warrior. That being said, she was a Titania, a Fairy Queen with all the power that entailed- she wasn't very good at explaining things, but from what they could garner, Shizuka was good at healing wounds, sex magic and shielding spells, in that order.
For example apparently she'd surprised Rika something fierce when she 'accidentally' used a spell to block an 'arrow-thingy from one of those big crossbows with wheels'- which Takashi was pretty sure sounded an awful lot like a ballista- in other words, defending against siege weapons was something Shizuka could do without really having to think about it.
This just added further icing to the many joys of travelling with her- neither Takashi or Saeko could cast spells for the most part- just utilize the mana in their bodies to naturally enhance their physical abilities.
Saeko also appreciated that they could deal with injuries without Takashi needing to bleed for it.
With the party they had, the obvious thing to do would be to have Saeko scout ahead- few better scouts than a genuine Kunoichi- but circumstances worked against them.
In the end, it was just a matter of distance and coincidence.
They'd all naturally picked up the pace, just a little.
They'd just so happened to be near a long break in the trees.
They just all happened to get a glimpse of the jumbled pile of bodies- both human and yokai- lying roughly in the center of the farmstead at the same time.
Shizuka wasn't the only one who's immediate impulse was to rush to their aid- she was just the one that moved the fastest.
So she was also the first to get a clear view of the situation.
Takashi reached her as she stumbled, her knees giving way and her hand clamping over her mouth as her stomach lurched.
It was like all of his senses were magnified a dozen times over- the buzzing of flies, the sightless eyes, the stench of iron, the white of bone, the glistening of exposed organs-
… The wet sound of flesh tearing and teeth chewing.
… Not just that sound, but every sound was drowned out by the blood roaring in his ears.
… Something was stirring.
"Shizuka, we need to back up, right now." He tried to whisper, but it could have been a shout, for all he could tell.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong something was-
He had pulled Shizuka to her feet without looking at her- his eyes glued to the ordinary barnhouse that could be found anywhere.
There was nothing strange about it- save that the large door was ajar.
There was nothing strange except that his every sense screamed at him that the only thing that barn held was death.
He barely registered that Saeko was at his side, sword drawn and breath coming through grit teeth in harsh pants- those calm blue eyes wide and dilated, dagger tipped tail scarring the ground behind her as it thrashed about nervously.
He barely registered that Shizuka was trembling in his grasp like a leaf in a hurricane.
Because it had moved-
Or rather, she had moved.
Some maddened corner of his mind imagined knives driven into soil over and over as the towering figure slowly stalked from the barn- a multitude of hairy limbs tipped in a single claw almost as long as Saeko's legs stabbing the earth with every step.
From the waist up, the towering figure was all woman- what they could make out of her smooth skin was green like moss, every naked curve and toned muscle on full display- adorned in savage black tattoos.
But only from the waist up… below that the body of some beast-like arachnid- all coarse dark fur incapable of concealing rippling muscle despite its shaggy nature- and walking upon six legs, a shorter pair folded up in front like monstrous fangs.
Her arms were covered in the same dense fur, her fingers curved claws like brutish blades.
From her wild mane of dark green hair emerged pointed, fur-covered ears and sharp, bull-like horns.
All belonging to a woman, a Yokai almost nine feet tall… and drenched in enough blood to fill the veins of an entire farmstead of people.
A 'cow demon', a beast with woman's curves, spider's limbs and bull's horns.
A mountain monstrosity, the one being that had never 'adapted' to the world as it was over a thousand years- merely changed the nature of her 'hunger'.
The Ushi-Oni.
… Part of her still wanted to ask.
She didn't want to believe that even a Ushi-Oni would commit a massacre like this- they were wild and savage because that was all they knew how to be- but they didn't hurt people that way.
She'd even killed the cows- but hadn't eaten them, the unfortunate animals were simply in pieces.
It was even more rare for them to attack other yokai so viciously- but the poor dear at the bottom of the body- of the corpse pile was clearly a Holistaur.
A hardy, but peaceful Yokai… the kind of gentle soul that Rika had fought to protect time and time again, often by 'coincidence'.
… But there was no mistaking it- even as it tore at her heart, the mana lingering in the air told that clinical part of her brain all she needed to know.
To her eyes, the Ushi-Oni was quite literally dyed with the farmer's colors- and for the first time in Shizuka's centuries of life, nothing about that phrase was in any way fun or kinky.
… They could really use Rika's help right about now, but she was still so far away!
Sometimes, it seemed like Rika was moving directly her way, only to veer suddenly or backtrack seemingly at random.
Her darling wild cat was so easily distracted at times.
Then the Ushi-Oni turned her body to face them- the twisting of her lower body at last catching up the hideous, blood-stained grin she was directing her way.
She was wounded- the arm that had been away from them was snapped brutally just above the elbow, and there was an… indent in the upper left corner of her stomach, just above muscular abdominals and just below ribs.
And lastly, it was a bit harder to make out but the side of her neck seemed a little… uneven?
Putting aside the chiseled abs and the awesome rack (Shizuka was aware of her one-track mind), she was hurt but... not healing? All that mana and her wounds lingered?
It was supposed to be part of what made Ushi-Oni so frightening- even if they could be wounded, they wouldn't stay wounded.
"Takashi, Saeko!" Oh dear, those sharp gazes were rather distracting- "She's favoring her left side! Aim for the ribs!"
They didn't have time to give a proper reply- one talon furrowing the ground in savage mockery of a bull's hoof pawing the ground- and teeth bared in that ferocious, insane smile, the Ushi-Oni charged.
Between them and the gleefully charging Yokai a slab of earth flipped up to meet it as Shizuka's amber eyes flared- the hasty barricade didn't quite stop the hulking Ushi-Oni, but it did slow her vicious charge-
And sent the brute stumbling when two of her left legs dropped into the empty ditch where all that dirt had been seconds prior.
A howl of silver as Titan came slamming down on the Ushi-Oni from above- seemingly unaware or uncaring that one arm was broken and would not move as it should, the Ushi-Oni attempted to raise both arms overhead to block-
… And despite the handicap, it still worked.
"Oh that's just not fair at all." Takashi grumbled, unable to help himself.
The Ushi-Oni reared up, tearing her legs from the pit and lashing out with them- Takashi threw himself back, and Saeko raked her blade across her black legs.
In that way, they missed the oddity that Rei and the others had seen- Saeko wasn't interested in temporarily disabling something as dangerous as a Ushi-Oni, especially one who was, as far as she could tell, trying to add Takashi to her body count.
But the coarse fur on the spider's legs proved a tenacious defense- Saeko's sharp blade only sliced into the first limb- weakening but not disabling- and only took some hairs off the other.
Saeko clicked her tongue in frustration, but was well away before the Yokai could wheel to retaliate.
To her surprise though- the Ushi-Oni immediately attempted to pursue, seemingly forgetting Takashi within easy reach.
This was a mistake- Takashi smashed his kanabo into the Yokai's injured back leg and promptly snapped it.
Something ruptured in the broken limb- dowsing Takashi's face and upper body with an almost violent spray of thick, steaming blood.
Blinded, Takashi staggered back, sweeping Titan in front of him to ward off the cackling Ushi-Oni.
Saeko pounced on its back at the same time it rounded on Takashi- unhindered by its broken leg, due to its many spares.
Saeko plunged her sword into the junction of spider and woman- as much to stabilize herself as to wound the Yokai as it went wild, bucking like a multi-legged bull.
Thick claws lashed out wildly at the perfect height to take Takashi's head from his shoulders- a gleaming flower with petals of pure pink light blossomed forth out of thin air and the slashing limb scraped off.
Shizuka's next spell struck Takashi- momentarily out of harm's way, shimmering mist washed across his head in a faintly shimmering cascade, wiping the blood from his face.
Just in time for the furious Ushi-Oni being ridden by Saeko to leap high into the air.
Twisting so violently they could have sworn something snapped, the Ushi-Oni flipped herself in the air, just enough to do a clumsy sort of back-flop.
Which would have been more harmful to it than anyone else if Saeko hadn't been on that back a second earlier, now between the falling hulk of a woman and the hard earth below.
Shizuka screamed out her name and flung out a hand, and a flower-scented gale tore Saeko from out beneath the Ushi-Oni, sending her slim body tumbling upwards as the wind carried her up and into the sky.
The hasty rescue would have been dangerous for anyone else, but a Kunoichi like Saeko was built for and trained for leaping and falling heights that few Yokai without wings could reach- when she landed on the barn roof- she skidded across it with sword still in hand and body coiled into a low, almost sensual crouch.
A beautiful predator ready to pounce.
The other, somewhat less beautiful predator had chosen the wrong thing to pounce upon, though.
Flipping herself back onto her front, the Ushi-Oni came barreling out of the massive dust cloud her fall had left behind.
Pure, animalistic anger brought the Ushi-Oni charging at the sole male with horns lowered, intent on simply skewering and crushing Takashi beneath her bulk.
The problem there was that Takashi was a fundamentally good person.
One who had just stumbled upon the site of a senseless massacre, and been attacked for his trouble without warning or explanation.
One who had watched the attacker try to crush the love of his life to paste, and would surely inflict something just as awful upon the other woman he was quickly learning to love, given the chance.
Takashi was a fundamentally good person… but also a dangerous person with every reason to be on the warpath.
That pure, animalistic anger of the Ushi-Oni met the pure, animalistic anger of the Berserker and, for the first time in her life, found her ferocious charge- that legends compared to the rampaging chariot of the War Goddess herself… grinding to a halt.
Even Takashi wasn't strong enough to completely stop the onslaught- the Ushi-Oni had sent him sliding almost a dozen feet through the dirt before his knees were dragging bloody furrows through the ground for half a dozen more.
Under different circumstances, the Ushi-Oni, once she gathered her wits would have decided then and there that the hands with a death grip on her horns belonged to those of the man in all the world most suited to be her husband, and gone through any lengths to make it true.
It was a trait that all strong monsters shared by necessity, if nothing else; the desire for a strong mate.
The better he could match her, the more satisfying it would be to defeat and claim him.
Perhaps if the circumstances were different.
… But Takashi was not the only one out of patience- the horns were torn from his grasp as the earth heaved and flipped the Ushi-Oni once more unto her back.
The Ushi-Oni made to rise, but the movement was interrupted by a violent cough that sent fine red mist into the air.
Her earlier wound had been worsened by the violent collision with Takashi, leaving one of her left ribs poking out through her skin.
The Ushi-Oni didn't get another chance to rise.
Her lovely face cold with rage as she tasted her lover's blood upon the wind, Saeko came down like lightning from the sky.
In a lethal display of precision, Saeko slammed onto the Ushi-Oni from above, sword edge first.
Coming down on the Yokai's throat like a guillotine.
Ordinarily, she could not sever the neck of a Ushi-Oni no matter how hard she swung, no matter how sharp her blade.
But with gravity and outrage on it's side, the maliciously gleaming edge of the katana had wedged itself between two of the thick vertebrae of its victims neck by the time its momentum had played out.
With her full weight thrown into it, Saeko wrenched her blade free and the neck of the Ushi-Oni open, her blade just deep enough to cut essential nerves and stop communication to the brain.
Leaving the corpse to thrash itself to stillness as its hot blood sprayed high into the air and came back down upon its killers in macabre rain.
Out of sight, Shizuka steadied trembling legs with shaking hands, breathing a sigh of relief that both the young souls she'd taken a shine to remained burning bright, shoving everything else aside with the ruthless efficiency that few understood she was capable of.
First she needed to get over there so that she could properly fuss over Takashi and Saeko and make sure they were alright.
It hadn't surprised her that they'd immediately identified that the fight would be to the death.
They had made the right choice; it was a sad fact that sometimes, there wasn't any leeway to hold back. Sometimes, you couldn't risk the fact that not everyone shut down from mana loss at the same pace.
It had been a bitter lesson for Rika, and a bitter lesson for her… and it made her heart hurt to imagine such a young couple might have learned the same.
Or perhaps the reason given, the choice made was something else entirely.
Sometimes, lines were crossed, decisions made that could never be forgiven.
That had been a bitter lesson too.
Takashi remained on his knees after the fight, waving off Saeko's helping hand.
"Uh, let's just say I skinned my knees... a lot. They're healing, but it's definitely gonna look worse than it feels."
It was a strange and grisly thought to have, but he was kind of grateful for all the Yokai blood concealing all the Takashi blood staining the churned earth.
"Your Blessing let's you heal faster then?" Shizuka asked as she reached them, pretty pink lips pursed in a frown. "Is it gonna get all the dirt out of you?"
Takashi went to immediately answer, and then stopped himself.
"... Maybe?"
"On your butt, Mister." Shizuka commanded.
Not wanting to argue with a healer giving him 'the look', Takashi complied, gingerly twisting to get his legs out from underneath himself.
He couldn't help but cringe a little at the crestfallen look the two women had, just as he'd expected, the wounds on his legs were pretty gross, the exposed muscle of his shins slowly stitching themselves back together.
"Does it hurt? Here, let me-" Takashi cut off Shizuka with a shake of his head.
"It doesn't hurt." Shizuka raised an eyebrow, and Takashi gave her a lopsided grin. "And no, I'm not just saying that."
"Your Blessing again?"
"... Something like that." It had let him live through enough not to notice the little things, anyways.
"... Well I suppose it's not important right now." Shizuka relented.
Relieved she was putting things aside for now, Takashi let his thoughts drift a little as Saeko, content that he was well looked-after, moved away to begin quietly investigating the farmstead.
His anger felt… not quite distant, but… contained. Like a pot left to boil at just the right temperature, the lid keeping it from overflowing without danger of the sealed heat erupting.
Staring at Shizuka was kneeling beside him with her amber eyes aglow, and Takashi realized something even more strange.
… He couldn't smell blood.
Clinging to Shizuka like a subtle veil was the scent of wildflowers- muting everything else without being too overpowering.
Shizuka, using that same mist as before to clear away the dirt from his legs, spared him a glance and noticed his confusion.
"Calming emotions is second nature to a Titania, maybe because other fairies are so easily excited?" Shizuka's voice was perky at first, but then her expression, along with her long pointy ears seemed to droop.
"... Sorry but it's for me too." She confessed without looking at him.
"I don't mind." Takashi honestly admitted, though it wasn't as if he wasn't feeling sympathetic. "It's… nice."
Strange, but nice.
Usually 'calming effects' just made him angrier, like Berserker was rebelling against anything that could prematurely quell the rage.
But not this.
This… this reminded him of the glade where they had first met Shizuka. He kind of wished they had all stayed there.
"Shizuka… do you have any idea what happened? I get Ushi-Oni have a bad rep, but I've never seen anything like this."
… It wasn't entirely a lie. Last time it had been a human's (his) fault.
He just couldn't make sense of it. Even if she was starving the Ushi-Oni would have just kidnapped a man, or threw him down right where she found him.
It wasn't like anyone could have stopped her- a Yokai that strong should have never needed to go that far. And it was the whole point of the Demon Lord's blessing to prevent slaughters like this, even when a Ushi-Oni went on a rampage.
… She had to want to kill.
"I… I don't know Takashi." Shizuka murmured quietly, nudging along the healing of Takashi's now clean limbs. "There shouldn't have been any reason for this, even if she was starving."
"... But I think 'starvation' may have been exactly why." Came the tense whisper.
They both turned to find Saeko had returned- and in a worse state than she'd left.
Eyes wide and pupils dilated, Saeko had her arms wrapped tightly around herself, chest heaving as her breath came in in rapid, shallow gasps.
Takashi and Shizuka were on their feet in an instant, Takashi throwing his arms around her as Saeko's forehead slammed into his chest, as if she was trying to glue her body to his.
… He could barely make out her whisper of "it's no different".
"Saeko? Saeko what's wrong, talk to me!"
The scent of wildflowers intensified as a warm breeze- and Shizuka's wings engulfed the both of them.
"Shh… shh… easy now, Saeko." She whispered gently. "Just listen to the sound of Takashi's heart… can't you hear how strongly it beats?"
Takashi took a deep breath, forcing himself to be as calm as he could.
With the tranquil feeling hanging in the air around Shizuka, it wasn't hard for either of them, and soon, Saeko seemed to sag in his arms as the tension fled her limbs.
"... Forgive me… I thought I was prepared for what I might see." Saeko murmured, her voice muffled by his shirt.
"... You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But I'm guessing there's no one left?"
There had been no guarantee that everyone on the farm had been piled up in the front yard like that.
Saeko took a deep breath, but didn't try to shift or move away.
"I only found one other. There was a Red Oni… I think. In the barn- a traveler I suppose, she wasn't dressed like a farmer."
… An Oni was pretty distinct… what kind of state was she in if Saeko had to guess?
"... She must have been staying in the barn when the Ushi-Oni found her. It's … messy, but only the floor is damaged."
The implications were obvious; if an Oni had had a chance to put up a proper fight, a toppled barn or two would have been par for the course. The only reason he hadn't smashed anything was because they fought in the field.
"Please, whatever you do, stay out of the barn. I think… I think the Ushi-Oni…"
Saeko's voice had dropped to little more than a choked whisper, and Shizuka's arms gave a violent shiver.
It had been barely audible at all.
… So why were the words pounding in his ears like thunder?
"I think she ate her."
How was it any different?
Wasn't it just like her?
… If there had been more than just Wakisaki on that night, would things have turned out the same?
What made her any better than this?
… Nothing, that was-!?
… Ah, so warm.
Takashi always knew just what to do, didn't he?
She had never known a man could kiss away all her fears.
But Saeko had no intention of complaining.
"It's no different."
That phrase kept echoing through her mind again and again.
… Saeko hadn't just looked horrified by what she'd seen.
She'd looked almost… guilty.
Shizuka would have understood if she'd felt guilty that they hadn't gotten here sooner.
It was natural to feel like you should have done more, when you stumbled across a tragedy.
Silly, but nothing out of the ordinary.
But this was different, she felt.
This was…
Shizuka had hesitated. Idly she had just watched as Takashi kissed away Saeko's anxiety.
She almost abandoned the idea, agonized over it as they put those poor souls to rest.
… Darling that she was, Saeko had steadfastly refused to let either her or Takashi into the barn.
She'd carried the bodies into the barn one by one, rejecting any attempts to assist until the door was closed, and the barn became a funeral pyre.
Shizuka had drawn a circle around the barn to keep the flames contained, and then they'd left the empty farmstead far, far behind.
Except that Saeko was still there, in a sense. Her feet had carried her body away, but her mind had remained.
This was it, wasn't it? This was one of the things they'd been afraid of her finding out.
… Secrets like that never stayed hidden, and so Shizuka decided that even if she had to be a little mean, she was going to push the issue, and get it out of the way.
She'd been holding herself back super well, she hadn't even had a good cry yet!
… And now that she thought about that, she really felt like crying!
Takashi and Saeko stopped in their tracks as a loud sniffle broke the silence.
Turning to the source with sympathetic expressions upon their faces-
That was, eyes going wide as a sniffling Shizuka burst into tears and bowled Saeko over.
Not knowing how to respond, Saeko's hands lifted and hovered uncertainly in the air.
The crying Shizuka sat up and began drumming her fists on Saeko's chest, which served to do little other than making her boobs jiggle.
"Saeko you dummy! You're wrong you're wrong you're wrong!" The fairy wailed. "You're not like that at all!"
"N-not like what!?" The thoroughly baffled Kunoichi yelled back as Takashi stood there just as confused as she was, one hand half-outstretched towards them.
"Stupid sexy Saeko! You're wrong you're wrong!" Shizuka yelled. "You're way too nice and pretty for something like that so stop feeling guilty!
Saeko froze.
"... For something like what?" She managed to force her clenched jaw to ask.
"I dunno!" Shizuka burst out, pointy ears flicking up and down in time with her waving hands. "But just because you smell like blood sometimes doesn't make you a bad person, you dummy!"
Saeko flinched beneath her as Takashi flinched beside them.
"... How can you possibly know that?" Saeko asked, her voice low and measured.
Shizuka gave a long, loud sniffle that made her whole body shake, scrubbing away the tears with her fists before she gave an innocent question in reply.
"Well… when did you stop having nightmares?"
Even had that question not rendered Saeko completely speechless, she still would have been just as incapable of answering past the hand Shizuka had excitedly used to cover her mouth with.
"Wait don't answer, I got it!" Seeming to forget the tears still drying upon her face, Shizuka triumphantly thrust a finger in Takashi's direction. "It was when you met Takashi, right!? Right!?"
Had Saeko been capable of answering to begin with, she wouldn't have needed to; a smug grin split Shizuka's face as she felt her cheeks warming up beneath her fingers.
"See, its totally different!" Shizuka exclaimed, withdrawing her hands so that she could wave them for emphasis.
"... How can you be so sure… you don't know what I've done." Saeko muttered back in a subdued voice.
"Well, I can kinda guess since you're acting super mopey and guilty but in a sexy way!"
"... Huh?"
Takashi nodded along, since that summed up his thoughts rather well also.
"The term is 'atavism'." Shizuka began, quite seriously. "Every monster gets hungry around humans at some point, but every once in a rare while it's not in a sexy way- a throwback to when monsters weren't so playful with all the biting. Also, it's pretty strange for a Succubus in her early twenties to have only had a man for the first time two weeks ago, and monsters get a little crazy when they're hungry…"
"... So you figured it out, just like that?" Saeko murmured in wonder.
"Nope, but now you admitted it!" Shizuka cheerfully declared.
"... And it doesn't bother you?"
"... Uh, did you miss all the crying?"
"... I thought you were crying for the farmers."
"I can cry for you at the same time! I'm really good at crying!"
"..."
"..."
"Okay, I'll admit that that sounded less depressing in my head."
"Pfft."
"Snrk."
Shizuka gaped at the two of them as they tried, and failed, to keep in their chuckles.
She pouted when they burst into laughter, and then blushed when a laughing Saeko threw herself up into a sitting position to throw her arms around her.
… The hug was gently returned and an understanding smile bloomed across Shizuka's face as Saeko's laughter turned into quiet tears.
Though this time she was much quieter about it, soon the tears were trickling from amber eyes as well.
"It turned out okay, didn't it?" Takashi whispered in Saeko's ear as he knelt down, wrapping his arms around both of them. "Good for you."
A warm, relieved smile on his face, Takashi drifted back into a comfortable silence as they consoled the crying Kunoichi, who was thanking Shizuka over and over between sobs.
'Atavism', huh? He wondered if Blessings could be the same, because it kind of fit Berserker. It was another thing out of place in the current era.
… No, he was looking at it the wrong way. If he and Saeko were both 'atavistic' then…
Didn't that just give them even more in common?
Later, when the sun had fallen and exhaustion had claimed them, Saeko found herself pinned between a pair of warm, loving bodies.
They'd detoured slightly from the path towards Rika; actually walking along one of the main roads instead of letting the forest's love for Shizuka lead them where they needed to go.
Heading for the nearest settlement for the unpleasant duty of informing them as to the farmstead's fate.
How were they to know that what they were heading towards was far worse than what they'd left behind?
It was bound to happen sooner or later.
They'd been avoiding the main roads, and that had steered them away from any settlements so far.
But it was Zipangu's way to exist in harmony with the world around it, and so the line between civilization and nature was not always clear cut.
That was how as the wind howled at their backs, Rei, Saya, and Kohta found themselves cresting a tall hill, and practically on top of a respectably sized town.
A respectably sized town being ravaged by the infection- but in its early stages, or at least, early enough for their bird's eye view to show all the innocent people desperately struggling to survive.
… The half step forward that they all took halted as the memory of constant failure stepped with them.
They hadn't been able to save anyone.
Not a single person-
A lone scream resounded over the whipping winds.
A raggedly gasping woman running desperately out from between the houses and towards the base of the hill, face covered in tear streaks and terror.
Moments later, a Kappa with a bloody grin and bloody knuckles came tearing out after her, gaining rapidly as the woman stumbled and fell.
Emerald lightning, pale spear and hammering wind smashed the Kappa to the earth before she'd closed even half the distance.
Limbs trembling and eyes wide, the woman slowly pushed herself from the ground to gaze up in naked shock at the trio standing upon the hilltop.
Rei, Saya and Kohta looked to one another with eyebrows raised, and then began to chuckle.
It was who they were, after all.
No matter how grim the situation, they would look to the safety of others first. Even if the world was falling apart, some things just couldn't be helped.
But when the woman they'd saved rose from the ground, it was with bloodshot eyes and teeth bared in their direction.
For the second time in as many days, the scent of blood crashed against their senses like a hammer blow.
"... No way." Takashi murmured in disbelief.
Shizuka took off at a run, and he and Saeko followed on her heels.
They made it up the rolling crest of the hill, and found themselves facing the long incline towards the town of Kuroyuri.
There were people running about to and fro- but the first thing they caught sight of was a woman- a Succubus in a dishevelled pink kimono trying to struggle free of the trio of men who had seized her by the arms.
Takashi strode forward cracking his knuckles, and just as quickly stopped in his tracks as blood sprayed into the air.
Without warning, the men had gone from merely grabbing to biting.
A surge of red-hot rage as he dashed forward and scattered the melee… It was like he was watching things play out in slow motion.
The eyes of the Succubus rolled back in their sockets- one of the men had sunk his teeth into her neck- and he caught her as she fell- past that, he caught notice of another Yokai, straddling a no longer struggling human woman.
A Holistaur, gripping the woman's arm with both hands and tearing strips from it with her teeth.
The Succubus coughed up a red mist, and Takashi turned his head to call back to Shizuka, watching out of the corner of his eye for when- if the men got up- he had blood on his knuckles that wasn't from the girl.
Without the slightest hint of warning, the Succubus in his arms seized his collar with her fist and pulled his head down, as hers came up.
Not for a sudden kiss, like one would expect from a sex demon, but with jaws open wide and blood-streaked teeth bared.
She would have sunk her teeth right into his jugular if the sheath of a katana hadn't gotten in the way.
Saeko pushed the woman down with one arm and flung him back with the other.
When the Succubus tried to rise, she was promptly booted into the closest man as Saeko's long leg lashed out.
Blood filled the air as one man, then two fell before the silvery flash of Saeko's blade, and then she was drawing away, pulling back towards Takashi, hauling him to his feet without looking his way, sword leveled towards the town.
Gazing back towards the carnage with eyes grim and cold.
… They needn't have worried about the third man or the Succubus- they had immediately set upon one another in a bloody tangle of limbs that the Yokai was definitely winning.
Shizuka's gaze was darting to and fro, eyes wild and high-cheekbones pale.
Takashi and Saeko stepped to her side, keeping her upright between them as her legs gave out.
… It hadn't been a fluke.
What they'd just experienced, both that day and the day before with the Ushi-Oni.
Those scenes were playing themselves out over and over in the red-stained streets of Kuroyuri, in every direction they could see.
… Confusion and disbelief and fear all tangled together- then boiled back into rage as Berserker took hold.
Before bursting from his lips in a hoarse shout.
"What the fuck is going on!?"
Just like that, the trio the forest had once protected found the madness spreading across the island.
It had been only a matter of time after all; the one's running out of places to escape to were…
Everyone.
I cackled like a jackass when I came up with the idea of using Kuroyuri as the first infected town Takashi and co. encountered.
I also thought it would be kind of fun to have their first encounter with the infected not give things away by having a lone monster who 'went crazy'.
But they were going to get involved sooner rather than later.
And speaking of 'sooner or later'... well, there were a few coincidences involved with location near the end there, don't you think?