Mion had never felt a rage inside of herself like she was currently feeling. She was generally more of diplomat when it came to things like this, but there was no way she could sit around anymore. They had tried the diplomatic path. The system that was set in place was a faulty one; it had left Satoko to suffer despite the physical evidence of what was happening.
With that in mind, Mion couldn't allow history to continue to repeat itself. She needed to make it stop, even if that meant forfeiting her innocence. Houjou Teppei, literal human garbage, had seized Satoko's innocence from her. He had tormented her, hurt her, made her know what true suffering was. This human cockroach deserved to meet his end.
The Sonozaki heir approached the Houjou house, nothing in place to protect her identity. Despite the small twist of fear in her gut, she knew it was the right choice to make. Maybe this was what it was like to be a full-fledged Sonozaki?
Mion's mind was on autopilot. If she had let her seething anger get to her, she would have burnt herself out before even making it to the Houjou home. Instead, as she walked up to the front door, she thought of the way that Satoko had looked up at her. The hollowed out, bloodshot look that Satoko gave her after crying so much because of him. Mion kept thinking of the words that Satoko had uttered after sobbing: "I want out", "I can't do this anymore", "Please help". Those words were all of the fuel that Mion needed to keep her drive to rid the world of Houjou Teppei.
Once at the front door, Mion simply tugged the handle. She had a clear memory of Satoko after she stepped out of the house earlier, a clear memory of the fact that Satoko hadn't secured the house.
The front door slid open with relative ease, almost like the track had been oiled recently. That small detail sent another rush of anger and adrenaline down Mion's back; there was only one person who would have oiled said track, and it wasn't Teppei.
Without even switching shoes, Mion sneaked around the hallway into the kitchen. On her path through the main hall of the decent sized family home, she had spotted the scum in the living room seating area, still out cold. She almost gave up completely on her plan to retrieve a knife from the kitchen, but reminded herself that she needed the upper hand.
Mion got to the kitchen, not missing the fact that a tatami mat was removed and the sink was completely full of dishes. When she approached the counter to start on her search for a decent knife, she noticed the amount of food in the trash. It made her stomach do flips at even the thoughts of so much food. Satoko hadn't told her about what happened to her last night, but the evidence in her kitchen area gave Mion an idea.
The heiress found a serrated knife that was at least 20 centimeters long, a weapon that felt ideal for what she needed to do. Alongside that, she found a roll of twine, something she could use to tie his wrists with.
After finding the tools she needed, Mion headed back to the living area. Her hands were shaking and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. The fear that engulfed her tried to remind her that this wasn't a foolproof plan; in fact, this plan wasn't sound. Despite those thoughts, Mion shook her head and continued into the room.
Satoko's uncle laid out on the couch, droll running down his face as he snored quietly in his sleep.
Mion took her steps slowly and deliberately so that she could easily come up behind him. Because of the fact that he was nearly double her weight and a practiced criminal, Mion needed to gain the upper hand while he was still sleeping.
She swallowed nervously before ironing out her resolve. She just kept thinking about that morning. Remembering the way Satoko cried so hard, fear in her voice, years of abuse and neglect weighing on her slim shoulders. That image alone fueled her drive.
Upon tightening her grip on the knife and trying to settle the nausea at the pit of her stomach, Mion finally made her move. She first grabbed his grimy hands and tied the twine around his wrists, nervously glance up at him every few seconds as she bound them tighter. She pressed the serrated edge of the knife against the middle aged man's neck, making sure that she had an advantage before she used her other hand to shake him awake.
Teppei didn't immediately stir, instead mumbling some insult into the air that was undoubtedly about Satoko.
Hearing those mostly unintelligible words only made Mion angrier. "Asshole, get up." She said as she shook him again, this time pressing the knife down a little. The serrated edges of the knife scraped him just a little, but the pain from that was enough to jar the man into consciousness.
"You move, you die." Mion said, her tone surprisingly clear considering how nervous she actually was.
The man's beady eyes looked up and over to where Mion was standing before he muttered out, "Sonozaki…"
Mion didn't immediately react to him identifying her right off the bat. Of course he knew he she was. Houjou Teppei wasn't a complete stranger to the Sonozakis, since he had been causing all kinds of trouble in Okinomiya before.
"You aren't welcome here." Mion replied, grabbing a handful of his hair to pull his head back towards her. "You've broken many rules of this village, but that's not why I'm here. I'm not here today as a Sonozaki. Today, I'm here to avenge Satoko."
Teppei let out a scoff and started trying to get up from his position on the couch. The sudden movement caused Mion to pull him back with his hair and unintentionally cause a shallow cut on his neck. "Satoko ain't worth this shit. If she jus' did as she's told…"
"You wouldn't hit her? You wouldn't shove her down the stairs? What about sexually harass her?" She pulled at his hair again, forcing him to stay down in a laying position with his head and shoulders supported by the armrest of the couch.
Teppei narrowed his eyes before speaking, "That bitch's jus' makin' shit up. Tha's what she does. She likes to lie to get sympathy."
"Are you sure that's not you?" Mion spoke in a low tone as she shifted the knife a little to press the tip up against the corner of his jawline. "Give me one reason to let you live."
The middle aged man immediately replied with, "If I die, Satoko'll have nobody. That'll put her in the system or in an orphanage."
"The Sonozaki family already has arrangements for her. Who do you think took care of her before you returned? Give me a better reason." With that statement, Mion pressed the knife in hard, dragging it a couple centimeters to cause a small wound.
"Ah-!" He gasped, trying to pull away from her again, only to be yanked back down by her grip on his hair.
"You don't have a real reason, do you? Is the picture coming together? Do you realize just how useless you truly are?" Mion said before she pressed the blade against her neck with more force, letting the serrated edges dig in before she sliced his flesh with resolve.
After she ran the knife over the wound one more time for good measure, Mion let go of his hair and pushed him forward a bit. "No one will miss you. Some will even celebrate your death." She said, her tone unreadable.
"Gah, I—!" He couldn't help as he coughed, blood already flooding out of his body at a rapid pace.
"What does this feel like? Does it possibly remind you of recent events? You feel helpless, right?" Mion spoke, a sense of bitterness in her tone. "Three minutes of panic, aware that you're going to die still isn't enough to make up for everything you and your wife have done to Satoko over the years." She said, frowning as she walked around so that she was in front of him.
He was tearing up, trying to hold his neck with his bound hands, but the amount of blood escaping was still too much.
"The only real way that you could ever understand what she has gone through would be for you to go through it yourself… but since I can't do something like that, making sure your last few moments on this earth are full of sheer terror is the best I can do." With those words, Mion turned her back to him and let out a sigh.
Teppei was still trying to continue onward despite the inevitable fact that he was going to bleed out and die. He made gurgling sounds as he tried to speak to Mion, instead just spitting up blood.
The Sonozaki heir didn't watch as the man struggled, blood all over his face, chest, hands, arms. She wasn't entertained with what she had had to do. His death was simply what had to happen to save Satoko and nothing more. She didn't enjoy knowing that his blood was figuratively and literally on her hands.
Mion left the room, having waited until she no longer heard the shuffling, gurgled breathing, and hitting on the back of the couch. She needed to clean the blood off of her body to the best of her ability.
The man's blood was soaked into her shirt and jeans, but she could at least wash over her arms and her hair. She wasn't as worried as she probably should have been when it came to the consequences; that lack of concern was the only reason she wasn't too worried about the amount of blood she had gotten on herself.
As much as she wanted to immediately go to the Furude Shrine storage house to tell Satoko that the deed was done, she feared traumatizing the girl further with the volume of blood she had gotten onto her clothes. Despite the hassle of dealing with her family, she decided going to the Sonozaki house was the best decision. That way she could change.
On her walk back to her own home, Mion only had two people stop her to ask what had happened. She quickly came up with a lie about a hurt deer she had found, which the villagers seem to accept rather easily.
Once in the gate of the Sonozaki house, she let out a heavy sigh. Despite her normal never-ending stamina, she felt exhausted after all of this. Maybe it was the adrenaline that wiped her out, but she could feel the day weighing on her.
Without even announcing her arrival house, the teen dragged herself to her room. She tried to rush in changing and double checking that she was mostly blood free before leaving in a hurry. While she knew her grandmother would question her about it later, she didn't care at that moment.
Mion needed to go tell Satoko it was over. She needed to make sure that Satoko knew that she was now safe.
No matter what, Satoko was safe.