Crimso's Notes:

Okay, so my plan is to pick up the pace with the chapter uploading, hence why I'm writing this at 11:43 PM on a Wednesday night. My plan is also to have this fanfiction DONE by early January, which will be completely possible with Winter Break just around the corner. We have off on Thursday and Friday next week due to parent teacher conferences, so hopefully I can get several chapters done over the four-day break! That's almost as long as I had off for Thanksgiving break. By the way, WAN will be uploaded a week or two after BFB, perhaps late January or early February depending on the time this fanfiction is completed. WISH ME LUCK!

Note One: WE ARE REACHING THE FINAL STAGES. Do note that many, many things will go on, and I plan to limit the number of chapters without much going on.

Note Two: Once again, things will get more intense from here on out.

P.S: Anyone find it funny that it's Chapter Twenty-Seven? You know, like Number Twenty-Seven.

~~~~X~~~~

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Investigation

"Huh? A demon named Shion?" Kaede spoke in surprise as she listened to the words of her master.

Rika nodded to her head demon. "That's right. The other day, Satoshi found a young demon passed out on the floor. She's a Sonozaki demon, Sonozaki demon Number Twenty-Eight to be exact. However, when I called her that, she insisted that her name was Shion and not Number Twenty-Eight. She was very strict about that, too. She had this look in her eye, and she was very serious about the matter," she explained to her.

Kaede looked very curious. "How strange. I believed that Oryou had killed off all Sonozaki demons during her wrath. Why would they spare her of all demons?" she wondered.

"Listen, Kaede. Do you know who Sonozaki Akane is?" she asked.

"Of course I know who she is. She used to be the heiress, but then was disinherited because she had married someone that her mother, Oryou, did not wish her to." She looked a little confused as to why her master would ask her that, though. "She has one child, his name is Takeru, and he's the heir right now. I heard a story about her having twins, but they were killed due to The Legend of the Hero."

Well, it looked like Kaede knew most of the details, so that left Rika with very little explaining to do. "Kaede, when I walked in the room, she told me that she had gotten separated from her sister when they were escaping someone who was going to capture the two of them. She asked me to look out for her sister and let her know if I found her, so I asked her what her sister looked like. She then explained to me that I should look out for a demon who looks exactly like her in every way, since she is her identical twin," she told her in a very serious and stern voice.

Kaede instantly picked up on the implications. "So… they're the twins that are going to cause destruction."

Rika looked down at her feet. "I'm not sure, Kaede. She seemed like a nice demon, unlike most of the demons that I know. Listen, when she was speaking about her sister, she sounded very sad about the whole thing. No, that's not even it. She was absolutely heartbroken. She missed her sister so much. Kaede, I don't know if she's evil."

Kaede sighed. "Are you sure about that, Rika? The legend did say that the twins would bring the downfall of the village, and I have this strong sense that it's going to happen very, very, very soon. I explained this to Rena and Keiichi when they came, too."

"I feel the same way, Kaede." Rika suddenly turned to the right of her. "…You feel the same way, don't you, Hanyuu? You told me that you sensed the downfall coming soon.."

Silence filled the room.

"She said that she does feel it coming, Kaede. I'm sure everyone can feel the downfall of Onigafuchi coming. But that's not the point right now, Kaede. Listen, I know they're the only pair of twins in the village, but I trust Shion. There was just something about her that seemed trustworthy. I know it's what the legend said, but maybe there are other twins in this village that we don't know of. A lot of demons are siblings but are unaware of that. There could be a set of fraternal twins among them, though I know for a fact that none are identical aside from Shion and her sister." She sighed as she looked away. "I have a feeling that the legend is wrong."

Kaede narrowed her eyes. "I trust what Makoto said."

"But how do you know what Makoto really said? What if Koichi made it up?" Rika pointed out. "He said all those horrible things about her, after all."

Kaede closed her mouth and thought about that for a few minutes, and the room was silent. There was some stirring from the cages, but that was about it.

"Perhaps you're right, but I don't want to jump to conclusions right now. For now, I think you and your friend should keep a close eye on her," Kaede suggested. "But you don't have to, since I am in no position to order my master around. But it is a suggestion. The legend may be right. She could be evil wearing a mask of a heartbroken demon searching for her sister, who may be equally as evil. They are Sonozaki Akane's daughters, yes? You mentioned her, so it would be strange otherwise."

"Yes, they are," Rika answered right away. "They were kept alive without her knowing about them, though the two of them were turned into demons the moment they were taken away from their mother. She never even got to glance at either of them. But their mother is still unaware of their existence, and the Sonozaki family has kept them locked up so that no one will ever find out about their existence. Why they want to hide them from her is something I don't know, but there may be a reason relating to The Legend of the Hero. I'll certainly keep an eye on her, and if I ever find her sister, I will keep an eye on her too."

"All right, master. Just don't forget… the downfall of Onigafuchi is right around the corner."

~~~~X~~~~

When Rika returned home, the first thing that she spotted was Shion sitting right in front of the window, her hand on it as she gazed out at the world before her. It was covered in trees, but the sight was still interesting to the girl who hadn't spent much of her life outside before, or so Rika figured. Anything could be interesting when you hadn't seen anything aside from the darkness of a basement all your life.

But Rika was wrong when she assumed that. Sure, Shion was interested in the outside world for that same reason all right, but she wasn't even thinking about how beautiful it was outside, or how the trees looked in her eyes. She was scanning the ground, wondering if her sister was anywhere nearby. Was she free? Had she been captured? She didn't know, and the thought scared her. The idea that she could be trapped up without her was horrifying, and she wondered how her sister would cope to being without her.

She hadn't adjusted very well. Last night was a sleepless night, and though Shion was tired, she couldn't bring herself to sleep even now. There was warmth in the room, but what she was looking for was the warmth that her sister gave off whenever she was nearby. It was now just an empty void, and the absence of that warmth was freezing her to death. Even if it was the summer, it was still just plain cold.

She didn't know what she would do if she found out her sister had been captured by that man who had tried to kill them the night before. He was assumed to be the same person as the one that killed Kimiyoshi, and that man easily killed eight demons. Her sister claimed she could fight off anyone, but was that true when it came to a huge, hulking man with the strength of a wild beast? She knew that the head of the family would probably want her alive, so that death was unlikely, though it seemed better to the girl than to be locked up all alone with no warmth.

Shion shuddered at the thought. That basement was only bearable because of the warmth that her sister gave her by being by her side. When that warmth was taken away, the whole place became completely unbearable and the thought of being there made her want to kill herself. No one would want to live in such a cold, cruel place without any warmth to make it better.

Maybe her sister had been captured, and maybe she had even killed herself…

She bit her lip as she thought about that, and tried to chase such a thought out of her head. She tried to reassure herself that Keiichi had probably found her and that they were both okay, and that they were now searching for her. Would they find her, ever? She sure hoped that she would be able to meet her sister sometime again. That boy, Satoshi, had promised that he would go look for her sister and let her know if they found her. With that hope in mind, she decided it was highly possible that they would meet again.

Well, that may not be soon, but at least it was again, right? And at that time, hopefully her sister would be safe and sound, cuddled up on the futon back at Keiichi's house, even if it was alone.

Sis, hurry up and find me. I miss you…

With that thought in mind, she wondered how Keiichi himself was doing. Was he with her sister now? Was he all alone? She didn't know how he lived his life before, but he had his parents before. From what she could grasp form the idea of parents, they were supposed to be kind, and they were supposed to "love" their child, whatever that meant. He was probably sad now that he didn't have his parents with him. She had to wonder if Keiichi got a warm feeling from being around his parents, and if she would get a warm feeling when she was around hers…

If she ever met them, that was.

"Hello, Shion," Rika greeted as she began to tidy up her futon, placing her pillow back to the normal position and brushing out the wrinkles in the fabric. "Enjoying the view of the outside world?"

Shion glanced at the trees. Well, she had seen a lot of trees recently, and she found that she had quickly gotten used to the trees around her, as well as the outside. There was a lot more to be explored, but trees were now something that she was used to. Running through the forest in the middle of the night sure helped that. "I guess it's okay," she commented as she looked down at the green grass and the small flowers around the trees, the latter being much more interesting than the rest of the world that she could see. "I have seen a lot of trees since I escaped the Sonozaki basement."

"Trees are everywhere in Onigafuchi, so I don't blame you. I figured it would be a little more interesting to you, since you haven't been outside all your life up until recently," Rika commented as she finished her work on her futon. She stood in front of it and admired how neat it was. "I guess there are more interesting things to you outside, though. I personally love the little flowers! Satoko and I planted a few seeds when we were smaller, and they've been blossoming into pretty plants!" she said.

Shion turned to her. "Plant seeds?" The action was not familiar to the girl.

Rika nodded to her. "Yeah, planting seeds. Flowers produce little seeds and when you bury them and give them the right amount of water and sunlight, they turn into a beautiful flower or any other kind of plant, depending on where the seed came from. Like if I were to plant a seed from a pink flower, it would grow another pink flower," she explained to the girl. Rika wandered over to the window and looked out of it, seeing if she could spot any flowers. "You see? Over there. Those are the blue flowers Satoko and I planted."

Shion looked over to where she was pointing to and was instantly captivated by the color of those flowers. Nowhere in the basement had such a vibrant blue color, and even the plants at Keiichi's house weren't such a color. It was a new color to the girl. The only colors she had known in the basement were black, gray, and brown, as well as the green of her sister's hair, which was much more of a pretty color than anything else in there. This blue was new and exciting.

"I like the color," she commented.

"That's why we planted them, because we like the color. Satoshi helped a little, but he picked the orange colors instead. You see over there?" Rika pointed to a patch of orange flowers just barely visible from the window. "He was the one who took care of those flowers, and he's still working to keep them alive. If you don't give them enough water, they will become thirsty and dry up. They also need enough sunlight. Plants, unlike humans and demons, need sunlight to produce food. I'm not a terribly wonderful science student, but plants undergo something called photosynthesis that converts sunlight into food for the plants! That's how they eat!"

Shion found this very intriguing. All plants needed was sunlight, and then they would never get hungry. She wondered to herself how things would be if she had the ability to do photosynthesis. Her hair was green like a lot of plants, after all. Then again, the basement was dark, so it wouldn't be any different, even if she could do such a thing. Besides, she was a demon and could not do photosynthesis, so it didn't even matter. Then she wondered why she had thought about such a thing in the first place.

"That's good. Plants will not get hungry then, and then they don't have to suffer. But I know what it is like to be thirsty. My master didn't like giving us water all that often, though since water is a lot cheaper we got it much, much, much more often than food," Shion recalled as she looked down at the plants, observing the orange color of the ones that Satoshi had planted. They were very nice indeed, and Shion didn't blame him for choosing such a color to plant.

"Our plants never get thirsty. We water them every day! Nipah!" cried Rika. "We're actually going to grow them a little more before we take one and put it in a pot with some soil so we can admire them on the windowsill. This house can use some more color, and those blue and orange plants are perfect. All you have to do is carefully dislodge them from a ground and put them in a flower pot with some soil and put it in a spot where there is some light, and then everything will be okay for the plant."

Shion actually didn't like that idea. They were going to a take a poor, single flower away from the rest of its family and then leave them on a windowsill so that the only thing they could do was look over their family. Such a tale made Shion sad. "But then isn't she going to miss her sister when you take her away from her family?" Shion pointed out. "I know what it's like to miss your sister."

Rika turned to the girl and giggled a little, having not been able to help doing so at such a comment. It was kind of sad how little that she really knew, but it was very cute to see her concerned about taking a flower away from her sister. In truth, she was sympathizing with the flower. "No, that's not it. Flowers don't have emotions, but they are living things just like humans. They don't have sisters or brothers or mothers or fathers and all that either. They don't reproduce the same way humans do. All they do is release seeds and then the seeds will grow somewhere."

Shion blinked at her. "But then wouldn't they be sisters? Because they came from the same flower, and then that flower would be their mother," she pointed out.

"It's not the same," she answered. "It's just not the same with plants."

Shion narrowed her eyes. "I feel bad for the plants. They say things like plants don't miss their family, but they say the same things about demons, too. They say that we are cruel and evil, but we really aren't. I don't think anyone can understand how sad it is for a demon to be taken away from her sister because they think that they can't feel anything, just like how you're saying that plants can't feel anything," she told her, sounding dead serious as she spoke about the matter. It had become clear to Rika that she really was trying to sympathize with the flowers.

"Shion—"

"I bet the plants miss their mothers, too. I bet there are plants out there who do not know their mothers and they want to meet them," she continued on, gazing back to the window to look at the flowers outside.

"Shion—"

"Poor flowers. People just don't understand flowers…"

"Shion!" cried Rika. "It's not the same, okay? Flowers don't belong to the same group as humans. There are six kingdoms, and those separate life forms into six different groups. Two of them are animalia and plantae, and the two are very different since the six kingdoms are the first part of separating species. Plantae don't have brains like we do, and they can't think or feel emotions. We can, though. I know you're trying to compare yourself to a plant, but in some cases, it just doesn't work."

Shion looked down at her feet. She had no idea what this scientific stuff was that she was talking about, but it seemed to have some kind of logic to it. Still, though, she had to feel bad for the plants. Were they really like Rika was saying? Could they really not feel emotions? She used to think that she couldn't, but Keiichi had taught her otherwise. She knew she had them now, but could the same be said for plants? Could she teach the plants how to feel emotions?

But they didn't think like humans and demons, so that probably wasn't possible.

Maybe Rika was right. She didn't really know. So with that, she decided to keep quiet about the subject for now.

Just then, Satoshi and Satoko both walked in the room, the two of them chatting to each other about various matters that Shion didn't really pick up on, since she wasn't really concentrating on their conversation.

"…Hello, Shion!" greeted Satoko as she ran up to the demon. "How are you? We went out looking around the village."

"…We were hoping to see your sister somewhere, but we couldn't find her," Satoshi explained to the girl, then walking up so that he was looking directly into the girl's green eyes. "We did look around the forest, though. Do you possibly know what number she is? If we know, then—"

"She does not have a number. She is Mion and she looks exactly like me. That's all you need to know to find her," Shion answered instantly, refusing to give away the number of her sister, since she refused to speak about her number or her sister's number. They were no longer Number Twenty-Seven or Number Twenty-Eight. They were Mion and Shion. "Please don't talk about numbers anymore. We do not have numbers."

Satoshi rubbed the back of his head. "Well… I-I was hoping to ask the Sonozaki family for information since my good friend, a Sonozaki, had been speaking about how he had lost two demons and they were looking for them. If I ask them if they had found a certain number, then…" He paused. "No, wait, it could work even if I ask if they had found their demons yet. So never mind, then. You don't have a number anymore, after all," he spoke with a smile on his face, almost as an apology for bringing up the topic of numbers.

"Do you think that she's been captured?" Shion asked.

Satoshi looked unsure. "Well, I wouldn't know. My friend hasn't spoken about them in a while."

"I think she's still missing, but I'm not sure," Satoko said directly after her brother had answered. "But not to worry! We will see him tomorrow at school, so we can look."

Shion had to wonder who this person was. They were a Sonozaki, obviously, and they were looking for her. That could be a key in discovering who had tried to capture her sister and her the night before. Keiichi had told her a little about school before and how young people generally went to school, so she wasn't sure that it was the same man who went to that school. He was very big, after all, and someone that big could not be a young person who went to school.

"Thank you," she said. "I hope you find her."

"I hope I do, too, for your sake," Satoshi told her gently. "You really miss her, don't you?"

Shion gave him a single nod. She wasn't sure what else to do.

"Well, don't worry. Even though I failed this time, I'm going to find her. Will you promise me that you'll believe in me until then?" Satoshi asked her as she shot him one of his large smiles, one that was full of determination and something that was rather rare for the shy boy.

Shion nodded again. She hoped she could trust him, even though he had already asked this of her before.

Well, hopefully he would make some progress.

~~~~X~~~~

Keiichi stood there in the kitchen while a group of police officers began to investigate the dead bodies of his parents. He wasn't really sure what else to do at this point other than watch as they commented to each other about the state of their bodies and how the person could have killed them. Keiichi already knew, of course, but he felt as if he shouldn't say anything until they asked him for details.

"So, you said that they were killed last night?" a police officer asked him.

Keiichi nodded as he continued to watch the scene before him. He wasn't quite sure what they were doing right now, but that was fine. "Yeah, they were killed last night at a very late time. It was around dinner, actually. He just walked in and murdered them, and I'm not quite sure why."

The police officer scribbled something down in his notebook. "And you didn't call us before?"

Keiichi gulped. How was he going to explain that one? "…I kind of passed out," he lied. "I just woke up and called you first thing. I put on my clothing afterwards so I didn't look informal when you came over."

"I see," he murmured as he scribbled something else down.

He sure hoped that he wouldn't be under any suspicion, especially since the fact that he hadn't called him earlier was just a little more than slightly suspicious. Still, though, he knew that he was innocent, and he didn't think that they could accuse him of killing his parents unless he had a good reason to do so. Though he had to admit, police investigations usually involved finding the suspect no matter what, even if they were going to ignore the motive for the crime. That always came last after figuring out a possible suspect.

He just watched for a while, wondering what they would think of the whole situation. Would they believe him?

"Listen, kid, it's a little funny that you didn't call us before, but we're going to have to say that you would be in a lot more trouble and suspicion if the murders weren't going around right now," the police officer spoke. "We're investigating the other murders of Kimiyoshi and the stealing of the demons, and it's quite possible that they did the same thing. What did this man look like? Did you get a look at his face?"

He shook his head. "I couldn't see his face, but he was a very large man with a lot of muscles. He was very, very, very strong too. It was very hard for me to get away from him. He was going to kill me, too." He looked down at his feet. He wondered how things would be like if he had actually gotten captured back then. Mion would be captured, too, and Shion too, though it was possible that she was actually captured right now as well. "He was cloaked in quite a bit of clothing."

Suddenly, a rather fat old man walked up to the two of them, a notebook in his hand and a smile on his face. "It looks like it's the same guy as the one reported to be sneaking around the village at night. We also received a report from a young girl that she had actually managed to outrun the man, and that he looked exactly like how you just described." He puffed on his cigarette. "It looks like he's mostly clear, unless he happens to be lying about seeing this man."

Keiichi blinked at the man. He had been taking notes on the corpses before, so it was a little strange that he just decided to walk up now.

"Maebara Keiichi-san, hm? I've heard about you. I'm Kuraudo Ooishi from the Okinomiya police department. I was put on the crew for investigating the strange murder of the Houjou couple and then the Furude couple later. I was originally there for the Dam War, but…" he paused so that he could blow on his cigarette, sending a cloud of smoke into Keiichi's face. "The Dam War didn't last very long, as you know. My good friend was the director. They wanted me to stay when the case of the Houjou couple came up."

Keiichi wondered why he was explaining all this to him, but that wasn't what mattered right now.

"So, you've heard reports of this man?"

Ooishi nodded. "He had been spotted by many people many times. He's been sneaking around the village at night, but sometimes he doesn't do anything. He's the prime suspect for the murder of Kimiyoshi Kiichirou and eight of his demons, as well as the stealing of the forty-three remaining ones. Also, he has been associated with the kidnappings due to the call I received from the girl."

That was surely Satoko who had made that call. She had been the one who had outrun that man, after all. She did manage to capture him temporarily, which was quite a feat. With her skills, Keiichi was sure that she would be able to capture anyone, even a rabid demon. "Are you sure it's the same man doing all of this?"

"Well, we're assuming that due to the reports, but I suppose you can never be sure, can you?" He blew on his cigarette again. Keiichi was tempted to tell him to throw the thing away, as he really hated inhaling that disgusting smoke, but he figured it would be rude to tell a police officer who was trying to help him to stop doing what they were doing. "And now, he's suspected of murdering two innocent humans. We'll have to find out why in the world he would do that."

Keiichi knew that the reason why he had killed his parents was a punishment for not handing Mion and Shion over to him when he had asked, but he didn't want to mention the fact that he had stolen any demons to them for obvious reasons. Still, though, it wouldn't make any sense if they were to investigate it without knowing that he did have some demons with him. Of course, he still couldn't tell him that. He just figured that they would find some other explanation somehow.

"The case of Kiichirou Kimiyoshi was pretty obvious, as you can guess. We know he killed him because he wanted the demons, but for what reason he wanted the demons is unknown. The case of the children kidnappings…" he sighed. "Well, that's another reason I have been investigating around here and haven't retired. I want to know what's up with the children kidnappings. Why in the world would they want to kidnap children? Is there any reason at all for this, other than to be cruel?" Another puff of smoke was sent out. "We have been investigating the possibility that he really is just doing it to be cruel, but we aren't sure. We wish to find him first, but the Three Great Families have other plans."

"Tell me, Maebara-san," the police officer next to Ooishi spoke up. "Do you know what the Watanagashi festival is?"

Keiichi blinked. He had heard about a local festival, but the word Watanagashi was a new one to him.

"Judging by your expression, you don't." The police officer sighed. "Well, as you can tell, it's a festival. But… it's not like the others."

"Not like the others?" repeated Keiichi.

Ooishi had a grave expression on his face. "It's a very sick festival. Every year, the Sonozaki family picks a sacrifice for the Watanagashi festival. They are then tied up on that restraining board outside of the Furude Shrine and are publically executed in front of the others. That tends to be the way this cursed village deals with things." He twirled his cigarette in between his fingers. "But that aside, it's different from the other executions. This one is special. They prepare a huge speech about the legend of Onigafuchi, mostly about the Legend of Makoto and Koichi, and then move on to talk about what the victim did. And then… they execute them in a special way."

So, it was basically a fancier execution? That's what Keiichi picked up on, anyway.

"It's sick. They get a demon to cut open the person's stomach and tear out their intestines while everyone watches. And everyone has to be there, no exceptions. The Sonozaki family who runs it can get away with having a few members stay at home, but that's about it." The police officer shook his head. "It's sad, really. Those poor children have to watch such a horrible thing. And even if they look away, they still have to hear the screams of the victim."

Keiichi cringed as he listened to it. Just the idea of watching someone get their stomach cut open was making his own stomach hurt. Listening to those men scream as they died was enough for Keiichi. Getting your stomach cut open when you were still alive and getting your intestines torn right out while you were still alive was a lot more painful and gruesome. The amount of screams had to be doubled! He sure hoped that Satoshi would cover Satoko's eyes and ears, just like how he had done at the execution.

"That's… sick," he managed to cough out.

"It is indeed. Well, you get the point here. It's coming up, and they're going to need a sacrifice. It's going to be impossible catching this guy when there are bunches of people wanting to capture him so they can publically cut his stomach open and prepare the greatest speech of all time about how terrible he was for his deeds." Ooishi turned to the window briefly, glancing out of it as another cloud of smoke was breathed from his mouth. "So, the investigation will be tough. I can assure you we will capture this man, though, seeing as he also killed your parents. Do you have any relatives to stay with?"

Keiichi shook his head. "We had a lot of money, though, so I can survive on my own for a little while. Besides, I have friends that are willing to take care of me," he told him.

"Well, as long as you have that. Though keep an eye out, kid. If he tried to kill you once, it may happen again," the police officer by Ooishi's side spoke up. "We're going to get rid of the bodies now, and clean up the blood a little, and then we'll be off. You don't want this whole place being a bloody mess, after all, and I don't think that you want to be staring at the dead bodies of your parents all day."

Keiichi nodded. This place was starting to smell… and on top of that, seeing his parents both dead was just too painful.

"We'll get to you when we find any information about this killer guy. Please watch out and be safe, and let us know if you spot him again. We're keeping track of the number of times he is spotted, and exactly where he is spotted," Ooishi told him.

"All right, thank you."

~~~~X~~~~

School came the next day, and Keiichi was particularly silent as he sat down at his desk and began to think about a few things. He was glad that no police officer had spotted Mion, making everything a lot easier for him. There would be no explaining why there was a Sonozaki demon in his house, and there would be no chance that he was arrested by the police, or perhaps even put to death by the Sonozakis. Whatever the case was, he was just glad that the bodies of his parents had been put to rest. He wanted to hold a funeral, but he wasn't sure how to make the arrangements and he wasn't even sure he had enough money, so he regretfully had to ask them to simply burry his parents outside. He would have loved to give them a respectful burial, but it wasn't possible.

He felt regret for such a thing, and on top of that, he felt regret at having left Mion the day before. Really, he wasn't sure he had many options anymore. He had little choice in such a situation.

He remembered back when his parents had suggested they moved here, saying it would be an adventure. He was expecting to have one, but not one like this. He counted the many things that had happened. He got friends for once, he learned about the existence of demons, his parents were dead, he was in love with a demon, and one of his close demon friends was missing, possible captured, and her sister was heartbroken.

What an adventure he was having. The shooting kids with the model gun "adventure" he had had couldn't even compare to this one.

Now, he had many things on his mind, and one of them was the Legend of the Hero. He needed to get the truth behind that. Kaede said the only one who knew what he had said was Koichi and Makoto, and Koichi himself did not write the book he had read about the legend. It simply said what he had said about the legend, and what his words were supposed to be. Were the twins really going to take down the town? The only twins he knew of were Mion and Shion, who would never do such a thing. He knew that they were good at heart, even though they were demons. And who was this Hero guy, on top of that?

He realized he had told Rena he would think about it a little more. He hadn't. The only thing that had come to his mind was questions, and endless amounts of questions, too. So he decided to go over what he knew. First, he knew that Mion and Shion couldn't be the evil twins from the legend. There could possibly be another set of twins in the village, probably fraternal demon twins who were unaware that they were twins. Second, he knew that the Hero was supposed to be male, but that was the only hint given to whom this Hero could be. He was a male. He could be any age, he could look like anything, he could be anything, maybe even a demon. But judging by how Koichi felt about demons, he highly doubted that.

…How did The Legend of the Hero come about, anyways? Did Makoto just speak of this and then Koichi added something on? That seemed to be the only time it appeared in the Legend of Makoto and Koichi. Makoto, in the story Kaede had told her, had never spoken anything about Makoto learning about the destruction of the village involving twins. Never did the word "twins" appear in the story. Sure, it probably appeared when she mentioned what became The Legend of the Hero, but that's it. There was no indication as to how it came about.

He was beginning to doubt the legend. It just seemed all too random to him, and there weren't enough clues.

The twins would bring destruction, but the Hero would save them. That's all that was known about the legend, as it hadn't happened yet.

He wondered if Rena had come up with anything. She said she would think about it and try to find out who exactly this Hero was. He didn't know how he and Rena were going to find a set of demon fraternal twins that didn't know they were twins, as they could be in the same place or they could have been sold separately. Besides, forty-three demons were missing, and maybe even one of them had been killed.

How would they bring destruction, anyways? It was never said.

Keiichi slammed his head down on the desk. It wasn't making any sense to him. No matter how hard he dug for clues, he couldn't find the answer. There simply wasn't enough information.

"Hey, Keiichi. Something wrong?" a voice spoke out to him, and when he looked up, he realized that it was Takeru who was speaking. The green-haired boy took a seat next to him, a concerned look in his forest-green eyes. "You look like you're frustrated. What's wrong? Can't do the math homework? Don't know the answers you need to know to write a history essay? Did you meet some pretty girl who you asked out on a date when you fell in love with her at first site, but then she told you that she already had a boyfriend?"

Keiichi shook his head. He wasn't sure if he should bring up The Legend of the Hero to Takeru, but after thinking about it, he realized that as the heir to the Sonozaki family, he should know something about The Legend of the Hero. Even a little bit of information that he didn't already know would push him in a good direction, as he was completely lost right now. He needed some kind of information.

"Hey, Takeru, can I ask you a question?" asked Keiichi.

A smirk broke off against Takeru's face as soon as he mentioned it. "Oh, let me guess, you want to know how I flirt with girls so well, and how I got a girl like Rena to fall in love with me? Haha, well I don't share those tips! But maybe, since you're my friend, I'll share."

Keiichi shook his head. Why was everything always about girls for Takeru? Maybe the fact that Rena was dating him, even though she didn't really love him, had gotten to his head.

"No, that's not it. It's a strange question about Onigafuchi, but I want you to tell me what you know," he told him.

Takeru blinked in confusion. "Oh, sure. I am the heir to the Sonozaki family, after all. I should know something."

My thoughts exactly. "…Takeru, can you tell me what you know about The Legend of the Hero?"

Takeru stiffened and said nothing.

"…I know that the twins are supposed to bring destruction to the village, and then a hero will save the village, but that's about all I know. I mean, it's very vague when you think about it. I mean, how will they bring destruction? How will the Hero save the day? Who are these twins? Who is the Hero?" Keiichi spoke, trying to get some answers out of Takeru. Even if he knew a part of the answer to one of these questions, it would be fine. At this point, he was just desperate for some kind of answer.

Takeru looked around the room, and then at Keiichi, and then back around the room. Slowly, he pushed his chair right next to Keiichi's, and then gave him a very, very, very serious look.

"Don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Only a few of the elders of the village know this…" he looked around the room cautiously again. "Just… don't tell anyone."

Keiichi was curious as to what he had to say. Clearly it was important, since he was being so careful about it. The serious expression on his face also indicated the same, and the fact that only a few knew it. "I promise I won't tell anyone," he spoke, though he secretly wished that he could share what he learned with Rena. Maybe Takeru would tell her, since she was his girlfriend, but… Well, he wasn't sure how important this information was to him. Maybe it wouldn't actually be much.

Takeru nodded, and then he scooted closer. And with a deep breath, he whispered into his ear.

"That's me, Keiichi. I'm the Hero of Onigafuchi."

~~~~X~~~~

Crimso's Corner V.2

SURPRISE!

Yeah, I wonder how many of you saw that coming. Yeah, I bet you weren't expecting me to through in a twist at the end of the chapter. I bet you figured it out when you saw the ending, though. Darn. But this may or may not seem like important information to you. And let me tell you something. It is. It is very important. The Legend of the Hero is an important part of this story. This is very, very, very important.

I meant it when I said I would be picking up the pace of this story.

Anyways, It's Thursday, the planned date for me to finish this chapter. Just a question, but does any one of you feel like Thursday is very unimportant and neglected compared to the other days of the week? I mean, Monday is the first day of the week everyone dreads, Tuesday is the second where people begin to get used to things, Wednesday is the middle, Friday is the end everyone loves, Saturday is the most wonderful day ever because no school + no homework, and Sunday is another day off. Thursday is just… Thursday. Maybe it's just me, though. This has been on my mind for a long, long time.

Anyways, please review! People who review this chapter will get a pet mouse or a pet gerbil or hamster, or whatever small animal. We recently got new mice. Well, even before I uploaded the last chapter, but I just didn't put that in. One is brown, one is orange and white, and the other is brown and white. Our old mice were all white, and we couldn't tell them apart. Good thing we can now. The white ones died, though. They don't last for too long. Anyways, if you point out typos or leave predictions, you can have a free dessert.

And why has no one subbed Kira 3 yet? *rages*

~Crimso