Crimso's Notes:
Oh boy. Winter break has been great so far. I love winter break very much~. Yeah, you know how people are when it comes to breaks during the school day. I also am hoping for a lot of snow… but only during the school days, so that they'll cancel school and give us a snow day. I like snow days… I'm sure everyone does. Especially when they give us a snow day and then there's actually no snow. A day of school wasted… for nothing! Like how they kept putting off field day this year because of the rain… and they called it on Wednesday, causing my teacher to cancel my test, and then they canceled that too… which forced my teacher to move it a week or two. But that's enough with the rambling. School is awful and no one wants to think about it during Christmas break.
Note: Still Watanagashi… I'm going to say that this applies to ALL chapters until I have a note that says "it is no longer Watanagashi."
~~~~X~~~~
Chapter Thirty-Five: Identity
As the Furude Demons approached the Furude shrine, now painted with red splatters of blood and corpses on the ground, Kaede took in just how much damage had been done. She counted around sixty corpses, and there were many injured attempting to struggle away. It seemed as if they were holding them there, some demons blocking pathways to escape and chasing them back into the crowd, where they were promptly met with sharp claws, screaming out as death took them, more corpses being added to the count. It was truly a horrifying sight.
"It looks like we have quite a battle," breathed Kaede. There were a few demon corpses on the ground, but that still meant that there were a lot more demons that were living. She estimated around thirty-seven still living, judging by the amount her eyes could catch. "But there's no way that we're going to give up here." She turned around to her group.
"Listen up, everyone!" she cried out to all of them. "Now, I want you to know that for some of you, maybe many of you, this will be your very last battle. But that's hardly what matters! We've been ordered by Furude Rika herself to take down all the demons we can, even if that means death. Therefore… I want all of you to forget about that. Fight like you've never fought before!"
All the demons cheered out in understanding.
"Now GO," she yelled.
All the demons rushed by her at once, but yet, the head of them all stood still, watching as her group of demons went right into battle. For some of them, it would be the last battle they would fight. Actually, she hoped that it would be. After this… she hoped that no more battles would ever occur.
She had hoped never to fight again. This whole scene was reminding her too much of the time that Koichi attacked Makoto after her announcement. That whole scene came flashing back to her, all the death that she had seen, all the blood spilt, and finally, the death of her master and the rule of demons. It was then that she became a servant, destined to serve the Furude family forever.
Not that she minded it anymore.
She took a deep breath as she turned back around to face the battle before her. Many were fighting, and some of her demons were already being defeated by the demons below, as well as some Kimiyoshi demons being killed off by her demons.
"Kaede!" a voice cried out to her.
She looked around instantly, spotting a demon with dark blue hair and lavender eyes blinking up at her. She knew who it was instantly, and a huge smile grew across her face as she met those eyes of his. It was good to see them so full of emotion, unlike those golden eyes he had been forced to have for such a long time. "Kai!" she called back to him. He was covered in blood, indicating that he had been fighting for quite a bit now.
He walked over to her, and turned to face the fight. "It's been rough. I managed to take a few demons down, but they've injured me badly as well." He narrowed her eyes as he stared at the demons before him, the demons he used to rule over. "I can't believe that I was once one of those demons, and I'm glad that that Orb of the Demon Kings has finally let go of me. Now, I can fight this final battle as myself."
Kaede did not question his use of words. "I am hoping that I can do my best for my final battle. It'll be tough, but I know my demons are up to it. I just hope that my skills have not gotten rusty." She glanced to her hands as she allowed her claws to unsheathe. How long had it been since she let those things out? "Well, we will have to see. But there is no longer any time to waste by chatting like this, Kai. We have to go and fight now."
Kai didn't budge. He looked down at his feet, blinking. There was a dark expression on his face, and Kaede instantly knew what he was thinking about.
"Hey, Kaede?" Kai spoke.
"Yes?" Kaede replied.
"…Do you think that Makoto will forgive me?" he asked.
Kaede was not surprised. She had been suspecting that he would ask such a thing. Makoto had been his best friend, after all. "Of course she will. You had no choice but to turn into one of those demons that obeyed no matter what. The Orb of the Demon Kings made sure of that." She looked at him, a stern look in her eyes. "Listen, Kai. Fight this one last battle for her. She's watching you, and with this, she can forgive you."
Kai nodded, a smile on his face. "All right."
Kaede turned back to the world before her. Every second spent meant another life that could not be saved, and judging by the time they had spent talking, too many lives had been lost. "Let us go."
The orange-haired demon instantly jumped into the crowd, her claws unsheathed and ready to tear through flesh. However, Kai stood there for a little bit longer, long enough to mutter a few words. "Makoto, I'll be with you soon. For now, just watch me…" And with those final words, he jumped into the crowd.
~~~~X~~~~
Mion and Keiichi found themselves running down the paths of Onigafuchi with one goal in mind. Now that Yasuo was done for, they needed to stop Takeru and order him to turn all the demons back to normal. Keiichi was clutching his bleeding stomach as they went along, feeling pain from running with so many injuries. In truth, Mion had barely scratched him, but so many times caused quite a bit of blood and quite a bit of pain. He would need to sit down and fix his injuries before anything happened.
But first, they had to get the manor. He could find some time when they were inside there to fix it. He looked over to his friend, who had all her injuries healed right up and was in perfect condition to continue onwards. If he couldn't attack Takeru or anything like that, she certainly could. Who knew what he was doing in there, though, or where he could be. Did his family know about the incident yet? If so, then he had probably been attacked by his family. Yasuo was no longer there to protect him.
Well, he could have ordered one demon to follow him around and protect him from danger. But either way, he was probably still alive judging by the fact that all the demons were still out massacring people. He could still hear their faint screams coming from the distance, and it made him cringe.
The gate of the Sonozaki Manor greeted the two of them. He looked over to Mion, who was staring at her old home. She could see the very fields she had to run across in order to gain her freedom, and somewhere in those trees, she knew that the basement was there. Her eyes fixed on the giant building, and she was instantly taken aback by how big it was. She hadn't really been paying attention to that when they were escaping before.
He wondered if the Sonozaki family would know who she was when they saw her.
This may be the time… the time where Mion's identity becomes known.
The two of them flung the gate open, rather surprised that it was unlocked. The Sonozaki family usually was more concerned about security and those kinds of things. The two of them instantly dashed across the garden and into the manor at once, with the door once again open. They found themselves running down the hallways, passing by many doors as they went along. For some reason, there weren't any people in the hallways, though it was a fact that they were very thankful of.
He didn't know where to go now. Which door to enter? He wondered if he should go to Takeru's room… but that would be an obvious place to hide. Everyone would know that he was there and that would be the first place anyone would check. Mion blinked at him as the boy tried to make up his mind as to where to go.
"Kei-chan?" she asked.
"Hold on…"
His ears picked up the sounds of people's voices from nearby, and he looked over to the girl. He nodded to her and began to walk forwards down the hall, to where the voices were coming from.
"…Is that so?" a voice said.
"Yes. It's true. And then he laughed at the suffering and…"
Keiichi didn't know what they were talking about, but he knew that voice was Takeru's. He looked over to Mion, and with a quick nod, told her that that door was the right one. He walked right up to it and placed his hand on it, ready to enter.
"Mion, are you ready for this?" he asked her.
The girl smiled. "Who the hell do you think I am? This demon here is ready for anything!" she said in a hushed voice.
He didn't know what they would do when they entered, as the first thing they needed to do was find out the situation at hand. Did they know about him or not? Were servants in there or just a small amount of people? Maybe it was just Takeru and one other person. He took a deep breath. Whatever it would be, Mion said that she was ready, and Keiichi believed her when she said that. She was Mion, after all.
And with a quick motion, he pulled the sliding door back.
All eyes in the room turned to him as soon as the door blocking their sight was removed, and he found himself staring back. Inside the room was a total of four people. There was Takeru himself, his father, his mother, and Oryou. He felt his heart rate increase as they all stared at the two of them, and Mion looked a little nervous as well at the sight of Oryou. She had been her master, after all, and she didn't look pleased in the slightest right now. Slowly, Mion reached behind her and shut the door.
"Maebara Keiichi?" Akane spoke, shock in her voice.
"And…?" his father turned to look at Mion, confusion in his eyes.
Takeru stood there with horror in his eyes as he looked at the two of them, but his attention was mostly focused on Mion. Oryou, on the other hand, looked very surprised as well, but she was doing her best to cover that up.
"That's right, Kimiyoshi Masaru interrupted the sacrifice," Oryou spoke as she took a sip of her tea. "So you're still alive. But what in the world are you doing here?"
Keiichi ignored her and turned towards Takeru, anger burning his eyes as he looked at him. "You!" he yelled out as he pointed a finger towards the boy. "What in the world are you doing here, and why isn't your family doing anything about you?" he demanded at once. Indeed, his parents and his grandmother were calm about having him near them. Did they really know about the incident, or had no one told them yet?
Takeru narrowed his eyes back. "What are you doing here, thief? And what in the world are you talking about?" he asked.
Mion stepped forward, glaring at the green-haired boy. "Don't act stupid, you idiot. We know what you did!"
Akane looked to her son, confusion in her eyes, though that died and she looked back at the two of them. "Are you referring to the fact that he is in hiding when he's supposed to be the Hero, out there taking down the enemy?" she asked him. Her face softened with worry as she looked over to her son once again. "Well, in that case, my son is feeling a little worried about the whole situation, and thinks he can't do it. I've always known that there was some kind of mistake with this hero thing. So that's what's going on. Anyways, Maebara-san, it's good to see that you're still alive, but I don't like what's going on with this Masaru thing…"
Keiichi blinked at her. "Masaru… thing?" he repeated.
She nodded. "You know, don't you? That Kimiyoshi Masaru is out there massacring people with his demons. They hadn't really been stolen."
Keiichi looked absolutely shocked when she spoke those words, words that weren't true at all. When he turned to Takeru, he noticed a dark smirk on his face. That was enough to confirm that the boy had completely lied about the situation, and that they thought that he was not evil at all. He was simply hiding from the battle because he was scared that he was not the Hero, and that Kimiyoshi Masaru would kill him. This was the story that his parents and Oryou believed.
"But that's wrong!" Mion instantly screamed out. "That boy's a liar! Don't listen to him! Kimiyoshi Masaru has done nothing wrong but find out the truth behind The Legend of the Hero, and that boy certainly isn't the Hero, like you think!" She pointed towards him. "But that's not a good thing at all. He's really the villain, and he's hiding in here while the demons he stole from Kimiyoshi do all the work with the massacring!"
Takeru's father growled at her. "What the hell? Do you expect me to believe those lies? I believe in my son no matter what, not some random Sonozaki demon who shows up out of the blue thinking she knows the truth. Besides, what in the world are you doing with a Sonozaki demon, Maebara?" he questioned.
It made him realize that the man did not recognize that Mion was his daughter, and that worried him a little. It would be easier if he had recognized her right away.
"They aren't lies!" he protested. "It's the truth! She's telling the truth!"
Takeru pointed to the girl's collar. "Don't listen to them and their lies, Mother, Father, Grandmother. Look at that collar. He stole her from the Sonozaki basement and is now keeping her as his pet, and he tricked her into believing all of this!" he yelled out. "He's no better than Kimiyoshi Masaru! That's why he was chosen to be sacrificed!"
Akane blinked at Keiichi, sudden hostility in her eyes. "Are you really trying to accuse my son of such a thing?" she nearly spat. It made Keiichi realize just how protective she was, probably having come from losing her twins before. This caused him to briefly glance at Mion, hoping that she would recognize her already. Would they believe him a little more then? "I know that what you're saying is a lie. Now, just come sit down and tell me more about this whole incident. Takeru was just explaining what had happened and—"
"No!" Keiichi yelled out. "We're telling the truth! That boy… he's the reason behind the death and he's tricked you all!" He seemed to be realizing that all attempts to convince them were pretty much worthless. They were all sure that their heir had nothing to do with all the deaths that were going on, and that Kimiyoshi Masaru was the one to blame for it. Takeru must be a very convincing liar. "Kimiyoshi Masaru told us the truth, and he admitted it himself! Just as any villager!"
There was silence that followed, and every Sonozaki, Mion aside, was staring at him with hate and unfriendliness in their eyes. Akane had been nicer before, but it looked like she was about to tear him to shreds at the idea that her only son, and who she thought to be her only child, was the mastermind behind it all.
Finally, Oryou spoke. "You lowly outsider!" she yelled out to the boy. "What in the world makes you think you can just march in here and feed us all unbelievable lies? I know that my grandson is the Hero and that he is not so low that he would murder many people and steal demons. Akane, this is why I chose him as the sacrifice! I wish Masaru had never interrupted so that we could have just tore his stomach out right away!" She turned towards Takeru's father. "You, you're strong, aren't you? Fight these brutes off!"
Takeru's father nodded and he stood up, cracking his knuckles. Like his brother, he seemed to be a rather bulky and large man, and Keiichi gulped at the sight of him angry. He too seemed very protective of his son, and seeing them say such things about him was not the least bit pleasing. He ran towards them with his fist, ready to punch both of them.
But Mion intersected his punch with her own, using her demonic strength in that punch. He wasn't as strong as his brother, she noted, and the punch was enough to block his. She grabbed onto his arm and dug her claws right in to it as she threw him to the ground with as much strength as she could possibly use, which was quite a bit considering that she was a demon. A normal person couldn't possibly manage to do that, as the man was quite a bit larger than herself.
His eyes widened as he felt a kick go to his back, and he found that her strength was enough to make it actually hurt. He growled as he stood up, looking at the girl with fierceness in his eyes. He was really mad at her for being able to throw him off just like that. However, the girl ignored him and ran right for Takeru, her claws outstretched as she prepared to claw him right to death. Horror painted his face as he realized that she was coming right at him, and he knew that he couldn't counter her.
But Takeru's father managed to push her out of the way and into a wall, though Mion quickly bounced back from such a move and ran towards him with sharp claws. He growled as he felt her claws impale his stomach and rake down, and he couldn't help but allow a cry of pain to come out of his mouth. Oryou was watching eagerly, hoping that he would be able to fight her off, and Akane was narrowing her eyes at the demon before her. She looked murderous.
Keiichi hesitated. He knew he should be doing something, but just what was he supposed to do? He may just get in the way considering how well Mion was doing.
With him temporally down, Mion ran back towards Takeru, baring her fangs at the boy and showing great hostility. She would not be nice with him, that was for sure. She raised her claws in the air, ready to strike down.
But the man quickly got in front of him again, holding his arms out wide. He was breathing heavily as he looked at the girl before him, the girl that could hardly compare in size. Yet, she was enough to take him down, and he knew he didn't have much of a chance against her. Still, there was determination in his eyes, and he was not about to give up. "You're good, Number Twenty-Seven," he spoke, looking to her collar and causing her to growl at the number. "But you're not touching my son, and that's final!"
That's when she looked back at him with such fierceness in his eyes, such determination, that it caused his eyes to widen. "And I'm not giving up either!" she yelled out. "Get out of my way!" She instantly pushed him to the side, and he didn't even resist. His eyes were wide with shock after seeing such a look in her eyes, a look full of pure determination.
"…Was I imagining it?" he whispered. He looked over to his wife. That was the same look she gave when she fought during training sessions when she was younger. It had completely thrown him off guard. "…It was just my imagination… right?"
Mion tackled right into Takeru, ferociously beginning to tear at him with her claws. This caused horror to build through the whole room, and Keiichi wondered if she was really going to go ahead and kill him. He wanted to tell her to stop, and that he had to live in order for him to order the demons to stop doing what they were doing and hopefully go back to the life they were living before. However, he didn't know what to say to her.
Takeru cried out in pain as he felt her claws rake across him anywhere she could get her hands on. And no matter how hard he pleaded for her to stop, she kept going, tearing at every inch of skin possible. She just wanted revenge for everything he had done to her.
But that's when she was thrown off him, and she stepped back in surprise. Blood dripped from her claws and onto the ground as she looked into the eyes of the person who had just stopped her, interrupting her kill.
It was none other than Akane, who was now wearing a murderous look of complete and utter rage on her face as she stared at the demon who had just tried to murder her son, not knowing that she was in fact her very own daughter. She didn't seem to recognize this fact at all.
"You demon, get the hell away from my son!" she spat at her. "If you think that I'll believe the words of a monstrous, crazy demon like you, then you're just plain stupid. I know that my son is an innocent boy and that he would never try to massacre the village or anything like that. He's my only child, and I don't want to lose him like I lost the others! You, on the other hand, are a filthy liar and an evil demon. Who would believe in what you had to say, you monster?" she asked, staring at her with pure anger. "Get the hell away from him!"
Mion growled at her. "I'm not going to move, and I'm not lying!" she yelled back.
"Well then, that's what you say, you thing. I know my son well enough to know that you're the liar in this situation and you're no different from the other demons that love nothing more than to hear people scream out in terror. You're a monster, the horns are proof of it," her tone was one that was harsh, harsher than anything anyone in the room had ever heard before. "Of course you would never understand… you're just a demon. You're just trying to trick us so that you can taste blood. So, you hideous demon, get the hell away from my son!"
There was astonishment in Mion's eyes as she took a step away from the woman before her, completely shocked at how protective she was over her son. Was this how a mother acted towards their child? Was this the kind of motherly love that she hadn't ever experienced in her life? She just didn't get why she would want to protect a murderer, when it was clear by what she had said that he was the culprit and in no way innocent.
Everyone else seemed shocked, too, aside from Oryou.
"Akane… don't say that to her," she warned her. "You don't even know what you're saying."
"But Mother—!"
Oryou sighed. "I know. She's lying, but you shouldn't say such words to her. You're going to regret them later…"
Takeru's father blinked at those words, and he looked from the demon girl to Akane, then back. Yes, Akane really did wear the same look she did when she was determined. It was almost as if they were related. Gulping as he looked to his injuried son, he realized he had to do something about those injuries. Slowly walking over, he began to strip off pieces of his shirt to press against the wounds.
Akane turned to Takeru, who wore a pained expression on his face as his father took care of him. Keiichi was clutching his stomach, where blood was beginning to collect in deeper amounts, and he was in pain, though his eyes were frantically darting between people as he wondered what he should do. His father still looked shocked and was staring between Mion and Akane, his vision shifting. Oryou was sipping her tea casually, and Mion was standing there with a growing look of determination returning to her face.
"Why won't you believe me?" Mion asked Akane. "I'm telling the truth!"
"No you're not!" bellowed Akane. "My son is not a murder! He's only hiding in here because he believes he's not ready for the fight, and that someone else will take him down! I knew there was something funny about the legend before." She clenched her fists tightly. "That damn legend… messing with my children. It made me lose two for no reason and then make my son into some kind of fake hero…"
Mion blinked curiously at her words. She had lost two because of the legend? The legend stated that the twins were evil and that they needed to be killed, and if she had lost two, did that mean…?
She's my… mother... Mion realized. It was odd for her to use such a word.
"But in any case, I will not move aside, and if you make me, I'll fight you with that katana!" She pointed to the katana in the corner of the room, and Mion locked her eyes on it, then turning back to the woman. She could easily grab the katana and take her down… but the realization that the woman before her was her mother was preventing her from doing such a thing. Didn't mothers love their children? Wasn't she supposed to love her? Then why was she saying those horrible things before? "My son is not—"
"Mom," a voice interrupted her. "You… really shouldn't be speaking to her like that."
Akane blinked at him. "Why?" she questioned. "She's just a demon!"
Takeru sighed. He then turned to Oryou. "Grandmother, do you happen to have any guns?"
"I have one here, just in case. It's behind the cabinet," she informed him.
Takeru nodded and walked over to the cabinet. Mion growled and tried to run after him, but Akane grabbed her shoulder roughly. It caused her eyes to widen and look over up at her mother. This was the first time she had felt her mother's hand, and it wasn't a very pleasant experience. It was supposed to feel warm, but right now, she was forcing it to hurt. Keiichi looked ready to take him down as well, but as soon as he began to step forward, Takeru's father ran towards him and blocked off his way.
The boy reached his hand behind the cabinet and picked up the gun. It was small, but it looked like it could do some damage anyways. He pointed it right at Mion, positioning for the shoot.
A shot rung out from the gun. Everyone turned to look at the scene, at the amount of damage that it had done to the demon girl.
…Which was absolutely none at all.
"…T-Takeru?" Akane stammered out as she looked to the bullet wound in her shoulder, which was now pouring out blood. It had only barely hit, though it was enough to cause blood and some damage. She looked horrified as she turned to her son, who was pointing the gun directly at her with a stern look on his face. It appeared as if he had changed the direction of the gun right before he shot, causing the not so careful aim of the shot and the minimal damage.
Keiichi blinked, completely stunned by what had happened. Akane had been on his side, and he had just gone ahead and shot her. She was fully supportive of him, and was willing to protect him no matter what. There had been no reason for him to suddenly turn on her like that. What in the world was he planning?
Oryou, on the other hand, looked more horrified than anyone had ever seen before. Mion looked to her mother, slightly relieved that the bullet had not hit her but afraid of why he had just done that.
"What the hell, Takeru!" screamed his father. "What in the world are you—"
"What's the point anymore?" he replied, lowering the gun. "There's no point anymore. That's why I did it." He clenched his teeth and looked down at the ground, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "After all… it's all going to become useless in ten seconds."
Keiichi blinked. "Huh?"
That's when he heard it. It was something he should have heard a long time ago. It was footsteps, and very loud ones at that.
"…Five seconds."
The footsteps stopped, and he could hear the hand of someone on the door.
"…Four, three, two, one, zero…"
The moment the last number was spoken, the door was slid right open, causing Keiichi to jump out of the way.
"Stop right now, Takeru!" a familiar voice yelled out. "You're just pretending that—… huh?"
Right in the doorway, much to everyone's surprise was a boy with blonde hair and another Sonozaki demon, who was completely identical to the demon who was there before. It caused Takeru's father to instantly glance to the demon that was already in the room, and then back to her, and then back to Akane… horror lit up his face as realization hit him hard.
"Sis!" yelped Mion as she stared at the identical demon before her.
"Satoshi! ?" cried Keiichi.
"Sis!" Shion yelled back.
"Keiichi!" cried Satoshi. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here, Satoshi? I thought you were with Satoko!" Keiichi yelled out.
"No time to explain, right now… there's an issue!" Satoshi turned towards the group of shocked adults, and he scanned them, trying to figure out the situation at hand. Takeru was looking down at the ground, his expression unreadable, but he could see drops of tears falling down from his face and hitting the ground. He looked to the others. Oryou was rubbing her temples, sighing. Keiichi was surprised, and Mion was running happily up to her sister, who returned an equally as happy look. A look of complete surprise was on Takeru's father's face, and Akane looked troubled and surprised as she tried to understand what was going on.
"Sis! Sis!" cried Shion as she tightly embraced her sister, tears of happiness filling her eyes as she held her as close as she possibly could. "Oh, Sis! I've been looking for you everywhere!"
Mion returned the embrace, the warm feeling she had missed so much filling her instantly. She had really missed her sister. "I've been looking for you, too! I was so worried, I thought that the family had captured you again…!"
"Me too! Oh sis… I'm so glad…"
Keiichi and Satoshi smiled at the scene before them. It was very touching to see the two reunite again, as both of them knew how much they wanted to see each other again and how close they had been. It was amazing for the two of them to meet again and feel that warm feeling that they had missed so much.
But their attention was quickly drawn to Oryou, who let out a large sigh. "Ah… it looks like I have a lot of explaining to do…"
Takeru's father nodded. "Indeed you do." He turned back towards Mion and Shion, who had broken out of their embrace and was now staring at the scene before them. "I have to say, Number Twenty-Seven… you're just like your mother when you fight."
Akane looked extremely confused. "W-What's going on? !" she demanded.
Oryou let out another sigh. "Ah, where do I start…"
"How about by apologizing?" suggested Takeru's father. It occurred to everyone in the room that he was very, very, very angry and upset about something, and everyone who knew was very silent. That was everyone but Akane who was still trying to figure it out.
Oryou sighed once again. She seemed to be doing that quite a bit. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." It was shocking to hear Oryou talk like that. Not even Akane had heard her mother speak in such a way, which confused her even more.
"Will someone please explain? !" demanded Akane.
"Akane… you can't tell?" spoke Takeru's father as he looked at the twin demons before him.
She glanced to the twins, a pain in her heart beginning to grow. "Explain… please…" she requested. Perhaps deep down inside of her heart, she already knew.
"They're your daughters," Oryou told her, looking down at the sheets of her futon as she said those words.
An alarm went off in Akane's brain as she stared at her mother in disbelief. Then, she whipped around to look at the twin demons with shock and horror painted on her face. They looked at her solemnly, unable to read what she was thinking about them right now. She gazed up and down their bodies, finding that they did bear a striking resemblance to her. She didn't know if she could believe it, but the fact that they were both identical was too much evidence.
She took a few steps backwards and sat down, shock painting her face as she tried to process it.
"I'm sorry, Akane. I wanted to tell you one day, but Takeru told me not to. I was afraid of this." She looked away. "The truth is that the moment I took them away from you, I couldn't bear to kill them. They may have been known as the evil twins from the legend, but they were still my beautiful granddaughters. And I turned them into demons because I didn't know what to do with them, and then I locked them in a cage. I didn't ever let them outside because I was scared of what would happen if someone were to find out, and… they've been there ever since. Even when I killed all the other demons, I kept these two alive. I couldn't bear to kill them." It was rare to see Oryou admit all her mistakes and show such emotion aside from anger, though no one seemed to care as they listened to her tale. Her voice really did contain deep regret. "But Maebara Keiichi stole them… and I'm actually grateful for that. Perhaps they've learned what they've needed to know."
Akane was still sitting there, a look of shock on her face. She still couldn't process all this.
"I do not know if you can forgive me for this, but I apologize," Oryou finished.
Takeru's father seemed very upset. "You should have just given them to us. Then none of this would have ever happened. Akane would have never been heartbroken and everything could have gone on fine." He turned to Takeru. "…And for shooting my wife, which is pretty much just admitting to all this just by doing that, I know for a fact that you, Takeru, are just one big mistake."
Takeru looked away, though his vision was still at the ground.
"Admit it. Are you really the killer like my daughter said?" asked Takeru's father as he stepped up towards his son, who didn't even bother to answer. He got a little annoyed with this. "Takeru, look at me and answer the question."
However, the boy didn't move.
"Takeru!" he yelled out. He grabbed the boy by the chin and forcefully raised his head so that he could look into his eyes.
Takeru was no longer crying. Instead, a look of complete and utter madness replaced that, which was something that set an alarm off in the man's head. It startled him, to say the very, very, very least. A single hand went to his stomach as he clutched it tighter, though his father had helped stop the bleeding. "Of c-course," he answered with a slight chuckle, though his voice was shaken. "And… ahaha… it's not w-worth anything anymore. It's just as you said. I'm a… mistake. I'm only a replacement for my sisters, who never really died. That's why I did all this… because I knew that I was nothing more than a mistake. I-… I… just wanted to be someone great. And to do that, you never could find out about them." He looked over to the demons. "So…"
The first thing that met him was a punch to the fist, and the extremely disappointed look of his dad.
"Well, it would have been fine if we saw them if you didn't do something like this," he replied. "You didn't need to do this. You just messed everything up for yourself… by your own hand."
Those words hit Takeru like a bullet, and he clenched his fists. Had he really done such a thing? "…A-ahh… w-well… t-too late. I …guess."
The boy turned towards the door and the next thing anyone knew, he was running out of it. He whipped by the twins and Keiichi and Satoshi, and the two instantly got ready to dash after them. However, before they could do anything, a hand that was stuck out stopped them from going anywhere. It was Takeru's father, and he was looking at them with a serious look.
"Don't. Give the boy some time to think about what he did and maybe this will all become undone. I don't want to kill him. As I said before, it would be fine if he didn't do any of this." He looked towards the boy as he ran further down the hallway, and further away from them. "And now, we need some time to sort everything that had just happened out."
He turned towards his wife. "Akane, are you all right?" he asked her as he stepped towards her, bending down and looking at her wounded shoulder. It was not only her mental state that he was worried about. He ripped off a good amount of the cloth that made up his shirt, and then began to tie it around the spot that had been hurt. As he did so, the woman did not speak a single word, and it was scaring the man. "Please, speak…" he begged.
She was stunned. She had just found out that her only son was a murderer, and that the twins she had given birth to had not actually been killed, and that they had been turned into demons and kept in a cell for all their lives. There were tears beginning to trickle down her face, and it was clear that she was having a hard time with all of this.
Mion looked concerned and she stepped towards her mother, sitting down by her side and placing a hand on her other shoulder.
"I'm sorry about Takeru," she told her gently. "I was trying to explain everything, but… I'm sorry." She sighed. "I know you'd rather have him than a demon like my sister and I… so I'm sorry for that as well." She recalled the words she had spoke to her when she was fighting her off. "I'm—"
Suddenly, Akane threw her arms around the girl and hugged her tightly as she began to cry harder. Mion blinked in surprise at this action, as she had not been expecting her to do that. "…Huh?" she managed to speak out. "I—"
"I'm so sorry… so sorry," Akane spoke. "I called you all those bad things and I should have believed you from the start… I… I didn't know that you were my daughter. If I had known then…. Oh god…" She squeezed her daughter tighter, finding comfort in her. "I knew… I knew there was a reason I hated him when he was born. But that changed and… I loved him… but he's really… he's really…"
Mion could do nothing but let her mother hold her for a little while. It seemed to be comforting to her to hold her daughter like this.
After a while, she stood up, looking down on her daughter who then stood up as well. She looked over to Shion, who was shocked at the scene before her. This whole night had been full of surprises.
"Identical twin girls… just like I wanted…" she whispered.
Shion walked over to her mother and joined her sister's side, staring at her curiously.
She smiled through her tears and wiped away the ones that were crawling down her face. She looked at her daughters, who wore identical looks of confusion on their faces.
"I'm sorry… about everything. I don't know if you can accept me… but if you can… can you please call me 'Mom' from now on?" she asked both of them.
"B-But wait!" cried Mion. "Aren't you going to reject us because we're demons and we have these horns?" There was fear in her eyes as she recalled the words she had said to her before, and all the terrible names. "We can't ever be considered your daughters because you're human and we're demon!"
Akane shook her head. "That doesn't matter. You're… still my daughters…"
Mion and Shion looked surprised that she would accept them so quickly, but they were happy nevertheless. They had finally met their mother, who didn't hate them or anything like that. It had been a fear, that their mother would hate them when they met them because they were demons and they had horns that completely differentiated them from humans.
"Of course, Mom," said Mion with a smile.
"We'll call you that!" cried Shion.
Akane nodded, tears in her eyes. But this time, they were not tears of sadness. They were tears of joy. "And as for you girls… I always wanted to name you 'Mion' and 'Shion…' if that's okay…."
"We know," replied Mion. "Kei-chan named us that."
Akane blinked in surprise as she looked towards the boy.
Keiichi nodded. "You remember when I asked you for their names?" he asked her. "That's why I needed them, because they needed names. The one with the ponytail is named Mion and the one with the ribbons is Shion. That's how I remember them, anyways."
Akane smiled as she looked down at her two daughters. It was perfect. She had two, beautiful, identical twin girls who had the names that she had always wanted.
Oryou looked surprised that she wasn't receiving anything bad from her child yet, but she knew that the worst was to come the moment she gained herself again. Her daughter's husband had not been kind at all when he found out the truth, and if she had to be honest with herself, Oryou didn't blame them.
But still… there was the matter of Takeru at hand, which had hit her hard.
"We need to figure this out. That aside… Satoshi…" Keiichi, who was still holding his stomach, which had mostly stopped bleeding, turned to look at the blonde-haired boy, who had been silent since he had entered. "Why are you here?"
Satoshi looked around him. "All right then, allow me to explain everything…"
~~~~X~~~~
Crimso's Corner V.2
Okay, okay. So let me just say that it's horribly hard to write a scene with eight people in the room where the attention is focused around maybe three of them (I'm referring to the scene with Akane and Shmion at the end there) and it's very tough when there's so many things that go on in this chapter… really, I can't believe how much I just fit in 7,000 words. Okay, so chapter Twenty-Eight of Green-Eyed Demon takes the cake when it comes to shorter chapters with so much in them, but still. It's very hard and I hope you understand it. And yes… Akane did have a moment that seemed unlike her there, but so much just happened to her in a few minutes and well… it's not far from how one would react to such a thing. I did attempt to clean up a little but still, I do feel a little shaky about this chapter as a whole...
Moving on, did anyone see the RAWs for File Four? Yes, they have them out all ready. I did, and it was very touching even though I couldn't understand too much of it. It was a fitting way to end the OVAs and I am sure that none of you will be disappointed. It was very sad and it makes me wonder why everyone wants to see them stuck back in the time loop. That said, small Rika is very cute and when she said "Nipah," I nearly died of how cute it was. Also… Mion, what happened to your tattoo? The animators don't seem to acknowledge/are forgetting about its existence. Well, I guess the anime doesn't detail it and mentions it maybe once. But still, I like her tattoo. It makes her more interesting as a character… even though she was all ready very interesting. Also, the amount of Shmion was satisfying. I was thinking they would rarely get any screen time… but nope.
I feel greedy when I ask for reviews, so this time, I'm just going to ask kindly to leave a review and tell me areas where I can improve or what you liked about the chapter and predictions and that stuff. Also, typos. Thank you.
~Crimso