"I demand to see my lawyer!" Giichi huffed from his uncomfortable wooden seat, bound to the back of an iron wagon and he was understandably irritated.
One officer who looked to be younger than the rest marched beside the caged wagon, he regarded the old man with a vile glare.
"Demons don't get to have lawyers." he spat before looking away in disgust.
"What? I'm not a demon! What would even give you that idea!?" the man raised his bound hands in exasperation.
"So, you're telling me humans can just go around regenerating their limbs?" The young police officer didn't turn as he responded.
"We have the documents filed by your physician." An older officer said from the other side of the moving cage, "A freak workplace accident, bad enough for a surgical dismemberment of your upper femur."
Giichi's face then changed from one of infuriation to clarity, "... H-hey, just listen to me now..." he shakingly began, "What happened with my legs was simply a miracle, my family prayed for me. I am not a demon...!"
"We'll see what the people have to say."
The old man reflected on the young officer's words as he collapsed back onto his uncomfortable seat. He realised his case would be a hard one to plead, especially against such a superstitious community.
Townsfolk gathered around a tall wooden platform improvised in the middle of the square. Under the glare of the afternoon sun, they mumbled among themself as they looked upon a man whose neck was tied to a wooden beam.
His hands were bound and he wobbled slightly, red bruises on his knuckles and arms were visible. Half a dozen police officers stood guard on the platform with their rifles at the ready.
"This demon has lived among us for over fifty years, posing as a humble old man while he feasts on human flesh in secret." A ranking officer marched across a platform, and behind him, Giichi stood wavering with his neck tied around a rope.
Sentenced without trial due to overwhelming public favour for his immediate execution, the old man appeared frightened and disheartened, his frown and wrinkled lips told he hadn't the capacity for spite or anger anymore.
The ranking officer cracked a smile, "This paper documents your crippling workplace injury."
"The nature of this injury, which was penned and provided to us by Doctor Sadao, was such that this man's legs had to be removed at his thighs." The officer spared a glance behind him, "But as you can see, he is standing."
Unable to look Giichi in the eyes, Doctor Sadao hung his head as he stood beside the executioner. The lever to the trapdoor under the bound old man was just an arm's reach away.
"How he has evaded our sights for this long is a mystery, but demons are a reclusive bunch. We barely know anything about them, save that they need human flesh to survive." The officer turned on his heel and marched up to the old Giichi.
He spoke just loud enough for the townspeople to hear, "How many people have you consumed in your life, foul creature? Are you responsible for all the unsolved murders and missing person cases that have befallen this humble town?"
Jeers could be heard from below as the crowd grew angry. Giichi said nothing, he simply grunted.
"You have nothing to say for yourself? So be it, I shall enjoy watching you dangle," he said with a chilling whisper.
The executioner came up behind him and tapped on his shoulder, "Demizu-sama, the crowd calls for his blood, we should move this along and be done with it."
The officer's glare faltered as he turned to his subordinate, "Right then, forgive me Otori, I've said much," he straightened his posture and adjusted his uniform.
Exchanging nods, the Demizu and the executioner got ready. Some of the officers on the platform began to notice a commotion develop in the back of the crowd.
"Good people of Takamatsu," He increased the volume of his voice again, "Today, you shall bear witness to a most righteous act. We shall not cower to this demon, no, we refuse to be complacent towards such evil."
The officer raised his hand, issuing the signal for the lever to be pulled.
"Father!" the desperate cry of a young boy could be heard through the crowd's chanting, most turned around and were silent.
They all briefly caught sight of the young boy as he ran through the crowd, ducking and weaving under their arms as quickly as he could.
Giichi stirred, "Ritsu...?" he looked up hesitantly, terrified for his son to see him like this. The ranking officer had absent-mindedly dropped his hand so the executioner pulled the lever, sending Giichi into a free fall.
"Ritsuki-Kun / Father...?" Demizu and Doctor Sadao reeled, though, in the latter's case, he was beginning to pant.
The rope jerked, taught, and they heard the old man grunt from below. Looking down, his neck had failed to break so he would likely suffocate.
"That boy is the demon's son, Doctor Sadao?"
The captain asked to which the meek physician quickly nodded.
"Then... is he-?" he hesitated to even suggest, but he was thankfully interrupted.
"No!" his response was abrupt, "He's just a normal kid, and he simply must not bear witness to this!"
"Sir, uh... what do we do?" the executioner reminded.
Ritsuki had tried to approach the platform with a small knife in hand in a bid to cut his father down. The boy was tackled by the police officers standing guard below.
"Take him away, quickly now," Demizu ordered his men. They nodded and carried the howling Ritsuki who was punching and kicking with everything he got.
"No! No! Please, he's done nothing wrong! Please...!" they immediately confiscated the boy's knife which left him defenceless.
Giichi watched as his vision began to darken, Ritsuki's cries dominated his thoughts as his face turned purple but he couldn't seem to die that quickly, still jerking and kicking about in vain.
"He's not dying, sir... should we cut him down and try again."
Demizu hummed into his gloved hands, "We cannot risk setting a demon free, especially after we've potentially angered him..." he looked around and caught sight of a few idle planks of wood.
He snapped his fingers and pointed, "Grab those and bring them here along with dry kindle, does anyone have a lighter?"
The putrid scent of charred flesh lingered in and around the town square, spoiling the morning for anyone who passed by.
The execution of Takamatsu's demon was supposed to be a clean and simple ordeal, but a heavy shadow lingered from the events of the day before.
After they lit a bonfire under him, Giichi began to twist and kick as his legs burned away.
By the time the fire had freed him from his ropes and linen binds, too little muscle remained on his body that he did not even possess the strength to crawl out from the fire pit.
The torturous screams of the burning old man pierced through the town, even the workers at the port could hear it faintly, completely unaware that it was Giichi's until the day after.
As for Ritsuki, the officers taking him away had misunderstood Demizu's order and had placed the boy in a police detention truck just a few dozen meters away from the execution platform.
After the ranking officer was notified of what happened with the boy, he immediately had the four officers dishonourably discharged from the force.
Akiko was later informed of her husband's fate after his execution. She had gone home that day without much incident and had reasoned Giichi must have taken Ritsuki on a walk since they both weren't there.
She was devastated by the news but she kept a strong face. She took her son home from the police where Ritsuki had spent the night in lock-up.
Akoki was concerned for her boy. Ritsuki was quieter these days, often staring off blankly with his eyes glazed over.
She knew she had to be strong for him, so she felt guilty whenever she cried at night, sleeping alone in the bed that used to be hers and Giichi's.
There was nothing to remember him by, his ashes were deemed too dangerous by the police and as such were dumped into the channel immediately following his execution.
His friends from work occasionally paid them visits in their house, bearing gifts and affirming words of encouragement. They would tell them they wouldn't ever believe Ritsuki's father had been a demon.
Such was not the same for their neighbours.
The family that lived next door had lost a daughter in the past to what they believed had been a demon.
They grew increasingly distant from the widowed family. Coldness turned bitter, then bitterness then turned to resentment.
It eventually got to the point where their youngest son, who was slightly older than Ritsuki, would goad the younger boy into confrontations which often turned physical.
Ritsuki never fought back, seeming to remain completely apathetic to himself and others.
Eventually, Akiko could take no more.
She would pack their things, sell the house and move to a remote place in the mountains where she and her boy would spend the next few years farming and rearing poultry.
"Here we are, Ritsu..." Akiko sighed as she set down a big basket. She had used the basket to carry their things, a minimalistic set of furniture packed almost as tall as she stood.
The boy was made to carry even larger, but he hadn't minded. He had always been gifted with immense strength despite what his age and porcelain complexion would suggest. In his youth, his fair skin and prominent dimples often earned him the nickname 'Peach Boy'.
Mother and son stood in the humble courtyard of a secluded abode, flanked in every direction by thick forests. A small set of stone steps led up to the weathered house which sat on a grassy mound.
Beside the house, down a few paces to their right was a reservoir dug from a nearby stream. The water was filthy and not suitable for drinking, its surface was covered in a layer of humid green.
"Why don't we take our bags inside then, Ritsu?" Akiko turned to her son and gave him a bright smile.
With a faint tug on the edge of his lips, he almost smiled before he closed his eyes and looked down.
Swiftly getting a hold of his bags and his mother's too, he plodded across the courtyard and up the set of stairs that led to the front door.
Akiko looked at her boy's figure with a solemn expression, then she shifted her sights to the reservoir below the courtyard.
Walking to the edge of the stone fence she gazed down and nodded to herself.
"This should make for a fine garden, wouldn't you think so Giichi...?"
She softly wept as she clutched the fabric of her clothes over her chest. She would do her best to raise the boy, Akiko swore to her husband.
Here they would start a fruitful life, here they would be happy...