The blood gushing from her nose was pretty ... red. Seriously that's alot of blood. Damn. And Marin really liked this T-shirt too.

"Familiar position for you?" Daki laughed standing tall and seemingly unaffected. The last hit must've knocked a few screws loose because it was hard to put into words why Marin was so mesmerized by the scarlet hue of the blood ruining her shirt instead of her busted face... maybe it's adrenaline? Not like she's ever been in a fight with anyone like this.

She climbed on her hands and knees slowly getting back on her feet. She had to brace her knees to keep from wobbling, spitting out blood from her lip Daki busted open. "I think you look better this way." Daki sneers, reveling in the fact she's fighting a non-fighter. Marin did manage to scratch her face a bit, and yank one of her hair extensions out; which lay unceremoniously on the ground. A cheap, long extension, dyed platinum blond with green tips at the end, just like how her brother's hair had green tips too. I wonder whose idea it was to do green? Oh ... I'm doing it again, my mind is wandering...

"Marin. Just stop! You've done enough!" Shiki and Rune clearly hated to watch but Daia and Kensei hushed them. She understood their concerns, she wanted to quit too...Wanted to quit so bad... But she couldn't. Daia warned her about this, so she has to keep going...

"I'm Sorry, Daki." she said in semi-delirium. "about your brother." That only enraged her more making her charge and take a big swing, One Marin managed to dodge and return with a backhand knocking her to the ground; her first solid hit! Ouch... and it hurt like a sonovabitch! Marin shook the pain from her hand. Hitting someone actually hurt! She was surprised Daki could throw punches with her hands as dainty as they were. A scrapper through and through.

"You bitch!" the shock in her eyes couldn't be faked when she pulled back and saw blood on her hand from her nose. "You're the reason they took him! You fucking did this!" She cried as she charged again as Marin flinched covering her face, "Oh no! You fucking look at me!" Daki screamed as Marin opened her eyes reluctantly taking another hit to the side of her head. She sort of blocked it though having seen it coming a mile away but she was so exhausted she hit the ground groaning loudly. The pained groans turned to pained cries and the pained cries into loud sobs as the tears mixed in with the blood falling to the ground. It was breaking point. Daki walked away satisfied at the result.

Her friends came rushing over but she refused their help provoking Daki further "Wh-where are you going!? I'm not done! I never conceded!" she stopped half-way to her driveway, obviously not expecting Marin to actually want to keep going. She stewed in her provocation before walking back up the driveway to finish what she started but Shiki got between her. "That's enough! She obviously can't go on!"

"Move Shiki! I haven't lost!" Marin waved, "I haven't given up and I'm not running away." She gasps spitting blood out her mouth, "S-so she either knocks me out … or it's a draw."

"Why?! You're fucking beat. I beat you!" Daki shouted passed shiki still standing guard. "Why did you even move here, huh?! Surely you've heard the rumors so why?"

"It was a nice house, and you seemed like nice people" Fuck, had she grown a second head? Daki's expression sure made her wonder if she did. In fact, if she squinted she could've sworn Daki looked remorseful for her actions but maybe it was Marin's imagination. Again, she was completely passed the point of filtering out stupidity.

After a heavy silence from all parties, Daki, satisfied with the turnout, gives one final warning "This will be your life every day until you Hotaru let's my brother out. Otherwise, he 's finished along with you if you conspire against us again" She wiped the blood from her nose and leaves; hair extension in her hand. Marin finally collapsed to the knees as her friends (and some neighbors passing by) helped her inside.


Her friends stayed the weekend as the news of the fight spread like wildfire in their community. Not that Marin knew she spent most of Saturday in the hospital and Sunday in bed on medication. She thought it was a miracle nothing was broken … that or daki held back considerably after realizing Marin really, really couldn't fight.

Didn't stop her friends from almost coming to blows though. She could hear some of their arguments downstairs.

"For fuck's sakes they had to fight!"

"And you're thinking with the wrong head you fucking idiot!"

"Daki's brother got arrested!"

On and on it went. Jim and Nowa were livid at the fact Daia and Kensei let the fight happen. Daia spouted how equally scummy Jim was while Nowa countered that being a jerk and being a criminal weren't remotely the same thing which forced Daia to remind Nowa that Jim ISN'T his real name, so how can we say for sure he isnt a criminal either?

But things really came to a head when Daia called him a spineless jellyfish whose only talent was poisoning the people around him. Jim was so beyond furious he basically declared right there that Nowa wasn't allowed to visit anymore which caused Daia to unleash a slew of curses at him as they took the argument outside Marin's home.

Come Monday Marin forced everyone to go home saying she was good enough to manage without them, but they worried about Daki coming for her again. "Gyutaro will be back today, that should keep Daki preoccupied." she countered, but they still offered to stay, "With him back it'll be fine!" Rune looked to Daia for guidance, Daia responded with an approving if-somewhat hesitant nod. So MArin shoved them out the door and with that, life went back to normal aside from the constant sympathies she received from literally everybody who spoke to her. It was kind of ridiculous.

Her doctor said her black eye should be healed in a week or so and aside from selling she really was ok. Besides it wsa alot like cosplay in a way, she could now wear decorative eye patches like a bedazzled pirate and nobody gave her shit for it. She was in really, really good spirits on Monday- that is- until she go home. Turning the ignition off she heard something strange.

She almost disregarded it; A mewling cat or a baby crying..? She stood completely still for several seconds to listen. Walking outside to follow the sound when she saw it; The Shabana's house had been vandalized. Not irrevocably damaged but someone had thrown eggs at the roof and Gyutaro's bike as well as toilet paper in their bushes and dumped garbage all along their overgrown front yard. As Marin walked closer to inspect she thought she heard the cat coming from the back of their yard though it just as easily could be coming from the woodline that hugged both their backyards in a horseshoe. After surveying the area, she bit the bullet and walked up the stoop to knock on the door.

He should've been home by this point. A sinking feeling began to fill her gut again when there was no answer. She waited 10 minutes banging loudly and when she knew for a fact nobody was going to answer she went home, changed and came right back over with cleaning supplies and a plastic drape she found n her garage.

Starting with the bike, She was very careful not to knock it over or put soap in a place she shouldn't when scraping the dry egg off. It didn't take long at all before the bike looked good as new. She threw the drape over it as a short-term solution. Next was the house. She's not gonna lie it was a bit of a mess. She couldn't see from the front but someone spray painted 'scum' and 'whore' on the side which was gonna be a bitch to clean- probably better to just paint over.

But she did her best. It wasn't pristine but she did remove the egg and a significant portion of toilet paper from their tree. Every once and a while she'd look up at the window to see if Daki was watching but it truly seemed like nobody was there. She'd checked down the street every now and then to see if she'd catch her silhouette threatening her over the horizon but nope. Nothing. Marin quit after about an hour deciding that if by tomorrow if it wasn't cleaned, she'd finish.

But as she headed back home she noticed several messages on her phone from Kagaya. After lsitening to the voice mail she dropped everything and raced to his house. It seems Hotaru decided to continue pressing charges after hearing about the fight. Kagaya called to let Marin know Daki came to him devastated so he was headed over to speak with him wanted to see if she'd join him.


"Kagaya, do you think he'll follow through this time?" as she walked him back home arms linked to guide him.

"Yes I do, Marin." he said "I am glad you were able to come. I did not know you had already convinced him to drop the charges, had I known I would've given the money to set Gyutaro free you didn't have to do that."

"No, It's ok I had to. I know you don't think so, but I really do bare some responsibility." They walked in silence for a little while longer making it all the way to his front door when he asked her somewhat solemnly, "Please, will you walk with me a bit more?"

"Sure where to?" she asks quickly linking his arm again.

"Just around the way we just came I want to tell you a story and I would like to hear your honest thoughts," Curious...

"Of course Kagaya," she said as they set off again, his feet shuffling quietly in the brisk evening as he spoke, "I once knew a man blessed with great intellect and charm, but was callous, arrogant and self-serving." he said evenly, "He thought himself a wise shepherd, while the rest ignorant sheep, he even referred to the masses as chattel. He was not an easy man to get along with. Then came this beautiful woman, sweet and patient as a Saint and from a highly esteemed family herself. I will not pretend to know the details leading to their meeting, but what I do know is somehow this cruel and arrogant man fell deeply in love with a woman his complete opposite. They knew their families would never accept it so they met in secret and wedded in secret too. Eventually, their union was revealed and they were disowned however."

Kagaya paused, "To be fair, not everyone was against it, the groom and bride's siblings, in particular, offered their blessings and support. And soon enough, the couple had children." Kagaya stopped speaking again, Marin looked at him eager to hear the rest of the story but he didn't continue, he wasn't smiling either, and his expression seemed reflective; sad.

Marin's eyes glistened. "Kagaya?" Kagaya knew this man and woman well, it was clear this story wasn't just about her or the Shabanas.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking of something completely irrelevant," he says before continuing, "as the years passed all of their children got ill, and died one after the other, and to add insult to injury their families mocked them, citing their union as a curse."

"so in great despair after their last child perished, their relationship too ended. The wife went on to marry again, and have more children, those kids all went on to become highly esteemed students of the sciences like their mother, specializing in medicine and pharmacology. But the ex-husband, never remarried, never sired any more children. He was quite angry actually." he sighed.

"Why was he angry?"

"Because he allowed himself to be distracted by an illusion. Bitter that he didn't stay focused on his dream of becoming shepherd to the sheep. He fell into deeper depravity than anyone could have imagined, and one day he disappeared altogether. So tell me, Ms. Kitagawa, what do you think of the story?"

She worried a bit, not knowing if her honest opinion was the best response to such a heavy narrative, "it just…uhm," she took a deep breath going with what her gut told her, "it makes perfect sense," she stated, Kagaya didn't falter, didn't miss a step as he shuffled but his smile did shift ever so slightly into a frown, "he was bad before he met her, and she was good before meeting him, I feel like in the wake of such extreme tragedy, they would both double down on what they were without the other there to temper them" She thought about the siblings again when she said this.. but also her and Gojo whenever she would fly off the rails.

"Temper them? You think that even for the wife who was perfect?" He asked genuinely curious, "Yeah especially the wife because she was perfect. I'll bet she suffered more than her husband who was always seen as a disappointment. He could only improve, while she could only go down in shame … I mean, you said all of her kids became scientists right? Sounds like she forced it on them," Kagaya looked down at her with his blind eyes beckoning her to explain, she hesitated but ultimately said, "W-well, I don't have siblings and I'm not a mom so I guess I can't completely know the situation but, I know my dad always wanted me to be an attorney because he thought I'd be good for it, my friend's parents were the same way too, but we didn't do it because we didn't want to. So even if there were 5 more of me I'd have a hard time believing all of us would want to be attorneys unless dad forced us." It was a terrible response she realized lacking any sort of poise or data-driven facts, or even proper filtering, she really hoped Kagaya didn't write her off as an idiot but instead, he sighed, then laughed, then bent his head back and guffawed openly so much so they had to stop walking so he could catch his breath. Finally, his laughter died to soft titters and he spoke again, "I see, it seems I have been wrong this entire time, thank you, Ms. Kitagawa.'

"Kagaya, I know I'm asking a lot from you but please, if you could help me squash rumors…" She hesitated knowing it was stupid to ask, "I don't want the neighborhood taking it out on Daki when I agreed to fight." but he reassured her, "Of course, I understand. Really, you're a good person Marin. So I will leave you with information you can trust, Daki and Gyutaro used to be part of a particular gang run by a man by the name of Muzan Kibutsuji. While I do not know why they left, what I do know is that they gave valuable information to the case and -god willing- future arrest of Kibutsuji."

"So they're like in some sort of witness protection?" Marin gasped at this new tidbit. They're trying to start new lives...

She wanted to press Kagaya for more but they were back at his doorstep before she knew it, with Amane welcoming him at the door. So she let it go and bid them both goodnight before heading home her mind wondering who Kagaya's story could have been about. It certainly aligned with her situation but it sounded much more personal, could he be talking about Amane's family maybe? Or could it be his own? Or maybe even the twins… though they aren't scientists the boys were very smart...

Marin was almost home when she saw in the distant twilight a ruckus going on by her home… no, across the street from her house. Due to the setting sun she could only see black silhouettes but it was apparent there was a small group of people and they sounded angry. She couldn't make out the words but they were yelling profanities.

Could they be the vandals? Now breaking into a full sprint she rushed back to the Shabana's driveway deeply concerned by what a group of people were doing with their metaphoric pitchforks in front of Daki's house. And when she arrived she was absolutely repulsed by what she saw.

"Without your brother around to protect you're not so tough now are you?"

"Whore! stay away from my husband!" Another shouted.

"Hey What the fuck is wrong with you! Get off of her!" she shoved. She was outnumbered and a panicked thought did occur that they could turn their wayward aggression back on her but even if they both got stomped out 2 against 5 was still better than 5 against 1. Either way, she was involved now so she continued shoving them off covering Daki's body with her own. After all she was curled up in the brace position completely defenseless on all fours, hands covering the back of her neck with her forehead pressed to the ground, her clothes all but torn completely off. As they kicked at her head.

"You're no fucking tougher ganging up on her either! Are you fucking insane!?"The gaggle gave each other terse looks before one spoke up "Why are you defending her? Didn't she do that to your face?" She wasn't really sure who all these women were, she assumed they were from the neighborhood but didn't recognize any of them.

"I did this to my own face!" Ok... she could've thought that response through a bit more. Obviously, she meant it was her decision to fight that resulted in her getting beat up but in her rage, she wasn't able to articulate that and just denied what was obviously Daki's doing.

"Get the fuck out here! Before I give you one to match mine!" she hugged the girl still huddled in a ball. "The moment her brother gets out he's gonna know exactly what you fucking did! I better not catch your fucking faces again!" that shut the woman up, even if it was a bluff they were wary about testing it out– the stakes were way too high.

After a bunch of grumbling they leave. She watched where they went but it seemed to be on the far side of the main road out of view. Once they were gone she whispered to Daki that it was safe. She stood up abruptly not saying thank you or anything yanking all her belongings and clothing strewn across the ground, Marin saw her phone tossed all the way over to her lawn so she ran and picked it up handing it to Daki but she turned her back. She was fixated unyieldingly on her skirt on the ground that had been ripped up... looked like a nice one too; brand new.

"I'm not the best seamstress but maybe I can sew it-"

"-What, now you think I owe you or something?" she replied curtly. She had both shoes in her hands, but her hair was a mess bunched up around the area those women yanked it. She appeared to be bruised in several places, her elbows and knees were scraped and bleeding but she didn't seem too hurt. "What they did was wrong."

"Oh, but what I did to you is so much better, right? How fucking stupid are you?!" her response sounded more hurt that time probably to mask the humiliation of being saved.

"Daki." Marin walked around to face her but she kept turning her back not wanting to meet her gaze. She sighed heavily before unbuttoning her shirt exposing her own bra and tying it around Daki's waist. The girl smacked her hands away, more reflex than anything, but Marin was adamant on tying the shirt. "Your ass is too nice for people to see it for free you know. You need to charge" she tried joking, earning a snort in reply. Well at least that's something.

"You don't have to go home alone if you don't want." She offered again, but was met with silence so she tried another approach, "Are you hungry? What's your favorite thing to eat? I can cook " Syet still she remained mute. "or… what about fashion? I have a ton of clothes I think would look nice on you. I saw that you're a fan of Givenchy online." Yet Daki remained listless… it took Marin an embarrassingly very long time before she realized the poor girl was crying silently to herself and didn't want her to know. She was probably hoping she'd give up and go home, too bad Marin is stupid, had she been smarter she might've left. Guess, it was a good thing she wasn't because she did stay, hugging her gently from behind.

"It's all right. I'll take care of you. You don't have to be alone tonight" she whispered and like a floodgate a tidal wave of emotion was released as Daki wailed like a baby… sounding like that cat from earlier actually...

So that was her, must've been upset Gyutaro wasn't coming home. Never in her wildest imagination did she think this would happen, she was so positive if they crossed paths again it would be another fight but here she was throwing an arm over her shaking shoulders and welcoming her into her home. And this time Daki did without a fuss.


A/N: The title of this chapter is named after the heroine Portia's speech from Shakespeare. Mercy was a big theme in that story.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

— , Portia in William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice , act 4, scene 1