Hajime fell and fell. That was all he knew - his senses had been taken away by the darkness which devoured him. He attempted to gain some semblance of control over his body, an effort which ultimately proved futile. He tried shouting but was utterly stunned when he realized he had lost his voice. Was he dead? Or was he having an outer body experience? Suddenly, an all-too-familiar voice filled his head with hissed laughter so malicious and taunting that it managed to utterly fill him with fear and hatred at the same time.
"Welcome into the Abyss, Hajime! This is the ultimate nightmare for a living being - the complete deprivation of all senses as you are taken away by the darkness forevermore!" Shishima said, Hajime's emotions that were directed back at him denoting confusion and anger. "Worry not, all will be explained. You see, I have spent the first century of my eternal life in this very darkness that you now wallow in. A single human's lifetime. Is it not amazing? This darkness has forged me into the monster I am today. Now, I wish to know what forged you..." Multiple pairs of red eyes glowed around him, startling the human. He managed to distinguish the shapes of a winged demon with a lion head and of a horned dragon's head. "...Hajime Shirayama!" The voice shrieked in an otherworldly fashion, sending a thunderous wave through his body until...
...seven-year-old Hajime crashed on the floor, ruining a beautiful Persian rug which depicted the Abduction from the Seraglio. He heard mirthful innocent laughter all around and looked up to see his fellow cleanly peers, all wearing dark-colored suits with matching bow ties and shoes. That small group of kids was the closest thing he had to childhood friends, though they only met at the public gatherings of their families who were part of Japan's rich elites. While their parents were busy socializing, they were free to play their children's games as long as they did not bother the adults. Although his fall was an innocent accident which was received well by the other children, Hajime's mother was quick to showcase her disapproval. Dressed in her expensive white fur coat with purple gloves and high heel boots, with her hair in a traditional Japanese bob cut, Aki Shirayama was fitting in perfectly with the other ladies gathered there. She walked up to him, the clacking of her heels echoing loudly in his ears, then he felt her hands grab him tight and drag him up, immediately dusting his expensive clothes. Her overly sweet perfume assaulted his nostrils and almost made him cough.
Aki gave Hajime a cold look and whispered, "Remember the etiquette you were taught! This is an important gathering, we mustn't make our family look bad."
He nodded obediently. "I promise I'll behave." And thus he was left alone, his parent disappearing once more in the sea of tall, scary adults. With a disappointed sigh, he turned to the other kids and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't play tag anymore."
Deep inside, Hajime knew that his childhood was not perfect, despite being born and raised in wealth. Sure, he did receive whatever toys he wanted, but his only friends were fellow rich kids with whom he rarely interacted, and even then he was not allowed to join them in any children's games because of his mother's strictness and emphasis on proper behavior. Often times it seemed that she was more preoccupied with the Shirayama family's image than with how her son actually felt. It escalated to the point where the mere notion of her son acting like a normal child was deemed unacceptable.
"Even growing up at the top of society does not guarantee one's freedom," Shishima's voice chimed in his head again. "You know, the Twilight Kingdom's daiyoukai acted very similar to you mortals when it came to raising their cubs. Do you wish to see how my mother raised me?"
Hajime suddenly received a punch so strong that it threw him into a brick wall where he left a noticeable dent. As his blurry vision tried to clear, the ground around him shook as if a terrible earthquake was happening. Soon he recognized a giant foot, about the size of house, stomp its way towards him. Looking up, he realized that what lay ahead was a giant, just like in those old children's fairytales he was read when being tucked to bed by the family's maids. It looked like an obese man with a disfigured blob of a face and a single eye which stretched from his forehead to his nose. There was no way he could deal with that cyclops when he was but an ant by comparison. As he attempted to flee, another punch took him by surprise, its sheer force throwing him in the air and having him crash back into the arena grounds at high speed. While trying to make sense of what happened after violently colliding with the ground, he saw another giant foot descend upon him and immediately raised his hands to protect himself. The weight was too much to bear, he could feel the bones of his forearms beginning to crack.
"This is what my mother subjected me to after I escaped the Abyss. Nothing but torture while she watched and delighted in my suffering," Shishima's voice explained and Hajime instinctively turned his head to the right and caught a glimpse of Koushishi sitting on a makeshift throne in a luxurious suite with a wine goblet in her left hand, the monarch witnessing the violent scene unfold with sadistic glee being read all over her face. "While lingering in the Abyss, my only desire was to escape that prison of nothingness. But under Koushishi's supposed training, my desire changed to that of avoiding pain. It seems that all she ever wanted was to break me, that was the only way I could be forged into the 'perfect son' she wanted."
At the sound of a mere finger snap, Hajime found himself freed of the giant monster's burden. He was now in his father's office back at their family mansion in Tokyo. Takuma Shirayama wore his favorite beige Italian suit with matching leather shoes. When younger, he was not as muscular and he had not yet grown his mustache. In many ways, both father and son had similar facial features. Hajime was now ten years of old and was sitting on a chair in a corner of the office as his mother was looking through some papers, trying to console his father whose silence denoted just how upset he was.
"Takuma, listen, it's not so bad..." Aki tried to reason.
"It's terrible, not bad!" the man shot back, though the tone of his voice suggested he was still trying to hold back his anger. "Hajime's not gotten a perfect grade. That means he can't join the prestigious Tokyo School for Gifted Youth! Every single one of our friends is sending their kids to that school, Aki. Are we really going to be the laughing stock of the neighborhood when they find out that our boy couldn't get in?!"
"90% on his final scores is not at all a bad result! Hajime may not be some gifted boy genius, but he still got good grades. I'm sure he-"
"Sorry Aki, but I'm not having any excuses today." Takuma stomped towards his son, his footsteps booming like loud thunder in the child's mind. He grabbed the little boy by the shoulders and violently shook him as he stared at him with his face twisted by anger. "I gave you everything you wanted! You had the perfect study environment, so why didn't you get a perfect score?!" Hajime whimpered, unable to say anything in response. "90% may as well have been you flopping the test! Now we will have to endure the humiliation of sending you to a public school." The disillusioned father let go of him and started walking in circles. "It doesn't matter if it's the topmost public school in Japan. At the end of the day, our son will not be receiving the same education the other wealthy kids are. That's enough to bring dishonor to the Shirayama family," he grimly remarked and paused by the window again, heavy silence once more filling the office room.
Unaware of what he could do to make the situation better, but willing to at least try, little Hajime got off his chair and walked up behind his father. He shyly pulled on his pant and spoke with a subdued and yet sincere voice, "Daddy, I'm so-"
Immediately he was slapped by the back of Takuma's hand so hard that he let go and backed off, struggling and managing not to fall on his back.
"Don't touch me!" the man spat as he stared at his offspring with sheer disappointment. "Go to your room in this instant!"
"Takuma, calm down!"
"Don't enable him, Aki!"
Unable to handle the tension anymore, Hajime ran out of the office. Internally he knew he could not cry, no matter how desperately he wanted to. The etiquette that had been instilled into his mind at a young age by his mother forbade him from showing strong emotions. He always had to smile, nod, laugh only slightly, express his disapproval through frowns and never raise his voice. Looking back at it all, he felt it was no different from the taming of a wild animal.
"How true," Shishima's voice spoke in his mind. "By comparison, I was a wild animal who was tortured into submission. Or at least that's what my mother tried to accomplish. But just like you, Hajime, those first centuries of my life had also rendered me unable to cry. And yet, unlike me, you did reach your breaking point, didn't you?"
The surroundings suddenly shifted yet again, and before he knew it, Hajime found himself in a gray mountainous area being stuck in a fist fight with a demon who resembled Shishima closely. He had the same purple fur, the same horns and wings, but his black mane seemed much longer, resembling a beard which denoted his advanced age. Just who was this fiend and why was he engaging in combat with him? Without his own will, Hajime managed to duck a punch and avoid a kick, but then his opponent lashed headfirst and caught him in an arm lock as both their foreheads clashed. Looking into those black eyes with glowing red pupils, somehow he could see compassion and goodwill despite their inherently evil nature.
"If you always wait for your opponents to make the first move, the smarter ones will take their time and try to take you by surprise when you least expect it," the demon spoke in a hissed voice not unlike Shishima's, but more gravelly and wise.
Hajime nodded, seemingly understanding. Deep inside he felt a great confusion as to why the reactions he made did not feel as his own.
"This was Akushishi, my father," Shishima's voice finally returned. "Unlike your father, he tried his best to teach me how to be a proper leader and also undo the effects of my mother's torture. Because of the damage done by Koushishi, he had been very patient with me, so much so that over the years I grew to admire him and aspire to become a strong king just like him."
The sights around melted away and the darkness of the Abyss returned, Hajime finding Shishima standing in front of him, once more the size of a human as he appeared in previous nightmares. With a serious tone, the lion daiyoukai spoke:
"Where your parents tried to lead by the way of strict education and bribery with gifts, my mother led by torture and my father by example."
"At least you had a parent figure to look up to!" Hajime retorted. "In my case, they had both been so aloof and demanding in my childhood that I did whatever they wanted just so they wouldn't be mad at me or I would get a present." His expression grew angrier as he continued, "If there was anyone in my family whom I admired, that would've been grandma Tsugumi, the one whose life you took!"
"What happened back then was pure vengeance and I assume the entire responsibility for my actions," Shishima impartially replied. "I do wonder though, is this the reason why such a popular fellow like you lacks a hefty social circle? In my own case, I was forbidden from interacting with any of my peers at an early age by both parents since they wanted to control my upbringing in their own different ways."
"While I was indeed allowed to interact with my peers, it was under the condition that I would be on my best behavior and not disgrace the family."
"And yet your parents are very different now. They seem to be loving, protective and caring, perhaps to an overbearing degree."
"Yeah, their attitude changed around middle school. That was when I stopped trying to be a friendly somewhat social kid and I transitioned into the lonely bookworm I am today."
"But why? What happened?" Hajime remained silent, reluctant to answer. "I sense a great fear in you. It's as if something terrible happened to you in middle school, am I correct? Perhaps something to the caliber of the Abyss and Koushishi's torture happened and that's what shaped you into who you are today?" Shishima grabbed him by the arms and squeezed them tight, looking deep into his eyes with those burning red pupils. "I demand to know! What forged you into the man who now stands before me?"
"Don't you fucking touch me!" Hajime yelled in a frenzy and shoved Shishima back with all his might.
Hajime awoke in a sweat, breathing deeply in the dead of night. He glanced at his phone on the nightstand and saw that it was 3:30 AM on a Saturday. Trying to recollect his thoughts, he crawled out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. Without turning on the lights, he washed his face in the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror through the darkness, his only source of light being the moonlight shining through the window. Had it all been a twisted nightmare cooked up by his subconscious, or was it really Shishima tampering with his dreams? Regardless, he had to return to bed and get as much rest as possible, for on the following night he would have to infiltrate the Spawns once more. Perhaps the worst aspect of having Shishima as his enemy was not the great number of corpses left behind by him and his followers, but the uncertainty of the difference between dream and reality.
Little did he know that outside his mansion, by the electrified fence, Count Kage stood proud. He smiled from ear to ear, satisfied with the answers he had received. Ever since he returned to Earth, he had been pondering over the newfound interest in his rival. On a surface level it was obvious: Hajime's strong emotions fed him really well and his obsessive attitude and single-minded fixation on bringing Shishima to justice made him a perfect enemy in their little cat-and-mouse game. But as he delved deeper into his psyche, Count Kage came to realize that they had more in common than he initially suspected. Had Akushishi fully gotten his way, who was to say that Shishima may not have been a noble king focused on justice as well? No matter how hard he was hit by life, Hajime never allowed himself to fall as deep. That was what made him a worthy opponent... no, the most worthy opponent! Ultimately, what was a villain without a strong-willed hero to oppose him? A conqueror with no challenges, that was the answer.
Giggling to himself, the count pulled out his walking cane and disappeared into the night, heading back to his own mansion at Sagakin's outskirts. One way or another, he would unravel all the secrets which Hajime's mind kept tucked away. And if, when all was said and done, the heir of Shirayama still managed to bring down the Spawns, then he would spare mankind. While it was all too easy for him to break his promise, there was no fun in pulling such underhanded tricks. Despite embracing his evil nature from every aspect, at the end of the day Shishima still had a demon's honor, and when a deal was made, no matter with whom, he would see it through to the end. He cast a longing glare at the starry sky above, eagerly waiting both for Sayo's return and Hajime's next move.