The news would come not long after Aoko left.
No one from the Sitri family came to visit him.
But the news came nonetheless.
The doctors came to him carefully and gently told him he was being given away to an orphanage.
They told him that his father was still recuperating from his injuries and that this decision came from the matriarch who took over as acting head in the wake of her husband's inability to lead.
He was to be sent to an orphanage in Mifune City.
He did not know why they came to such a decision.
Perhaps they merely wanted to get rid of him, perhaps it was something else; he didn't know. But it came nonetheless.
He wasn't even sent back to the mansion to pick up his belongings, they were given to him through the doctors and the next thing he knew, he was out of there; on a train towards the neighboring Mifune City with a bodyguard at most.
Chances are, his sister was named heir as he had been all but disowned.
Strangely, he did not come to hate this new freedom he found himself in.
If anything, he had come to grow fond of it. The rules of the esteemed Sitri were too stiff for someone as carefree and spirited as him in any case.
The only thing was…
Something he was already coming to regret…
He never even once saw his sisters. He didn't even try. He felt shitty already just for that. His older sister was sure to march straight into their parents' study but alas cannot do anything to overturn the decision of the patriarch and matriarch.
Taking a deep breath, he looked over the big doors to the orphanage.
His life would restart here, a new; blank slate for Shitori Shiki- no, it was just Shiki now was it? It was a fresh new start for him. This quaint little orphanage in the middle of Mifune City's bustling streets.
And though he was alone,
That was just fine by him
Shiki can take care of himself.
"MOTHER!" A pair of hands slammed down on the wooden oak desk of the Sitri head's office.
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!" Oh how she would love nothing more than to just strangle her own mother to death. Kill her, mutilate her, and freeze her remains until her icy grave became comparable to the depths of cocytus.
Let it be known, if there were anything Serafall Leviathan treasured the most, it was her baby siblings.
Looking up from her book, the acting Head raised an eyebrow. "You have exactly 30 seconds to explain this transgression against a House head."
If possible at all, Serafall's rage only skyrocketed in return; however, the matriarch remained unfazed. "WHY DID YOU DISOWN SHIKI?!"
"What each house decides is none the business of a Satan, Leviathan. I would recommend you back away lest you lose your position."
Serafall's hands shot forward and grabbed her mother by her collar "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DISOWN SHIKI?!"
"Let. Go. Of Me."
"WHY?!"
"WHAT HAPPENS BETWEEN HOUSES IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, SATAN!" The matriarch's own hands shot up and grappled those hands around her collar and yanked them away. "What the Head Sitri dictates is none of the business of a Satan. Know your boundaries and leave!" The matriarch said pointing straight to the door.
Knowing she had lost this argument, Serafall glared at her own mother before storming out of the office.
Unbeknownst to the two, a little girl around the age of 7 ran away from the vicinity of the office, tears streaming freely from her eyes and making a trail straight into her room.
"A favor…?"
"Yes, a favor."
A red haired individual looked out the windows of her office, Mifune City looked as peaceful as ever at first glance. From just that, a first glance – you would never know of the true chaos and dangers lurking in the moonlit streets of Mifune City.
But she does, they do.
"Please, Touko. I'll do anything you want just please help me this one time."
Touko Aozaki, the elder sister of Aoko Aozaki and the strongest Mage alive in Clocktower History. "Anything?"
"Anything." Serafall's desperate voice said over the other side.
"... Very well then, I'll do it."
"Thank you…" And the line was cut off.
"You really are evil aren't you, Touko?" A rather deep yet feminine voice said, entering the office.
"I suppose I am." Grabbing her cup of coffee, she relaxed on her office chair "Truth be told, I already had every intention of looking into the kid. Just the presence of another one of those eyes was enough to catch my interest. Then this shitstorm of a sister of mine just had to show up and steal one of my glasses." Touko said rubbing her temples in exaggeration before looking at her coworker "What say you, Ryougi Shiki? How does it feel to know there's someone out there like you?"
"Couldn't care less, to be honest. Just as long as the brat isn't too annoying, he'll be fine." The assassin said, leaving the room. Likely to search for Kokuto or something to eat.
Touko sighed, looking down on the folder she has on hand. "Shitori Shiki, real name: Sitri Shiki. The eldest son to the Sitri Family of the 72 pillars and the younger brother to Serafall Leviathan. Recently, he was caught in a mysterious accident that resulted in the severe injury of both the Patriarch and the Boy."
The head of Garan no dou closed the folder and made and wore her brown coat.
"Despite being the eldest son of an esteemed pillar house, Shiki Sitri has no knowledge of the supernatural nor the moonlit world." Touko finished the thought in her head before making it out of the building.
'Time to earn the favor of a Satan.'
Saint Jerome's Orphanage was a simple orphanage meant to take in kids who have no place to go. Though it was run by nuns, it had no connection to the supernatural side of things thus, it was permitted by the Yokai faction to remain despite being in Mifune City, a city well within Yokai territory.
Touko entered the orphanage and requested to see a boy by the name of Shiki – no last name. 'It seems the kid chose to omit his last name, must be a sensitive point' It wasn't really, nor did she care – but she did not want to drive the boy away by accident.
The nuns nodded and led her to the boy's room.
Knock knock knock
"Come in." Shiki said, knocking him from his reverie and the book he was reading. "Shiki, dear. Someone wants to see you."
Already? That was fast. Someone already wanted to adopt him?
The boy, not having even stayed for more than a week at the orphanage, hopped off his bed and made his way to the door.
"Ah…" For the second time in his life, Shiki met face to face with an Aozaki that would change the course of his life.
Touko smiled and waved "May I come in?"
"... Ah. Mm! Mhm!" The boy hummed and nodded letting Touko enter before he bowed to the sisters and closed the door.
While Shiki did that, Touko did a one over across the entire room. No signs of the supernatural on part of others and the boy. No signs of practicing magecraft or holy arts either. The boy was essentially normal in all but his eyes and name.
Once the door was closed, Touko asked Shiki to sit on the bed while she sat across from him, still maintaining her minor facade. "Hello, I'm Aozaki Touko; It's nice to meet you, Shiki."
Aozaki… 'Did… Did she just say…?'
As if reading his mind, the older woman grinned. "Yes, I am. I'm Aoko Aozaki's relative; her elder sister specifically." But that wasn't why she was here was she? "But, she's not the reason I'm here."
Shiki's head tilted in confusion "Then… why are you…?"
"Here?" She finished for him. "Before I answer, your glasses. Why do you wear such things without any magnification? Is it that you wish to see something you cannot? Or… You wish to stop seeing something you dont want to see?"
Shiki flinched a bit, this woman… she knew. She knew about his eyes. She was dangerous.
"Relax. I'm not here to take them back nor kill you." Touko said as she stood up and looked Shiki in the eye. "I'm here to take you in."
'Take me in?" Touko nodded but Shiki still seemed hesitant.
"Shiki." Touko said with all seriousness. "I give you two options. First is to stay here, grow old, stagnate, and die here. In a place where no one will remember you." Shiki winced.
"Or, you can come with me. Become my apprentice and get a chance at doing something great with your life."
Now that you put it like that…
"I…"
Two paths lay ahead of him. One was doom at a later date, the other was immediate damnation.
"If you choose to come with me, I will teach you the nature of what you fear the most." Was the underlying message in Touko's tone. If that were the case then…
"I would… I would like to become your apprentice, Sensei." Touko's eyes widened in surprise. That was fast. "Wise choice, Shiki. She then made her way to the door "I will come back for you within the week, prepare by then. Oh, and don't call me sensei. Call me Touko-san. I'm not all that old yet."
Shiki didn't even get to say anything in return as the eccentric woman was out the door mere moments later.
"Ah…"
Garan no dou was… interesting… to say the least.
They were mist certainly not your traditional detective agency, acting more as a loose collection of close coworkers than the average boss-employer Agency.
But if Shiki were to put a pin on the weirdest thing in Garan no dou… it was definitely this.
"Ummm…." Shiki(Sitri) squirmed in his seat as a pair of jet black eyes continued to scrutinize him… specifically his eyes for reasons he could probably guess.
"Shiki, stop terrorizing the kid." Another person spoke, this time a man around the weird woman's age.
Shiki Ryougi, a woman that shares the same name as him -Shiki Sitri- but most importantly…
This woman had the same eyes as him.
The man pulled the weird woman away and gave the boy a much friendlier sight. "Sorry about her, it's just her first time meeting someone with the same eyes as her and she's like a cat who found something that intruiges it. I'm Mikiya Kokuto by the way, feel free to call me Mikiya."
Shiki nodded to the man and introduced himself too.
Watching from the sidelines Azaki was giving a deadpanned side eye while Touko was doing away with some paperwork. "I have no words… You found a carbon copy of him."
Touko chuckled "They do look and act alike, don't they?"
Azaka huffed in amusement "Too alike, still I never thought the day would come where you'd take in a kid."
Touko merely smiled in response "Let's just say I had something to gain from it."
Another pair of the oh so rare Mystic Eyes of Death was just the side dish
Her main focus was on how to maximize the favor she now had from a literal Satan of Hell.
Chirp chirp chirp
A bright summer day
Chirp chirp chirp
The sun was out in the sky, the wind was gently blowing, and nature sang its peaceful tune.
Chirp chirp chirp
It was a good day
Chirp chirp chirp
Blood pooled across the floor. The dead body of a boy fell to the ground against a tree, limp.
Chirp chirp chirp
A young boy stood breathing erratically, his eyes dilated as if he were being possessed. His skin as white as porcelain and his chest split wide open as if he were an undead having come back to avenge his own demise by the blood on his nails and hands.
Chirp chirp chirp
A man came rushing at the boy only to have his own chest split open by the boy with weird eyes. Only then did he pass out and he too, fell to the ground
Chirp Chirp Chirp
A young girl fell to the ground crying, soaking her entire body in the blood of her family…
GASP
A young girl awoke with a gasp, clutching her stuffed toy like a lifeline, her body trembling, and sweat poured from her pores.
Another nightmare…
Not a night has passed since that incident where she had gotten a proper sleep.
Not a day went by where she wasn't thinking of her brother…
Her only Brother, she insisted.
But... he was gone, likely for good. Thrown away like some sack of garbage left to fend for himself in a world that would tear him apart...
It hurts...
It hurts to even wake up without her brother...
Sob, Gasp, Sob
Tears dripped onto white sheets
"Nii-san... Nii-san..."
She cried out.
Yet no matter how many tears fell, her wish was never heard.
The young girl spent the rest of the night weeping..
Sona Sitri wept for her lost brother, and shattered family.