Asuka didn't alert anyone else. He quietly rose to his feet and, without drawing attention, headed for the rear door of the bookshop.
He gently slid open the door, feeling the noisy wind of Sendai City rush in, and further expanded his spiritual pressure, probing toward those dark corners.
'Cold and clammy... the same feeling as that night...'
"Another shadow. It's the same demon..."
But had it noticed him? It seemed extremely alert, lingering only briefly before vanishing again.
Asuka steadied the sword at his waist, mentally sketching the image of the demon.
Sneaky. It only used underhanded methods to feed. Its prey wasn't healthy people, but the wretched souls struggling at the bottom of society. Could it really be acting under someone's orders? Could demons cooperate with humans?
He wasn't sure. Arasaki-sensei had never taught him about things like this.
Just then, an unusual commotion erupted from the direction of the front entrance.
"Mr. Harada!"
"My god! What happened to you?!"
"Quick! Miss Yuka, bring some clean cloth and fresh water!"
Hearing the noise, Asuka's gaze sharpened as he immediately turned back.
Amid the crowded room stood a middle-aged man covered in mud and grime, his knees torn open and bleeding.
He looked to be around forty, with a square face and a wide mouth. He was bracing himself against the doorframe, gasping for breath. His hair was soaked, his lips frozen purple, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
"It's nothing. I'm not dead yet!"
He clenched his fists in fury and shouted at the workers around him.
"Those black-hearted capitalists! First they tried to ram me with a coal truck, then they wanted to push me into the river and drown me! Too bad! I'm hard to kill! If they want the life of Harada Chuichi, this isn't enough!"
Harada Chuichi's voice shook as flames burned in his eyes, his presence growing even more imposing. "The more they pull this kind of stunt, the more it proves they're afraid of our strength! Brothers, we can't give up!"
"That's right! These people are completely lawless!"
"Let's go to the police, or report them to city hall!"
"What good would that do? They're all in it together! Let's fight them!"
"Exactly! Fight them!"
Already crushed by life, the workers' pent-up anger finally exploded when they saw their pillar, Harada Chuichi, being targeted.
They waved their arms wildly, their furious shouts nearly lifting the roof off the bookshop.
"Everyone, calm down! Please, calm down!" Miss Yuka's anxious voice was swallowed by the tide of rage. "Don't fall into their trap! If we really resort to violence, they'll have every excuse to deploy the military police. Then things will spiral completely out of control!"
A student who looked frail but whose eyes burned with determination shook his head at Yuka and retorted firmly.
"Sister Yuka, you're wrong! The weapon of criticism can't replace the criticism of weapons! Only by uniting and confronting those black-hearted bastards head-on will they be afraid! Only then will they back down!"
"That's right! Let's go!"
The crowd's emotions grew increasingly out of control, but Asuka's gaze remained coldly fixed on the ground beneath Harada Chuichi's feet.
The room wasn't large, and the dim yellow light caused shadows to overlap and intertwine in layers, yet he still noticed something wrong with Harada Chuichi.
His shadow was fading.
"Those accidents... were they man-made, or tricks of a demon?" Asuka wasn't sure. He silently stepped into the crowd, using his strong hands to push aside one noisy worker after another.
"Harada Chuichi. Come outside with me for a moment."
Under everyone's gaze, he walked straight up to Harada, ignoring the heated atmosphere, and spoke to him indifferently.
Already seething with anger, Harada Chuichi was suddenly called out by Asuka. Seeing his cold eyes and strange attire, a surge of nameless fury rose in him.
"Who the hell are you, kid?!"
"What are you trying to do? Were you sent by those people? You want to make a move here?!"
He nervously scanned his surroundings, as if searching for something to defend himself with. Several workers at his side immediately crowded over, glaring at Asuka with hostility.
Seeing this, Asano Mori hurriedly squeezed through the crowd and spread his arms between them.
"It's a misunderstanding! All of it is a misunderstanding! Brother Harada, it's me! I'm Mori!"
"...From the Asano family? What are you doing here?"
"Mr. Asuka, he... he's not a bad person! We just came from Marumori Village! We came to talk to you about my older brother and Fujiyoshi!"
"Fujiyoshi..." Harada Chuichi thought for a moment. He did recall a coworker in need of help. He looked at the two of them with a strange expression.
He recognized Asano Mori. He was a coworker's younger brother, an unpopular military academy student.
As for Asuka's overly young, expressionless face, and the long sword at his waist that was half-hidden... Harada Chuichi had no impression at all.
"So... what do you want to talk to me about?"
Asano Mori looked at Asuka. Asuka stepped forward and spoke bluntly.
"Your trouble isn't that simple. Come outside with me. I'll show you."
"I don't have time for riddles right now!"
"No time? If you delay any longer, you really won't have time at all."
With that, he didn't wait for Harada Chuichi to say anything else and walked straight out of the bookshop.
Seeing his confident demeanor, Harada felt it was strange, but Asano Mori's earnest expression left him no choice. Suppressing his anger, he followed them out and closed the bookshop door behind him.
Crossing his arms, he stared at Asuka with suspicion.
"So? What is it? You can say it now."
Swish!
Asuka didn't answer. His movement was lightning-fast.
Without any warning, his left thumb snapped against the guard. With a clang, the Nichirin Blade sprang free, and his right hand brought it slashing down!
"What are you doing?!"
Harada Chuichi's face drained of color. Thinking the other man was about to murder him, he instinctively tried to dodge and cry out.
The colorless Nichirin Blade carved a chilling arc through the air, but its target wasn't Harada Chuichi.
Thud! Crack!
The hardened pavement let out a sharp sound as Asuka's blade stabbed viciously into the shadow beneath Harada Chuichi's feet!
"Screeee—!!!"
A shrill, inhuman scream of agony erupted from deep within the shadow on the ground!
Before Harada Chuichi's horrified eyes, the shadow pierced by the Nichirin Blade writhed and boiled like a living thing!
A vague, humanoid outline formed entirely of flowing darkness was pinned firmly by the blade, forcibly dragged out from Harada Chuichi's shadow!
It had no facial features, only a bottomless void where its face should be. It twisted and struggled wildly, trying to break free from the long blade that burned it like a red-hot iron.
Harada Chuichi stood frozen like a fish locked in ice, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
A bone-chilling cold surged from his tailbone straight to the top of his head, freezing his thoughts solid.
"What's going on?! Brother Harada!"
"You bastard! What did you do to Brother Harada?!"
The people inside the bookshop were naturally drawn by the commotion and rushed outside, just in time to see Harada Chuichi standing dumbfounded while Asuka pinned something to the ground with his blade in front of him.
Asuka's wrist didn't budge an inch, steadily suppressing the frantically struggling shadow demon beneath his sword.
"See clearly now? The one who wanted to kill you wasn't human." Asuka paused, his eyes locked onto the writhing ghostly shadow, his left hand resting on the Asauchi still in its sheath.
"It was a demon..."