Chapter 21 — A Victim from Sendai
Asano Mori reeked of alcohol, his mind clearly muddled.
And yet—unexpectedly—the instant Asuka stepped through the gate, the man jolted awake.
"Who's there?! Looking for trouble again? Get the hell out!"
Staggering to his feet, Asano Mori roared at Asuka, the stench of liquor thick on his breath.
But when he finally got a clear look at Asuka's young, expressionless face, he froze for a moment—then barked hoarsely anyway:
"What're you staring at?! Here to steal something? Get out!"
Asuka swept his gaze calmly around the yard and replied flatly,
"Steal what? Your straw mat?"
"You bastard—!"
Seeing Asano Mori's temper about to explode, Asuka decided not to waste time and stated his purpose plainly:
"I heard Asano Shigeru, who lived here, died under strange circumstances. I want to know what happened."
"…Big brother."
The moment Shigeru's name landed, Asano Mori's body swayed.
Then—like a volcano erupting—his fury burst forth, his eyes blazing red.
"What's it got to do with you?! Who do you think you are, poking around my brother's death?! Get out! All of you—get out!"
Cursing incoherently, he suddenly charged forward like a crazed boar, headlong and reckless, slamming straight toward Asuka.
Despite the wildness of the move, Asuka caught the details instantly—
Dropped shoulder. Forward-shifted center of gravity. Chaotic steps, but not without structure.
This man had training.
Unfortunately for him, his openings were enormous.
Just as Asano Mori was about to collide with him, Asuka shifted slightly aside and snapped out his right hand like lightning, catching the man's wrist mid-charge.
A precise squeeze—pinching the tendon.
Asano Mori cried out in pain.
Before the numbness could spread, Asuka gave a casual tug, and the world spun violently for Asano Mori as he crashed flat onto his back.
"You bastard! I'll kill you—!"
Asuka spoke again, voice level.
"Calm down. I'm not here to mock you. I'm here to help you find whoever killed him."
"…Killed?"
Whether it was the cold dirt cooling his head, or Asuka's words cutting through the haze, Asano Mori stopped struggling.
The rage ebbed, replaced by suspicion and wary alertness as he rubbed his wrist and slowly pushed himself upright.
"…Come inside," he said at last after a long silence.
---
Through Asano Mori's fragmented memories—and a fair bit of paranoid speculation—Asuka gradually pieced together the circumstances surrounding the first victim, Asano Shigeru:
Asano Shigeru, male, thirty-seven years old. Unmarried.
Formerly a farmer in the town, he'd found work through a referral at a dye workshop operated by the Sendai Dye & Weaving Company.
Honest and diligent by nature, he had no family aside from his younger brother—eleven years his junior.
Last month, Asano Shigeru returned to town in poor health. He coughed constantly, sometimes even hacking up phlegm streaked with black threads.
Only later did Asano Mori learn the truth—
His brother's body had been ruined by chemical fuels and toxic dust at the workshop.
The factory took no responsibility. Instead, they dismissed him outright for being "unable to work."
While trying to recover, Asano Shigeru—under the guidance of a few outspoken coworkers—began organizing with other workers, hoping to confront the owner and demand accountability.
Unfortunately, several days ago, Asano Shigeru fell victim to the so-called Shadow Sickness and died at home.
With his death, the illness began to spread.
The townspeople came to believe the Asano family had brought disaster upon the town. Not only did they dig up Shigeru's grave, they also frequently came to his former home to shout abuse and cause trouble.
At first, Asano Mori had assumed Asuka was just another one of those people—which was why the confrontation had broken out.
---
"What exactly are the symptoms of this Shadow Sickness?" Asuka asked calmly.
"Does a person die the moment their shadow disappears? Or are there other signs?"
"I… I can't really say," Asano Mori replied hoarsely.
"All I know is that after my brother came back, his body was already unwell. Then he got this shadow sickness. He just kept getting weaker… until he couldn't even get out of bed anymore. The next day, he was just—"
Asano Mori couldn't bring himself to finish. He clutched his head, shoulders trembling.
Their parents had died early.
It was Shigeru who had raised him.
And it was precisely so his younger brother could have a better life that Shigeru went to work in Sendai's dyeing industry. Every yen he earned went toward paying Asano Mori's tuition at a military academy—hoping his brother might rise above their station.
But Asano Mori clashed with the academy's extreme ideology. He was ostracized, then expelled outright.
After returning home, he was often bullied by former classmates who had stayed in the military system. He failed at farming, failed at small trade, and eventually sank into drunkenness, becoming the very disgrace he despised.
Yet when it came to his brother, his guilt and grief were genuine.
That was why, when Asuka said Shigeru had been killed, Asano Mori had wanted nothing more than to find the culprit and tear them apart with his own hands.
---
"I told him to stop being stupid!" Asano Mori shouted, taking another swig of cheap liquor, his voice shaking.
"How could a black-hearted boss like that ever give him justice?! We should've picked up weapons and smashed that damned company to pieces! But he wouldn't listen!"
"He kept saying we'd be no different from the thugs who oppressed us… said we had to follow the rules…"
"Rules my ass! What good did rules do?! They talked him all the way into his grave! Were they worth anything?!"
Asuka cut through the tirade.
"You said he was organizing with others. That means Shigeru wasn't the only one injured at work, correct?"
"That's right," Asano Mori answered grimly.
"The Dye & Weaving Company cut every corner they could. Worker protections were practically nonexistent. And the government backed them. Anyone who got sick was just sent home to die. Of course people wouldn't accept that."
"I heard that last year, in Russia, workers revolted. Some of them even became generals, emperors. Those stories spread in the workshops too. People wanted to band together and confront the boss—until this happened…"
---
Coincidence?
Asuka pondered silently.
Among the town's other victims, there had been another man—also a factory worker injured while working in Sendai.
The threads were converging.
Piece by piece, the stories linked together, all pointing toward the Sendai Dye & Weaving Company.
A bold hypothesis took shape in Asuka's mind.
Was this demon targeting Shigeru—and that other worker—specifically?
Was it somehow connected to the workers themselves?
Were the other deaths merely camouflage… collateral victims dragged in to obscure the real target?
And as for why shadows—
Flesh, organs, bones. Those were the usual sources of a demon's strength.
Perhaps Shigeru's body had been so thoroughly poisoned it was no longer edible.
So instead, the demon created the illusion of a "disease," draining life force through shadows to mask the truth.
Maybe that's it.
With his thoughts settling into clarity, Asuka made his decision.
"You said your brother was working with others," he said.
"Are there any other villagers nearby suffering from factory injuries?"
"…Yes!" Asano Mori snapped his head up, digging through his memory.
"I think it's north of here… Yamamoto—no, Marumori Village! There's a man there who came back from Sendai with my brother!"
Asuka rose to his feet.
Asano Mori hurriedly stood as well.
"You're going there? To Marumori Village?"
"That's right."
Asuka nodded, his hand resting on the hilt of his Nichirin Blade.
"If my guess is correct," he said calmly,
"then tonight—it will appear there."