Chapter 24: An Unfinished Hunt
At noon, Asano Mori was in his yard, carefully helping the worker drink warm water.
The man's name was Fujikichi. Like Asano Shigeru, he had once worked at the Sendai Dye Company, only to be mercilessly discarded after a workplace injury.
Although the so-called Shadow Sickness had vanished from his body, the deep hollows in his eyes and the ashen pallor of his face made it impossible to tell how much time he had left.
"M-Mori… brother Mori…" Fujikichi's voice was barely more than a breath as he forced his eyes open. "I never thought… that Brother Shigeru… died because of that monster…"
"Don't talk," Asano Mori said quietly, forcing down his grief. He wiped the cold sweat from Fujikichi's forehead with his sleeve. "Rest. Heal properly. My brother won't have died for nothing. We'll make them answer—every last one of them."
As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward the silent figure sitting by the doorway.
Since returning to the Asano home last night, Asuka hadn't slept for a moment. He had spent the entire night methodically surveying the town and its outskirts, tracking lingering traces of demonic aura.
The suffocating dread that had hung over the town—the sense that everyone was holding their breath—had noticeably thinned.
"The shadows… they really look normal again."
"Yeah. I woke up this morning feeling lighter somehow."
"Did you hear the noise last night? Seemed like someone from the Asano family hired help and patrolled the village all night…"
On his way back, Asuka had even seen several children gathered together, scratching shapes into the dirt with sticks.
"Look! My shadow's dark again!"
Their laughter was pure and unguarded, unaware of how close they'd come to death.
Just as he'd suspected, once the shadow-creature was gone, the Shadow Sickness vanished from everyone it had touched.
Now, with the sun at its zenith, Asuka sat resting lightly, eyes closed, replenishing his strength.
"…Sir," Asano Mori said from behind him, hesitant but resolute. "What do we do next?"
Asuka didn't open his eyes.
"There is no we," he replied calmly. "Next, I'll find the source of that shadow and end this."
"But you'll be alone," Mori pressed. "Don't you need help?"
"Help?" Asuka cracked one eye open, briefly assessing the man—no longer a collapsed drunk, at least somewhat steady now.
"You saw last night. You can't help."
He tipped his chin toward Fujikichi inside the broken house.
"Your greatest contribution is taking care of him."
The words were blunt—borderline cruel—but Mori knew they were true.
What they'd faced last night was clearly no human thing. And this young man had confronted it without hesitation. Mori would only be in the way.
Still…
"No," Mori insisted. "I can help."
Asuka waited, listening.
"If those monsters are targeting workers like my brother—people trying to band together and challenge the dyeing company—then I know where they'll strike next."
Asuka remained silent, curious now to see what this former drunk thought he knew.
"Harada Tadakazu," Mori said firmly. "That's who they'll go after."
Asuka finally opened his eyes.
"…Who is that," he asked, "and why are you so sure?"
Mori rubbed his stubble-covered chin, thinking hard.
"I remember my brother mentioning him before," he said slowly. "Brother Harada used to work at the dyeing factory too. But he couldn't stand the way the workers were treated, so he started organizing something—some kind of union, I think. Anyway, he wanted to stand up for my brother and the others."
"These monsters' real target has to be Brother Harada. He's in Sendai. I can take you to him!"
Sendai City… the faceless shadow… the dyeing factory…
Asuka's eyes opened slightly. He took Asano Mori's words seriously now, his mind already turning over the next steps.
Then—
Thud!
Without warning, Asano Mori dropped to his knees, pressing his hands and forehead hard against the cold earth in a perfect dogeza.
"Please!" he shouted, his voice shaking. "Take me with you to Sendai!"
"I know I can't fight those things—but I know Sendai's streets. I know places where we can hide, places to rest!"
"My brother's death can't go unanswered! I have to see those damned things destroyed with my own eyes! Please—if I have to, I'll work like an ox for you!"
Asuka turned his head slightly, watching the man bow again and again, his shoulders trembling. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
Then his teacher's words surfaced in his mind:
Asuka… try fighting alongside others. No one can walk this world alone forever. Having companions makes the road easier.
"…Companions, huh…"
He murmured softly and rose to his feet. He didn't look at Asano Mori's pleading face.
"Keep up."
The words were flat, without warmth—but to Asano Mori, they sounded like salvation.
He snapped his head up, gratitude spilling out in a rush of broken thanks. Asuka didn't understand why he was thanking him so desperately. For all he knew, the man might be dead by tomorrow. Humans were strange.
There were no long farewells. Asano Mori entrusted the injured Fujikichi to a familiar woman next door, changed into the cleanest clothes he had, grabbed a little food and water, and hurried after Asuka as they headed north.
After a day and a half on foot along the Ōshū Highway, the two finally saw it—
A vast city slowly rising on the horizon.
At the city's edge, factories loomed. Chimneys stabbed into the sky, vomiting thick black smoke.
Beyond the industrial zone, rooftops of the castle town spread outward like dark waves. Here and there stood striking Western-style buildings—banks, tailor shops, cafés owned by the wealthy.
"There," Asano Mori said, his voice tinged with familiarity and restraint. "That's Sendai."
He pointed northwest, where a grand complex stood atop a small hill, gleaming black and gold beneath the setting sun.
"That's Ōsaki Hachimangū, Sendai's guardian shrine. If you have time, pray there, Lord Asuka—they say it's remarkably effective."
"Just call me Asuka," Asuka replied, continuing forward as his spiritual pressure quietly swept the surroundings, searching for anything out of place.
The air here felt heavy. Chemical odors lingered everywhere, pressing down on the senses.
As they moved closer to the city's core, the noise of urban life grew louder.
Wide main roads split into tangled arteries. Laundry hung overhead like rows of flags. Laughter and shouting burst from taverns. At public water pumps, housewives washed clothes and vegetables while trading gossip—most of it circling back to soaring rice prices.
Boxy iron machines Asuka had never seen before blared harsh horns, usually at rickshaw pullers lined up nearby, competing for customers.
Men in tailored suits, merchants in kimono carrying leather cases, farm women bent beneath massive bundles, young women in modern Western dresses still moving with careful reserve—
All of them crossed paths here, separating and converging again, painting a living portrait of Taishō-era Sendai, the largest city in northeastern Japan.
"So," Asuka asked, "where to now?"
Truth be told, this was his first time moving through a city this crowded.
Even in his previous life, he'd never set foot in the heart of Seireitei. This kind of scene was unfamiliar territory.
"Let's go to Sanmonjiya on Higashi Rokuban-chō," Asano Mori said quickly. "It's an old bookshop where workers often gather. The owner's a good man. He helped me a lot back then. We can use him to get in touch with Brother Harada."
Asuka gave a slight nod, signaling him to lead the way.
At the same time, his gaze drifted toward the shrine on the high ground.
For some reason…
The air pressure over there felt wrong.