"Don't get so mad. Brash cats die young."
"When someone gives you a passionate gaze like that, it's kind of hard to ignore."
Konoe felt like Bardo's body, which was large to begin with, was getting even bigger and bigger.
"If you want to know, I can tell you, but... It'll cost ya."
His tone leaving it unclear whether he was joking or not, Bardo smiled. Feeling a strange intensity.
Konoe : "You've used a sword before haven't you ?"
Bardo : "Hm ? Yeah. But that was a long time ago."
... it seemed uncharacteristic for a simple innkeeper.
Bardo wasn't at the reception dest. but the words "dinner is being prepared" were written in the lodging book.
"So that would mean you and I have good affinity."
Konoe got all riled up involuntarily, and when he tried to turn his head away somewhat, a hand reached from over the counter and patted him lightly on the head.
When he looked up, Bardo's eyes squinted as he gave a happy chuckle.
(...) maybe he should just surrender himself to the grander flow of things.
With these thoughts, the anxiety and discomfort from before began to clear away bit by bit.
Bardo leaned forward on the counter and beckoned to Konoe with a finger. He appeared to bo calling him over.
Can you write the "No Vacancy and Out" note for me ?
Do it nicely ("yoroshikku") ^^
Aaahhhh... mmmh. Maaah- It is quite an artistic masterpiece. No, it's just... Okay, it's pretty bad.
"Man, your fur looks terrible. How about I brush it out later ?"
"Not to brag, but my meals are delicious. Eat up, have a taste !"
Bardo had a bit of a daunting air about him.
The unease he felt from before now vanished, but a clear color of exhaustion was on Bardo's face.
Bardo, about Rai : "Since his father was a skilled swordsman, he constantly left home to guard distant regions. So, over all those years, I suppose I became like a father figure to him."
His profile was unexpectedly tinged with loneliness. He probably truly cherished Rai. But Rai seemed to despise him. Why was that ?
He felt like Bardo was dodging the question. Did he not want to talk much about it ?
Bardo sighed softly and tousled his own hair as if troubled.
"I was the type that messed around."
"Do you still mess around ?"
He didn't know of Bardo was careless of cunning.
He felt that Bardo was sly and frivolous
"A hooked tail is unusual, isn't it ? (...) Come on, I am complimenting you. You and your tail. (...) A cat's way of thinking is as varied as their builds."
Konoe : "Your face looks tired. Try to not overdo it."
His heart was secretly racing. Konoe was bothered by the thank he gave. Because it was such an usual thing for him to do, shyness welled up immediately after.
Even he thought he was being timid from Bardo's favor. His timid self was both unexpected and troublesome.
While he spoke, he innocently... truly innocenty slung his arm around Konoe's shoulder
"Oh, it just looked like your shoulder was the perfect place to rest my arm."
"It can't be helped during the time of festival. Everyone's all excited, and they start doing catnip even though it's banned-"
Bardo was full of mysteries. Rather than having twho separate, opposite sides, it was like Bardo only had one, divided by a thin, opaque wall. Though Konoe might see it if he looked hard, the important parts of Bardo were hidden.
Bardo was hiding something out of necessity.
Asato : "Your drawing is bad."
Like Asato said, Bardo's picture wasn't very good
Konoe watched him fight for the first time in utter amazement. Bardo was not just some innkeeper. He fought with rough, brute force, but he also had considerable skill.
He was firmly struck by the firewood.
Bardo looked right at Firi.
"What're you supposed to be ?"
"What're you ? I should ask you the same thing. Striped cat. Liar car, wearing sheep's clothing."
Moving his eyes to Bardo while he replied Konoe noticed (...) he was glipping his right arm strongly with his left hand.
Rai suddenly took a step forward and stared at Bardo's right arm with a severe expression.
The air flowing between the two was like daggers.
(...)
Bardo's voice was monotonous and his expression was gloomy and downrodden.
There was definitely something unresolved from the past between two former friends.
Konoe : "Uhm... aren't you bothered by us ?"
Bardo : "I don't have the heart to just kick someone out, it's just not very noble of me. As long as you don't break anything, it's alright."
Verg : "Hey, you attempted to make a contract with us, didn't you ?"
Bardo : "What do you know ?"
Verg : "The one who executes it decides all conditions for the contract. So if you don't even know who you made it with, there's no way to undo it.
(...) If you attempted to make a contract, it means you wished for something... Was it power ? Why did you wish for power ? Why did you need power for ?"
Feeling cornered. Bardo averted his eyes. Cornered by Verg ? Or was it... by himself ?
Bardo : "That's... It was to protect something important to me."
Verg : "Important... Something important. Such a convenient lie. Like the perfect armor."
"Give me a sec, I'll go return the books."
"At my age, you get bored with a lot of things. So I want to know about things of other societies.
(...) Unless you're incredibly curious, you leep your distance from this place, the library."
Passing between the bookshelves that rose up like trees in a forest, he realized he had entered someplace deep within.
Konoe took Bardo's right arm by force and rolled up his sleeve.
He was astonished.
On the dxposed skin was a black, swollen and gruesome scar. It wasn't just a cut of a scar. It was a myriad of lesions grouped together. Moreover, the wounds were moist, as if he had been slashed just now. The oozing blood wasn't red. It was a glutinous, muddy black.
Konoe was at a loss of words, and Bardo hastily drew his arm back and covered the wound again.
"Don't worry about it. It's an old wound. It's been festering for a long while. It won't quite heal. It must look strange to you."
As he walked out, Konoe recalled the spectacle he has just seen. It was like a bad dream. It exceeded his imagination, it didn't feel real.
Konoe wanted to discuss it with Bardo, but didn't feel like bringing it up again. He didn't know what to do.
Bardo wasn't interested in having a family.
He was jealous ? Of what ? As he asked himself, his eyes were nailed to Rai. Rai's smile was one of calm insanity.
So that was it. He envied that. He could never dream of having that. That power.
He wanted to be stronger than anyone else. He was a fighter with a broken ambition, his name known to no one.
Why was that ? He knew why.
Because he didn't have the courage to abandon everything.
He craved a pure fighting urge that nothing could hold back, that wouldn't shy from splattering blood, that woudln't waver when he cut through flesh.
He knew these were foolish thoughts. He would never envy Rai under ordinary circumstances. Rai was a cat in a miserable situation.
He couldn't put into words how low he felt. This was his partner. He would betray all that trust.
Pitch-black desire.
He wanted that. These thoughts were sin.
(...)
From its painful appearance, Konoe believed it to be something sinister.
(...)
Was it because of his difference in experience ? This just made Konoe even more ashamed.
"Just in case". Bardo said with a huge smirk. His face was like that of an elder making a dirty joke.
Konoe stomped hard on Bardo's foot.
"Ero neko!"
Bardo crossed his arms and smiled a downright filthy smile.
Bardo was mean. When he saw Konoe's negative reactions, he seemed to enjoy them.
But sometimes he would be tender in both behavior and gesture, too much to be habitual, so he couldn't really be sure if it was out of maliciousness or not.
Bardo to Rai : "Still no good ? I feel sorry, and I regret it even now"
Bardo's movements were clearly not those of an amateur. They were like those of an experienced swordsman on the battlefield.
He was definitely not just an innkeeper.
"Hurry up and go ! Before I... become unable to hold them off!"
Unable to hold them off ?
A black fog gushed from his arm and slowly flickered.
Konoe vividly remembered those gruesome scars hidden under the wloth wound around Bardo's arm. Could that black fog... be coming from those wound ?
Bardo's large figrre, hunched over and protecting his right arm, looked much weaker than it usually did.
Rai to Bardo : "You can no longer even wield a sword, can you ?"
The sight he should've been so familiar with was now distorted. He felt nothing but hostility on him.
Verg to Bardo : "You tell yourself you're not like that, you try to look away. Filthy cowards like you are the ones I love best. (...) You were jealous of that madness you saw in him. Madness where loss could no longer grip you, that's the most powerful weapon."
Verg : "Hehe... Man. This is fun. You just keep denying it and denying it, all while that darkness builds inside you. Be aware of that. (...)
Let me tell you one more thing. The one you summoned back when you made that half-finished contract was my shadow. (...) In short, I'm the one who set this all into motion.
Bardo : "I no longer want that power ! Enough of everything...
(...) It's no use anymore ! After all I'm doomed no matter what I do. If I die in peace, then so be it."
Even as he said these words, gradually, he no longer knew their meaning.
As long as the contract's seal is carved on you, there is no possible way to just die in peace.
Verg's words were not wrong at all. even though he wanted to deny it, he was certainly thinking the exact opposite.
"I've been searching a long time... This time you won't escape. (...) but man... a brothel..."
From the time that he decided to live peacefully and die quietly, this was the path born within Bardo. There was no other path to choose.
Rai to Bardo : "You still haven't changed at all since back them. Your way of life is a sham, the very essence of hypocrisy. (...) How you ive is up to you, but don't involve those around you if you're never going to change. Just die alone."
Bardo stared at the door with unfocused pupils. Trembling anger rose from the pit of his stomach. But even worse was the shock (...)
Those words were blades that pierced Bardo's heart. Why did he feel such damage ?
This was probably because Rai wasn't wrong. The words from Verg also revived, tormenting his chest.
He understood somewhere in the back of his mind. But he couln't do anything about it. He had no other choice but to live like this, because there was nothing else he could do. To be berated even after such a long time...
If he had never met Rai again, he would surely have lived peacefully. And died quietly.
(...)
The cat Bardo had been searching after for a long time frequented this place
but the one Bardo was looking for wasn't there... (Bardo is looking for Hisomiya)
The feelings accumulated over the years became a dark flame that rose up from the pit of his stomach.
Bardo to Hisomiya : "Did you spare those who begged you for their lives ? You killed them, many, so many. You torture them to death !"
He had to kill this cat. If he did not kill him, he could not take his revenge.
He was just too half-hearted. (...) The same, as always.
Leaks : "Your admirable life is plas tered over with lies."
Bardo : "... I hate it. These desires ans aspirations are just filth smeared with egotism. When they're fulfilled, someone else may watch with hateful eyes. Or you might sacrifice something. Those trying to satisfy all these desires somehow might be in over their heads. Besides... They say that no matter what you do, everyone dies in the end. It's the same for everyone, and this won't ever change. Rather than risking exposing one's true, filthy nature here and falling into disgrace, it's better for people to just die quietly."
That was it. There was lust and desire in everyone. But they would ultimately carry a person too far and ruin something that could never be restored.
Even if they regretted it at that moment, it was already too late.
Those regrets and sins, they tormented him even now. He just... wanted to be forgotten by everyone and to disappear in silence.
Leaks : "Indeed. You abandon your past and the reality you cannot accept, and you wish for death, living as if in your fantasies ? What a pathetic cat.
Do you want power ?
Your desire composed strength and power, just like the feared heroes of war. You've stifled that desire within you, but it is a desire still."
Leaks : "Are you in doubt ? Your hesitation is born from the two hearts you have. (...) Regret for your past is likely regret for what you were not able to achieve.
Even if you coumd obtain such mighty power, you cannot master it if you are a coward who fears the truth."
Leaks to Konoe about Bardo : "That cat's heart is starting to wither. That cat has now given up on everything, past and present, living with his eyes averted. He lives only to walk the path to his death. That cat's heart lies deep in darkness, out of regret for what he could not achieve. But if he were to be granted his desire... I wonder what he would do. Whenever he suppresses it, the darkness amplifies.
The one who decided his path was Bardo himself."
Leaks to Konoe : "If you do not like it, then give up, Konoe, the same goes for you. Turn your back on everything, for should you choose to perish along with this world, no one would blame you."
Bardo's room :
It was a room with a feel of life, messy as ever.
It was identical to the size of the rooms used by guests.
It was quite a cluttered room. Books were piled up, neglected laundry tossed about. As Konoe breathed in, he sensed a scent different from that of the guest rooms.
Konoe who finally was able to sleep before dawn, frowned with an awful sense of malaise as he slowly sat up. Even though he had planned to nap just for a bit and then go back to his room, in the end he's slept in Bardo's bed the whole night.
- You resist even though you desire it.
- It is pointless to stifle it. It is pointless to ignore it.
He couldn't kill his desire after all. (...) those black bubbles that had boiled since long ago still frothed now.
(...)
The guest said that Bardo had left the inn with a pale face before daybreak.
Rai to Konoe about Bardo : "Don't get deeply attached to him.
He's dangerous."
Konoe : "Even if you say that all of sudden, it doesn't mean anything. What's your reason ?"
Rai : "You saw it, didn't you ? That scar on his arm.
Even you know that a scar like that isn't normal. It's the price he paid for trying to sell his soul to a devil.
Blinded by his desires, that cat ruined everything. Everything, himself and everything around him. That's his true nature. Don't be fooled by him."
Konoe knew too much about too mant things. He may come to a point of no return.
Nothing good would come of it. Even so, Konoe would follow what he wanted.
(...)
Nothing reflected - from Bardo's eyes. They were dark, as if the dark smoke had penetrated them. Konoe could see no light in them at all.
Konoe was at a loss as he peeked at Bardo's state.
Bardo bent over as if enduring something. His left hand was firmly grasping his right arm, and he was trembling.
He was suffering.
Konoe shook off his fear and bewilderment as he pursued his lips. No matter what, he could not just turn his back on a cat he knew was suffering like that.
Konoe frowned at Bardo's right arm. The cloth was drenched in black.
The black stain was steadily spreading on the cloth. Then, finally, dark red drops rolled down along the arm and splattered to the ground.
There was no way he was alright.
- Dangerous. He thought so intuitively, and immediately smiled wryly at himself.
(...) then it was better to do nothing at all.
He even felt that the sooner his death arrived, the better. Whatever happened didn't matter.
And yet, why did this greedy body of his still struggle to survive ?
His lips contorted in self-hatred when Konoe's face momentarily flashed through his mind.
That cat was always so desperate. So desperate that whenever he took his eyes off of him, he'd get into trouble. But he would die someday anyway, so there was no point to it.
Bardo considered it easier to be more insensitive, but he wondered if that was just his nature.
Bardo's amber eyes calmly gazed at him.
"There's no reason to carry such a burden. Because everyone dies in the end.
It's better to let that burden go. No one would blame you. Because even if you say it's a curse, that just means you'll die a bit sooner."
Wasn't easier to hide and quietly wait for the end, rather than suffering the whole way there ?
"Don't you think it's better to leave it be ?"
Who was this cat ?
"There's something... wrong with you."
"This scar is proof of my sin. The price I paid... for not able to do anything on my own, for trying to escape by blaming it on something else. I no longer desire anything. I've decided that I don't want anything at all."
Was Bardo... Was he completely in despair ? Had he given everything up ? Did he harbor only this darkness ?
Verg to Bardo : "You said the power you wished for was to protect something important to you. (...) What did you want to protect that badly ?
Did that something you wanted to protect ask you to borrow the powers of a devil to protect them ? Or did you have no other choice but to do this in order to protect them ?
(...) You live each awkward day just plastering over your lies.
What's wrong with doing what you want to do ?
What's weong with wanting things ? It's a basic necessity, so you don't need a reason or to save face.
We devils don't understand at all how you humans and cats think. We're faithful to our desires. Even for selfish reasons like that. We'd do anything for them. Unlike you guys... we don't lie."
There were surely many thoughts storming around inside of Bardo right now.
Thinking it would be better if he was alone, Konoe quietly tried to leave the room.
Bardo to Konoe : "Can I ask you one thing ?
"Do you have something important to you... something you want to protect ?"
Konoe was very puzzled. He never expected to be asked that.
"... I... would say... Myself. (...) Whatever you do to protect something, if you didn't put yourself first, you wouldn't understand anything. You'd wonder is what you did was good, or wrong, or is there was any other way.
Simply because you exist you think and feel, you exist, don't you ?
So... your own self is most important.
(...)
Konoe : "...hey. I don't understand what's bothering you, or your emotions, but... I think there's a way to accept it rather than give up.
Everything seems bad now, but it dosn't havr to be. The path you've been on until now has made you who you are today.
(...) aren't they important ?
That sort of thing may seem trivial, but it involves you in little ways,... (...)
That's all possible because you're there.
In other words, there are a surprising large number of people who were probably glad to have met you."
Bardo : "You think so, too ?"
Konoe : "Huh ?"
Bardo : "Are you glad to have met me too ?"
He was caught off-guard at the unexpected question.
(...)
Konoe : "This is where your selfish hopes got you ... !"
Why did he yell like that ? He didn't really know. His heart was too clouded to let him search for an answer.
There was the Bardo with those tired, dark eyes, and the Bardo with a warm smile. He recalled both of them.
Konoe to Rai : "There is no one alive who really knows what's right and what's wrong. Even so, you have no choice but to decide things for yourself... I think everyone has their sins. No matter how great they are... You know ?
Asato : "... A fake cat like you can't protect Konoe... !"
"If you wanted to know, you'd have to ask."
But could he move back into a daily routine like this ?
Verg : "Both of you are so... Why do you feel the need to top off lie after lie ? Or is this like some kind of armor that you have ?"
Konoe to Bardo : "I saw your past. Your memories of the past.
I saw a room with a sea of blood.
A child was sitting there, That was ... Rai ? Wasn't it ?"
Bardo put a hand over his mouth with a stunned look.
What would he think ? Konoe didn't know. It was an awfullt heavy, suffocating time for Konoe.
"Let me get one thing straight... Did you look into it on purpose ? ... Answer me."
Konoe : "... It wasn't by accident... I wanted to know."
It was painful. His gaze dropped to his hands. His voice got caught in his throat, hitched breaths escaping with his words.
"... I was worried."
Bardo : "I am to blame... Because of the... the ugly jealousy within me. I was envious of him. Of that madness, inside of him.
Maybe so my name could be known throughout Sisa. What a shitty thought.
I'd become a celebrated swordsman, one Setsura could be proud of. This was my dream.
But... It was impossible. Do you know why ?
... Because I cannot kill. No matter what, I hesitate right before my blade pierces mu opponent's vitals."
"Feelings, compassion, and the inability to cast those things aside, is what leads to weakness."
Konoe watched this Bardo in terror. This was wrong, everything about it was wrong. It shouldn't be that way.
"The reason why he couldn't finish the ritual was..."
"Because Rai saw you."
"... He'd followed me. Rai had genuinely wondered where I had gone off to in the middle of the night. But the rules of the contract dictate that no one besides the enforcer of the contract be involved in the ritual."
"Everything had already become to irrelevant to me."
Bardo gripped his right wrist with his left hand as if punishing it.
Konoe : "Your weakness isn't your hesitation to kill ! That's not weakness, it's natural for someone who knows pain !
(...) When I heard your past, I understood it. You misunderstood strength.That's not what it means to be strong. And... your weakness is that you ran away."
Bardo : "... I ran away ? Me ?"
Konoe : "You're running away ! You say everything is pointless. Wheter it's a waste or not, you won't know until you at least try, will you ? Maybe some change will happen. But doing nothing changes nothing. If you die no matter what you do... I would risk a change happening."
(...)
After that, they merely walked single-mndedly, exchanging no words in particular.
The proof of his curse, using its power and stealing his life little by little... If he keps using its power, he would ultimately die.
Konoe didn't want that to happen. He wanted to find a way to break the curse.
Bardo to Konoe : "Why must you purposely be so unreasonable ? I bet you think it's fine if you die... Think about those who don't want you to die ! (...) Then don't go."
Konoe : "I'm not going to die, I want to overcome this and to move on. That's why we're running... me and Rai. We're not doing it to die... We're doing it to live."
He wanted to make him his. Konoe who had never known love (...)
"Perhaps you see me as a guy who'll hit on anyone. That's a big misunderstanding. I'm not that age anymore, anyways... (...) I couldn't take my eyes off of you. (...)
I'm probably in love... Do you get it ?"
Konoe : "... I hate you. Whenever I'm near you I feel at ease and I want to depend on you... and that bothers me."
Strength could only exist precisely because weakness exists too.
Kindness could also become strength sometimes.
(...) When he regained his composure, those became a mass of helpless embarrassment that overcame him.
"Don't die."
"Then that goes for you too... Don't ever think of dying quietly anymore."
(...)
"Well, on a guy, these wounds are medals of honor."
(...) You player !
Bardo was surely composed because he was used to things like this.
(...) Against Leaks :
Bardo to Konoe : "You are before my eyes, and I am before yours. That's the only thing that's real and true. Alright ? The Konoe before mye now is the only one.
Konoe's voice reached my dying heart."
Leaks : "This extraordinary unique vessel could wake even the heart of a half-dead cat."
Bardo's bad end
Leaks : "(...) soon enough, you'll be devoured by madness"
Bardo : "...Yep. Can't be helped. As you pointed out, that's the result of my actions, and that's how my life will turn out."
Surely, he must have been fighting the marks on his right arm, which were trying to devour his sanity.
But as blood poured constantly from Bardo's right arm, it disturbed Konoe's heart to no end.
Withstanding the unimagineable pain, knowing there was no turning back - Bardo was fighting.
At the end of the battle with Leaks, had the devil that resided in Bardo's right hand been released, even though he's forbidden it ? As a result, he was captured. The darkness in his heart was just like Rai's.
Bardo to Rai : "You hated me, I envied you... Now we'll settle this."
This is the fate of these two cats, the natural way of things. The two of them have become what they wanted to be, what they were meant to be. There is no need to interfere.
Nights in Lamento Beyond the VoidNow it was quiet, like an extraordinary dark night. Sorrow and pain exceed the feelings of regret. This painful memory would forever stay within his heart. The pain he felt so far, the pain he would feel after this. Joy, sadness, and anger. He believed everything he experienced until now was a part of him.
Poet : "Now. you must return to the path you will follow into the future. Although I'm leaving, keep me in your heart. Walk the path you have chosen to the utmost." Konoe was sure his body was in terrible shape. In this state, it was almost meaningless to have survived. He coudln't breathe. Blood clogged his throat. He scratched at the ground with his claws at the unbearable pain. At this rate, he'd die. So he thought.
He didn't know how this could end. Maybe they would win against Leaks. But he wanted to protect (...) to his very last breath. "I was always being manipulated by your hand. You could easily crush my life whenever you felt like it. But even if you kill me, my feelings and my heart can't be changed. They will belong only to me until the very end. You absolutely... cannot kill them."
Konoe : "Sorrow, anger, holding someone dear... Those aren't excessive ! No one can deny their worth !" Leaks : "(...) would rather change the life that existed now into a more ideal form. I will create a new world." That was such an arrogant, selfish delusion.
Leaks :" I have lived a long time, longer than you can imagine. Keeping everything away from me, I determinedly continued to research ways to enhance my own black magic. In doing so, I always pondered this. What should I do to obtain power that is truly inferior to none ? What was a necessity and what was a hindrance ? Then one day, I realized it. Something was getting on my way... It was emotions. The influence they have on you (...) However, just supressing them wasn't good enough. They had to be completely erased." "Feeling of attachment cloud the mind." "Emotions lead to destruction"
(...) Konoe thought to give himself over to the flow of time as well. He decided he would never give up. There were things he couldn't stand to lose no matter how much time passed.
"- No wonder. You're a cat who asks all kind of ridiculous things, huh ? - I don't see it that way."
Personal feelings won't change the path that lies ahead. However... If this world should perish, I believe there is a reason. Nothing lasts forever. It may be this world's constant need for rebirth and change. "Do not lose sight of yourself." "Even if you lost you way, listen to your own heart. In hesitation, there is always one positive feeling (...), no matter what. You have strength, and that's the truth. Any strong feelings will lead to strength."
At night, all were equal.
"The words the cat spat at him were like thorns that stabbed him in the chest since he was very young. But Konoe said everything would be okay. Leaning against the wall of the road, he tightly grasped the clothes over his roused chest. (Asato) But recently, a different sensation continuously remained in his chest. It was a tight, impending feeling, like something was on the verge of bursting forth. As far as he knew, he had a feeling that it could not be undone." "Almost as if it were his own situation, Konoe understood. Being blamed for something he had no control over : how was that fair ? Rejected so many times, the frustration of no one believing you... He knew this feeling well."
"There is no such thing as absolute." "Following the elder or defying him, that's your choice, isn't it ?" "It wasn't a bad thing to honor one's traditions and bloodlines. (...) propably did it to bring unity to the members of the village. But at the same time, it isolated their society." "The elder is wrong. Outside of Kira, the world sprawls out all over. Don't you want to know about that ? "
~~~~~
He stopped and slowly closed his eyes.
The cat's voices, singing voices.
Music. Noise. Cheers. Chatters. Footsteps.
The grandeur, the air.
And he was a part of it all.
"When the one with black ears, a black tail, and black markings appears, they shall bring calamity to the world."
(...) maybe his mind was too full, so nothing could resonate within it.
Konoe to Bardo : "You need to face it all. Even if it hurts, even if it's painful, even if it kills you... even if it leaves you bruised, face it all head-on !"
(...)
"Where are you going ?"
"... It has nothing to do with you."
Conversely, the impatience in Konoe accelerated. He didn't really want to say something like that - Why did he do that ?
The hesitation and frustration stirred in his head, troubling him intensely.
(...) His thoughts, which were turbid as mud.
How long had it been since he cried ? How long had he been telling himself he must not cry ?
All the emotions he'd bottled up one after the other all flowed at once.
It was this feeling. The feeling of wanting to help him, and another faint, heated emotion in his chest. It began to suffocate him little by little.
Devil of Pleasure
"Hey pipsqueak!" / "oi chibineko!"
"Hey there kitties, you guys gathering together ? Waiting for me ?"
"... You making a fool of me ?"
"We are always on the lookout for prey.
We seek quality cats... and bring them down to our world."
"What's wrong with doing what you want to do ?
What's wrong with wanting things ? It's a basic necessity, so you don't need a reason or to save face.
We devils don't understand at all how you humans and cats think. We're faithful to our desires. Even for selfish reasons like that. We'd do anything for them. Unlike you guys... we don't lie."
"Anyways, I haven't lied about anything. So I'm not going to inspire some useless hope. Compared to an empty kindness born out of sympathy, we're much nicer."
Devil of Joy
"We are faithful to our desires. Even if it is something evil, we do what we please."
Devil of Wrath
We govern emotions. Consuming a soul with incredible emotion bestows us the fonest power.
Devil of Grief
You need to bite back. In order to protect yourself.
"To please him, you must struggle more."
"What's this ? Are you in too much of a hurry to even greet me ? I thought you only needed to throw out your courtesy with close friends. Since we're not particularely close, it's natural for me to wonder where your manners are."
It's going to get worse from here on. The Void too. The End of Times is near, the darkness is overflowing, and Master Leaks' power is becoming s tronger... It's getting worse.
In the midst of the song, Konoe felt like he faintly hears Firi's voice. It was pitiful, feeble voice.
why... Even though he was an enemy, Konoe also felt that Firi really adored Leaks. He never doubted Leaks.
How could such a horrible treatment be possible ?
Konoe to Leaks : "You... How can you sacrifice the person who adores you ?! To go that far... Will you go that far just to get power ...?!"
Firi was just like a tool, cutting away at his own body to devote himselt to his partner.
Shui tried to protect his family and Leaks, but he couldn't watch over them both.
Asato : "... A fake cat like you can't protect Konoe... !"
"Even if not now, someday."
"What you look like doesn't matter to me. I wouldn't care if you looked like this forever. It doesn't matter."
While he wanted to save Asato, there were times when he was the one being saved.
Though he was awkward and naive, timid despite his big, strong body... Asato was always honest. He expressed his feelings towards Konoe honestly. Not once were there lies in his awkward words.
That Asato, with his frankness and gentle affection, soon led him by the hand too. His heart captivated him.
He wanted to be Asato's side. Even if he fated to die as a vessel of emotions. It was not a life he regretted after all the time they had spent together.
"I thought I could die to protect Konoe... But, I'm alive. That's why I'm here with you. That's my answer."
Asato : "I exist to walk down my own path."
