Sometimes, he really does hate his life.

In his early years all he ever knew was violence. His father is a no good waste of space. He may be big in size but that was all he got going for him. He's pathetic. He's ashamed of ever being his son. In fact, it may be for the better that his father got stabbed to death.

At least like this, nobody will ever hit his loving mother and his precious siblings ever again.

Even then, Shinazugawa Sanemi was never naive. Now that that man is no longer around, they will be helpless if people try to take advantage of their situation and try to do their family harm. He made a pact with his brother Genya. He made a pact with him that from now on, the two of them will protect their mother and their siblings because they are the oldest out of the seven of them.

Their mother is a hardworking woman. He and his siblings had never actually seen her sleep before. It pained his heart to see her work this heart because all she wants is the best for them, her children. So, he made a vow in his heart that he will do all he can to ease her workload. He will be so successful and rich that one day, his mother will not need to work anymore. All she needs to care about is to enjoy her life.

He took on odd jobs around the town to bring in some income for the family. As the eldest, this is his responsibility. The family needs him. He needs to support his family. Genya helped out by taking care of their younger siblings who are too young to be left alone by themselves. Someone needs to help keep an eye on them and Genya is suited for this task.

He doesn't have time for anything else. Time is precious and the only thing he could afford to do is to make more money for his family. Feeding eight mouths is no easy task, but he has to do it. He is the eldest. He has to do it. His time cannot be wasted on anything frivolous, cannot be wasted on anything else that other children his age do. He certainly doesn't have time to make friends.

Until a certain annoying person came into his life somehow.

He saw her the moment he entered the dark alley right behind the brothel. She's sitting on the top of a large wooden crate, the needle and thread held loosely by her fingers. She is halfway into mending the flowery looking clothes but as usual, spacing out as though her head is in the clouds.

He roughly pushed her by her back the moment he saw her.

"Oi, stop spacing out."

"Huh- oh! Sa-kun!"

This annoyance in his life known as Fujimura Tsukumo greeted him in that usual cheery annoying voice of hers. Meeting her was entirely an accident, an accident that he isn't sure if he's entirely happy about. Still, he couldn't deny that out of the many other children that infested this town that is not his siblings, the only person around his age whose presence he could stand is her.

Not that he would ever admit that to her. She would never stop teasing him about it otherwise.

"If you continue to space out you would not be able to finish mending those by nighttime."

He violently grabbed the offending fabric from her and with it the thread and needles. He sat next to her on the wooden crate that she was sitting on and quickly mended those bright flowery clothes that only oirans would wear. At least this way, she would get her job done faster and hopefully not earn herself a scolding from the matron for her airheadedness.

"Why, I didn't know you cared about me, Sa-kun!"

"I don't care about you." He snapped back. "This is just payment for the food."

"Uh huh, uh huh." She nodded her head up and down with a mischievous smirk on her face. "I know, I know."

This little-

"Where's the damn food."

In response, Tsukumo gestured for him to get up from the crate, which he did. She lifted up the lid and took a much smaller wooden box out of it, passing it to him.

"Here! Say hi to Shizu obaa-san and Genya-kun for me, okay?"

"Whatever." Sanemi dismissed her as he passed back to her the fully mended clothes. "I have already fixed this for you. Stop spacing out so much or you would never get anything done. You want the matron to scold you again?"

"Ehehehe…" Tsukumo laughed sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "I can't help it. I saw the embroidery patterns on the kimono and I was like, what flower was that? Where can it be found? And how was it even embroidered in that manner? Do you even see the craftsmanship involv-"

"Save it. I don't want to listen." Sanemi loaded the box of food onto his wagon. He knows how her mouth could go on endlessly without rest if he doesn't stop her. He doesn't have the time to stay and chitchat. He has to go back to feed his family.

"See you tomorrow. Don't do anything stupid."

"Awww, Sa-kun! You do care!"

He gave her the middle finger before walking off, pulling the wagon behind him. Her laughter continues to ring out from the dark alley, as if mocking him.

Whatever. At least he got his food. Nice, tasty, food.

His siblings ran up to greet him enthusiastically when he got home. Sumi was the first one to barrel into him and hugged his legs tightly, looking up at him with a face of adoration. He picked her up and spun her around a few times, making her laugh in delight. Anything for his siblings. As long as they can laugh and be happy, he will do anything for them.

With help from Genya, he helped to heat up the dinner Tsukumo gave him. The look of joy on his siblings' faces when they ate the food told him enough that befriending that annoying airheaded girl was worth it.

"So… delicious! Nii-chan, where do you get this food from?!"

"I had a friend who helped me." He replied vaguely, not wanting to explain to his younger siblings just what a brothel is just yet. He's not sure if he even wanted to call Tsukumo his friend, but he guess she's the closest to being one.

"Oh, the Tsukumo-nee that Genya-nii told us about?"

He glared at Genya, who wisely looked down and continued to act very busy as he ate his food. Didn't he tell his brother to not mention anything about Tsukumo to their younger siblings?!

Traitor.

Even then, Sanemi knows that he owes Tsukumo a lot. The food she gave him was from the brothel and needless to say, the quality is very good. Not only are the food she gave him were enough to feed his entire family most of the time, they are delicious.

"Huh? Oh, don't worry about payment! These are merely leftovers the clients never finished! Such a waste, right? So much good food cooked but not eaten? I wonder why people would throw them out in the first place. Don't worry, I made sure these leftovers are not contaminated or dirtied in any way, shape, or form? Don't trust me? How about I take a bite of whatever you want me to eat?"

He first met her in that same dark alley when he was trying to take a shortcut. She was eating those leftovers like they were the nicest thing to have ever existed. One look at her and he knew she's from the brothel. The clothes that she's wearing said it all.

He would have walked past her just like that. They would not have talked, would not have officially met and would not have known each other if his stomach hadn't growled at the very moment he passed her.

It was so loud that it was easily heard by her. She laughed at the sound of it and he glared at her. It was just plain embarrassing for him.

"Here. Try some. There's too much for me to finish by myself anyway and I would have to throw them out."

She readily offered him another plate of leftovers and practically shoved it right in front of his face. His pride would have said no to that, but his stomach growled again.

And then he decided to just fuck it and eat something.

So, he took the plate she held out to him and gobbled down the leftovers. He never tasted food so delicious before. Fuck, why would anyone throw them out?! There are so many leftovers that throwing them all away is simply a huge waste!

He paused a little in his meal when he thought about the situation at home. If he eats a little lesser, maybe he could bring some of these home for his mother and siblings? Most of these leftovers are largely untouched. If he just picked out the good ones to bring home, will it be enough to feed the entire family? Even if it couldn't, at least the amount of food here can feed a few mouths and add some flavour to their otherwise bland meals.

And so, he asked her if he could bring some of these leftovers back. That's how their relationship first started. Every day, she would save any leftovers she could scavenge and pack it up for him to bring back home. They will meet up at the dark alley situated at the back of the brothel she lives in. There's nothing much he can do for her, really. He has no money and he has nothing to offer her in return for what she does for him on a near daily basis. Yet, she still does it for him without complaints and put up with his shitty attitude and abrasive personality.

So, when he got wind from somebody else that a few thugs were trying to pick on her, he wasted no time to set them straight. They never appeared again and he never told her, but she still found out about it somehow.

As a man, Sanemi acknowledges that Tsukumo is attractive. Extremely so. She is born to the highest ranking oiran in the brothel when said oiran apparently got knocked up by one of her clients somehow despite all the precautions taken. It was a mystery to everyone why Tsukumo's mother chose to give birth to her at all when she could have easily chosen abortion. Especially so when there's no love between her and her mother because her mother doesn't even want to see her face to remind herself of this failure. That woman doesn't want to be reminded that she bore the child of a man who she would never see again. The only reason why the brothel kept Tsukumo around was because she was born at an auspicious hour and the matron believed that she would bring good luck to the brothel. If it wasn't for this lucky coincidence, Tsukumo may have been fed to the dogs the moment she was born.

Even at her young age, Tsukumo's beauty is apparent to all who know her. There's no doubt that she will grow into a stunning beauty in the future. Because of this, the matron is grooming Tsukumo to follow her mother's footsteps, to use her body to entertain and please clients for the rest of her life.

There's no escaping her fate. Sanemi knows Tsukumo doesn't want to live that kind of life, hates it with a passion that he never thought to be possible because she is always so cheery. But even if he wants to help her there's nothing he can do. He has to take care of his family. The consequences of his actions are not his alone to bear. If he angered the matron somehow by trying to help his only friend, the matron could easily direct a few thugs under her employment to harass his family. That cannot happen. His family comes first.

So, he can only stand by the side and do nothing.

The sun is starting to set. Genya volunteered to wash the dishes so that he can rest, an offer Sanemi took. Sanemi entertained his siblings by telling them stories he cooked up in his head. He personally thinks that his stories suck, but his siblings seemed to enjoy it, so he continued.

Hours passed and he and Genya tucked their siblings into bed. Their mother still had not returned, so they waited for her. She came back soon enough, smiling at them with that gentle smile the moment she spotted them.

"We saved some food for you." He told his mother. His mother merely ruffled his hair fondly.

"Thank you, Sanemi. Pass my thanks along to Tsukumo-chan, okay?"

Oh great, so even their mother knows about her now.

Damn Genya.

"What. The. Hell. Happened."

He gritted out with clenched fists, partly in shock and partly in anger. Tsukumo greeted him with that same sheepish laughter again, scratching the back of her head in that usual sheepish manner. Sanemi's eyes stared at the mark on her face. Someone had obviously slapped her. Not just slapped her. Whoever did that had slapped her hard.

Upon closer inspection, he could see bruises on her skin that she had tried to hide under her kimono to no avail. His eyes had always been sharp and her skin had always been unblemished and fair. He spotted them immediately because those dark bruises are in stark contrast to her usually fair and smooth skin.

"I couldn't get the dance right no matter how hard I tried, so…" Tsukumo trailed off, looking sideways and not able to look at him in the eyes. "Might have spaced out a little too much back there…"

"Let me see." He growled as he grabbed ahold of her hand and held it in front of him. He pushed up the sleeves of her kimono and spotted the bruises along her arm. His blood boiled at the sight of it. He is no stranger to violence. His father used to beat him and his mother too many times for him to count. He had once sported those bruises. He had seen these bruises on his mother before and also on his siblings. He hates men who could only raise their hand against helpless women. He hates it when a woman gets beaten.

Tsukumo may have gotten beaten by another woman, but it still made him angry. She's an airhead, yes, but she didn't ask to be born into a brothel and didn't ask to be groomed into an oiran. She had never agreed to sell her body to pigs who wanted nothing but to violate her. A careless airhead she may be, but she is a kind person just like his mother. She doesn't deserve this beating.

"I will see what I can bring tomorrow to help ease the pain. There may be some ointment back home that may help you." He told her and finally released her hand. Her hand is soft and smooth, unlike his rough and coarse palms. Of course that would be the case. Tsukumo is training to be an oiran. Hard labour is not what she would be concerned with. Pleasing people would be if she wants to survive in the brothel. When she finally completes the training the matron forces on her, she will be forced to sleep with a man not of her own choosing and her nightmares will start from there.

"Thank you, Sa-kun." She replied with a smile before passing to him another small box of food. "I could not find as much food this time. Sorry about that. This is all I could find today that is still edible."

"Worry about yourself first." He replied, taking the box in his hands. "That old witch did this to you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, might have been worse if I hadn't reminded her that beating my face isn't a great idea because she would have lost an asset if I somehow got disfigured, so she ended up beating and kicking at anywhere but the face. Oh well. It happens. I guess I'm lucky to be born with a pretty face."

"Why don't you just fucking run away from this place?" He blurted out, confused about why she is even staying here in the first place. He knows just how much the thought of having a man touching her all over without her consent disgusts her, much less having sex with him.

"And where would I go? How am I going to make a living? Would I even reach the next town in one piece?" She said with a sigh. "The world is not a safe place, Sa-kun. It's not like I have a guardian spirit to protect me from harm at every single waking moment."

"And so you are just accepting it? Accepting this? Accepting your fate to be an oiran?" He seethed for reasons he doesn't know why. Somehow, just the mere thought of her just surrendering to her fate without putting up a fight really pissed him off.

"Oh, no. I'll never let anyone even dream of touching my body unless I want them to." Tsukumo dismissed his words with a casual wave of her hand. "I have my own plans, of course."

"Which is? Spacing out?"

"Sa-kun~ Don't be so mean!" Tsukumo whined childishly before looking up at the sky. "It's getting late though. You really need to start heading back. The streets aren't safe at night, especially not now. I heard Kiyashi-san got murdered last night. Before that there were already five people who were killed at night, one after the other. People said it was a wolf but I passed by and checked his place just now. It… It doesn't look like the work of a wolf to me. It's way too bloody and the whole thing just screams supernatural. Hanko obaa-san said it must be the work of a demon."

"Demons? Bah. Superstitious." Sanemi scoffed. He had heard of them from some of the older folks who have nothing better to do than to gossip and get themselves drunk in the middle of the day. He had heard of rumours about those creatures who hunted humans for food to sate their hunger for human flesh and blood.

"Yeah, I don't quite believe in demons too." Tsukumo admitted. "But after seeing the scene where Kiyashi-san was killed… Somehow, I think maybe Hanko obaa-san's claim about demons may not be a mere superstitious belief. You will know what I'm talking about if you take a look at Kiyashi-san's place tomorrow. I cannot describe it for you. The feeling in your gut, it will say it all."

"Tch. Whatever. Take care of yourself. I'll see if there's a way to escape the brothel. Maybe somebody has some contacts somewhere that might help."

"Awww~ So you really do care, Sa-kun!"

"Shaddup."

"Get back home before sundown, okay? Bye!"

"Genya! Run for it!"

He didn't understand what he just saw. All he knew was that his body reacted faster than what he could comprehend. He instinctively knew that whoever was attacking his siblings had to be their mother and he had to protect his defenceless siblings somehow.

So, he bodily tackled his mother and threw both of them down from the second floor.

"Mum! MUM! IT'S ME, SANEMI!"

It was no use, his mother is still lashing out at him like a feral animal. He tried to dodge but found himself only partially successful. He screamed in pain when his mother's fingernails clawed at his face, sharper than what is realistically possible for a human. He hissed in pain and retreated backwards, looking on in disbelief as his mother got onto all fours and snarled at him, licking at the blood on her face. She is licking at his blood that was spilled on her.

"MUM!"

His words didn't get across no matter how he screamed and tried. He got gashes across his body as blood spurted out from his wounds. His mother didn't respond to his words, acting less and less like a human and more and more like a-

Demon.

Sanemi's heart dropped when he came to the conclusion. The recent string of brutal murders that only happened at night. His mother's current state. Tsukumo's word of warning to him.

It couldn't be. Demons are nothing but beings in fictitious tales. It couldn't be.

Yet, that is the only logical explanation he has.

His mother sways on her feet uncontrollably as if she was intoxicated. She is salivating uncontrollably and is losing focus. Even then, she pounced on him and Sanemi quickly ducked out of the way. His hands instinctively went to the butcher knife he always carried on his person for protection and held in front of him shakily. He doesn't want to admit it, but he knows that his mother is now really out to kill him. If he dies here, she will go back to Genya and the others and kill them too. He doesn't care about his own life but his siblings' are another story. They absolutely cannot come to harm.

"MUM! PLEASE, STOP!"

His mother did not listen and he was forced to fight back. His mother's newfound inhumane strength would have instantly killed him if he did not dodge them in time. This is clearly not natural. He could tell that his mother's reactions are a lot slower and her focus is wavering, like she is drunk by something. His mother pounced on him again, her fingernails reaching out for his head and ready to punch her fingers into his skull.

He reacted out on instinct and cleaved his knife in her direction. Somehow, she didn't react to it, she didn't dodge or block his slash like how she did before. By the time he regained his senses to actually figure out what on earth truly happened, his mother lay dead beneath his feet, bleeding out on the floor.

"MUM!"

Sanemi could only move his eyes, the shock not really allowing to register this new reality into his mind. Genya ran up and hugged their mother's corpse closely to his chest as he bawled his eyes out. They could only watch as their mother slowly disintegrated into dust.

"WHY?! WHY?! WHY DID YOU KILL MUM! MURDERER! MURDERER!"

It was then he was violently thrust back into reality, his brother's words echoing back and forth within his mind.

Murderer.

"Who- Sa-kun? SA-KUN! What on earth- Come in!"

He couldn't face Genya, couldn't face his deceased mother and siblings. Genya had screamed at him, not wanting him to be around.

"Go away, murderer! I will bury mother and our siblings myself! Stay away from them!"

He left without another word. There's nothing for him to say because Genya was right. He's a murderer. He not only failed to protect his younger siblings, he had killed his mother.

He's a murderer.

He walked without a purpose nor did he have a destination in mind. His feet brought him to where she stayed even without him realising it. She stays in a small cramped room that is not really a room, but it is close to the backdoor of the brothel. Close enough for him to visit her without anyone knowing if he ever wants to.

"What happened?!" She fussed over him and quickly tried to wipe off all the blood on him. He, on the other hand, is still in a daze. His left hand is still holding tightly onto the butcher knife that he used to cut his mother down and he could not put it down no matter how hard Tsukumo tried to pry it away from him. He is barely registering anything in his mind.

"Y-Your face! S-So much blood! Hang in there! I will dress your wounds up for you! D-Don't sleep, you hear me?! If you sleep you might never wake up again so don't sleep, o-okay?! You stay here while I go get-"

His right hand grabbed onto hers on instinct when she was about to stand up and leave.

"L-Let's r-run away."

He barely managed to croak out his words. The reality of the situation is only really starting to crash on him in full force after he said it. He had killed. He had murdered. He murdered the person who gave birth to him and who had done nothing but to love him wholeheartedly.

Nothing he does will ever change that. He's the worst kind, just like his father.

"S-Sanemi? P-Please… just… what's wrong? What happened?!" Tsukumo was on the point of tears as she held onto his shoulders, not caring if the blood got onto her as well. "S-Speak to me, Sa-kun! D-Don't just… I-I know! I will get Shizu obaa-san here and maybe Genya as well-"

"She's dead." He said with a trembling voice. "She's dead. I killed her. You were right. I should have listened. Demons are real. Mum somehow got turned into a demon and before I knew it I… I killed her. Genya saw it. It was me. The rest of my siblings had all died too. Genya's the only one left. Genya's right. I'm a murderer."

He saw how Tsukumo's face morphed from shock to sorrow. He didn't fight back the tears when she hugged him tightly to comfort him. The two of them let it all out. He grieved and wept, his left hand still holding tightly to the knife which he used to end his mother's life. He cried it all out as he buried his head into Tsukumo's shoulder.

"Give me a moment." Tsukumo told him softly when they finally separated themselves and he felt a little better after crying it out. "I will go pack a few things and then we can finally run away from here."

"You're… really coming with me?" He asked in an equally soft voice, still a little shocked that she agreed to come with him without any hesitation.

"Well, I stayed on initially because there would be nobody left to give you food if I ran away, so…" She chose not to complete her sentence in consideration of his plight. "But it's different now, and we're in luck today. There are important clients that the brothel are entertaining today and the matron wants me to stay in here the entire night because she doesn't want my presence to mess it up somehow, so nobody will be searching for me until tomorrow morning. If I want to run, tonight's the best chance I will get."

She left immediately after saying that, sneaking out of the cluttered storage room that she was forced to sleep in, her kimono still stained in his blood. She came back to him soon enough with a large cloth bag that contains whatever she wants to bring with her. After wrapping his wounds in bandages, she gently pulled him back up to his feet.

"Come, Sa-kun. Let's go. Let's get out of this horrid place."