Chapter Text
That you leave me now
With my loneliness that is no longer so sweet
Sing once more, before I fall
I want to hear you sing in uncertainty
I want to remember when I had everything
El derrumbe
Enjambre
It was easy to know from the first time he put his eyes on him, that Nanami Sai was not a normal person.
Maybe, not even a person.
It was his first night in the beautiful city of Kyoto, after a couple of years of not visiting it despite his attachment to that place, he returned to give a couple of shows of mentalism and when he see the illuminated streets, endowed with their traditional magic under the perfect full moon, Gen could not help but deviate to do some sightseeing, he eats something at a street stall, walked the streets he recognized from his childhood, and went on to buy an amulet at To-Ji Temple.
When he was leaving the place, Gen could feel an intense look on him, in the distant street, where people’s faces began to look blurred was a mysterious man watching him with his eyes wide open in surprise.
Perhaps he was a fan of Gen’s mentalism shows and was surprised to find him there, only that would he explain a surprise so great as to stay stone in his place, so much so that his companion, a blond man frowned, calling him in vain because he did not react. Until that moment Gen had not gone through a bad experience with the fans and did not want to have one in that place, so pretending not to have seen them he turned around with intentions of re-entering the temple.
As soon as he turned on his heels his arms were held firmly by the mysterious young man.
“Gen?” He whispered in a hoarse voice as if he hadn’t uttered a single word in a long, long time.
Frightened, he turned his face to the far street to make sure that the person holding him was not the same one he had just seen a second ago, finding only his blond companion staring at him in disbelief.
«How did he get here in a blink?» Gen thought, but out of his mouth came another question.
“Excuse me? I think you’re confusing me with someone else” said trying to get out of the situation.
His words seemed to resonate in that man’s mind, transforming his expression into a much sadder one without being able to take away his trembling eyes.
With the night lights of the city, his eyes almost looked red, Gen had never seen such beautiful ones.
The man let go of one of his arms to raise a trembling hand to Gen’s face, touching him with great care, barely rubbing his fingertips against his cheek, as if he feared that it was going to fade in front of him. Such a gesture coming from a perfect stranger should cause panic to Gen, but that feeling could not fully emerge, staying under the strange comfort of being treated as something precious. Something so intimate could not come from someone who simply admired his acts of mentalism, which seemed like something more.
Gen made an effort to search his memory, there was no way to forget a person as attractive as him, a unique beauty with features from south Asia, probably from India combined with Japanese blood. Perhaps, someone, he knew from early childhood because he also did not find reasons to feel so calm with a complete stranger who made an advance with him.
As if he simply had the security of being safe by his side.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” Gen asked again trying to take a step back to distance himself and move his hand away, but he could not move an inch because the grip on his arm was as firm as steel, that stranger must be much stronger than he appeared.
“Gen,” he called again, with a tone of supplication.
As if he was begging for him to be Gen.
“Ah, brother! You practically flew over here!” said the blond companion with whom he saw him earlier, resting his hands on his knees, exhausted by the run he had to make to get with them.
It was a rather poor performance; Gen could hear how hard he pretended to be agitated while his voice had no major problem making himself heard clearly.
“Please forgive my older brother, he gets like this with a couple of beers, he can’t help it, they just ran us from the bar where we were because he tried to kiss the waiter,” he laughed scandalously, patting his brother's back hard. “Right?”
It was an absolute lie, the half-blood man did not have any of the symptoms of a person in a drunken state, he did not even seem to be trying to kiss him or have some kind of flirtation with him, the longing on his face that soon was deformed into pure sadness while he released Gen were feelings too real to be the product of intoxication.
“I… I’m sorry,” he muttered so low that Gen thought he heard wrong.
“I hope he didn’t hurt you or make you uncomfortable.”
The younger brother apologized by bowing his head slightly, the older bit his lower lip even more regretfully and made a similar bow.
“I’m so sorry.”
The more rational part of his being asked Gen to accept those apologies and return carefully back to his hotel, making a few useless turns to make sure that pair was not following him. While his inner mentalist was dying of curiosity to know if that man knew him from somewhere and the reason for his actions.
Before he could decide which of his two inner voices to obey, the younger brother reached for him.
“Let’s go back home.”
There was a small moment of silence in which the mysterious man, with his eyes fixed on the ground, seemed to consider something very serious. He walked a couple of steps behind the younger brother and there something made him change his mind, he turned around to see Gen with his face illuminated by a small hope visible through his sad eyes, due to the change of position in front of the light he could see that they were not red, but a pair of hopeful amber jewels, refusing to abandon Gen’s face.
“My name is Sai Nanami,” he muttered in his hoarse voice. “Can I know yours?”
Gen had to refuse to tell him about his name given the circumstances, he had to say a false name.
Gen must have been much more frightened or upset with the situation he had just gone through.
But…
“Gen Asagiri.”
Sai clenched his fists at his sides in an attempt to stop the shaking of his hands, which did not prevent his eyes from filling with tears that were not shed.
“I’m really sorry, Gen Asagiri,” he said again in a broken voice as he uttered his name.
Gen was left with his feet planted on the ground, unable to decide what to do, with his attention focused on Sai Nanami as he got lost among the people and the streets, becoming blurred and fading from his sight as if nothing had ever happened.
If he was really in a complicated situation with a stalker, Gen preferred to take extra precautions, so he tendered a taxi and asked to take him on a walk around the city that lasted a full hour. Despite this and his attempts to calm down, during all that time he did not stop feeling observed at any time.
One of his important businesses to attend to during his Kyoto trip was to visit his grandmother Minami Shishio, whom he had not seen since his grandfather's funeral just a month ago, and wanted to make sure she was well.
Grandma Minami was a reporter all her life, the best in the field, and a capable woman above all else, but when things got difficult sometimes she just gave up. Gen’s mother talk with her a few days ago and although she assured her that she was taking proper care of herself, she refused to move with her back to Tokyo with the stubbornness of her age.
“Good evening, Grandma Minami,” he knocked on the door. “It’s me, Gen.”
“Your mother warned me that you would come, but I thought it would be earlier,” she scolded as opened the door.
“You always liked to live at night, I imagined that you would not be bothered by a visit at this time,” he justified himself without any shame.
“I see that you are still a talker. Come in.”
“Excuse me,” he said, entering the place, out of the corner of his eye thought to see Sai Nanami, no, his brother, in the middle of the empty street.
He blinked and turned his face in the direction where he thought he saw him so quickly that it caused a slight discomfort in his neck.
No one was there.
“Did you see anyone?” The woman asked, poking her head out the door.
“No, it’s nobody,” he tried to downplay it, convincing himself that the vision was the product of his paranoid mind after such a strange encounter.
"Are you sure?" She insisted seriously, something unusual in Grandma Minami, attentive to the place where Gen are looking.
“I am, has something strange happened, grandma?”
She was silent and turned her attention back to Gen.
“Is someone bothering you?”
Minami stood still, scrutinizing her grandson as if she was looking for something in him that would give her a guideline to say something else. Holding back after reasoning it well, she simply closed the door and went to the kitchen.
“Let me make the tea, grandma, you look tired,” Gen offered, ahead of her, pointing his face at a small table.
“I am. Pretty tired, to tell the truth.”
She replied with a sigh, walking at a slow pace to the small table, where she sat so slowly that while she was doing it Gen had already put the kettle and removed it from the shelves looking for the tea box.
“So why you don’t accept my mother’s proposal to go live with her?”
“Don’t try to convince me to do it. It could be a short time since you have become famous for having a silver tongue, but I have known you since you were born, I know what you are capable of.”
“I’m glad my grandmother watches my shows.”
“It’s fun to see you use your intelligence to put on a show. My dear Tsukasa always liked that about you despite how much worried him that would be the reason you become lonely.”
“My grandfather can be at peace, Ukyo will never stop being my friend even if he works in the deepest of the sea and my career is going well, I'm going to have some live shows in different parts of the country,” he brought the kettle with boiling water and a box he carried in his backpack. “I brought macaroni from that pastry shop in Tokyo that you love so much.”
“I already told you to stop trying to convince me to go to Tokyo with your mother.”
“I'm sorry. Understand my mother, she is worried that you alone must take care of this huge house, there could be an emergency and we will be far away to react in time.”
“This is my home,” she sighed wistfully, just as she did when her late husband's name was pronounced. “Here I lived the best years of my life, here we raised our children, and here Tsukasa died, so I will die in this place too.”
The gloomy tone of the conversation plus the tiredness in his grandmother's voice made Gen a little uneasy.
It was as if she was saying goodbye.
Maybe it was a matter of age, as she said before, she was tired and missed her husband, the logical thing was to start putting things in order before leaving for the afterlife. However, the ominous feeling of having met Nanami Sai was something that he could not get rid of, and believe that he found his brother right in that place…
“A moment ago, I noticed you were a little scared,” Gen changed the subject. “Is everything going well around here? Is no one stalking you?”
Minami was silent.
“In my room, there is a hairdresser where I have some jewelry, please look in the last drawer, hidden to the back among the old kimonos there is a black wooden box, bring it please.”
“Yeah…”
Grandma Shishio was never the most spoiled in the world, she did not usually give many gifts and did not have the memories of her life hidden out there, the whole family at some point had seen her albums with the newspaper clippings of the most interesting reports in which she worked during her life, at home she had pictures everywhere documenting her long life. So, if it wasn't a gift, some personal photographs to show, or something about his work, Gen was curious to know what he would have in that box.
Next to her bed, in the hairdresser she told him was an old photograph of her and Grandpa Tsukasa, they must have been barely twenty years old, he was holding the boxing championship belt and she interviewed him observing him with real adoration without giving importance to the cameras on them. Their first photo together was over sixty years ago in the past and around them was all the life they built together.
Each object in that house told a story, the photographs, the jewelry, even the white kimono kept in the closet was of their wedding and then worn by Gen's mother when she got married.
Gen wanted to build something like that.
If he had something like that he would also want to die there, in peace, just like Grandpa Tsukasa. Just as his grandmother wanted to do.
He shook the wooden box carefully; it sounded like paper without much else. Gen grimaced, there was a point in trying to guess what it was, because maybe it would only make sense in the hands of his grandmother, who, again, seemed a little nervous.
“Is this where you keep my mother's real birth certificate?” he tried to joke, and in response, his grandmother just gave him a resentful look.
That was a taboo subject in the Shishio household, Gen remembered the time he mentioned it to grandma Minami and she started scolding him for the mess his younger cousin left in one of the rooms as if it was him forcing him to clean up. A rather exemplary punishment for asking the wrong questions, though it didn't help.
"I never told anyone about this, not even your grandfather," she muttered, her eyes fixed on the box in his grandson's hands.
It was something that serious. Gen mentalized himself not to let his emotions show as they were in front of his grandmother, if it took her a lifetime to be able to talk about the subject, he didn't want to make her feel bad about her reluctance.
She opened the box, inside were newspaper clippings, some small notebooks, a very old and damaged camera, manuscripts made on a typewriter, and many, many photographs. Photographs of different people in the morgue and murders.
Well, that wasn't that strange. During her time as a reporter Minami covered all kinds of events for the newspapers in which she worked, one night she came to tell him and his cousins how she was involved in the case of a serial killer to teach them not to talk to strangers. Or wish knowing those experiences would have served Gen well, at least to keep him from churning his stomach.
“In the late fifties and early sixties, I noticed the similarities in different murders that occurred throughout Japan, the victims did not have a single thing in common, nor their ages, genders, or occupations; nothing. The crimes occurred with weeks, months, even years of difference between each one; except for the most important detail, his cause of death was a hypovolemic shock.”
“Loss… of blood?” Gen asked in amazement when he saw the unpleasant photograph of a beautiful girl with pink hair on a bed, so calm that she seemed asleep in an unperturbed peace, without a single drop of blood on the white sheets framing it.
“Blood loss in very varied conditions.”
Among the photographs, Gen found that of a young boy on the ground with a terrible expression of terror on his face. Some like him seemed to suffer long before his death, while others only passed away in their dreams in complete peace. Looking at some of the images, there was everything, including some erotic scenes of people and even couples of opposite genders or the same gender in hotels, naked and with clean wounds.
There were also some police reports, too short, limiting themselves to narrating what happened without even establishing a suspect.
“They never caught the culprit.”
“I found the culprits,” Minami said with a vague smile proud of herself, snorting afterward. “It also doesn't matter because that doesn't change anything.”
Her trembling hands went to a closed handle with a red rope around it, she took the tip with intentions of untangling it, seriously posing it to herself in silence. In the end, she chose to simply hand it over close to her grandson.
“This is the only photograph I have found of them, the only one that exists of them.”
The intrinsic weight of the envelope was palpable to Gen, the fears Minami accumulated for more than sixty years were locked there, and a dark premonition hung over Gen.
It didn't make sense for Sai Nanami's image to come to his mind.
Repeating that he was becoming paranoid about an unimportant event, he hurried to open the envelope, wondering if his grandmother put so many knots in order to avoid ever opening it for mere leisure.
His blood froze when he saw the sad eyes portrayed in that old photograph.
“They are…”
"The Nanami brothers."
He didn't dare to name them, fearing that somehow might make them feel more present in the room.
The photograph was much older compared to what his grandmother used to have, it could even go through museum pieces, the outfits, and the photo studio, everything was from another era.
Sai Nanami, on the contrary, had not changed one bit.
He went through every part of his face, trying in vain to find some difference between that heartbroken face he watched closely just a few hours ago. His brother was the same as well.
"When I met them, they used false names, it is possible that they still use them; I had a hard time finding their real names. The blonde one is Ryusui Nanami and next to him is his older brother, Sai Nanami.
All that had to be an exaggeratedly elaborate joke, Gen observed every detail in the melancholic and dejected gesture of his grandmother. He knew her all his life, depending on the seriousness of the lies she tell herself by frowning or squeezing her lips; she frowned when told him that the video game in the basement was not his birthday present a few days before, and she pressed his lips when told them that Grandpa Tsukasa did not have cancer.
At the time she wasn't lying. No matter how impossible what she was telling him was, there was not one iota of doubt in his words.
“¿¡1907!?” he exclaimed everything that was written on the back of the photograph.
"My research led me to them in 1962 and they still looked exactly the same. I think if I were to see them once again, they wouldn't have changed one bit either. You have seen them too, just when you arrived here. That's true?”
Gen passed saliva harshly before answering, his throat was dry and an ominous cold on his back.
"For the first time, just tonight," he spoke slowly. “Sai Nanami came to me.”
"The one with black hair?" He waited for his grandson to nod. “That's strange, Sai never showed interest in anyone, we didn't even crosswords beyond what was necessary for those years.”
"Do they know that you have this?" Gen questioned by putting the photograph back in the envelope.
"Ryusui gave it to me, I always wondered why, if this is the ultimate proof I needed to reveal to the world about his inhuman nature," she sighed. “After that, the brothers disappeared and the murders stopped, I continued to investigate, but my efforts were useless, I never knew what use the blood extracted from their victims had or their reasons for choosing the victims.”
"Did you never show this to anyone? Not even the authorities?”
“I was afraid of being taken for crazy. Maybe that's why Ryusui gave it to me, he knew that I was unable to reveal the truth” she sighed and went back into the wooden box, sliding it slowly in front of Gen. “I always knew that I had to give you this truth, no one like you to take advantage of what is within their reach for their benefit.”
Again she spoke as if she was saying goodbye, Ryusui's presence on the street outside the house a few hours ago took on a new meaning for Gen gradually, causing the air to weigh on his lungs.
"I hoped you would never meet them or be forced to confront them," she continued. “I'm at the end of my life and they know it, they may want to get my head back, but I can't leave them; I must leave you a way to protect yourself.”
Alarms began to echo in Gen's head, somehow he had brought Ryusui back to Minami's life, if anything happened to him it would be completely his responsibility.
"You don’t have to be left unprotected, you have been found, but we can still return to Tokyo, in such a large city it will take years to find you," he said, pushing away the wooden box, almost getting up from his seat because of the haste swirling inside.
"No," she replied calmly. “I never hid from them; I remained a public figure because I wasn't afraid of them. If they appear in front of me, it will be to solve all the questions that remained pending sixty years ago.”
Gen opened his mouth to protest and closed it immediately, analyzing his options first. Shishio Minami lay in peace under the soft light of his living room, in the place where she was happy, if Gen looked around he could see why she felt her life was completed, she worked tirelessly accumulating an immensity of fascinating stories, educated his children, pampered his grandchildren and loved with all his strength the husband who first undertook his departure from that world and the melancholy of those times did not leave the woman's eyes at no time since then.
That situation didn't seem like a farewell, it was a farewell.
He held back the tears in his eyes thinking as quickly as he could about what he should do, his duty as a family member was to ensure the welfare of his beloved grandmother, his mother trusted that he was able to convince her to go live with her where she would take care of her until the last of her days. But, as a person, he could not fail Minami Shishio either, if she wanted to stay in her home until the end and if she wanted to see Ryusui Nanami again to reveal his mysteries as her last two wills then she was deserving of making them come true.
If anyone understood stubbornness, it was Gen Asagiri.
"Thank you," he said in a broken voice, revealing that he was not just referring to confession. “I will make good use of this.”
"You were never the best of my grandchildren," Minami raised her face as if she scolded him. “But you were always my favorite and I'm proud of you.”
She opened her trembling arms and Gen went to hug her, lovingly kissing her wrinkled forehead, appreciating the woman's affection and comfortable place as part of a whole.
He was going to miss her.
That night, after Gen left for his hotel, Minami brushed her hair, put on a long white dress, and went out into the garden to see her old photo album, waiting.
“Do you have photographs of your wedding there? I would like to see you, Minami Hokutouzai.”
Hundreds of years could pass and Ryusui would not change at all, his youthful face, his smile full of mischief, his way of dressing so elegant; he was still the same as the last time she saw him. When she was young that beautiful and careful appearance gave her chills, at that time it added to the melancholy already permanent in her thoughts.
“Now I'm Minami Shishio, from my name you can see how much I have changed.”
"Of course, you are much more breathtaking than last time," he smiled like the gentleman he really was, barely showing the tip of his fangs.
“That's what you say to all women.”
“Because all women are beautiful, and they are so much more when the natural path of human life passes through them. You worked tirelessly, loved with your whole being, and created new lives without losing the shape of your soul, that's why I always loved you.”
"That's what you told about everyone," she repeated, being as difficult to conquer as when she was young.
"Because I desire everyone," he squeezed out his greedy smile.
In response, Minami became more serious.
"That's why you murdered so many people?"
Ryusui also calmed his gesture, from his place he could see inside the house. Not to check if there was anyone, but rather out of pure curiosity. Minami knew that he was able to feel people accurately, he was always aware of whether Tsukasa was close to them to stay and disturb him.
"They gave me their blood willingly," he replied without sorrow.
"There's no way for a person to do that.
“That's right, you know I'm not a human being.”
"That's clear.
“By drinking a person's blood until his death his soul becomes part of mine, all the people I murdered live through me, I fulfill the desires that they could not achieve in life.”
It was sixty years old, since she discovered that photograph, waiting for an explanation capable of surpassing the natural limits of the human being. It wasn't even a surprise for her to know the fate of the victims' blood, yet his explanation far surpassed what she was able to imagine.
“Prove it.”
“You'll remember Hyoga and Homura, the couple you started the whole investigation for.”
“Yes.”
“We could look for a gym to show you that I am now able to emulate Homura's routine or maybe go to my mansion in Tokyo so you can see the incredible technique I inherited from Hyoga with kudayari.”
“Not only has your appearance not changed, but neither has your personality, Ryusui.”
He laughed out loud.
"They tell me that all the time," he confessed, chest up, proud of himself. “The best proof I can offer you now is the knowledge of the lives of both, but surely that anyone would have investigated, then, let me confirm for you they were not believers in genetic determinism as everyone thought, they did think that there were some human beings better than others, but not only because of genetics, that hard work and mentality made the human great.
Minami snorted, when she interviewed relatives, especially Hyoga's parents seemed to be worried that their son was involved in some kind of racial supremacy, although she did not give that impression. In the end, she seemed to be right.
“They were both fascinated with my immortality, so they took the step to become part of my being. They live in me.”
That was the truth, Minami knew it despite barely being able to believe it.
"Are there others like you?"
"No, despite having searched for them throughout the world, it seems that we are only my older brother and me.
"Since the beginning of time?"
“For almost two hundred years, we were human beings like anyone else until the event that turned my brother into this.”
“Was it Sai Nanami who started it all? Why?”
Ryusui clenched his lips as soon as his older brother's name came off Minami's lips, remaining abnormally quiet and coming to look doubtful as if just thinking about it, gave him a bitter taste in his mouth.
He could reveal all his secrets, but not those of his older brother, Minami understood and respected that.
“I will not dwell on the subject. On the contrary, I will give you some advice: it is better for you if you stay away from Gen Asagiri, the boy with the uneven haircut. He already knows everything I could tell him about you and is the most ingenious person you have dealt with in your immortal lives, he will know how to use it in your cons if you try to hurt him.”
Again, the answer took time to arrive, in the form of a smile that was gradually expanding.
“Don't worry about him. If anything, he is now safer than ever.”
“Your brother has set his eyes on him,” she replied, implying that Gen told him about their short encounter.
“Not intending to devour him, I assure you of that. Sai would rather feed on rats and snakes or seek his own death before allowing anything, especially himself, to hurt him.”
“I think it's too much for a person he'd just met.”
“My older brother is a very emotional person; he has never murdered a human being.”
“I know what kind of person he is, he never showed interest in absolutely anyone and seemed absorbed in himself; unlike you who manage to hide well among human beings, he always raised my suspicions about his supernatural origin.”
“Nor has it changed so much compared to when I was a human being, he just attracts a little more attention. Our supernatural origin activates the survival instinct of people causing them to perceive us as a danger, attracting their attention. Of course, in the end, it backfires on you, I guess animal intuition is overtaken by human curiosity.”
“It makes sense, I had no real reason to be suspicious of you, I just didn't like how I felt around you and that made me investigate you.”
"I bet Tsukasa Shishio hated me too, right?"
“Of course.”
“How bad, he couldn't feel how much I desire him”
“On the contrary, he was well aware of it.”
“It's a shame, as much as his passing. I would have liked to see him for the last time here with you, to admire the beauty he must have gained over the years.”
“He never stopped being beautiful to me either,” Minami sighed, feeling again like an eighteen-year-old teenager in love with that fighter.
Thinking of the sky as the metaphorical concept of heaven, Ryusui looked up at the few stars that could be seen in the city, no less wonderful.
“I don't know if there is anything beyond, I just know that both will return, human souls always find a way to return.”
“Do you mean being reborn?” She asked with her eyes shining with sudden hope.
"Yes. You will come back and maybe you can meet Tsukasa; the number of possibilities is endless.
He handed him something very precious to destroy right after. Minami grimaced.
"Isn't it certain that we will meet again?"
“Some people take longer than others to return, depending on their actions in life they might not even return as human beings until much, much later.”
The woman began to understand why many people voluntarily agreed to merge their souls with Ryusui’s.
“Anyone will accept to be devoured by you if you give them hope of meeting their loved ones again,” she understood, although her voice was more like a reproach.
“Or to stay together.”
There was another silence between them, barely interrupted by the sound of some cars walking in the distant streets. Minami was thinking very well about what she was going to say and Ryusui would give her all the time in the world to be sure of her decision.
After all, accepting that it was time to die was never easy.
“I will give you my blood,” Minami accepted in as firm a voice as she could. “If you promise that we will look for Tsukasa together.”
"And then?"
“We will do whatever it takes for him to agree to join us.”
Ryusui snorted amusedly, squeezing out a smile that could be identified as malevolent, but at that point, Minami could say she understood it perfectly well. It was excitement.
“After two lifetimes of trying, you could be the one to finally change my losing streak.”
“I always knew you wanted something with him, I couldn't blame you and at the same time I hated you.”
"It was impossible not to desire Tsukasa!" he excused himself between a few slight laughs that he stopped to look Minami directly in the eyes. “Is there anything else you should leave in order?”
“No,” she sighed, looking at the sky as if she were looking for her husband in it, asking him to return soon to meet again and not let anything separate them anymore. “My adventure as Shishio Minami is over here, and all that remains is to go back to find the love of my life and make sure your older brother doesn't hurt my dear grandson.”
“Then let's set off for your next big trip, Minami Shishio.”
Like a gallant gentleman he stretched out a hand to receive the old woman’s, feeling her calm pulse in each of his senses every second more aware of the woman's life, like the hunter he really was. Willing to accompany her gently until her last moment, both thinking about the wonderful story that was her life and the incredible journey that was about to continue once it was extinct.
The absolute darkness in which the living room of the Nanami mansion was beginning to dispel as dawn approached, Sai could feel it even with his eyes closed, the terrifying Sun about to illuminate the world full of light and life that he could never witness again.
The world to which Gen.
Gen…
Despite the closed doors, the brick walls and the remoteness, Sai heard the unmistakable walk of his younger brother down the street, as well as the smell of fresh blood raising the perception of his surroundings and altering his tranquility, reminding him that he was more a predator and less the human being of three hundred years in the past.
He opened his eyes to see his brother entering through the front door, physically it was his Ryusui, but the shape of his soul blurred behind him into a stunning blonde woman with a mischievous smile. Sai known her, about sixty years old in the past, the reporter to whom Ryusui gave the only photograph of them as a sign of his confidence and to leave an indelible mark on her memories.
What a good time to relive unfinished business.
"Don't look at me like that, it was Gen Asagiri who guided me to her," he explained with a smile more flirtatious than shameless.
With a grimace Sai followed his younger brother, noticing through Ryusui's slight swaying how well his soul was merging with Minami's. He remained patiently silent until he reached the one where the coffins in which they were to hide from the deadly Sun. Resting in a coffin on the earth in which he was born was the only thing that gave him enough energy to be able to stay awake.
Ryusui sat cross-legged on his own coffin and smiled at him.
"Through the memories etched in Shishio Minami's soul, I was able to learn more about him than if I had followed him to the hotel where he is staying.”
"So?" He asked in his hoarse voice.
“Gen Asagiri is the one you have been waiting for these one hundred years”