Returning that smile, Ciel would give a nod, beginning to walk with Minato back home, hand in hand.
"Yes, perhaps it's time I took a break, at least for tonight, and be able to enjoy some dinner with you. It'll be my treat this time. How about that, Minato-kun?" She inquired, her free arm carelessly swaying back and forth in the cool air.
She was certainly going to need this break soon, for the next time she saw Arcueid, she was really going to get it...
- - -
Now that the night is over...
As the spirit of Kouma Kishima continued to wander through the forest, his being began to give way. With his reason for existing now gone, the young child that he had spared now nothing like he had envisioned, there was no more reason to keep on living in this world. Perhaps that was why the "real" Kouma Kishima, wherever he was, decided to keep hidden from the world, living out his life until he would die, taking his cursed bloodline with him.
Now that the dream is over...
As his body gradually turned to light like that of a crude pixie, the spirit could only wonder if the change that the boy had made was for the better. He knew that Kiri Nanaya had abandoned the clan in hopes that his son would be able to forge his own path in life, but it seemed that even without being a member of the Nanaya, death and violence followed the boy everywhere.
Now that the day is returned...
But even so, he could only speculate how the boy's choices in the future would affect his future.
After all, if he couldn't decide a way to live outside of sacrifices, sorrow, and death, then he would simply have to cease to exist. And with that, reap even more sorrow from those that cared for him.
That was the law of the jungle after all. The weak of spirit perish, and the strong live.
There is no more need of a demon such as Crimson Red Vermilion.
And with that, the demon had been vanquished by the day's sun. His body had disappeared, and with it, his consciousness. And thus, the faker of "Kouma Kishima" ceased to be forever.
- - -
"Come on, Len. We don't have time to waste. If we linger for any longer, then who knows what weird animals will attack us in this godforsaken forest?"
"..."
"Y'know, like... I dunno, bears?"
"..."
"Yes, I know bears don't live in Japanese forests, it was just a... Ugh, whatever. Come on already."
As for Shiki Tohno, he continued to wonder what Kishima's words meant. Somehow, it had seemed that the man had an inkling of knowledge on what Shiki was looking for, but seemed to relent that only he was allowed to find out for himself. After all, this was his life. He was the only person who was allowed to determine what happened in this life. This world.
If nothing else, he at least had a better idea of what he was looking for now. Ever since Yumizuka's first death, he would have lost the will to live entirely had he not forgotten about it through sheer force of will, and even then, he was still at square one; back when he had believed that dying was no big deal. That "just living was enough." Little did he know how he had misinterpreted Sensei's words all that time. It was precisely that life was precious that you had to preserve it as best that you can.
And so, ironically, after the death of his next lover, Mikasa, it seemed to have the opposite effect, rejuvenating him with a new sense of purpose in life. A reason to live, a reason to fight, a reason to exist. But now... even with the death of the Arch Demon, it had seemed that the Murder Games were destined to last after the fact. And so, Shiki promised that he would continue the path that he went down. So he had trained hard under Sensei's teachings, training in her strange martial arts, testing his physical limits, all that, in the event that if any other sort of evil would appear, he would be ready.
But... It was in those moments between fighting that he didn't know how to live. He lived to fight, but he didn't know how to live in the first place. Either because he had forgotten, or because he had finally realized he never knew in the first place.
So that was what he had to discover, whether he realized it or not.
He may have had an idea on
why he continued to live, but he was not sure
how he'd continue.
Little did he know that the answer would be waiting for him at the other end of the forest.
Chapter 5 - End
