Allies vs. Enemies
The sun was rising, its rays filtered through clouds and reflecting off the city's debris. Yuzuki sat atop a large stone in the midst of the ruined bar, still smeared with blood and exhaustion. The battle was over, but he felt no relief. The weight of the fight, of loss, of destruction, seemed a constant now—a shadow he could not shake. The cold morning wind brushed his face, but he felt nothing but emptiness.
He gazed at the horizon, eyes distant, as if seeing nothing but what he had become. "Ten years. Ten years preparing for this moment. Ten years of study, training, and now… what's left of it all?" Yuzuki thought, doubt crushing his shoulders. "Was this really what I wanted? Or was it all just an illusion of power?" He no longer knew.
Yuzuki's breathing was ragged. There was no pride in victory. No joy in what he had done. The city lay in ruins, the people—by and large—had perished. He looked at the scars on his body, recalling every blow, every battle, as though there were no room left for recovery. "I can't run from this anymore. I owe them an explanation. To Father Gotier, to Akari… even to Zeke. They have the right to know what happened."
But in Yuzuki's mind, Zeke was a recent ally—someone he still did not fully trust. "Did he come to help, or did he come because he's just another piece in a larger game?" he wondered, suspicious. Zeke, until then, had shown…
No clear reason to be suspicious, but Yuzuki knew appearances were not always trustworthy.
As these thoughts consumed his mind, Mao's voice resonated in his head once more. "You will never free yourself from this, Yuzuki. What you did… Alkaraz's death… The lies… They will never see you the same way." Mao's tone was mocking, yet laced with sadistic pleasure, as if he delighted in Yuzuki's constant agony.
Yuzuki tried to ignore him, but Mao's words echoed relentlessly in his mind. "You are a monster, Yuzuki. You know it, don't you? And the others? They will never accept what you've done. They don't know the truth. They don't know of Amok. They don't know what happened when you made that pact. Do you really think they will stand by you after that?"
Mao's presence was constant, but now Yuzuki felt an even heavier burden pressing in on his thoughts. "Why does he treat me this way? Why does he care so much?" Yuzuki wondered, unsettled. "He made a pact with me…but something isn't right. He was never like this before. What is he hiding?"
Meanwhile, Amok, silent, watched the interaction between Yuzuki and Mao with intrigue. He wondered why Mao seemed to hold such deep interest in Yuzuki beyond the obvious pact. "I don't understand… Why does he treat him like that? As if there's something more between them… something unsaid." Amok thought, curiosity alight in his eyes. "Mao is doing more than simply manipulating Yuzuki. There's something else, something hidden. And Yuzuki… he's hiding something too. But what?"
Amok's watchful gaze never left Yuzuki, as if he expected a revelation. Perhaps the key to understanding this complicated bond lay closer than Yuzuki realized, but he could not see it clearly. "But what else does Yuzuki know? What did he do to get this far? To bring all this pain?"
Suddenly, the silence was shattered by footsteps. Yuzuki looked toward the horizon and saw the silhouettes of three figures approaching. Father Gotier, Akari, and Zeke were coming. They had survived the fight, but Yuzuki did not know to what extent they still trusted him.
Father Gotier spoke first, his deep voice echoing in the air: "Yuzuki… we have seen what you did. We have seen what happened in Salem. What happened to Alkaraz and Yuri… What do you have to say?" He looked at Yuzuki with a mixture of anger and despair, but also compassion. "You cannot continue hiding what you've done. If you think you can keep lying to us… we are willing to hear the truth."
Akari stared at Yuzuki with a serious expression, doubt in her eyes. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Yuzuki. You killed Alkaraz. You betrayed all of us. I don't know if I can remain by your side." The sadness in her voice was palpable, but also a sense of betrayal that could not be ignored.
Zeke, the quietest of the three, simply watched. He did not yet know everything about Yuzuki, but he felt something was wrong. He stepped forward, his stance defensive. "I… I'm new to this. But what happened here was much more than a power play. You need to explain yourself."
Yuzuki looked at his friends, now his accusers. His chest tightened as the truth at last came to light. He felt the weight of what he had done and the burden of every life he had shattered. He knew he could no longer escape. The moment of truth had arrived.
With a deep sigh, Yuzuki rose slowly, his words heavy with immense sorrow. "I know you have doubts. I know you don't understand everything, but what I did… I did not do it for pleasure. I did not do it for power. I did it because… I had to. I needed to do what I did to get here. And yes, I made a pact with Mao. But you don't know what happened… What he did. And worse, you don't know what I lost to arrive here."
Silence enveloped the group. Father Gotier, Akari, and even Zeke waited, ready to listen. But what Yuzuki would say next could be the last truth to keep them by his side—or the final lie to drive them away forever.