Prologue | The Demon Dreams Of Fire

“Yuuyake koyake…”
 The cracked disaster broadcast echoed through the air.
That melancholic tune signaled the coming of sunset—and gently warned the people.

The time has come for humans to be devoured.
 Return home before you can’t.

A girl listened absentmindedly as the melody melted into the dusk.

She looked down upon a town glittering like a polished Go board—her feet stepping on red stains soaking into the cobblestones.

“Nadeshiko… Gokumon Nadeshiko.”

Her name was called by a man in a casual kimono, and the girl—Gokumon Nadeshiko—turned around.

She was an incredibly beautiful girl.

She looked about sixteen or seventeen. Her milk tea-colored hair brushed her back, and her eyes were a clear, vivid red. A small hair clip shaped like a nadeshiko flower adorned her head. She wore a sailor-style school uniform, her porcelain-like skin glowing.

That doll-like face was now tinted with a strange and sinister red.

“So you weren’t human after all… but a beast?”

“…That’s a terrible thing to say.”

Nadeshiko wiped the red off her face with a finger and, with an annoyed expression, brought it to her lips.

“I tried to make it clean… but…”

She looked around as her tongue played with her bloodied fingertips.

They stood on the outskirts of Kyoto—Mount Imibi, near the old execution grounds of Toribeno. A gloomy, ancient forest long feared as the haunt of demons. Humans never dared enter.

A forgotten transmission tower in this place had just finished broadcasting its message and now stood silent behind her.

“It can’t be helped. This one really put up a fight.”

Where Nadeshiko pointed, strange remains were scattered on the ground. A shattered horn. Six crushed eye sockets. Four torn arms. All indicating that the thing had once been something supernatural.

“Like a damn stray cat… You really are uncouth.”

The man in the kimono clicked his tongue and slowly stepped out from the shadows of the trees.

—With each movement, he made a sound like dry leaves rustling.

“I told you to ‘clean up the local monster.’ Not to make a mess.”

He had long brown hair and dim gray eyes. Tall and imposing, his neck obsessively wrapped in bandages.

The left half of his face was hidden behind numerous paper talismans.

Rustle, rustle, rustle—they fluttered without wind as he spoke.

“How many times have I told you—if nothing else, act human.”

“What a way to talk to me, Kirihito… If you’re done, could you leave?”

Lightly glaring at him—Gokumon Kirihito—Nadeshiko crouched down. She began to collect the dismembered parts of the beast swiftly and skillfully.

“Unfortunately, I do have business with you.”

“Oh, dear… If it’s a boring topic, I won’t forgive you.”

“Hmph… What if I said you could eat for free?”

“I’d eat.”
She spun around sharply, making Kirihito smirk with a twitch of his lips.

“Good. Then I’ve got the perfect offer for a glutton like you.”

He thrust a letter into her hands.

It was a refined envelope. The addressee, written in flowing but shaky handwriting, read:

“To Gokumon-sama.”

“How curious… Someone went through the trouble to write me a letter?”

Nadeshiko scanned the contents quickly. Then she brought the paper to her nose.

Instantly—her red eyes gleamed in the twilight. From her elegantly upturned lips, a hint of sharp, unnatural teeth peeked out.

“Hmm… intriguing.”

“Thought so. This one suits you perfectly.”

Kirihito sneered.

“A shady job like this is perfect for a bottom-feeding scavenger like you.”

“…That’s so rude. There’s no nobility in food, only taste. Besides, I never chose this—”

A snap of a twig—
In that instant, both members of the Gokumon family turned toward the sound like lightning.

“Oi. Don’t tell me… one of them’s still alive?”

Kirihito asked in a low voice. From behind the fluttering talismans, several eyes glinted in the dark.

Nadeshiko stepped forward wordlessly.

Like a predator stalking prey—she moved without a sound.

She peered into the bushes where the sound came from, and heard a faint gasp.
A man in hiking gear—his face pale as death—was looking up at her.

“Oh dear… Are you alright? Can you stand?”

When she offered her hand, the man swatted it away in terror.

“Don’t come near me…!”

He sprang from the bushes and bolted in desperation, disappearing into the darkness in an instant. Nadeshiko watched his back fade into the night, her hand still outstretched.

“…Don’t tell me you’re about to say something annoying like ‘he’s wounded,’ are you?”

Ignoring Kirihito’s weary words, Nadeshiko lowered her hand.

She closed her eyes, and a familiar color lit up behind her eyelids. A vivid red flame—dancing and glowing.

She knew it instinctively.
That was the color of the funeral fire.

It came back to her every time she shut her eyes. Haunting her dreams, lingering like an omen.

“…What’s the point now?”

Her whisper was carried away with the autumn wind, rustling the fallen leaves.