Shinji slowly raised his eyes. Before him, the cold blade barely trembled, and at the end of that blade… "Daichi…" murmured Shinji, his face was taut as he started trembling uncontrollably when just before Daichi could speak… Shinji saw it. A smile only he, so close, could notice, the smile that formed on Daichi's lips, a relaxed smile as if, at last, everything he had been waiting for stood before him.
Daichi pulled himself together as his smile vanished and anger rose to his face like a mask. The shadow that had slipped along his blade was thin; it didn't burst forth with violence, it flowed seamlessly on the blade as if it had always been there.
Shinji… recognized it, a shiver ran up his spine. He had seen it before, he was certain of it, this shadow, the same one that surrounded his blade in the bar, when he reached for Dorel's neck. The same crimson dark emanating with a light heat of crimson dark.
Daichi took a step closer, his voice hard and heavy: "You betrayed us, Shinji. You betrayed this refuge and you betrayed Okami… when she extended her hand to you." It was a statement that reached Shinji like a tombstone raised in the middle of the room.
Behind Daichi, other silhouettes gathered, familiar faces he recognised as the faces of those he saw before fleeing the refuge, those he left behind before trying to prove he deserved a place alongside them.
They were all watching the scene silently with accusing looks as the silence weighed heavier than the blade itself.
Shinji felt beads of sweat form on his forehead; they slid slowly down his temple, falling to the floor with a faint sound. He didn't try to defend himself; he didn't have the strength, and deep down, he didn't have the right.
'Why…why just after I finally started believing again… in this life?'
Daichi wasn't entirely wrong; he fled and betrayed their trust. His fingers trembled slightly, but he made no move. He accepted it all: the weight of his actions, the silent judgment, even the blade pressing on his neck.
'I deserve all of this'
But before the situation could spiral further… a flash of steel cut through the air. Haruka, swift as a flame, placed her own blade against Daichi's neck, her gaze burning with a fire Shinji had never seen in her before.
"Step back, Daichi," she requested in a low voice that still held the heaviness of an unnegotiable order. Then, in a barely audible breath, Yoru stepped forward, wordless, and pressed his sword against the back of Daichi's neck as his face remained stone-cold.
Daichi didn't move; he slowly shifted his eyes from Yoru to Haruka, whom he stared at for a few seconds, and in a breath almost tinged with sadness, he murmured: "I see…" A bitter smile briefly twisted his lips. "You've chosen to betray us, too."
Haruka opened her mouth, ready to speak and explain everything, when — "Enough." The voice cracked through the air like a whip, and all eyes turned. It was Okami; she advanced through the crowd, her black coat flowing lightly behind her.
"Lower your weapons. Now," said Okami in a voice that displayed all of her cold authority on the refuge. Daichi was the first to step back, his eyes burning with cold anger, but his hand withdrew slowly, sheathing his blade in a sharp motion.
Yoru followed reluctantly, his gaze still fixed on Daichi, ready to draw again at the slightest misstep. Through the whole altercation, no aura emanated from his blade, not a single pulse or ripple in the air.
"I can't… not now," he murmured to himself. Haruka, however, remained frozen for a moment, her blade still raised as if unable to detach her instinct from her trust. "Haruka," Yoru whispered, raising his eyebrows slightly, silently urging her to let go.. She glanced at him briefly and, after one last heavy look at Daichi… she finally lowered her weapon.
As her blade brushed the scabbard…a soft glow that was neither bright nor warm, pulsed faintly.
Then, the tension in the air eased, just a fraction, but enough for Okami's voice to strike like a thunderclap: "Shinji." All eyes turned back to him when Okami took a step forward, her posture straight, authority radiating from every gesture. "Explain yourself." Shinji first lowered his eyes as the shame he had managed to get rid of found its way back to him and gripped his stomach, cold and thick.
He felt the weight of every refugee's gaze upon him, but he remembered, on the way back… he had made a promise to himself.
"No more running away from it. I have to face them, I have the face the man I once was."
He took a deep breath and slowly raised his head, his battered shoulders straightened, and in a hoarse but steady voice, he answered: "Like all of you…" before continuing, he remembered what he heard Okami say about Daichi when they were in the courtyard.
"Why is he allowed in the refuge if he wasn't reincarnated ?" thought Shinji as he continued to speak to all the refugees in the intense situation he found himself in: "Like most of you at least, I am a reincarnated one."
His voice echoed in the silence, just like his confession to Haruka and Yoru. Okami narrowed her eyes, her lips barely moved, as if whispering to herself: "So he… at least remembered that." But Shinji, standing a few meters away, heard, and despite himself, his heart leapt in his chest.
"Remembering… What does she mean? What does she know about me ?" he wanted to ask, but Okami cut him off. Raising her chin, she spoke loudly for all to hear: "Is it true?" Her piercing gaze turned to Haruka and Yoru.
Both nodded, almost in unison, their gestures were enough to convince her as Okami took a long breath, her eyes returning to Shinji. "Nevertheless…" she continued, "You endangered the refuge by running away." A murmur rippled through the crowd. "You made the task harder for those I sent on missions."
Each accusation reached Shinji in the deepest depth of his soul, but he held firm and decided this time to not lower his eyes. he planted his feet in the ground, and in a vibrant voice, he replied: "I did it…I did it because I thought I was nothing but a burden to this refuge."
His fingers trembled, but he pressed on. "If I stayed here… I would have put those who extended a hand to me in danger." His breath grew shorter, but he didn't stop; he made a promise to himself to never stop again."I couldn't live with that possibility, so I fled."
He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his flesh as the sweat reached the palm of his right hand and made his wound sting. "Without thinking. Without looking back, he raised his head even higher, his gaze clear despite the pain. "I thought I was acting for you. For the refuge." his lips trembled, but his words didn't waver. "Today… I understand I was wrong and I accept whatever consequences you deem just."
He did it, he finally did it, he was finally able to confront them, as his last words reached the furthest refugees; a man from the refuge, in his thirties, stepped forward.
"We understand you, Shinji." Then a young woman, her voice soft: "You're not alone, Shinji."
And even more voices followed that were timid at first, but grew surer as more people stepped up to relieve him from the weight on his shoulders.
"You should've talked to us…"
"You didn't have to carry this alone!"
"You shouldn't have kept it inside, Shinji…"
Each word fell like a stone lifted from his shoulders; one by one. Daichi, seeing the refugee's reaction, couldn't hide his anger. "You're all so naive. You've lived in this world, most of you, for years, and you can't see he's just trying to win your sympathy. What proof is there that he won't do it again the moment suspicion around him fades?"
Shinji, hearing Daichi's accusations, prepared to defend himself before Okami raised a hand, signaling him not to respond. "Stop, Daichi. There's no point in stoking tensions further."
"You're siding with them…" Daichi muttered through gritted teeth. Though the people of the refuge didn't seem to side with Daichi's cause, Shinji felt their gazes toward him were no longer as compassionate.
Okami ran a hand through her hair, sighing slightly; a rare sign of relenting in her. "As for you, Shinji. You would have deserved punishment," she said with an assumed weariness. She crossed her arms, scanning the crowd with a stern gaze, then she gave an almost imperceptible smile. "But… it seems they've accepted you despite everything."
A murmur of approval rippled through the assembly. Shinji felt his throat tighten, unable to speak when Okami straightened, her usual firm tone returning. She turned her steely eyes to Haruka and Yoru. "And the girl?" she asked.
A tense silence settled, which Yoru was the first to break. He briefly crossed his arms, as if to mask some unease. "She'll be put up for sale at the next slave auction," he said in a hard voice.
Shinji felt a shiver run through him. That day… The guards. The little girl and her empty gaze… He and his cowardice. It all came back to him with crushing brutality.
Okami nodded slowly. She observed Shinji for a long moment, as if weighing every fragment of his being, then, in a cutting voice: "Even if you've been accepted, Shinji…" She paused. "You'll have to prove your loyalty. Save her with Haruka and prove to Daichi and the rest of the refuge that you deserve your place among us."
Shinji's eyes, as his one last chance was given to him, turned his eyes to Haruka, who was already looking at him, with a light smile on her face, when they were interrupted by Okami.
"In three days… you'll go with her, you'll infiltrate the market, and you'll save her."
She took a step closer, looking Shinji straight in the eyes. "If you succeed…" Her gaze hardened further. "You'll have my respect." She turned her head slightly."…And that of the other refugees."
Shinji felt his breath catch as he felt a strange sensation when a smile formed on his lips.
"I'm not alone anymore, I will move forward, I will fight; for me… and for them!"