Arc III: The Truth of Memories
Chapter 10— Midnight Justice
Shinoikin folded his arms and looked across the training yard with the trademark calm of a man who had seen too many fights to be surprised by any.
"Yuzurei, you and Yusikuna are going to Japan," he said. "There's a gang robbing money and harassing women at night."
Jin Yuan listened without expression, hair moved by the evening breeze.
Jin Yuan: Hm.
Yuzurei stood, jaw clenched. "I'll go alone. I don't want any backup."
Yusikuna bounced on his heels, loud and eager. "Hey! I'll come too!"
Shinoikin shrugged. "Fine. Let him go alone."
Yuzurei gave a curt nod and walked out into the night. Jin Yuan watched him leave, eyes unreadable.
Jin Yuan (softly): He's strong. We don't need to worry.
Later, Jin Yuan returned to the small wooden house. The training had been long and brutal; his body ached in quiet places only habit could soothe. He opened the door and found Emily curled on the couch, a gentle smile on her face.
Emily: "Welcome back, Yuan."
He nodded and sat beside her. She glanced up, cheeks faintly pink.
Emily: "Do you want to rest?"
Jin Yuan: "Yeah. I'm a bit tired today."
Without hesitation, Emily reached out and guided his head gently onto her shoulder. For a single, fragile moment the cold mask around Jin Yuan's face softened — a small smile ghosting across his lips before it faded back into the familiar hollow calm.
—
Meanwhile, under the neon glow of the city far from the wooden house, Yuzurei walked the streets armed and ready. Dual katanas hung at his hips; his yellow eyes flashed with a hard joy that thrived on violence.
He rounded a corner and found exactly what the reports had described: a group of men cornering a woman, their laughter cruel and loud in the empty street.
Yuzurei's expression changed like a blade being drawn.
"…Time for blood," he breathed.
He moved before they could blink. The fight was swift, brutal, and efficient — a flurry of steel, a collapse of menace. When it ended, the street was quiet. The threat was gone.
Yuzurei turned to the woman, wiping a stray drop of rain from his blade as if it were nothing.
Yuzurei: "Oi. You better not stay out too long."
The woman's face flushed with a complicated gratitude.
Woman: "Thank you."
She hurried away, footsteps light on the pavement.
—
Back at the wooden house, Emily kept her head perfectly still as Jin Yuan lay against her. Outside, the forest breathed. Inside, a stillness settled — the kind that follows violence and small mercies alike.
Jin Yuan closed his eyes. For a heartbeat, the boy who once believed in simple kindness surfaced and then vanished again into shadow.
End of Chapter 10.