Dark clouds pressed over the Tsukigawa Kingdom. Rain overflowed the ditches and hammered the forest canopy.Lightning split the sky; thunder rolled through the trees.Deep in the forest, steel rang beneath the downpour.Three men hemmed in a fourth. A woman hovered at the edge of their fight, reaching toward them and drawing back whenever a weapon flashed.“Brothers! I beg you, stop this fight—let him go!” The woman looked barely forty, though she was much older. Her plea vanished beneath another clash of steel.“Little sister! If you won’t help us, keep quiet and stop taking his side!” snapped an elderly man in his nineties, rain flattening his few remaining strands of white hair.“Little sister, let them come!” said the seventy-year-old man they had cornered. He tightened his grip on his sword. “There’s no way out of this without killing each other.”“You’re right! But we’ll let you live as long as you’re willing to hand over the Book of the Demons of Hell to us,” said another man.“

“What’s that noise? Why is it so noisy? Am I already in the afterlife?”Kazan could faintly hear distant laughter and conversation.He blinked. A pale green curtain hung beside the bed.“Do beds like these exist in the afterlife too?” Kazan wondered, looking around.Shortly afterward, he heard a door open. Kazan, who was still lying down, turned his head and saw a beautiful woman in her late twenties enter, carrying something in her hand.Her luxurious red dress had a floral pattern along the hem, like a garment worn by wealthy nobles.“Is this what they call an angel? Why do her face and body look just like an ordinary human’s?” he wondered.“You’re finally awake. I thought it might take longer! Son, what’s your name?” she asked with a gentle smile, setting down a ceramic basin of the sort nobles owned.She dipped a cloth into the warm water, wrung it out, and reached toward him.“Son? Why is she calling me ‘son’?” Kazan raised his hand and saw that his palm had shrunk to the size of

“Son, what’s your real name?” asked Enjou after finishing dinner.“My name is Shinra Kazan, sir!” He kept his voice small and gave his real name.His master and four fellow disciples were dead; he had had no news of his father since being thrown out at seven.For fifty-five years, strangers had seen only his mask. No one here would connect a five-year-old’s face with the elderly Demon Mask.“Shinra Kazan! Do you remember the name of your village?” Enjou asked again.Kazan just shook his head, pretending to have forgotten his village.“Do you remember why you were with the old woman who kidnapped you, and how she died?”Kazan realized Enjou was questioning him about his past. When asked about Aira, he pretended to be afraid.“You’re scaring him, Enjou!” his wife said, approaching Kazan and hugging him to calm him down.“Kazan! If you can’t remember where your village is, stay here and be part of our family. Once you remember, I’ll take you back to your parents!” Enjou said.Kazan just n

“Miss, I’d like to buy some rice wine—please pour it into this jar!” said the old man.Kenzou initially noticed the old man but didn’t recognize him, so he went back to enjoying his snack.Shortly afterward, their main dishes arrived, and they all began eating.“Eat plenty, Young Master,” Kanezawa said. “We still have the forest to cross. We may have to stay there tonight if we can’t reach Tsukihara before dark.”Kenzou glanced over briefly, then calmly returned to his meal. As he was enjoying his food, the old man spoke again, this time addressing Kazan rather than the servant.“Are you really just a little kid, like you look?”Kazan was startled.Kenzou set down his cup. The old man’s question had come too close to the secret he was trying to protect.“Sorry, Grandpa, he’s just a kid, and this boy is my student!” Kenzou replied.Kazan immediately knelt down, bowed to the old man, and spoke to him.“Greetings! My name is Shinra Kazan!”“Kazan…? Hmm…! Ah, never mind. I thought you were

Surprised, Kenzou inquired, “Are you sure? You might be wrong!”Kazan nodded and then recounted what he had heard.“If everything you said is true, that means the village chief must be in danger—I have to get there right away!” said Kenzou. He tried to leave, but Kazan held his hand.“Young Master, if you’re afraid, you should stay in Daigo’s room,” Kenzou said, trying to lead him there.Kazan shook his head, leaving Kenzou confused.“Young Master, I can’t just sit idly by here while the village chief is in danger!” said Kenzou.Kenzou looked toward Daigo’s door, mistaking the grip on his hand for a child’s fear of being left alone.“Teacher! Mom once said that if wolves are watching our sheep, we shouldn’t wait for them to attack. Shouldn’t we go to their den first and frighten them away?” Kazan asked.“Yes… of course we have to go to the wolves’ den—that is, if we even know where it is!” said Kenzou.“But don’t you already know where their den is, Teacher?” Kazan asked, feigning inno