After school, Yui Yuigahama, as usual, headed to the Faculty Office in a light and cheerful mood to visit Teacher Reika Kitami. She couldn't wait to share the joy in her heart with the teacher who had always cared for her.
"Teacher Kitami!" Yui Yuigahama pushed open the office door, her face beaming with an irrepressible smile. "I have great news for you! Kanjuro... my Papa, and I, we made up! He admitted that I am his daughter!"
Like a cheerful little bird, she chirped about the events of the morning, recounting Kanjuro's gentle promise and the satisfaction and happiness of finally having paternal love.
However, the expected look of relief from Teacher Kitami did not appear. Instead, when Reika Kitami heard the address "Papa Kanjuro," her face suddenly turned pale and rigid. Her fingers, gripping the pen, tightened slightly until her knuckles turned white.
She looked up, her gaze complex as she looked at Yui Yuigahama. That look was filled with unspeakable shock, worry, and even a hint of... fear?
"Yui..." Kitami's voice was dry, carrying a subtle tremor. "Don't... don't you know what Kanjuro did before? Why... why would you still acknowledge him and call him Papa?"
Yui Yuigahama froze for a moment, then shook her head vigorously, her smile still bright but carrying undeniable conviction: "I know you worry about me, Teacher! But that's all in the past! The Papa Kanjuro now is genuinely good to me, the way he looks at me is gentle, and he promised to come back often to see Mom and me! I... I finally have a Papa, Teacher Kitami, I'm so happy!"
Watching her pure, unadulterated joy, Reika Kitami's heart felt as if it were tightly squeezed by an icy hand, aching intensely. She opened her mouth, and the nightmarish fragments of memory buried deep within her surged forward, almost bursting past her throat.
(You don't know... you don't know anything...)
(That man... that Devil...)
Before her eyes, she seemed to see the dark, damp basement from many years ago, permeated with the scent of blood and desire. The flickering candlelight illuminated countless twisted, overlapping figures, and Kanjuro, the man as handsome as a deity and as cruel as a devil, stood at the center of the ritual. He was engaged in chaotic and blasphemous relations with hundreds of women... many of whom were indeed "daughters" who shared his blood, just like Yui Yuigahama. This was not merely to satisfy desire, but to complete some dark contract with an entity of the abyss.
And Reika Kitami herself had once been one of those women drawn like moths to a flame. She had naively believed she was special, Kanjuro's true love, until she discovered she was merely a candidate on the list of sacrifices. Kanjuro could gently possess her while calmly calculating how to use her life and soul to gain greater power. The pain of being completely exploited, betrayed, and falling from grace into hell, she remembered vividly to this day.
She understood Kanjuro better than anyone. She understood the emptiness and cruelty beneath his eternal life, and his wicked pleasure in viewing all beings as toys, especially enjoying dragging those close to him into the mire.
(He's good to you?)
(Of course he'll be good to you!)
(Because you are the freshest, most interesting toy! Because watching you sink into the illusion of paternal love, and then seeing your desperate collapse when you finally discover the cruel truth, will bring the greatest amusement to his stagnant life!)
These words tumbled on Reika Kitami's tongue, almost escaping her lips. But looking at Yui Yuigahama's bright eyes, filled with complete trust and dependence on her father, she ultimately swallowed them back, powerless.
She knew that nothing she said right now would get through to Yui Yuigahama. The child was completely fooled by the sugar-coated shell of "paternal love," and any accusation against Kanjuro would sound like malicious slander to her, only pushing her further away.
A deep sense of exhaustion and despair enveloped Reika Kitami. She felt as if she could already foresee the sight of Yui Yuigahama heartbroken, devastated, and her beliefs collapsing one day in the future.
She gave a bitter smile, a look uglier than crying. She reached out and gently patted Yui Yuigahama's shoulder, her movement somewhat stiff, her voice hoarse, as if all her strength had been drained:
"...Is that so... If you're happy... that's good."
She said nothing more, quietly lowered her head, and fiercely suppressed the surging emotions back into her heart. Some abysses must be fallen into personally to know how dark they are. And she seemed unable to do anything except watch helplessly from the side, waiting for the inevitable tragedy to unfold.
Yui Yuigahama noticed Teacher Kitami's unusual reaction, and a flicker of doubt crossed her mind, but it was quickly washed away by the immense feeling of happiness. She simply assumed the teacher was overly worried about her and didn't dwell on the heavy meaning behind that complex gaze.
She happily bid farewell to Teacher Kitami and left the office with light steps, heading towards the "home" she believed was full of warmth and love.
Reika Kitami sat alone in the office, the lingering rays of the setting sun stretching her shadow long, making her appear exceptionally lonely and desolate. She gazed in the direction Yui Yuigahama had disappeared, remaining motionless for a long time, like a frozen statue mourning the purity that was about to be lost.
The Sobu High School campus was filled with excitement due to the upcoming School Trip. After Teacher Hiratsuka Shizuka finished announcing the precautions in class, her gaze swept across the room and finally landed on Hachiman Hikigaya in the corner.
"Hikigaya," she habitually called his name, "During the School Trip, you will join the Service Club group and act together with Kanjuro, Yuigahama, and Yukinoshita."
As soon as these words were spoken, Hachiman Hikigaya reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, nearly jumping out of his chair. He waved his hands frantically, shaking his head like a rattle: "No, no, no! Teacher Hiratsuka Shizuka! I... I'm perfectly fine alone! Really! I don't need to join any group, and I definitely don't need to be with Kanjuro-kun and them!" The resistance in his tone was almost overflowing, and his dead-fish eyes clearly screamed the words "Keep your distance."
Are you kidding me? Stay with Kanjuro, that walking source of disaster and black hole of human relations? Hachiman Hikigaya still wanted to live a few more years and peacefully get through his high school life!
Kanjuro, sitting in the front row, heard this and simply tilted his head slightly, giving a gentle, harmless smile in Hikigaya's direction, as if to say, "Don't worry, I'm friendly." But to Hikigaya, that smile was more terrifying than any threat.
Yui Yuigahama also furrowed her delicate brows. Although her relationship with Yukinoshita Yukino was subtle, the "threesome" with Daddy Kanjuro was a specially meaningful space she carefully maintained, and she didn't want outsiders, especially someone as perceptive and solitary as Hikigaya, to interfere.
Hiratsuka Shizuka took in the reactions of everyone, her brow deeply furrowed. Especially the unconscious reliance and possessiveness Yui Yuigahama showed toward Kanjuro set off major alarm bells in her heart.
After class, Hiratsuka Shizuka called Yui Yuigahama to the office alone.
"Yuigahama," Hiratsuka Shizuka said sternly as she closed the office door, "regarding Kanjuro, I hope you... can keep your distance from him."
The smile on Yui Yuigahama's face instantly froze, replaced by confusion and a hint of dissatisfaction: "Why? Teacher Hiratsuka Shizuka, even you are saying this? Teacher Kitami said the same thing—why won't any of you let me be with Daddy Kanjuro?"
"Daddy... Kanjuro?" Hiratsuka Shizuka was stunned, as if she had heard something out of a fantasy. The mouthful of water she had just drunk sprayed out, making her cough repeatedly. She stared wide-eyed, watching Yui Yuigahama in disbelief. "You... you call him Daddy?! Do you know he is..."
The words reached her lips, but she forcibly swallowed them back. As she looked at Yui Yuigahama's face, which vaguely overlapped with a blurry figure from her memory, a terrible and absurd thought struck her like lightning.
(Yui Yuigahama... is Kanjuro's daughter?)
(Could her mother also be... one of those women from back then?!)
Memories from ten years ago surged forth like a tide, carrying the scent of damp darkness and blood.
At that time, she was still young and impetuous. She risked sneaking in to investigate the strange incidents related to the Occult Research Society beneath the Sobu High School Old School Building.
It was in that dusty, cobweb-filled underground space, where candlelight flickered, that she witnessed an unforgettable illusion—an illusion of events that had happened eight years ago.
—In the center of a complex and evil magic circle, Kanjuro, the youth who looked only sixteen or seventeen, was surrounded by countless fanatical, hollow-eyed women... It was a chaotic, profane, and dark ritual, a terrible contract meant to communicate with an unspeakable existence in exchange for eternal life and power.
Afterward, when she continued her investigation, although she had been warned by Teacher Kitami, she persisted. After Kanjuro discovered her, she was unfortunately dragged into it.
Amidst her resistance and struggle, she was suppressed by Kanjuro's absolute power and charm, and ultimately... forcibly assaulted by him. That was a shadow and a humiliation she could never erase in her lifetime.
She chose to remain at Sobu High School as a teacher, driven by a deep-seated obsession: to protect the innocent girls who might be charmed or deceived by Kanjuro, preventing them from repeating the tragic fate of herself and the poor women in those rituals.
But she had never imagined that Yui Yuigahama, the ordinary student she had always thought needed protection, was herself a product of that dark ritual! Her mother was likely one of the hundreds of women who had relations with Kanjuro back then!
(So... the erosion started long ago...)
(Kanjuro... you fiend... you won't even spare your own bloodline!)
Hiratsuka Shizuka's face turned pale, and her body trembled slightly. Looking at Yui Yuigahama, who was still full of dependence and fantasy regarding Kanjuro, a tremendous sense of powerlessness and rage nearly consumed her.
She opened her mouth, wanting to rip open the bloody truth, wanting to shout and tell this girl what a cold-blooded, cruel monster her so-called "father" was, treating human life like dirt! His approach to her held absolutely no good intentions!
However, looking at Yui Yuigahama's stubborn and disgruntled eyes, she knew that if she spoke now, Yui Yuigahama would never believe her, and would only regard her, the teacher, as a villain destroying her family happiness.
"...It's nothing." Hiratsuka Shizuka finally waved her hand listlessly, her voice hoarse and exhausted. "I just... hope you can protect yourself. You can leave now."
Yui Yuigahama glanced at Hiratsuka Shizuka suspiciously, finding the teacher's reaction odd, but her trust in Kanjuro prevailed. She bowed, and left the office, still full of confusion.
After the door closed, Hiratsuka Shizuka slumped onto her chair, covering her face with her hands. The setting sun streamed through the window, casting her solitary figure into a long shadow.
She thought she was the shepherd guarding the lambs, but she hadn't realized that the wolf had already infiltrated the flock, and moreover... the lamb itself carried the wolf's blood.
This confrontation seemed destined for her failure from the start. Inside the Service Club activity room, the afternoon sun streamed through the clean glass window, casting dappled light onto the wooden floor. Yukinoshita Yukino sat upright by the window, quietly reading a hardcover book, her cool demeanor blending with the surrounding tranquility.
The door was gently pushed open, and Kanjuro and Yui Yuigahama walked in one after the other. Yukinoshita Yukino lifted her head from the pages, her clear gaze falling upon the two. When she saw Yui Yuigahama practically trailing Kanjuro, with obvious intimacy and dependence on her face, her delicate brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Just a short while ago, Yuigahama, like her, had been wary of Kanjuro, the "third party" who had suddenly inserted himself between them, and there was even a subtle trend toward uniting to isolate him. How could her attitude have undergone such a drastic change in the blink of an eye?
Yui Yuigahama noticed Yukino's scrutinizing gaze. A trace of guilt and hesitation flashed across her face, but it was quickly overshadowed by an urge to share her secret. She leaned close to Yukinon, lowering her voice to a rapid whisper: "Yukinon, I'll tell you a secret... Kanjuro is actually my dad! My biological dad!"
"..." Yukinoshita Yukino's fingers gripping the book instantly tightened, causing a slight crease along the edge of the paper. She suddenly looked up, her icy blue pupils first staring in shock at Yui Yuigahama, who was clearly seeking affirmation, and then slowly turning toward Kanjuro, who stood nearby, still wearing that inscrutable smile.
Fragments of childhood memories flooded her mind. "Uncle Kanjuro," the eternally young man who occasionally visited her mother, Seiga Yukinoshita, was mysterious, elegant, and possessed a depth that transcended his apparent age. He had indeed sparked her curiosity and a vague, favorable impression. But it was this very mystery that made her always feel Kanjuro was shrouded in an impenetrable fog, harboring unknown dangers.
She had always thought Kanjuro was just a special friend of her mother's, but she never expected him to be Yui Yuigahama's... father? What did this mean? Did it mean he had a relationship with Yuigahama's mother... and also, between him and her own mother...? Yukinoshita Yukino felt a chill. She raised a hand, pressing her slender fingers against her temple, as if to suppress the turmoil in her mind. She looked at Kanjuro, her eyes filled with unspeakable disappointment and icy contempt.
"I never thought..." Her voice was crisp and cold, like ice beads dropping onto a jade plate. "Kanjuro, you... are actually this kind of person."
Faced with Yukino's direct accusation, Kanjuro didn't get angry; instead, he let out a soft laugh, which carried a nearly shameless frankness. He shrugged, his tone as casual as if discussing the weather:
"My apologies, Yukino. As you know, I'm quite a bit older than you all, so naturally, I've experienced more things." He deliberately blurred the point, downplaying his long life as merely "being older." "Yui's mother and I... did have a relationship many years ago. Now, being able to acknowledge Yui and make up for past omissions, I think that's a good thing, isn't it?"
His matter-of-fact attitude made Yukinoshita Yukino feel powerless. She knew arguing ethics and morality with Kanjuro was futile; this man possessed his own self-contained, twisted logic.
She curled her lip coldly, returned her attention to the book in her hands, and presented her profile to the two of them, adopting an attitude of cold indifference designed to keep people a thousand miles away.
"Forget it." Her voice was completely devoid of warmth. "I have no interest in delving into your complicated relationship. As long as you don't drag me into your chaotic vortex, you can do whatever you like."
This was both a warning to Kanjuro and a self-admonition—she must stay far away from this dangerous man and all the trouble he brought.
Kanjuro watched Yukino desperately trying to draw a line, and the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened, carrying a hint of imperceptible amusement.
(Not getting involved?)
(Yukinoshita Yukino, you probably don't know that from the moment you were born into the Yukinoshita family, with Seiga's blood flowing through your veins, you were destined to be unable to stand outside of this.)
He said nothing more, just gave Yukino a meaningful look, then gently told Yui Yuigahama: "Yui, let's not disturb Classmate Yukinoshita's reading."
Although Yui Yuigahama felt the atmosphere was a bit strange, she was immersed in the joy of recognizing her father and didn't think too deeply about it, nodding obediently.
The Service Club activity room returned to quietness, but a more complex and tense undercurrent silently permeated the air under the sun. Yukinoshita Yukino appeared to be concentrating on her reading, but the slightly trembling edges of the book pages exposed an inner turmoil far from the calmness she displayed on the surface.
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