Aki's breathing was still uneven when the smell of blood riding the night wind sharpened his gaze.
He spotted the dark pool of blood on the balcony floor.
He followed the stains up to the railing. Clumps of dried red clung to the metal, glinting under the moonlight.
He grabbed the railing and leaned out. Blood streaked both sides of the wall below.
The left side was scattered and already clotting. The right side was much fresher and thicker.
Following the fresher trail, he looked toward the nearest building—a simple two-story rental across the slanted street.
Eight units. Seven still had their lights on. One had gone dark before eight.
"Sleeping this early?"
---
Across the street, a piece of purple flesh clung to the top of the wall, held in place by four hooked barbs. It crept carefully in the shadows.
A streetlamp lit the road, and next to it lay a small empty lot beside the two-story rental.
Above the purple hide, two tiny holes stared intensely at the darkened room. The larger hole opened and closed as it spoke:
"You mangy lackey! You ruined me this badly, and now you're living all comfortable and carefree? I'm furious—furious!"
"I swear, I'll make you suffer worse than death! I'll squeeze every last drop of pain out of your miserable life!" the Pain Devil wailed.
It was deeply aggrieved. The one it wanted was less than thirty meters away, yet it might as well have been on the other side of a canyon.
A damned cat and mouse kept darting across the road. In its weakened state, bumping into either one might send it back to Hell.
After sulking for a moment, it decided to head to the empty lot first before making its way to the apartment.
On the sixth pass of the cat and mouse, the Pain Devil shook its four barbs and made a break for it.
Tap tap tap tap.
It crawled quickly, its tiny eyes on high alert. It crossed the street in seconds and climbed up the stone wall toward the lot.
Meow!
A sudden yowl made it jump. It flattened itself against the wall to stay hidden from the light.
Fortunately, the black cat didn't notice it—too busy playing with the mouse again.
"Damn cat. You could've caught it ages ago, but you keep playing around. Just wait—once I recover, I'll make you suffer worse than death! I'll drain you dry!"
The Pain Devil vowed again.
Tap tap tap tap.
It scrambled over the wall and dropped into the lot.
The lot was small, only a few dozen square meters. Three stacked concrete pipes, a large tree, and an old streetlamp stood inside it.
The lamp flickered weakly.
Tap tap tap tap—
"Holy—!!" The Pain Devil practically leapt backward.
"What the hell is that?!"
Two upright shapes stood in the darkness beyond the lamp's glow like gravestones.
The Pain Devil crept closer.
It was a corpse.
A girl's corpse.
She had been torn completely in half and placed upright.
The two halves were spaced apart. The upper half faced the lower half, hands folded peacefully over her chest, eyes closed.
Her organs were scattered in a neat display between the two halves.
A single piece of cardstock rested on top.
The Pain Devil glanced at her face—she was surprisingly cute.
It nudged the card under the light.
It was a University of Tokyo acceptance letter, once pale beige, now soaked through with blood.
"Kudo Tomomi?"
A new idea flickered instantly.
"I'll fuse with this girl and become a fiend." The purple mass curled into a wicked smile.
"I'll use this body to seduce that mangy lackey. He'll fall completely in love with me, and then I'll dump him and make him suffer for the rest of his life!"
The Pain Devil trembled with excitement, body writhing as it shifted into pre-fusion mode.
It turned away, scraped its barbs across the ground like a bull preparing to charge, then hurled itself toward the girl's body.
Right then—
A mouse darted past.
And a black cat leapt high into the air.
Thud.
Devil and cat slammed straight into each other.