Akio gets up and walks downstairs, wiping his tears away and thinking to himself "I can do this...". But his inner motivational talk didn't help him, as he sighed in grief. Akio then picks up on a disturbance and hears screaming outside, running to the window to check on what was the scream about.

A Tier 3 Demon had arrived as the vessel's body was altered, with horns being visible on the person's forehead. "This should be a snack.." the Demon said as Akio then ran towards the entrance. "I need to stop this now!" Akio thought to himself as Nishiyama sees Akio running and asks him "Akio wait!" as Akio stops.

Nishiyama looked at him as Akio also looked at her, both of them having a moment of silence. That silence was then broken by Kazama telepathically telling him "Hayashi, we need you out here now!" as Akio took some thought.

"Akio..I.." Nishiyama said as her conversation cut off with screams coming from the hallway nearby. Akio then said to Nishiyama "Go hide" as she shook her head saying "I'm not leaving you again". Akio shouted at her "JUST GO NOW!!" as Nishiyama was scared from him shouting, backing up and then running the other way.

Akio puts on his mask as he sees the demon walk out of the other hallway, holding a dead student by the neck.

"A shinigami.. I haven't seen one since that day..." The demon said as they dropped the body on the floor and appeared behind him. "You seem new.. Are you a recent one?" the demon said as Akio turned around and threw a punch, but missed entirely.

"Where did they-" as Akio's sentence was cut off with the demon saying "Too slow.." as the demon grabs and throws Akio outside of the school building. He lands on the ground, rolling as he coughed and got back up.

Akio then hears Tani's voice as she says "Took you long enough.." as Akio turns around to see them on the ground and injured.

"Tani!" Akio said as he rushed over but was grabbed by the collar, "You can't join them just yet.." the demon said as they threw him back. Akio landed on the ground but got up quickly, putting up his guard.

The demon wasted no time and rushed towards him and threw several punches towards him. Akio stood his ground as his arms began to tire out as he had to let down his guard, taking a punch straight to the face and sent flying towards the school building entrance.

"You're no fun shinigami, show me that power of yours at least.." The demon said towards Akio as he got up, his arms were bleeding. "I need to make sure she gets out of here.." Akio thought to himself as he rushed towards the demon.

He slammed his head straight onto the demon's head, breaking off a horn. The demon stumbled back as Akio then roundhouse kicked the demon straight into a tree.

Akio began to exhale heavily as the demon laughed maniacally, getting back up and saying "Man that one was one hell of a combo!!". Akio seemed confused as the demon said "I wasn't expecting a headbutt into a kick, I have to give you props shinigami!" as they then added on "But, I didn't like you breaking off my horn, in return, i get to see your face..".

Akio's mask began to crack as Akio realized what was going to happen, as the mask shattered and Akio's face was shown. "Not bad for a shinigami.." The demon said as Akio's face was shown to them. "Were your eyes always red and blue.." as Akio was confused about his eyes being red and blue.

The demon then felt a rock hit their head, turning to see who threw it. Nishiyama stood there shouting "Get away from them!" as Akio looked and shouted "Get away from them!!" with Akio coughing blood out from his adrenaline beginning to fade.

"That's new.. I haven't seen a non-hunter act like this before.." Nishiyama then threw another rock at them as they rushed towards Nishiyama, stopping in front of her as the wind gusted towards them.

Nishiyama was then grabbed by the neck as Akio struggled to stand up and saw them. "Let...Go.." Nishiyama said as she struggled. Akio shouted "LET HER GO!!" as Akio got back up but was shaking a bit to stay standing. "You have a lot of courage Shinigami.." The demon said as he let go of Nishiyama but dragged her by the collar towards Akio.

Nishiyama saw a shard of glass and quietly picked it up, stabbing the demon in the leg. The demon screamed out in pain as Akio kneed the demon's lower jaw and drop-kicked the demon straight into the building, causing one side of the building to collapse on them.

Akio fell back onto his knees as he was beginning to slowly lose consciousness. Nishiyama patted his face saying "Stay with me!" as she heard the Demon get back up from under the rubble.

The demon looked furious, as it rushed towards Akio and Nishiyama. Suddenly, a person got in the way and caught the punch aimed at Akio, they then threw a punch that sent the demon going back a bit.

"I'll take it from here.." the person said as his kanji read Shinigami Cardinal 2, Akio realized who it was. The person then opened their hand out as their weapon formed and it was a sickle head connected onto a chain with a handle at the end. The person was wearing a dark gray coat, with bandages wrapped on his face covering his nose and mouth down to his neck.

"Tch.. You again.." The demon said as both of them rushed towards each other, clashing at the middle and causing a shock wave.

The hunter swung his weapon towards the demon, as the demon began dodging it and taking some hits, little by little. The demon then punched the chain as the hunter moved the same way as the impact and slashed at the demon, sending its own hit back at them.

"The second shinigami will become a problem if he recovers.." The demon thought to themselves as they rushed around the rubble looking for a weapon. The Demon then picked up an iron rod out of a broken pillar and threw it. "You missed!" the hunter said, kicking them down as the demon laughed.

"I wasn't aiming for you..." as the hunter realized and looked where they threw it, heading straight towards Akio. "Akio!!" The Hunter shouted out as Akio looked. He saw blood but not his as Nishiyama jumped in the way and fell onto his shoulder. "No no no no!!" Akio said as he forcefully moved his arm to the iron rod.

The rod was stuck in Nishiyama's liver, as blood was gushing out. "No no..." Akio said, trying to stop the bleeding. "Don't go no no..." he said bursting into tears as Nishiyama was also teary on his shoulder.

"I'm...I'm...sorry..." Nishiyama said weakly as she added on "I...I should...have confessed...when...When I...had the...chance..." as her body limped down. Akio then caught her as he began calling her name "Airi..! Airi!!". He began shaking her crying as he was sobbing in tears, seeing her soul come out of her body.

"No..nononono..." Akio said as her spirit said "It's okay.." as it floated towards her and imitated a hug, Akio then felt like he was being hugged by her as she said "It's okay... you can send me to heaven...".

Akio then wrote 応援 or aid on her soul and sent her to heaven, Akio looked up as he saw a visualization of her lending one last motivational talk to him.

I may not be with you in this lifetime, but there will be a lifetime where we will meet once again... as normal people and have normal lives... Don't give up just yet... Akio...

Akio then saw the soul go above the clouds as the beam of light left the cloudy skies. Akio took a deep breath and got up, putting his hand out as his scythe manifested into his hand, gripping on the scythe as his mask manifested back onto his face.