After hearing information about the murder, Kyuuto then told his teammates about his encounter with what might be the same figure. He stressed that the man he saw took one of the knives from the school kitchen.

"But that's impossible right? I mean, most of the people died when Yamisuke approached. He must also be dead right?" Kanata expressed her disbelief and slight frustration. Since Akazaru was dubbed as extremely dangerous and no one really knows his true appearance.

"The chance of a serial killer making it to our little island is ridiculously small, or maybe he was one of the possessed we already sealed," Kyuuto wondered. The three were walking around the market to look for food. "What do you think, Yato?"

Yato was absorbed in his own mind, then snapped when he realized something was missing, "Kentarou. Where is he?"

The two then also realized that Kentarou was nowhere to be seen since morning. They didn't even see him leaving his dorm room. While Ishigaki told them earlier that he was meeting his old team.

Under the impression of Kentarou being in danger, the three swiftly went back to the dorm after finding food for themselves.

----

The team finally arrived at Kentarou's room, and after knocking a couple times, he finally opened the door. Kentarou seemed tired, with his eyes half-closed, and indeed...

"I overslept, god damn, I was so exhausted," the man yawned, "I'll meet you guys soon," he then went into his room again to take a bath.

Kyuuto, Yato, and Kanata looked at each other and sighed. The previous weeks of operations were extremely exhausting and traumatizing.

In the school cafeteria, Kyuuto told his team about the conversation between Yuukai and Raizen he eavesdropped last night. He expressed his doubts and worries, fearing that the two leaders of the island are having ulterior motives. Beyond that, Kyuuto stressed that they didn't know much about those two.

"Remember when Ishimaru said they have the power to manipulate space and time? Maybe they have something to do with the curse to begin with. If someone can manipulate time, wouldn't they become... immortal?" Kanata proposed.

While the three discussed wildly about their leaders, Yato was captivated by his own remembrance ignoring his breakfast. He remembered vividly the last time he saw his family before they were murdered by the Red Monkey.

----

"You remember tomorrow right?" Yato's older brother sneered at him. They were in the middle of a discussion near midnight. Tomorrow was their mother's birthday, it's a yearly event for them to plan a surprise party for her.

"Of course I remember! It's kinda frustrating that mom never actually remembers her own birthday, no?" Yato answered as he slid his fingers through his phone.

"Hey don't say that! She's very busy, remember? This is actually very good for us, because we can just make new surprises every time, or… the same ones," his brother was in a good spirit.

He then realized that an element of their planned surprise party was missing, namely the candles, "Shit, I forgot about the candles... can you fetch some now?"

Yato rolled his eyes, "What? In the middle of the night like this? Are you nuts?"

"Oh come on, the convenience store is just near the intersection. Here's the money," Yato's brother passed the money in front of his phone without even listening to his excuses.

With a sigh, Yato stepped out of his brother's room and walked around the house to find his mother. He found his mother peacefully sleeping in her room. He smiled, then went outside. Little did he know, that would be the last time he saw his family alive. In the wake of Yato leaving his house, a shadow lurked near its walls.

----

"Well, I've got the candles, time to head back home," Yato thought to himself, then skipped back to his house.

When he finally arrived, he was horrified to see that the front door was wide open, the light was off and the aura from inside the house was also dark. Panicked, he dropped the candles on the streets, then ran inside the house.