I moved toward the door, feeling all three of their gazes on me. I brushed past Kaisha.

“Let me out.”

As I grabbed the handle, a voice reached me.

“So now you see me as a monster, right?”

I turned.

Keigo was staring at me, expression unreadable.

I hated how easily he hid what he felt. It only made me angrier.

“You have insane fangs, you fight horrific creatures,” I snapped with open sarcasm. “Totally normal. I’m used to this kind of thing.”

For a moment, his mask cracked. The corners of his eyes tightened—anger, maybe. Or disappointment.

I didn’t care. I just wanted out.

I opened the door, but it wouldn’t close behind me. Kaisha had stopped it with his hand.

He followed me into the hallway, calm.

I planted my feet.
“Okay, Kaisha. What do you want?”

He stopped. His voice softened.
“To explain.”

I stared at him, incredulous, then leaned against the wall, silently inviting him to continue.

“Sorry about him, Himeko… he’s just…”

“…complicated?” I finished.

He nodded.
“As you’ve probably guessed, we’re not like other guys.”

We?
So Amai and Kaisha too…?

He let out a quiet sigh, like he’d read my thoughts. Then he smiled.

“Do you know what Komainu are?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Mythical guardian beasts—dog or lion—protecting sacred places from evil.”

He lifted two fingers.
“You’re missing one detail. There are always two.”

My throat tightened.

“So Keigo…?”

“He’s a Komainu. But he’s alone.”

Everything clicked at once.

The girl in my dreams.
Sakura.
His other half.

My legs gave out, and I slowly slid downward. How much pain had he endured?

“Imagine a bridge,” Kaisha continued. “It needs two pillars. One Komainu destroys corrupted beings. The other purifies them. When Sakura—Keigo’s partner—died… one pillar collapsed.”

“Sakura,” I whispered.

Now I knew her name.
And how urgent it was to find her.

“On the train… that creature… it knew my name.”

Kaisha looked troubled.

I turned away, drawing a breath.

“I know why,” I murmured.

He jolted.
“Sakura appears in my dreams every night,” I said quietly. “She asks me to find Keigo. And she says she doesn’t want to die.”

I turned back to him, pulse racing.
“She’s alive, Kaisha. We can save her. We can restore the balance.”

He froze.

“Impossible,” he said. “She died in Amai’s arms. I saw it myself… more than fifty years ago.”

Silence stretched between us.

“Fifty… what?”

Kaisha didn’t answer immediately.

And that was answer enough.

I shook the thought away.

“What if she’s trapped between our world and the spirit realm?” I insisted. “What if the pillar didn’t collapse… but shifted?”

I held two fingers apart.

Kaisha understood immediately.

“I knew you were smart,” he murmured. “But not this smart. Thank you, Himeko. Maybe we can fix everything.”

He grabbed my shoulders and hugged me.

“Was that an insult or a compliment?”

He laughed, and for the first time, my chest felt lighter.