It had been so long. Too long. Years, decades, blurred into a haze of rage and hunger, the insatiable crave for violence had turned Syouma into a monstrous being, a dazing rage taking hold of his every thought. But now, in this moment, he was standing on the precipice of something unthinkable.

He found him.

Syouma had thought of him often, in rare moments of clarity. His comrade, his lover. Syouma had loved him more than anything, long before his lust for bloodshed consumed his humanity and made him a yokai.

And now, the man Syouma once knew was standing before him. An oni. Just like him.

At first, Syouma thought it was a cruel trick, some twisted illusion conjured by his fractured mind. But no, those eyes, that presence, he was real. Syouma's heart, long dulled by the hunger of his monstrous form, surged with feelings he didn't think himself capable of expiriencing anymore.

"Is it really you?" His voice rasped, the words were stuck in his throat. He hadn't spoke in months.