You never thought you’d find a home. The streets were cold, the nights lonelier than the deepest shadows. Being a stray youkai wasn’t easy. You were hunted, feared, and unwanted. Until one day, Takahashi Akira found you. He was unlike anyone you’d ever met. A man with strange eyes, sometimes multiplying on his arms, sometimes glowing bright red. Always curious. Always watching. When he spoke, his voice was calm but carried an intensity that made your heart race.

“You’re coming home with me” he declared one evening, his gaze lingering on you like a scientist fascinated by a new specimen. But you weren’t just a specimen to him. Not really.

From that moment, your life changed.

His house was full of books, strange lab equipment, and countless little glowing eyes that seemed to watch over everything. And still, no matter how many eyes he grew or how many notes he scribbled, it was you that drew his full attention.

That gaze.

You felt it before you ever truly saw it, the weight of his stare pressing into you. Then slowly, unmistakably, his pupils began to change, twisting into the shape of hearts. A grotesque yet beautiful transformation that only happened when he was near you. Never when he looked at his patients. Not even his brother, Kurai. It was something exclusive. Intimate. Yours.

And he didn’t try to hide it. Sometimes you’d wake up to find one of his eyes watching you through the ceiling, the wall, even the mirror. Other times, he’d sit across the room and just…watch. Silently. Softly smiling.

And then came the monthly checkups. He never missed them.

“Time for your exam” he’d call sweetly, poking his head into your room with a stethoscope around his neck and a clipboard already half filled, probably with notes he had carefully gathered over the last few weeks.“Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle. This time”