Chapter 88: Fugitive (1/2)
Despite not being able to think of anything other than what was not edible, Yoichi continued to stare at that strange demon. He didn't know why yet, but it reminded him of something.
When the trunk-demon's vines moved on the floor, they crawled slightly on the helmet-haired boy's foot. He took his back off the wall, continuing to listen silently to the speech of his colleagues.
The slow movement of that kind of short liana unlocked a memory in Yoichi's mind. Riding a few feet from those warriors, Ichiro slowed down the pace.
That... that looks like the same liana that stuck my ankles in that alley! That guy... his face... I have no doubts! He's the piece of shit that raped Sui! Yoichi thought, wringing his hands.
The gaze of that young boy, his own age, crossed Yoichi's. For a fraction of a second, the air filled with pure tension. An invisible electric current thundered between the two of them, terrorizing the Emperor's Heralds warrior.
Yoichi slowly passed right next to him on horseback. The helmet-haired boy, trying to turn to his companions and look away from his observer, showed his side, not covered in armour.
White bandaging covered his hips and part of his ribs. They were tight at the exact points where Yoichi had hit him, slamming him against the alley wall.
The trunk-demon put both of his vines on the ground, turning what looked like its 'face' in the same direction as its master. It was impossible to distinguish a defined face and body in that strange demon. Its body looked like a wooden cylinder. It had no eyes or ears, only a large smiling mouth that went from one side of the cylinder to the other.
Large square teeth came slightly out of that mouth, while a sticky, greenish substance was attached to the sides of the oral cavity.
Both the criminal and his demon looked creepy and weird. ”Bunjiro!” one of the two girls next to him suddenly called, distracting him from Yoichi. ”Are you deaf? I asked you the same question three times!”
That weird guy turned to his colleague, continuing to look at Yoichi out of the corner of his eye. The young tamer stopped in the middle of the road, remaining on Ichiro's back.
After whispering something incomprehensible to his comrades, the undercover criminal quickly moved away from his position. He delved among some huge wooden crates full of supplies, trying to disappear into the crowd.
Knowing that the hapless villain had recognized his identity, Yoichi spurred Ichiro with his heels, gently hitting the side of its belly. Without hesitation, the Inoshuma, as if it understood its knight's intentions, followed Bunjiro's trail.
Does the villain who raped the Emperor's daughter belong to the Emperor's Heralds? None of this makes sense! How could they not notice? Yoichi carefully pondered. After a few seconds of reasoning, he concluded: as she had told him when he saved her, Sui had no intention of revealing to her mother or father what had happened that night.