The air in the laboratory seemed to freeze.
Kirari stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, wearing her trademark smile. Amused, dangerous, and touched with a hint of schadenfreude.
Her gaze drifted between Genichi and Haruno as though she were watching an entertaining show.
"We caught someone."
Her voice was light and casual, as though she were discussing something utterly trivial. "She discovered what's going on here. Her identity makes things a little complicated, though, so I thought I'd ask how you wanted to handle her."
Genichi raised his head and looked at Kirari.
Kirari never did anything without a reason.
If she had deliberately brought this matter to him, she must have had an ulterior motive.
"Who?"
Genichi set down his pen and leaned back in his chair.
Kirari's smile widened.
"Yukino."
For a moment, the laboratory fell silent.
Haruno's body went rigid. Her face instantly drained of color, and her fingers clenched around the folder until her knuckles turned white.
Her lips trembled. She wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Genichi remained silent for a moment before sighing.
"Bring her in."
Kirari turned and left, the sound of her footsteps gradually fading down the hallway.
Haruno looked at Genichi, her eyes filled with pleading.
"Genichi, she's my sister…"
"I know."
He cut her off, his voice calm.
"But she shouldn't have come here."
Haruno lowered her head without another word.
Her fingers trembled at her sides as a powerful sense of dread surged through her.
Yukino had discovered this place. She had seen the bodies and learned about the experiments.
What would she think?
What would she do?
Would she call the police?
Would she turn against Genichi?
Haruno couldn't bear to keep thinking about it.
A few minutes later, Kirari returned.
Two members of the Momobami clan in black suits followed behind her, restraining a woman between them.
A blindfold covered the woman's eyes. Her hands were tied behind her back, and a strip of cloth had been stuffed into her mouth, reducing her protests to muffled noises.
Her hair was disheveled, and her clothes were covered in dust. She had clearly struggled while being captured.
Kirari waved a hand. The two men shoved the woman forward before stepping aside.
She approached, pulled off the blindfold, and removed the gag.
Yukino's eyes snapped open. She appeared to have been drugged unconscious earlier.
She looked around at the equipment, the bloodstains, and the black bags piled in the corners. Fear and fury filled her eyes.
Then her gaze landed on Genichi, and her eyes instantly blazed with rage.
"I never expected our next meeting to happen under circumstances like these, Yukino-san."
Genichi's voice remained calm, almost as though he were simply greeting her.
Yukino glared at him with naked disgust and fury.
"You murderous monster!"
Her voice was sharp and trembling.
"I'm calling the police! I'll make sure you answer for this!"
Genichi looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifting in a mocking smile.
"I'm afraid calling the police won't accomplish anything. At most, people might condemn me on moral grounds. Every volunteer here signed a contract. Officially, they agreed to participate in pharmaceutical trials."
Yukino's eyes immediately reddened.
She stared at the black bags, the blood staining the equipment, and the numbers written in the experimental records.
Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine…
Each number represented a human life.
Faces appeared in her mind. People she had never met, whose names she would never know, who had been reduced to test subjects.
They had families. They had friends, dreams, and futures.
Now they were nothing more than black bags in the corner. Numbers in an experimental record. Stepping stones on Genichi's path to becoming a Demon King.
"You're a demon!"
Her voice had gone hoarse. Tears spilled from her eyes and streamed down her cheeks.
Genichi looked at her and smiled.
Something in that smile sent a chill through Yukino's entire body.
"A demon?"
He repeated the word before nodding.
"That's right. I am a demon. Quite literally."
Yukino shuddered violently.
"You've caused so many deaths. Aren't you afraid that someday you'll pay for it?"
Her voice trembled.
Genichi stared at her in silence for a moment before answering.
"Pay for it? What does that even mean? If people truly received what they deserved, then the murderers, abusers, and those who abandoned others would have faced justice long ago. But they didn't. Their victims had no one to rely on but themselves. All they could do was seek power and use whatever means necessary to survive."
He rose from his chair and walked over to Yukino, looking down at her.
"Do you know why you can stand here and condemn me with such righteous certainty, Yukino? It's because your sister protected you. She allowed you to live in a clean and sheltered world. She kept you from seeing the filth beneath the surface and let you believe everything was either right or wrong."
His gaze turned cold.
"But the world isn't like that. It's gray. It's stained with blood. It's black."
Yukino's lips trembled. She wanted to argue, but found herself unable to say anything.
She remembered how her sister had been acting lately. Exhausted, anxious, and burdened by countless unspoken worries.
She had assumed Haruno was merely overworked. She had thought Genichi was demanding too much of her, or that the pressure from their family had become overwhelming.
She hadn't known that her sister faced corpses every day.
That she dealt with death every day.
That every day, she was forced to struggle between her conscience and her loyalty.
"Why do you think your sister agreed to do any of this?"
Genichi's voice grew even colder.
"Money? Power? Her family? No. She did it because she had no choice. If she refused, there would always be someone else willing to take her place."
Yukino's tears continued to fall.
She looked at Genichi, then at her sister standing in the corner.
Haruno had her head lowered, unable to meet her gaze. Her shoulders trembled faintly.
"Onee-san…"
Yukino's voice was barely a whisper, choked with tears.
"Why? Why would you do this?"
Haruno raised her head and looked at her sister.
Her eyes were red as well, but she didn't cry.
She simply stared at Yukino, her gaze filled with guilt, helplessness, and a trace of unwavering resolve.
"Because I want to protect you, Yukino."
Haruno's voice was soft, yet every word carried unmistakable conviction.
"The world isn't as kind as you think it is."
"Take her away."
Genichi turned around and returned to the desk.
"Keep her here until the experiment is over. Then let her go."
Kirari waved her hand. The two men stepped forward, blindfolded Yukino again, replaced the gag, and escorted her from the room.
Yukino struggled and tried to speak, but the cloth in her mouth reduced her words to muffled protests.
Her footsteps receded until they vanished at the end of the hallway.
Silence returned to the laboratory.
Genichi sat at the desk, picked up his pen, and resumed writing his experimental records.
The pen scratched steadily across the paper, focused and indifferent.
Haruno remained where she was, her head lowered and her shoulders trembling.
"Haruno."
Genichi's voice came from behind her.
She raised her head and looked at him.
He didn't turn around.
"Your sister is stronger than you think."
Haruno froze.
Then her tears finally fell.
Kirari stood in the doorway, watching the scene with a faint smile.
Her gaze shifted between Genichi and Haruno as she quietly made her calculations.
Yukino's appearance presented an opportunity.
An opportunity to test Genichi's limits.
An opportunity to observe his relationship with the Yukinoshita family.
An opportunity to find a weakness she could exploit.
(End of Chapter)
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