Chapter 22 – A Light Lost
Main Story 2, Chapter 2, Part 1
Novel Title: 獣はかくして囚われる (The Beasts are Ensnared This Way)
Author：風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)
Illustrator：小山田 あみ (Oyamada Ami)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 鹿倉 陣也 (Kagura Jinya -MC) & ゼロ (Zero -ML)
*Please read at freenovels.net, the original site of translation. TQ*
֍֍֍
⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains depictions of sexual assault. Readers’ discretion is advised.
֍֍֍
At a downtown coin parking lot past 11 PM, while settling the payment at the machine, Sanae asked hesitantly:
“Yesterday, I ran into Prosecutor Kiriyama at the entrance of your apartment… Did you meet with him by any chance?”
In the month since returning from Vietnam, Kagura had met with Kiriyama three times. The third meeting was last night when Kiriyama visited Kagura’s apartment.
“I don’t recall.”
Murmuring this in reply, Kagura headed toward the unmarked police car ahead.
Kagura had already involved Sanae enough and decided not to let him step any further into his affairs.
Sanae must not be dragged down into the abyss of the ‘Non-citizen’ world that Kagura had entangled himself in.
Finishing the payment, Sanae jogged to catch up.
“You do recall, don’t you?”
Ignoring him, Kagura climbed into the car. But Sanae pressed on with a serious expression.
“What’s your relationship with Prosecutor Kiriyama? He was involved in what happened in Macau, wasn’t he? Does he have something to do with your revenge?”
“It’s none of your concern.”
Kagura cut him off curtly. Sanae opened his mouth to argue but suddenly stopped, his eyes darting around.
“…Was that a scream just now?”
A woman’s faint, intermittent scream could be heard in the distance.
Sanae bolted toward the sound, his back disappearing into the night. Kagura stood by the car, his hand still on the passenger door, watching him.
Halfway to the source of the sound, Sanae turned back and cast Kagura a puzzled look.
“…”
Kagura followed, running out onto the road. He overtook Sanae, who was stumbling around, unable to pinpoint the source of the noise. From the riverside promenade came the sounds of a struggle.
Dashing down the stairs connecting the road to the walkway, Kagura immediately identified the scene of the crime: behind a bench.
A young man was on top of a woman, who appeared to be out for a nighttime run based on her attire.
Seeing the scene stirred no emotion in Kagura.
Acting purely on instinct, he lunged at the man, grabbing his arm and pinning him face-down onto the ground.
“Ow—! Ow, ow! You’re gonna break it!”
Ignoring the man’s protests, Kagura tightened his grip. Sanae grabbed Kagura’s shoulder forcefully.
“That’s too much! This could be an illegal arrest!”
“…Ah.”
Adjusting his strength, Kagura shifted to simply restraining the assailant.
By the time they handed the case over to the local police and returned to the unmarked car, the date had already changed.
“It’s good we caught them in time,” Sanae said as he gripped the wheel.
“Yeah,” Kagura replied absentmindedly.
After a long silence, Sanae spoke again: “You were thinking it wouldn’t matter if we didn’t save her, weren’t you?”
As sharp as ever, like an otter with a nose for trouble.
“You’ve been off ever since we got back from Macau.”
―――Off, huh?
In truth, it wasn’t just Macau. It had been that way since he parted ways with Zero after returning.
Even when touched by Kiriyama, Kagura felt nothing. The numbness spread cold and unfeeling through his mind and body.
“To accomplish difficult things, what you need is madness and cold precision.”
Maybe Kagura was becoming the way Kiriyama had once described.
He had lost the feeling of being unable to look away from what was happening right in front of him.
“Forget about the old me.”
“I can’t just do that!” Sanae shot back.
Kagura responded in a flat tone.
“What’s the problem? The current me can handle minor issues without being caught up in them. That’s why I was able to quickly resolve the Vietnam and Dubai cases.”
Abandoning pride and emotions, letting Kiriyama use him however he pleased to gather information, Kagura was thwarting Toono’s ambitions of world domination.
Because of that, he was even excelling in his role as an organized crime officer.
“Police officers shouldn’t turn a blind eye to minor issues,” Sanae argued.
“I told you. I’m ready to quit the force. I’m only staying on because being a detective is the best way to exact my personal revenge on Toono.”
“But—”
Sanae couldn’t find the words to continue.
Let him be disappointed and give up on me, Kagura thought. If Sanae did, he wouldn’t make the wrong choices, nor would he be dragged into Kagura’s mess.
When they arrived at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters parking lot, Kagura stepped out of the car. Sanae, still sitting in the driver’s seat, muttered as if squeezing the words out.
“…But that’s not the Kagura I know.”
Kagura closed the door, cutting off Sanae’s words and feelings.
***
Perhaps the conversation with Sanae last night had left a small knot in his chest.
Waking up before dawn, Kagura felt a faint ache in his chest, as if his body temperature had risen slightly. He might have been dreaming but couldn’t remember.
In the past four months, he hadn’t just stopped having nightmares; he’d stopped dreaming entirely.
Reaching for the cigarettes by the bed, he lit one. The deep inhale settled him, sinking his emotions into a dull calm.
“My sense of self doesn’t matter,” he murmured.
If clinging to his former self only created a vicious cycle, then it was better to cast it aside. It didn’t matter how inhumane he appeared, so long as he achieved his goal.
As he finished his second cigarette, faint fragments of last night’s dream returned.
It was a replay of his first visit to the ‘Invincible Castle’ in Roppongi.
“No matter what happens, don’t get into any trouble. Just close your eyes if you have to, okay?”
Zero teased, grinning with his thick lips.
“You don’t have much self-control, always ready to bite at anything.”
Suddenly, Kagura felt a painful tightness in his chest. Coughing, he stubbed out his shortened cigarette in the ashtray.
While he could mask the scent of Kiriyama with tobacco, Zero’s fragrance—burned into his memory—could not be erased. Even now, a faintly bitter trace lingered in his nose, stirring more memories.
To Zero, Kagura Jinya had been a detective wielding self-satisfied righteousness. Yet, despite the trouble it caused him, Zero had chosen to stay connected because he saw a light in Kagura.
“I’m not that person anymore.”
The light that Zero had clung to no longer existed within Kagura.
That’s why they could never return to the relationship they had before. They would never touch again, never gaze at each other like they once had. Kagura pressed the side of his left hand tightly with his right.
On the train back from Niigata, Zero’s right hand had rested there.
“…”
Curled up on the bed, Kagura felt a cold hardness seep from the pit of his stomach and spread slowly through his entire body, gradually erasing any softness or vulnerability.
֍֍֍
Next update: 2025.12.08
֍֍֍
