—January 7, 2036
I started this diary today.
Why? Because I’m probably going to die.
Why? Because I got caught in a Demon disaster yesterday.
I’m writing this from a hospital bed. Never thought I’d be scribbling in that brand-new Math II-B notebook from my backpack. Guess I should’ve expected life wouldn’t go according to plan.
When I woke up, there was this black mark on my chest. It’s called a Soul Brand. They say it makes Demons come after you. And when Demons come for you, you die. Pretty straightforward.
Still doesn’t feel real. First day back at school after New Year’s break… I get mauled by a Demon, cursed, and told I’m probably not long for this world. What am I even supposed to do with that?
I’ve never really thought about death before. Not seriously.
Now I’m scared. No, more than scared—terrified. So I’m writing this.
If I’m gonna disappear, I want to leave behind proof I existed.
—January 15, 2036
I dropped out of school. Moved out of my parents’ house too.
Didn’t want to bring disaster down on them. I couldn’t risk it.
Dad, Mom—thank you for everything. For taking in an orphan like me. For raising me with love. I wish I’d told you that in person.
The paperwork flew through. The Hunter’s Guild took care of it all. They’re used to dealing with people whose lives got wrecked by Demons. Makes me wonder how many others like us there are.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll be living in a share house managed by the Guild. Mami, Katsufumi, and Ryo will be there too.
We all grew up in the same orphanage. Now we’re back under the same roof.
Will it be fun? I doubt it. Mami cried a lot today. We all did.
It’s not like the orphanage anymore. This time, we’re being quarantined.
Cut off from the world.
We can’t go back. I’m scared.
—January 18, 2036
I had sex with Mami. First time.
Guess I managed to lose my virginity before I die.
Honestly? Not that amazing. Her chest wasn’t as soft as I’d imagined. It didn’t feel great.
Doing it myself feels better.
Maybe I’m not built for this sort of thing.
—January 20, 2036
I decided to become an Exorcist through the Hunter’s Guild.
Never thought someone like me would end up hunting monsters.
They say I need to train with guns and get some kind of magical blood put in me to fight Demons. They also told me to get a driver’s license. Said it makes work easier.
I asked my parents for help paying for it. They said yes.
Even though I might be dead soon.
They really are good people.
—January 30, 2036
I passed my license test.
Mami, Katsufumi, and Ryo haven’t even started theirs yet.
I crossed the finish line first.
Maybe I’m not so hopeless after all.
—April 7, 2036
We all got our licenses. The four of us are forming a party.
It’s official. We’re rookie Exorcists, ready to kill Demons and make bank.
Just one confirmed kill nets a million yen. The Guild takes 20%, but that still leaves 800,000. Split four ways, that’s 200,000 each.
Insane.
No way I’m going back to day labor after this.
Starting tomorrow, we’ll be backup for the Hunter Guild’s ace team, Kondo & Shimamura. Ninth-Class Exorcists. Pros who’ve been doing this for five years.
They’re nice people. They said if any Demons slip past them, we’re free to clean them up ourselves.
There’s a big chance here. I’m gonna make something of it!
—April 9, 2036
The Akai family’s estate got hit. Castle’s burning.
Demons are everywhere. The news and socials are exploding.
There’s a Blood Moon overhead. Like the damn apocalypse.
I sprinkled salt around the house. I don’t want to die. Hell if I let go of my gun.
The four of us stayed in the living room, taking shifts on watch.
Will we see morning?
I don’t know.
I’m scared.
—April 10, 2036
Coral Eldarian burned to the ground. The Demons won.
It happened during some memorial event. The place was packed. No survivors found. Even famous mages got wiped out.
Akai City might become a Demon nest. That’s the rumor.
People say anywhere the Blood Moon rises is doomed.
I don’t know what to believe.
Kondo and Shimamura just said, “We kill the Demons in front of us.” Calm as ever.
I wish I had that kind of strength.
The Guilds are carrying on with exorcisms like nothing happened.
Still, I heard a few people left the city. Maybe we should run too.
But where? We’ve got no family.
And after everything the Guild did for us, housing, guns, training…
We can’t just walk away.
—April 11, 2036
More backup duty today. Still haven’t gotten a shot in.
No Demons got past Kondo & Shimamura. We’re dead weight.
Frustrating. But also kind of a relief.
Still, I want to earn. I want to kill Demons. I want to protect the place I grew up.
A Category 2 Demon showed up at an Amazon warehouse. Eight people from the Red Guild were deployed. Most of them died.
Apparently, Demon-fighting uses a point system.
Tenth-Class = 1 point
Ninth-Class = 2 points
Eighth-Class = 4 points
Seventh-Class = 8 points
Category 1 Demon needs 2 points to beat.
Category 2 needs 4.
Category 3 needs 8.
Category 4 needs 16.
And up from there.
The Red Guild team should’ve had 8 points. Enough to handle a Category 2. But they still got smashed.
Points don’t mean much if you can’t stay alive.
We’re four Tenth-Class. So 4 points, in theory.
Enough for a Category 2.
But we’re amateurs. Can we really take one down?
I can’t picture it.
Can we even survive this world?
—April 12, 2036
Another day, another backup job.
Nothing happened. Again.
Kondo & Shimamura are just too good.
Last night, I heard gunfire. Turns out an Exorcist hit a Demon worshipper club. Took out over ten cultists. Killed a Category 2 Demon barehanded.
I saw the photo before it got scrubbed from the net. The Demon had a hole blasted clean through its chest.
I saved it in secret.
That’s the kind of power I want.
I want to protect Mami. I want to live.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be strong enough to punch Demons to death.
But if I could be, even just a little? Maybe I wouldn’t be so afraid.
—April 13, 2036
So much happened today. I’m wiped.
This morning, we got told our backup would have backup.
Backup for the backup.
That’s a thing, apparently.
Honestly? Felt like a joke. We barely get to do anything as is.
Our vet, Kondo-san, guessed it was probably some “problematic but skilled” Exorcist. Someone they wanted to quietly evaluate.
Didn’t really get it. I mean, I was just a high schooler until recently.
We deployed before noon. Headed to a town factory that had been under surveillance for a while with a pretty high possibility of being “black.”
The backup’s backup was already there.
There we saw him. Akamuro, Red Guild’s master fighter!
I don’t know why, but he was hesitant to give us his full name at first.
Still, he told us later it’s Ikaku Akamuro.
From the moment he got out of the car, I knew he wasn’t normal.
Bigger than Katsufumi, who was in rugby club. And he had this solid build. Sturdy-looking, or stable, I guess.
The other three didn’t say anything, so maybe it was just me.
His weapon was badass too. A rifle with tons of attachments. Rifle mercury bullets are pretty expensive, so you could tell right away he had stable income. It looked really cool.
And he had a supercar. Real luxury. Plus this purebred-looking fluffy cat in the front seat.
It was staring at us all puffed up, looking real cute. I couldn’t help but smile.
This guy had it all. You could just feel it.
By that point, I figured he was the “problematic” Exorcist Kondo was talking about.
We really should’ve been discussing our plan… but after introductions, I asked for his take on our team.
Master Akamuro seemed confused, but he gave us his honest impression. To summarize, he basically said we looked “stupid enough to die right away.”
Honestly? It was frustrating. But I liked it.
The Guild had been feeding us pep talk nonsense.
“You’ve got potential.” “Just keep trying.” “Promising team.”
It’s nice to hear, sure, but I wanted honesty. We were high schoolers a few months ago.
I always wondered, are we really cut out for this?
If I stayed clueless about where we stood, I might’ve thought it was just good enough.
That’s why I got happy. Master Akamuro didn’t sugarcoat it. That made him feel trustworthy.
But he didn’t stop there.
He said: “You can still fight back. We’re not cattle. Not born just to eat, sleep, and die. There’s got to be meaning in this life. Believe that. Train hard. Sharpen your edge. Keep your gear tight. That’s all normal people like us can do—but if you don’t slack, it’s enough. Barely.”
Those words hit me. I remember every one.
We’re lacking in everything, but there’s no point lamenting that. We just gotta keep piling up what we can.
Then the Demon showed up.
When Kondo-san went flying through the factory window, blood and all, we jumped in immediately.
We didn’t stand a chance. Which wasn’t surprising.
It was our first time serving as backup. I was a wreck. Nervous, shaking, my brain barely working. Nothing went the way it should have.
The whole mess reminded me of my first soccer match, except this time the stakes were life and death.
Both Mami and I took serious hits. We made it through thanks to Ichor transfusions. We literally regenerated. It was pretty gross.
I handled my own injection. Master Akamuro saved Mami because she’d passed out from the pain.
That was when our backup’s backup took the stage.
I guess you’d call it overwhelming. Master Akamuro landed nearly every shot from distance with perfect control. Not a twitch of hesitation.
Later I heard he’d been using 5.56mm mercury rounds. Recoil? Nonexistent. His control was inhuman.
I didn’t ask if that was some kind of martial art, but I had a feeling. Maybe some hidden Kung Fu technique? Probably. Honestly, I have no idea.
But his aim wasn’t the real shock.
The way he handled attacks wasn’t natural. He dodged the Demon’s axe without breaking stride. Slipped past the boomerang attack from behind like he’d seen it coming. Like he was moving through a fight he’d already lived.
Then he stepped forward and the ground cracked beneath his heel. His fist shattered the Demon’s massive shield. He followed through, drove his arm into the Demon’s chest, and ended it in a single motion.
That was the moment I realized. The Exorcist who wiped out over ten cultists at the nightclub. The man who punched a hole through a Category 2 Demon with his bare hand. That was him—Master Akamuro.
Kondo-san and Shimamura-san were stunned. They asked us who he was, but we had no answer. We didn’t know either. He was something else… something even Exorcists might call unnatural.
Master Akamuro stared down the axe the Demon had used, then turned to leave.
I managed to gather the courage to call out to him.
That’s when I learned the truth.
His name was Ikaku Akamuro. He was using 5.56mm mercury bullets. He’d mastered Chinese martial arts. He was the one who went wild at the nightclub.
And… he actually couldn’t use magic.
Talk about one shocker after another.
Finally, I asked to become his disciple.
He made a face like I’d asked him to babysit a live grenade. Then he turned me down.
I get it. He’s probably busy. He doesn’t have time for someone like me. Just some nobody clinging to his shadow. Maybe it was arrogant of me to ask.
But I couldn’t let go of the idea.
A man who defeats Demons barehanded without a scrap of magic, who walks away quietly when it’s over, who doesn’t boast, who saves lives, and still tries to stay out of the spotlight?
That’s the kind of person I want to follow. He saved me. He’s kind. He’s tall. His cat is adorable.
Maybe I’m out of my mind, but I want to be his disciple. I want it with every fiber of my being.
I struggled with it for days. I didn’t want to be a burden, but I still wanted to follow him. It felt impossible to achieve both. But maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe the truth is, I’ve already become his disciple.
I’ve inherited his mindset—endure, don’t slack, take pride in being ordinary. I’ve taken that into myself.
No, I received it. That’s the right word.
So yeah. I, Haruto Shinagawa, am already his disciple. In spirit, if not in name.
From his perspective, I’m nothing. Just a passerby. A name he’ll forget tomorrow. A bottle cap in his pocket.
And that’s fine. It’s enough.
I’ll call him Master Akamuro. Out of respect. Out of gratitude. That much, I hope, is allowed.
From today forward, I’ll chronicle his teachings and his deeds. I’ll pass them down.
If he won’t claim the spotlight, then I’ll do it for him.
Even to an amateur like me, his strength is extraordinary. Banishing Demons with nothing but discipline and a trained body, not a thread of magic.
He’s the kind of person humanity should take pride in.
And I’ll keep doing everything I can to grow closer to him.
Tomorrow, I’ll go again: a 100-kilometer run, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats.
I’ll keep training, and I’ll get better at controlling my magic.
So that next time we meet, Master Akamuro will look at me and think, That kid turned out all right.