The next morning, Renji woke with a decision carved into his mind as clearly as the spiral etched in his skin:
He wasn't going to run anymore.
If the spiral was watching through him—if he had become a bridge between worlds—then he would use that connection to find the truth.
> Someone had to be the last vessel.
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A New Name in Old Records
Kaito had been scouring old village archives at the local shrine's library while Renji slept. He burst into their motel room, waving a yellowed journal.
"Got something," he said, grinning despite the grim context. "Found a name repeated in documents all the way back to the 1800s."
Renji sat up. "A name?"
Kaito nodded. "Kuro Asato. Referred to in a bunch of accounts as 'The Spiral Hunter.'"
Aoi raised an eyebrow. "Spiral Hunter? That sounds made up."
"Maybe," Kaito said. "But listen to this." He flipped open the book and read:
> 'He walks between the threads, unraveling the cursed weave. His body is marked, but not owned. He is not spiral, nor entirely man. He hunts the source.'
Suma, who had joined them again that morning, turned pale.
"That name is real," she whispered. "I've heard it spoken in old tongues, by the last of the shrine elders before they disappeared. A ghost. A myth. But they said he could cut the spiral from the flesh of the world."
---
The Tapestry and the Blade
As the group gathered around the journal, Renji noticed something buried in the pages: a drawing of a tapestry, covered in spirals—but in the center, a single sword-shaped tear through the design.
Beneath it were four characters:
"断輪ノ刃" – The Blade of Broken Circles.
A weapon? A metaphor? Or something more?
Renji's mark flared slightly at the sight of it.
Suma looked troubled. "If the spiral has a source… then it also has a heart. Maybe that blade is real. And maybe Kuro Asato found it."
---
Hunter or Monster?
That night, Renji dreamed again.
But it was different.
He stood in a ruined field, the sky blood-orange, spirals swirling like torn clouds above. At the center stood a figure—tall, cloaked in black and bone-white wrappings, spiral markings etched across his skin like sacred calligraphy.
The man turned.
His eyes glowed with silver fire.
> "You carry the echo," the figure said. "But will you bear the burden?"
Renji stepped forward. "Are you… Kuro Asato?"
The man unsheathed a jagged blade from his back—its edge curved in a spiral.
> "If you seek to end the spiral, then come find me. But beware—hunting the spiral means hunting yourself."
---
Waking Realization
Renji awoke in a cold sweat.
"I saw him," he told the others. "The Spiral Hunter. I think he left something behind for us. A weapon. Maybe even a path."
Aoi nodded. "Then that's our next step. We find this blade. We find the hunter. And we end this."
Suma looked out the window, the sky gray and still. "If you walk that path, the spiral will fight you with everything it has. It will show you your worst self."
Renji clenched his fists. "Then let it try."
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End of Chapter 45
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To Be Continue