Aozaki Aoko Case File

Credits: Korasakof

Twelve-year-old Tohno Akiha was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Although her uncle, from a branch family, had helped her considerably in many ways, allowing the Tohno Group to barely remain operational, the absence of Tohno Makihisa at the helm meant the group's revenue continued to decline steadily.

This wasn't to say that Akiha was incompetent—quite the opposite. For a mere twelve-year-old child to manage the dual demands of acquiring vast knowledge and collaborating with the leadership team to prevent the group from collapsing outright was proof enough of her extraordinary genius.

This was also because the upper echelon of the Tohno Group consisted of mixed-blood individuals. The bonds formed by their unique bloodlines were far more reliable than those formed through monetary employment. At the very least, as the Tohno family member with the highest degree of atavism in generations, Akiha had no fear of any branch family members attempting to seize the Tohno family assets.

Through Akiha's efforts, the Tohno Group, incapable of expansion, gradually stabilized over a few years. This allowed many of the group's older members, who had been deeply concerned, to breathe a sigh of relief. It appeared that the young lady's talents were indeed trustworthy.

However, the troubles of the mundane world weren't the only issues Akiha had to face. As members of a mixed-blood lineage with demonic ancestry, the bloodline inheritors of the Tohno family in every generation would inevitably encounter various problems.

As the individual with the most prominent atavistic traits and the strongest abilities in generations, Akiha possessed a phenomenon known as Crimson Red Vermilion after undergoing an inversion impulse. Her unique ability, Plunder, allowed her to absorb all heat within her line of sight, making it a terrifying and formidable gift.

In this world, there were legends dating back to the Sengoku period about a female demon named Momiji in the Tohno region. According to the family records, she was highly likely to be the ancestor of the Tohno family—or perhaps even the origin of Tohno Akiha herself.

From the day she was born, as Akiha grew older, her abilities only became more powerful. Accompanying this growth was an increasingly intense urge to inversion impulse.

Whether this was fortunate or unfortunate, Akiha's immense power was matched by her equally strong ability to suppress the inversion impulse. The price, however, was great psychological pain.

But for this girl, this mental torment also honed her willpower. The death of her father did not make Akiha wallow in self-pity. Instead, she silently took on the heavy burden of family leadership, fulfilling her responsibilities as the head of the household.

If Akiha had been the Tohno family's sole heir, there was no doubt she would eventually overcome this difficult period and restore the Tohno name to its former glory. But the problem lay in the fact that Akiha was not the only heir of the Tohno family—there was also an elder brother, Tohno SHIKI.

If SHIKI had been an ordinary child, there wouldn't have been much of an issue. However, the problem stemmed from him being born into the Tohno family, alongside a prodigious and brilliant younger sister.

Like Akiha, Tohno SHIKI also inherited special abilities from the bloodline, known as Fusion and Immortality. This immortality didn't mean he couldn't die but rather that he possessed an extraordinary vitality, allowing him to survive even after losing organs or limbs.

His talents in the bloodline abilities surpassed those of previous generations, but his control over them was weaker than his sister Akiha's. This made Tohno SHIKI's inversion impulses extremely difficult to suppress, and any carelessness could result in a complete inversion and the loss of his humanity.

Originally, Tohno Makihisa had planned to purchase the twin sisters Kohaku and Hisui, who possessed empathic abilities, as offerings for himself and his son. By exchanging bodily fluids, they could alleviate the inversion impulses. However, this plan was thwarted by a passing magician, who intervened.

Even Makihisa, the head of the Tohno family, died under mysterious circumstances. As a result, only two members of the Tohno family remained.

The more mature and composed Akiha became the head of the Tohno family, while the mentally immature Tohno SHIKI remained in the household, feeling an increased psychological burden.

SHIKI had always been heavily reliant on Akiha. Although he never expressed it explicitly, he often hinted at his struggles when making decisions, seeking advice from his more intelligent sister.

The death of their father dealt a severe blow to SHIKI, whose mental state was already unstable. The frequency of his inversion impulses increased significantly.

Feeling helpless, Akiha had no choice but to confine Shiki in the basement, providing him with food and necessities daily while frequently chatting with him.

However, as Akiha became increasingly occupied with Tohno Group affairs, the time she could spend with SHIKI diminished, causing his mental state to gradually deteriorate.

Akiha was aware of all this but had too many pressing issues to address within the Tohno family. After weighing her options, she could only choose to let her brother endure the pain caused by his inversion impulses on his own.

What Akiha didn't know was that a vampire soul named Roa had long since parasitized Tohno SHIKI's body. A significant reason for SHIKI's uncontrollable inversion impulses stemmed from Roa's presence.

One day, Tohno SHIKI completely lost his sanity during an inversion impulse and devolved into a beast-like existence. Akiha sorrowfully looked at her brother, wondering if she too would one day become like this.

At this point, the person once known as Tohno SHIKI was undoubtedly gone. What remained was merely a beast inhabiting his body.

Even so, Akiha couldn't bring herself to kill SHIKI. Instead, she cautiously kept him confined in the basement, occasionally bringing him food and cleaning his cell.

Thus, the abnormal life of the Tohno siblings continued for a time. But eventually, the thing Akiha feared most came to pass.

One night, while inspecting the cell, Akiha discovered that her brother had burned a tunnel through the wall and escaped from the dungeon, vanishing without a trace.

For Akiha, this was a devastating blow. She deeply understood how much damage her brother could wreak if he entered normal society.

With his immortality, even modern firearms wouldn't be enough to kill him.

Countless innocent humans would fall victim to Tohno SHIKI, losing their life energy—or perhaps even being devoured entirely.

Recently, Akiha had already heard disturbing rumors: cases of missing persons in the Souya district, reports of corpses found with missing body parts, and even accounts of humans being drained dry of blood.

To address this, Akiha had no choice but to mobilize the martial faction of the branch families, conducting a search of the Souya district in hopes of finding clues to her brother's whereabouts.

However, with the death of the strongest branch family member, Kishima Kouma, there were very few people left who could stand against the fully inverted Tohno SHIKI. As a result, Akiha had no choice but to rely on a methodical search while preparing to personally intervene once SHIKI's location was confirmed.

This time, she would hesitate no longer. Tohno Akiha was determined to kill Tohno SHIKI and put an end to this tragedy once and for all.