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CHAPTER ONE, City of Concrete
Saori's first impression of Tokyo: it stinks.
She's not exactly sure if she had any expectations to begin with, but it was certainly not this. The stench of faint industrial grease and occasionally vomit, but the scent of yakitori breaks the terrible odor even just the slightest moment──the mouthwatering, juicy and perfectly charred topping with charcoal smoke that distracts every passerby into the store.
It's also pretty busy. Like, really busy. Too busy that people don't even have the time to apologize if they bump into you.
Regardless, Saori is thrilled to be here. After two rocky years, she considers this as a pleasure. The sights she is currently seeing, the way she needs to look up to gaze at the tall buildings──it's amazing for a suburban girl like her. The only time she has been in a crowd like this was a New Year's festival up on the hill in a Shinto shrine, which still had approximately only a quarter of the crowd she's in currently. There are many opportunities, many things to do and discover in the city, there are advertisers and many mascots on the streets trying to pull customers in despite the day time, many attracting sights and distracting as well──but those are for another time.
She has work to go to.
This is Saori's first job so far. Correction, first official one. Other than being a shrine maiden for a year in her local Shinto shrine, however it wasn't on paper so she doesn't count that as official.
This sort of work, she's putting her life on the line for this one.
However, Saori is not afraid. She's not anxious, or upset about it either. If anything, she's content.
Perhaps the Captain's craziness has rubbed onto her during the past year of training together. She's sure she wouldn't mind others calling or considering her crazy──she acknowledges herself that she is. It takes a crazy person to take this job anyway. She knows that a little too well.
If it takes for Saori to be crazy to do what she wants to do, then so be it.
She knows there's no good outcome of becoming a Public Safety Devil Hunter. You either share glances with or meet Death itself. For Devil Hunters, it's almost becoming friends and getting to know it, the feeling and desire to do so. Dying on duty, killing the Devil that had murdered your family, it must be honorable to some Devil Hunters──at least that's what she heard. That's the feeling she has now embraced.
Luckily for her, it certainly wouldn't be the first time she met eye to eye with Death.
But Saori has no desire to die, neither does she exactly have a goal like revenge like her acquaintances in training would talk about late in the night in their beds way past bed time. She has other goals, other things that she wants to do in life. She doesn't want to dedicate her life to revenge.
