(A/N: Congrats for making it this far, to both me and anyone reading this. It's official, 45 chapters in and I’ve doubled almost everything in almost every category compared to my other version of this story. I moved a couple of chapters into Vol. 2.5 since this particular one is a bit longer than the others. Thank you for reading, as always.I’ve also officially written 100,000 words. We were getting close to the date I started writing a year ago, November 21.)

Recap:

My flames just sat there for a moment, and I mistakenly thought that was the process starting, so I closed my eyes. However, the smell, which I can’t describe, was smelt.

I opened my eyes and saw my flames burning both of them. I was horrified.

"No, stop!"

I violently pulled my hand away from them, but my blue flames were still burning them. I haven’t mastered them to the point of extinguishing them when they are not in contact.

"I’m Sor-"

I looked up and saw the mother's face. She was caressing her child lovingly and, despite the fact that I knew my flames were hot, she looked like she wasn’t in pain and I would’ve believed it had she not been twitching now and then.

Finally, when she looked at me, she smiled, My mind had stopped working properly at this point, and after her smile, she kissed her son before both of them turned into ash. The wind quickly blew them into the air, and that was the end of the two nameless people who I tried to save.

That was the moment I learned that these flames of mine weren't meant to save you.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

*Flashback End*

*3rd Pov*

Back in the room with Koichi and the others, Azure had snapped out of his daydream. Kazuho had finished her story and they were waiting on him to relay his. 

*Whistle*

The tea that Koichi had put on prior to coming here was ready. He said he'd be right back and left to grab it.

Kazuho found the chance to go to the bathroom, and so only Azure was left at the table. He looked around the place and thought to himself,

‘It’s a real pity.’

He quickly got up while not making any noise, something Stain had drilled into him very profoundly, and left the place.

*Whoosh*

The gushing of the wind could be heard and felt before the door and house settled down again. Koichi had walked in at that time, and so he closed his eyes when met with brisk cold air.

"Alright, I’m don-"

The empty table left Koichi confused. Meanwhile, nobody noticed that after Kazuho had finished her story and Dante had snapped out of a day dream, his hands were shaking. Not like the occasional jitters or a quick tingling feeling on the spine, but they became difficult for him to control.

He wasn’t doing it on purpose, but thinking back to why he became a Vigilante brought some unpleasant memories back to his mind.

*Timeskip till nightfall, brought by Koichi  a college student getting tutored on his homework by Kazuho, a high school student*

The night was young and the lights were on, but darkness befell anyone’s sight after a few meters into the distance. The change from winter to spring didn't stop the nights from reaching hibernation worthy weather.

‘As the light falls and the darkness descends, the roots of evil flourish in the opening.’ Azure looked around as he spotted people below on the sidewalk of the building he was in.

Some were walking to their homes or the train, while others took a left into an alleyway, never to be seen again. And others make deals on the streets, exchanging a variety of things before separating and going opposite paths.

"The night was the perfect time to commit crime in this world, and despite the frequency of crimes in the daylight increasing here, the underworld never slept."

Azure turned around and faced his acquaintance. They weren't enemies currently, but it’d be a stretch to call them allies or friends. A contractual relationship, that's what you would describe the one between the two of them.

"The list."

Azure said, in an even colder voice than when they first met. With his emotions high, the unused fury of hell was just waiting to be set free. 

"Not so fast. You worried my disciple and his friend quite a bit, didn’t you? When I went to his apartment, they were going to set out to find you regardless of the hour. Not to mention that you scared her with that scene earlier today.  Can you really be considered to have fulfilled your end of the bargain?"

Azure, with his hair blending in with the obsidian like night and with half his face covered by a mask, wore a pained expression. Although he didn’t spend much time with them, subconsciously he considered them to be people dear to him for whom he would go through many hardships.

If you told him this, he would adamantly deny it, using the contract as an excuse to justify his actions. So he himself felt pain when he remembered Kazuho’s face when she saw that corpse. 

It wasn’t his intention to expose the darkness of society to anyone else, so he could only stay silent while trying lousily to hide his regretful expression.

In his 45 years, Knuckleduster, or Iwao Oguro, had dealt with many people. Some similar to Dante have appeared. People who were confused and closed themselves off to the world.

He knew a thing or two that could help them, but he wasn’t focused so  much in the restoration and recuperation of people. 

"Do you remember the specifics of our contract?"

*Flashback Mini*

"I will provide you with information on the villains' locations and pass along some rough estimates for their numbers. Depending on the case, either you, or both of us, go and take them down with little casualties, and I handle the rest while you get information. 

In exchange, you will stay with Pop and Koichi over there and protect them while they go off and do their own things. This means that when they're doing vigilante things, you should stay around them.

If any law enforcement or heroes show up that want to get to them, you’ll stall for time and wait for me to come. "

*Flashback End*

 Knuckleduster smiled to himself. He had solved 3 birds with one stone. ‘

Protect their safety while not restricting them, help this kid out with his people issues by putting him around those two who can hopefully deal with that cloud of misery that hangs around his head, and give him more time to focus on "that" problem. "

He gave some documents to Dante. They list the crimes they’ve committed, where they are, and some prominent figures. Azure had a steely expression after looking at the paper, but he wouldn’t know that since he was turned around.

"We’ll then." 
A hand was outstretched in front of Azure, pointing towards the darkness of this city. A place where almost all shady activities occur.

Azure walked forward and jumped off the building with Knuckleduster trailing behind.