Do You Remember? (7)

“Unfortunately, the people you’re calling your kin are human, you know? Pitta’s undeniably a Beastfang, though.”

“H-How can you, who are supposed to be human, be at odds with humanity...?! No... Is that exactly why?”

The Beastfang leader showed a moment of confusion, then reconsidered calmly and glared at Kagami as if he were satisfied. The look in his eyes seemed to say he’d been searching for Kagami all along, and Kagami’s expression stiffened too.

“...There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time. Tell me: what are you fighting for? What do you want? You save us, then oppose us... What are you fighting for?”

“To defeat the enemies I have to defeat.”

Kagami answered the Beastfang leader’s question without a moment’s hesitation. His immediate reply left the leader bewildered, and he pressed on.

“Then... why not just do that on your own? You should have ignored us. What was it? Did you just want to show off your overwhelming strength?”

“That’s not it. There was an enemy we truly had to defeat, and I just wanted to stop you from fighting a battle that would cost both sides without changing anything in any meaningful way.”

“You only wanted to stop us? It had nothing to do with you... Why?”

“Because I didn’t want either side to die in a pointless conflict like that.”...