Three days into the investigation, they caught a break.
A young tengu, barely fifty years old, had survived an attack—escaped with wounds but alive.
Glad and Ariel reached her hospital room within hours.
"What happened?" Glad asked gently.
The tengu—her name was Hikari—trembled under her feathers.
"It came from shadows. Not physical shadows—something deeper. It touched my mind before my body. Showed me... things."
"What things?"
"Your face." Hikari's eyes focused on Glad with difficulty. "You. Over and over. Your videos, your speeches, your community. It wanted to know about you."
Glad's blood ran cold. "Me specifically?"
"You. And your movement. And how to destroy it."
Ariel gripped her hand.
"Did you see who—or what—it was?"
"Not clearly. But I felt it." Hikari shuddered. "Ancient. Hungry. And connected to you somehow. Like it's been waiting for you."
After the interview, Glad walked alone through Tokyo's night, mind racing.
Something ancient. Connected to her. Waiting.
The Eldest's words echoed: "We have watched you."
But this didn't feel like watching.
This felt like hunting.