Kei Kurotori, a 28-year-old struggling novelist, is told by his editor he has no talent. That night he drinks himself into a stupor. He wakes the next morning in an unfamiliar forest. It is Gensokyo, a world where humans and youkai coexist. His right hand now holds the power to rewrite the nature of whatever he touches. But there is a condition: only changes he can clearly imagine in his mind will become reality. Anything he cannot picture remains unchanged.
In the forest, Kei encounters the sh
Illusion Killer — Rewriting Everything It Touches - Admit your sins, and still live on—an unforgivable victory.
Morning light fell slanting across the village square.
On the stone paving lay the fallen young men. Broken wooden swords. Torn talismans. A straw sandal someone had dropped. All of it preserved the raw aftermath of the melee that had ended only moments ago.
Kurotori Kei stood at the center of the square.
His unkempt black short hair clung to his forehead with sweat. His deep brown eyes were fixed on the man before him. The old scar on his right hand stood out in dark red against the morning sun.
That right hand was trembling faintly.
A faint heat lingered at his fingertips. But it was on the verge of fading. Compared to when he had healed the bone in the forest, it was incomparably weaker.
He had cornered Ginji. He had defeated the young men. He had turned Marisa's and Sakuya's danmaku into flowers and dust.
But the depths of his body felt hollow. A heavy ache throbbed at the core of his skull. Even keeping his eyes open was gradually becoming harder.
"...It's over, Ginji."
Kei's voice was parched. It felt as though sand were lodged in the back of his throat.
At the edge of the square, a crowd watched in breathless silence. Villagers. Youkai. No one could move.
In the center of them all, Osaki Ginji slowly rose to his feet.
His neat, slicked-back black hair was in disarray. The shoulder of his kimono was torn, and the old scar on his left cheek stood out sharply against his blood-drained skin. His narrow, dark eyes still held a light deep within them.
"...Over? You're the one saying that?"
Ginji wore a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Do you understand what you've done? You killed Lady Reimu. That sin isn't something you can sweep away with a word like 'over.'"
Kei said nothing.
"You are this village's enemy. Gensokyo's enemy. And you call it over? You will have to carry that sin forever. And yet—over?"
Ginji's voice carried clearly to every corner of the square.
The crowd stirred.
"That's right... that bastard killed Lady Reimu..."
"He's a monster...!"
Hearing those voices, Ginji's smile deepened.
"See? You can hear them. This is the village's true voice. No one will forgive you. No one will accept you. There is no place for you anywhere in Gensokyo."
Ginji drew a single talisman from his robe.
On white paper, complex patterns were drawn in black characters. It was the same talisman as the sealing spell Kei had been struck with in the forest.
"Your power is far too dangerous. The power that killed Lady Reimu. A power that can only be used to harm others. To protect this village, I have no choice but to seal your power."
Ginji leveled the talisman at Kei.
"You see, this is a special talisman I received from a certain person. One meant to sever the very source of your abominable power, root and branch."
Kei's eyes wavered faintly.
The memory of that night came back vividly. Surrounded by Ginji's men, both arms broken, the talisman pressed against him. The heat in his right hand had vanished. He had felt nothing. His power had been sealed.
That sensation raced from his fingertips through his entire body.
Kei's breathing grew shallow. The depths of his chest turned cold.
"Are you afraid? I suppose so. Your power is everything to you. To lose it means returning to being just a powerless criminal."
Ginji took a step toward Kei.
"But rest easy. Even without your power, your sin will not disappear. You will live on in this village for all eternity as the man who killed Lady Reimu, despised by all. That is your atonement."
Ginji's fingers tightened around the talisman.
"This is for your sake. For the village's sake. So I will take your power into my keeping."
Ginji released the talisman.
The white paper cut through the air, flying toward Kei.
Kei couldn't move.
His body was heavy as lead. His legs felt stuck to the stone paving, immovable.
His mind screamed at him to dodge. But his body couldn't keep up.
The talisman touched Kei's chest.
In that instant.
The heat vanished from Kei's right hand.
The faint warmth that had remained at his fingertips. The fierce heat from when he had healed the bone in the forest. The certain sensation from when he had turned danmaku into flowers.
All of it disappeared.
"...gh."
Kei's knees buckled.
He caught himself on the stone paving with his right hand. Cold. Too cold. The chill of the stone seeped from his palm through his arm, into the depths of his body.
He looked at his right hand. The old scar looked pale blue in the morning light. His fingertips trembled in small spasms.
He felt nothing.
The sensation of that power had completely vanished.
"How does it feel? To realize your own helplessness?"
Ginji's voice came from far away.
"You can no longer change anything. Protect anything. Rewrite anything. You are just a powerless criminal."
Ginji slowly drew his cane sword.
The blade caught the morning sun, shining white. The poison-coated blade.
"Now then, let's truly end this. I will judge your sin with my own hands."
Ginji walked toward him.
The sound of footsteps on stone paving echoed heavily in Kei's ears, one step, then another.
Kei raised his head.
Ginji's face was right there. Smiling. His eyes weren't smiling. That thin, mocking smile.
Reimu's face surfaced in his mind.
That shrine maiden. The one Kei had killed with his own hands.
Deep inside him, something quietly began to burn.
Kei reached his right hand toward Ginji's feet.
His power was sealed. He felt nothing. That heat was gone.
But Kei let his right hand touch Ginji's leg.
"...What are you doing?"
Ginji stopped.
Kei gripped Ginji's ankle.
In his mind, he pictured Ginji's cane. That poisoned blade. That cane sword. Break it. Snap it in the middle.
He willed it.
But nothing happened.
The heat didn't return to his right hand. No sensation at all in his fingertips.
Kei gritted his teeth.
He desperately pictured the blade breaking in his mind. Metal warping, shattering, bending. The sound. The feel. The weight.
But the image blurred.
Was it the sealing spell's effect, or was it exhaustion? The image in his mind was hazy, as if shrouded in fog.
"It's useless. Your power is already sealed. No matter what you imagine, it's useless."
Ginji's voice rang cold.
"You end here. As revenge for Lady Reimu, by the hand of me—the hero of this village."
Ginji raised his cane.
The blade gleamed in the morning sun.
Kei looked at that blade.
This blade is meant to judge me.
To Ginji, this is a blade of justice.
A blade of justice to judge the one who killed Reimu.
Something inside Kei's mind snapped.
Kei gripped Ginji's ankle tightly.
Not "break."
This blade, even if it touches me, holds no meaning.
This blade is not a blade of justice.
It is not a blade to judge the one who killed Reimu.
It is just a metal rod.
No meaning. No power. No value.
Just scrap iron.
Kei pictured that image clearly in his mind.
The moment Ginji's cane touches Kei, the blade loses its meaning.
Its meaning as a blade of justice. Its meaning as a blade of judgment.
It loses everything.
"—What?!"
Ginji's face stiffened.
The cane touched Kei's shoulder.
Nothing happened.
The blade struck Kei's shoulder.
But no wound appeared.
No blood. No pain.
The blade simply touched Kei's shoulder.
"W-what..."
Ginji's voice cracked.
"Why won't it cut... why does nothing happen...?!"
Ginji swung the cane down at Kei again and again.
But no matter how many times he swung, nothing happened.
The blade touched Kei. But that was all.
No wound, no blood, no pain—nothing was born.
As if the blade had never existed there in the first place.
"Damn it... why... why won't it cut...!"
For the first time, fear appeared on Ginji's face.
Still gripping Ginji's ankle, Kei slowly stood.
"...Your blade means nothing anymore."
Kei's voice was quiet.
"The blade of justice to cut me down. The blade of judgment to avenge Reimu. I erased all of that meaning."
Kei looked straight into Ginji's eyes.
"Your blade is just scrap iron."
Ginji's face went pale.
"I-impossible... that can't be..."
Ginji tried to back away.
But Kei didn't release his ankle.
"Let go... let go...!"
Ginji thrashed.
Kei grabbed Ginji by the collar.
His right hand tightened, squeezing.
"Ginji."
Kei's voice rang cold through the square.
"I killed Reimu."
Kei said it clearly.
"That's a fact. I killed Reimu with these hands. I didn't mean to. But my power, my imagination, killed Reimu. That doesn't change."
Kei's voice wasn't trembling.
"The one who should be judged is me. Not you. You just framed me and used me. You used Reimu's death for your own power. You're just trash."
Ginji's face twisted.
"Th-that's wrong... I did it for the village..."
"It's not wrong."
Kei tightened his grip on Ginji's collar.
"The moment Reimu died, you smiled, didn't you? Thinking now you could seize control of the village."
Ginji's eyes darted around.
"That's what makes you trash."
Kei slammed Ginji into the ground.
Thud.
A heavy sound echoed through the square.
Ginji's body bounced on the stone paving.
"Guh... ah..."
A groan escaped Ginji's lips.
Kei looked down at the fallen Ginji.
Ginji tried to get up. But his body wouldn't move.
"H-help... someone... this monster..."
Ginji reached toward the young men at the edge of the square.
But none of them moved.
"...Ginji-san."
One of the young men spoke in a trembling voice.
"Did you deceive us...? Using Lady Reimu's death..."
Ginji's face paled further.
"Th-that's wrong... I did it for all of you..."
"That's enough."
The young man turned his eyes away from Ginji.
"We believed in you. And yet..."
One by one, the young men left Ginji's side.
"Wait... even you would abandon me...?!"
Ginji's voice echoed hollowly through the square.
No one answered.
In the center of the square, Ginji was left alone.
Kei took his eyes off Ginji.
Then he turned toward the crowd.
"...Listen to me."
Kei's voice was quiet.
"I killed Reimu. That is a fact. I admit that sin."
Kei drew a deep breath.
"Judge me. By this village's law, judge me. That is my wish."
Kei's words reached every corner of the square.
The crowd fell silent.
"...Someone, please judge me."
Kei said it again.
But no one moved.
The villagers looked at each other. The youkai were silent too.
No one would judge Kei.
"...I see."
Kei murmured softly.
"No one can judge me."
Kei looked up at the sky.
Morning light poured down on his face.
Reimu.
I won't be judged.
I killed you, and no one will judge me. I'll live on without judgment.
Is that my punishment?
Deep in Kei's chest, the mass of his sin sank heavily.
That was when it happened.
"...Kurotori-san."
A small voice reached him.
Kei turned around.
From within the crowd, a girl with chestnut-brown braids came running out.
Kiryu Gureha.
Her large brown eyes were filled with tears. The cloth bag of medicinal herbs on her back swayed slightly as she ran. The white bandage on her left wrist stood out in the morning light.
"Kurotori-san...!"
Gureha stopped in front of Kei.
She was breathing hard. Her cheeks were wet with tears.
"Thank goodness... you're safe... I'm so glad..."
Gureha's voice was trembling.
Kei looked at her.
"...I told you not to come."
Kei's voice was brusque.
"Yes. But I came anyway."
Gureha smiled as she wiped her tears.
"You're a monster, Kurotori-san. A murderer. But I can't abandon you."
Gureha gently took Kei's right hand.
"Your hand is warm. Even though it's a monster's hand, it's warm. That's why I'll stay by your side."
Kei tried to pull his hand away.
But Gureha wouldn't let go.
"I won't let go. I absolutely won't let go."
Gureha's hand was small and warm.
Kei felt that warmth.
Deep in his chest, the mass of sin wavered faintly.
"...I won't kill anyone anymore."
Kei said quietly.
"Not you, not anyone. I won't hurt anyone with my power again."
Gureha looked steadily into Kei's eyes.
"...Yes. But I won't forget."
Gureha's voice was quiet.
"W
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