[Of course Matoba already knows what this is. Leave it to him to be all in the know on blood sacrifices here, given how cagey he was about it even at first meeting.

His first instinct is to deny that it's an ayakashi, because it's always ayakashi this, ayakashi that with Matoba. But the truth is that he doesn't know. They don't have a name for it, or for most of the phenomena that go on here, so it might as well be the work of ayakashi too.]

It wasn't desperate. [It kind of was.] It was a calculated decision. Everything was set correctly. By all means, it should've been flawless. But there was... a mistake in execution. That's all.

[And that's fine, isn't it? It's human. Mistakes happen all the time. Just not for HiMERU.]

Is it so unimaginable that HiMERU would want to help others? Bold words, coming from you. [His latest charity case...]