Koumyou, however, has no idea how many he's killed. He can't even say with certainty that they'd all deserved it, and he knows there hadn't always been no other choice. (But then, what choice was it, in the end, when letting someone go would just let them come for him again later?)

He twists a bit, too, and sets his bony hands onto Devero's much larger ones. It would be a bit cruel to ignore the gesture, after their earlier conversation.

"It's fine," he tells the other man calmly, and even his smile is steady. "It's not a competition, you know?"