As Of God and Monsters: Komainu draws closer to being completed, I thought it would be nice to talk to one of the characters we haven’t seen a lot of during Part One.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and critters of all glitter.

 

I present to you, MR. Kemono Orochi.

 

So shall we just get into it? ‘cause it looks like that chair you’re sitting in, is about to die in a thousand shattered pieces.

 

The hulking mass of an arctic storm only grunts, shifting in the small chair.

 

The man is big, not tall, just a monster truck of muscle and ink with eyes that could give you gangrene from the frostbite lingering in a single glance.

 

Readers felt or complained that your presence in the first book was lacking. I think most had the expectation of; When is Kemono going to show up? Care to elaborate why that never happened?

 

The first thing my father taught me was to honor one’s loyalties. Yes, the man was a cruel human being, but there was always wisdom to be gained within his teachings. I believe that was the only way he knew how to manifest love. I had an agreement with the White Hand. They would infiltrate the temple, creating chaos, granting me the opportunity to slaughter my father. The price? I would stand as executioner for them under their Doyen. I’ve killed fifty-three men and women while acting as their shinigami (death god aka reaper) against people borrowing too deep for the truth. I was also ensuring that the men sent to kill me, after my father’s assassination, slept in the earth they came from. I had no security to offer him, had no haven to keep him safe, neither could I keep him by my side while my hands still drew blood. I did not want him close to that defilement. I had to ensure that I could secure him sanctuary within my arms, the day we would finally meet again.

 

And do you believe you have achieved that?

 

In more ways than one… I hope.

 

You don’t sound very sure about that…

 

Kemono shifts in his chair, gaze scoring the earth beneath him.

Can one ever be sure about anything? Men will always want vengeance, blood draws more blood. It is a vicious cycle, as ferocious as the moon hunting the sun. At least I can confess that I have thinned the numbers. Did I kill everyone my father had set out to assassinate me? In my eyes, yes. The ones I knew about. Are there others? Probably… will they come? Some of them, yes… the ones not rattled by the examples I have left of the ones before them.

 

Speaking of uncertainties… You think Rex is going to welcome you back with open arms? He has a life now, friends, people who care about him, and who’s to say once you do show up that his heart doesn’t belong to another?

 

There’s a twitch under Kemono’s right eye as he peers up.

 

There is a lot I have to atone for. 

Kemono balls his fists before unfurling them, glaring at his hands as he flexes his fingers. 

All my hands have known is death… Do I even have the right to touch him? To hold him? To love him? I’ll never believe I will ever be worthy of him. Will he welcome me back into his life? That question terrifies me. What if the scars I left within my Shuiro are carved too deep? Would he be better off with someone more deserving? What then? How do I continue living if the reason for my cold, dead heart’s only rhythm, rejects me…? It would be a fitting fate for a demon like me.

I want to hold him, touch him. I want to love him. But I also want to protect him and if that means, I need to be absent from his life to do so…

 

Then everything you have done up to this point would be for nothing?

 

Never…. Never when it comes to my little Shuiro. Taking my last breath to protect him would be worth it. Taking my last breath to love him would be worth it.

 

You vowed to kill the person in whose arms you find him… you don’t sound so sure right now of that declaration?

 

Am I ruthless and cold-hearted? Yes. Am I selfish? No. Do I want to be? Most definitely… but at whose cost, his heart or mine?

 

Okay, fair enough… Last time you saw your Shuiro, he was carried in the arms of Hades Breno el Oscuro—

 

I respect el Oscuro, he’s been loyal to the Dragon’s Tongue for many a years, and I will repay him for saving my Shuiro from the Russians.

 

As I was going to ASK, you really think he did it out of loyalty? You destroyed the Dragon’s Tongue. He has no more ties to you. So, what? He did it out of courtesy because he is such an upstanding citizen? He did it out of loyalty to Rex’s father?

 

What are you implying!? Kemono grips the chair’s arms, his face tight, while his neck muscles look like they are about to rupture with boiling blood.

 

What if it’s Hades’ arms you find your Shuiro in? What if Rex still loves you but has found love in another man as well? Would you be willing to share him if he declares he is in love with you both, that losing both of you would kill him?

 

You just signed your own death sentence, little boy. This. Interview. Is. Over!

 

Author smiles evilly as Kemono stand and stomps out.

 

Cue dramatic war music.