"Man, I would kill for some food right now," Yuki muttered to herself.
The fight had tired her out, and really worked up her appetite. She darted around town trying to find ant food stands with any food that looked good, and finally found one after about 10 minutes of looking. The smell coming from this stand was that of freshly baked garlic bread. She went over as quick as she could.
"How much for some garlic bread?" Yuki pulled out her pouch of money.
"2 Shosi for one slice."
"That's a good deal. Here ya go. Two slices please!"
"Thank you for your business!" The baker called after she left.
The garlic bread tasted delicious. It was perfect. Once she finished, she heard someone whisper to her.
"Hey. You. You're from the wind village, right?"
She looked around and saw someone in an alleyway. Cautiously, she walked over. It was a woman with a scarred face. Upon closer inspection, it was the previous police chief who had been labeled KIA. Aria.
"Chief Aria? Everyone thought you were dead. Kiyoshi was made chief once news of your Faction's death reached Aiko. I think he might be the villain we are currently facing though. There are so many things that point to him. Anyway, what happened?"
"We were a party of five. It was me, Kiyoshi, Genko, Akira, and Lan. We were pursuing a gang of bandits when we were ambushed. Kiyoshi ended up being targeted and lost a lot of blood by the time the enemy was subdued. We were all severely weakened as well, and had seen Kiyoshi kill and then puppet one of the bandits. When he realized he had shown the power he was hiding, he used his blood and made a giant scythe out of it and cut every one of our teammates down. He must have thought I was killed by the bandits and left without making sure I had died. After that I hid out in this town."
So it was Kiyoshi. She knew there was something… off about him. The sense of familiarity was odd. She'd had a sense of familiarity with a few others as well, but she knew he was, how would she put this…? Different. It was unnerving. As if the circumstances she associated with him were unpleasant. It reminded her of the feeling of that dark hallway… The one that had left her so shaken.
There was his cloak. It was crimson, similarly to the one from Ryu's description.
And then there was the ambush from the other day… He had metal manipulation. And had a mana awakening as well. She remembered reading the classified document on Kiyoshi. He was able to manipulate the mana signatures themselves. Not even Lady Aiko knew of this. That means he could alter anyone's mana signature to be different. Including his own. That's how the Puppet Master's mana hadn't ever been seen inside the village. He altered his own to look like a new person's.
He had specifically chosen a one-handed sword despite his files saying he was more proficient with a two-hander like a Katana.
And with his free hand? He had made tiny inexplicable movements akin to what one manipulating a puppet would. He staged the encounter to throw the blame off him. He did it to build their trust.
In his file it also said he had a water awakening.
And the final nail in the coffin? According to Aria, during a mission where Kiyoshi had almost died, he used his blood that had pooled around him to kill every single person in the vicinity. Including his teammates. The sole survivor was the previous chief of the police, who left unnoticed. And now, her luck was the reason it all came together.
She had to find Shu. Otherwise she wouldn't get there in time.