November 9th, 1996.
Kyotanabe, Kyoto, Japan.
Tanabe Central Hospital.
A father held his wife's hand; her grip was painfully tight as she screamed and pushed with her remaining lifespan. Out came a newly born baby covered in blood, crying it's first tears.
The father notices his wife isn't breathing anymore. Doctors rush in to save the woman; for hours on end they continued different procedures, trying to resuscitate her.
In the bitter end, the woman passed away while giving birth to a beautiful baby girl. Hirai Momo.
Hirai's father wanted a son all along, to uphold his business legacy. When he found out his first child would be female, he was sorely disappointed.
But his wife made him swear to love Hirai. To take care of her if something ever happened; it did and he was forced to act on a promise even he knew he couldn't keep.
After everything was finished, the father finally took Hirai home. He looked at her asleep, debating if he should give her up for adoption.
It wouldn't have been so bad if his wife was still alive, they could've tried for a son. But Hirai killed his wife. He wanted to believe it wasn't her fault but he couldn't.
He mostly left her at a daycare while he was at work. The rest of the time he left her with his mother, who loved Hirai unconditionally. Years passed, he would visit every so often and sometimes would go months without seeing her.
Hirai turned ten years old. He decided he would take her in finally. He would train her in fighting, and possibly to take over his business one day.
"Longer Hirai!" The father yelled. Hirai was doing a handstand on her knuckles. She had been in this position for ten minutes straight in the blazing heat.
And yet, it wasn't good enough for her father. Nothing was ever good enough for her father. He pushed her past her breaking point everyday.
She fumbled to the ground, she was drenched in sweat while her knuckles were in pain and her muscles shook from soreness. The father shook his head and walked back in the house.
During their fight training, he never took it easy on Momo. His blocking and stometimes hits were more aggressive than they should've been with a little girl.
Hirai went to a local school. She was rather awkward and it was tough making any friends at all. Hirai usually stuck by herself, and was made fun of it by the popular girls.
She grew to fourteen. She finally found out what emotion was. And she became familiar with one in particular. Anger.
She started to hate her father. He never held a conversation with her, made her training painfully brutal and ignored her birthdays all together. The only person she loved was her grandmother.
Hirai always asked what happened to her mother. Her grandmother tried to hide the fact for so long, but Hirai knew something was up. When she found out she cried, and realized that's why her father hated her.
Hirai threw a quick right jab, almost nailing her father directly in the nose. He was faster, he sidestep and pulled her arm past him while holding his leg out. Tripping her as she rolled and fell to the ground roughly.
"Not fast enough." He said disappointed.
Hirai sat up, in pain by the scratches the ground gave her when she fell. She felt hot tears fill her face. "Not fast enough." Hirai said out of anger. "Not strong enough. Not smart enough. Is anything that I do enough?"
"That's not my fault..."
"It's not my fault either!" Hirai screamed, looking up. Her father stood shocked. "I know why you hate me. It wasn't my fault that mother died! And it wasn't my fault I wasn't born a boy. Why do you take everything out on me?"
Her father had no idea what to say. He stood in silence for a minute, and still kept his pride. "We have nothing to discuss. I will train you, until you're ready to take over my business." He walked away with his hands behind his back.
Hirai broke down into tears. She cried for hours on end, wondering what she did wrong to deserve all of this. Hirai grew to sixteen. Her father treated her the same.
Ignored her birthdays, never talked to her. Only trained her. Trained her to be something she didn't want to be. Hirai reached her breaking point. After so many years, she finally came to the realization that her father died with her mother a long time ago.
Nothing but rage filled Hirai one night. Thinking how none of this was her fault, yet she was stuck in the middle, and has been all her life. She packed her belongings and snuck into her fathers room.
His room was large and beautiful, neatly organized with expensive futinture and decoration perfectly placed. He had a certain decoration at the very from of his room.
A Japanese katana and tanto blade displayed on a stand. Both with matching black and gold sheaths, and both traditionally made.
She grabbed the tanto and felt the weight of it in her hand. She pulled the blade out, looking at it's polished platinum look. She walked over to her father, laying on his back sound asleep.
Her life flashed before her eyes. She saw how her father treated her, how she had been put into this shit they call life. Without a second thought, without shaking, she slit her father's throat.
His blood sprayed the wall as some gushed into Hirai's face. His eyes opened as he held his throat, blood pouring through his fingers. Hirai walked over and flicked the room light on.
She walked over to him again and looked her father in the eyes. She could see the shocked realization when he found out his daughter is the one who cut his throat.
She put the tanto back into it's sheath and laid it on her father's chest, who was still gurgling blood trying to speak.
She leaned in. "You did this to me. My humanity died with mother, now you will die with us." Those were the last words she said to her father, as she closed the door and let him suffer until his dying breath.
She walked all the way to her grandmothers house. Her humanity wasn't entirely gone. She didn't have it in her to tell the one person in the world that loved her, that she killed her son.
She wrote a note saying how sorry she was and how much she loved her grandmother. She knocked hard and left the note outside the door and ran.
Hirai ran and kept running until she had gotten tired. She didn't know where she was going, but she just wanted to leave.
For a straight month she lived on the streets, stealing, robbing, sleeping in parks or alleys. Doing anything she had to do to survive. She'd find people not paying attention to their bags or things and she'd slip a quick hand, pulling whatever she could.
One day she sat at a restaurant in the far corner. Waiting on what she was going to steal next. She saw two men with suits, hair slicked back walking into this average restaurant.
She immediately notice them, and knew that they had money. She watched them as they sat down, taking off their coats and hanging them over the back of their chairs.
She waited and waited, waiting for the perfect moment to grab something from those pockets. Finally as if it was planned, someone and dropped an entire tray of food, causing a loud noise that echoed throughout the place. Everyone turned to look.
She moved quick and reached into the mans pocket, grabbing a long thick leather wallet. It seemed the man was way faster than she was as before she got the wallet out he snatched her wrist.
Her heart dropped, she'd never been caught before; it didn't help these men looked mean with authority. "What are you doing?" The man asked nicely, still holding her wrist.
Hirai stayed silent, frozen. She looked up at the screen, it showed the police around her house, discussing her father's death. The man turned and looked up at the screen.
"He had one child. A daughter. She disappeared since his death. This is just a wild guess but, could you be her?" The man seemed friendly to Hirai and spoke perfect Japanese. She tried to walk away but he held firm to her wrist gently.
He looked over to the other man sitting across from him. "Wait on me in the car. We'll discuss business then." The man shrugged and walked out of the restaurant.
"If I let your arm go, will you sit and talk with me?" The man asked. Hirai nodded and he let go. She sat in front of him, looking at him as if she didn't trust him one bit, she didn't.
"Hungry?" He asked. He saw how pale and skinny she looked, with dark purple under her eyes. He waved the waiter over.
"Yes sir?"
"Yes. Get me two of the most fullfilling meals you have."
"Of course sir." The waiter nodded and walked away. Hirai was watching the news as they discussed the incident. The man noticed again.
"What's your name?" He asked. Hirai looked at him. She saw they said her father's full name, so last name was out of the question. This man bought her food and didn't make a scene or call the police for trying to steal from him, so she'd comply a little.
"Hirai."
"Hirai. That's a pretty name. I always wanted a daughter, that name is something I thought I would've named her if I had one." The man sighed. "But life gets in the way. I never had the chance to start a family, and maybe that's a good thing. My name is Chaeng Sun Yu. How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"Sixteen. So do you know anything about what happened to that man?" He pointed to the tv. She could tell he probably knew it had something to do with her.
She nodded no. The waiter came with their food, a fullfilling burger and fries was placed in front of them with a large drink.
Hirai couldn't resist, she immediately dug in. Chaeng smiled as he watched the hungry girl eat. They sat in silence, eating their food. Half an hour later and both were finished.
Chaeng leaned in and looked at Hirai. "So, where are your parents Hirai?" She looked down and thought of everything. She told herself over and over not to cry, but she couldn't help it as streams of tears began to fall.
Chaeng let her have her time. When she calmed down a little he spoke again. "That man that recently died, I knew him. Didn't like him much and neither he did me. I wanted to help him expand his business, make it better. But he was selfish, thought I was trying to sabotage him. He had a temper on him. So let me ask, are you his missing daughter?"
Hirai looked up at the man through dried tears. This man was the nicest person she's ever met. She nodded yes.
"Hirai Momo." He said. "The National Police Agency is looking for whoever killed this man, and looking for his missing daughter. I can help you."
"How? My life was ruined when I was born." Hirai said.
"I can help you restart your life. Be the daughter I was never able to have and I'll be the father you've always deserved. Your father took his anger out on you I assume?"
Hirai nodded yes. "Very well." Chaeng said. "I'm in Japan seeking business. I'll be here for a week or two and then I'm travelling back to South Korea."
Hirai slightly smiled. This stranger was the closest thing she's ever had to a father, her entire life. So the two became as close as a father and daughter do.
He fed her, gave her shelter and took care of her. He moved back to Korea with Hirai. He taught her Korean, and hired professional Japanese fighters to teach her how to fight.
She turned seventeen and talk of a underground event was in the works. Chaeng gave Hirai everything and helped her start a new life, so she owed him a debt that could never be paid.
He discussed the rules of this event and she agreed to take part, winning money for her sponsor. Winning money for the one man she could call father.
Hirai couldn't be stopped. Every girl who went against her was beaten down. When she turned twenty, the event earned a name, The Circle of Angels. With tiers ranging from beginner to demon.
And his daughter was his demon champion. It was November nineth, Hirai's birthday. Chaeng sat with her as she was being tattooed by his personal tattoo artist.
When it was finished they both looked in the mirror and looked at the beautiful red oni mask that she received. "Happy birthday Momo Oni." He kissed the top of her head.
"On this day it was the birth of you. And one day I was lucky enough to find you. On this day, it was the birth of my true daughter." Chaeng stood behind Momo.
"On this day, it was the birth, of a demon."