"... The largest one... the one with hair," Youmu began, slowly approaching the downed creatures, sheathing Roukanken as she did, "... She hesitated. I could see it. None of the others did. They all mindlessly attacked like monsters. But when she saw us, she didn't want to do it. She didn't want to fight."

It wasn't how a monster completely lost to humanity behaved, or a youkai with their mind intact, behaved. Hesitation like that was something Youmu could recognize and understand as the actions of someone who didn't want to fight, did not want to hurt anyone nor be hurt in turn. Anyone trained in the art of swordplay could recognize those reactions.

If that was the case... then...

"... Takamachi-san, in the journal..." she continued, her tone morose, "Do you remember? It said that the horrible man who owned that mansion threw a girl into the ocean as a sacrifice. And that note... it said that these things turn people into more of themselves."

Every other fish creature here seemed totally lost. But if there was one who still had that fragment of humanity, was it possible...

[@KoL]