One time, while Maruha executed a punishment, the desperate criminal hugged her thigh and howled like an animal, begging, "Please! ...Anything you want! Money? Chaos Stones? Or the official proof of residence for any Bonfire City? I can give them all to you... Please, just let me go!"
She stayed silent, simply staring at that tear-streaked face that was scrunched up from terror. The criminal knew there was nothing he could do now that his attempted bribing flopped. He could only ask one last question before taking his last breath, "Why?"
"Why?"
Maruha repeated that question in her mind after leaving her secret base in the darkness and stepping back into the sunlight. Lowering her head, she saw dried blood stains between her fingers and quickly washed them off with water once she got back to her hotel dorm. However, the accumulated emotions in her heart over the years—the pleasure of punishing criminals and the slight daze afterward—can never be washed away.
Why? Even her colleagues at Night Chains who are at most acquaintances had asked her the same question. Though they wouldn't stop or interfere, they were curious how one movie managed to change a person's life to such an extent.
Naturally, Maruha could easily give answers like "for justice" or "to be a hero," but when she reapplies dark nail polish on her fingers after washing away the blood stains, she's well aware that she isn't doing this solely for those pretentious reasons. Still, it wouldn't be accurate if she answered "just to satisfy my own desire," at least not entirely.
Maruha didn't answer that already dead criminal or those "concerned" colleagues, not because she didn't want to but because she couldn't.
Her hope is to someday, meet that wise one behind Night Chains whom her teacher told her about and obtain an answer that can convince herself. Before that day comes, she will continue walking the path she selected even with that question endlessly repeating in her heart.