To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

01 • Dance of Blood and Death

Ten-year-old Hoshizora Inori sat on a rock at the edge of the river, soaking her bloody feet in the water. Her brothers, Hizashi and Getsumei, were busy fussing over her feet which had yet to stop bleeding. Getsumei had his knees in the water, his bare knees bruising against the pebbly ground as he washed the blood away, while Hizashi prepared a salve.

"Honestly, this isn't even that bad. You do know the dance requires me to be barefoot, right?" Despite her words, Inori didn't try to push her brother away, secretly happy that they cared so much about her wellbeing.

"Well fuck the stupid fucking village for being a fucking fanatic and sending little girls to their death. Fuck the gods too, dammit," Getsumei continued to rant, ignoring Hizashi's plea to stop cursing and 'destroying Inori's innocent ears' to which Getsumei replied with 'it's already long destroyed anyway'.

The village the triplet lived in was, simply put, a village of fanatics. Centuries ago, the village that was located on an isolated mountain was often attacked by man-eating demons. Then, a man with crimson markings on his face and a glowing red sword came, and he killed all the demons terrorizing the village. The man left without even revealing his name, but the village decided to hail the man as their god. Thus, the Crimson Dance tradition was created.

The Crimson Dance was, in Inori's opinion and she was sure everybody secretly thought the same, an execution for young girls. Every fifty years, the village would choose one girl who hasn't reached adulthood to dance for seven days and seven nights straight without a single break. If the girl managed to successfully dance until midnight of the seventh night, the village would be blessed for another fifty years from the terror of demons and other calamities. But if the girl collapsed before finishing the dance, the villagers would burn the girl on an altar as an offering and apology to the gods. They believed by doing so, their village would still be protected.

The day Inori was born was unfortunately when the villagers were still busy choosing the next maiden. Her mother who died giving birth to her and her father who ran away after the death of her mother left a bad impression on the village, more so since her father was an outsider. So, they pressured her grandmother to make Inori the chosen maiden.

"To cleanse herself who killed her mother and drove her father away." That was what the villagers said.

Her grandmother downright refused. Despite what people said, the triplets were still her grandchildren. She didn't care if the three of them had the weird rainbow hair they inherited from their father. She didn't care that the eldest could understand books even adults have trouble understanding. She didn't care that the middle son could easily beat a grown man in a fight. She didn't care that the youngest had two different colored eyes and would often talk to the air. She didn't care because they were her grandchildren, and if their parents wouldn't be there for them, then she would.

But her grandmother knew that raising three children by herself wouldn't be easy, especially with the entire village against them. She also knew that the family of the chosen maiden would be given wealth, a sick compensation in her opinion. She realized that if she didn't agree, her grandchildren would suffer. As much as it disgusted her to sacrifice her granddaughter, she knew it was the best choice for everyone. So, with a heavy heart and determination to do her best to prepare her youngest grandchild, her grandmother agreed to make Inori the Crimson Dancer.

"Hizashi after the sun, Getsumei after the moon, and Inori after my prayer. My prayer that you three will survive whatever ordeal life throws at her and that you two will be the sun and moon of each other's life, lighting up the day and night," Grandma Shizuku said as she stroked the children's hair, her throat closing up at the worry in the eldest, the anger in the middle child, and the pain in the youngest.