To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

03 • An Unusual Breadcrumb

Iguro Obanai was a simple man.

He despised demons. He respected the Ubuyashiki family. He admired Himejima Gyomei. He liked Kaburamaru. He got along with Shinazugawa Sanemi. He loathed Tomioka Giyu.

So, it was quite natural for him to grumble when Kagaya asked him to go on a mission with Tomioka Giyu. But he respected Kagaya more than he hated Giyu, so he would tolerate his fellow pillar, to an extent.

"Stop making that face!"

"What face?" May God have mercy on Giyu because Obanai wouldn't.

"That face." He hissed through gritted teeth, pointing his finger at the Water Pillar's everlasting stoic face. "You look like a rat drenched in the sewers. It irritates me."

Giyu gave him a shocked look before looking down. "I don't look like a rat drenched in the sewers." It took everything within Obanai, which included reciting the codes of conduct, to not murder Giyu then and there.

"Let's just get this over with." There has been information that all the demon slayers sent to this village went unresponsive, and Kagaya deduced it to be a work of one of the Twelve Demon Moons. Thus, Giyu and Obanai were sent to investigate.

Obanai didn't know whether Kagaya deliberately teamed him up with Giyu in a futile attempt to make them get along, but for the Serpent Pillar's own sake, Obanai liked to think that the other pillars were busy, and Giyu was the only one available.

The two pillars continued to hike through the mountains, entering the narrow cave that marked the entrance of the village. Glancing around the cave walls, Obanai saw half-destroyed carvings of what seemed to be a samurai wielding a flaming katana, along with beastly monsters surrounding the samurai. Though his attention shifted to the pouches hung all over the cave, and the thick smell of wisteria in the air.

Their information was right, this village was isolated. But they seemed to know how to ward off demons if the number of wisterias was anything to go by. "Oi, Tomioka," he called out as they exited the cave and entered the village. "Don't ask stupid questions. Our information said this place doesn't treat outsiders too well."

In hindsight, Obanai really should've said that earlier.

"Tomioka Giyu, demon slayer. I came to find out more about the demon that's been spotted here."

That. Goddamn. Fucking. Idiot. Irk marks appeared all over Obanai's face at Giyu's stupidity. But at least his idiocy made a good distraction for Obanai to silently investigate the village. He blended into the shadows, listening to the conversations between the villagers.

"Demon slayer, he said."

"Ridiculous. We've already performed the dance, our village should've been protected."

"Yes, but the girl didn't die, did she?"

"Old man Shouka died a few days ago, right? His head was crushed. The chief said it was a demon, saw it himself."

"Oh, my. I knew it. That girl should've died. The blessing didn't work because she didn't die like all the other girls."

Obanai frowned. A dance that should've killed a girl, a man who got his head crushed by a demon, and a chief who saw it but didn't get killed. Even an idiot knew it was suspicious.

"Speaking of her, where are they? That old hag always comes down to the market, or at least the eldest."

"Their house is near the forest, maybe they got eaten by the demons."

"Well serve them right, I say. That girl survived, so now the blessing won't work."

"I knew those damned Hoshizoras are bad luck, have you seen those brats?"