To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

24 • Silver and Gold

"Young Hoshizora, are you free tonight?" Kyojuro asked as soon as she opened her front door. "There's a winter festival in town tonight. Kanroji and I will be there since we're free. Uzui and his wives, as well as Senjuro, will be joining too."

Inori placed her finger on her chin in thought. She had never been to a festival before, so she really wanted to go. But she didn't want to go alone because she was sure she wouldn't know what to do. On the other hand, asking one of the other pillars to stay with her throughout the festival would probably be a burden to them since they would also want to enjoy the festival.

"You don't have to think so hard." Kyojuro patted her back with a laugh. "You've just returned from a mission, right? I understand if you want to rest." He beamed, completely misunderstanding her hesitance. "By the way, it's your birthday, right? Here, happy birthday."

Inori stared at the blazing red box he had just tossed, surprised that someone remembered her birthday. She had been so busy hunting down demons that her birthday completely slipped from her mind. Right, I'm twelve now. Inori held the box close to her chest with a small smile.

"Thank you, Rengoku-san. I think I'll go to the festival."

Or that was what she planned.

"Caw! Hoshizora Inori! Mission! Mission! Head to the northwest village in the Alps! Northwest in the Alps!" Inori slumped her head on the table, groaning and cursing the existence of demons.

Muichiro, who she visited because she wanted to ask him to accompany her to the festival, patted her head, smiling softly. "It's okay, I'll go with you so we can finish it quickly. I don't have any mission anyway."

With another grumble, Inori pulled herself out of the comfortable kotatsu, asking Kanamaru to describe their mission. "Caw! In the northwest village, children are disappearing every night. Every night. Children disappearing." He began to fly around. "Eight soldiers went unresponsive. Children are disappearing. Soldiers are unresponsive."

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚☆.｡.☆.｡.:*☆ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

The Alps where Inori was sent to were covered with snow thick enough to make it hard to walk. Inori had to keep Kanamaru tucked inside her outer uniform—she wore a long-sleeved inner shirt, but the cold still pierced through the layers—so he wouldn't get blown off by the snowstorm. Even Ginko had abandoned her pride to hide inside her haori, tucked into her cramped bag, much to Kanamaru's displeasure.

After hours of walking against the strong wind, they finally reached a building, a pub from the looks of it. Inori dusted the snow piled on both her and Muichiro before pushing the door open. As the front sign implied, the building was a small bar filled with adults more than twice their age.

Kanamaru and Ginko came out of her uniform and bag as soon as the inn door swung close, immediately perching themselves on their respective master's shoulders. Muichiro was dazedly gazing at the painting of some summer scenery hung in the pub, so Inori took it upon herself to drag them towards an empty table, which just so happened to be near the bar.

"I'm sorry, young lady, we don't have anything for you or your sister. This is a place for adult food."

Muichiro blinked stupidly, turning to face Inori while pointing to himself. Inori nodded in response, biting back a chuckle. He deadpanned, turning back towards the bartender. "I'm not her sister."

Inori coughed loudly at the stunned expression on the madam's wrinkled face, pulling Muichiro to sit next to her. "We're not here for alcohol, ma'am." She took over the conversation, internally thanking all the dead who romanticized visiting bars and pubs for alcohol. Otherwise, Inori would be clueless as to where she was and why there was food only adults could eat. "We're not from the area and the storm is really strong right now, so we're hoping to take refuge here. We'll pay for tea if you have them." Inori held up two fingers, and the madam nodded before turning to make the tea.