To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

26 • Tomioka Gaiden

Inori cocked her head to the side at Shinobu's appearance. "Shinobu-san, are you going somewhere?" She didn't expect the Insect Pillar to be knocking on her door wearing a casual kimono rather than her usual uniform.

"Are you free, Inori-chan?" Shinobu asked instead. "As the only other pillar who knows a thing or two about pharmaceuticals, I thought it would be a good idea to show you the usual places where I buy my herbal remedies."

"Sure." Inori closed the front door of her estate, easily falling into step beside Shinobu. "I just got home from a mission, so I'm having some free time."

"Oh, dear. Are you sure you're not tired? Have you been sleeping at all?" Shinobu noticed the dark circles under Inori's eyes. "That won't do, Inori-chan. I told you that humans need at least six to eight hours of sleep every single day, not four hours of sleep every five days."

Inori rubbed her eyes, hoping the bruises would disappear if she did so. "I surprisingly slept every two days this time, so I'm fine. Anyways, where are we going?"

Shinobu gave her a worried look but accepted the change of topic. "It's near the northern mountains. You should hide your swords since they tend to garner too much attention."

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

Inori glanced around the village, feeling the heavy atmosphere lingering in the air. She bit into the snack the madam of the house prepared, keeping her ears sharp for any interesting information.

"You two don't look like the locals here." The old lady placed a tray of tea on the mat, her wrinkled face scrunched in worry. "It's a bad time right now for visitors. There's a man-eating bear on the loose in the mountains."

"A man-eating bear?" Inori cocked her head to the side. "The last Alps I visited also had that. Are they really that common in the mountains?" She could guess that the bear the people were so afraid of was a demon.

"We call it den-deprived bears around here. They're not that common, but they aren't rare either," the madam answered. "Many mountain hunters were eaten by this one in particular, so the people are worried."

"No wonder." Shinobu hummed. "I thought the air around the rest point was rather tense."

"Dear, don't say anything bad," the madam chastised nervously. "It's better for you and your little sister to head back quickly, right?" Inori had choked on her tea at the assumption, coughing as Shinobu rubbed her back.

"Yes, but we're free for the first time in a while." Shinobu picked up a snack, toying with it between her fingers. "And I can't really trust people when it comes to buying a lot of herbal remedies. Besides"—she turned her head, smiling at the old lady—"the fact that a bear is roaming around and eating humans is very much within the sphere of my work. So, if there's anything you know or are selling, please tell me."

"Shinobu-san." Inori sweatdropped at the expression plastered all over the madam's face. "Smiling like that while saying that isn't the best combination, people will feel weirded out. Though the hunting man-eating beast part is true."

Before the madam could come up with a response, yells and shouts were heard from outside. Inori and Shinobu stood up, walking over to the edge of the door to peek out. Inori stared at the woman who was yelling at a group of men. "Hm? What's going on?"

"You mean Yae-chan?" The madam gestured towards the shouting woman. "She's the daughter of Matazou, the mountain hunter. Her father and friends died in front of her after they were attacked by the bear." She shook her head, her hand grasping around the clothes on her chest. "Ever since then, she's been like that. When she's not going down to the village for shopping, she always heads into the mountains for vengeance. It really hurts my heart to see her like that."