To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

36 • Demon Under The Sea

Inori was in an unusual situation.

"Tell me again." She looked between her two mission partners. "Why are three pillars assigned to one mission? Are we dealing with an upper moon or something?"

"Because the demon is a fucking nuisance, that's why. Now shut up." Sanemi crossed his arms, obviously not liking the situation either.

Obanai sighed from her other side, facepalming. "Because people who went to the beach have been going missing every night. It could be an upper moon for all we know, but since the demon is hiding in the middle of the sea, they think going together is better than alone. That, and we just happen to be in the area."

"The sea, huh." Inori hummed, remembering one crucial flaw of hers. "Then, I guess it's a bad time to tell you that I don't know how to swim."

"You can't swim." Sanemi pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fucking great. One of our pillars is going to fucking drown to death like a pathetic idiot."

"You don't have to be so rude. I've watched my brothers swim before." Inori pouted. "It's basically just flapping and kicking your limbs underwater, right? I'm sure I can improvise."

Obanai gave her a look of disbelief. "Hoshizora, that's called drowning."

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

Inori shielded her eyes from the harsh sun rays, squinting them to look at the crowded beach. The heat was so strong that her surroundings seemed to sway. For someone who grew up in a mountain area, the heat was hell. Her usually comfortable uniform felt suffocating. She had already taken off her haori and outer uniform, leaving her in the standard white shirt and hakama pants.

The three were currently resting under the shade after gathering information. According to the locals, lotus flowers would wash up near the shores every night and people would try to collect them. But the night waves were strong, so their boats would drift away, and the people would go missing. Inori had to admit that were it not for the fact that a freshwater flower suddenly appeared in the middle of the sea, she would've thought the missing people were the result of a natural disaster.

Since the demon wouldn't act until nightfall, they were left with no choice but to wait for it to appear. In the meantime, Inori was currently melting and becoming one with the table.

"You look like a dying slug." Inori raised her head from the table, giving Sanemi a venomous smile while her leg kicked his shin. Sanemi cursed, but Inori had already slumped her head back to the table, groaning at the unbearable heat.

"Why can't this body tolerate the cold and the heat?" She lifted her head again. Her bangs were sticking onto her forehead with how much she had sweat, and she pouted at Sanemi. "Shinazugawa-san, how can you tolerate both the cold and the heat? Please teach me."

She could understand how he could tolerate the heat since the buttons of his uniform were undone and he wasn't wearing an inner white shirt, but that didn't explain how he could go around at night, and even to the mountain areas, with that same outfit without getting cold.

"How can you feel cold when you're doing Total Concentration Constant?" Sanemi gave her, who was already back to melting into the table, a weird look. "In the first place, Total Concentration is you inhaling more than the maximum amount of oxygen. It increases your body temperature. How can you still be cold even after doing that every second of the day?"

"You say that, but the human body is made to adapt, and I was always surrounded by the dead." Her voice was muffled by the table, and Sanemi was actually worried she would melt. "The air in Shinku is so dense that it's hard to breathe." Another reason why none of the previous dancers ever succeeded. "It's cold even in summer and I'm almost always outside. My body keeps on sweating, but the air is cold, so I got cold too. I think that's how they explained it."