To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

77 • Last Preparations

"Inori...my child." Kagaya reached out his arm, using every last bit of his strength to cup Inori's cheek. "Tell me, child...what are your instincts telling you...right now?"

"Oyakata-sama." Inori bit her lips, placing Kagaya's bandaged hands back on his chest, still holding them as tears welled in her eye. "In...in a few days...the battle will begin in a few days...I...I don't know precisely when, but...but I have a feeling it'll happen in a few days."

She didn't know how to explain or rationalize her assumption, thus she never told anyone. She just had a sinking feeling that everything would begin soon, and she hadn't been able to sleep without tossing and turning because her stomach continued to twist in unease.

"When?"

"Five days."

"Fufu...is that so?" Kagaya weakly chuckled. "Gyomei...Inori...sometime....in the next five days...Muzan will come...I want you to use me as a decoy...and put an end to him."

Inori snapped her eyes towards her master, then to the Stone Pillar. But Gyomei's face didn't show what he was feeling, and her breath unceremoniously hitched.

"Why do you say that?" Gyomei finally asked from the other side of his futon.

"No reason." Kagaya smiled. "Just...instincts...like Inori."

"Oyakata-sama?" Inori bit her lips as tears started to stream down her eye. "Oyakata-sama, surely...surely there's something we can do that doesn't involve your sacrifice. We still need you."

Kagaya ignored her plea, his mind already made up. "Inori...how often are your feelings...correct?"

"Pardon?" Inori wiped her tears. "I, uh, I don't...I don't really know."

"Surely...you know of my family's special instincts...the power of foresight or so some may call it."

"Oyakata-sama?"

Kagaya weakly gestured for her to open the folded paper lying on his bedside. It was a family tree, most likely rewritten from a precious archive since it only showed the relationship chart of the last five generations in the Ubuyashiki family. Inori couldn't stop herself from widening her eyes as she stared at the familiar name written in the Ubuyashiki family tree.

"Ubuyashiki Kanon and Hoshizora...Yuuto?"

"My ancestor from four generations back had a sister," Inori shook her head. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be what she thought it was. "You should know that the daughters of...the Ubuyashiki family have to be wed and have their surnames changed...at the age of thirteen...that sister, Ubuyashiki Kanon...she married your great-grandfather."

No. No. No.

"Inori, you have the Ubuyashiki blood in your veins....as a result, you were also blessed with tremendous instincts," Kagaya explained, his hand moving to squeeze Inori's as the girl began to hyperventilate. "Forgive me for keeping this...from you."

Inori sucked in a deep breath, clenching her eye shut as she tried to regain control over her breathing. She was so confused and shocked at the revelation that she could only choke out one word. "Why?"

"Perhaps, I didn't want you to be burdened by...the Ubuyashiki bloodline...especially when you are not a...direct descendant." The master chuckled humorlessly, feeling Inori's tears falling onto his hand. "Though I suppose...misfortune follows my family even if they no longer have the...Ubuyashiki name."

He already knew this child was of his bloodline the first time he had heard of her, but he only ever confirmed how blessed she truly was when she rushed into his home in a fit of tears, overwhelmed, hyperventilating, and not a single crow or kakushi who had helped her find his supposedly hidden home in sight. She claimed she hadn't even thought of where she was going, simply following her feet, and that made Kagaya sure that his bloodline wasn't as cursed as he originally thought. At least, this child wasn't as cursed as he had thought.