To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

Bonus Chapter: Dead Special

"Being born only to die in a dance doesn't sound pleasant. Why not run away?"

"If I can, I would!" Inori glared at the man leaning against the fence, sweat mixed with blood dripping down her chin. "Who are you anyway? This is my house."

"Huh? I'm a doctor—wait...you can see me?" The man pointed to himself, rushing forward until he was kneeling in front of Inori. The girl scooted back on instinct, watching the man with wide eyes. "Little girl, can you really? You can see me? You can hear me too?"

"Yes. What is wrong with you?" Inori felt her breath hitch in her throat, so she did the next thing she could do whenever she was scared.

"Getsu-nii! There's a creep in the backyard!"

"No! I'm not a creep!"

"Inori! Who do I need to kill?"

"Oh, God! No! Stop!"

Little did Inori know that a beautiful friendship between two different worlds had just been formed.

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

"You utter dumb horrible person!"

Yoriichi could only watch as the girl, no older than five and with an obviously very limited foul vocabulary, crumpled to her knees and banged the stony ground until her hands bled. She continued to curse him out, calling him all the expletives a young girl like her could know.

"You evil horrible awful human! You should've let them die! Or at least tell them you don't want to be a freaking god! Argh! I hate this! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate everything!"

Yoriichi waited until Inori finally ran out of breath, which took some time since she knew how to do total concentration breathing constantly, which was honestly amazing on its own. He crouched in front of the wheezing girl, trying and failing to pat her head. "Are you done?"

"Yeah." Inori rolled until she was on her back, panting even as she stared at Yoriichi. "I'm sorry for everything I said just now."

"You were angry, and you're still a child, I'm surprised you managed to keep it in for such a long time." Yoriichi sat down on the stony ground beside her, watching as a spider on a nearby tree made its web. "I'm sorry for what I did in the past. I admit I could've dealt with it better, but I don't regret saving this village."

"I'm sorry too...I shouldn't have said that." Inori sighed, dragging a hand down her face. "Anybody with strength of your caliber would've done the same. I just...I don't want to die...not from something so pathetic."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's partly my fault too."

"How?"

"Because I was born?" Inori shrugged, covering her eyes with one arm. "Argh. This sucks. Why am I like this?"

"You don't enjoy life?"

"How can I?"

"I'm sorry."

"If you're really sorry, make up for it," Inori snapped, her emotions getting the better of her again. "Teach me the Sun Breathing that can help me survive this dance. If I can master the Sun Breathing this dance was referenced from, I can move easier and survive."

He owed her that much at least, right? And Yoriichi had seen the way she danced. While very sloppy—because she was a child—it really did look like the dance was referenced from his swordsmanship techniques. It was his fault that this child was suffering, so if he could be of help to her, if his worthless techniques could save just one more life, if he could prevent himself from feeling more regret, then he would do whatever it took to make sure this child survived.