The Demon Queen

A New Life🌙

"Welcome to Australia. You're on your own, mate."

With that, Kokushibou and I were both handed a piece of paper with English writing on it and sent in a direction down the pier.

"What did that man say?" Kokushibou asked me in a low voice.

"Welcome ... to Australia ... you're ... your own ...? I had a hard time catching it."

The bit of English I had taught myself over the years since the Meiji Restoration wasn't being much of a help, and Kokushibou didn't speak any English at all. He didn't even know how to say "hello" or "thank you".

When we escaped the Castle, we didn't know where to go. The building exploded and burst into flames not long after we had gotten out. Muzan must had waited until he sensed that we were no longer inside before he set off his perfect suicide.

We had no idea if there were other Slayers coming as backup. We also didn't know if any Demon Slayers somehow survived the blast, or how many others didn't join the invasion of the Castle. If any were still alive, they would probably go after us if they caught onto the fact that we were not killed. Knowing how the Demon Slayer Corps operated, they would hunt us to the ends of the Earth to dole out our punishment for having been demons, and for having lived our unnatural lifespans that went against the system of nature.

We fled to the harbour and boarded a boat, paying for our fare with some of the money we took from my wing on our way out of the Castle. The ship staff ceased our swords and also calculated them into the price of our fare, as the blade materials were of high quality. Kokushibou and I didn't argue, although I could tell that for him, losing his sword was like losing a limb. We were fortunate that we weren't questioned about our wounds and were allowed on board.

The ship was crowded, filled with working-class people and peasants. All of them shared the same vacant expression, as if they were throwing away their very identities. Kokushibou and I managed to find a small cabin to stay in. We remained unbothered by the other passengers, probably due to the wounds we sported. One passenger, apparently with some kind of medical training under his belt, did notice us and offered to tend to our wounds. The middle-aged man helped us without questions, most likely assuming us to have been injured in a gang conflict, and once he was confident with how our healing was progressing, we never saw him again.

It was probably the rumour that we were connected to a gang that gifted us with the privacy and isolation we faced on our two month-long travel that seemed like it would never end. It was a relief that we were left alone, and honestly, it was a miracle that we were allowed on the ship at all.

Kokushibou -- or should I say now, Michikatsu -- did not speak word to me for the first couple weeks of the trip. I would have thought that he was angry with me, had he not been holding my hand and embracing me as we went to sleep each night.

One day, we were sitting together, and Michikatsu looked at me with the exhausted, lifeless eyes he had ever since we boarded the ship. "Do you think I will wield a sword again?" he asked.

I was surprised to hear his voice. Somehow, I suspected that he would never speak again. I looked at him, allowing his question to repeat itself to me in my mind.

"Never mind," he said and took a breath. "I shouldn't ask such a thing. Wielding a sword or not would be trivial to you. But ..." He looked to his hands -- hands that still held the callouses and blister scars from his training as a human 500 years ago. "I lost ... an extension of my body ... that I was developing and living with for all of my life ..." He looked at me. "I apologise. You also lost something -- someone -- that was a piece of you."

I let his words sink into my head. "I feel alone. It's like none of this can possibly be real, but it is. Sometimes, I think that this is all a bad dream, and somehow I'll wake up and Muzan will be there next to me. But I ... I know it'll only be you. Don't take it the wrong way. I don't mean it the way that it sounds."