To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

18 • Acknowledgement

Forcing every aching muscle from her head to toe, Inori completed the waterfall training in two days, managing to stay unmoving under the waterfall for thirty minutes. Gyomei was hidden behind the trees when Inori finally dragged herself out of the river, vomiting out mouthfuls of water. She was obviously tired and ready to pass out, but she didn't waste time and immediately requested the second phase.

If Inori thought phase one was hellish, the second and third phases were equivalent to the lower rings of hell. She continued to fall flat on her face every time she tried to carry the three logs on her back. She really respected Gyomei who could carry six to eight logs with ease.

Stars. After falling on her face for the nth time, Inori gritted her teeth and pushed herself back to her feet, as she had been doing from the start. What is giving him the strength needed to do all this? And here I thought those stupid robes and jewelry were heavy.

Inori tried to observe Gyomei as he pushed a huge boulder across the forest. Veins were popping all over his arm and neck, and if she didn't know any better, Inori thought he was furious. But she was also irritated that she couldn't lift the logs across town despite wasting five days trying.

You can't fail. Keep going. You have to succeed. Inori continued to chant in her mind, gritting her teeth as she shouldered the logs, moving forward one step at a time. "Keep...going, you...you have to keep going."

Inori let herself faceplant the floor as soon as she managed to heave the logs across the forest. The logs on her back weighed down on her, and she heaved as she pushed them off. Sprawled on her side on the ground, she coughed and gagged on air, feeling sick due to the fatigue.

Gyomei sat beside her curled up and nauseous form. He slid a bottle of water which she immediately snatched and gulped down. He heard her sighing in relief after hydrating herself, leaning against a nearby tree as she tried to gather her breathing.

"Himejima-san, I'm sorry, but I took too long with the log training." She laughed sheepishly. "My weapons are already done, and I've managed to find the location of one of the lower moons, so Muichiro and I are planning on heading there tomorrow."

Even though the exact location was still unsure, Inori had confirmed that it was around the area where she told Kanamaru to spread information about her physical description, which could only mean that acting as bait really did work.

"I can't continue the third phase, I'm sorry," Inori apologized with a bow. "Oh, but when I get back, I'll come again and finish it, if you're alright with that."

"Hoshizora Inori, tell me one thing," he demanded, and for once, he wasn't crying. "Why did you choose this reckless path?" His voice came out harsher than intended, but it was a fact that Inori had chosen the most reckless and bloodstained path there was. "Do you have so much confidence in your ability to perform multiple techniques that you think you can take on a demon moon? There is more to 'power' than just techniques, and you need raw strength to execute most of the techniques you have been taught."

"For what reason, other than to improve my raw strength, that I am here?" Inori asked back with a cold smile on her face. "I didn't ask them to teach me everything they knew, I didn't learn everything I could to survive that dance, I didn't drink my own blood and rainwater just so I could continue dancing, I didn't do all that just to let my lack of muscles stop me."

Because there was another someone who had climbed the ranks and was dubbed a pillar despite not being able to decapitate demons. In the end, it didn't matter how and what she used as long as it did the deed of exterminating demons from this world. Whether she used poison, blades, or sunlight, everything that worked meant that it worked.