Fire Force fanfic (the OC/Benimaru)

Chapter 7

Three days of being confined to bed later, Ouka finally returned to her normal life as a Fire Soldier. A few guys from the 7th and her prepared breakfast for the entire unit.

After settling with Konro and Benimaru regarding tasks to be done that day, she went to Asahanada Shrine to tend to it.

"Whoa. The whole place is spick and span," Ouka acclaimed, slightly amazed with her surroundings. "You said the folks took care of the shrine in my absence, right?"

"Yeah." Although Ouka wasn't facing him, Benimaru looked away to hide the fact that he also helped them out back then.

Ouka clasped her hands at her back, beaming a smile at the shrine that had been her family's pride for years. "Gotta get ready for the dance ritual tonight," she said almost to herself.

"Looking forward to it." This time Benimaru directed his gaze at her in approval.

"It'll be a special ceremony tonight, since I need to offer prayers to those who turned Infernal days ago," she added.

Concern lit up in Benimaru's eyes as he scrutinized Ouka's expression. A quiet sigh of relief escaped from his lips when she showed no signs of agitation or gloom.

"Yeah," he replied abruptly. "There's nothing much for us hikeshi to do today, so feel free to get our help or anything." With those last words, he turned around to head back to the HQ.

Ouka waited until Benimaru was out of sight, then she walked to the shrine building. She picked up her kagura suzu, closed her eyes to concentrate, and began dancing.

Besides from taking care of Asahanada Shrine, the Homare family was entrusted to carry out sacred dances that served spiritual purposes to traditional ceremonies and special occasions. She'd watched her father did the dance when she was a child; during New Year celebration, summer and winter festivals, post-disaster rituals. In terms of humanity's current predicament, a post-disaster ritual could be a farewell ceremony to multiple victims of Infernalization—and the latter was the reason Ouka had to dance tonight. She was taught to dance at the age of twelve, with the expectation of becoming the next caretaker of Asahanada Shrine alongside her eldest brother.

The deaths of her father and brother(?) two years ago surely took a toll on her mind and spirit. Carrying the weight of her role as the sole caretaker of Asahanada Shrine, she kept all her negative feelings at bay and never let them eat at her. The emblem of Company 7 she held proud on her back also contributed to her mental perseverance.

Images of the mysterious white clad guys reappeared in Ouka's mind. Not only did they killed her dad and probably related to her brother's disappearance, they almost reduce Asakusa to a sea of flames.

I swear I'll make those bastards perish–

"Hit the brakes, Ouka. Your moves are hideously fast and aggressive."

Ouka immediately froze upon hearing Benimaru's voice, which led to a concomitant recovery from her erupting thoughts. She turned to look at the shrine archway, where he stood with his arms folded on his chest.

"W-why are you still here?"

Benimaru rubbed the back of his neck as he approached a flustered Ouka. "To be honest I kinda miss seeing you dance, so I thought I'd stayed behind to watch your practice for a minute."

He kept his discerning stare on her. "You're not supposed to dance like that. Is there something actually bothering you?"

"Ah, I've forgotten the steps."

"Uh-huh."

A loud sigh from Ouka, followed by a pair of slumped shoulders. "Geez, you always see through me, Waka. I wonder how you're so good at reading minds?"