Five camps had been set up, and the arranging orders had been decided by Ueda-san, who had organized it to his advantage since he and Jin-sama would share a tent, which was next to Haruma’s, who had a tent to himself. Meanwhile, the girls were together; Yuri and Yuto; and finally, Kazuya and Ryosuke shared a tent.

The tents surrounded a big bonfire, which was handled by the humans while Haruma and his people created the barrier for protection.

Maki stepped out of the tent with a bag and sprinkled white powder around the tents in a circle.

While she did that, Mirai sat on the ground on top of the sprinkled powder and undone the top half of her yukata, baring her upper body.

Seeing this, the humans were aghast and bashful, but no one said anything.

Ryosuke wanted her to pull up her yukata and realized that if not for now, he would’ve been the only one to have seen her bare skin that was as soft as a Sakura petal. He reminisced about the time he was applying medicine to her back wound and smiled to himself. Catching that he was looking like an idiot, smiling for something he only knew of, he stopped and composed himself.

Haruma and Kazuya stood behind Mirai and waited.

Maki finished making a circle around their tents with the powder and wiped the sweat off her forehead. “Okay, I’m done now.”

Mirai said, “Jaa, I’ll begin now.”

Begin what? everyone thought.

Mirai closed her eyes, and she looked like she was meditating.

Seconds later, Kazuya followed. However, his sitting position was different. He was behind her on his knees, and his two hands touched her .

The humans finally knew what this was.

Mirai and Kazuya were transmitting something.

Within seconds, everyone, whose eyes were still opened, saw that the white powder surrounding them slowly heated and burned in flames. Fascinated because although it was fire, no heat was emitted, and they didn’t feel like they were being roasted. They then spotted creatures outside the barrier, looking drawn to the fire. Their tongues stuck out, their eyes stared, and their mouths watered.

Scared, Umika held onto Yuri, who was closest to her.

Ueda-san did the same too, except he held onto Jin-sama.

Jin-sama, confused, asked Haruma, “What are you doing?”

“Creating a barrier,” Maki answered. “Don’t bother us right now.”

Jin-sama moved over to stand by Maki. “But aren’t we attracting them?” He pointed to the creatures.

“That’s why we’re doing it.”

Ueda-san was almost bawling. “Chotto! I thought you guys were going to—” He jumped when an eight-legged creature charged toward the barrier and caused itself to reflect violently backward.

Soon, almost all the creatures outside had attempted to break the barrier but failed to do so and instead injured themselves, and those that tried more than four times had been wounded seriously. Within minutes, the creatures gave up and limped away.

“They’re gone now,” Maki said to Kazuya.

Kazuya slowly opened his eyes and pulled his palms away from the of Mirai’s, and Haruma immediately rushed over to support a fainted Mirai with blood trickling from the corners of . Haruma wiped away the blood, fixed her yukata, and then carried her into her tent to put her to sleep.

“Blood barrier,” Yuto whispered in shock.

Kazuya, who heard it, nodded. “That’s what it is.”

“Blood barrier?” Ueda-san and Jin-sama asked.

Yuto walked closer to where the flaming powder was and explained. “A blood barrier is a type of barrier that eats up the energy of the one who makes the barrier. The demon’s blood flows through the powder and attracts others, making them confused and aggravated. It can be powerful enough to make the creature commit suicide. It’s both an offense and defense.”

“Matte, you said ‘demon’s blood’?” Yuri asked.

“Yeah.”

Haruma stepped out of the tent. “That’s because she is a demon.”

“Haruma!” Maki hissed, and everyone quieted down and listened.

“A powerful one too.” Haruma didn’t stop. He could care less. He had a sense that they knew already, so what was the point of hiding it?

Angry that Haruma was making Mirai’s ‘reputation’ worse than it really was, Ryosuke said to him, “Oi, why are you saying that? It doesn’t matter who or what she is. She—”

“Really? You say that now, but when push comes to shove, someone’s going to end up dying...and knowing how things usually end, standings will do anything to be alive, spilling useless blood for themselves.”

There was a long silence. No one spoke because they knew too well what Haruma meant. And they knew it was true.

“We’re moving early tomorrow.” Haruma abruptly headed to his tent. “Kappa, you’re with me.”

Kappa dragged his feet, pouting. “But I’d like to spend the night with Mi-chan and—”

“Go away, ert,” Maki said, scoffing.

Kappa smiled. “Don’t get jealous, Maki. Your body’s still number one for me.”

Maki was about to stomp after him, but Kappa jumped into the tent before she could do so. Irritated, Maki bit her lower lip. “Oi, Kazuya, I swear... I’m going to blow!”

“You’re already blowing up,” Kazuya said, laughing.

Maki walked to Kazuya and started bickering with him. “Don’t you mess with me too!”

Jin-sama yawned. “Since we’re heading out early tomorrow, I should head to sleep too.” He looked at the kids. “Good night, young’uns.”

As he bade them goodbye and walked to his tent, Ueda-san followed suit.

Standing outside now was only the Royal Demon Slayers, Maki, and Kazuya.

Maki exhaled. “I’m hitting the sack.” She stepped into her tent and disappeared.

Being the only one left from Mirai’s group, Kazuya forced a smile. “Well... Umm...” He stretched. “I guess I’m next.” He bowed to the four friends. “Good night.” He stood up straight. “Rest assured. We have secured this place.”

“Will she be okay?” Ryosuke asked. He knew Kazuya would be the only one who’d answered his question—and honestly too. “Why did she faint?”

Kazuya exhaled. “A blood barrier extracts three times the energy than a normal barrier. Since Mi-chan has a small body and... uh... well, doesn’t have a more exceptional transmitter, it strains her physically.” He forced another fake smile. “It used to be obaa-sama who helped transmitted, and with her, Mi-chan had never fallen into this state... But since no one’s as compatible as obaa-sama, Mi-chan’s body hasn’t gotten used to mine yet.”

“...So, she will be okay?” Ryosuke was more worried about Mirai after hearing about it.

Kazuya nodded. “Hai, she will be.” He looked at each of them. “I’m glad our Mi-chan has found friends who care for her too. Arigatou.” With that said, he walked away into his tent, leaving them in deep thoughts about his last commentary.

*

Kappa paced back and forth in the tent while Haruma slept on his side.

Irritated, Haruma threatened him with eyes closed. “Keep doing that, and I’ll make sure you’ll never get to raise that head again.”

Kappa winced at his imagination and became scared. “Maa, Haruma-sama, please don’t joke with me.”

“I’m starting to have second thoughts about your usefulness.”

Kappa immediately moved to sit respectfully at Haruma’s side and said, “Haruma-sama, your Kappa has good information!”

“Tell me, and I’ll assess my thoughts about you again.”

Kappa looked around him as if to make sure that no one would hear. “Those four kids you brought along... They’re—”

“Slayers.” Haruma interrupted nonchalantly.

“Why did you bring them into this place? You know they can—”

“They won’t.” Haruma opened an eye. “Unless I order them to.”

Kappa was dumbfounded. “Haruma-sama, you... You have control over the standings?”

“They’re here to accompany the standings’ King.”

Kappa docked his head to the side. “The standings’ King? He’s here?”

“He’s one of the two older men.”

Kappa excitedly smiled. He had never seen the human king before as the human king was always surrounded or protected by his guards.

Haruma closed his eyes and threatened, “Don’t think of any tricks. If you do, you’re immediately back to square one.”

“I-I won’t. By the way, Haruma-sama, the standing traitor you spoke of... I saw him.”

Haruma opened his eyes again and stared deeply into Kappa’s eyes. “Say that again.”

*

The generals’ private room opened, and Lady Hana and Ayano entered with their tray of meals followed by two more servants. The generals continued speaking about their recent patrols and whatnot as they were served food.

General Yamada asked Lady Hana, “I haven’t passed by Jin-sama today at all. Have you seen him?”

Lady Hana poured tea into his cup and looked up at him. “Yamada-san, Jin-sama is out with Haruma-san’s group.”

“Haruma?” General Chinen asked, not sounding pleased. “The tengu?”

Lady Hana nodded.

“The guards didn’t stop him from going with Haruma?” General Chinen sounded anxious. “That tengu is nothing but a demon who can easily devour an ignorant person like Jin-sama.”

The other two generals nodded, agreeing.

Lady Hana felt obliged to defend Haruma but knew better not to, so all she did was smile to look neutral. She added, “Don’t worry. Jin-sama didn’t go alone. He went off with the Royal Demon Slayers and Ueda-san.”

“Those kids?” the generals said together in sync, sounding as if they doubted their kids’ skills, and they were.

“They aren’t skilled enough to go up against a tengu!” General Nakajima bluntly said. “Yuto would die before he could get a joke out of his mouth; Ryosuke would die because he never thinks things through; and Yuri would die as he balances fighting and defending to keep up with everyone else.”

General Yamada nodded. “They have no sense of cooperation at all.” He sighed and talked to Lady Hana again. “When Jin-sama comes back, inform me.”

Lady Hana blinked. “Uh…Jin-sama won’t be back, General.”

The three generals waited.

“He won’t be back until a few days.” She tried to smile to keep things calm.

“Days?” the generals growled.

Angry, General Nakajima slammed his glazed cup on the table, breaking it. “This is no time for any of us to be sitting and having dinner while we let Shogun-sama be at the mouth of a tiger!”

General Chinen stopped his comrades. “Maa, maa. Calm down. If Jin-sama willingly went off with that tengu, we’d be reprimanded and would look unprofessional.”

“Jaa, are you saying we should let Shogun-sama die?” General Yamada retorted.

“He won’t die. Our children are with them. Although it’s risky, maybe it’s time we let them take our place of escorting the Shogun.”

Lady Hana added, “Believe in your kids, Generals.”

After a long mental debate, Generals Nakajima and Yamada gave up, agreeing.

While the generals resume their dinner, Lady Hana and Ayano prepared for their leave to let them eat in peace.

However, one of them sneered silently to himself.

*

Inside the girls’ tent, it was stuffy, hot, and somewhat crowded.

Experiencing this and forcing her to wake up, Mirai massaged her eyes and looked at the entrance of her tent and saw a lit campfire.

She looked to her right and saw Umika. She looked to her left and saw Maki.

No wonder she was squished. And hot.

She decided to head outside for some cool air. Slowly getting up without waking her tentmates, she popped out of the tent only to see a surprise.

Ryosuke.

“Hey.” he managed to say while smiling.

She looked around him, not bothering to greet him back, and saw no one else with him. What was he doing out of his tent? The same reasons she was out too?

“I can’t sleep,” he said as if reading her mind. He pointed to a seat nearby him. “You can sit if you want.”

She obeyed but instead of sitting on the seat next to him, she knew better to sit farther, so she chose a seat directly across from him.

After the long silence only filled with cracking wood, He spoke, “You know...I’m very happy.”

She waited, looking down at her feet and trying to start a mental conversation with herself to make it look as if she didn’t hear him.

“...I’m so relieved that you’re okay.”

She was taken aback. Did she hear wrong? She raised her head to look at him and saw that his eyes were focused on the campfire.

“Even though Kazuya-san assured us that you’ll be alright, I couldn’t throw away the possibility that the straining could’ve done more damage than it usually did since the barrier was bigger than the last time you did.”

“The last time?”

“When we went on our first outdoor mission. It was you who had protected us that night, wasn’t it? That was why you guys didn’t come back at all until the next morning.” He looked away from the fire and looked straight at her, and in a soft, sweet voice, he added, “Arigatou.”

She reacted with a light-hearted smile. “Dou ittashimate.”

Within seconds, they laughed together.

“You really are okay now,” he began again, and she nodded.

She realized she was having a good time with him and felt uncomfortable. She was never like this with him and had never had ‘fun’ just speaking with anyone other than Maki or Kazuya. It was new to her.

“Do you...” he began hesitantly. “Do you trust...uh...Haruma...?”

“Of course.” She’d never think twice.

He had a different reason for asking her, but she thought of another.

She continued, “You’re referring to when they betrayed me?”

He thought to himself. Well, in the future, he’s going to do more than that. He nodded.

She looked away and sighed. “To be honest, I was angry with myself.”

He was surprised that she was continuing, so he was all ears for her.

“At first, I wholeheartedly believed he was lying and that his betrayal was something I misunderstood. But as days went by and I saw myself waking up and not seeing them, I knew I had to face the ‘fact’ that they did turn their backs on me.” She squeezed her hands, thinking that he wouldn’t see it, but he did. “After Jin-sama told us that it was all an act to lure the ones who had killed my grandmother, it hit me that Haruma would never do something like this.”

“Why are you so sure?”

She looked off into the distance. “He knows betrayal best.”

He knew to stop asking his questions there as it’d be an invasion of privacy if he were to ask for more.

“Ne...” she quietly said, close to a whisper. “This is late, but...” She turned back to look at him. “...arigatou...for that day.”

“That day?”

She slightly smiled. “When you and your friends helped at the shop. Although I was out the entire time.”

He felt himself blushing, and he bashfully responded, “That’s what friends are supposed to do.”

He stopped.

She stopped.

And they stared at each other.

“Friends...?” she questioned.

He nodded. “...Hai... Friends.”

“We’re not friends,” she said, coldly.

But she looked sad, and he knew it too.

“You don’t see me as a friend, and you shouldn’t.” She got up abruptly, but he quickly got up to stop her.

“Why?” he asked, a pitch louder than hers. “Why can’t we be friends?” He mentally searched for an answer. “Is it because of my suspicions about you? Is it because I’m a Demon Slayer?”

“It’s neither of those,” she clarified without looking back.

“Then, what is it?”

Silence.

He saw her clench her hand into a tight fist as if she struggled to answer, and it hurt him.

In a low voice and without looking back at him, she answered him, “I’m a demon... And you’re a human.”

*

Everyone woke up, washed up, and had breakfast. They were quiet because of one thing—it was so damn early in the morning. The sun had barely risen, and due to yesterdays’ horror, Ueda-san seemed to be hesitant about continuing any further.

With everyone finished cleaning and getting rid of