“I have had enough of your saying that a katana was speaking to you,” said Yuto, whisking the katana out of Ryosuke’s hand and holding it away from the younger man,” or is telling you this or that. Get your senses straight. We’re supposed to find Haruma-san like Mirai-san had told us to.”

Ryosuke shoved his friend aside and took back the katana. “You believe in water sirens, but you won’t believe in a talking katana?”

That comment made Yuto dumbfounded. He had heard of various stories about inanimate objects having the ability to speak, write, and or move without demonic possession, but coming across them was rare.

From the katana, a wondrous light glowed from it, almost blinding them had they not looked away or covered their eyes.

Much to Umika’s fright, she stumbled on her own feet and fell on her behind.

The bright light stayed mid-air as a monotonous voice from within asked, “My existence, you denied?”

Umika and Yuto glanced at each other and knew it couldn’t be Ryosuke, so once the sanctified light diminished from the scene, they cautiously brought their attention to where Ryosuke was standing. Just a few inches away from behind their friend, a tall man with much elegance, a pale face, and gorgeous almond-shaped eyes daringly looked at them for an answer.

It took a while for Yuto and Umika to move, and Ryosuke and the mysterious man waited for them to process everything that had happened seconds before. Umika breathed in short manners, scared that if she made a sound, it would sense her. But no matter how many times she tried to blink away the scene of it standing beside Ryosuke, she had a feeling that it knew of her existence. As for Yuto, his eyes went back and forth between the men in front of him.

“Who…?” Yuto asked. Having already quickly observed how calm, sophisticated, and glory the older man seemed to make himself to be due to his demeanor, he knew the stranger wasn’t some random civilian, or worst, some low-leveled demon.

“My presence, you had denied,” the man answered, stepping forward by lifting one of his legs over as if walking on thin air. His long kimono that dropped over to the ground slid over, following every step his legs made. “Shirobane, I am. Exclude introductions, for altercations in need of truce.”

The eloquent way of his speech also got to Yuto, and all Yuto could say was, “…H-hai.” He breathed in and remembered that behind him was still a fallen nervous Umika. He turned to her and helped her up and whispered, “He doesn’t seem harmful.”

“Harmful, I am not,” the man said, making Yuto and Umika flinched. He turned around and raised a gentle hand to the north. “Go, we must, for danger is imminent.”

“Is it Mirai-san?”

“Hai.” Shirobane lifted both of his hands into the air, and with a long and relaxing intake of air, he gave an order to them. “Me, you will hold, for I will take.”

Before Yuto and Umika could understand him, Ryosuke translated it, “We hold onto him, and he’ll take us there.”

Yuto and Umika obeyed, not questioning. They saw Ryosuke comfortably laying a hand on the shoulder of Shirobane, and they did the same with the opposite shoulder, with Yuto’s hand on it and Umika’s hand on top of his. Before they knew it, a light flashed before their eyes, and in front of them were Maya and Haruma cautiously inspecting and grimly thinking about something.

In front of a dug-out grave.

For the weak Umika, the force of the teleportation was too much pressure, so she fell back on her behind with a sound.

“Who are you?” questioned a threatened Haruma as he came over in front of Maya. Black wings grew out of his spine, and his sharpened talons curved outwards.

“Matte, it’s us,” shouted Ryosuke, coming in between the men. “Shirobane-sama brought us here. We need your help—Mirai’s in danger.”

“Sh-Shirobane?” Maya carefully made her steps past Haruma with a confused expression. “Shirobane as in…?” Do they mean—

“My existence, you deny, mere human of garbage?” Shirobane said with a snide attitude. He was offended that his presence had been questioned twice. His eyes slid to the body laying behind the elderly lady, and his eyes softened in remorse. “My beloved, her is she?” He swiftly glided over to the non-decomposed body and then got on his knees. His hands cupped her face, and he closed his eyes.

Everyone patiently looked at the scene.

Shirobane sensed nothing from the unresponsive body.

And he knew why.

Without further ado, his other hand rested on top of her abdomen, and a white aura soon encompassed her entire body, making her glow. Seconds later, the motionless body dissipated to within his palm.

Haruma attempted to attack the holy stranger, but Maya put out a hand to stop him.

She whispered to him, “You mustn’t lay a hand on him, Haruma. He’s a deity, the deity we’ve been looking for.”

The tengu took a step back, understanding the situation.

Shirobane calmly, yet sullenly, stood up and looked back at his audience. “Haste, we shall be, for death, shall not we wait.”

*

Mirai sleepily batted her eyelids, but she had no energy to make sense of what she was seeing. The cold and damp floor where she lay didn’t bother her much. Inaudible voices surrounded her, and a feeling of a thousand needles stabbing her entire body constricted her, prohibiting her movements. Her voice was somehow muted as if a huge rock lay in the middle of . was parched, dry from who knows how long since she sipped water.

When was the last day she had been awake?

She shut her eyes tight, too tired to keep them open. She knew she had been taken captive and knocked out cold, but other than that, no other information crossed her mind.

*

“Matte,” said Jin-sama to his former General. “May I request one thing?”

Ever since Jin-sama’s arrival to here, he had been locked up in quite a luxurious room. Except for the wall behind him, the other three walls were wooden bars that had been tightly constrained to the ground for balance. His door was even made of the same wood and had a rope as its lock but had magical components. To the contrary, he liked this setting much more than his room back at home.

Back at Heisan, his room had all its walls sealed with no window. He had never told anyone, but it was in his room where he was the most scared of and most secured in. It was the place he knew everyone would always target, yet it was the place he knew his own people inside the palace would always go to protect him.

But here, despite being someone else’s prisoner and being locked up and guarded by people not of his outside, he felt a bit more relaxed because at least, he knew he wouldn’t get killed until informed.

That kind of courtesy was what he liked.

He was the Shogun, but he was still human with fears of his own.

General Chinen, who had stopped by to see how Jin-sama had fared, turned back around.

“I-I’d like to know of her well-being.” Jin-sama stood up from the corner where he had slept. “It’s been almost a week since we’ve been here, and I’d like to know if she’s taken care of.”

“Do not worry,” General Chinen assured him. “She hasn’t nudged since then.”

“What did you guys do to her?” He hadn’t been told of what and how she ended up getting taken captive. “Poison?”

“Poison doesn’t work on them.”

“Jaa, what did you guys use or do?”

General Chinen was annoyed by Jin-sama’s questions and he didn’t want to answer them anymore, so he turned around and walked away, leaving Jin-sama to use his imagination of what could have possibly happened for Mirai to end up being here.

*

Mirai woke up again and sensed that she was on someone’s back. She forced her eyes to open wide and saw blood draped in front of her, from the shoulders down of the person backpacking her. In fright, she jerked up and heard a recognizable voice from the person carrying her and saw an expression of someone she didn’t think she’d ever get a chance to see again.

“H-Haruma.”

He looked at her with sad eyes that repeated apologies. Blood flowed from his head down to a side of his eyes. His nose, as she could see, had been slightly fractured. His breathing lost its beating and was unstable.

Tears fell from the corner of her eyes and blurred vision. She had missed him so much, and it felt like it had been forever since she last saw someone she knew. Just then, she realized something. “Haruma, your—”

Hisses and growls from nearby got her attention, and she looked around.

“—ruma, got everything!” shouted someone.

Haruma and Mirai turned toward the shouter’s direction, and they spot a worn-out Maki exiting from a broken door.

Maki saw the awaken but drowsy Mirai and ecstatically smiled. “Mi-chan!” She ran to them, almost tripping on the debris.

The eerie growls from outside the building become louder and sounded closer, making Haruma put Mirai down on the floor. He signaled for Maki to take over.

The ladies watched Haruma leave their side with clumsy haste, barely making out of the building.

“I’m so glad you’re all right!” said Maki, hugging Mirai as Mirai silently winced in pain, in the quietest voice she could make to avoid being heard. “We thought we’d be too late to save you!” Maki sniffed, trying hard to not cry.

“M-matte.” Mirai halted her friend. Her low and draining voice could hardly be heard. “We-we can’t leave Haruma!” She held back the tears. “A-and his wings… He-he lost one.”

“He’s fine. He’ll be fine. Right now, we’ve got to get you to where we promised to meet up. I’ve already released the signal.”

And the two girls safely escaped with the help of Haruma holding the enemies off. Fortunately, they had not confronted any enemies during their run. Although Mirai looked better than Maki, she couldn’t keep up with the running they had to do, so they took refuge in a small and cramped room, and Maki took this chance to explain to Mirai that Mirai had been held captive for almost two weeks, and everyone had stormed into the demon king’s lair to save her.

“Also…you’re not the only one who was held captive,” continued Maki.

Mirai shot up. “Jin-sama?” She piped her voice down right after her shout. “H-how—why?”

“He was taken right after you left.” She exhaled. “And the person whom we’ve been hearing about betraying the Shogun was none other than General Chinen.”

“General…Chinen?” Mirai couldn’t believe it. Why would a general whose household name would forever live on commit treason? But as she was reminded of betrayal, another name popped up. “K-Kazuya. H-have you seen him?” Mirai fumbled around. “I remember seeing him…” Or maybe not.

“Mi-chan.” Maki’s voice had turned quiet and restless. “I don’t know if what I’m going to tell you is okay or not, but…there’s no point in hiding it anymore. It’s what I know about yours and Kazuya’s identities…and relationship.”

*

“But you shouldn’t feel guilty,” concluded Maki, having said everything.

She told Mirai that Mirai was the demon princess and the child Meisa had saved but couldn’t kill because Meisa wanted to give Mirai a chance at life. When their Meisa kidnapped Mirai, she came across a wounded Kazuya and realized that Kazuya had been ritualized—already made to become Mirai’s vessel until her body was mature enough to manifest her demonic powers. Their grandmother saved both children and didn’t bother to tell them the truth in fear of them not understanding their relationship as the “body” and the “vessel.” It was only after a few weeks later when their grandmother found Maki and had the idea of making them a family.

Maki found out about the family’s history by accident years later when she was coming upstairs after getting a drink of water and overheard Haruma’s and Meisa’s conversation about Mirai’s future.

“And there’s one thing I have to tell you too…” added Maki. “Momoka…is Ryosuke. The Demon Slayer.”

There was no reaction from Mirai.

“You…knew?”

Mirai nodded. “Just recently.”

“H-how? When?”

“When Kazuya pushed me into the river. The rapids were fast, and I was under the rapids, but…he came after me. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I knew someone was helping me. Then…” Mirai stopped, hesitant to continue.

“Then?”

“He-he did something, and…all the memories I lost of Momoka flashed before my eyes.”

“Wait, if you knew that Momoka is Ryosuke, why did you bring in that-that guy?”

“Because he pretended to be Momoka first. And he emitted a non-threatening aura, so I figured Haruma would get him without any problems once we find out who he is.” She looked down. “I just didn’t think it’d turn out this way.”

Maki was about to hug her friend until the noise from outside caught their attention.

Mirai looked at Maki. “I’m going back to Haruma. You go find the others.”

Maki hesitated.

“Please, Maki. I can’t leave without Haruma.”

Maki clicked her tongue. “Fine. You guys better catch up.”

The wall burst open and crumbled into bitty pieces, and the girls instinctively took this chance to separate.

*

Mirai struggled with what to do next other than running in a straight direction—to who knew where—while trying to avoid any