After giving the grand tour of the palace and showing every nick and knack of the place, Ryosuke and his friends took the trio on a walk outside the palace.

Right after landing on the ground after the last step of the staircases that led to the palace, Ryosuke faced the palace. “Around us is the Imperial Forest. It has shortcuts to many other places, but no one can enter unless specifically allowed to by Jin-sama himself.”

The group started heading toward the districts of the village.

“We patrol the district every day” He faced Mirai. “On every Saturday, I go on patrol, and that includes you, your friends, and my men. I will assign four people per district, but you, your friends, and most of the time, someone else and I will patrol the area together.”

Maki touched her stomach and panicked. “No! I won’t get my daily six meals!”

“Six meals?” Yuto asked.

“Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and snack,” Kazuya explained.

Yuto frowned. “You count snack as a meal?”

Kazuya looked off into the distance to express the pain of always having to hear his hungry friend whine about not being full. “Her snacks are full-sized meals.”

Maki socked him in the stomach. “Hey, we’re all humans, so we need food.” She stopped and sadly looked at Mirai. “Gomen, I-I didn’t…”

Mirai gently smiled. “It’s okay.”

Maki hit Kazuya again and angrily whispered to him, “Look, you made me say that word!”

Kazuya massaged his abused tummy. “Sorry.”

Mirai gave her attention to Ryosuke. “What time is the patrol?”

“If there are no problems,” answered Ryosuke, “it’s usually from eight in the morning until nine at night. At times, we may have to patrol later into the night, especially near the passing border bridge.”

She slightly nodded and saw two guards from afar conversing with an elderly lady.

“Many of the villagers know who we individually are,” said Ryosuke, referring to what Mirai was seeing. “Do you still believe Jin-sama is involved in the recent problems of parents’ being taken away?”

Mirai looked at him. After a long silence, she turned around. “I’m tired. Our days of being glued together start tomorrow.”

Before she left, he stopped her and threw something to her, which she caught. “It’s the key to the Royal Library,” he said. “Jin-sama says you can keep it and have access to it whenever.”

She looked at the key and then turned back around without thanking him, which irritated him, but he brushed it off.

*

Maki stretched and sighed. “No wonder their fighting skills —they do the same training every day! And with wooden puppets as their enemy.” She grinned. “They need some real training.”

“They do what’s best for them,” Kazuya commented. “Now that I think about it, our village is pretty small.”

“Well, yeah. Ever since we knew we can turn into demons, we started living closely together.”

He raised a brow and . “Without Meisa-sama, you wouldn’t have even known that.”

She proudly admitted it. “Of course. Everything’s all thanks to her.” Speaking of their grandma reminded her of something. “Since she used to be a Demon Slayer, is that how she got her combat skills and demonic information?”

“A Demon Slayer?” Mirai stopped walking and looked at her two friends. “Grandma?”

“She… She didn’t tell you?” Kazuya asked.

“Didn’t you talk privately with her at the hidden Sakura Garden?” Maki questioned.

Mirai shook her head. “She didn’t mention it. When did she tell you?”

“On the day we visited you when you were unconscious,” answered Kazuya. “We didn’t know about it either until then.”

“It was a shocker!” exclaimed Maki. “Who knew our Grandma was once a Demon Slayer!”

An ex-Demon Slayer? But how come Obaa-sama seems to know more about demons than the imperial guards and Royal Demon Slayers themselves? Mirai stared at the palace in front of her. What happened to Grandma Meisa?

“Well, it doesn’t really matter,” said Maki, dropping the subject.

Two guards walked down the stairs, passing them, and seeing them, Mirai was reminded of Kenta’s problem, so she paced her steps as she and her friends quietly trailed after the two guards.

“We have the seventh district again?” one of the two guards asked.

“Yep,” answered the other. “You going to see them?”

“They have no children, so it’s my duty to help.”

As Mirai listened, a way to solve Kenta’s problem came to her. “Maki, Kazuya. Tonight, let’s have our own patrol.”

*

“I’m getting the shivers!” Maki exclaimed. “I’m so excited. We haven’t done this since a month ago, so I’m pumped!”

Kazuya’s doors slid open, and he stepped out and rushed to the girls. “Sorry.”

Maki clicked her tongue. “You’re a boy, so you’re supposed to take less time than us.”

Mirai smiled.

Each of them wore the Royal Demon Slayer uniform they were given by Jin-sama and added a veil to hide their identity.

Before they headed off, Maki asked, “I don’t understand why we must wear this.”

They leaped onto the roof and silently exited the East Wing and headed to the South Wing.

“I don’t like it.”

“Baka, you weren’t paying attention, huh?” Kazuya said to Maki and then looked at Mirai. “Told you you’d waste your time explaining your idea to her while she eats. It never gets to her.”

“I’ll explain again when we get there,” Mirai said.

After successfully exiting the palace, they headed into the village where many were already asleep.

“This way.” Mirai led them to the near right and hustled them together. “We’ll seize a family and take away the parents.”

“Why are we doing that?” Maki pointed to themselves. “Why are we becoming ‘them’ when we’re not?”

“Where are we going to hide them, and what are we going to do with them?” Kazuya asked.

“We’re not becoming ‘them,’” clarified Mirai. “We’re pretending to be them.” Seeing her comrades not understanding the situation, she further explained that during the tour with the Royal Demon Slayers, she realized something that should have been obvious to them since the beginning. She looked at the districts. “Our first involvement was a trap, but if what Kenta said is true, isn’t it weird that the neighbors aren’t doing anything about it, and only one boy is?”

Kazuya slightly opened his mouth. “That’s right. If there were any uproar, it would awaken the neighbors.”

“So, you’re saying,” Maki furrowed her brows together, “that they know about this and aren’t doing anything about it?”

Mirai sighed with a distressed face. “Let’s hope that’s the case.”

*

“Just charge in?” Kazuya whispered as the two girls waited from a distance. He was standing in front of a door to a house they had randomly chosen. Once Mirai gave him the cue, he kicked the door open, and with a loud and uncomfortable voice, because he hardly rose his voice, he exclaimed, “We’re here!”

Maki brought a hand to her forehead and shook her head embarrassingly. “His acting .”

Mirai shyly laughed.

But their entertainment ended quickly.

An elderly couple fearfully came out with three kids behind them.

“What-who-who are you?” the man asked as he guarded his family. “What do you want?”

The pretentious villain, Kazuya, proudly laughed. “You and your wife!”

That was the cue for Mirai and Maki to step in and separate the kids from the parents.

“Wait!” The man tried to protect his children while Kazuya pulled him away as they get into a scuffle, but the man tapped Kazuya and whispered, “Honomura-san, our day isn’t until four days from now!”

Kazuya heard this and stopped struggling with the man. “Eh?” Isn’t that Kenta’s…

“Honomura-san?” the man continued to ask and didn’t bother to struggle.

Mirai and Maki saw the awkward situation, and they stopped at their spots, looking at Kazuya and the man.

“Our target’s the Honda family tonight,” said the man. “Eight doors down from here, remember?”

“Something wrong?” Mirai asked.

Kazuya slowly looked at his friends. “A worst-case scenario.”

*

It was a bright, cool, and sunny morning. Everyone was off to do their assigned job, whether it was to patrol an area, do some guarding, or do some training.

Ryosuke was waiting at the East Wing’s entrance for his three new followers. Today was officially the day where he’d be with the trio at all times unless specifically told otherwise, and he was losing patience because he had been waiting for almost an hour. I’m sure Jin-sama made it clear that our duty starts early in the morning!

“Morning, Ryosuke!” Yuto shouted from the opposite side. He was all in smiles as he joined Ryosuke and put a hand around his shoulders. “How come you’re still here?” He looked around. “Where are your new friends?”

“We’re not—”

“Kyah!” It was from a building away.

“What was that?” asked Ryosuke.

Yuto shrugged without a care. Right when he was about to sit down on the corridor’s ledge, he saw his friend leave him, so he quickly followed. “Wait!”

Both men arrived at the Imperial Kitchen and saw the kitchen maids running away, and one lady informed them that a cat and some mice had entered the place. Being the only guards present, the men escorted the women out of the area and returned to fix the problem.

“Mice?” Yuto pursed his lips.

“Someone must’ve placed them here,” Ryosuke said as he checked under the pots and pans. “Lady Hana cleans the area daily. There’s no way she’d miss something like this.” At the window, he stopped and signaled for Yuto to not move. Voices?

Yuto scurried over. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you hear someone?”

Yuto paused and listened. “No.”

“It’s coming from there.” He left the older man again only to see Umika and Yuri heading their way.

“Ryosuke, you’re—” Umika got hushed by Ryosuke, who pointed to behind the building to tell them that they were going to check the back of the place.

The four of them aligned themselves onto the wall with Ryosuke, first; Yuto, second; Umika, third; and Yuri, last. As they neared the corner, a voice became clear.

Mirai? Ryosuke fumed with anger. If she has something to do with this, she’s going to get it!

They meticulously and strategically got into a formation that let them peek at what was in front of them, and to their surprise, they saw Mirai and her friends stand at the sidelines and watch a boy defend himself against a girl attacking him aggressively.

Seeing this, Umika gasped. “How can they watch and let two kids fight?”

Yuto tapped Ryosuke. “What should we do?”

Before Ryosuke answered, their focus went back to the situation in front of them because they heard Mirai speak.

“Fight back! Why aren’t you?” Mirai coldly said to the panting boy. “Didn’t you say that you don’t care if anyone dies?” She pointed to the sword laying down on the ground. “Go against your sister, Kenta.”

The fight stopped, and the young girl backed away.

Kenta exhaustingly stood up. “You lied to me! You lied! You’re working with them—the ones who took my parents! I saw you talking with them yesterday!”

Maki scoffed angrily. “I’d rather be called a liar than be grouped with them!”

The Royal Demon Slayers heard this and realized Maki was referring to them.

“What have you done to my sister?” Kenta asked. “You did something to her.”

Mirai smirked. “And…what if I did?”

He clenched his teeth. “I’m going to kill you!” He yelled and ran to pick up the sword, unsheathed it, raised it above his head, and marched to attack Mirai. As he got close to Mirai, his sister dashed to stand in front of Mirai, and he stopped himself in time.

“Why’d you stop?” Mirai asked, pretending to not know why. She sneeringly added, “Attack me.”

Kenta took a step forward, hoping his sister would flinch and move aside, but she didn’t. “Nagisa, move.”

Nagisa didn’t respond. She continued to stand there, expressionless and unresponsive.

“If you can try to poison Jin-sama, why can’t you attack your sister?” Mirai bent down and picked up four individual strands of grass. “Afraid to lose her too?”

The peepers didn’t expect this change of situation.

Mirai curled a smile and turned the four strands into four individual katana.

Kenta’s eyes widened, and he wasn’t the only one surprised.

The Royal Demon Slayers recalled the possibility that Mirai was not someone to mess with.

She… She’s not human…? Kenta mentally questioned her presence as his legs quivered.

“Do you think killing others will give you your parents?” Mirai laughed to herself, mockingly. She gave him a haughty stare and monotonously said, “Let me tell you something. Before you go against Jin-sama, you’ll have to go through me.” She immediately sent the four katana flying in his direction, and it went right past him on the sides of his head and pierced the wall behind him, making him fall to his knees and freeze in fear.

Seeing this, Ryosuke stepped out of his place. “Stop this instant. I will not tolerate your harming of anyone under the name of Jin-sama.”

Umika followed Ryosuke’s actions. “We cannot allow you to disgrace the name of the Royal Demon Slayers either.”

Mirai glanced over her shoulders. “Kazuya.”

Kazuya nodded and knew what he was supposed to do. He created a barrier to not allow them to physically intervene.

“You’re keeping us out?” Ryosuke banged his hands against the invisible barrier, and his three friends immediately did the same.

Meanwhile, Maki smiled in joy as she watched them struggle with the barrier.

Mirai returned her attention to the boy. “You know who is really behind this, don’t you?”

Kenta’s complexion changed.

“You also know who took your parents, don’t you?”

He shook his head. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Liar!” Maki shouted to the boy, mercilessly. “We know where they are. ‘Fess up now, and we’ll let you go.”

He stood up in anger. “You can’t hurt them! They’re far away!”

“Far away?” Mirai smirked. “As in the next village?”

He gasped. “How-how’d you know?”

She took a deep breath and changed her tone and expression to become softer. She glanced at the bushes at her side. “You may come out now.”

A figure slowly stood up from hiding, and its presence surprised Kenta.

The Royal Demon Slayers watching became confused at the scene, and they gradually stopped their ruckus.

“N-Nagisa?” Kenta looked back and forth between the Nagisa beside Mirai and the Nagisa in front of him.

Mirai put a hand on the shoulders of the Nagisa close to her. “This one isn’t your sister.” After her confession, she showed who that Nagisa was—a wooden log. “She’s a conjuration I made.”

“Onii-chan,” said the real Nagisa. “Please, stop this. I already told them everything. They’ll stop Mommy and Daddy for us.”

Yuto stepped back. “I get it now.”

His friends looked at him.

“That boy has been accusing Jin-sama of keeping his parents hostage. He also keeps trying to barge into the palace.”

“They’re working together?” Umika asked.

Maki overheard her and, annoyed, said to her, “Princess, keep on accusing people and no one would want to be under your reign.”

“Maki,” Mirai said, not even turning around. “They’re not our problem now.” She went to Nagisa and said to Kenta, “I’ll give you another chance. I’m going to keep my promise, and you’ll keep yours. This time…for real.”

Nagisa looked at her older brother. “Please.”

“What are you going to do with them when you find them?” Kenta cautiously asked.