In a forest darkened by the night, the frantic sound of desperate footsteps echoed through the trees.
An Oni was running, stumbling, gasping, his eyes wide with pure panic.
A shadow shuriken cut through the air behind him.
The sharp whistle echoed as the Oni glanced back in sheer horror, with no time to react.
The dark blade caught him, tearing through his right leg at thigh level.
Flesh split like paper, and the severed limb spun away.
The Oni rolled across the ground, screaming in agony and swallowing dirt in his desperation.
"Ridiculous… Didn't even try to dodge," Tsubaki mocked, perched elegantly on a nearby branch.
The Oni ignored her, groaning and dragging himself forward, tears of pain streaming down his distorted face.
Tlim-tlim~
The bell echoed.
Then… Usan appeared.
There was no sound besides the chime of the bell.
He was simply there, as if he had always been.
Beside the fallen Oni, he dropped the head of another demon, still half alive, its terrified expression matching that of the one dissolving into ashes.
"Are there more like you around here?" he asked.
The Oni trembled, eyes watery.
"I… I don't know… please… please, let me li—"
Usan cut off his head with a single short, clean motion.
It wasn't worth hearing the rest.
The forest returned to silence.
─── ◆ ───
POV Usan
I sheathed my katana with a soft click, flicking my wrist to shake off the remaining blood.
Tsubaki landed on my left shoulder, muttering under her breath as usual.
"Why waste time asking?" she huffed.
"Just in case they have something useful to say," I replied, starting to walk through the darkness of the forest.
After a few minutes, I heard the beating of wings descending from the treetops.
Kuroha landed on my right shoulder with her usual serious posture.
Hotaru, on the other hand, hovered uncertainly in front of me, trying to figure out where to land.
She looked at me, then at my occupied shoulders… and let out a frustrated grumble.
If she could, she'd be puffing her cheeks in annoyance.
"Here." I opened a space in my haori, near my chest.
She landed there but almost slipped, so I held her with my arms, like a baby.
"That makes two this time," I commented.
"Then that's twenty-eight total!" Hotaru replied quickly.
"Twenty-nine," Kuroha corrected, tapping her beak against my shoulder in reprimand.
"Ahh…" Hotaru sank into my hand, a little embarrassed.
I kept walking.
It had been a month since my first mission, and everything had been smooth.
Even Onis with kekkijutsu hadn't been much trouble to deal with.
Sometimes, thanks to my speed, I managed to complete more than one mission per night.
"Usan," Kuroha called, adjusting her feathers.
"It would be best to return to the Butterfly Mansion before Shinobu-sama and Kanae-sama send messages."
"Before they start nagging…" Tsubaki retorted.
Hotaru gave a shy "Mm-hm."
Kuroha simply remained silent.
I sighed.
The three of them… didn't seem to like Shinobu and Kanae very much, for whatever reason.
It didn't feel like real hatred, more like they didn't like me being around them.
Jealousy, maybe? Who knows what goes on in those crows' heads.
"Craa," Kuroha cleared her throat, returning to the topic.
"The next mission has the Butterfly Mansion along the way, so we would be passing by regardless."
"In this mission… a team of slayers had been sent previously, but… they did not return, nor is there any news of their crows."
I nodded to Kuroha and quickened my pace.
I arrived at the Butterfly Mansion near the end of the morning.
The three crows flew off immediately to rest.
I walked through the corridors.
Aoi passed by in a hurry, carrying a bucket, giving me a quick wave along with a tired smile.
I returned the gesture.
Then I heard it.
"DELICIOUS!!"
"DELICIOUS!!!"
"DELICIOUS!!!!!"
The voice echoed through the halls, repeated several times with short pauses in between.
I smiled.
There was only one person who would shout something like that in a hospital.
I knocked on the door the sound was coming from.
No response.
I knocked harder.
"COME IN!" the voice boomed from inside.
I opened the door and found the most obvious scene possible: Rengoku sitting on the bed, eating, with several empty bowls around him.
He saw me and his eyes lit up, almost literally.
"USAN! IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU!" he said, mouth full.
I approached the bed and noticed bandages wrapped around his ears.
"Good to see you too..."
"What happened?" I asked, raising my voice out of reflex.
"I WAS STRUCK BY AN ONI WITH A SOUND-BASED KEKKIJUTSU!"
"IT DAMAGED MY HEARING A LITTLE! BUT IT IS NOTHING SERIOUS!" he said, smiling with his usual energy.
As always, completely unshakable.
Kanae entered at that moment, smiling with her gentle warmth.
She seemed surprised to see me, her smile widening.
"Usan! Good to see you, how was the mission?"
"Good to see you too, Kanae. It was smooth, like the others."
"That's good…" Then she seemed to remember why she was there, shaking her head lightly.
"Sorry, Usan, we can talk more later. I need to examine the patient."
"That's fine. I'll rest a bit before heading to the next mission," I replied, already turning to Rengoku.
"Get better, dude."
"DELICIOUS!" was his response, giving a thumbs-up while devouring another bowl.
I left, closing the door behind me.
─── ◆ ───
That night, I was already very close to my destination, crossing the dark trail when I asked:
"What was the name of the mountain again?"
"Kage… Kageha… Kagahima…" Hotaru took a deep breath before the others could interrupt her.
"Ka-ge-ha-ma!"
Kuroha nodded in confirmation.
"Very good, Hotaru." I patted her head, and she looked proud.
Then we arrived.
The mountain looked completely ordinary at first glance, but I could feel something was wrong, even without using my presence.
"Alright… let's begin." I cracked my neck, taking a deep breath.
"Shadow Breathing, Second Form: Anshi…"
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]:
Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.
Unfortunately, I'll have to reduce the number of chapters starting in OCTOBER.
There will only be 1 chapter per week.
That's because I need to focus especially on college for a while.
Despite this, I don't want to stop writing or take a break, especially since we're reaching a really cool part of both stories.
Ah, everything will be normal in SEPTEMBER, with two chapters a week and all that.
That's it, I hope we can get back to our regular programming soon.
(The possibility of this happening had already been warned about previously)
If you'd like to support my work and receive bonuses such as 5 to 10 advanced chapters, spoilers, early access to my new books, polls, and more, check out:
P @ t r 3 0 n - Condor7