~Inseparable~ Giyū Tomioka x Reader

IV

Pic Cred: @/gigantickim on Twitter

Chapter 04. | Giyū x Reader

<<First-person / Third-person Omniscient POV>>

~The Next Day~

The next morning was delightful. For once, Zenitsu wasn't complaining about his medicine, which was surprising. You realized Tanjiro and Inosuke weren't there, it was almost as surprising as Zenitsu being so calm. You leaped out of bed with an astonishing amount of energy, you got dressed in your usual demon slayer uniform and headed out. You were only a few steps away from the door when you heard your crow cawing. "Y/N! Y/N! You have a mission! It is quite the assignment! Please head to the front gate to meet your partner!" 

I have a partner? I guess I woke up at the right time. Wonder who it'll be, maybe Tanjiro or Inosuke? No, they're waiting for their swords to be reforged. Will my partner be one of the Pillars? That would be exciting, it'd be a great way to start my missions again after a month. But that would also mean that it really is a tremendous pursuit. One of the Twelve Kizuki? No, they wouldn't send a lower rank. If I am going with a Hashira, why would they choose me? Why not have two Hashira? Or someone of the higher ranking? Am I just a convenience? Do they want to see if I could move up a rank? No, not this early, I've barely started. I wonder what's going on.

You bumped into someone, startling you. You fell back on your bottom and looked up. It was Giyū. You realized you were at the front gate. Is Giyū my partner?  You got up. "What were you thinking about? You should always be on your guard, you know, especially before a mission." That's the first time he's the one who started the conversation. 

You thought it would be a good time to strike up a question, "Tomioka-San, are we heading on the same mission?" He looked at you with the same stoic look he always had. "Yes, we are. We need to head northeast, we should leave immediately if we want to get there before nightfall."

Interesting. I've never had a mission so urgent. My crow usually tells me more information, but it didn't say anything specific. "Are you ready to leave?" You realized you were getting caught up in your thoughts again. "Oh, yes!" He looked at you. She looks prepared. "Then we need to hurry." You stared him dead in the eyes and nodded. You took off down the hill quickly.

"Can you tell me more about the mission? I didn't get too much on it." He was silent for a few seconds. "We've heard there are groups of demons gathering northeast, the population is decreasing violently fast overnight. Not many people are there currently, many have fled, which is why we need to get there before nightfall so we can evacuate the rest and prevent any more killings."

Groups of demons? I thought they never worked together. Unless they're all gathering there individually, traveling there because of the crowd of people, and fighting and feasting over the humans. Horrible. "How many demons are crowding there? Are more demons gathering every night? Are there more demons than humans at this point?"

He stayed silent. He probably doesn't have a clue, based on how he's responding. You growled, frustrated.

She's awfully curious, does she intend to form a plan? I already have one, we don't need another.

"I think we should assume there are more demons than humans, and with the population before these brutal killings, I would say that about 45% of the population has been eaten, another 30% has evacuated now, and the rest are remaining there. I would guess that they're worried about demons cornering them outside of their town, and being able to survive outside their homes. That could mean more demons would come and the chances of them evacuating themselves would be less likely. If we get there before nightfall, we should be able to get more information." Her face was very serious.

What the hell. How was she able to make such a guess like that? So suddenly too. She's pretty damn smart, she might try to work solo if she thinks about this anymore. How should I approach her that we should stay together?

"You probably have a plan already, right? I thought so, and I'm guessing that I've already been incorporated in it, so don't worry, I won't try to run off or do things my own way. I'll follow your plan if I can agree to it." She looked at me with a smirk. "That's what you were thinking about right?"

She- how the hell?! How is someone who just started slaying demons so damn perceiving?! Has she been planning her approach? No, she's barely met anyone, she barely knows anyone as far as I'm concerned. And about her guess, has she been planning this? No, I don't know much about it, why would she know any more than me? This woman.. is truly something.

. . .

You both had arrived about an hour before nightfall, Tomioka took the initiative and started trying to evacuate the villagers. He started getting frustrated when they wouldn't even spare him a glance. They were all busy carrying their bags full of supplies and essentials back home. "Y'know, they're not gonna listen if they don't know they can trust you. Especially before nightfall. If you want them to listen to you, and follow through with your plan, you have to convince them and make sure they can trust you." He sighed.

"Actually, before we do that, I think we should wait until morning to actually evacuate." When I tell you this man twisted his neck so fast that he probably would've broken his body from the shoulders up. "What the hell are you saying? We have to evacuate now!" You grabbed his wrist.

"We don't know how many demons are out there, waiting to come here and terrorize these poor people, if what I think is right they've devoured most of the population here, with these people barely surviving. If we try to escape now, more can be killed if there are too many demons, we'd probably all be killed. Also, I doubt that no matter what we say to them, none are going to leave their homes with the amount of daylight we have left. I say we find a safe place to watch over this town and see how many demons are present. We can leave the next morning, but we can't leave through the forest for obvious reasons. While we're watching from above, we should try to make an escape plan for these people to evacuate themselves, while we stay back and make sure no one gets left behind, and all the demons are killed." Giyū couldn't find any reason to refuse, you were right. He just didn't want to wait until the demons left.

The demons are going to come tonight, and we're likely to be outnumbered, these people clearly can't defend themselves. I can't find a reason to say no, she's completely right. Just.. I despise the idea of letting demons wander around the town, if there are too many we can't attack, which is why we would watch, but that doesn't sit right with me. Damnit... We have no other choice.

After a moment, he nodded and you two scoped out higher ground. You had a great view of the town and not many trees were nearby for demons to lurk around. It's the safest. Even still, I just want to go down there and kill them, but I know I can't just run in there mindlessly. I need to find a way to off the demons one by one, whether or not I have to go down there. I can't wait until morning. I can't risk the chance of one of the innocent townspeople getting killed under our noses.