Isekai Mizuki S1 - A World With Demons

Chapter 58 - The Search II: Kanao

Passing through the city was the four of them, Shinobu, Isekai, Aoi and Nezuko, trying to look for Kanao. The first thing they see upon entering a mall to begin the search was a small child in front of them. Shinobu bent down, and asked the child if they needed anything. The little girl was a little nervous to say something, but Isekai could recognize her.

"Hang on a minute, aren't you Teruko?" he asked. Shinobu raised her eyebrow, looked at him, and questioned his knowledge of the child. "You know this kid?" she asked. Isekai nodded, explaining how he knew her. "She's one of the three kids I found in the hideout of Lower Moon Two. Turns out all three of them were siblings, and she was the one Lower Moon Two was gonna eat for her Blood Magic. It's regeneration, if you must know. Why he needs it is a long story."

Shinobu just shrugged, then asked her if she needed anything. Teruko gathered up her courage to talk, and she said, "I found a weird djinn-like person buying something from a store... Shoichi and I were there to buy a pack of bread for Kiyoshi, but that weird man said 'Do you have my "special order"?' and the clerk brought out a box to him. Did Shoichi ever tell you he has X-Ray sights as a Blood magic? He looked into the box out of curiosity, and he could see some weird substance. We then followed him, and the last thing we saw him go into was a pot."

Isekai asked, "Was that the man's own pot or did he jump into another pot?" as Teruko told him: "His own pot."

Shinobu then nodded, then asked if that was all she had. Teruko unfortunately nodded, and walked away. They spent the next half hour searching for Shinobu's adoptive sister. The moment they walked across an alley, they could hear the distant scream of Kanao.

Isekai yelled, "GUYS, IN THE ALLEY! KANAO, WE'RE COMING!" as the four rushed into the path, realizing they were at a dead end. Aoi questioned why they ran there. "There's nothing here, what was that about?"

Shinobu stopped her from moving. "No, she's somewhere here," Shinobu muttered. Then, a long pause filled the alley, before Isekai suddenly noticed a white brick. He tried to push it, and a room behind it opened. All that was inside was a craft pot.

Nezuko facepalmed, then told them to just look elsewhere, as she thought there was nothing here. Before she could even begin to walk away, Isekai tossed a pebble into the pot. When he and Aoi looked in to check if he made the shot, it wasn't there. When Aoi tapped it, it sucked all four of them in. When they warped into God knows where, they decided to look around, to check to see where they can start exploring from. When Aoi was able to find the lightswitch, she turned it on, and the first thing everyone sees is many artworks of the djinn-like man.

Nezuko's first comment was, "Ugh... why are there mouths where his eyes are supposed to be?" and Shinobu nearly ended up vomiting at the sight of what she called "a hellspawn that doesn't come from hell." The only thing that she thought was uglier than the physical features of "Five" was the bad side of her ex-boyfriend, Shindo Kokoro.

When Isekai found the door, he cracked it open to take a peek at the surroundings. The hallway was empty, so he told the others to follow him. After a while of running around, they could see Kanao inside a room with Muzan, her demon-building process still underway. Shinobu was no less horrified at what she was seeing. Her sister, being turned into a demon in front of her own eyes.

Within ten seconds after she saw the horror, her first words were: "KANAO! NOOOOO!" she yelled as she prepared herself to kick down the door. Isekai tried to halt her action, but it came to fail, as she shattered the door with her foot. She immediately drew out her sword, and so did Isekai.

Muzan looked behind him, his eyes meeting that of a Hashira, the true leader of the Corporation, and two of his classmates. "Just in time for the ceremony of your friend's transformation, huh? But, I know what you're here for. You're not getting her back," Muzan said. He then continued, adding: "Well, of course, I'm in a good mood today. If you leave now and get out of this place, I won't even touch you for now."

Shinobu tightened the grip on her sword, and immediately leaped forward to try and land a thrusting attack on Muzan. He evaded, then finished the corruption stage. Muzan looked at the watch, then sighed. He then called out to his subordinate. "Gyokko! Come down here, we have some pests we need to 86!"

As if on cue, the clay pot appeared in front of Muzan, and "Five," or Gyokko, popped out. Muzan thanked him for coming, then added, "Sorry for asking you to come down here. I'd deal with them myself, but I haven't finished Kanao's transformation. I'm going to take her back to my main base. Meanwhile, can you kill these rats? Keep the boy alive if you can, and bring him to me."

"Upper Moon Five?" was Isekai's first question.

"Of course, sir. I will dispose of these nuisances," Gyokko obeyed, preparing for a battle. When Muzan left with Kanao, the five engaged into a fierce battle.

11:45 AM, Unknown Domain

A lot of time had passed since the battle against Gyokko began. The demon then laughed, and laughed and laughed, then said: "Ah, you all put up a great fight. I'd love for a deathmatch, but I must leave. Even if our job is to capture or kill, our job also means co-operating with that man's orders. He stated that we are not to engage in combat for extended amounts of time, as to not draw any attention. Maybe we'll meet again sometime, and there'll be our deathmatch. Bye-bye for now!" as he began to cackle, seeping into his pot.

Isekai was worried, not about that Gyokko had escaped, but about how Isekai's going to say this to Tanjiro. "Damn it, we didn't even get Kanao back. Her becoming a demon is worse than her dying! I promised to help Tanjiro with his upcoming date, and she can't even show up because we failed to save her!"

Aoi tried to comfort her best friend, and Nezuko tried to do the same. After a few minutes had passed and Isekai gathered his senses, Shinobu told them that they should leave. After Nezuko plucked out a painting for information, they left the domain by a subway that was accessible by a door equipped with soundproof material. They got on a train, and went back to Kimetsu Academy.

12:20 PM, Kimetsu Academy's Classroom 1-A  

When Nezuko, Aoi and Isekai entered the room, Tanjiro was the first to notice them. He ran up to them and greeted them. "Hey guys- uhm... did I catch you at a bad time?" he asked. Isekai was about to fully regret informing him what he's about to tell him. He sighs, then says "I'm going to regret telling you this..."

To be continued...