To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

45 • The Search for Tamayo

"I feel like I'm burdening a crow with my job," she mumbled, kicking the door open. She descended the stairs, heading towards the basement that gave her a really unpleasant feeling. "But it's not like I can just look through people's windows without being suspicious."

The traps laid around the haunted house were childish, just some sleeping darts and pitfalls. They irritated her more than anything. She stepped over the incompetent display of traps, though she guessed comparing it to a shinobi's traps should be considered unfair. Still, Inori felt like she was wasting her time dealing with weaklings instead of searching for Tamayo or finding something useful about the Twelve Demon Moons.

"Argh. Why do humans need sleep anyway? It would be better if I could function normally without needing to shut my eyes for six hours straight," Inori grumbled, raking a hand through her hair. "Wouldn't you agree, demons who are hiding in the dark?"

Inori easily sliced off the arm aiming for her neck, watching with disinterest as the demon scrambled back to the dark shadows. She cocked her head to the side. "What are you even hiding from? The sun has set, and we are far too deep underground for any light to reach."

"Go away! We have nothing to do with you." The female demon of the pair hissed, baring her fangs and slitted eyes.

"Nothing to do with me?" Inori cocked her head to the other side. "Just how many people have you eaten? How many people have you killed? How many lives are in those bloodstained hands of yours? I'm a demon slayer who slays evil demons, of course this has everything to do with me."

"What about you?" The male demon retorted. "You also kill. We may be demons, but aren't we alive too? You demon slayers kill us too. Your hands are just as bloodstained as ours. So what if we kill those people? They were cruel to us first."

"Besides." The woman chuckled, licking her bloodied lips. "It's not our fault that humans are at the bottom of the food chain. Why do you even struggle? Why don't you become demons too? I don't get how you humans think. You don't blame the natural disasters or animals that kill humans, but you blame us demons? That's just absurd."

"Yeah, I agree."

Star Breathing: First Constellation: Dash of the Ram

"Trying to talk about life and reasons with demons like you is absurd."

There was no room for overthinking when fighting a demon. No matter how tragic of a life she had heard some demons live, it didn't change the fact that she was a demon slayer. She slayed demons who killed humans. Because their relationship was that of prey and predator, and they were predator and hunter.

"People don't blame the natural disasters and animals that kill humans?" Inori repeated, stomping on the disintegrating head. "Then, why do you think humans try so hard to invent stuff that could detect incoming natural disasters? Why do you think humans study until their heads explode to cure incurable diseases? Why do you think humans, with all their mortality and limited time, try to defy nature?"

She sheathed her sword, leaving the haunted house. "Because at the end of the day, all creatures want to survive...both you and I are no different."

Inori pressed her temples, fighting off the throbs spreading all over her head. She was getting too emotional and reckless. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to do her job properly. But she still hadn't found anything useful regarding Tamayo. If she kept this up, she wouldn't be able to finish the mission Kagaya had personally asked her to do.

"I have to...I have to find Tamayo."

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚☆.｡.☆.｡.:*☆ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙