Icy Flames- Rengoku Kyojuro-Demon Slayer/ Kimetsu no Yaiba

51

Akihabara was Asakusa incarnate.

People were bustling left and right. Vendors sell their products and customers rush to buy. This place had no idea what happened in the neighboring town, it was as if they were living in a blissful dream...

And not a drop of rain had graced this area.

My eyes scanned the place...it was surely westernized...which means...no swords...I glanced down at the blade wrapped by my outerwear.

I glance back upwards and walked through. This place was bizarre. Everyone was smiling. Not to say that it was a bad thing but for every single being to be smiling was quite odd. Left and right, there was everyone smiling yet...the town over had suffered from a tragedy.

As I continue to stroll through the town, I felt something knock into me. I glanced down to see it was just a boy. Yet instead of being startled, his nose wrinkled up at the middle as his sweet face broke out into a beautiful grin, all dimples and straight, white teeth.

I only quirked my brow at the boy and quickly glanced around to see many were paying attention to the interaction.

My eyes fell back on the boy, I had been struck by the odd feeling that this boy was a bit off from everyone one else. Or more off than everyone else.

"I'm sorry I didn't see where I was going."

My eyes were focused on the boy and simply nodded towards him, accepting his apology. An interaction between him and not giving a suitable answer could draw suspicions but pretending to be mute may play it safe...though getting information was going to be a lot tougher than I thought.

"Are you traveling through? I have never seen you in town before."

Again, I only nodded and glance down to see him only smile cheekily and nod back.

"Hope you enjoy the city while you are here!"

I don't move nor do I acknowledge his statement. It was just all too weird. Not a single soul was either sulking, crying, shouting, everyone was smiling in this town, and though the thought of peace from demons reigned across the lands of Japan, even I knew that this town should have shown a rollercoaster of emotions that embodied the word insanity itself.

Yet, they only smiled.

Though I should be delving deeper into their expression and questioning their emotions more in depth...their smile reminded me of Rengoku's smile toward the waitress. It was different the emotion he showed her versus the one she showed Kanroji-San.

I tilted my head upwards. Even if we live in a time where demons thrived, this town did give me a chance to actually see how beautiful and simultaneously daunting night can be.

The memories of Rengoku and I confessing under the moonlit night will be stuck like the stars in that sky, but they're just memories: beautiful to look at, but the events in the restaurant with that waitress made it feel like our confession to one another was dead...dead just like the stars. A part of me just had an inclination that there was a spark between them...yet another part of me didn't want to go off of assumptions like last time.

This emotion was so trivial and complicated.

But for now...

I thought as I drew the corner of my lips laterally. "Focus" I mumbled with a small smile that seems overwhelmingly sad.

I continued to walk around until I found a local in for the night, but as my eyes surveyed this town, they widen when they locked on something shocking. My smile dropped as his eyes locked on me.

I knew that kimono pattern anywhere. Those purple and black patterns etched into my brain.

Immediately my hand went to my hilt until I saw no movement from him. He simply was staring at me. Why was he just looking and not making any movement. He told me that he would make it his mission to get his hand on my family's ore...yet Kokoshibou was just standing in the alleyway, examining my movements.

"Traveler, please come have some food here!"

I quickly glanced towards the restaurant owner waving towards me beckoning me to come into his restaurant. As I shifted my gaze back to the alleyway, Kokoshibou was gone.

Immediately, I knew this mission was going to be much harder than I has anticipated. The mere thought of Rengoku and the waitress was going to have to go to the back burner ...especially if I wanted to survive this mission.