𝙆𝙉𝙔 𝙭 𝘿𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣! 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

Chapter Twenty-two

"My my... Is she going to be okay?"

Through a blurred vision, you could see a figure sitting next to you, and instead of being scared and defensive, you felt a strange sense of comfort.

"Sora-san...?" You mumbled, rubbing your eyes as the picture of her sympathetic smile and flowing auburn hair started getting clearer.

"Finally! You're awake!" She exclaimed, her eyes glimmering with relief and excitement. "I was worried sick about you!"

Looking around you, you found yourself in an unfamiliar place with the curtains drooping over the locked windows, a small lantern giving a dim light from the end of the room.

"Wait... where am I...?" You asked, lazily scanning the place.

"Welcome to my house!" She said, smiling warmly. "Please make yourself home!"

You were confused on how you ended up there in this situation, and as you tried to recall what has happened before you passed out, nothing came to mind but a blur of unclear events.

But at least it wasn't some stranger's house; you knew Sora after all and she was a nice person who wouldn't hurt you in any way, right?

You extended an arm to the woman, gesturing her to help you up. "May I know what happened? How did I end up here?" You asked.

"You fainted in the middle of the forest, remember?" She said, helping you up. "You must be really tired, aren't you?"

As a matter of fact, you weren't tired at all; it was just that you were really confused, still processing everything.

"Oh? You're awake?"

You looked towards the direction of the voice and your eyes met an oddly familiar young man with ice blue hair which matched his pale complexion.

"I was kind of hoping you wouldn't wake up but whatever." He muttered, mostly to himself as he walked past you like you didn't even exist.

You looked at him, utterly shocked. "Excuse me?" You asked, feeling your face heat up in anger.

You didn't even know that guy, yet he was really bitter towards you as if you've done something unforgivable to him.

"That was so rude... apologise." Sora said, frowning as she averted her gaze away from him.

For a moment, an awkward silence fell between the three of you, until the strange guy broke the silence, muttering a half-hearted apology under his breath before he left.

"What's his problem?" You asked her as soon as he left, crossing your arms defensively.

"N- No! Kaito is a really nice guy! Just give him some time!" She said, her face turning crimson red. "I genuinely apologise on his behalf!"

"Kaito..." This name rang a bell, but you had no clear memory of this guy or anyone with that name.

-

Meanwhile, the demon moons were all kneeling before their master as he looked enraged seeing that the kizuki were incomplete.

"Where's lower moon five? She's never been late." Kamanue thought as he glanced over the empty spot next to him.

"Do you have any idea why you were summoned?" Muzan spoke angrily, looking like he was about to pop a vein.

No one spoke a word, not even the upper moons; all the demons looked at the floor as they waited for Muzan's word and orders.

"Gyutaro has been defeated." He finally broke the silence. "The kizuki ranks are incomplete and that displeases me."

"How sad! Since I was the one who took Daki and Gyutaro in, I should make amends!" Douma said, looking up at his master with his usual insincere smile. "Should I gouge out an eye ball, perhaps?"

However, the demon king was already angry enough that he couldn't bother with the upper moon's questions.

"How about you become more useful and answer me a question?" Muzan asked, shifting his gaze to the lower moons who were trembling in fear under his cold glare.

"Where's lower moon five?"

"I assure you that Yuki-chan is in safe hands!" Douma said cheerfully. "Surely, she isn't dead!"

"You misunderstood my question." Muzan said in a monotonous tone. "Where is she? I can tell that she hasn't died... yet."

"Oh... right!" He replied, staring blankly at his master. "Yuki-chan is at my temple!"

"I sure hope so." He said, then turned to the biwa player. "In that case, you shouldn't have a problem summoning her here, Nakime."

"Master... I'm afraid I can't reach her." Nakime said, adding more fuel to the fire. "Perhaps lower moon five went missing."

"I didn't know you had a sense of humor, biwa girl!" Douma laughed while the other demons went completely silent as it never occurred before that a member of the twelve kizuki has gone missing.

"This is no joke." Akaza glared at him, restraining himself from punching him right in the face in Muzan's presence.

"Why is it that all of you are so unreliable?" Muzan raged, his eyes widening in anger. "You still haven't found the blue spider lily even after all those years, and you fail to find anything about Ubuyashiki's whereabouts."

"Next, an upper moon has been defeated for the first time in a hundred and thirteen years." He added, then marched closer towards the lower moons. "Now a lower moon has gone mysteriously missing."

"I... have nothing to say." Kokushibo said in a rather emotionless tone. "Ubuyashiki hid himself... very cleverly."

"Please forgive us, Muzan-sama!" Hantengu cried, bowing to his master apologetically.

Surprisingly enough, Douma sat there quietly with a strangely serious expression on his face, thinking about how you could've gone missing.

He knew that there was no way you chose to run away, as you were way too loyal to him to do such thing without informing him at least about your whereabouts.

He wanted to believe that you've just gone for a walk and that you'll be back very soon, but that still didn't justify the fact that you didn't show up for the twelve moons' meeting.

As for the lower ranked demon moons, they all found it hard to believe that someone as serious and devoted as you would run away.

"Muzan-sama is able to control us, especially since we serve directly under him." Wakuraba thought to himself. "Could it be that he can't control her anymore?"

Once he read lower moon three's thoughts, Muzan got even angrier, remembering the demons who broke free from his curse.

"The upper moons only are dismissed." He spoke, clenching his fists, and with a strum on the biwa, the upper moons were sent to their locations.

-

Once he was sent back to the temple, Douma went directly to your room, hoping to somehow find you there.

"Yuki-chan! Where are you?" He called for you several times, but it was no avail.

Soon, he started asking around for anyone who's seen you anywhere around, but no one really seemed to know where you've gone to.

"I'm sure she'll be back soon..." One of the servants said. "She was with Sora-chan when I last saw her."

Douma couldn't believe what he'd just heard; you hanging out with Sora was a surprising news for him as he wasn't expecting the two of you to get along so soon.

Although it was a relief to know that you didn't go missing alone, the news also made him suspect that Sora had something to do with your sudden disappearance.

"Poor Yuki-chan can't survive in the woods... She must be really scared!" He forcefully cried, covering the lower half of his face with his fan. "I hope that she's okay."

"I- If they're not back by tomorrow, we'll go look for them." Another one said. "We promise to find Yuki-san and bring her back."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

Word count: 1285 words

-',✎ A/n: Thank you guys for 1k+ reads! I really appreciate it :)