丨Soar丨 Kimetsu no Yaiba x OC｜

Chapter 27

Chizuko and Ichika ended up sobbing together.

She wondered how Ichika was doing, and everyone else.

"Hello? Anyone here?" a voice came from downstairs.

"There are customers today?" Noboru hurried down, "Sorry, Suzuki-san, please excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back!"

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"CAW! Letters for Suzuki Chizuko!" a crow landed on the window sill just as Noboru disappeared down the stairs.

"E-Eh!!? Th-Thank you," Chizuko was taken back, it has a purple scarf, it was one of Oyakata-sama's crowd. She quickly untangled the twine around its leg, there were so many letters.

Chizuko-chan,
It's Aoi and Kanao. Stay safe out there, we will be waiting for you at home. Don't forget to come over for dinner!

Chizuko-san,
Ganbatte Ganbatte Ganbatte! Good luck! Love from Naho, Sumi and Kiyo~

Chizuko-chan,
It's Ichika. Remember not to eat too many sweets, it's bad for your health. Let's go to the cafe in town when you're back, my treat.

Chizuko-chan,
It's Shinobu. Good luck with your mission, you have my full support no matter what. Come home soon, we all miss you a lot.

Chizuko-chan~
It's Mitsuri! I heard you are on a long mission! You can do it! Come to my place to have pancakes when you're back! I have a new recipe!

Young Suzuki,
It's Kyojuro! Long time no see! Completing the mission with a blazing heart guarantees success! Stop by for lunch sometime! Senjuro and I miss your company!

Chizuko,
It's Muichiro. When are you coming back? I miss you. I learned how to fold paper foxes today, let's fold some more together when you're back.

Suzuki,
I bought the rice. Kaburamaru misses you. And I expect to see you back without a scratch.

Droplets of water fell onto the letters, blurring the ink into dozens of tiny flowers.

Chizuko didn't realise how much she misses them.

"Caw!" noticing the kid's tears, Hachi nuzzled Chizuko's cheek.

"I'm okay, Hachi," Chizuko smiled, "thanks."

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Standing by the door, Noboru rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing things because of loosing sleep? Did those two crows over there just talk? And why on Earth did one have a scarf around it's neck?

"Er, Suzuki-san?" he greeted awkwardly.

Chizuko jolted, hiding Hachi and the other crow with her haori, "O-Oh, Tanaka-sama... Eh!!? What happened to your face!?"

It was Tanaka's turn to flinch, "A-Ah! It's nothing, Suzuki-san. I... er... bumped into a shelf."

"Are those talking crows?"

"B-But there are no shelves downstairs?"

They asked each other at the same time.

"I can explain."

Their voices overlapped again.

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Chizuko finished explaining her job as a demon slayer to Noboru, "I know it sounds totally absurd to you, Tanaka-sama, but that's what I do and why I'm here."

"I... Well, I don't think I understand what you're saying," Noboru was left with even more questions than answers, "but your secret's safe with me, I won't tell anyone." Just what were demons? Was it a new species? Why hadn't he heard anything about them before? Were they really man-eating monsters?

But speaking of which...

"Suzuki-san? I... I think there are some strange events in town recently that may have some connections to your demon slaying business," Noboru recalled, "I'll go to that in a moment. But first I'd like to say a little about me first."

"I was born in Tokyo, youngest of four brothers. I... I wasn't a good kid, I ran away from home to pursue a career in arts. I travelled across the country, I never planned to settle down like now, meeting Sota Nakayama was unexpected."

"This ryokan* is a family-run business, owned by Sota and his parents. I intended to stay for three to four months till I earned enough to continue my journey. But as you can see, months became years... And here I am now."

"His parents passed away about five years ago, we were left to run the small hotel ever since. I don't know what had gotten into me but... I felt attracted to him. And the most mind blowing part was that the feelings were mutual. And well... everything was doing fine until someone found out about our... er... relationship."

"We started loosing customers and income, no one was willing to stop by for accommodation, and no one sold us food or necessities anymore. Some people poured paint on our door and some beat us up for fun. I... I suggested that we deny the rumours to save the business. I thought it would be better to keep the business running since it is the hard work of many ancestors. But Sota had different opinions, we had a quarrel and he left, never returning."

"Strange things started happening some time around Sota's disappearance. Houses or shops would be found burning in flames without smoke, and there would be nothing left of the bodies except for the victims' tongues... People call the culprit Enma Daiō because it is exactly the reverse of the legend where Enma Daiō would rip off the tongues of lying children. I... I just hope that Sota wasn't... murdered."

Chizuko could only nod, she needed time to digest the whole story. She didn't want to judge Noboru's romance, it wasn't her place to do so and that it was ultimately the well-being of someone else. Besides, Noboru sounded happy, so she should be happy for him too. And for 'Enma Daiō', she assumed that it was very likely to be a demon.

"Anyone home?? Help!!!" hurried banging came from the door.

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*ryokan : a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically feature tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner.

Hi 👋🏻 it's me again. Hope you have a wonderful day ahead and stay safe from the corona virus (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Sorry for changing the story title and the description for not only once (;'༎ຶД༎ຶ') I'm bad at coming up with titles and descriptions, and new ideas just pop up randomly. I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused ('°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

Dream of A Falling Star is a Japanese song sung by Eir Aoi, it's a wonderful song that inspired me to write this fanfic, and it kind of sums up Chizuko and Obanai's relationship ≧◉◡◉≦