“Just what the hell are you doing, Tanjirou?” she questioned, gazing over to one of the demons left, still alive. He was leaning against the wall, arms nowhere to be seen.
Ayaka looked over Tanjirou’s shoulder at the demon. He looked scared, desperately trying to move away from Tanjirou without success.
The aforementioned skipped a bit, obviously not expecting her to appear so suddenly.
“Aya-san!” he said louder than necessary. He then cleared his throat and slightly turned his head to look at her.
She had already finished off her own demon. It was a trek through countless flower fields compared to Himejima-shishou’s training, so she had no problem.
The only thing that forced her to still be there was that Tanjirou had to tell her about the reason for such a weird anomaly. A demon that doesn’t eat humans.
That, and that there was a demon left to defeat. And since Tanjirou was taking too long, Ayaka decided to go see what he was doing, just to find herself looking at that little scene.
“Our orders are to kill demons whenever we can, why is he still alive?”, she asked, pointing a finger at the demon. “If you don’t kill him soon his arms will grow back and he’ll attack you.”
Just as she had predicted, from the cut off limbs the demon had for arms came out his claws. He jumped to attack, but fastly enough Tanjirou slid his sword over his head. In a second, the demon’s head fell to the ground.
His corpse started to fade away in dust and it disappeared with the wind, leaving no proof that he had even been there except for a small piece of cloth.
Ayaka took it from the floor and opened it, looking at the different hairpins the demon had kept there. Every one of them had belonged to a human girl that just had bad luck.
Even if the wind carried away the dust of what had once been part of the demon’s body to somewhere else on this world, it would never be able to carry away the pain of all those deaths he had left behind.
The wounds the demon had made would be there for years, they would never heal but maybe some day they could become merely scars. Ayaka remembered the eyes of the shopkeeper from the day before, wondering if the demon had taken someone loved for him. Even if she shouldn’t care.
Tanjirou’s hand appeared before her eyes, laying on the piece of cloth Ayaka held in her hands. He didn’t need to talk to make her understand.
She looked behind him, where the boy Tanjirou had taken with him was petrified on the floor.
A sigh escaped from her lips as she nodded, giving Tanjirou her affirmation on taking that worn out piece of cloth.
Tanjirou gave her a last smile as he walked over to the poor guy. They exchanged a few words Ayaka couldn’t hear, since she stayed where she was. What she least wanted was having to comfort someone.
Her crow appeared over the horizon, taking his place on her shoulder. He had finally come back from Himejima-shishou’s mountain. There was a paper rolled up on his leg and she took it off carefully, keeping it on her pocket.
Tanjirou was already back by her side by then, wooden box and all on his shoulders.
Ayaka merely gave him a look, starting to walk without warning.
“Wait, where are we going, Aya-san!?” he yelled at her back as he tried to catch up with her. Ayaka’s nose wrinkled at the honorifics.
“Don’t call me that, we are the same age, you know?” she said, when Tanjirou finally reached her side. He just smiled, scratching his head with shame.
“I can’t help it, you are just so strong!” he exclaimed with more enthusiasm than Ayaka tolerated. “When you cut off the arms of the demon in a second I was so impressed! It was so cool you could see it coming!”
Ayaka 's eyes settled on him for just a moment, ignoring his compliments. She didn’t need them, she already knew that. However, there was something bothering her.
“You are dirty”, she commented, pointing a finger at him. She took a step away from him.
A confused grimace painted itself on Tanjirou 's face. He brought his arm up to his eyes.
“I don’t see any dirt”, he said, looking at her even more confused.
«Of course he doesn’t see it», Ayaka thought.
Her sight came with disadvantages. She could see every one of the speck of dust on Tanjirou’s uniform. Although the boy wasn’t very clean either. Ayaka’s nose wrinkled uncomfortably again, unable to drift her gaze from the filth on his skin.
“You went under the floor, right? On the swamp”, she said, taking it for granted. “I can even feel the grease emanating from you, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. You are lucky, none of our crows have assigned us any missions and my parent’s house is near. “She frowned again.” You can take a bath there.”
“Do I smell that bad?”, Tanjirou whispered to himself, sniffing at his own arm.
A moment in silence passed (which felt like heaven) until Tanjirou talked again.
“Can I call you Aya then?” he asked. Ayaka just shrugged.
“You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t use honorifics, I don’t care”, she commented without giving it too much thought.
The Sun was starting to rise over the horizon when Ayaka and Tanjirou left behind that village.
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It was near lunch when they finally got to the rice field Ayaka had been raised on.
The memories hit her strongly, going back to her mind after so long. If you followed the earth path to the right you’d get to the village.
It wasn’t very big, just enough to not draw attention to itself.
It had certain small shops, majorly on the market. If Ayaka hadn’t forgotten, she swore there was a small mochi shop. In her family they had the habit of buying a bit on New Year 's. The melon flavoured one was her and her grandma’s favourite.
The majority of the people lived in the village, and they worked on the market or similar jobs as artisans or on the rice field.
Many of the farmers had travelled to the big cities to work on factories and the industry. So a big part of those that worked on the rice field had moved away to near towns over the past decades.
Fortunately or not, Ayaka’s father was too weak to work a job as tough as a factory’s, making her parents stay on the known and comfortable rice fields.
However her parents didn’t live in the village, but at the end of the crops. Near the river.
And to go there, Ayaka had to cross all the way over there. This only made the people working there whisper as they went.
This was why she hated the rice fields.
She tried to ignore them, but she couldn’t help but tense at hearing their voices. Why couldn’t they just shut up?
Tanjirou’s voice distracted her for a moment.
It had been a while since he last had tried to talk to her. Every time he merely tried to Ayaka answered with short sentences, not giving any room for the conversation to breath.
There were two main reasons. The first one was that she wasn’t the kind of person who talked much about herself. The second one was that she didn’t want Tanjirou to believe they were friends.
That Ayaka hadn’t killed his sister and that they were going to her house that moment meant nothing.
“So, how are your parents?”, Tanjirou asked with a smile. Ayaka scratched her cheek in thought, not knowing what to say.
“Well…”, she hesitated for a moment. “They are kind of weird.”
An idea popped brightly on her head.
“Now that you say it, they are a lot like you”, Ayaka said, pointing a finger at him innocently. Her eyebrows left her usual unmoving position and formed two arcs, her usual serious expression changing for one of pure sincerity.
She seemed to become younger in an instant, going from an adult demon slayer to the kid she was.
From Tanjirou’s mouth came out a sound in confusion, not expecting that answer.
“And how is that, exactly?” he asked, taken aback, attempting to be polite.
Ayaka stopped to think about her answer for a moment, leaning her chin on her hand, lost in thought.
The rice fields swinged with the wind and small birds flew over their heads as they sang without worry. They spent a few moments in silence until Ayaka talked again.
“They are very kind, so much it becomes obnoxious”, she answered without thought, gaining a disappointed look from her partner.
“I thought it would be something good”, he mumbled in defeat. “At least they aren’t like Aya, or else they’d be scary.”
He was lucky Ayaka didn’t get to hear him.
“My mom is always saying I look like my grandma, but she doesn’t live with us”, Ayaka commented casually, then she pointed at the building that could be spotted at the end of the road. “Do you see that house? My parents live there. It’s only them, so we will be able to rest peacefully until tomorrow morning.”
Oh, how wrong she was.
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“A-chan!”
Her mother 's arms enveloped her suddenly making them nearly fall to the floor. Luckily Ayaka stayed steady on her feet, with her mother’s strong arms squeezing her more than necessary.
“Hey, mum”, she accomplished to say, fighting to breathe. Tanjirou stayed by her side, waiting for his presence to be acknowledged.
Ayaka reciprocated her mother 's hug in shyness, patting her back softly. It didn’t seem to matter to her. She gave her a last squeeze and separated herself from Ayaka, caressing her cheeks.
“But look at how much you’ve grown!” she exclaimed excitedly, without letting go of her cheeks. Then she turned around to the door. “Makoto! A-chan has come to visit!”
Her father didn’t take long to appear, his thin face peeking over the door. When he saw Ayaka was there he threw himself at her just like how her wife had done a few minutes prior. That time the hug wasn’t nearly as asphyxiating.
“A-chan, we’ve missed you so much!” he exclaimed at the brink of tears. Her mother put her arm on his back in an attempt to console him.
“Come on, Mako, don’t cry,” she pleaded, getting him away from Ayaka at last. “After all she’s visiting, we have to be happy.”
He nodded in a weak smile, drying the tears that had gotten to escape out of his eyes.
“I just can’t help it, it’s been three years since she left,” he said melancholically, although his smile didn’t go from his face.
Ayaka blinked surprised.
«Huh!?»
Three years? She thought there were only two. She was fourteen, right?
Right?
“Dad, I think you’re in the wrong”, Ayaka started nervously, playing with her fingers. “It’s only been two years.”
Now it was her parents’ turn to blink, in confusion.
“I’m pretty sure it’s been three years, Ayaka,” her mother said that time, a light worry on her voice. “Can it be that you lost the sense of time on Himejima-san’s mountain?”
If Ayaka was honest, she wasn’t misguided.
All seasons started to feel the same, without being able to differentiate summer from winter after being under the cold water of Himejima-shishou’s waterfall for so long.
Then she understood, and that hit her like a glass of water to the face.
“I’ve trained more than necessary.”
Himejima-shihou had advised her to train for two years in order to be prepared for the Final Selection. It was the usual time of training the majority of demon slayers took to prepare.
Apparently he didn’t stop her when he noticed she had been training more than needed.
“So that’s why the Final Selection seemed so easy,” she mumbled to herself.
Tanjirou by her side muttered in admiration. The three of them turned around to look at him, realizing for the first time he was there.
“Oh! Are you a friend of Ayaka’s?” her mother asked with hope. Ayaka furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance.
“He’s actually a member of the corps, like a partner,” she said, turning her head around to look at Tanjirou. He blushed, still and tense on his place without daring to say anything. You didn’t have to be Ayaka to see he was dying out of embarrassment.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Tanjirou Kamado!” he introduced himself as he bowed. He nearly touched the floor with his forehead. Would Nezuko be bothered by the constant movement inside the wooden box on his back?
That was the biggest formality the Iwamotos had ever been treated with, ever. So naturally the three of them simply stared at him, shocked to the core.
The silence remained until another familiar voice appeared behind them.
“Just what the hell are you doing, idiots? Lunch is gonna get cold and poor Kobayashi has put a lot of effort into it.” A small figure appeared by the door. Her eyes settled on Ayaka. “Ah, at last my graniece, the demon slayer, has enough decency to visit us.”
Ayaka nearly chokes on her own spit.
“It 's not that, Kaede-san! I’m sure Ayaka has been very busy,” her father said in nervousness.
Tanjirou raised his head from the floor slightly, seeing an old lady that couldn’t be more than a hundred and forty centimetres a few meters away from them.
Despite her size, she moved with grace and dignity, as if she had been raised in a palace.
“Enough so that she hasn’t dared answer any of the letters?” she asked, annoyance clear on her voice.
Not even a second passed until her grandmother arrived next to Ayaka and got to hit her on the head with the fan she always carried around.
It was an achievement in itself, since Ayaka was twenty centimeters taller than her.
“Mom!”Ayaka 's mother exclaimed in horror. Ayaka herself was dumbfounded, not expecting that reaction from her grandma, least of all that she would be there at all.
Kaede huffed as she crossed her arms.
“You’re lucky I’m not your mother, and that your parents aren’t strict”, her grandmother commented. “If you were my daughter I would have gone over to Hime-whichever-was-his-name and I would have dragged you here myself. Of course, right after having fistfought your master for training a twelve year old girl to go around killing demons. It was a pity I wasn’t there when he recruited you.”
Ayaka pressed on the place she had received the blow, feeling it become sore. That would become a bruise later.
“What are you even doing here?” she asked, confused. “Didn’t you live in the mountains?”
Her grandmother huffed again, as if that mere question angered her.
“Your dear grandmother is getting old and she needs help sometimes. So I moved here, since you were somewhere else,” she explained solemnly. “By the way, I took your room.”
Before Ayaka could have time to complain, her grandmother fixed her gaze on Tanjirou.
“So you’ve brought another demon slayer with you,” she said calmly as she watched Tanjirou carefully. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Tanjirou Kamado! It 's very nice to meet you, madame Iwamoto!” he introduced himself yet again, bowing in respect.
Kaede just let out small chuckles, proceeding to hit his nape with her fan. But, quite the contrary from Ayaka’s, it was a soft knock.
“I’m not an Iwamoto, sweetie. I didn’t take my husband’s surname when we got married”, she cheerfully said. “I’m Kaede Fujioka. It’s very nice to meet you too, Tanjirou.”
“Ah, I apologize for the mistake then, Kaede-san,” Tanjirou apologized, seemingly more relaxed. It was clear Ayaka’s family was nothing like her, which relieved him somehow.
“Ah, he’s so kind,” both of Ayaka’s parents muttered happily at the same time.
“If you are going to bring more friends, I hope they’re just like him,” her father commented delighted in between whispers at Ayaka’s ears.
Ayaka’s eyebrows fixed together again in irritation.
“We are not friends!” she exclaimed annoyed. Then, she took Tanjirou’s arm. “Let’s go take a bath.”
Her grandmother loudly burst in laughter behind their backs.
“I’m so glad, because you seriously need it!” she exclaimed while laughing. “Even I can see the filth emanating from the both of you!”
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