Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. Or at least that's how I felt it like. Kanae and Sabito haven't come back and I had already read maybe three or four books.
Meanwhile, Tamayo went to her research room with Yushiro and I have to admit that I am a little bit curious about her research room. So curious that I can't concentrate on this encyclopedia in my hand.
Knowing that my curiosity would win me, I set the encyclopedia on the table and made my way to Tamayo's research room. Since I am a good person, I knocked on the door and waited for either Tamayo or Yushiro to give me permission to come in.
The door slid open and I was greeted with Yushiro's glaring face.
"What? Is there something else you want?" he asked me and I could feel that I was not welcome to his alone time with Tamayo.
"Maa maa, no need to be so hostile. Or what? Do you want me to go away so you can do something 'indecent'?" I could feel my smirk appearing as Yushiro blushed furiously.
"Just kidding. I was just curious and wanted to come here to observe. If that is okay to you or Tamayo-san, of course." I stopped my teasings and told the real reason.
Yushiro didn't like my teasings at all so he slammed the door shut. Even though I knew that I was not welcomed by Yushiro, I still let myself in.
The research room wasn't that big as I thought. There was only a shelf where Tamayo kept all her tools and then a table with... is that a freaking microscope that she is using!?
My eyes were a little bit wide in surprise and I could feel small happiness inside me appear. Sure I have seen the microscopes all the time in my chemistry classes but seeing one here in a timeline that I still don't know makes me a little bit happy.
"Are you surprised? You must be since every item here is brand new." Yushiro told me smugly and I nod back. I saw Yushiro's smug smirk grow bigger and I couldn't help but think about slapping that smirk of his.
"Kochou-kun, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Tamayo asked me while looking at the poison with the microscope.
"Hm?" I hummed back, noticing how Yushiro's scowl appeared once more. Maybe because I was rude or something else.
"How much do you know about this poison?" taking out her notebook, Tamayo wrote stuff in it.
"Not much. Shinobu- My imouto likes to keep it a secret. But I do know that it has Wisteria Flowers in it." I informed her as much as I knew.
I know that I have read the books Shinobu has but they were mostly about medical herbs. Don't know why medical herbs but I guess they are related to her poisons.
Tamayo seemed to think about something as she tapped her pencil into her notebook. With each tap, she walked around and glanced between the poison and the notebook.
"Kochou-kun, do you think if it is possible for me to meet with your imouto?" she asked me another question.
"I... don't actually know." I admitted honestly and Tamayo nodded back as if she understood why or just accepted my reply. Yushiro on the other hand didn't like my answer.
In fact, everything I say and do in front of Tamayo makes him angry or mad so I'm just going to ignore him for a while. But I still feel like I should apologize so I will.
"Sorry..." with a quiet voice yet loud enough to hear, I apologized to Tamayo.
"It is okay. I know that Demon Slayer Corps is busy these days." Tamayo told me with a kind smile. Seeing that I was forgiven, I felt glad and kind of embarrassed.
Either because of the situation or because of Tamayo's beauty, I didn't know. Or maybe this feeling isn't embarrassment but something else from the glaring demon behind me.
=====
"We are back." Sabito announced loudly enough for us to hear his voice.
Finally. I have no idea how long it took but I know that it took long enough for me to get bored with all these books and observations.
"Welcome back." with a lazy wave, I greeted Kanae and Sabito. I could feel a small relief inside my chest as I saw them both in fine condition.
"How did it go?" Tamayo asked and Sabito nodded in affirmation.
"It took time but we found two nearby Asakusa." Sabito told Tamayo and I saw her smile. Either she was happy for her and Yushiro's safety or satisfied with the results.
"Is there anything else you need us to do, Tamayo-san?" Kanae asked Tamayo and the older female shook her head.
"No. But if I had to say one thing then I would want to meet your imouto in near future." Tamayo told Kanae and I could see Kanae slowly get her bright smile. She hid it very well but since I was her otouto, she couldn't deceive me.
"I will be sure to tell her that." Kanae replied back with her usual smile.
"If you are done then take this thing and go home. We don't need it anymore here." Yushiro pointed at me and I felt kind of angry for being called a thing.
"Yushiro, apologize."
"I am sorry!"
But because of Tamayo, Yushiro apologized to me with his serious face. It was too funny for me and I almost laughed out loud but held back.
"It's okay. Yushiro is correct for telling us to go home now. Even if he phrased it differently." I sent a small smirk towards Yushiro as his eyes didn't meet with mine.
"Thank you for telling us about Muzan, Tamayo-san. I hope we can still work together again." I bowed down and told Tamayo politely with a smile. She seemed to like the idea of working together again and nodded at me.
"I also hope we can work again together." Tamayo told me with a gentle smile and I could see the shock in Yushiro's face. He was ready to protest but when he saw Tamayo's facial expression, he got quiet.
I let out a quiet chuckle and got ready to leave with Kanae and Sabito.
"See you again then." and with that, we left.
=====
Leaving Asakusa, the three of us quickly made our way to a nearby town so Kanae and Sabito could rest. Of course, we could rest in Asakusa but a few reasons got us to reject the idea.
The first was because the three of us didn't want to waste time and quickly report to Kagaya about Muzan.
The second was because there were too many people.
And third... or more like my own selfish reason is that resting in a city costs more than in a town.
It's not like I am poor or anything like that. It's more of a habit that has stuck with me and that is to save as much money as I can. Who knows if this extra cash will be useful in the future.
It was at this moment I saw Sabito yawn and have his posture relaxed. I then glanced over at Kanae and saw how tired she looked. Her steps were small and her grip on her katana was wavering.
Seeing them like this, I couldn't help but respect their hard work and yet worry at the same time. It was a strange feeling.
"Nee-chan. Sabito. We can rest under that tree if you want." I offered while pointing to our side. It was a good thing that Japan was filled with nature and trees could be found anywhere.
Unless you live in a city. Then you'll have to go to an almost secluded place. Don't know about others but that's where I at least found a tree or two.
"I appreciate the feeling but we need to get this information back to Oyakata-sama as soon as possible." Sabito replied to me first and let out another yawn which made me frown a little bit.
Before I could say anything back to him, I felt Kanae lean against my back. I glanced behind me and saw how she had her eyes closed while slowly slipping from my back. It took me a while to realize that she had fallen asleep so I quickly lowered myself so I could catch her on my back and continue to piggyback her.
As I got a good hold of Kanae, I grabbed her katana that had been dropped and stood up to look at Sabito.
"Do you still want to continue or can we rest?" I asked with narrowed eyes and ready to get a little bit loud if he wanted to continue.
Sabito glanced away a little bit in shame and agreed to rest but in a nearby village or town. I didn't really like his answer but when he told me that Kanae would rest better if we had a proper futon or bed, I changed my mind.
I glanced once more at sleeping Kanae and leaned my head against her head to show how thankful I was that she fell asleep.
=====
"You sleep there and we get this room. Understood?" I asked Sabito and he nodded with a small grim look. I didn't really think much about it and slid the door shut so I could set Kanae down.
It took me a while but I finally laid Kanae in a futon and took a small break myself too. I leaned against the window spot and glanced outside where children were running and chasing each other while adults were working. The sun was still up so I didn't have to think about demons and other bad stuff.
But still... Having nothing to do at all is really boring. I might as well take a small nap myself or walk around the neighborhood while waiting until Kanae and Sabito have rested.
After food that is.
But much to my disappointment, the place where we were resting didn't offer food services. I couldn't help but get a little bit depressed and went back to my spot where I had sat.
I once more repeated my actions of staring at the passing children and adults. It didn't take me that long until I was feeling tired and slept. I didn't even bother to lay on a futon and slept where I was.
I saw a nostalgic dream. A dream about my childhood. Not of my childhood as Shin Kochou but my life before that.
I saw my parents. I saw my siblings. I saw my relatives. And I saw my friends. It was a happy dream that I didn't even know that it was a dream.
And it all disappeared when I felt someone shake my body. I felt a mix of emotions. First was confusion, then followed up with anger, and finally sadness.
My eyes opened and I saw that the sky had taken the color of orange and next to me was Kanae who had shook me awake.
"Shin-chan, it's time to leave." she told me with a smile and I couldn't find myself smiling back at her.
"Hm." and a nod was all I could let out.
=====
The rest of our way back to Kagaya was calm and silent. I didn't try to strike a conversation nor did Kanae or Sabito either. They must have thought that I was tired to speak or something.
Each night we met at least one demon and every now and then we took a rest in a nearby town or village. Before I had realized it, we were already back at Kagaya's Estate.
"Oyakata-sama, we have returned." Kanae announced loudly and slowly Kagaya walked out, taking a seat in front of us.
"Kanae, Sabito, and Shin. Welcome back." he calmly said and we lowered our heads in respect.
We told him everything we were told. Kagaya took each of our words calmly and when we were done, he smiled brightly at us.
"Excellent work. I will be sure to share this information with everyone." he told us and the three of us stood up. Kanae and Sabito made their way out and only stopped when they saw me still stand still.
"I have something to tell Oyakata-sama. You two can go back to your own District." I told them and hesitantly they left.
"Can I... sit next to you?" I asked and Kagaya nodded. I made my way next to Kagaya and as I sat down, I kept glancing at the tatami mat.
"Is something on your mind?" he only asked me and I nodded. He didn't continue asking but only waited as I took a deep breath and resolved myself.
"Kagaya-kun... I have thought about this for a while and today I have decided." I began and paused to see Kagaya's reaction. He didn't react in any way so I continued.
"To tell you the truth about me. About this world where we live. And most importantly... about our possible future." I finished and Kagaya had a confused look.
"A possible future? What do you mean by that?" he asked me and I took another deep breath.
"A possible future where we go against Muzan and the Upper Moons." I answered and Kagaya grabbed my shoulder to face me completely.
I was caught by surprise by this and couldn't react until he said something first.
"Explain to me." it wasn't an order. It was more of a request of desperation. I calmly took his hands off me and laid them on his lap.
"...This is the second life that I am living. And in the first life, this world was fiction in a book." I explained calmly as possible and saw how Kagaya took each of my words seriously.
He was speechless. That much I knew so I decided to speak more before letting him reply to me.
"In this fiction, the Kochou family only had two daughters. Kanae and Shinobu. I was not included since I didn't even exist there. The protagonist is a boy named Kamado Tanjirou. He will become one of us because a demon had killed his family and his sister turned into a demon. Now that I think about it, I think it was Muzan that went there since only he can turn people into a demon." I raised my hand in front of me when Kagaya opened his mouth.
"Stop. Do not order anyone to go there and wait for him. I don't know why but after hearing Tamayo-san's story of Muzan, I feel like nobody in this world is strong enough to kill him." I lowered my hand and Kagaya closed his mouth.
"I won't tell you the full story but I will tell you this. If I wasn't born then Sabito would have died and Tomioka Giyu would have been a Hashira instead of him.
The number of Hashiras will be less than ten and if we want them to get strong enough to fight or survive against Upper Moons, we need to interact with Kamado Tanjirou for at least one day.
The reason why we need to interact with him is that by then he has learned the Breathing of Sun and his presence will awaken the power of markings in our body. Or at least that's what I believe. I don't know if it's true or not..." I looked down again since I wasn't completely sure if that was the reason why Hashira's awakened their Markings.
Kagaya once more took the information in himself and I could see him struggle a little bit.
"That's not all of it... I also know some of the Upper Moons' powers." and that caught Kagaya's attention completely. He had a huge smile on his face and waited for me to reveal them.
"The current Upper Moon sixth is a demon who is made of two siblings. A big brother and a little sister. They can both come out or have one of them out while one is hidden in the other demon. Big brother uses poison-based attacks which even Uzui-san's poison resistance cannot fight against. Little sister uses her kimono as her weapon. It is sharp enough to cut houses and flexible enough to avoid getting cut.
I don't remember which numbers they were but one was almost made of... water, I think, and uses vases or pots to move around or hide from people.
And then another has the power to separate his emotions into... three(?) different bodies. They can fuse together to get even stronger. I don't remember all of his powers but he could fly and used a staff to summon thunder. When he separates his emotions, they won't die unless you kill the main body which hides around as a small demon. Smaller than... my katana's hilt, I think.
The third Upper Moon is a martial artist that has the strength to create craters on the ground. His strength is actually quite simple to explain but that's not what makes him dangerous. He has the possibility to not die when his head is cut off." I took a pause here to breathe and let Kagaya take all the information in his head.
After a few moments, I continued with a grim look.
"The second Upper Moon is somebody who I think I know the most. His name is Doma and he is a man unable to show proper emotions. He only eats women and his weapons are two fans, sharp enough to cut people. His Blood Demon Art is an ice technique that can do many things but I think the most dangerous one is his ability to make copies of himself that are as strong as he himself.
"The first Upper Moon. I don't know much about him to tell you the truth. I only know that he was one of us. A demon slayer and now he's a demon." I finished and Kagaya was full of many emotions.
Shock, happiness, despair, hope, confusion. I could tell that much as I looked at his tired body.
"Thank you, Shin. You can go back to your district. I will call you when I have calmed down." he told me and I nodded back, leaving his Estate.
I hope... that this is the right choice.