Work Text:
“Here’s some more for you,” came the dreaded, booming voice, followed by a slam as a stack of files, books and papers dropped down onto her desk. The pile sat right on top of her laptop keyboard.
Shinobu watched as the spreadsheet she had been working on filled with meaningless text.
“Your work is growing on your desk, Miss Kocho,” Muzan remarked, observing the twin work piles either side of her new one. “Perhaps you should work a little harder.”
Shinobu smiled, hoping the vein on her forehead wasn’t too obvious. “Yes, sir!”
Meanwhile, Douma’s lovesick warbling continued to irritate her right ear. “Hey, hey, Shinobu ,” he cooed. “I love you. Wanna go out tonight? Hey, Shinobu! I know you’re not deaf, darling!”
Shinobu kept smiling, focusing on her laptop. She knew if her eyes so much as glanced in the direction of Douma’s stupid, fawning face she would personally rip it off.
Toshiro’s concerned voice piped up from over her left work pile. “Are you angry, Shinobu?”
Shinobu’s forehead vein twitched.
That evening, Shinobu staggered into the reception of a local karaoke bar, followed by three of her friends.
The receptionist, a shaggy-haired, bemused young man with a mask over his mouth noticed her and instinctively reached out to receive her money.
“The usual?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
Inside the karaoke room, Shinobu silently chose the song and adjusted the settings, paying particular attention to the volume.
Kyojuro sat closest to her, beaming from ear to ear, Tengen was standing, ready for action, and poor Giyu, who had never been to one of Shinobu’s sessions before, hadn’t the faintest idea what to expect.
Shinobu held her microphone close and took a deep breath.
Then she screamed, an unholy, continuous scream. Mixed with the roar of bass from the speakers, it was a howl of fury from the depths of her soul.
Kyujuro withstood the blast, smile permanently fixed to his face as his flaming hair flew backwards, Tengen headbanged like it was the last night of his life, whooping into the din, and poor Giyu, bless his heart, made the fatal mistake of taking a sip of water at the exact second the song started, spewing it all over himself in his terror.
“OF COURSE I’M ANGRY, TANJIROOOOO! ” Shinobu roared. Leaping onto the coffee table, she bellowed out eleven hours of anger and hatred. A blaze had ignited in the pit of her belly and it was searing her throat raw. “GO TO HELL, DOUMAAAAA! GO TO HELL MUZAAAAAN! ”
Four hours later, the four friends left the bar.
“That was absolutely marvellous !” Kyojuro proclaimed. “You’ve done it again, Shinobu!”
Shinobu giggled. “Oh, stop, it’s just venting.”
“I’m serious, my heart was on fire!”
“Whole place was on fire, man!” Tengen cried, throwing up his arms. “Woo, I feel alive ! That was goddamn beautiful!”
Giyu was silent and shaken. He wanted to go home.
Shinobu smiled. She was ready for another day.