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Shinobu hears the tinkling of Tomioka’s blade from behind, and the heavy thud of a body falling onto the ground follows shortly after. She turns to him, baffled, and realizes he’d covered her blind spot. She wouldn’t have been able to react in time given that she had just slain another demon at the front. How convenient. If it weren’t for him, she would’ve gotten injured. That would be all, however— a little graze, but that demon still would’ve been killed by her blade regardless. Still, he’d saved her the trouble. Very thoughtful indeed, she thinks coyly.
“You ought to be more careful,” he says, voice bleak as he lets out a sigh. “Come on, one more infested village in the east. We’ll call it a night after cleaning the fodders up.”
She lets out a laugh, “My, Tomioka-san. Whatever gave you the idea that you may order me around?”
Just a little teasing, of course. Tomioka isn’t always assertive. She takes charge in regards to mapping the infestations out and he does as she says. Still, it is nice to see him show off.
He turns to her, frowning, “I am not. You informed me just an hour ago that there is also an infestation in the east.”
“Oh my, it seems that it has slipped my mind,” she lets out a gasp, a hand to her mouth, “l did tell you indeed. Thank you, Tomioka-san.”
They begin to run towards the east— and she is basically floating from the lightness of her body, much so like a butterfly. She looks onto the ground as she jumps from branch to branch, watching Tomioka run by foot in an attempt to catch up with her. She thinks about teasing him with his little efforts, but she reckons it’d be a waste of time. They must eradicate the infesting demons as soon as they possibly can. Well, how inconvenient. She’ll save the teasing for later, then.
It takes them an hour and twenty-two minutes until every demonic growl is audible. She looks at him as he does with her, immediately understanding what must come next. She leaps into the right and runs towards the large group of demons barging into every home, deliberately stomping upon the livelihood of every hardworking farmer in the village. How vile, she thinks as she grits her teeth. It’s a good thing that she has taken her newest formula with her. It’ll be a wonderful chance to put it to test on the first pest that would hurl onto her. Very pitiful, she’d like to say, but it is simply punishment.
The first trash that clogs her stream is a— oh, goodness, a pink-skinned demon! What a shame, a beautiful pastel coated by a demon’s repugnance.
She unsheathes her blade and twirls it around to mix her newest formula into it. The demon is growling, its saliva dripping down its mouth. Greedy. Disgusting.
“Apologies for interrupting your feast,” she feigns politeness, halting the movement of her blade upon finishing the mixing. “However may I compensate for the inconvenience?”
“Demon Slayer scum!” The foolish demon leaps onto her, mindlessly so. Ah, it seems that it isn’t interested in her compensation. Well, whichever works. She pierces a forceful blow onto its eye as she hears it writhe. She lands lightly on her feet, slowly turning around at the agony of a glutton, “What a weakling! Hah,” it gasps, its skin slowly deteriorating from the poison. “You cannot— behead me with such weak arms—”
Oh my, she wants to gasp out.
How kind of it to hit a nerve.
She mixes another formula, landing another blow onto its chest this time, and she imagines just how excruciating it must be to endure two of her mixtures at once! What a pity, but it had brought it upon itself.
It doesn’t take long for the fodder to lose its life. Ah. What a weakling, it had said.
She cleans up the rest on the right. It is quite easy, really. Most of them even failed to notice her presence until she buried her blade deep into their throats. The Kakushi will clean up the scene and tend to the survivors. She sighs and sheathes it back in, dusting her hands off as she strides towards the center. Tomioka must be done as well. She’d like to hope so, at least. There is nothing else in the world that she wants more than a bath and a warm bed to tuck herself in for the night.
Surely enough, she sees him right at the center— and she must admit, it is quite a sight to watch him stand like a wall beneath the light of the moonlight. He might as well be a mountain given how stiff he is.
“Tomioka-san!” She waves, cheerfully so as she half-runs onto him, “You finished much earlier! It would’ve saved us so much time if you had helped me on the right as well…”
He huffs, arms crossed, “You had it handled. I wouldn’t want to interfere.”
“How very thoughtful,” she grins and lets out a giggle. “Well then, let’s find an inn close by and call it a night.”
She decides to indulge him. He must be exhausted, after all, and so she refrains from leaping around in order for him not to put any effort in chasing after her again. Regardless of how… strong his long legs might be, the number of pests in that village were quite troublesome. A human’s stamina knows its bounds, no matter how muscular the body is.
How nice it must be to have stronger arms.
“Tomioka-san,” she blurts out, not taking her eyes off the trail, “This is simply out of curiosity. How does it feel to carry heavy muscles every waking second?”
She notices how the sound of his footsteps become less frequent, indicating that his pace has slowed down. She halts and turns to him, brows frowned, “Problem?”
“Well,” he starts, taking a bit longer to form his next words, “I am just trying to… understand what your question meant, that’s all.”
Ah.
How adorable.
She lets out a giggle, “Tomioka-san! You must’ve misunderstood me. I was merely asking about how it must feel to have strong arms, that’s all.”
He must have misunderstood, really. She realizes now that it was quite… odd, how she had phrased it. It sounded physical, and it was indeed a physical question… but it leaned too much into— ah, well. She refuses to say. She hears his heavy footsteps beside her again, seemingly matching her pace. She arches a brow but ignores it ultimately.
“It doesn’t feel like anything,” he suddenly says, and she almost frowns but she realizes it must be his response to her earlier question. “It’s not something I pay a lot of attention to. It is there, and it is convenient, but that’s all there is to it.”
She hums, tilting her head. Well, that does make sense. When you are in possession of something that you’ve always had, it becomes irrelevant. Perhaps if she had stronger arms as well, she’d feel the same way. Normal, almost oblivious to the privilege. It almost makes her mad. The unfairness of it all. Those who bear every single quality that she lacks are unmindful of every single one of it. It is, to them, a mere form of normalcy. Well, it must be nice. Regardless, it is not their fault. It is not Tomioka’s fault that he feels indifferent towards the advantage. Still, it is quite infuriating. Irrationally.
“Well, how splendid it must be regardless,” she says, thoughtlessly.
“I wouldn’t say so,” he abruptly replies, “Others possess what you lack just as you possess what others lack. The grass is always greener on the other side, though, so I understand.”
She does not pay much heed to that. He is right, yes, but in their line of work… well, the qualities that she lacks are vital. Perhaps it is simply balance, although it seems that she must’ve been tossed out of the scale. A rather funny thought.
“From your side, then,” she starts, hinting another question, “What form would the green grass on the other side take from where you are standing?”
A long pause. She almost thinks he wouldn’t answer. Although it would be fine, really.
“I don’t know,” he finally lets out accompanied by a sigh, “I envy those who do not live a life that they robbed someone else of, I suppose.”
Huh.
She’d like to pry further in, but she restrains herself. Despite her persistence and how she’s actually been able to make him say more than three words, she does not think they are… close. And even if they were, she still wouldn’t feel entitled to his envy. Not ever.
Regardless, how comforting.
She lets the silence linger and they spend the rest of the walk with it. He doesn’t seem to mind.