"So," Muichiro asked Rinji as the two discussed what to do. "You still possess the powers the former Lower Moon Five gave you, as does your sister?"
"Correct," Rinji nodded. "Let me show you." He then spawned a long spider web-like string from his wrist that flew into a closed door that led to a storage closet. As he tugged on the string, the door creaked as its hinges were severely weakened. Finally, the door was ripped off the hinges and fell to the ground with a loud thud. "That took a bit of effort, but yeah, that's what me and my sister are capable of."
"No shit," Muichiro replied, impressed. "Well, do you have any idea where our enemies could be?"
"They're somewhere in the bowels of the ship," Rinji offered up. "But as for specifics, I unfortunately have no idea. Who knows what those two shitheads are doing to my sister?"
Mukago asked Rinji, "Are you familiar with the new Lower Moons?"
"Somewhat," he confirmed with a nod. "And what I do know is enough information to determine that these guys are true monsters. In the Kansei era, there was a series of brutal rapes and killings of prostitutes in Shinmachi, one of Osaka's red light districts." He then took a deep breath, clearly distraught over what he had to say. "They only stopped when these two brothers that lived in the area became demons. I've heard rumors that these two, named Hiro and Ichiro, were in fact the killers. It's estimated they raped over thirty women and killed at least twenty of them. If Hiro and Ichiro are the killers, and they took Reiko-oneesan, then that means…" He then choked back vomit in his mouth and took several rapid breaths. "Oh my God… Who knows what the fuck they could be doing to her?!"
Muichiro comforted the demon, who was about the same physical age as him, by patting him on the shoulder. "I swear on my life, we will find and rescue your sister." He then turned to Mukago, Vijay, and Shiro. "Let's go find those two."
…
Several minutes later, as Muichiro and Mukago were looking around near a storage room for the two brothers, they suddenly heard footsteps behind them and panicked. Muichiro whispered to himself, "Shit!"
"Hey," called a ship worker out in English with a thick Irish accent as he approached them. "What are you two doing down here?! This is a workers-only area of the ship! What are those swords for that you're carryi-?!" Suddenly, he screamed as he was grabbed from behind and dragged to the ground. "Oh God! Somebody help me!"
Muichiro quickly ran to the man, sword drawn, and charged at Hiro. However, Hiro shouted, "Blood Demon Art, Time Stop!" In the blink of an eye, Muichiro was suddenly injured, with a deep cut on his side that went through his uniform and into his skin, and the worker that Hiro was attacking was now headless.
As the pain hit him, Muichiro shouted, "Fuck! Fucking Christ! He slashed me right on my right side!" As he took several deep breaths, he looked around and noticed that Hiro was gone. "And that fucker is gone!"
"And the worker he was taking," Mukago pointed out. "He's dead! His head is completely gone!" Surrounding the dead worker was a giant pool of his blood.
"And I'm right here," said Hiro as he suddenly appeared behind Mukago.
She just barely dodged a direct blow to her neck as she drew her sword. "Blood Demon Art," she then called out. "Snowy Mist!" Suddenly, a giant blanket of fine powdery snow emerged, blocking Hiro's vision and preventing him from seeing around him beyond about a foot before Mukago suddenly called out from another unknown direction, "Breath of Mist, First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze!"
"Fuck," Hiro yelled out as he just barely dodged a blow to his neck, causing her blade to sink into the top half of his head above his eyes and cut it clean off as the illusion of snow around him dissipated, revealing a normal storage area around him. "Hah! You almost got me, but you're not quite good enough, former Lower Moon Four!"
"I refuse to be associated with Muzan anymore," Mukago called out to him. "I am Tsuchinoe Tokito Mukago, Tsuguko of the Mist Pillar, Tokito Muichiro!"
Muichiro was shocked to hear herself use his last name. "My family name! She used my family name!"
"I dare you to find your little spider demon runaway," Hiro then taunted her as he prepared to run away from them. "Me and my brother are having a lot of fun with her right now! Good luck! Blood Demon Art: Time Stop!" In the blink of an eye, he was once again gone.
Muichiro kicked the ground, yelling out, "Damn it! He got away!"
"Fucking Hell," Mukago muttered. "These guys really are all sorts of fucked up in the head."
"Mukago," Muichiro then asked her. "Why did you use my family name?"
The girl froze when he asked the question, trying to come up with an answer. "Because… Because… Because…" She then sighed. "Because I want to take this relationship more seriously, Muichiro. We are having a child together, and I don't want to give birth to them out of wedlock."
"Out of wedlock," Muichiro repeated to himself. "Out of wedlock…" He then closed his eyes and sheathed his sword. "Mukago, I need to confess to you something. The truth is… I'm scared."
"Scared?"
"I'm absolutely terrified," Muichiro continued. "I've done things that most men don't do for many years past my age, if ever. I've had responsibility after responsibility placed upon me for three straight years since I became a demon slayer. Look, I know I'm mature and responsible, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm still only 14 years old."
"And I'm stuck at 15 years old," Mukago replied, not seeing what the concern was.
"But you've been around for so much longer because you're a demon," Muichiro replied back, correcting her. "You have experience in life, and I don't. Demons don't usually die normal deaths, and they certainly don't live the relatively short lifespans of humans. You may be 15, but you've really been around for over 120 years."
"127 to be exact," Mukago added. "And look, Muichiro, I get that you're scared. Do you think I'm not scared? I'm fucking terrified. I didn't know demons could even have babies until Kocho-sama looked me over."
"You couldn't as long as you were under Muzan's control," Muichiro noted. "His curse specifically makes all demons with it infertile unless they break free from it."
"I would have liked to have known that," Mukago shot back, getting a bit aggressive in her tone. "If you think you're unprepared to have a baby, take a look at me. I was told for my entire life I couldn't have children, and now, I have one growing inside me that you put in there, for lack of a better phrase. Don't… Don't think I don't want it, though."
Muichiro then took a seat on the catwalk. "I know that, okay? I'm just… I'm just overwhelmed, okay? I'm scared, because for the first time I can remember in my life, I'm actually afraid of dying. I'm afraid of dying because I don't want to lose you or the child."
Mukago sheathed her sword as she sat down next to him. "That's… I know that feeling. Muzan always criticized me for developing a Blood Demon Art that focused only on illusions, thinking I'd use it to run away from stronger demon slayers, and he was right. I ran whenever I came across a Pillar. My life has been defined by me running away from problems. I ran away from my boss when I was 15 and fell right into Muzan's hands. I ran from fights against the best slayers around. I ran from Upper Moons looking to pin all their problems on a Lower Moon. Now, though…" She then clutched her stomach. "I'm not running from this."
Muichiro put a hand on her stomach as well, telling her, "Me neither. I may be scared, but I'm not a coward. Mukago, if you want this child to be born to a married husband and wife, I can make that happen. The Oyakata-sama has done it before with Pillars." He then hugged her. "We may be scared, but together, we can figure everything out."
"Ask me," Mukago replied to him. "Ask me that question."
Knowing what she wanted, he split from the hug and held her right hand. "Mukago, will you marry me?"
The former Lower Moon Four nodded, a wide smile on her face. "Yes, yes I will."
…
About 15 minutes later, Reiko had just woken up inside the hiding place for Hiro and Ichiro. She had been asleep the entire time, and was still incredibly groggy as she turned her head and blinked several times. "What… Where am I?" As she took a sniff of the room, she immediately was met with a foul stench. "Ugh, this place fucking reeks."
"You're awake," Hiro replied to her. "Welcome."
Reiko immediately noticed as she sat up in what turned out to be a small bed that all of her clothes were gone. "What the fuck?! What did you two do to my clothes?!"
"You're concerned about your clothes?" Hiro then laughed, amused by her misplaced concerns. "That should be the least of your worries. Try using your Blood Demon Art on me."
"Fine," Reiko replied as she pointed her right hand at him. "Try thi-!" To her shock, threads did not emerge from her wrist. "Wait, what?! What the fuck did you do to me?!"
"That little poison we gave you prevents you from using your Blood Demon Art for about 24 hours," Hiro explained. "Even though we haven't restrained you, me and my brother are still powerful enough to stop you from running or resisting when you're awake."
"You bastard," Reiko yelled at him as she got up and tried to run, only to immediately be stopped by Hiro, who suddenly appeared in front of her and forced her onto the ground. "Agh, shit! How did you do that?!"
"My Blood Demon Art allows me to manipulate time around a limited area," Hiro explained to her. "I can stop time for a few seconds and move anywhere around me in that timeframe. Anyway, I'm surprised you're expressing concern about your clothes when we've already had so much fun with you."
"Fun?" Reiko realized immediately what he meant. "Fun?! You think forcing yourself on someone else is fun?!"
"Enough talk out of you," Hiro replied as he quickly got on top of her. "Come on, let me see how far I can go while you're awake. Me and my brother went at it a few times with you while you were asleep."
For the next half-hour, the room and the surrounding area was filled with nothing but screams of pain and sorrow from Reiko. Ichiro joined in as well halfway through, and her pain only increased as he did. These two demons… No, these two monsters, even lower than demons who sided with Muzan… They had violated her like they had done to so many other women before. Her being a demon meant that she could recover quickly from injuries inflicted on her, which only prolonged her suffering at the hands of these two predators. Most people, even perhaps most demons, would be horrified and disgusted by what they did to her and the other victims they raped and/or murdered.
But Hiro and Ichiro, and even Muzan by extension, were not most people or most demons.
...
As Muichiro and Mukago, who had since caught up with Rinji, Shiro, and Vijay, approached, they could still hear her screams. Rinji could barely hold in his anger and fear for his sister. He thought to himself, "What are they doing to Reiko-oneesan?! Those monsters are going to pay when we get their hands on them!"
"These two raped and murdered women and girls who worked in the sex trade like I once did," Mukago thought to herself. "And that alone makes them my enemy. I will not rest until they are slayed!"
As the five of them approached the room, they suddenly saw Hiro appear before them and fire off a shotgun in their direction, forcing them all to take cover as Shiro was hit. "Agh! Fuck!" Muichiro pulled his own revolver out and fired several shots in Hiro's direction before dragging an injured Shiro over to cover. He had been hit by many pellets from the shotgun blast. "Fuck, he got me…"
"I know," Muichiro replied as Mukago took aim and returned fire at Hiro, who was then joined by Ichiro, who was armed with a revolver of his own. As she quickly ducked down to avoid being hit, Muichiro told Shiro, "You're gonna be okay, got it?" He then ripped off part of Shiro's uniform and tried to apply pressure to the wound the pellets made in his shoulder to stop the bleeding. "Fucking Christ…"
"I'm right here," Hiro then yelled as he appeared in front of Muichiro, Mukago, and Shiro with the shotgun, quickly taking aim. Muichiro fired three shots directly into him, which caused him to recoil back and fall to the ground in pain. "Damn it! Agh, shit!"
As Hiro's wounds healed, Vijay ran over, barely dodging a bullet from Ichiro and asking Shiro in English, "Do you want me to take you?"
"Take me to the medical bay," he instructed him as Vijay picked him up and carried him on his shoulders, his blood spilling on his clothes. "Hurry!" He then told Muichiro and Mukago in Japanese, "He's taking me to the medical bay! We already told some soldiers on the ship about what's going on! They should be down here soon for help!"
Then, the help that Shiro mentioned arrived. Two British soldiers aimed their rifles at Hiro as Vijay ran past them with Shiro and ordered in English, "Stop right there!"
Hiro and Ichiro fired at them, causing them to return fire as several more soldiers appeared. As Muichiro quickly reloaded his revolver with a speed loader, Mukago expended the last of her bullets. Muichiro exclaimed, "I hope they know their bullets won't work on them unless they're poisoned!"
Then, a soldier approached them and asked in Japanese with a noticeable Scottish accent, "Are you two alright?"
"Yeah," Mukago replied. "Do you speak Japanese?"
"Yeah," he replied. "You're that woman that Indian man referred to, right? We should get you out of here."
"I'll stay right here," Mukago corrected him. "I'll be fine. I'm a demon, after all." Suddenly, she saw a pile of sand that seemed to move on its own wrap around the soldier. "What the fuck?! Get away!"
"Shit," replied the soldier as he jumped out of the sand and on top of the metal container Mukago and Muichiro were using for cover just as Ichiro appeared from within the sand as it formed into a humanoid shape. "Holy shit! Demons can do that?!"
Muichiro quickly tried to decapitate Ichiro with a blow from his sword, but he quickly turned into sand once more and retreated from him, quickly reforming nearby. "Hah! You almost got me! My brother may be limited with how many times he can use his Time Stop ability, but I'm not limited at all with my Moving Sand ability!" This fight would prove to be one of the most challenging the young Mist Pillar had ever faced in his relatively short time as a demon slayer of three years, and would put both his training and Mukago's training to the test.
Meanwhile, Reiko used the fight as an opportunity to escape, quickly running out of the room after having found her clothes and quickly getting dressed. As she ran in the opposite direction, she cried, tears streaming down her face as the pain of the attack truly hit her. Not the physical pain, but the mental pain, the anguish of being violated. She was angry at her captors, the world for treating her like this, and at herself for seemingly being stupid enough to allow this to happen. As she ran, she was quickly intercepted by two soldiers who raised their rifles. "Stop right there!"
Reiko quickly threw her hands up and stopped. She told them in broken English, "I… I am garbage. I violate… Violate, I am."
"Shit," said one of the soldiers in an Irish accent, quickly realizing what she was trying to say. "Did those two men rape you?"
"Yes," she confirmed with a tearful nod. "Rape, yes."
The soldier shook his head. "That's bloody sick. This whole thing is so wrong." He told the other soldier with him, "She may be some demon thing, but I can't stop thinking of me own sister back home, lad."
"I don't blame ye," replied the other soldier, also an Irishman serving in the British Army. "Let's get her some help."
"No sun," Reiko quickly told them, not knowing what time it was. "No day, no sun!"
"Right," replied one of the soldiers, remembering that Vijay had told them that the two Spider Siblings could not go out into the sunlight. "O'Malley, we gotta make sure this lass doesn't go out in the sunlight, or she'll die."
"On it," said the other soldier. "Don't worry, young lass, we'll take care of ya. We'll make sure those two bad men don't hurt ya anymore."
Reiko then went with the soldiers to the medical bay on the ship. She was relieved to be away from the brothers, but still shaken by what she had been put through. She had survived, but now had to deal with the aftermath of going through such a horrific act. She thought to herself, "I did nothing to deserve what happened to me! Why did they have to choose me of all people?! I… I don't know if I can recover from this. God, please, give me peace of mind, for right now, I have none."
Meanwhile, Rinji, who still was firing at the brothers from behind a different metal container with a rifle Vijay had given to him, yelled at the brothers, "This is for raping my sister, assholes!" He then emptied the last of his clip at them and retreated for cover, quickly pulling out his last clip and loading it into the rifle, thinking to himself, "Those monsters will pay if it's the last thing I do!"
