A/N: Crossposted fic from my AO3 account of the same name, here comes a mega self-indulgent fic where I toss two teens with a random superpower into the Demon Slayer world! Why? Because I can, that's why :)

If anyone cares, I've answered any questions readers may have regarding the extremely odd premise of this fic here, but if I can sum it up, it all boils down to: I felt like it, therefore I make it. Quick word of warning, if you hate self-insert fics or stories with nonsensical premises, then I suggest clicking back because this fic is both of those things. But if you like it, well, just go into this with low expectations and don't think too hard about anything, because I think that's the best way to read this.

Now without further ado, let's get onto the fic!

[Micheal]

"Miiiike! Micheal!"

The obnoxiously loud call made the sixteen-year-old boy stop in his tracks, school backpack swinging from his shoulder. He didn't need to look over his shoulder to see the girl barreling her way towards him, but he did it anyway to shoot an exasperated look at her. "Jess, you couldn't have waited until you reached me to call out?" he asked.

"Tried that once, but you didn't like it," Jess said offhandedly as she skidded to a halt beside him. Both began walking side-by-side down the sidewalk as they chatted animatedly (or, to the untrained ear, argued). "You asked for a warning 'next time.'"

"That's because you scared thirty years off of me when you did it!"

"It was funny. I liked the face you made," Jess said, with no sign of teasing or mockery. Just full sincerity.

Mike huffed, but found that he couldn't stay mad any longer. Besides, it wasn't like she decided to approach him out of nowhere; he was the one that asked for her attention for this very afternoon. "So," he began, clapping his hands together, "you remember me asking you to meet at my house today, correct?"

"Mm. You said it was important." She raised an eyebrow at the last word. "It better be. I wanted to go to the beach for the afternoon and play around with a dolphin body or something. You know, with last day of school and all. Had to get away from the house too, or else Ma'll get all in my face and—"

"Right, right. So! That important thing is," As he spoke, Mike reached into his bag and very slowly, very delicately pulled out a rather thin book. With barely contained excitement, he presented it in its full glory to her, "this."

"..."

Mike stared at her with twinkling eyes.

"... Your comics?" she asked, her tone plummeting into a chilly tone. The book obscured most of her face, but he could still see her narrowed eyes just peeking over the edge. "You dragged me away from happy fun sun times for this?"

He let out a gasp. "Comics? Jess, this is a manga! How many times do I have to tell you this?" he groaned. "There's a difference, but that's not the point! I was wondering if you could, you know, come over to my place today and read it?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "So you called me here for a... Japanese comic?"

'... Well, that's close enough.' "It's not like the other ones, I swear! This is really cool!" He held up the manga. "It's got a bunch of cool demon slaying and fights, and, um... cute girls!" At this point, Jess perked up with sudden interest. "Yeah, lots and lots of really pretty girls! And there's good-looking guys too, and—"

She waved off the rest of his words, and leaned closer to get a better look at the manga. "Fine. At least I can hide out at your house for a little while. What's this even called?" She squinted. "Kim... Kiiiiime... no?"

"Kimetsu no Yaiba," Mike promptly corrected. "But you can call it Demon Slayer, if you want."

Jess stared at him, and he flushed. "I, uh, thought it might be easier for you," he muttered, plucking at the corner of his manga. He could feel her eyes burning on his head, and he stayed tense until...

"... Whatever." She turned away. "So, we going to your place?"

"Y-yes!" he said with relief.

"Okay then," she said, and looked down at him. "This had better be good, you hear?"

Despite the threatening undertone, Mike felt his lips curl up into a smile.

"Oh, trust me, you won't be disappointed."

~0~0~0~

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention: there's a show, too!"

"Oh, for fuck's—"

~0~0~0~

"So, how was it?"

"..."

Mike scooted around Jess to peek at her expression. She was staring blankly at the television screen before her, where the end credits of Episode 26 was playing. "Well?" he prompted.

"... Is there more?" she finally asked. For Mike, it was like Christmas had come early this year.

"Nope!" He didn't even bother to hide his delight — if she was actively looking for more, then that had to mean that she liked it — and it only grew when Jess' expectant look fell. "There's supposed to be a movie after this, but I don't know when it's coming out. But! I can take you to go see it if your mom's cool with it!"

"Mm."

"So, who do you like?"

Jess tilted her head back, eyes staring at the ceiling with a faraway look. "... Human or demon?"

"Either one's fine. Mine is Tanjiro," Mike offered. "He's a really sweet main character, don't you think?"

"I... guess so." Her head tilted to the left. "I like Inosuke better, though. Much more spirit. And my god, I want that flexibility. Think about the things we can do with that."

'Of course she would.'

"And for demons... Spider boy, too."

"Spider boy? Oh, the Lower Moon Five?" Mike asked, frowning in confusion. "Why him?"

"Cool powers. And cool dress," Jess said with a straight face. "Imagine swinging around with those threads of his. Like a demonic Spider-Man."

"Uh... That's not a dress. It's a yukata... or is it called a kimono?" After mulling over it for a while, he simply shrugged to himself when the answer didn't come to her. He could always look it up later, anyway. "It's not a dress either way. But I suppose he could make for a, uh, pretty useful morph. Once you get over the 'can't be in the sun' factor, that is. But isn't there anyone else you like?"

She shrugged.

"What about the Pillars?" Mike prompted. He had assumed that she would at least take some sort of liking to them, but judging from the face she makes at the term, it seemed like his assumption was dead wrong.

"I don't like 'em. They're really weird. And they stabbed Nekuzo," Jess said, huffing.

"It's Nezuko..."

"Whatever. Everyone else is alright, I guess?" Jess drew her knees to her chest, an unusually contemplative look crossing her face. "It kinda sucks that they're not actually creating fire or lightning, though..."

Mike hid a giggle behind his hand. "Yeah, a lot of new viewers tend to fall into that pitfall."

"Mm."

An awkward silence fell upon them.

Jess kept staring ahead, not saying a word. Deciding that he should perhaps take the initiative, Mike cleared his throat. "If you want to, I got the volumes of the rest of the series here with—"

Without warning, Jess shot up to her feet. "—Oh, do you need to go back home now?" he asked. This wasn't really unusual; if he could recall properly, her mother was pretty strict with curfew (overtly so, in his opinion, but he wasn't in a position to butt into another family's matters).

But she shook her head, and the single motion left him instantly clueless of her goals. As he watched on in confusion, she snatched up his hand and yanked him to his feet easily. "Whoa! Uh, what are you—"

"I did your thing," she interrupted, dragging him to the front door, "so we're gonna do mine now."

~0~0~0~

Apparently, that meant running off into the nearby woods to let their shapeshifting abilities run rampant.

"I, I don't know about this," Mike said nervously, as Jess stood off to the side doing stretching exercises. Both of them were in a casual mix of jeans and T-shirts, with him wearing a hoodie around his waist. "What if someone sees us?"

"Then don't talk."

His mouth snapped shut, expression morphing to become offended. Jess' head perked up at that moment, as if noticing the silence, and glanced back over her shoulder. "I mean, nobody really comes here. And... you're always telling me to quiet down about our powers. I thought you would appreciate the reminder." Again, there was no sign of insincerity. She was talking so blandly and boldly that, for a moment, Mike wondered if this was just a really convincing act she was putting up.

... Nah. Jess wasn't that clever.

"You're right," he conceded. "But still, I'd rather it be for a little while only."

"Sure."

Jess bent her knees, and remained that way for several seconds before looking back in confusion. "You're not coming?"

"Huh? Why would I—"

"Because it's more fun with more people. C'mon," Jess said immediately, extending one hand. Mike hesitated, the thought of declining the invitation crossing his mind, but the look in Jess' eyes... They told him that she was not about to take that lying down. So, it was with a sigh that he accepted the appendage that dragged him forward once more.

His eyes flitted back and forth as he mentally laid out the numerous possibilities of taking this risk. Meanwhile, she was already starting the shapeshifting process. 'Okay, okay... it's fine. It's fine! As long as we keep quiet, don't do anything nonanimal-like, and hide our stuff, we'll be hunky-dory!' He hurriedly shoved the backpacks they had carried there into a clump of bushes, throwing loose leaves and branches until they were sufficiently covered. "There!" he muttered in satisfaction.

Jess looked over in his direction, face already peppered with brown-and-white feathers. "What the heck is the holdup? Hurry up before—!" The rest of her sentence was cut off the moment her mouth twisted into a wickedly curved beak, causing her previously coherent words to devolve into unintelligible garble, but he felt like he could still guess it. He motioned for her to calm down, and the screeching quietened.

"I know, I know. But if we're going to go out together, the least we could do is to take some precautions," he said in his best reasoning voice. "Look away, will you?"

Jess, now fully in her hawk form ('A ferruginous hawk, to be exact,' he thought in silent admiration), gave him a single caw and fluttered off to the nearest branch, tail feathers facing him. With privacy given to him, Mike quickly stripped down to his gym clothes and began the shapeshifting process.

It was a curious power, now that he thought about it. It wasn't painful, but it could definitely induce nausea in a person that wasn't used to it. He could feel his bones hollowing out, his arms contorting and shrinking as feathers sprouted everywhere. His bare feet was squashed, skin turning progressively scaly as his toes became fearsome talons. It'd suck for anyone who'd try to snatch up our belongings, wouldn't it? he asked, fluttering up to where Hawk Jessica was sitting.

Yeah, 'cause we'll claw out their jugulars if they do!

Yeah, that... that was the implication. Mike sighed. Well, come on then. Time is ticking, so let's make use of it while we can.

That was all Jess needed to hear, apparently. With a mental whoop, her hawk form catapulted off their sitting branch and flew away, the only evidence of her presence being the brown blur that flitted between trees occasionally. The sight, despite his earlier apprehension, made his bird half flutter with anticipation, and with a single hop, he dived off the branch and zipped off after her.

Exhilaration. Adrenaline. Fear. All of those and more were coursing through his veins as he allowed the hawk mind to steer the body for them. It was rather like riding a roller-coaster through the air, except with someone driving it like a complete maniac, and you know what? He loved i—

Well, no, that was a little inaccurate. Jess loved it. He treated it like a dangerous sport to dip his toes into once in a while.

Minutes turned to hours as they dove in and out of the foliage like ducks in water, sometimes chasing each other in a playful game of tag. Eventually, every bit of Mike's anxiety melted away as he crowed out his elation, the wind ruffling his feathers ever so pleasantly. Any human thoughts, worries or desires were lost to the scenery left in their wake...

'Oh?'

Mike nearly rammed into a tree when a voice suddenly intruded, and it was only thanks to a hard, last-minute bank to the right that he didn't break into two. Jess! How many times have I told you not to scare me like that!

Like what?

Don't play dumb with me! he said angrily. You thought-spoke to me out of the blue again!

'Two humans...'

See?!

The hawk in front of him slowed its flight, fluttering back onto a branch. Dude? I didn't say anything.

You... didn't? Mike tensed, and started to slow to a stop. Then who—?

The mysterious voice cackled. 'You'll do.'

Then his vision was plunged into blackness.

~0~0~0~

"... ey... Hey... ake up! Wake up!"

Mike jolted awake with a gasp.

Jess was kneeling next to him with a bemused expression, one hand poised in the air as if she was about to hit him. Wait, why did his cheek sting so much?

"Did you... hit me?" he said slowly.

Jess rolled her eyes. "Duh. You weren't waking up and you were stuck in the middle of turning back, what else was I supposed to do?" She gestured at his body, which was stuck in an ungodly combination of feathers, talons and flesh. Uttering a rare swear, Mike scrambled to his feet as he pulled back in the various hawk parts. She snorted. "Dude, calm down. 'S not like anyone's here to see you."

"But we can't be careless about it!" he said insistingly, quickly checking over every single part of him. There wasn't a feather in sight, thank goodness. He aimed a glare at Jess. "What if someone sees us?"

She cocked an eyebrow upwards. "Yeeeaaah, about that. I want to ask you something."

"O...kay?"

"Alright, so, where was the last place you remember being?"

"Erm... I'm pretty sure it was the nearby woods."

"Cool. Do you remember that woods being in Japan?"

... What the heck? "What kind of question is that?" Mike asked, giggling nervously. "I know you like to joke around, but uh, this isn't really the time for that."

"I'm not."

"Huh?"

She jerked her head to her right. "You might want to see where we are right now."

An uneasy feeling began creeping up his back. He didn't know what to expect now; from her very confused and confusing hints, he thought that maybe they had landed themselves far from any signs of civilisation (again), or maybe even on the other side of the world or something outlandish like that.

It was worse.

From the looks of it, they were in a whole other time period.

He was standing near the edge of a cliff, with only a bunch of trees behind them. Their belongings were nowhere to be seen, save for the clothes on their backs. From their vantage point, he had a bird's eye view (not a literal one, unfortunately) over what looked like tightly-pack groups of old-fashioned wooden buildings. A village? They reminded him of the old Japanese homes his family had toured in years and years ago...

"See anyone?" Jess asked. Mike could only shake his head, though. With the distance between them and the village, he could barely make out the houses, never mind the people living in them. "Yeah, makes sense. I had to go hawk morph to scout, and nothing still made sense. I was hoping you'd know what's going on."

"I..." If she didn't know anything even after a full scout, then how the heck would he?!

At that moment, Jess broke out into a huge grin like she had read his thoughts. "Y'know I'm the stupid one of us, dude. C'mon, lay the theories on me," she said, dropping to squat on the ground. "What happened?"

"Hrm..."

Mike frowned in thought as he sat next to Jess. "I think... Let's go back to what we do remember. We were in the woods near our neighbourhood, in morph and flying, yeah?"

Jess nodded.

"Then..." It hit him, and he snapped his fingers. "That's it! Hey, Jess, do you remember hearing a voice before coming here?"

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "Uuuh... Yeah, I heard you, I think."

"No, no, no, I meant a voice in your head," Mike clarified, tapping the side of his head.

"... Yeah, I heard you, I think."

"No, that's not—!" A frustrated groan cut off the rest of his words as Mike facepalmed. "Okay, this isn't going anywhere, so let's just go."

"Go where?" she asked with a bemused stare as Mike scrambled to his feet.

"I don't know yet, but we can't sit around twiddling our thumbs," he said. Holding out a hand, it took several seconds before she accepted it reluctantly, and after pulling her up to her feet, he pointed at the scenery below. "First thing we can do is look around and see what's going on. Sorry, but sneaking around as animals won't be enough."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to turn into a rat again," Jess accused.

"That, too."

"Tch. Fine," she said. "But promise me that we'll go back to flying soon?"

"Soon, after we find out just what the heck happened to us."

And that was their plan. Armed with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they started their trek down the gigantic cliff side. Hopefully, whatever they found down there would give them answers...

~0~0~0~

"Holy shit, that place is huge!"

Mike cringed for the umpteenth time that day. Doing his best to ignore the dirty looks thrown their way, he desperately tried to wave for Jess to quiet down, but she was either oblivious or just didn't care. "Holy shit, Mike! Look! That guy's selling weapons!" she said excitedly, doing her damnest to drag him over to a man with a blacksmith apron attending to a forge. "Look, look!"

"Jess, not so loud!" he hissed. It took all of his strength and then some to slow her down, heels digging into the soft ground. "Those aren't weapons, they're probably kitchen knives and stuff, and quit. Running. Everywhere!"

The only reason she was acting like this had to be because their neighbourhood was extremely boring in comparison. That was the only thing Mike could think of as he forcibly steered her forward and away from the staring locals. So many new sights, smells and sounds were present in this village; if he was being honest, it was probably partially his fault that he had dragged Jess to this place without telling her anything about his plan (he had forgotten).

Speaking of Jess, she was still sulking about being prematurely separated from her new object of interest. "I just wanted a quick peek..." she muttered.

"That was more than a peek!" he said, rubbing his temples. "Come on, let's just... Follow my lead, okay? I'll find someone to talk to that you haven't scared off already, and you can take a look around when I'm asking the questions."

Jess was amiable to that, so they were off again, this time with Mike taking the lead as she closely followed him. He was glad, not only for the peace and quiet, but also for the opportunity to properly drink in the sights.

This village was unlike anything in their own neighbourhood, much less country. Heck, he didn't even think that the version of Japan he'd visited was as rural as this one. Instead of the monumental skyscrapers with their gleaming windows and office workers streaming in and out like ants in a colony, this place had very traditional Japanese houses, as well as various shops. Most were easily identifiable, with the blacksmith and marketplace and pottery shop, but there was one or two that had strange items he'd never seen before. A part of him itched to get a closer look, but that part also knew that he'd be a hypocrite for it. 'Maybe another time,' he promised himself.

The folks here were also an interesting sight, if only for what seemed to be the common attire here. Kimonos, yukatas... There were some shirts-and-pants wearers around too, but for the most part, all of them had a Japanese quality to it. It certainly made them stand out, with their hoodies and scuffed sneakers.

"Oi, Mike, when d'you think we can eat? Or sleep?" Jess piped up. "I'm starving over here." As if to punctuate her point, her stomach growled at that moment.

"Oh, sh... That's right, I completely forgot!" If he could slap himself right then, he would, but he just settled for giving their surroundings a quick once-over before turning to Jess. "Okay, um, quick change of plans. We look for information, and then we'll go look for a place to stay. Does that sound good?"

He received a shrug as a response, which he supposed was good enough for now. Tightening his grip on her hand, he began hitting up various stores and houses, asking them a multitude of questions. There was some variation, but the responses they received all boiled down to these:

"Are you both foreigners? Your clothing has that western style to it..." an old man in what seemed to be a pottery shop muttered, his hands caked in clay. Mike was quick to hit the exit door to that and many more conversations of the same nature.

"No problem, dearies! You are looking for the closest town from here, yes? It's far enough to require a few days of travel, but you'll be there in a flash if you can find a willing soul to transport you!" a stout, middle-aged woman said with a simpering smile ("Dearies?" Jess had muttered).

"Time?" a grizzled-looking man grunted, peering down at the duo with furrowed brows. Mike could only muster a weak smile in response, desperately trying to ignore how Jess was practically hovering over the man's fresh produce with a look of wonder. "Hmph. If you're talking about today's date, it's the third of January."

"What about the year?"

The grizzled man snorted. "Don't your parents teach you kids anything these days? It's 1919 now."

His jaw dropped, and Jess' head snapped around.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" the man demanded, snapping Mike out of his shock.

"N-nothing, sir! Jess, let's go," he hissed at her, who was still staring at the man with a mystified expression. When she didn't move an inch, he had to snatch up her hand and drag her out instead, barely able to yell out a "Thank you, sir!" over his shoulder as they left.

Amidst the sea of curious glances they were garnering, both of them half-walked, half-stumbled down the road with dazed expressions. Jess was acting compliant, and while it was normally something of a rare treat, he couldn't say that he liked seeing it this time. "I can't believe... We're actually—"

"Mike?"

"Uh, y-yes?" he asked, glancing back. Jess had a faraway look in her eyes.

"We're time travellers."

"... Oh. Um, maybe we should talk about this once we're out of town," he suggested gently. Thankfully, Jess didn't seem to take any offence to that as she grinned.

"Back to the forest? Fine by me. I like that place better anyways."

"Yeah, I think that's for the best. We kind of... stand out as it is," he said, gesturing at their clothing.

She made a face. "That's your reasoning? Then why don't we just go hawk m— Mmph!"

"Ssh, not so loud!" Mike hissed for the second time that day, his hand slapping over her mouth. She was able to shake it off in an instant, but took the hint and stayed quiet (not without a glower, though). "We can't let anyone know about our you-know-what."

"I'm not, I'm just saying that—"

"Later. We'll talk about this later," he said in the firmest voice possible. Jess opened her mouth again, but whatever she was about to say faltered as soon as she saw his face.

"Tch... Fine."

"Thanks, Jess, now let's get out of here."

'Everything's fine, Mike! We have a plan now, and we just need to think things through carefully,' he assured himself as he pulled Jess along, tracing back the route that they had taken from the mountainous area. 'My parents have to be looking for me now, and Jess' mom always freaks out if she's not home when she's supposed to. They'll find us soon.'

And yet, as the sun blazed down on their backs the further they climbed up the mountain, he had a niggling feeling that something about this wasn't right...

~0~0~0~

By the time the rocky ground beneath their feet turned into compact dirt, Jess spoke up. "Hey, it's getting pretty dark."

"What?" His head jerked up, and sure enough, the previously golden rays of afternoon sunlight was now turning into a vivid orange-yellow shade, blinking through the canopy above them like a nauseating disco ball. His eyes widened. "Uh-oh. Come on, let's hurry it up."

"Gotcha."

Jess then quadrupled in speed, nearly pulling his arm off and actually pulling him off the ground. He just barely managed to catch himself. "Whoa, hey, slow down! We still need to find someplace to sleep for the night!"

To his surprise, she nodded instead of arguing. "I know. Look," she said, pointing at a space between a cluster of trees. "Space."

"Oh, nice catch!" he said as he squinted in the same direction. Her lips twitched into a smug smile. "It's a little too open for my tastes, but it's not like we have any other options, so... shall we?"

Jess nodded, and he led her forward as they slowly manoeuvred their way around the prickly bushes, shaking off the overgrown roots that got caught on their pants leg. 'Ow... Jeez, these clothes are really not meant for outdoor wear. How can Jess stand this?' he thought, wincing as a particularly pointy root dug into his shin.

"Oi. Stop dancing and get over here," Jess called out, somehow already at the clearing. Her bare shins were covered in similar scrapes and scratches, but it might as well not exist for her.

Mike grumbled, shaking off one last piece of root before jogging over to join her on the ground. "I don't get it."

"Yeah, how can someone suck so much at walking through a couple of trees?"

"Not that..." Mike groaned, swatting away her snickers. "I'm talking about everything else! How did we travel back in time? How are we in Japan? And in tangent to that, how are we understanding everyone?"

All of that and more were crossing his mind at the speed of lightning, but he had barely any success with the answers to them. At the very least, he had been hoping Jess would offer a piece of her... unique perspective, but she only shook her head. "Maybe someone tried to kidnap us and left us in Japan," she suggested.

"Yeah, but... why?"

She shrugged.

That was how they spent the next hour or so, while the sun sank into the horizon behind them; with Mike tossing out every theory possible and Jess striking them down with a single shrug of her shoulders. As more and more failed theories laid scattered at their feeling, something akin to bleakness inched further and further into his heart until it truly had him in its grasp.

They were far from home.

They did not know how to get back home.

They had no way of contacting their families and loved ones.

"And 'm hungry."

"Yes, I know," he sighed. "No need to rub it in."

She huffed at him. "Fine. Then if you don't mind, I'll go eat something." With that curt declaration, she pushed herself to her feet. "Wonder if there's any mice here..."

"There should be some around here, but don't take too long, okay?"

"I know!" she snapped.

He didn't back down. "Still, be careful, okay?"

She glared at him in the middle of bending her knees, preparing for take-off. "Don't tell me things I already know, so back off—"

"What are you two doing here this late?!"

Mike nearly jumped out of his skin, while Jess whirled around with his fists raised. Not like that was going to do anything, he realised as he turned around himself.

Whoever this man was, Mike was pretty sure he was a mountain posing as a man. He was easily a head taller than Jess (who was already taller than Mike), and the old-fashioned clothing he was wearing did nothing to hide his muscled arms. In his hands was an axe with a blade that could easily cover his own head (and probably smash it in). However, that wasn't the scariest aspect; no, that honour went to the absolutely heavy scowl marring his features, intimidating despite his greying hairs, like they had done something to offend him and they didn't know it. The sight made him gulp.

Not like this deterred Jess in any way. "Who the hell are you?" she snapped, raising her fists higher.

His eyes bugged out in horror, and he scrambled to his feet to plant himself between her and the stranger before a fight could break out. "Hey, hey, hey! There's no need to, to fight, okay? Jess, please don't tick off the dude that can easily lop our heads off," he quietly begged. To the man, he quickly bowed as words tumbled out of his mouth like a waterfall. "I am so, so sorry about my friend here! She's just, uh, jumpy— We're both pretty jumpy, actually, because of all the, uh, wild animals and b-bandits, and we just weren't expecting anyone to come by! But, um, we're really sorry if this is a restricted area of some sort, we'll leave right away—"

"What?!" Jess blurted out, and her fists were suddenly turned to him. "There's no way this is a restricted area, you goddamn moron!"

"W-wait, what are you mad at me for?"

"You—!"

"Both of you, shut it!"

That made their mouths snap shut in an instant, and the man sighed. "That's better. You haven't answered my question yet: what are you doing here? Don't you know how dangerous it is to frolic about at this time?"

"Oh. Oh, n-no, we weren't doing that at all! We were just trying to find a place to sleep..."

The way the man kept palming his huge, sharp axe made his heart skip a beat every time, and he quietly motioned for Jess to join him.

She caught the hint and was by his side in a flash, an arm circling around his shoulder. "Our turn. Who are you?" she snapped.

"The person that's about to save your hides," the man shot back, unimpressed. "Have you not heard of the rumours?"

"Ru...mours...?" Mike gave Jess a baffled expression, who shot back a "What do you want me to do?!" look. "Um, what are you talking about, sir?"

"Oh my god."

Those three words carried such a note of defeat that Mike felt compelled to apologise, for some reason. The man ran a hand down his face, muttered something under his breath, then finally looked up at them with a considerably gentler gaze. "It will take too long to explain now, so if you would follow me, I can take you to somewhere safe first."

"And why should we trust you?" Mike said, his voice shaking.

"It is either that, or you risk your lives staying out in the open like this." The man started to turn, but then paused as if he had realised something. "... If it makes you feel any better, my name is Tobe Takahiro."

"T... Tobe Taka...hiro?" Well, at least they had a confirmation that they were in Japan.

"That's right. Now are you coming or not?"

"Mike, he's weird! We can't go with him!" Jess hissed in his ear. The arm around him was slowly tightening into a vice grip. "We can just camp out here! We've done it tons before, we can do it again."

Normally, he'd agree with her. "Stranger Danger" was a thing, after all. But... the way this Takahiro guy made it sound, it was like that there was something really bad prowling around here... A vague sense of déjà vu was chewing away at the edge of his conscience, but for the life of him, he could not figure out why.

To buy himself some time, he said aloud, "Jess, maybe we should go with him first. You know, since we don't really know anything about this place?"

"But..." Any protest Jess had against the idea died when her stomach growled, and she huffed. "Fine. But I'm blaming you if we end up getting killed in a secret basement."

"I don't expect anything less," he said. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the man. "Thank you for your offer, Mr...?"

Takahiro blinked, and his expression became something more... reassuring, in a way. "Heh, you two really are foreigners, aren't you? Your clothes and way of talking..." He shook his head. "Tobe-san is just fine."

Takahiro gestures for them to follow before disappearing into the greenery beyond. Mike turned to Jess for some reassurance, but she wasn't there— the tip of her sneaker was already vanishing from view, and he suppressed a groan. 'This is going to hurt...'

~0~0~0~

It wasn't long before they finally re-emerged from the trees, Jess casually strolling along while Mike limped and hissed in pain behind her. Somehow, Takahiro was farther along than the both of them, and even had the energy to bark at them to pick up the pace! Honestly...

"Mm. Nice smell."

Jess piping up with that random observation managed to break the monotonous haze that had fallen upon Mike, and he wearily lifted his gaze. "What?" he mumbled.

"It smells like a flower." Jess inhaled deeply, and uttered a tiny "Ooh". "It smells so good. So much better than the stupid essential oils Ma gets."

"Do you like it?" Takahiro asked with a proud smile. "It's wisteria incense."

Mike frowned.

"Incense?" Jess echoed. "You religious?"

Takahiro snorted. "A few little incense sticks doesn't make a man religious, little miss."

"Eh, t'was just a guess," she said with a shrug, sticking out an arm for Mike to steady himself without breaking her stride. He accepted gratefully. "But then what are they for?"

"To put it simply, it wards off bad spirits."

His eyes widened.

"Bad spirits. Pfft. What, ghosts?"

A sharp look was shot her way, causing her to stifle her snickers. "Obviously you haven't heard of the rumours floating about," he said.

"Yeah, you said that just now too. What rumours?"

Mike swore he could hear a pin drop in the sudden silence that had fallen upon them. Takahiro answered, and the answer left Mike reeling back from the shock.

"Rumours that man-eating demons prowl the mountainside."

Mike was suddenly caught in a coughing fit that forced him to stop in his tracks. Jess stopped next to him, fist already thumping his back furiously. "Is there something wrong, boy?" Takahiro asked.

Words beyond him at the moment, Mike could only shake his head.

"I think he just needs water. He's been running under the sun a lot," Jess said swiftly as she rubbed circles on his back, carefully leading him forward.

"Very well. Hurry and bring him inside, and I will have tea prepared for him." Takahiro was pointing at a house— at least, he thought it was a house. Mike couldn't tell; through the film of tears blurring his vision, he could only see a dirt brown structure with two tiny pots sitting in front, where the wisteria smell was the strongest.

Still, he did his best to speak, even if gasps and chokes interject at irregular intervals. "I-I— Demo— You—!"

"Don't talk," Takahiro ordered. "You, help your friend in."

"W-wait..."

Jess flicked his forehead before he could say more — her own way of shutting him up — and led him through a beaten door. Seeing that neither were going to let him go, he instead gave up and decided to take a look around the house they'd just entered.

The house was... Mike wouldn't say "dilapidated". Because that would be very rude. He couldn't help but think it, though. The walls were showing obvious signs of wear and tear, although if it was from age or otherwise, he couldn't tell. The furniture had clearly seen better days, too. Chipped cups filled with steaming tea were set on a rickety-looking table, where Takahiro was sitting. His axe was thankfully nowhere to be seen.

Jess plopped down at the table immediately, and Mike slowly followed suit. "Th-thank you for the tea, sir," he wheezed, shakily raising the cup to his lips. The liquid was scalding, but otherwise, it was pretty refreshing.

"Are you feeling better now?" Takahiro asked gruffly. Mike nodded, and he crossed his arms. "Good, that means we can get on with introductions, eh?"

"Erm, yes! Ah... My name is Micheal Jones," he said, pointing at himself. "She's Jessica Maxwell. We're... Ahaha, I suppose it's kind of obvious, but we're not from around here."

"Obviously," Takahiro snorted. "No sane person from the village would have so brazenly strolled through the forest at nighttime. But still, why didn't you stay at the village? I'm sure someone there would have given you shelter."

"Ah..."

His mind stuttered to a halt as it scrambled to come up with an answer that wasn't "Oh, we hopped dimensions!", but nothing else came to mind. Out of desperation, he glanced over at Jess to mouth for help, and she raised an eyebrow at him before answering herself. "We don't know anyone there. We don't even know how we got here," she said blandly. Mike nearly choked on his tea— that wasn't what he wanted her to say!

"You don't even know how you got here?" Takahiro, understandably, sounded baffled. "I... don't quite understand. Can you elaborate?"

"Um! Wh-what she means is..." After some deliberation, Mike took a deep breath and continued. "We woke up in the forest a few hours ago, and... we don't remember how we got here. Everything's a blur."

"Do you at least remember where your home is?"

"America," Mike promptly answered. He promptly regretted it too, when Takahiro's confusion seemed to only grow.

"So far away...?"

A minute of nothing but tense silence passed, as Mike waited for the response that might or might not end with them getting kicked out of here. Jess seemed completely nonplussed, but her barely narrowed eyes starting straight down at the tea cup gave away her anxiety.

Then Takahiro sighed. "This is obviously a rather large tale from the sound of it, so I won't push it for now. We can continue this line of discussion tomorrow."

Mike sighed with relief. Safe for now!

"Our turn," Jess said, glaring suspiciously at the man. "What was that about demons just now?"

Not safe!

A low chuckle rumbled in his throat. "From the tone of your voice, it sounds like you do not believe me. Am I correct?"

"It's not that I don't believe. I just don't want to."

Beside her, Mike groaned into his tea; did she not realise how stupid that sounded?!

"... You are a very strange lady, Jessica-san," Takahiro snorted. After taking a sip from his own cup, he continued. "But I do not blame you. For a good portion of my time living here, I had also believed demons to be nothing but the products of rampant paranoia. I constantly ventured into the Aokigahara forest without any thought, until..."

The twinkle in his eyes disappeared.

"... I was attacked by a demon myself."

Both of them perked up at that. "Wait, really?" Mike questioned.

"Yes. By all rights, I should not have survived that encounter, but I was lucky to escape with nothing but a scar," he said, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a long, thin scar stretching from shoulder to chest. It was a stark white against his tan skin.

Mike winced in sympathy, while Jess whistled. "You fought him off?" she asked with the most enthusiasm she'd shown tonight.

"Barely. I couldn't kill it, but I was able to fend it off a little with my axe. Until someone else stumbled upon me and was able to help out." As Takahiro said that, his gaze flitted to the wispy smoke trails curling skywards. "He also made the suggestion of using wisteria incense. Claimed demons weren't very fond of the plant."

"I... I see. Oh wow," was all Mike could stupidly say. What else was he supposed to say to a story like that? "Is that thing dead?"

"Yes," Takahiro said, and Mike sighed with relief. "So there is nothing to worry about, as long as you do not stray far into the night."

"Yes, Tobe-san!"

He seemed satisfied with the answer, and set his cup down before climbing to his feet. Stay here while I prepare a spare room for you. It will be a bit of a squeeze, so I hope you do not mind."

"No, no, no, we don't mind at all!" Mike reassured, quickly waving off his concerns. "Thank you very much, Tobe-san!"

"... Thank you," Jess said quietly.

Takahiro nodded in acknowledgement and disappeared through another door, leaving the both of them alone. Mike snuck a glance at Jess. She wasn't looking his way, though. He cleared his throat. "Jess."

She made a loud gulp as her cup's contents vanished in an instant. She smacked her lips. "Mm, that's good. Better than the expensive crap Ma gets," she said absentmindedly.

"Jessica."

"What?" she snapped, setting the cup down so heavily that it rattled the table itself.

"Don't you see what's going on?" he hissed, scooting closer to Jess. She looked exasperated, but leaned in closer regardless. "Look, I couldn't say anything before there was just so much going on, but I think now is a good time to say this."

He took a deep breath.

"Jess, I think we're in the Demon Slayer world."

~0~0~0~

A/N: To those who've stayed 'till the end, what are your thoughts? If anyone wants me to continue, lemme know in the review section!

Until then though, have a good day!