Chapter 2: A Mill Girl's Homecoming

"There was something pushing us all along, causing us to step right into hell. For most of us, that something wasn't our own will. We were forced by others or by our environment..."

-Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan Ch97)

A young girl kept her head down as she trudged along a beaten path through a sea of rice paddies. Her steps were light and weak, covering little to no distance with each. She carried herself like a ghost, like a hollowed husk drained of all life.

The girl was running on fumes. She narrowed her eyes wearily at the dull, unremarkable dirt. A splitting headache continuously pounded at the back of her mind. It'd been days since she last had a decent night's sleep, or a full meal. She could hardly think straight, and so decided to forego all notion of conscious thought and ran on autopilot.

The girl made the conscious decision to switch off all unnecessary functions in her brain. She did away with all idle thought and useless complaints. She only needed to remain aware of the direction she was heading in and maintain the motor capacity to keep her feet moving in that direction, however slowly she may be.

The young girl didn't have the strength to walk any faster, but more importantly, she couldn't risk it. With every little step she took, the sandals on her feet creaked, their straps threatening to snap at the smallest excess of force.

And as bad as things already were, if she also lost her sandals on top of it all, then she would be forced to continue the rest of her journey barefoot. And then, the girl's journey home would truly become her death march.

The girl was on her last legs of strength. She reckoned she could only last another couple more hours of walking before she collapsed for the last time. Her legs ached continuously, pleading for mercy. A part of the girl's subconscious argued she could get a few more hours of walking if she stopped somewhere along the way to rest.

But the girl was afraid. If she stopped moving for even a moment, she wasn't confident she'd have the willpower to get back up.

Instead, the girl had the sinking feeling that if she even so much as closed her eyes to rest, then she would never open them again.

So, with no other viable option, the girl just kept on going, not daring to stop, however reluctantly, walking down the dirt road through the rice paddies.

The surroundings around the girl passed her by. But she didn't have the brain capacity to spare to care about such trivial details. She ignored the odd looks she received from the scant few farmers, the vibrant ears of rice, and the cloudy noon sky above. None of that registered on the girl's mind.

The only thing she did register was that her surroundings were increasingly becoming more and more familiar. She couldn't quite discern what it was. But something about the scenery around her felt nostalgic.

Her mind was much too muddled to know for sure, but just the vague idea that her final destination was near gave her hope.

With that feeble hope came a fraction of her fatigued ego. In the depths of the girl's subconscious, a fragmented train of thought bubbled to the surface.

Onui had left everything behind and risked her life to go back home.

She wondered if anyone in her village would be able to recognize her. It had been over three years since she'd left to work at a cotton mill in Osaka.

Onui had left her village an energetic young girl, eager to earn a living and contribute to her family's financial well-being.

Now, in her faded pink kimono, emaciated skin, and haggard face, Onui was like a walking corpse, a sharp contrast to the young vivacious girl who left Asagao Village so many years ago.

Life in the cotton mills was hell. The hours were long and the conditions inhumane. Onui had been promised the prospect of a livelihood and the honor of supporting her mother land's growing economy. But instead, Onui had been reduced to a mere cog in a heartless machine. She was degraded from a human to a tool to be used and abused in the name of corporate profit.

But Onui had voluntary entered this hell. She had accepted the invitation of the recruiter who had visited her village, Mr. Tomioka. He was a representative of the Tomioka Cotton Mills. The man had come to Asagao Village three years ago, looking for young girls to work in the factory he came from.

Mr. Tomioka had spoken grandiosely of the duty and honor of contributing to the development of the nation. But above all that, what Onui heard was an opportunity to help support her family.

Once, before the recent reforms, her family had been humble farmers working on their own small piece of land. Their fields weren't much, but they were theirs. But with the fall of the shogun and rise of the emperor, came new land reforms. New taxes were imposed on the small farmers across the land. Failure to pay these new taxes meant the state would seize the land.

At first, Onui's family had been able to pay the new taxes. But over time, the tax grew higher and higher. Until by the time Onui had reached twelve years of age, her family could no longer afford to pay the new tax.

Onui had seen countless examples of their neighbors in the village failing to pay the new taxes and losing their land as a result. The families of those who failed to pay the tax were forced into working as indentured farmers under the newly appointed local officials.

Onui's family was on the brink of following the same fate. Her father had sold off everything of value they could afford to sell, but it still wasn't enough.

So, when Mr. Tomioka had visited their village, Onui didn't think twice before volunteering.

Her parents had been against the idea. They knew that sending away their daughter to work in a distant land was akin to never seeing her again. Onui's grandfather was adamantly opposed to the idea and Onui's little brother Tasuke had begged her to stay in tears.

But in the face of growing despair, Onui had stubbornly chose to cling to hope. She threatened to just run away on her own and finally, her family relented.

Looking back, it was an incredibly brash and shortsighted thing to do. Onui didn't know if it would've been better to just stay as a family and suffer together than to leave home and endure hell alone.

But if given the option to choose between her own happiness or her family's, Onui would've made the same decision in a heartbeat.

Onui had staked everything to leave home and support her family. She suffered through grueling inhuman indignities all for the sake of her of loved ones.

She sustained her everyday torture through the sporadic letters from home. Onui was fortunate enough to be able to read and write. So, she was able to enjoy the rare privilege of receiving news from home.

The letters were the only thing holding Onui together. She kept them on her person at all times. She would reread them over and over in her spare time as a ritual to preserve her sanity.

The letters came every other month. Onui counted the days between each letter, so she had a rough idea of how long the interval would be before the next letter.

So, when months had passed without a new letter arriving, Onui had grown worried. She had the dreadful suspicion that something was wrong. She sent a few letters home, but still received no reply after a month had passed.

In the weeks that Onui was without new letters, she felt herself steadily descend into madness. Suddenly the full monotony of cruel labor wore on her soul.

So, when she heard rumors of a plague spreading across the rural countryside, Onui had lost her mind.

It wasn't rare for plagues to break out in urban centers like the big cities and congested factory living spaces. But it was strange for a plague to reach remote rural farmland.

Onui had inquired around wherever she could. And to her horror, she heard rumors of the plague spreading around the province where Asagao Village was. This new plague was said to be known for killing off huge chunks of the population it hit.

Just the notion that Onui's family might've been hit by such a deadly plague was enough to send her into a spiral depression. At first, she lived in denial, trying her best to go about her usual routine as normally as she could. She indulged herself in the selfish delusion that her family was fine, that the plague had somehow skipped over her family and the rumors she'd heard had simply been just that, rumors.

But a month ago, on one of the rare occasions when Onui had ventured out to the streets, she came across an official notice posted on a public bulletin board. The post warned against travel into places hit by the plague and listed among the many names of quarantined areas was none other than Onui's own hometown, Asagao Village.

Onui had felt herself go lightheaded as she read the cruel black and white words on the post. She could not believe it. She could not accept it. That the sole reason for her enduring of endless suffering had simply vanished off the face of the world.

Then and there, Onui began planning her homecoming. It was against the rules of her contract to leave her duties for any reason, but Onui didn't care. Her managers at the cotton mill might kill her to set an example against runaways, but Onui didn't care. She had to go home.

So, here she was, a month later. After risking everything to return home, Onui was on her last legs, breathless and exhausted.

The tired bones on her feet ached, demanding for rest, but she dared not indulge them. She would only stop when she finally saw her family's grave with her own two eyes.

Luckily, against all odds, Onui had just about reached her destination. Just the vague shape of the land and the way the dirt pattered under her feet reeked of nostalgia. She had arrived at the outer edge of Asagao Village.

Seeing that she had finally arrived, Onui switched back on the portion of her brain responsible for human interaction. She noticed the out of the place white banners tied to the posts nearby. There was also a length of rope covered with angry talismans barring the entrance to the village.

Onui blinked as she read the words on the talismans slowly.

Turn back!

Quarantined Area!

Unnecessary Persons Not Allowed!

Onui's heart dropped into an abyss. She felt herself go manic. There was a growling in her stomach, as her hunger churned with her despair. She reached out to the piece of rope, intent on simply walking under it. This wouldn't be the first rule she'd broken on her way home.

"What are you doing, young lady? Can't you read the signs?" came the cold and indifferent voice behind Onui.

She felt an ice cold hand grasp her outstretched arm. A tall thin man in white clothes stood beside Onui stopping her from lifting the rope. Onui blinked in a panic. Where had this man come from?

He was dressed in what appeared to be white baggy ropes and his face was covered with a white piece of cloth such that only his beady eyes peeked through it. Onui supposed it was some kind of uniform for workers monitoring the plagued areas.

"I'm sorry, young lady. But as the sign says, unnecessary people are prohibited from entry. This village was hit by a plague a month ago. The people inside might still be infectious. Please turn back," the man explained in a deadpan.

Onui's heart jumped out. "There are still people inside...!?"

"Yes, please turn back, Young Lady," the man insisted.

"But I used to-"

"Please turn back, Young Lady," he insisted again.

"Please! My family! I just want to see-"

"Please turn back, Young Lady," he insisted stubbornly again.

Onui swallowed back the words she was going to say. The dazed stare the man held unnerved her. She knew that look intimately. It was the same deadass face the workers in the factory wore after dying inside from the monotony of life.

"Urk!"

Onui cried out in pain as she felt the man's grip tighten around her wrist.

"Okay! I promise! I'll turn back. Just please, let go of me!" Onui winced as she struggled to wrench her wrist free from the man's vice grip.

It was a disconcerting experience. While the man in white garb continuously tightened his grip, his eyes remained in a daze, like he wasn't even aware of how much force he was irrationally exerting on a young girl's thin wrist.

"Urgh!"

Onui grunted as she finally broke her hand free from the man's hold. She stepped back immediately, eyeing the man warily.

But still there was not a flicker of emotion in the man's eyes. The rest of his face was covered by white cloth, but Onui suspected the man was as indifferent as his eyes led her to believe.

"Please turn back, young lady," he repeated robotically.

Onui didn't hear any life in the man's voice, but she could tell from his fixed stance that he would continue to stubbornly thwart any attempts on her part to enter the village.

She panted in place, frowning at the last obstacle in her way. If Onui pushed forward, she was certain she would lose in a test of strength or endurance. Any open acts of defiance with the local authorities would simply end with being detained and possibly shipped back to where she came from.

As Onui's hopes of making it home dwindled, her stomach growled pitifully. She felt her belly physically writhe in agony as the gastric juices inside her ate away at the walls of her stomach.

Onui satisfied the dazed sentry in white by turning her back to him and inching away. She fiddled inside the folds of her kimono and pulled out the last morsel of food she had on her person.

The acidic smell of old rice assailed her senses. Onui frowned at the pitiful clump of rice she had saved from a rice ball over a week ago. There was only about a finger's worth of rice left, but still, Onui couldn't finish it all in one bite.

She nibbled on a few grains of rice enough to cover her pinky finger. The drops of food slid down her throat, drenched in her own saliva. Onui had already run out of water to drink earlier in the morning.

She had been counting on arriving at the village in the afternoon today and begging for food and water from her family or an acquaintance. But if she couldn't get past the sentry, then that wasn't happening anymore.

Onui stated up to the heavens at a loss. She wondered if Buddha was laughing down at her misfortune. The sun was directly overhead at this time of day, but there was ample cloud cover to dim its bright and terrible light.

In the corner of her eye, Onui spotted a familiar sight. The tree-filled peaks of a mountain range rose to the sky. Onui blinked. She remembered that her village was built at the base of a mountain on one side.

The entrance Onui had tried passing through was the main entrance from the dirt road. But if Onui took a left from here and ventured up the mountain, she could enter the village from the side by climbing down the mountain at a deeper spot.

Onui still had a vague understanding of the mountain terrain. She had done a lot of exploring through its forests as a kid with Tasuke. She could navigate through it and sneak into the village if she had the strength to persevere through the terrain.

Onui lowered her head. She gazed at her feet. The sandals she wore would most likely break in the forest. She would have to make the trek barefoot with an empty stomach.

She closed her eyes. If she pushed everything she had into one last spurt, then she would probably reach the village by nightfall.

That was just how much of a detour going through the mountain was.

Onui clutched the worn out pouch she wore around her neck. The pouch was a farewell gift Onui had received from her grandfather before she left the village. She kept it on her person at all times like a protective talisman.

She squeezed the pouch and a faint aroma of dried wisteria flowers and incense filled her nostrils. Onui imagined the pained looks of resignation her family had worn when she had left.

She wanted to see them again. Even if it was for the last time, Onui wanted to see her family one more time.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered an apology to herself as she picked back up and walked to the mountain.

Onui wasn't sure who she was apologizing to. She just felt sorry for herself, for the part of her that was begging for the sweet rest of death. She would deny herself again for the sake of her loved ones.

Even if Onui's body was on the verge of falling apart, she made the cruel decision to keep moving. She couldn't let her story end here. She would have to suffer one more time.

"Please.. Don't give up..." she pleaded with herself.

She entered the forests, talking to herself. With no one else to believe in her, Onui herself had to believe.

I will definitely see my family. Definitely.

Onui finished the last crumb of rice she had left. Just as well, she had just climbed down the last step off the mountain trail. She was still in the thicket of trees before the village, but she was close now.

Foggy memories of Onui's last visit to this forest flickered in her mind. Blurry phantoms of younger versions of herself and Tasuke ran through the sea of trees, serving as her nostalgic guides through the forest.

Onui blinked hard repeatedly. It was already a struggle just to keep her eyes focused ahead. She had lost her sorry excuse for footwear halfway up the mountain and was already walking barefoot through the forest. The cold damp soil stuck uncomfortably to the soles of her feet.

She imagined she must have cut herself a few times by now. The rugged mountain terrain had rubbed against her bare skin, but luckily the wounds on her feet weren't that deep. She gritted her teeth and stubbornly pushed forward.

Luckily Onui's perseverance eventually paid off. Night had just fallen when Onui finally reached the outskirts of the village.

She crossed through the unguarded side gate of Asagao Village in absolute darkness.

It was strange. At this time of night, there should've been at least one house lit up by candlelight. But as Onui sneaked through the shadows of sleepy houses, she couldn't spot a single sign of light. None of the torches or lanterns were also lit, leaving the entire village in abject darkness.

It was a surreal predicament. With the absence of any light, Onui had to navigate through the village relying solely on her memories. Fortunately, as much as her time in the cotton mills had ruined her, Onui still knew by heart the way back to her house.

But as she quietly trudged along familiar streets, Onui's heart began to fill with dread. What did it mean for there to be utterly no light at this time of night? Were there no longer any villagers left alive here? But the man in white who had blocked her way had definitely said there were still survivors in the village.

But where was everyone? Why could Onui only see empty houses and deserted streets? There was an eerie silence creeping around the village Onui once called home. In spite of her exhausted state, she couldn't help but speed up her pace.

She felt her back tingle in discomfort. Onui looked over her shoulder. Her weary eyes darted left and right, but there was no one else in the village. She gulped anxiously and picked up the pace once more, practically running towards her house.

Onui turned one last corner and reached the end of the village where her family's house was. It was a humble cottage built right beside the farmland Onui's family owned.

Onui felt her spirits soar and then sink as she reached the door. There was no light in her house, just like the rest of the village. Onui banged on the door eagerly.

"Mother...! Father...!" she panted as tears edged the corner of her eyes. "Tasuke...! Grandpa...!"

But no one answered the door. Onui's face sunk as she considered the grim possibilities.

"No!" she rammed against the door furiously. Onui hardly weighed anything, but she didn't care. She didn't come all this way to stop at the door.

She repeatedly rammed her body against the door. Her shoulders ached with each contact. But luckily, the door had been old and was due to be replaced.

Onui's body spilled onto the floor of the house entryway as the door collapsed under her. She got back up in a snap and looked around. A shrill voice of despair escaped her lips.

"No...!"

The house was a simple one-room building. With just one glance Onui was able to search through it all. There was not a single living soul in her family's house. Worse, the entire place looked like it had been robbed.

Furniture was destroyed and scattered haphazardly on the floor. Chaotic slash marks and wild beastly gashes covered the room. Every nook and corner of house had been violated.

Onui stood up, her eyes wide in disbelief. She motionlessly gazed at the devastation of her home. Her heart broke over a thousand times as her mind spun uncontrollably.

"Where is everyone...?" she muttered blankly.

At a lost, her feet glided over the ruins of her home. She drank every grim detail in a daze. She stopped at the center of the room where a single object stood out of place from the rest of the mess.

A single katana stood planted in the floor. Its long dull blade shone weakly in the night. Flecks of dried blood covered the sword like rust.

Onui's mouth hung agape as she slowly meandered to the sword. With trembling hands, she picked it up. The blade dislodged from the floor with a swish and it rested in Onui's shaky palms.

Onui recognized the sword to be the one her grandfather kept hung up on the wall. She remembered how the old man used to proudly recollect how he received it as a memento from a dear friend.

Onui's grandfather loved to ramble about how it used to belong to a master swordsman. But to Onui's knowledge, the sword had always just been an unimpressive length of steel collecting dust on one of the walls of their house.

But Onui now had a new and terrible appreciation for the sword. It was a weapon, one that had clearly just been used. And if the dried blood and the raw destruction surrounding the sword were any indication, then whoever wielded the sword had fought in her family's home.

Onui's fingers tightened around the sword's hilt. Her lips twisted in a choked sob. She didn't understand.

Hadn't her village been hit by a plague? Then why were there no traces of any sick people around the village? Where had everyone gone? Why was her family's house attacked? Were the other houses just as empty and broken inside? Where was her family? Were they still alive?

Onui's head swelled with question after question. The ferric scent of dried blood in the room only drove her further down the edge. There was a faint delirious ache pounding at the back of her mind, but Onui was much too stressed to care.

Onui fell to her knees. Her eyes despondent. The heavy sword in her hands began to slip out of her grasp. She felt the ground beneath her feet crumble away as the very foundations of her world collapsed.

But just as Onui was about to close her eyes forever in despair, she heard a familiar noise behind her.

Crunch...! Crunch...! Crunch...!

Onui heard the distinct sound of a hoe striking dirt. She could recognize that sound anywhere. Growing up in the village, she often heard it when her parents worked on the field behind their house.

Now, in the middle of the night, Onui heard that same familiar sound coming from the same place. Behind her, at the small field her family owned, someone was striking the ground with a hoe.

"Who...!?" Onui's voice shook with renewed vigor. She felt as if though a single ray of light had shone down at her as she sunk into an abyss.

Still clutching her grandfather's old sword, Onui ran out of the house. Her bare feet flared with pain, but she ran faster in spite of it. Her heart raced like crazy when she spotted a dark silhouette in the middle of her family's field.

It was too dark to tell who it was, but something desperate inside Onui convinced her it was a member of her family. So, the corner of her mouth hooked upwards as she approached the busy figure working in the dark.

If Onui had been of sound mind, she might've noticed the incongruity. Why would anyone be out working the field in the middle of the night? Any sane person would work in the day and spend the night at rest. But such rational trains of thought escaped Onui who was already severely agitated and exhausted.

Onui had to stop a few meters away from the figure to catch her breath. She dropped her grandfather's sword on the ground and rested her hands on her thighs, panting heavily.

With her head lowered to catch her breath, Onui noticed the sword beside her. She blinked in confusion. In her rush, she must've brought it long without realizing it. It was no wonder she was so out of breath then.

"W-who...?" Onui panted weakly. She wiped the sweat out of her eyes to face the person before her.

Now that she was up close, Onui's eyes had adjusted enough in the dark to get a good look at the person. The dark figure was a young boy a few years younger than her. He was of average height and wore ragged clothes ill-fit to protect him from the cold.

Onui narrowed her eyes at the boy's face. But his features were obscured by the fact he kept his head down as he continued to pound the ground with his hoe.

Onui wondered how the boy could remain unaffected even after she had run up to him with all the grace of a headless chicken. There was not a flicker of emotion on the boy's impassive face. He simply stared at the dirt beneath him, ignoring her.

"Hey, are you-"

Onui's words stop abruptly as recognition dawns on her face. She stared wide-eyed at the boy. It had been a few years since she'd last seen him, so she hadn't recognized him immediately. But once the clouds above moved aside and the moon shone down its pale light, Onui realized it.

"Tasuke?" she whispered her little brother's name in disbelief. "It's you, isn't it? Tasuke?"

Onui grabbed the boy by his shoulders and shook him frantically. "It's me! Your Onee-chan! Onui! Don't you recognize me?"

Her time at the cotton mills had changed Onui, but she still expected her own family would've recognized her. She embraced Tasuke frantically. Tears dripped down her face.

"I promised I would come back, didn't I? Tasuke..." Onui's voice broke as relief flooded her weary heart.

All this time, Onui had worried she would never see her family again. So when she reunited with her little brother, the weight over her shoulders slipped away. Finally, her heart could be at ease.

But as Onui continued to celebrate her reunion with her little brother, she finally noticed something off.

"Tasuke...?" Onui blinked, locking eyes with her brother. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

A familiar feeling of dread began to creep into Onui's heart as she noticed the many strange things about her situation.

"What are you doing out here alone at this time of night, Tasuke?" Onui questioned slowly. She broke her embrace with her brother. "Where are mother and father? Grandfather? The rest of the village?"

But as Onui continued to question the boy, Tasuke just stared at the ground in a daze.

"Huh?" Onui gasped as she was reminded of the person who stopped her at the village entrance in the afternoon.

Tasuke wore the exact same expression as that man had. His eyes were half closed in a stony daze. His face was incredibly stiff, brittle even, like the slightest hint of emotion might break his face.

Onui backed away from Tasuke in fear. Once he had enough space again, Tasuke set back to working the dirt with his hoe, wholly ignoring the sister whom he hadn't met in years.

"Why are you doing that, Tasuke?" Onui asked in horror. Her clammy hands covered her mouth.

"Because I asked him to," a sing-song voice answered from behind her.

Onui quickly turned around. Her face twitched in fright as she was suddenly met by the arrival of two figures. One of them, she recognized to be the man who stopped her at the village gate and as for the other, she didn't recognize.

The two of them wore the same uniform. A completely white garb that identified them to be staff in charge of quarantining areas affected by the plague. Onui could only see their eyes through the thin slits on the cloth masks they wore.

The man from before still held the same lifeless gaze, while the new person held piercing neon green eyes. Of the two, only that person had any real tangible presence.

"W-who are you? What did you do to Tasuke?!" Onui questioned accusingly, her voice cracking.

But the man just broke into a fit of laughter. His eyes sparkled with utter delight. "Now, now, nothing to cry over. I just helped the boy achieve a higher purpose."

"H-higher purpose?" Onui repeated in confusion.

"Yes," the man said, his eyes squinting in fond reminiscence. "That boy, Tasuke, was it? He volunteered to help in my research as a test subject. Of course, he showed some resistance at first, but after he saw what happened to his family, well, he quickly learned his place."

Onui's eyes widened. She shook her head absentmindedly. "I don't understand. What are you saying? What did you to our family?"

At this question, the man tilted his head to the side. He focused on Onui with renewed interest. His eyes eagerly studied her, pleasantly surprised to find some measure of worth in her existence.

"Our family, you say? Then you are truly related to that boy over there? You're not just some friend or acquaintance?" the man asked, perplexed. "But that's strange, why were you not at the village?"

Onui stiffened under the man's intense gaze. She felt the same way she did whenever her supervisor looked at her at the cotton mill, like she wasn't even human, just another tool to be used.

"Whatever the case, this is wonderful!" The man clapped his hands together and beamed at Onui. "If you are truly that boy's direct blood relative, perhaps you can join my research as well. What do you say, girl? Perhaps you can help me shed some light on the secret this village is hiding?" he gushed in excitement.

But Onui just shook her head again. Her frown grew deeper. "From the beginning, I didn't understand a word that left your mouth," she breathed hard, exasperated. "Who are you? And what did you do to Tasuke? Where is my family?" Onui screamed her heart out.

The man looked baffled for a moment before a gaze of understanding colored his neon green eyes. He took off the piece of cloth covering his face and smiled.

"Excuse me. I forgot how slow of study you country folk could be. Let me introduce myself properly first," the man said with a condescending grin.

Onui felt goosebumps pulse down her spine as she watched the man's face slowly bleach into a chalk white color. Blood red tattoos spread around the man's mouth, forming snake scale marks around his lips. A single curved horn akin to that of a bull grew on the side of his right temple.

The whites of the man's eyes blackened, creating a stark contrast with his bright neon green irises. The pupil on his left eye was placed with a splotch of what looked like kanji characters. Onui could roughly make out of one of the characters to be the one for "down".

"I am Enmi of the Third Lower Moon, one of the Twelve Demon Moons," he introduced himself with a cheerful smile.

Onui drew back. Her body trembled instinctively. "Twelve Demon Moons...?"

"Yes..." Enmi nodded affably, delighting in the girl's switch from anger to fear. "In other words, I am a demon. Surely, you've heard some of the stories, girl?"

Onui swallowed a lump of discomfort. Growing up as kids, her grandfather used to scare her brother and her with stories of demons to keep them from staying up late at night. She knew all the stories. How demons ate human flesh. How never to go out at night, the time of demons.

"W-what does a demon w-want with me...?" Onui squeaked. Her skin crawled under the demon's intense stare.

Enmi chuckled gently. His eyes narrowed into thin slits. "Before I am a demon, I am a doctor. I exist for the sole purpose of revealing the truths around the human body. To do this, I study all manner of diseases and biological oddities."

Enmi gestured to the man in white standing blankly beside him. "As a product of my years of study, my blood acts as a miraculous elixir, one capable of even reanimating the corpses of the recently deceased."

Threads of blood began to seep out from Enmi's fingers. They softly floated in the air like a bunch of seaweed caught in the tides. The blood threads latched onto the man in white. The man stiffly jerked in response, before dropping to the ground in a bow of complete subservience.

"The corpses my blood reanimate are quite convenient, however..." Enmi's eyes narrowed disdainfully at the man.

The man bowing on the ground began to tremble. His entire body swelled up. His bulging veins throbbed uncontrollably before his entire body burst apart, spewing chunks of flesh into the air, raining blood all over Onui's family's field.

Onui covered her mouth, feeling sick. Ironically, she was lucky she had nothing in her stomach to vomit out.

"As you can see, the dead bodies I fill with my blood are still quite volatile. They make for great short-term labor, but their shelf-life with my blood is still limited..." Enmi muttered regretfully.

He frowned in dismay as he gazed at Tasuke. "That boy's parents didn't last all that long either. I ran a few tests and their limbs just buckled under their own weight..." he sighed, shaking his head.

"H-huh?" Onui blurted, blinking.

"Unfortunately, they couldn't even handle working on their own fields for a few days nonstop. Some farmers they must have been," Enmi murmured to himself. "It's no wonder those fools were bound to lose their land..."

"W-what did you say?" Onui asked. Her vision began to dim.

"But interestingly enough, the same cannot be said for that boy over there, Tasuke." Enmi's eyes began to tremble as he gushed in excitement.

"Even as his parents' bodies deteriorated, he alone continued to persevere. Months have passed, but he can still work that hoe like he were still alive," he remarked in amazement.

"My instincts as a doctor are screaming at me that there's something special about this boy's physiology. It's only a shame he's no longer alive for me study," Enmi sighed regretfully, but a smile delighted his face as he gazed at Onui. "But as his sister, perhaps your body shares the same characteristics, girl."

Onui once again felt a chill down her spine as she understood the demon's words. "A-are you really a doctor?"

"Your words are quite hurtful, girl," Enmi chided, shaking his head. "I am a splendid doctor, a demon doctor. Now, how about helping with my research like Tasuke did? I'll keep you alive, promise. I want to try a living test subject this time. What do you say, girl? Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"

Onui shook her head. The demon before her wore an innocent smile on his face, but that just made the things he was saying all the more disturbing. She froze, her mind reeling. She didn't know what to do.

"Oh? Are you scared? You're a lot smarter than I give you credit for," Enmi said lightly. He slowly approached Onui, reaching out with his right hand. "Don't worry your little head. You don't have to think. Just stay where you are and-"

Onui cut the demon off, literally. She picked up her grandfather's sword and swung the blade up at the demon's arm. And to her complete surprise, the dull sword cleaved through the demon's flesh quite easily.

Enmi's arm went flying, but he just blinked in surprise. He stared straight ahead, even as blood splashed out of his stub of an arm, sprinkling both him and Onui bright red.

"A nichirin sword, huh," Enmi noted dryly.

"Gruh...!" Onui didn't understand, but she took her chance. She grabbed her grandfather's sword and bolted.

She could only spare a passing glance at Tasuke's stiff form, still working the ground beneath him to death, as she ran for her life.

Onui felt horrible for leaving her brother behind, even if he had become but he was now. But the fear of her impending doom was enough to compel her to keep running.

Suddenly, even without any proper footwear or an ounce of food, Onui found the strength to run. She dashed through the dark village like a wild dog and ran for her life. She didn't have the luxury to think beforehand, so she ended up just retracing her steps back into the forest. Maybe she could hide there.

Enmi stood quietly in the barren field. An amiable smile on his face. The arm he lost had regrown and there was not a trace of discomfort on his face.

"They always love to run, don't they?" Enmi laughed to himself.

He had a nasty habit for playing around with kids. So, when he saw that girl swing that sword at him so desperately, he couldn't help but play along. He also let the girl get a head start. He wanted her to feel like she had a chance to escape, to let her have a taste of hope before she despaired into submission.

He wasn't worried about losing her, not in the least.

"After her," Enmi commanded quietly.

The earth beneath him began to rumble as mounds of dead bodies burst out of the dirt. Their filthy bodies were caked with mud and smelled like shit, but bits of pink flesh could still be seen here and there around their bodies.

Tasuke as well stopped using his hoe. He joined the rest of the horde of reanimated bodies as they ran through the village, destroying everything in their path as they chased after Onui.

"This should yield some nice data too," Enmi said breezily as he watched his test subjects run at their maximum speeds. He wondered how long it would take to catch the girl.

Why?

Onui ran through the forest. Her breath huffed and puffed as she rushed through the dark trees. Her heart raced like crazy, pounding against her chest so hard she couldn't breathe.

A sharp stinging sensation flared at her the base of her feet. The soles of her feet were already sleek with blood and dirt. But she didn't care about the pain anymore. She just worried about the trail of blood she must've been leaving behind.

The demon was after her. She hadn't seen him yet, but every cell in her body could feel an existential sense of dread looming over her. It was only a matter of time before she would be caught.

A part of Onui, the dark recesses of her heart, whispered that she should just surrender, that she should just give in and let the demon have her. It would be the easier path, the path of least resistance. She should just give up and accept her fate.

"Ughh!"

Onui desperately grasped the sword in her hand. She still carried it with her, even if it would slow her down significantly. For whatever reason, the sword had been able to cut through the demon like tofu. If it came down to it, she could at least go down fighting for her life, and win some small measure of vengeance for her family.

That's right. Her family. They were Onui's primary motivation since she had left the village all those years ago, back when she abandoned her station at the cotton mills, and even now, as she ran for her life through the forest.

She didn't want to give the monster that killed her family the satisfaction of catching her alive. If he really wanted her for his tests, then she would resist to the bitter end. That's what she should do, right?

"Ah!"

Onui slipped over a stone. She yelped as her body went tumbling down the mountain side. Her frail frame crashed against the trees, rolling onto the floor in a broken heap.

Why?

Even though Onui said in her heart she wanted revenge. Even if she said to herself she would go down fighting. Even though she could suppress the voice inside her that said to give up. Onui could not ignore the other voice screaming inside her heart.

Why me?

She could ignore the bitter voices complaining in her heart.

Onui picked herself up from her fall and gritted her teeth. With tears in her eyes and dirt on her face, she got back to running.

Why does this always happen to me? I've been good. I did my best. I was a good person.

Onui flinched. She heard something in the distance. It was the sound of branches breaking and dirt being stepped on. She could feel also feel a dreadful rumbling in the earth beneath her feet.

"Hah!"

Hearing what sounded to be like a gasping noise behind her, Onui made the mistake of turning around. Her heart dropped at the parade of monsters trailing after her. They ran together like an endless a sea of gray rotting bodies.

"Aghh!"

She screeched. There was no point staying quiet anymore, no point in conserving her stamina by keeping her mouth shut. There was no longer any chance of escape anyway.

Why? Gods! Buddha! Why me? I did everything right!

"Hiih!"

Onui felt a cold crusty hand grab her by the collar of her kimono. She was snatched by the reanimated corpse of someone from her village and she was slammed against the ground.

"Oof!"

Onui felt her breath be forced out of her. She gasped in horror as a crowd of corpses growled at her menacingly. Their rotten flesh falling off their bones. Worms and insects crawling over their faces.

I left the village. I worked hard. I endured so much cruelty in the mills, all so I could support my family. I gave up everything for them and I risked my life to come back. So, why?

Onui screamed. She tried to swing her grandfather's sword at the corpses. But it was no use. She was out of breath and out of options. She was pinned down to the ground and surrounded. She couldn't even swing the sword even if she tried.

"Why is this happening to me? Why?!" Onui screamed out the grievances boiling within her.

Her voice broke into a cracked mess. But she kept on screaming. She was angry and scared to death. She desperately wanted for someone to hear her.

Someone. Anyone. Please hear me! Save me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!

"Why is this happening to you?" a soft voice mockingly repeated from above.

Onui opened her eyes wide. She locked eyes with Enmi who now stood above her. The demon smiled down at her with a face of serenity.

"I just noticed. You were wearing a headkerchief weren't you?" Enmi commented amusedly.

It was true. For the entire time Onui had been traveling, she had always kept her head covered under a piece of cloth. Only now, it must've fallen off as she was being chased, which meant...

"I heard rumors about it, but this is my first time seeing the genuine article," Enmi said, snickering. "You came from the cotton mills, didn't you, girl? One look at the head, and anyone would understand."

Without the cover of her headkerchief, Onui's head could now be seen in its entirety. The very top of her head, her crown of hair been shaved completely clean. Where once long flowing black hair sprung forth, now existed a barren circle of flesh, a cruel reminder of her status.

"I heard it was a means of marking which girls were employed at the mills," Enmi fondly recollected. "The working conditions are too severe for the young girls they recruit so they often run away. Then, some of the more clever mill owners started cutting the girls' hair to brand them like cattle."

Onui gritted her teeth. She glared fiercely at the demon. His unmoved face masked with faux pity infuriated her.

"Shut up!" she yelled at him, her voice dripping with anger.

"My...! How you must have suffered, little girl," Enmi said, shaking his head remorsefully. "You must've escaped from your employers to get here. But you returned home only to find your village gone, your family dead. Heh, I must admit, even I pity you."

Onui didn't think it was possible. But she felt even more unreconciled with her fate, after hearing it retold by one of the villains who helped orchestrate it.

Enmi chuckled lightly at seeing the aggrieved look on the girl's unsightly face. "If you want to ask why this is happening to you, girl, then I suppose you were just unlucky."

Unlucky? Her? Wasn't that always the case? Being born a commoner. Being born into a family of farmers, in an age of great reform. Having to work in a factory for scrap wages. She was always, always, always unlucky.

Onui closed her eyes. Her tears welled up and fell to the side, watering the dirt. Maybe this really was just her cursed fate.

"Now, now, no tears," Enmi feigned a voice of comfort. "I said I won't kill you. From here on out, you will achieve a higher purpose as my test subject. Doesn't that sound wonderful?" he giggled.

Onui resigned herself to her fate. She abandoned hope and embraced despair. She never should've gone back home after hearing about the plague. She should've just died at the factory like the rest of the girls. It would've been an easier death.

But as she closed her eyes for what felt like the last time, Onui could not help but let out one last feeble wish in the depths of her heart.

Someone… please... save me...!

At that moment, the sound of a sword whirling in the air could be heard, the head of the corpse closest to Onui exploded, and a monster's deafening roar filled the forest.

Demon Slayer Corps Records

Enmi (魘魅): the present Third Lower Moon of the 12 Demon Moons. Spotted going around areas affected by plagues and posing as a doctor. The dead bodies left behind in these areas were found mangled in absurd conditions, but these reports have been conveniently swept under the rug by local officials.

Author's Note:

Much time has passed since the first chapter was released for this story. The first chapter of my stories are often the shortest chapters, but the first chapter of this story was especially short. This is because it started off on a whim, something I wrote when I was half-asleep dreading before I was scheduled for a zoom meeting with my thesis adviser. This story was just something I wrote to distract myself from the horror of having to do a thesis in the middle of a lockdown.

Given this origin, it's no surprise that a follow-up never happened for the longest time. The story never had a clear direction or plot. It was just a cool idea of combining elements from Demon Slayer and Blue Exorcist and inserting Shirou as the main character. I tried to think of how this was going to go but I could never come up with anything so chapter 2 kept on getting stalled until I just assumed this was going to be a oneshot.

But with the release of the season 2 of Demon Slayer, there was a resurgence of interest in the series. And there was still an ember of interest in me for continuing this story.

I don't have high hopes for this story. I don't expect to produce a masterpiece that could ever compare to the source material of either series. I just hope I'll have a little fun writing it and that you guys will have some fun reading it. I won't take lore too seriously. I'll break whatever canon material rule I'll have to if need be, just to keep things interesting.

The second chapter follows the perspective of a young girl called Onui living in early Meiji Japan. Yes, she is this world's version of the Onui from the Pseudo-parallel world Shimosa in FGO. Why? I don't know. I couldn't just insert Illya into this story, right? Anyway, I liked Onui enough to make her a main character. I also asked FF to add a character tag for her in Fate/Stay Night.

Like the vast majority of you are, I am also disappointed we didn't get to see any Shirou action this chapter. I don't imagine many of you will review. Or maybe you will review and say you're disappointed. Either way, the next chapter will be Demon Shirou vs Lower Moon 3. Starting off with a big demon, huh. Hopefully it'll come out right!

This chapter was written on mobile. So, it probably look a lot better on a smaller screen.

I quite liked the epigraph I used. It's something Eren said in the manga that really resonated with me.

If you're feeling generous and can afford the trouble, would you buy me a cup of coffee please? (ko-fi dot com slash dhaturas).

Thank you for reading!