Another update… How long has it been since I wrote the second chapter? Four months?
By the way, we have almost 400 favorites on after two chapters… and 135 thread watchers on Spacebattles, despite this thing only being posted for like 2 days. Y'all are crazy for liking the ramblings of a madman.
-SpiritOfErebus
Walking out of the slightly rundown wooden shed, Ryoma yawned into the early Tokyo morning.
The moist city air was tainted with the scent of fresh dew, at odds with the heavily built area, where nature was barely visible. Yet, in the distance, mountains stood defiantly against human pursuits, stalling the cart of industrialization in its tracks just by being there. Despite the persistence of nature, however, the mists that shrouded the mountains were slowly being peeled back.
With senses that only belonged to a servant, he could see paths slowly carving their way up the mountains in the distance, each and every stone brick laid by mere human hands, yet every brick still worked towards unveiling the mysteries that remained.
But no remaining mist and no unexplored wilds would change the fact that this particular world's supernatural beings were about to completely disappear.
Because his mission was probably to get rid of that dead apostle… right?
They honestly were more like an endangered species, to be perfectly honest. Would they count as an endangered species, anyways?
Ryoma shrugged. He had more pressing things to worry about.
Like getting to work.
Leaving Oryou, who was still sleeping in the shape of a mattress for Ryoma's convenience, in the house, he set off for the schoolyard.
…
At first, Ryoma didn't know what was going on. There was a crowd bubbling around the schoolyard, and, for a moment, Ryoma almost thought that there was a new event going on or something that would recruit more students.
"Sho-san!" Ryoma shouted to a uniformed student hurrying curiously to the schoolyard. "Is there something going on today?"
"Greetings, Ryoma-sensei!" the student saluted, before scratching his head and raising an eyebrow. "No, I don't remember the schoolmaster saying anything."
"That's strange." Ryoma said. "Why are all these people here, then?"
As they entered the crowd, Ryoma heard several… disheartening whispers.
"It's really so sad how-"
"I didn't really expect to hear that-"
"How could that have happened? He didn't have any enemies."
With a sinking feeling in his gut, Ryoma slowly waded through the crowd, with ordinary civilians giving him a slim berth, while students greeted him before trying to clear a path for the teacher through the rather noisy crowd.
At last, Ryoma emerged from the crowd, before trying to smooth out some of the wrinkles on his suit and approaching one of the police officers guarding the door. Looking at the paper seals placed on the small schoolyard's doors, Ryoma's suspicions were partially answered.
There was a crime scene there.
"Are you a teacher here?" the policeman said.
"Sakamoto Ryoma. A new hire." Ryoma answered, trying to peer past the crack in the door. "What happened here?"
"Sakamoto… Ryoma? Probably different kanji." the policeman muttered. "Anyways, you'd better come with me, then." the policeman said, opening the door and letting him inside.
As Ryoma stepped over the tall door threshold typical of traditional buildings and into the building, he could see police officers milling over every detail. From inspecting the internal doors to peering carefully at the floor for footprints, literally every procedure in the book was followed in order to preserve the crime scene.
Ryoma was given two shoe covers so as not to spread his footprints and confuse the investigators, before he was sent walking through the room.
"Last night, Umetaro-san's wife reported him missing. After searching the streets and the… other places that he could have went, we found his corpse in this schoolyard."
"He's dead?" Ryoma said, slightly shocked. There was no reason for a schoolyard teacher to be killed. There was little money to steal, little opportunity for him to have made enemies, and little reason for him to be silenced, given the fact that the Japanese government was probably a lot busier with World War I.
"Yes. The cause of death would be murder."
"Are you sure it's murder?" Ryoma said. "I mean, Umetaro-san was quite old. What if he had died of natural causes?"
"It's… pretty obvious that it wasn't natural causes."
Leading Ryoma through a classroom cleared of evidence, the police officer slowly approached a sliding door. Putting a glove on the frame, the officer looked down at the floor for a second, closed his eyes, and looked back at Ryoma.
"Be warned, Sakamoto-san. The scene isn't pretty."
Through the fragile, paper mush that made up the lattice of the door's structure, Ryoma could already see a spot of red hovering just behind the white.
Blood.
Ryoma nodded resolutely, and the policeman opened the door. Ryoma blinked to adjust his eyes to the brighter sunlight… and saw the mutilated, chewed-on corpse of the old schoolmaster. With the practiced calm of a samurai, having seen corpses before, Ryoma slowly walked forwards and peered down at the body. His gloved fists tightened as he approached, the fabric making strained noises as it scraped past itself noisily.
The ground was… oddly wet. Slightly muddy Almost like it had been hit by magical water. Or had been drooled on extensively, by some sort of mythical beast.
"I guess we have a cannibal killer on our hands, then." Ryoma muttered.
"There were no markings on the ground or the roof tiles that indicated wild animals of that size have been there." the policeman said, forcing a professional tone, "So we're ruling out death by animal attack. Additionally, there were no animal footprints around the dead body. Only… human footprints.
Ryoma's mind immediately flashed to the ghouls that had attacked him the day before, with one of them possessing some sort of water controlling power. Could this have been their doing?
The old, fragile man had been chewed on and even eaten, as if by a wild beast. Of course those ghouls did it. They were cruel and uncaring to Ryoma and Oryou's supposedly human lives, and if Ryoma and Oryou were not servants, who knew what could have happened.
Were the streets of Japan still so unsafe, despite his reforms eventually propelling Japan into a modern society, despite all of the blood and bile that his friends had shed in the hopes of a better future?
Taking a deep breath, Ryoma calmed himself.
He had to think rationally. It was too easy to blame the death of the schoolmaster on the two ghouls from yesterday. Said ghouls were sentient last night, and even articulate enough to hold a conversation. Additionally, with their relative power, they should not even have bothered using their powers to consume the body of a normal old man, which contained less mana when compared to literally any other population group.
Perhaps… there was something that knew he was here. Something- or someone- that knew of his existence as a servant, or at least as something supernatural, and was sending a warning to him.
But that was too far-fetched. The counterforce didn't exactly notify targets when they were about to be eliminated.
This senseless killing had to be performed by a true psychopath. A sick person. No self-respecting dead apostle would eat an old schoolmaster, and only an old schoolmaster.
Whoever this person was, they were at least in Tokyo. And for Ryoma to repay the man's kindness, he would find out whoever this killer was, and turn them in.
Then, another policeman walked up to the policeman that had bought Ryoma to the courtyard and whispered some words. Slowly, his expression hardened, and he looked at Ryoma with… a less than benevolent gaze.
"I'm sorry, Ryoma-san, but we have some questions for you."
And… of course the police were suspicious of him.
…
"Many around the town have reported you as a newcomer. As a foreign traveler, with you and your…"
"My wife." Ryoma said.
"Your wife. You were recently hired as a schoolteacher, am I correct?"
"Yes." Ryoma nodded.
"But what they noticed about her… was her strange, dietary preferences." The policemen handed over a confession report from a waitress that lived nearby.
Sakamoto took the paper and held it up to the dim lantern light that the policemen were using in the interrogation room, and looked at the supposed evidence.
Of course Oryou was looking for frogs to eat.
"My wife… simply has a taste for frog sashimi." Ryoma said.
"We'll see about that." the policeman said. "You two, stay next to him."
As two officers with old-fashioned revolvers looked at Ryoma nervously, he sighed, before activating a link with spirit origin that he and Oryou shared.
"Oryou, the police are coming for you."
"Are you okay?" Oryou sent back immediately through the link. Ryoma could already imagine the panicked expression on her face. Her eyes turning from black to pulsing red, and preparing to go on a rampage. "Are you in any danger? Are there disgusting assassins there?"
"No." Ryoma thought back. "But the old schoolmaster was dead."
There was silence for a moment.
"I liked that old person. The ones who did this shall pay."
"I'm of the same opinion, but you have to get out of police suspicion first. You have to act totally normally, okay?"
"Okay."
That was not very reassuring. At any moment, Oryou would probably say something about acting normally as a mythical creature, and-
"When they come into our residence, I will eat them, as a serpent should."
"No. Bad!" Ryoma thought back frantically. "If you act like a regular person, we'll go get you four, no, five frogs!"
"You did not deliver on the frogs last time. Your promises are no longer good with Oryou-san."
Ryoma sighed.
"Eight."
"Oryou-san is the most normal person ever. Yay. Peace, peace."
…
Sitting at the police station, Ryoma was… understandably, very tense. Would Oryou lose her temper? Would she eat all of the policemen, destroy the town, and then take him to a lonely mountain to live out the rest of their days while all of Japan hunted them down?
At that point, he didn't know who to feel more sorry for. Japan or Oryou.
"Come on, Oryou…" Ryoma muttered, almost standing up to pace around the room. The policemen besides him put a hand on his shoulder to discourage this movement.
It was eight frogs… or Tokyo's destruction. Which would Oryou choose?
Then, the door opened. Oryou stepped out demurely,a flowery black kimono adorning her instead of the usual sailor's uniform outfit. With small, soft, yet deliberate steps, she looked almost like any other person from this time… minus the slightly lizard-like eyes.
Almost.
With a sigh of relief, Ryoma knew what Oryou had chosen.
"Ryoma-sama!" Oryou said, gasping frightfully, before doing an adorable little jog to him. Ryoma felt nothing but fear. If Oryou was capable of acting like this… what was going on? Had the demonic essence she had consumed yesterday given her sickness or something? "I was so worried! What if you had been caught up in the murders yesterday?"
"She can use the word 'I'?" Ryoma thought, his eyes wide in shock.
Oryou's eyes briefly flashed from vaguely lizardlike to full on dragon menace, before returning to the normal state. Ryoma viewed this as a signal to play along.
"I know, right?" Ryoma said, standing up and embracing her. The policeman allowed this frankly, adorable couple to continue their public displays of affection. From the corner of the room, one middle aged policeman gritted his teeth and began to mutter something like go explode.
"I feel so sorry for the old schoolmaster, though. He was kind enough to offer me a job, but… now he's dead!"
"Hopefully, my father won't hear about this." Oryou said tearfully. "Then, we might have to go back."
"She's a rich ojou-sama too?" the middle aged policeman muttered, his gritted teeth making those words sound especially demonic. "Damn you!"
"Dude, chill. I know that your wife just left you, but you have to calm down. You're on duty."
"Well…" a voice said from within the interrogation room. Ryoma looked up to see a man wearing a police chief badge walk out into the room filled with the noxious atmosphere of overly dramatic displays of affection. "It's clear to see that you both are innocent. My condolences for your loss, and for the unwarranted interview."
"I totally understand, officer." Ryoma said somberly. "And if you ever need to talk to me again to find Umetaro-san's murderer, do so whenever."
"...Thank you, young man." the chief said. "Now, go. Leave. Go and be happy with your family."
"What's up with the chief?"
"His wife left him too."
…
"Oryou-san wants that one." Oryou pointed to a frog-shaped lantern.
"Okay, okay." Ryoma laughed, leading Oryou over to the stand.
"You newlyweds looking for some decorations?" the stand owner said, his youthful features contrasting heavily with his calloused hands.
Oryou looked extremely pleased with the observation, entwining her arm with Ryoma's even more. Unperturbed by the gaze of other blushing couples and some particularly imaginative children, Ryoma soldiered on with his duty of providing frogs for the family.
"Give me… the frog lantern." Ryoma said, pointing to said lantern.
"A symbol of good fortune and…" the stall owner leaned forwards, whispering, "Fertility?"
Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want to be asking that question?"
"Nevermind, nevermind." the stall owner laughed, reaching out with a stick and unhooking the lantern from its perch atop the frame from where it had hung. "Candles sold separately, though. I'm not a candle store."
"Understood." Ryoma said, putting a couple of sen coins on the counter. As the coins were swept in a pouch, the lantern was placed in Ryoma's hands, where Oryou seized it immediately and began to inspect the rather delicate paintwork. "Where's a nearby candle store?"
"Oh, just past that inn." the stall owner whispered. "But something happened there some time ago, too. Another murder."
"Another one?" Ryoma said. "I've only heard of the schoolmaster murdered this morning."
"It's really weird, isn't it?" the stall owner said. "For so long, nothing has really happened in this district of Tokyo. And suddenly, two unrelated people suddenly just get murdered for no reason."
"Why are you so sure this is a murder as well?" Ryoma said. "I mean, the last corpse had… bite marks on it… but this one-"
"The other one has bite marks on it, too?" the stall owner shuddered, before looking around the brightly lit street. "Man, I am going to pack up earlier before I get eaten as well."
Ryoma looked at Oryou, who looked back, before they looked at the inn together.
It was the one where Ryoma got insulted by that shopkeeper for being poor. As poorly disguised policemen sat in the chairs and monitored the streets for anybody being suspicious, Ryoma remembered the words that Oryou had said after he had been insulted.
"Oryou-san wants to eat this bug." she had said.
Ah. No wonder she had been pulled in for interrogation.
…
"Okay, we have to think about this." Ryoma said, leaning against the wall of their dreary home. The singular frog lantern that brought some life to the room hung from the ceiling, illuminated by a freshly bought candle. It cast odd, green shadows around the room, with the sea of green disturbed by the projection of the outstretched, red tongue and the occasional yellow marking.
"Two of the people that we've interacted with have died already. First, the innkeeper that insulted me."
"He deserves death." Oryou growled.
"And then, the schoolmaster." Ryoma continued, placating Oryou by gently rubbing the scales on her back that had transformed into the sailor uniform. Slowly, her eyes lost their eerie glow and the dangerous creature returned to a docile state.
"This means that somebody knows we're here for the purpose of eliminating them. And they sent those ghouls over to test us."
"Oryou-san thinks that those ghouls just ate those people because they encountered the innkeeper and the schoolmaster on their way to find us." Oryou said, crossing her arms and floating into the air, circling the frog lantern like she was some sort of moth. "It's what Oryou-san would do if Oryou-san was looking for somebody that needed to be eaten."
"But how could they have found the two that had interacted with us so quickly?" Ryoma said. "There's no way that they just coincidentally bumped into those two, asked them about our whereabouts, ate them, and then found us in a random alleyway. Somebody, or some group, has to have been observing us in order to locate us so quickly…"
"Ryoma, you're overcomplicating things. Oryou-san already sees the answer."
"This means that either the ghouls are working with a group that has widespread coverage of the streets, and that said group has more powerful ghouls in stock, or maybe the dead apostle leads that group." Ryoma reasoned, walking another circle on the aged floor mat, with its cotton spilling out already.
"So who does Oryou-san need to fight to keep Ryoma safe?"
"The people that have been attacking us… are the courtesans."
Oryou slowly began to float towards the entrance
"They're spread across this district because they need to pull in business to the red light district, and they've possibly identified us as servants."
Her clothes rippled and slowly transformed back into scales.
"But why did they need to kill the two victims if they already knew where we were? Were their deaths necessary to them in some way? Or were these deaths unrelated?"
Her fingernails elongated and fused with her fingers as she swelled up and-
Ryoma grabbed her coattails and dragged her back into the room.
"Why are you stopping Oryou-san, Ryoma? If all the harlots die, there won't be danger, right?"
Gently, Ryoma flicked her on the forehead. Oryou wiggled away from Ryoma's grasp, nursing the extremely superficial wound.
"We can't kill all of the courtesans in town just because they might want to kill us." Ryoma reasoned, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "There would be innocent deaths. And that goes against our job description."
"Oryou-san still thinks that you are overcomplicating things. Even if Ryoma is correct and the courtesans are after us, we just need to wait for the ghouls to come to us if Oryou-san can't go kill them all."
"They won't just come to us now." Ryoma said, finally sitting down. "Now that two ghouls have been defeated by us, they'll be more cautious. They know that we can kill them now, and the only way to find them… is to look for them."
His black eyes mirrored the night as he looked up at the sky.
But some questions still remained. Why had the innkeeper and the schoolmaster been killed? Was it just because the ghouls were hungry? Did the ghouls kill the two? Was it somebody else?
For some reason, the moon seemed more threatening than usual.
…
Slowly walking through the streets, an attendant holding an umbrella over her, a courtesan looked at the pathetic human creations that littered the streets. They delighted in their simple lights and the clink of the coin, but their entire lives would crumble at any moment if she decided to just swing her obi from one street corner to the other.
"Beautiful, isn't it, ma'am?"
She said nothing. But abruptly, she smelled something. Her senses, enhanced by Muzan-sama's blood, caught a whiff of something else supernatural.
Where did it come from?
Abruptly, she turned to look at a lantern stall. There, a young man with calloused hands cheerfully advertised an ugly oni mask.
She scoffed, as if demons really looked like that.
The scent, however, was muffled. She had to get closer. Slowly, she shuffled closer to the stand. Her attendant followed, shielding her from the night sky with her umbrella.
"Anything you want, ma'am?"
She took a deep breath. The smell of mythical creatures was coming from within the stall owner's pouch of earnings. And there was only one lantern missing from the display.
"Who did you sell that lantern to?" she asked, pointing to the
"Oh, a young couple. One guy was wearing a really snazzy white suit with a blue stripe on it, while a young lady wore a sailor's uniform. They were… really adorable. Almost makes me, a person single for twenty five years, want to get with somebody! Heh."
"Did anything seem… off… about them?"
"Well, there was one thing." the stallowner said. "The girls' pupils were red, with black irises. You don't really see that every day, especially not in Japan."
She nodded, thanked the shopkeeper disdainfully, and continued to walk.
For them to give off such a powerful scent that even the objects they've touched were telling her of their power, those two must be powerful demons. But they didn't smell familiar, not like the demons she had met one hundred and thirteen years ago, when the upper moons had met.
So there was another powerful demon in town now?
Daki grinned.
"Brother, we have a competitor."
Straight from lower moon 6 and 3 to Upper Moon 6… Let's see how this goes… Hopefully, Ryoma and Oryou were still adorable enough to keep your interest.
BTW, I'm pretty sure I mentioned this, but I'll be clearer. Tanjiro's fighting in the mansion of the drum demon right about now in the timeline.
Discord link: discord . gg / 9t9MK3jHmV
-SpiritOfErebus