A young lady stopped to listen to Reiji playing his bamboo flute.
She had long black hair decorated by butterfly hair pins, droopy pale violet eyes, a kind smile, and was completely transparent from head to toe.
A white-pink haori made to mimic the wings of a butterfly hung from her slender figure over an all too familiar uniform with a katana strapped in its belt.
"Say, Komuso-san…" The young lady leaned towards Reiji with a coy smile on her beautiful see-through face, her pale violet eyes peering through the sightholes in his basket hat. "You can see me, can't you?"
Reiji had grown used to ignoring the pestering of spirits, but this was the first time one was able to catch onto him so quickly.
A breath hitch in his throat, forcing him to let out a single sour note that was apparently enough to confirm her suspicions.
"Oh, that's wonderful!" said the lady, clasping her hands together. "It's been so long since I've had someone to talk to! What's your-"
Reiji started walking away with the cupful of change he'd earned from his holy busking.
"Hey, wait up, Komuso-san!" the butterfly lady appeared beside Reiji. "You can see me, right?"
She poked her finger at roughly where his cheek should be, and it went straight through his basket mask and into his face.
A strong chill shot through Reiji's skin, muscle, and bone where her hand had phased through. He quickened his pace, the tip of his bamboo cane stabbing repeatedly into the ground with each hurried step.
The ghostly butterfly lady remained persistent, matching his pace all the way to the little inn he'd been staying in for the past two days. He shut the door in her face upon reaching his room, and she phased right through it to greet him.
"Can we talk now, kumoso-san?" she asked with a gentle smile on her face. "There's no one else around."
Reiji let out a long sigh. He reached under his basket hat to pinch the bridge of his nose. Her presence, while not malicious, was almost suffocating.
The weight of her regret combined with no small amount of sheer willpower radiated from her like a heavy cloud. It hung so heavily in the air that it tethered her to the mortal plane when she should've long since moved on.
Her karma was absolutely dazzling as well. This was a woman who was loved in life and made the world a better place for others. Such a soul should have no issue ascending to heaven.
Whatever unfinished business she had in the land of the living, it must've been of great importance.
Reiji sat down on his futon and sighed in resignation.
"What do you want, miss?"
The butterfly lady's eyes widened as if surprised he actually answered before a wide smile spread across her face.
"I knew my eyes didn't deceive me!" said the spirited ghost. "Even in death, these eyes are still sharp as ever. I saw your gaze following me through the holes in your basket."
"Please just tell me what you want so you can get out of my hair," said Reiji plainly.
"My, my, what a solemn fellow you are," said the ghost lady. "Why don't we get to know each other first? I'm Kanae Kocho. Pleased to meet you!"
Kanae bowed to Reiji in greeting-a gesture which he didn't return.
"I am a komuso monk and that's all you need to know about me." Reiji wasn't about to hand his name out to a spirit he just met no matter how pretty or friendly. "Now tell me, what can I do to help you move on?"
"Well, that's a bit complicated," said Kanae, rubbing the back of her head with a transparent hand that he could see through her transparent head. "I'll have to explain to you some things first for you to get the bigger picture, so please bear with me."
"I know about demons and the demon slayer corps, so you can skip that bit if that's what you mean."
Kanae raised an eyebrow at him.
"My, my, you are full of surprises, aren't you, Komuso-san?" Kanae's gaze drifted to the walking cane he carried. "I noticed that notch on your cane…it's a hidden sword, isn't it?"
Reiji nodded in response.
"Are you a demon slayer too then?" she asked.
"No," said Reiji. "I only carry a blade with me for self-defence. But I've heard enough rumours about demons and seen enough restless spirits wandering around in that uniform to put two and two together."
"Ah, a sharp one." Kanae gave him an approving smile. "I'll cut to the chase then. I want you to talk to my sister for me."
"Is she part of the demon slayer corps too?"
Kanae nodded, the sadness apparent in her eyes.
"Yes, though I wish it were otherwise." A heart wrenching pain shook her voice, and it radiated through the aura surrounding her soul. "Since I was killed by a powerful demon in this town, my sister Shinobu has vowed to avenge me at all costs. I tried to convince her to live a normal life in my final moments, but…I failed."
"What do you suppose I do, then?"
Kanae sucked in a deep breath, though she no longer had any lungs to breathe with.
"I want you to find her and tell her to forget about vengeance," she said. "In a moment of weakness, I gave her a description of the demon who killed me at her behest. He had white hair, with red splotches as if blood had been dumped over his head. He always gives a carefree smile, and speaks in a gentle manner. His eyes are beautiful, containing every colour of the rainbow that fades into one another. If Shinobu fights this demon, she is likely to die."
"And you want me to keep that from happening."
Kanae nodded.
"I want nothing more than for my sister to live a normal life, as an ordinary girl," she said. "Describe the demon who killed me to Shinobu, and she will know you speak true when you say you communed with my spirit."
"I can't do that," said Reiji.
"Why?" Desperation and surprise mixed in Kanae's voice. "I thought you were willing to help me."
"Yes, but not like this," said Reiji. "The dead should not be allowed to impose orders upon the living. Your sister made her choice, and you ought to respect it regardless of where it takes her."
"Please," said Kanae, dropping to her knees to match his sitting position. "I'm begging you, holy one. Even if she doesn't listen, I want her to hear my words."
"If she didn't listen to you, her sister, while you lay dying by her side, then why the hell would she listen to me?" Reiji asked. "There is nothing I can do to achieve the result you want. I'm sorry, Kocho-san, but you'll have to come to terms with that fact and move on yourself."
"It still can't hurt to try, can it?" Kanae pleaded. "For the sake of my soul, please try to convince her in my stead."
"...Have you given thought to how Shinobu would feel?"
The answer took Kanae off guard. She recoiled from him as if he had struck her in the face.
"Excuse me?"
"I was not always a wandering komuso monk," said Reiji. "When my ability to commune with the dead became clear, I was given to a temple at seven years old. There I spent many years as a mouthpiece for restless spirits like you. Sometimes I even allowed them to possess me so that they may talk to their loved ones themselves. Do you know what often happens to those people?"
Kanae gave him an uneasy look as she shook her head.
"They become just as unable to move on as the spirits I communed with," said Reiji. "So desperate were they to hold on to what was lost that they were willing to give vast amounts of money to the temple that housed me. All for just one more meeting with their loved ones. When I realised that I was being used to exploit the grief of others, I escaped the temple. I later learned that many of my regular visitors committed suicide out of despair. Do you want that kind of fate for your sister?"
"Shinobu-chan would never do something like that!" Kanae protested. "Her heart is strong. She wouldn't succumb to despair so easily!"
"Perhaps not," said Reiji. "But that's not a risk I'm willing to take."
A deathly silence filled the room.
Kanae's expression turned from irritated, to disappointed, to just sad in the span of a few short seconds.
"I see…" Kanae stood up and turned her back to him. "Thank you for listening anyways, Komuso-san."
The ghostly demon slayer walked through the door of Reiji's rented room. The tail of her butterfly haori was the last thing to leave before he was alone once again.
"...You're welcome," said Reiji softly, though he knew she could not hear him.
A familiar voice woke Reiji in the dead of night.
"Komuso-san!"
Reiji rolled to one side, grabbing his bamboo cane sword and clutching it at his side. The hidden blade was already halfway out of its scabbard by the time he recognised the transparent lady kneeling beside his futon.
"You again?" Reiji adjusted the basket hat he'd been sleeping in. "I told you, I'm not-"
"This isn't about that," said Kanae with urgency in her voice. "There are demons in this town."
Reiji felt a chill run down his spine, and it wasn't from the presence of a ghost.
"Where?"
"In a house not far from here," said Kanae. "They've already killed the couple there, but their children are still alive and hiding. If you hurry, you can still save them!"
"Me? The hell am I supposed to do?!" Reiji protested. "Shouldn't your corps handle this?"
"They won't make it here in time!" Kanae shouted, her transparent form flickering from her heightened emotions. "Please! You're the only one who can save them!"
"How?!" Reiji asked, a little louder than he intended to. "I'm a monk, not a demon slayer!"
"Just distract the demons enough for the children to make their escape," said Kanae. "Or fend them off until a demon slayer arrives, anything! Please! What's the point of carrying a sword if you can't defend the weak?!"
Reiji pursed his lips behind the basket on his head. The logical response would be to tell this butterfly ghost lady to bugger off.
It wasn't his responsibility to protect the world from demons, and he owed her no debt of gratitude to risk himself for her to uphold the duties she had in life.
But he always did have a weakness for pleading faces.
"...Gods, I better be born rich in my next life." Reiji threw on his black kimono and grabbed his slightly curved cane sword. "Lead the way."
Reiji ran after Kanae as she sprinted weightlessly through the empty night streets.
They soon came upon a large house that bordered on a mansion. The front door was in splinters, clearly having been broken into, and the metallic smell of blood wafted out from inside.
"The demons are in the study eating the parents," said Kanae. "The children have locked themselves in a bedroom upstairs. Once they're done eating the parents, they'll come for the children."
"Which window leads to their room?" Reiji asked.
"That one." Kanae pointed at a window. "Make sure the demons don't spot you if you plan on climbing."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Halfway through his climb, Reiji spotted a grisly sight through a window he'd grabbed onto.
Three grey men with greasy black hair and red eyes were in the middle of eating a man and a woman. Two of them looked identical and were sharing in the flesh of the man while the third much larger one ate the woman by himself.
But the most monstrous part about them was their souls.
Reiji could see peoples' souls, alive or dead. For the dead, that meant communing with their ghost. For the living, it meant seeing the emotions and spiritual karma seeping through their earthly coil.
Bad karma often took the form of black mist around one's body, but this was the first time he saw souls so darkly drenched in sin that it was more akin to flames the shape of grasping hands. As if the grudge of those they killed were desperately dragging them down to hell.
Their emotions were not much better. No disgust or reluctance tainted their spirits as they ate the couple who died defending their children. Only a sadistic glee that made him feel sick just witnessing. Is this what a demon is?
Reiji shook off his surprise and continued climbing, taking care to not make a single noise lest he alerted the demons. His sword cane remained strapped to his waist by a tight kimono sash, and he prayed to whichever god was listening that he wouldn't have to draw it.
When he finally climbed into the childrens' bedroom, he was greeted by the ghosts of the couple currently being eaten downstairs.
"W-who are you?!" the father asked, shielding the crying girls behind him with his transparent arms as if doing so would make a difference. "S-stay away from my daughters!"
Meanwhile the ghost of mother was crouched beside her two crying girls in the corner, comforting them with soothing words that neither of them could hear. They didn't look any older than ten or twelve.
"Kyoko, Kimi, it's alright," their mother cooed, her tears phasing straight through the floor after they fell. "Everything will be alright."
Reiji walked straight through the ghost father protecting his daughter, trying his best not to shiver from the chill it gave him.
"Hey, I'm here to help the two of you, okay?" he said softly to the two shaking girls, crouching down opposite to their ghostly mother. "But both of you need to be very quiet. The bad men downstairs don't know I'm here."
"W-where's mother and father?!" cried the younger of the two girls, loudly enough for the demons downstairs to hear her and laugh in response.
Rage at the demons' impudence cut through the fear in Reiji's heart only to be tempered by compassion for the crying girls.
"They're not here right now," Reiji lied, briefly glancing at the ghostly mother beside the girls. "But they'd want you to get out of danger as soon as possible. Can you both stand up?"
The younger girl buried her face in the bloodstained white kimono of her older sister, who nodded at his question.
"We're not injured," said the older girl. "Just…just shaken."
"Good, that's good," said Reiji. "You're both very brave girls."
He glanced at the locked and pitifully barricaded door, then at the window.
"I can only carry one of you out the window at a time. Do either of you know the way to the police station?"
"I do," said the older girl, gulping as she did.
"Alright, here's what I want you to do, sweetie." Reiji placed a hand on the older girl's shaking shoulder, his black eye peering at hers through holes in his basket hat. "I'm going to bring you down first. When you're on the ground, head straight for the police station and tell them three men broke into your house. I'll stay here and bring your sister somewhere safe after you leave. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes," said the older girl. "I-"
"Onee-san!" the younger girl tightened her arms around her sister's waist. "I don't want-"
The older girl placed a hand over her mouth.
"Kimi-chan, this isn't the time to cry, alright?" said the older sister, though her own voice was shaking. "The nice monk is here to help us, so we have to do as he says."
The ghosts of the girls' parents looked like they were about to die all over again from heartbreak.
"Oh, my sweet girls." The mother attempted to hug her children only for her arms to phase right through them with neither of them feeling a thing.
"...Please take care of them," said the father to Reiji, who gave him an almost imperceptible nod that made him step back in surprise.
"Come on, let's go." Reiji bent down to allow the girl to cling to his back. "Hold on and close your eyes. Don't open them until I tap your shoulder."
Reiji brought the older sister down without issue. When she landed on the ground, he tapped her shoulder to tell her the coast was clear. She nodded silently to him before taking off into the night with her mother's ghost trailing behind her.
Kanae phased through a wall in the house with a grave expression on her face.
"The demons are nearly finished devouring the parents," she said. "Are the children safe?"
Reiji held up a single silent finger to tell her that there was one left.
He climbed back into the bedroom and allowed the younger sister to climb onto his back.
"Remember, Kimi-chan," he whispered. "Don't make a sound and don't open your eyes until I tap your shoulder."
Kimi nodded with tears still streaming down her face. She got onto Reiji's back and clung on for dear life as he descended the building.
The ghost of Kanae and her father followed them down, the latter of which thankfully seems to be rolling with the situation.
Everything was going smoothly until they reached the study window.
Kimi had apparently taken his instruction to close her eyes as more of a suggestion, because she let out a shrill scream the moment they passed the window to the study, no doubt having seen her parents' half-eaten corpses.
The demons stopped their feast to look at Reiji dangling outside the window with poor Kimi on his back.
"Oh, shit."
Reiji let go of his grip on the windowsill. He fell to the ground, landing hard on his feet just as a demon lunged burst through the window.
Shards of glass and splintered wood fell down on Reiji, and he ran as fast as he could with Kimi on his back before it could start raining demons too.
He made it a whole four steps before Kanae's voice made him reach for his sword.
"Above you!"
Reiji drew his sword from its sheath and swatted it above him as hard he could.
The clumsy strike hit the large demon who had pounced on him square in the gut. It failed to sever anything, but it still sent the demon tumbling to one side away from him with a little help from gravity.
"A sword?" the demon hissed, the meagre cut around his belly healing in an instant. "Odd thing for a monk to be carrying."
The two smaller demons leapt out from the same window to stand behind the large demon.
Every fibre of Reiji's being wanted to run, but he didn't like the idea of turning his back on these things when a little girl was on it. She could get easily grabbed, and it's not like he stood a chance in hell running away from these things anyhow.
"Uncertain times, can't hurt to be safe," said Reiji dryly. "I'm sure you understand."
The three demons let out a hearty laugh.
"Funny guy!" said one of the smaller demons.
"Wonder if he'll taste funny too," added his twin.
"This is great," said the large demon, cracking his knuckles. "We get two girls and some holy flesh for dessert."
"Sorry to disappoint, but the other girl's already long gone," said Reiji, tightening his grip on his sword. "It's just me and the small fry on my back now."
The looks of amusement on the demons' faces melted into a scowl.
"I knew we should've killed the girls first!" said one of the demon twins. "I knew it!"
"Okay, you know damn well they taste better if you bite into them while alive!" argued his twin. "We agreed to save them for last!"
"Shut it, both of you!" said the large demon. "We can't make the same mistake again." The nails on his hand turned into long claws. "Let's kill his monk and the pipsqueak before they can run."
"You could do that," said Reiji, slowly backing away with eyes fixed on the demons. His sweaty hands threatened to slip on the smooth handle of his cane sword. "But is this little girl on my back really worth the calories?"
"It's not about calories, it's about taste!" said one of the demon twins. "Females are much more delicious than men like you, especially if they're young like the pipsqueak!"
Reiji felt Kimi crying into his back, face buried in his collar and shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"Ah, I see." Reiji tried to sound as casual as possible. "So I'm guessing the big guy's going to get to eat her, right? He looks like he gets the lion's share."
The ghost of Kimi's father and Kanae both gave him a scrunched-up look of disgust that understandably screamed 'What the fuck?' at him. Reiji ignored them.
"Of course I am!" said the large demon, causing the twins behind him to stare at him with mouths agape.
"Wait, how come?!" said the twins in unison.
"Because it's you two's fault that the other one got away!" said the larger demon. "So I'm taking the remaining girl!"
"Didn't he also get to snack on the mother?" Reiji asked. "So, what, he gets all the ladies and you two are stuck sharing my filthy manflesh?"
"Yeah, that's right!" said the twins in unison. "It's not fair!"
"Huh?!" The larger demon turned his back on Reiji to stare down the twins. "You two have a problem with how I run things?! Don't forget who's the older brother here you two-headed dipshits!"
As the demons bickered among themselves, Reiji carefully backed away without making a noise. Once there was a reasonable distance between them, he turned tail and ran as fast as he could.
"That…actually worked?" The ghostly father ran beside him with a perplexed look on his face.
Reiji just shrugged in response, readjusting Kimi's position on his back as he did so.
"Komuso-san!" Kanae shouted. "Behind you!"
Reiji spun around with sword outstretched at neck height. The last foot of the blade hit its mark on the large demon's neck but only got halfway through before getting caught in what he assumed was the neck bone.
A mocking grin spread across the large demon's face. It grabbed the blade in its hand, preventing Reiji from pulling it out for another swing.
"You're a slippery one," said the demon. "I'm going to enjoy-umph!"
A hard kick between the legs by Reiji cut the demon off mid-sentence. It relinquished its grip on the blade to cradle its possibly ruptured testicles. Demon or not, it seems a kick to the groyne was enough to take a man down, if only for a moment.
Reiji push-kicked the demon off his blade while pulling back his sword, severing its head in a messy draw cut before running away from the demon twins on his tail.
"That demon isn't out yet," Kanae warned as she ran beside him. "Demons need to be beheaded by a special blade to stay dead."
Her words were proven right when Reiji glanced behind him to see the large demon screwing its own decapitated head back on, seemingly more annoyed than anything else.
"Of course they can heal," Reiji muttered under his breath.
"They're catching up!" the ghostly father screamed in panic. "Please, run faster!"
'Since when did ghosts get so damn pushy?' Reiji thought to himself, forcing his shaking legs to go faster.
"Behind you again!" Kanae shouted.
Reiji swung around to make another cut but was punched in the gut by one of the demon twins before he could. It felt like getting kicked by a hundred horses all at once, and he was sent flying through the air.
He landed on his side so as to not crush the little girl on his back. His grip on his sword somehow remained, but Kimi's hands slipped from his kimono and she tumbled several feet away from him.
When Reiji looked up from the ground, he saw the demon twins running towards the crying girl as she lay curled up on the ground.
"No!"
The next few seconds went by in a flash. One moment Reiji was on the ground scrambling to get up. In the next, he was in front of Kimi, sword held high in an unfamiliar stance while the demon twins' limbs flew in the air.
"Flower Breathing, Fourth Form." Reiji's body moved on its own once more to deliver a single twisting sword slash that severed both demons' heads. Their bloody droplets drifted through the air like newly shed flower petals. "Crimson Hanagoromo."
The words that came out of Reiji's mouth were in his own voice, but it was not him who said it. Confusion gave way to mild annoyance when he sensed the foreign presence pushing against his soul within his body. Like an extra kimono crammed into an already full bag.
'I don't appreciate getting possessed without permission, Kocho-san,' Reiji thought, trying to make his inner voice sound as disapproving as possible. 'But just this once, I'll let it slide.'
'My apologies, Komuso-san,' came Kanae's voice inside his head as she puppetted his body to raise his sword in a much more confident stance than his. 'But I remembered you saying something about possession and couldn't just stand idly by.'
"Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility."
Reiji's body moved again under Kanae's will and his permission. Shockwaves shot through his arm as she sliced up the already decapitated demons in front of them into tiny pieces before they could react.
'That should keep them from regenerating for a bit,' thought Kanae. 'By the way, this body's a lot more muscular than I thought it'd be.'
'There are better times to flirt, Kocho-san,' Reiji thought dryly before turning to Kimi and speaking aloud. "Kimi, I'll keep them occupied, so run!"
The girl froze in surprise for a moment before scrambling to her feet and running away. The ghost of her father gave Reiji a hasty bow before following her into the night.
The larger demon, now fully healed, sprinted towards Kimi but was cut off when Kanae sliced off its right arm with Reiji's body.
"Ah, what the hell?!" the large demon cried as it stumbled backwards. "Where did that come from?!"
The large demon threw a punch at Reiji only for him to gracefully evade to one side.
"Sixth Form: Whirling Peach," came Reiji's voice at Kanae's behest before his body delivered a whirling blow that severed the demon's other arm.
'Okay, why are you calling out your attacks?' Reiji thought.
Kanae's spirit gave the spiritual equivalent of a shrug within his body. 'It's a demon slayer tradition.'
The larger demon stumbled backwards, its face twisted into a scowl.
"You bastard!"
The demon's hair suddenly shot from its skull to be several metres long. It turned red and slick with blood and writhed around it as if alive. A dozen locks of it slithered through the air like flying snakes, threatening to wrap themselves around Reij's body.
'Oh my, he has a demon blood art,' Kanae thought before helping Reiji slice through all the hair and backflip away. 'That might be troublesome.'
'Excuse me, he has a what now?' Reiji thought.
'Some stronger demons can have supernatural abilities like this hair manipulation,' Kanae thought as she continued to cut any lock of bloody hair that got too close. 'Also, Komuso-san, when was the last time you sharpened this sword? A swordsman should take better care of their blade, you know."
'Oh, I'm sorry,' Reiji thought sarcastically. He felt the strain of every move Kanae made with the admittedly dull blade. 'I thought I'd be using this thing on wolves or maybe the occasional mugger, not fucking wizard demons from the bowls of hell!'
'My, my, you sure are vulgar for a monk.'
'We're speaking in my head so it doesn't count,' Reiji thought, knowing full well that it did.
Kanae weaved Reiji's body through a great stream of bloody hair, slicing through them like a scythe through a field as she did. When she reached the demon's body, she decapitated it in one swift strike.
Meanwhile the demon twins from before scrambled back to their feet. Their hair had also turned red and grown to absurd lengths, much of which were now looping around the dozen cuts Kanae had made to keep them in place like sewing threads.
The twins snarled at Reiji, their spit mixing with their blood as they frothed in rage. One of the twins decided to voice his displeasure.
"You'll pay for that you-omph!"
Reiji's body kicked the larger demon's head with such force that it shot straight into his younger brother's crotch like a giant bullet, cutting his rant short.
'Heh, nice one,' Reiji thought.
'Actually, I'm pretty sure that was you,' Kanae thought. 'Or maybe it wasn't? I must say, possession feels rather odd. It gets hard to tell who's doing what.'
'It's always like this,' Reiji thought back. 'Your spirit seems to be weirdly compatible with mine for us to be moving this well, though.'
'My, my, now who's flirting?' Kanae teased in his head before cutting one of the demon twins into three pieces with two moves.
The fight against the three demons raged on with the demons losing their heads more times than Reiji bothered to count. If Kanae was using a proper demon killing sword, these things would've been dead a hundred times over.
But since they weren't, the demons just kept on stitching their heads and body parts back no matter how many times they were severed, growing angrier each time.
'My lungs feel like they're on fire,' Reiji thought to Kanae. 'My ears feel like they're about to explode, every muscle in my body is in pain, and I'm pretty sure you're defying the laws of biology with some of these moves. How are you doing this in my body?'
'I'm using Total Concentration Breathing,' Kanae explained as she deflected a scythe blade made of bloody hair and severed the head it was attached to for the millionth time. 'It's a technique used by demon slayers to fight on the same level as demons. Your body hasn't been conditioned for it. That's why it hurts and why I can't fight as well as when I was alive.'
'You fought even better than this when you were alive?' Reiji thought, slightly alarmed. 'The hell kind of demon was able to take you out?'
'Pray that you never have to find out, Komuso-san.'
The turning point of the fight came when Kanae blocked a drill of bloody hair that left the blade of Reiji's sword significantly bent to one side.
'Well that can't be good,' Reiji thought, grimacing at his ruined sword.
'It might be best if we retreated now,' thought Kanae, her voice in his head turning serious. 'You may die at this rate even with my help.'
'No.' Reiji held up his bent sword. The act was fueled by his own will, as evidenced by how much the blade shook in his hand. 'Until a proper demon slayer comes by, you and I are the only thing keeping these demons from killing more people. We need to keep them occupied until then.'
Reiji felt his entire body shake in fear but held his ground. If he was going to join the spirits he once communed with now, then he might as well make a noble exit as he entered the afterlife.
'...You would've made a fine demon slayer, Komuso-san,' thought Kanae, steadying his shaking limbs through a burst of her own will. 'I'm with you until the end.'
'My name is Reiji Shiki,' thought Reiji. 'And thank you.'
Reiji readied his deformed sword up alongside Kanae inside him, fully prepared to fight for as long as the possession would hold.
A flash of white, pink, purple flew past his vision. Next thing he knew, a giant butterfly was floating in the air behind the three demons. Blood seeped from a dozen puncture wounds on each demon.
"Eh?"
Reiji blinked and realised that the giant butterfly was just patterns on a haori. For a moment he thought that it might've been Kanae until the wearer of the haori landed and revealed herself to be much, much shorter.
"You're a brave man, Komuso-san," said the petite woman, her voice soft, sing-song voice ringing in his ears like a lullaby. "But I'll take it from here."
The woman turned around and Reiji had to take a moment to confirm that he hadn't died and was looking at an angel of some sort. Her smiling face was pale and delicately beautiful, framed by black-purple hair tied into a ponytail in the back by a purple butterfly hair pin. Her deep purple eyes drew in his gaze, and he was grateful that she couldn't see him stare through the basket on his head.
Physical appearance aside, her soul was unlike anything he'd ever seen. There was great darkness in her. Grief and rage and hate so black that it would've consumed most people. But drowning it out was so much genuine kindness and compassion that it only served to highlight all the good inside her.
It was as if her soul was a black and white painting, where the presence of dark was only there to better showcase the utter brilliance of the light.
'Such a beautiful soul,' Reiji thought, completely forgetting that Kanae was inside him for a moment.
'Careful now,' thought Kanae, a hint of danger in her words. 'That's my little sister you're talking about.'
'Wait, that's Shinobu?'
The three demons Reiji had been fighting roared in rage. They turned around, hands clutching the bleeding puncture holes Shinobu had made in their neck.
"You little shit!" shouted the largest demon. "I'll-"
A mouthful of blood spurted out his throat before he could finish. He fell to his knees, as did his two brothers. Their rants and threats soon faded into incoherent screams of pain as their veins popped out from under their skin and their flesh became inflamed with purple rashes.
Shinobu watched them slowly die with an unwavering smile on her face, the emotions in her soul lighting up in righteous fury tinged by sadistic glee.
'What. The. Fuck?' Reiji thought. 'Do all demon slayers fight like this?'
'No, just her,' Kanae replied. 'So think twice before flirting, yeah?'
Shinobu twirled her bizarre stinger-like sword around her arm for seemingly no reason other than the show off before sheathing it.
"Are you alright there, Komuso-san?" she asked. "I'm sorry I couldn't come by earlier."
"Hmm? Oh, it's alright." Reiji tried to sheathe his sword but stopped when he remembered that it was bent out of shape. "I-Shi-!"
The first syllables of a word that wasn't his shot from his mouth. He had to bite his tongue to keep the rest from escaping. His body stumbled backwards. He dropped his sword to cup his hand over his bleeding mouth.
'Kocho-san?' Reiji thought. 'Was that you?'
'I'm sorry, Shiki-san,' came Kanae's voice inside his head. 'But I have to talk to Shinobu one more time. Please, lend me your voice!"
'I told you, no!' Reiji screamed inside his head. 'This isn't your call to make!'
Reiji stood shaking with his back hunched as he fought against the presence inside him.
"Komuso-san?" Shinobu tilted her head at him, the ethereal smile still on her face. "Are you hurt?"
'Get out,' Reiji's inner voice demanded. 'Get out of my head!'
'Please, Shiki-san!' Kanae pleaded. 'Just a few words, that's all I ask!'
'You are no longer welcomed in this body!'
In one violent surge of immense willpower, Reiji forced Kanae's spirit to shoot out through his chest. She landed on the ground without kicking up any dust and immediately looked up at him with pleading pale violet eyes.
"Please, Shiki-san!" she said, her presence unknown to her sister who was about to walk through her. "I need to-"
Reiji doubled over gasping for breath. His burning lungs felt as though they'd collapsed, and he found himself unable to suck in any significant amount of air. A repercussion of using Kanae's Total Concentration Breathing without proper conditioning, no doubt.
The desperate look on Kanae's transparent face gave way to panicked concern when Reiji collapsed onto his knees clutching his wheezing throat under his basket hat.
In moments, he was on the ground staring up at the crescent moon.
The last thing Reiji saw before unconsciousness took him was Shinobu's beautiful face, her expression a mix of curiosity and mild bewilderment as darkness drowned out his vision.
Taisho Era Secret!
Though he wasn't trained as a swordsman, Reiji Shiki has experience wielding swords for holy ceremonies back in the temple he used to live in. His sword dances are very acrobatic and graceful, but not necessarily useful for actual fighting.