That night I heard a voice warning me. We brought you here out of boredom, or perhaps because your dedication was noticeable. Either way we want you to change the plot, open another possibility. Bring your curiosity to testify its consequences. But we will only give you one chance for a game changer. Just know that if you took a life from the hands of death, know fate will demand a compensation of equal value.

⁂

"Welcome to Tohsaka's"

I never understood what brought me there in the first place. The only thing I knew was that one day I was fantasising about a fan art I saw of my favourite anime and the next I was assisting a man, supposedly my father, at a jewel shop at an important city. I was dressed in strange Asian clothing. I had a whole different appearance, so young, a different face, another skin, other features. And I was speaking a language I had never learnt before. I thought I was dreaming; I even was waiting the time for waking up from a very realistic dream when a customer entered. In fact, it was a family.

"We're looking for a gift to our newest member" declared the man, the father. "My daughter has to have her very first jewel."

"Of course, sir. Sora, come here" called my supposed father. "Help this gentleman and his family for me."

"Yes, father" replied I, but when I turn to the girl I was struck by shock.

"Sir, this is my daughter. She's well versed in the meaning of gemstones. So, I leave you in good hands."

Since when I know about jewels, uh?

"It's a pleasure to be at your service, sir, madam, young miss" I vowed to them.

I knew this girl. I have seen her in many of the fanarts of my collection, more than in the original work. No way I'm caught in one of those universes. Even worst if this is the canon universe…

"You have lots of good luck showering you" I declared for covering my reaction. "Perhaps a peridot will suit you just fine. Or, well, do you travel a lot, sir? You can try a garnet instead."

I tried to give my best wishes for the future she will endure without giving away my total unfit in this world. I couldn't even fathom if this was a dream or one of those weird experiences only novels can give their readers. Nothing made sense for me.

"I wish for my new family to be protected and never being attacked by demons" the girl informed me. "I wish to protect them."

"I see" I mumbled, wondering in which point of the plot I was set in. "Your eyes are a pretty shade of blue. Sapphires would be just fine, but I guess turquois will be better. It is said that these gems can repel evil energy and brings serenity, wisdom, and hope."

"By any chance your eyes have a meaning too, young lady?" her mother asked me.

Why interesting herself in me when I was only the salesgirl.

"Oh, of course, madam" from where I know all of this? "That's why I always carry an amethyst piece with me. They mean calmness and astute character, even a remedy to drunkenness. A clear mind is always welcome."

"You certainly are a capable girl. Thanks for your help. Show us the turquois pieces you have."

With that the little exchange developed nicely to its very end between this secondary character and an extra never shown. With that exchange, I began to really experience this new life. That incident left me wishing I would end up being one of those fortunate people never meeting a demon. Just an extra living a very unflamboyant life here. But I was warned, how could I hope for something like that in the first place? Why, of all the nicer universes I could be thrown into, I was inserted in this? No matter what I did, I never escaped from there, stuck in a world that wasn't mine. Unable to return home. I was desperate to return, but all my efforts were in vain. Was meeting Makomo and selling her that piece of jewellery was that so call only opportunity? Was I just waiting for the perfect moment to pay my debt?

Day by day I got the chance to really understand my role in that family of more members than the two of us it had appeared to be. This girl I has playing had lost her mother while giving birth to her. Also, she had an older brother, the heir and only son of her father. A young man that wasn't fine, nor bright, nor wise. He was a gambler that knows no bonds or limits, which would dilapidate the small family fortune in the blink of an eye. We were going to be doomed the day he takes over the family. Fortunately for the other two daughters, marriage has taken them of this hellhole just in time. Father wasn't the head of the clan of skilled jewellers I was born in to. We were a tiny distant branch which was struggling to stablish its own business. Well, a branch of the only business the clan had. If succeeded, we would have like a capillary vein of the main business. I was practically engaged, promised to marry some indecent fellow that has twice or thrice my age. The only thing that made possible to not be officially married was my age. In a few years it wouldn't be a problem anymore and I would be sold off to our allies for no more than a bigger collaboration between our clans. My future wasn't exiting or promising, but at least my everyday life was normal and enjoyable as the days passed by.

Well, it was until a few months later. My seemingly peaceful life took a drastic turn for the worst, for the very thing I feared to happen one day. That fateful day I found myself running for my life, with the tools of my father and some of the hardest gemstones we had in my hands as my only weapons. I was leaving behind a demon feasting on my father's remaining, confident that he would catch me the moment he resumed his first meal of the night. I acknowledge that trying to escape was futile, that it was absurd to attack him. Demons are difficult to kill. Would a Demon Slayer appear soon? Did they just recently send someone, and my family would end up being an irremediable casualty in the meantime? But if I was able to make him wait till dawn… Perhaps, only perhaps, I would be left poor, unprotected and all alone, but not massacred.

⁂

The Slayer came just to see the demon banishing with the first rays of the morning. I was angry, resentful, sad, and injured. I tried to be civil to her because it was not her fault that the logistics of the Corps were so slow. She must have been the nearest Slayer in the region. She probably didn't have a wink of sleep just so any more victims were caused. I was the unfortunate victim that couldn't face the danger properly. I was the casualty between her assignment to this case and its conclusion…

"I'm sorry for your loss. It always makes me remember mine" she told me.

"Do you have a suggestion to where I can go now, onee-san. I don't have any relatives left, and I'm sure you can't take me in." I lied.

I hided my identity. I needed to be so far away from here by the time the villagers came out of their homes and recognised me as the last Tohsaka in town. I didn't want to be put under the care of that bastard I had for a fiancé. Neither I wished for living under the same roof as my brother, nor that of the Head of the Tohsaka Clan. With my lie, I aimed to make a change for good given the new, unexpected but horrible circumstances I was suddenly thrown into.

"Well, my master won't do for sure. He's living too far, and I have missions waiting for me. I'm not confident to send you on your own with that injury you've got. Sorry, I hope to arrive on time at the next one" she considered. "But I know exactly where to bring you. It's on the way of my next mission. Hop on my back, we will go faster that way."

⁂

One thing was sure at that time, but not because I would never arrive at her planned destination because of my condition. Fate sure had plans for me. In the middle of our journey, we encountered a man carrying a sick boy. A boy with spiky dark hair, dressed in a red haori too big for him. The man carrying him was dressed in a blue cloth with white clouds. He also was hiding his face behind a red tengu mask. A flash of my past got through my mind. A vivid memory suggested me that this boy and this man was some important characters in the plot. This encounter was fated, I was sure of it.

"Onee-san, I'm sorry. I can't continue like this. My injury stings so much. Please, leave me here. I don't want to be an obstacle for someone else's salvation. I'm grateful with what you have done for me." I declared with conviction.

"I can't leave you in the middle of the forest, Sora" she argued. "What's the point of your survival then? What about my responsibility?"

"Please, onee-san. You must save them. I'm sure my life isn't worth their disgrace. I wish I can do the things you do, that way I would be able to help, but I am not trained, not even healed. I'll only stopped you." I lamented.

I wasn't joking, but I really wanted to meet at least once with, I assumed, Urokodaki Sakonji and Tomioka Giyuu. The well-known water breathers in a different perspective from my past life.

"The only thing I can give up is my live…" my saviour began.

"No, onee-san. You need to cherish your live as much as the ones you save, your live is valuable because that allows you to save others" I exclaimed. There was no way she could think so lowly of herself. She was important for the sake of others, for the path she chose for herself. "Please, take care, onee-san. I'm thankful you arrive that day and saved my pitiful existence. Now, you should let me help you by…"

"I refuse. How can I do that?"

That would be easy to do but complicated to comprehend for her.

"Your charge is right, young Demon Slayer. Leave the girl to me" interjected the man near us. We were so immersed in our discussion that my companion, who was trained to do so, didn't notice him approaching. "My name is Urokodaki Sakonji. I'll take care of her. You may go and do your duty."

Upon the confirmation of his identity, I brightened up a little.

"Thank you, Urokodaki-san. I'm Sora, please take good care of me." I replied happily. "Don't worry, onee-san. I'll be all right with this mister. I sense he's a good person. I hope we will meet again someday. I wish to repay some of the goodwill I received from you. For now, please, take care. I promise I will be fine."

I was feeling unrealistic. Who the hell trust complete strangers so easily? But my only hope was no one found suspicious my quick agreement to all that. I was on my way to saw with my own eyes the beginning of one of the last Hashira of the Corps, one who would achieve some great things indeed. And survive to tell the tale.

~•~