18 red hornet
A young woman, lazily reading a collection of books, sighed in relief. She had just finished reading the history of US presidents and reread an old folktale about a giant falcon who caused headache during Emperor Koan's reign.
"That noble is exactly my type. This story would be perfection without the chief's daughter. She didn't even the guts to confess her love to him in the end." She scoffed. Her train of thought was disrupted when a maid knocked on the door.
"Enter" the princess decreed.
The maid obeyed her command and entered, stepping delicately. "Pardon the intrusion, my lady. The Queen requests you meet her by the tea garden." The servant bowed and left swiftly.
The princess went towards her room and prepped herself properly. While applying make-up onto herself, she couldn't help but admire herself in the mirror. Her dark brown eyes beamed with life upon recalling the festival the day before. She loved the perks being born into royalty. In this case, she got all her food for free. While she preferred the comfort of her own home, she made sure to be friendly towards everyone she met during her public appearances. After she done her final touches, she combed her charcoal black hair, followed with tying it into a ponytail. She went through her wardrobe and picked out a long red dress that covered her entire body except the arms. Afterwards, she hurried to the tea garden, residing near a cliff.
You've made it. Come, join me." The Queen gestured her daughter. The heiress hastened her steps to reach her mother. They stood at the edge of the teahouse and looked at the horizon. "What do you see?"
"I see, the natural beauty of our prefecture. The beaches, the lustrous hillsides, the abundance of forests and the ocean. Along with the nice breeze and the morning sun, there's nowhere else I'd rather be." She declared, leaning against her mother's arm.
"While all your answers are perfectly acceptable. However, I had hope you'd focus on the people. Look how far we've come since its founding. We moved past the days of Daimyo's and the shoguns. Those fools were rightfully stripped of their power for opposing Emperor's Mutsuhito vision. Bless his soul. Since then, Emperor's son has been tasked to maintain the momentum of his father's vision of our country catching up with the world. It is our job as Kazoku to implement said policies locally. Everything I've built will become yours someday. You will see the completion of our military bases, and continue supporting foreigners and their businesses. When you become Kazoku, our land will become the face of the country, alongside Tokyo. That is the future I seen under your rule. Our country mustn't regress to the old ways. Do you understand, Sarah?
"Yes mother. A lot has changed these past few years. I wonder how Yuki would react to all these changes?" The dark eyed heiress wondered. She winced when she felt her shoulder being gripped by her mom's hand.
"Do you find fulfillment invoking that name?" The queen demanded.
"It's just, three years have passed and surely, he'd deem our home unrecognizable." She stammered, back away from her mother.
"Three years since his passing, and you still won't move on." The queen raised her voice, her face darkened.
"He may not have been a good prince, but he was the best brother. Besides, he's still out there. I saw him with my own eyes." Sarah wailed. She paused once her mother's fist raised in the air. Sarah never understood where this relentless wrath her mom had towards her big brother.
"I've heard enough! Since you won't move on willingly, allow me to give you a choice" Sarah's mom declared, nodding to a servant. He brought forth a giant cage towards the women.
"You can't do this! It's all we have left of him!" Sarah yelled desperately. She rushed towards the cage, but the servant stops her.
"You may continue dwelling in the past. Or, you can look ahead for the interest of your people's future. Either way, this is the last time I hear that name mentioned in my presence. Do I make myself clear?" The queen growled.
"Yes, mother." The younger Subachi whimpered.
"Good. When you're done, meet me at the front door. Your father will be arriving today from the ports." The head of the family strutted down the steps from the garden to the inside.
The charcoal-hair heiress looked at her mother's direction and back to the cage. The bird residing in the cage had been with them for as long as she could remember. The Subachi siblings let it spread it wings and fly outside to its hearts content. These days, Sarah had less time to look after the bird, leaving its well-being to her servants. She couldn't bear the thought of a treasured family member living its remaining life imprisoned. After taking a deep breath, she removed the blanket covering the cage and stared at her old friend.
Following the sound of chimes, a swordswoman returned to the rendezvous, the sun eked out of the night. A new dawn had arrived, the week-long trial that was the final selection had concluded. The tsuguko looked around, noting the number of participants went from twenty to only four, including herself. She was not one to start small talk, let alone open up to strangers. She made a mental note of keeping her distance from a boy wearing a purple shirt. This boy had a buzz save for the top of his head. She felt pity for him due to the scar that ran from his right ear to his nose. The tsuguko didn't approve of the boy showing disrespect to one of the children of the Ubuyashiki family by pulling onto their hair, but said nothing.
Once she accepted her crow and selected her ore, she took her leave for she had no further reason to stick around. Her walk home was nothing eventful, save for a bird soaring through the afternoon sky. The only other person around was a boy wearing a blue haori with a cloud pattern. She counted herself fortunate to have made it out of the final selection with no major injuries. The tsuguko wasn't worried in the slightest for she had the training of two hashira's. Speaking of injuries, the boy in the blue kimono had somehow caught up with her, hastily limping towards his destination. What caught her eye were hanafuda earrings that had a red sun drawn in. As pitiful as she found the boy, she hoped he would get checkup as soon as possible. If she could, she'd point to him the directions to the nearest wisteria house or lead him to the butterfly mansion. Alas, she wasn't able to voice her concern. Instead, she took a left turn into the forest. She felt a chill run through her body. It had been one week since she took off from home but was looking forward to reuniting her sisters, including that boy.
The dull eye boy looked up at the evening sky, admiring the clouds and an ocean of orange from above. He felt proud to have mended the hole within the butterfly estate due to his senior's absence. With Shinobu back to herself and the return of her sister, the former heir knew their spirits wouldn't falter in his absence. With that said, the pressure of passing as the Insect hashira's second student and as her first male student, started to sink in. The cry of a bird disrupted his train of thought. He smiled softly once he heard the girls arriving by his shed.
"Ara ara. Don't tell me you gotten cold feet. Right, my little bumblebee?" Shinobu smirked, looking up at her student.
"Sorry. I was reminiscent of my childhood. The number of birds reminded me of a tournament." Yuki hopped down from the storage roof. Out of consideration for everyone, he sat on his knees to see Kanao and the others at eye level.
"Hi everyone." Yuki smiled softly towards everyone and gazed at his senior. "It's been a while, Tsuyuri-chan.
"Subachi-kun." Kanao quipped. Her blank stare and tone indicated she was done talking to him and turned to Shinobu and the other girls.
"Look at us. We're all one big happy family again." The Insect hashira stated proudly, wrapping her arms around her younger sister, prompting the girls to huddle in.
He scooted back to give them their space. A sad smile formed on his face, wanting to show support but didn't want to disturb the moment. Just then, Shinobu looked up and observed her student's inner conflict. She took it upon herself to answer for him by nudging her head forward, asking him to join the group hug. The dull eye boy shook his head, but caved once he saw his teachers face darkened over his disobedience. Once he wrapped his arms around her and Aoi, only then did his teacher's expression relaxed.
"Today's the big day. I'll be going to the final selection, meaning I won't see you for a whole week. Now that Kanao is back, I can leave you in the women's care. You're in good hands. Maybe by next week, you'll finally wake up. I'll be back, Haruno-san. I promise." The former heir spoke to his head servant and knelt down, followed with a hug.
After a moment, he stood up and carefully walked outside the room. He made it to the main gates when he saw butterfly girls standing around.
"We're going to miss you, Tāke-kun" The triplets cried.
"It's okay. A week will pass by before you know it" He sat on his knees as he rubbed their heads before turning to Aoi. "I'll miss you. Please keep looking after Haruno-san when Miss Shinobu can't." He smiled softly, rubbing the head nurse's head as well. Several minutes later, he stood up and was ready to head out with Shinobu. The Insect hashira guided them to a detour, an array of trees, leading to their destination within an hour. They leaped branch by branch until until spotting a long stairway towards a hill.
"What is this place? It's so pretty!" Yuki wowed in amazement.
The base of the stairs was nothing impressive, apart from a set of red beam poles with talisman hanging in the middle. However, the top the stair revealed a pair of giant purplish-pink trees.
"What are those up there?" He shouted.
Why, that is a Wisteria tree. It's the core ingredient behind all my poisons. And they happen to be my favorite flower." Shinobu stated matter-of-factly.
"Whoa! Crazy how you owe thanks to such a tiny flower." Yuki said bluntly.
"Careful, my dear student. I just might give you a handicap." Shinobu spoke sweetly. Yet, her darkened expression said otherwise.
"No thank you. Seeing the world without color was more than a handicap. Shall we head to the top?" Yuki suggested. His mentor nodded and walked up first.
"I think I'll stay here. But first, please give me your swords." She requested. He offered his weapons, the pair of nichirin swords incapable of beheading demons, in exchange for unleashing lethal poison to the enemy. She observed the condition of the original swords.
"Goodness, these swords are on the verge of splitting. It's a good thing I prepared in advance." She then revealed a box with a pair of new swords. They were near replica of her own.
"Wow, these are just like your old swords" He exclaimed.
Almost. I figured you'd appreciate bigger hilts since you're a big boy. Plus, I provided you with enough wisteria poison to get you through the week."
"Thank you so much, for everything, master" Yuki hugged her after accepting the katanas. He trembled out of nervousness.
"Trust yourself and the skills you've acquired all these years." Shinobu whispered. "Please, return to us. The only requirement is to survive." As she prepared to step back, her hands found themselves desperately clinging onto the former heir's haori. She gave him a flustered expression, unable to explain her sudden clinginess. Much to her relief, he simply nodded.
"I promise. See you soon, Miss Shinobu." Yuki smiled innocently before standing up and climbed the stairs.
After several minutes of continuous climbing, he finally arrived at the top. He was breath taken from the abundance of wisteria trees. The flowers gave a purple-pink hue within the area. As he observed his surroundings, the participants who arrived earlier were now entering the forest. The ones furthest from the entrance turned around and gawked at the new participant before them: An imposing giant, donned in a yellow haori with long brown hair and brown eyes, equipped with two swords. Despite his improved stature, the former heir remained a gentle giant at heart.
"Caw, I'm Shinobu crow. I haven't dropped by in a while but here is my taisho era secret: Until a week ago, this place was run by a giant demon with hands all over its body. A boy with hanafuda earrings did the impossible and beheaded it. With that demon out of the way, this should make the odds of survival that much greater. Wouldn't you say?" The bird turned to Yuki.
"Indeed. I don't know if I'm allowed help from the outside world, but it was great seeing you again. Thanks for the good news. Next time on chapter 19: A day in the wisteria forest. Well, if Kanao was able to survive, how bad can it be? See you next time" The former heir waved goodbye.
WanderingTree here,
This is possibly the shortest chapter I have written in a while. Gotta admit, it was kind of a challenge, but I'm glad I did it. Part of the reason it took a while to complete this chapter was the research of Japanese history. It's been a bit tricky to dive into the historical lenses of the Taisho era as well as remnants of the Meiji era. All in all, I hope I'm doing a good job putting these events on the spotlight without straying too far from the core of Demon Slayer. Another reason for the delay was because I felt a bit burnout of demon slayer. I wouldn't say I'm over it, but I definitely needed a break from it which is a good thing i'm checking other series such as Sakamoto Days. Brainstorming ideas to write this story can be overwhelming at times but now that I finish this chapter, I can get back to drawing.
Storywise, we've now entered the final selection. This arc will be interesting because I don't plan to make long arcs like the introductory and the 2 year timeskip. Without the Hand Demon, we'll have a new big bad for this arc. I hope this'll be a satisfactory read. I'll also start introducing some more OC's from here. I'll be honest, these OC's aren't made to join Yuki the same way Inosuke and Zenitsu do with Tanjiro. The OC's here will come and go, with a few exceptions.
I don't have much else to say other than I signed up for a volunteer gig. We'll see if I get accepted or not. That's all I have worthing sharing. Thank you all for reading what I share here, let alone my story.
Enjoy your day and stay safe.