Chapter 31: The First Mission
According to the established rules of the Demon Slayer Corps, lower-ranking swordsmen were required to form teams for their missions. Slayers below the rank of Tsuchinoe had to operate in groups of three or more, while those from Tsuchinoe to Kinoto were typically assigned in pairs. Only the highest-ranked Kinoe swordsmen and the Hashira were usually permitted to undertake missions alone.
However, both Kanzaki Akira and Makomo were leagues above the average Kinoe-ranked slayer. Akira, in particular, had already earned the deep respect of both the former Sound and Water Hashira. They believed his current strength was no less than their own when they had first ascended to the rank of Pillar.
Given this, Akira was genuinely surprised to find he was still being paired with Makomo for his first official assignment. With the Corps currently so short-staffed, such an arrangement seemed almost inefficient.
Still, he certainly wasn't going to complain. The chance to have a reliable teammate—and a beautiful one at that—was an opportunity he would never object to.
"Master Urokodaki, we're heading out for the mission now," Akira announced, bowing respectfully.
"Mm," the old man grunted from beneath his tengu mask. "Be careful. I wish you success in battle."
"Don't worry, Master."
Akira straightened up and gave a sharp nod. "Ink Shadow, lead the way. We're moving out."
"Caw!" his Kasugai Crow squawked in acknowledgment, launching into the air.
…
To conserve their stamina for the inevitable confrontation with a demon, the pair maintained a steady but unhurried pace. Even so, by the time they reached the outskirts of Matsuda Village, the sun was already bleeding into the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and violet.
"It seems we don't have much time left for an investigation," Makomo murmured, a hint of complaint in her voice as she watched the sunset. "I would have run faster if I'd known."
Once the sun disappeared completely, it would be the demon's time to hunt. Their window to gather information was closing rapidly.
"According to the intel from the crows, several households in this village have vanished recently," Akira recalled, mentally reviewing the report the Kakushi had compiled. "Entire families, disappearing overnight. No one saw a thing."
He, too, felt a bit adrift, unsure where to even begin their search.
", most of the other villagers are extremely reluctant to talk about it," Makomo added quietly.
"They probably think it's bad luck to even mention it," Akira mused. "Who knows. Let's find the Kakushi stationed here first. We need the latest intelligence."
"Mm."
They walked for a few more minutes, following Ink Shadow's lead, before Akira paused, a confused frown creasing his brow as he looked around.
"Ink Shadow, are you sure you didn't lead us the wrong way?"
They had planned to meet the Kakushi near the village entrance to get a more detailed briefing. Instead, his crow had guided them to a dilapidated, half-collapsed house on the edge of town.
Ink Shadow didn't deign to reply, merely casting a dismissive side-eye at Akira.
Just then, the rickety-looking wooden door creaked open a fraction, and a single, cautious eye peeked out from the shadows behind it. The eye looked strangely familiar.
Upon seeing Akira, it widened for a moment in recognition. The door was then pulled open slowly, revealing the person within.
Only then did the two slayers see the truth of the structure. The collapsed section was merely a clever disguise; the real house was the small, intact portion, its exterior weathered and textured to blend in with the surrounding ruin. Standing in the doorway was a figure clad in the full, face-concealing uniform of the Kakushi.
Though the uniform hid everything but their eyes, Akira's Super Sight immediately pierced the veil, and he understood the source of that faint familiarity. This was the woman he had saved from that grotesque, shell-backed demon weeks ago. He hadn't expected her to join the Kakushi. It was a pleasant, if minor, surprise.
But this wasn't the time for reunions. The sky was turning a deep, bruised purple, and the last vestiges of daylight were fading. The sooner they understood the demon, the sooner they could put an end to its terror.
"Is there any common characteristic among the missing villagers?" Akira asked, getting straight to the point. "For example, the order in which they disappeared, the number of people in their families, anything like that."
The Kakushi member spoke, her voice muffled by her mask. "Common points… those who disappeared were all families with children. And before they vanished, the child would always fall mysteriously ill. Then, the entire family would be gone. At first, the villagers thought the parents had just taken their children to see a doctor in another town, but as it kept happening, people started to realize something was terribly wrong."
The demon's method was becoming clear. It used the children as a point of entry, a way to infiltrate a household and silently slaughter everyone inside. The exact reason for this pattern was unknown, but for now, it wasn't important.
"What was the time interval between these disappearances?" Akira pressed.
"Anywhere from one to three days."
"Are there any such households left now? Families with sick children?"
"There are still a few households in the village with children, but I haven't heard of any of them being sick yet."
"Do you have a map of the village? Mark those families on it for us."
The Kakushi produced a simple, hand-drawn map that outlined the general layout of Matsuda Village. She quickly pointed out the several homes where children lived.
Looking at the scattered markings, Akira saw they were too spread out for one person to cover effectively. He had no choice but to split up with Makomo.
Although his enhanced eyesight allowed him to see from one end of the village to the other, the tightly packed houses created numerous blind spots.
"Alright," he said, finalizing their plan. "I'll take the high ground."
Akira found the tallest building in the village, positioning himself on its roof to keep as many of the marked houses as possible within his field of vision. Makomo, meanwhile, would patrol the streets below, covering the angles and alleyways he couldn't see.
As for whether standing so conspicuously would attract the demon's attention?
He was counting on it.
And so, as true night fell, the two began their silent vigil.
Hours crawled by. The village was still, wrapped in a blanket of oppressive silence. Nearly five hours had passed with no sign of movement, no hint of danger.
Just as Akira was subtly stretching his legs, stiff from standing motionless for so long, his eyes caught something. A shadow, cast by a nearby building, wasn't quite right. At the very edge of the umbra, where the darkness should have been fainter, one patch was unnaturally deep—a void within the gloom.
And it was moving.
As if sensing his gaze, the patch of darkness, which had been creeping along at a snail's pace, suddenly accelerated. Seeing this, Akira didn't hesitate.
"Makomo, to the south!" he called out, his voice a sharp command that cut through the night.
By the time his shout reached her, he was already in motion, his body a blur as he launched himself from the rooftop. In the next instant, he was above the unnatural shadow, his Nichirin Blade plunging downward.
"Aaaah—!"
A piercing, inhuman scream tore through the air as a deformed, stunted figure materialized from the darkness.
Akira's eyes narrowed. His thrust had only pierced the creature's collarbone from behind. Without a moment's pause, he twisted his body, converting the downward momentum into a vicious horizontal slash. The blade sang through the air, cleanly severing the demon's head from its shoulders. Its appearance was so grotesque it could have shared a meal with Hantengu himself.
By the time Makomo arrived, sword drawn, she only saw the demon's body beginning to crumble into ash.
"This is the demon?" she asked, her gaze taking in the bizarre sight.
It was barely over a meter tall, with a prominent, hunched bulge where its neck met its back—a feature that remained noticeable even after Akira had sliced through a part of it. Its body was emaciated, the right side afflicted with severe atrophy. What remained of its sallow, demonic face was already dissolving, its features contorting as it faded from existence. The entire creature was a picture of exceptional deformity.
"It has strong camouflage abilities," Akira explained, sheathing his blade. "If I'm not mistaken, it kills the child first, then disguises itself as the child to get close to the rest of the family." He gestured toward where the shadow had been. "It just can't hide its own shadow perfectly. It reveals a slight flaw when it moves quickly."
Akira had spotted that subtle distortion, which was why he had aimed his attack just above the shadow itself. He just hadn't anticipated the demon's body would be so misshapen. He had mistaken the hunch on its back for its head, causing his strike, originally aimed for the neck, to land on its collarbone instead.
As he finished speaking, the last of the demon's form dissolved into nothingness.
"Mission accomplished," Akira said, his tone light and easy. "Time to clock out and go home."
His first mission had been resolved with surprising ease. The greatest difficulty in dealing with this demon was simply finding it. For his uniquely gifted eyes, that task wasn't particularly hard, but an average Kinoe-ranked slayer might have been completely unable to discover a demon with such chameleon-like abilities.
"Sigh, I should have expected this," Makomo said, putting her own sword away. "Going on a mission with you gives me no sense of participation at all."
Though her tone was laced with mock resentment, the playful glint in her eyes told Akira she was only joking.
"My apologies for being too strong," he replied with a wry smile. "And it's not like you had no sense of participation. Didn't you patrol for several hours?"
"But it didn't have any effect at all."
"How could it have no effect?" he teased, leaning closer. "At the very least… it let you get some exercise, didn't it? Haha!"
"You—stop right there!"
After a few moments of playful chasing under the moonlight, they returned to the hidden safe house. After confirming with the Kakushi that they would monitor the village for a few more nights to ensure no other demons were present, the two began their journey back toward Mount Sagiri.
On the way, the cheerful atmosphere slowly faded into a comfortable silence. It was Makomo who finally broke it, her voice softer than before.
"Akira… are you about to leave?"
He glanced at her, not surprised by the question. "Mm. I'll say goodbye to Master Urokodaki, Sabito, and the others once we get back."
This had always been his plan. Since she had asked, there was no reason to hide it.
"I've learned most of the forms and essentials of Water Breathing," he explained. "What's left is constant polishing and figuring out how to integrate it with my Thunder Breathing. Besides," he added, his gaze turning distant, "while I've enjoyed our time together, it's been nearly a month since the Final Selection. I need to go back and check on the old man at home. Otherwise, I'm afraid he'll get bored all by himself."
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