Cycle // Giyushino

Under Investigation

Tomioka's POV:

Damn it, Kocho! As I dropped down from the top of the cavern, I saw Kocho pass out. I saw blood drip down from her long-drawn cut on her forearm. I assumed that she got cut by Aiko's nails. As I fell down, I gripped my sword tightly and yelled, "Water Wheel!" I quickly slashed down Aiko's wrists and quickly severed her head before she got a reaction. As I landed, I ran down to Kocho, who was a few feet inches away from Aiko. "Kocho! Wake up! Kocho didn't wake up. I quickly checked her wrists and neck and luckily, found a pulse. I sighed in relief and bandaged her forearm with Kocho's scarf.  

"Hm, you two are very lucky to have each other", Aiko said as her body began to vanish. "You know, I was very lonely." "Yes because of being you." I then commented, "Well because of being you, you deserve this." "I guess so,"

"No one appreciated me until he came." "Him?" 

"Yes, my master. He was very kind. He allowed me to become strong so that I am able to defend myself. He made me strong by giving me indestructible nails, for the only thing that made me feel pretty was my nails."

"If your master gave you nails, where did the tea come from? How did you make my partner and I not realize how 20 minutes are actually hours passing by?"I asked. Before her full head disappeared, she replied, "I guess, we'll never know." She chuckled until all the parts of her vanished. 

"Dammit, I'll figure it out." I then proceeded to tend Kocho and called the Kakushi (AN: 1) to clean up the mess. As I finished, the clean-up crew proceeded to clean up the mess and the small village. I left Kocho to the care of Kanao, who went along with the Kakushi to tend her beloved sister herself (AN:2)

I walked out of the cavern and re-entered "The Den" restaurant. I looked around and everything looked completely normal. I take that back, except the fact I see vomit? As I continued to walk up the stairs, I remembered it was Kocho's, who quickly ran out of the room when we saw the piles of corpses earlier. I hope she's okay now. I brushed it off my mind and quickly ran up the stairs cautiously. I opened Aiko's former room and entered. I walked inside and headed straight to the kitchen. I opened all the cabinets which all had nothing in them. I then decided to check the floor for hidden compartments. Luckily, I found an unusual spot. I took the wooden slab out and reached in. As I reached in, I grabbed a very small box.

Inside the box, there was a small container with some kind of liquid. I took a sniff from it and it smelled like tea. Black tea? No. White tea? No. Wait, wait. It's green tea? I took another sniff from it and I assumed it was green tea. However, I have this feeling there are other components added here. I now conclude that the substances contained in this "tea" have some kind of delaying of time effect that made us confuse. Before I returned it back to the box, I looked under it to see what ingredients were added. However, I did not find an ingredients list but initials. LT & Y? Who are they? Aiko must have probably stolen it from them. I then proceeded to leave the room and return to Oyakata-sama.

**time skip to Oyakata-sama's residence

"Welcome back, child!" I took a kneel down. "I hope you are doing well?" 

"Yes, Oyakata-sama. I am feeling fine. I assume you are waiting for my mission report? He nodded in agreement. "On December 29, Shinobu Kocho and I set off to defeat a demon lurking in the northwest of Japan. We both set off together at 9 am and reached the small village of about 30 or less. We both got into a restaurant and got drugged. Somehow,  both of us thought we spent 20 minutes talking instead of hours. And-"