Now I know it's you [KyouHaba]

Chapter 5

The village was even smaller than Yahaba imagined. It was situated at the end of a long dirt road in the mountains and was half-hidden in the forest. Looking at the few houses visible from the road, he wasn't surprised people believed their neighbours were getting killed by a demon. It's always hard to believe someone you meet every day could be a potential murderer.

"Why do we always end up in the middle of nowhere?" grunted Kyotani, looking over the buildings with displeasure.

Yahaba noticed that despite speaking rather calmly, the other man was squeezing the hilt of one of his swords so much his knuckles turned white.

"Do you feel anything?" he asked quietly.

One of the reasons Kyotani was such a good Slayer were his sharp senses. The Slayers were usually very perceptive even to the things invisible to the human eye, which gave them an advantage over many creatures they hunted and served as a great alert system. But Kyotani was exceptional, and Yahaba couldn't help but feel a bit jealous over the blond Hunter's abilities.

Kyotani looked around with narrowed eyes, scanning every house and tree.

"This place is weird," he said finally. "I don't know why, it's just ... it's creeping me out."

"Do you think it's really a demon?"

Kyotani shrugged.

"No idea. If it is, it's definitely not a common one."

"Well that's just great," grumbled Yahaba and dismounted.

They walked the last part on foot, taking in every detail of their surroundings. Ever since Kyotani mentioned the place being weird, Yahaba couldn't shake off the feeling something was lurking in the shadows around, watching their every step. At one point, he could even swear he saw a glint of yellow eyes in the bushes nearby, but when he turned there, he saw just the forest. He wrote it off as his mind playing tricks with him, but still, the cold shivers ran down his spine, and the feeling of being observed didn't go away either.

They were greeted by the village leader, a short older man with a wrinkled and troubled face. He bowed deep when Yahaba introduced them as Hunters Guild members, thanking him for coming while shaking his hand with a surprising force.

"It's horrible, really," the man whispered as if worried about unwanted ears hearing him. "Poor people, they didn't deserve a fate like that. They were good people, hard-working and honest."

"I was hoping you could tell us something more about the situation here," spoke up Yahaba while jabbing the frowning Kyotani to the ribs.

The man's face scrunched in fear.

"It's a demon, I tell you! No man is capable of such atrocity!"

He seemed fairly certain about his statement, but Yahaba wasn't so quick to judge. He'd seen people snapping before, doing things he considered unthinkable.

"Can we take a look at the bodies?" he asked, but already knowing the answer.

"I'm afraid we have already buried them. We don't have any place to store dead bodies. We have never needed it before."

"Can we see the places where it happened, then?"

The leader led them to the tiny house at the edge of the village before leaving them there alone so he 'didn't disturb their work'. According to him, it was the home of the first victim, a young man named Sato. Apparently, he was one of the strongest men in the village, and the leader spoke highly of him. He supposedly didn't have any enemies, but Yahaba didn't really expect to hear any different. If he wanted a true story, they'd have to ask around.

Yahaba took in the whole picture. It was a perfect spot for killing someone, quite isolated and with a possible escape route to the forest right behind it.

He took a deep breath and opened the door.

The inside of the house was surprisingly clean for a murder scene. There wasn't any broken furniture suggesting a fight, nor any blood splatters on the ground. The only exception being the bed with dark brown stain, approximately where a person would have their chest.

"So, Mr. Smart," spoke up Kyotani, making Yahaba jump up, "what do you think?"

"Don't call me that. I don't call you idiot either."

Kyotani smirked, not at all apologetically, and looked around the room.

"Can we do anything without seeing the bodies? I really don't want to go gravedigging."

Yahaba shuddered at the image of digging out the dead. He hoped they won't have to do that, but there might not be another choice. The bodies were crucial at identifying the nature of the killer, be it a monster or human. Without seeing what the supposed monster did to its victims, they could just guess.

"At least we know he didn't fight with it," he pondered. "He might let his killer in voluntarily, or it came through the windows. Though, if it is a demon, I guess the closed doors doesn't matter."

"So we don't know anything," stated Kyotani matter-of-factly, and Yahaba had to agree. He took out the parchment with the notes he took from the village leader's talking.

"It killed five people so far. All were all found in their beds face down and apparently died when they were home alone."

"Sexual demon?"

"It killed both men and women. If it was succubus or incubus, it would kill just one, right?"

Kyotani raised an eyebrow at him, which really shouldn't look so damn attractive.

"Maybe it fancies both ways."

Yahaba's cheeks turned pink, and he quickly avoided the other's eyes.

"O-ok, yeah ... right. Let's not eliminate the sexual demons yet, then. Yeah ... let's not, we don't want to make any mistakes, after all, right?"

Kyotani smirked, sending Yahaba's brain into panic mode.

"What are you so flustered about?"

"Nothing. None of your business. Let's focus, shall we? Anyway, they all had a wide straight cut in their sternum, but no other injuries. So either that is a cause of death, and they bled out, or the creature can suck out the life out of its victims somehow and then cut them for some reason."

"I've never heard about any demon doing that," frowned Kyotani. "I mean, why would it cut or stab them after they are dead?"

Yahaba had no answer for that.