Tsunami of Dead Tears: Part 2

Chapter 26

Giyuu stood over two bodies covered in white sheets. It had started to rain quite a bit, but that didn't help wash off the blood seeping through the sheets. The sky was beginning to glow. Morning was coming very soon.

"Tomioka-sama, you're drenched!" a slayer said, suddenly running up to him and holding an umbrella over him. The rain had been more violent than expected, so a few puddles of water had formed around Giyuu's feet.

Giyuu didn't turn to meet his eyes, but spoke anyway. "Who sent you?"

"Kochou-sama!" the slayer answered over the sound of pouring rain. "She said that you would get sick if you stayed like this!"

Giyuu smiled internally, but his physical mouth didn't move a muscle. "If she really doesn't want me to catch a cold of all things, tell her to do it herself."

"She's quite busy at the moment." the slayer clarified. "She's tending to one of the slayers. Also..."

Giyuu had been doing nothing but staring at the two bodies for a long while now, so the slayer was unsure whether now was the best time to break the bad news. "The body count has been confirmed."

Giyuu let the silence hang in the air, then finally spoke once again. "How many slayers did I murder?"

The slayer hesitated. "P-pardon, sir?"

Giyuu motioned his head up slightly. "How many slayers died because of me?"

Afraid that a direct answer would only fuel Giyuu's melancholy, the slayer gulped and paraphrased. "Uh... the demons have killed about..."

The slayer caught a gasp from his mouth as he remembered the amount of deceased. He hadn't expected so many of them dead.

"Say it." Giyuu muttered softly, not moving a muscle.

"I-uh..." the slayer stuttered. They both stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds.

"I said SPIT OUT, SLAYER!" Giyuu yelled, causing the slayer to jump back and drop the umbrella, which splashed on the ground.

"700!" the slayer said. "The demons killed about 700 of our forces..."

Giyuu remained still, the lack of an umbrella drenching his haori once again. Rain droplets slid down his scalp down to the tips of his hair, making the entirety of it look long and brooding, each strand of hair pointing straight down.

"That means..." Giyuu muttered. "We only have three hundred slayers left alive."

The slayer picked up the fallen umbrella and looked down, not bothering to try and shield Giyuu from the rain again. "Unfortunately... hai."

Giyuu snorted and looked to his right. There, the rest of the three hundred slayers were carrying their dead and burying them, all while mother nature was pouring on them from the heavens. Some were still crying, some had already accepted the death of their loved ones. All of them seemed to have dark shades under their eyes. Their lack of sleep throughout the entire night of burying corpses was only one of the causes.

"Slayer..." Giyuu said, making the slayer look up. "prepare a fresh uniform for me at the mansion, along with a dark cloak. Any cloak you can find. Gloves and a black mask too."

"Y-yes, Tomioka-sama." the slayer said, reluctantly bowing.

He proceeded to walk back to the mansion, but Giyuu raised his hand at the last second.

"One more thing." he said. "Don't... tell anyone. Not even Shinobu."

Although confused, the slayer nodded again, disappearing in the slight fog that the rain had caused. Giyuu sighed in relief, then looked down again.