~Nobody Else~ { M. Tokito}

Chapter 23 - A chance that never was

"...What?" Atsumi stared at her brother, Sora, in shock.

Just a minute ago, she had been thrilled to see her eldest sibling after weeks, but she really didn't expect to be hit with such news. Her sister Chiyo was killed in battle against multiple demons. Sora was there, too, but too occupied to help his sister, leaving her to fight two demons on her own.

"Why am I so damn useless?" Sora gritted his teeth, knuckles turning white from the tightness of his clenched fists.

Atsumi placed a hand on his arm. "You're not useless, Sora."

"I'm not? This is the second time I've seen my family die in front of me. And I didn't even help her." Turning his head away, he choked back a cry.

"I'm still here, though. And so is Koane, and mom and dad. Yeah, we may not live with them, but as far as we know, they're still alive and well."

Wiping his damp eyes, Sora faced his sister. "You're right. But for how much longer? We have no idea when we could lose them."

A silence fell between the two. Atsumi knew how true her brother's words were. The thought of your life being taken away at any moment lingered in the back of her head every now and then, and only now had it become more clear to her.

"You're right... I have to go."

Sora looked at her confused. "Right now? I just got back, we can't talk for a little bit?"

"Sorry, but it's important. We'll hang out later, okay?"

Sighing, her brother agreed, watching his sister run out the front door.

• • •

"Oh, where is he, where is he?"

Atsumi was on a search for the Flame Hashira, the man she felt could be the one for her, but everyone she asked if they'd seen him came up with nothing.

That's when she saw the Haori of someone she briefly knew by the training area. "Hattori-san!"

The woman turned around as Atsumi ran towards her. She had long, silky black hair, and red eyes like that of fine wine. "Takahashi? Hello." The woman gave a small smile. "It's been some time since we've last met."

"Yeah, I know, right? Hey, I'm looking for Rengoku-sama. Have you seen him by any chance?"

Hattori narrowed her eyes at Atsumi for a bread moment, though it went unnoticed. " I haven't. Why?"

"Oh, well... I just wanted to ask him something. But I bet he's busy. Bye, Hattori-san."

"Bye." Hattori waved her goodbye, lowering it slowly before heading into the training area.

Atsumi, thinking another Hashira would most likely know his whereabouts, went to the butterfly mansion to ask shinobu if she'd seen or heard from Rengoku. At the entrance, she saw Kanao, Shinobu's Tsuguko, sitting on the ledge with her arm outstretched, letting a bird eat out if her palm.

"Hi, Kanao," Atsumi said as she approached the girl.

She just looked up at her with a smile. Atsumi always thought that she and her mentor looked like the could be related.

"Is Shinobu inside? I need to ask her something important."

The girl said nothing, instead taking the coin that was in her palm and flipping it. It spun rapidly in the air, and when it came down, nothing changed. Kanao stayed silent.