Twin Flames

Riri's Story

The next month went by very slowly. Riri was hard at work every day, running for hours and building strength. She had learned how to hold a sword and had incredible form. Kyojuro was very impressed. However, her stamina and cardio needed a lot of work.

Riri walks inside the cabin after practicing with her sword. Kyojuro is chopping up an apple.

"Ahh, Riri!"

Riri sits at the table. She's completely worn out. Kyojuro sets the plate of apple slices in front of her. He takes one himself and bites it.

"Delicious!" He exclaims.

Riri can barely keep her eyes open.

"After you eat, are you ready to run?"

Riri looks up at Kyojuro.

"I'm so exhausted."

"I know you are, but you are very capable of growing stronger!" Kyojuro encourages.

Riri sighs. She takes a bite out of one of the apple slices.

"I want to run now so I can get this over with."

"You need to nourish your body first!" Kyojuro says.

Riri finishes her plate of apples. She walks outside with Kyojuro.

"Now remember to use your total concentration breathing! Eventually you will learn to do it constantly, but that's not until later!" Kyojuro exclaims.

Riri looks into the forest. Running through the entire thing and back takes so much time. She breathes in for four counts. She feels the air enter her lungs. She begins to run. Kyojuro smiles at her as she continues to go farther.

Riri runs into a trap. She jumps over it and rolls onto the ground.

"Ouch! There are so many sharp things everywhere!" 

She continues to run. She suddenly stops using total concentration breathing and falls to the ground. It's crazy how much energy it takes to use it. She gets back up and prepares to start breathing again. She runs as fast as she can; she wants to be done with this as soon as possible. She runs past a tree with very long and sharp branches. It gets caught on her clothes. She sighs. In attempt to detach from the tree, her clothes rip. Riri's stomach is revealed. She looks down at it. There's marks everywhere. She hates how her stomach looks. It's not flat or muscular enough.

"I can't be thinking about this right now. I have to keep going!"

Riri returns home, hours later. She's so tired. Kyojuro has miso soup and sweet potatoes for her. When she walks in the cabin she's completely out of breath. Her stomach is bleeding because of all the sharp objects in the forest.

"I'm gonna go wash up." Riri says as she walks out to the backyard.

After Riri washes up, she sits down at the table across from Kyojuro. He takes a bite of the sweet potatoes.

"Delicious!"

He takes another bite.

"Delicious!"

Riri smiles at him.

"He's so cute."

"Are you gonna eat anything?" Kyojuro asks as he looks at Riri staring at her food.

"I'm not really that hungry." Riri replies.

"You've been training all day! How are you not hungry?" Kyojuro asks.

Riri sighs. A tear begins rolling down her cheek.

"My body is not what a Demon Slayer's body should look like. I can't eat until I build more muscle."

"Riri, eating is what helps you build muscle!" Kyojuro exclaims.

"But if I don't have a flat stomach, my muscles won't show."

Kyojuro and Riri both sigh.

Riri begins to have a flashback

Riri's mother walks inside the house. She has some groceries. Riri walks over to the counter and opens the new bag of rice crackers. She sits at the table and begins eating. Riri's mother walks back in with more groceries. She drops the bags.

"Riri! Don't eat those!"

Riri looks back at her mother, confused.

"Mother, I haven't eaten in two days. May I please enjoy this snack?"

"You've barely lost any weight. Look at you! You need to look more like the other kids. You need to lose a few more pounds before enjoying a snack."

Riri sighs. She gets up and hands the bag of rice crackers back to her mother.

"Of course, mother."

The next few months go by. Riri tracks all of her food in a journal and her mother makes her record her weight three times a day. Riri gets to eat once every two days if she's lucky.

Riri gets home from school. She goes to the counter to grab an apple. Her mother comes up from behind her and slaps her with a wooden spoon. Riri drops the apple.

"You ate yesterday!"

"But mother, I reached my goal weight this morning." Riri explains.

"So what? Do you really want to gain it all back?"

Riri looks down at her body. She sighs.

"No mother."

Riri's mother snatches the apple and hides it away in the cupboard.

Another month goes by. Riri's hair is falling out, she's frail, her skin is peeling, and her face has lost its color. She refuses to eat even when she's allowed to. She needs to get skinnier. She walks into her mother's room so they can record her weight for the morning. Her mother is on the floor, lying in a pool of blood. Riri screams. She's so shocked, she faints. Her heart stops beating.

She wakes up in a hospital room. She doesn't know how she got there, but there's tons of medicines that have been injected into her body. The doctor walks in, with a bowl of soup.

"You're very malnourished. Here's some soup!"

"Will this make me fat?" Riri asks.

"No dear. This will help you get healthier."

"I need to be skinny to be healthy."

"You are very unhealthy right now. You need food in your system to be able to function."

Riri sighs.

"What happened to my mom?" Riri asks.

"She was murdered. The scene is currently being investigated."

Riri's face falls, but inside, she feels a weird sense of freedom.

"Please, eat up." The doctor says.

Riri holds the bowl up to her mouth and takes a sip.

"Oh my gosh this is so delicious."

She continues to drink the soup. The doctor smiles. He's proud of her.

The flashback ends

Riri begins to cry. Kyojuro rushes over to her. He kisses her forehead.

"Riri, you are healthy and beautiful. No Demon Slayer has the same body. Even if we all trained the same and ate the same, we would still look different! Something so unique about being a human is that we all look different!"

Riri smiles.

"Please, eat! You deserve it!"

Riri takes a bite of sweet potatoes.

"You will grow stronger!" Kyojuro exclaims.

"I love this boy so much." Riri thinks to herself.

Kyojuro and Riri both smile. They continue to eat together.