yokai | t. giyu, douma & k. muzan

十七

Instead of sleeping, Sakura contemplated on whether or not, digging a hole on the floor of her room to save the other girls from Daki's obi was a good decision or not. She was afraid of two things: One, to defy Muzan for the second time. And two, Sakura didn't know how to fight. In terms of who came first, Daki arrived before she could. Sakura thought, she must have received more blood from Muzan than she did. In that sense, Sakura hoped that Inoko would find Daki's feeding ground and free the other girls.

All along, Sakura knew that Inoko was no ordinary girl. For Inoko had an aura that resembled to the hashira novice she fought last year. The one who stabbed her with wisteria seed poison.

Slowly, the sliding door to her room opened, both Himari and Tsumigi peaked their eyes to see if Sakura is inside.

"Oiran, have you heard from Makio?" Himari asks

Turning her head to face them, she gave the two girls a small smile before shaking her head. "Let's give her some time. One day, she'll open up to us." She told the two of them before patting the soft red cushions with her hand.

"Want to help me with my hair? I'm going to meet a client tonight." She says and immediately the two girls entered her room with Tsumigi closing the sliding door behind her.

. . . . . . . . . . ♡

"Have you heard the cherry blossom demon?"

"I haven't...but what about it?"

"They say that if you pray to her and tell her about your troubles with a guy, she'll drag the guy to hell. I heard from a friend that she decided to test this rumor, it really worked!"

"You know I really don't believe in rumors..."

Giyuu walked down the market with the intention of buying a fruit bread. But instead of getting a fruit bread, all he received was a rumor about this cherry blossom demon. Not that he listened to their conversation, their voices was just too loud, hence he picked up every piece about they were talking about.

"Have you ever seen this cherry blossom demon?"

"Not yet. She's really good at hiding. Some say she's a very pretty oiran, but come on, oirans have little to no rest days."

Sighing softly, he continued to walk down the path while looking for other bakeries that sells fruit bread. But Giyuu couldn't deny it, the cherry blossom demon is indeed true. And he's been ordered to investigate more about the said demon.

"Did you hear that?" Sakura asks, turning her head to look at the sliding door as she heard a loud ruckus coming from the halls downstairs. A high pitched scream broke the silence.

"A monster! There's a monster!"

Feeling slightly threatened, Sakura flew her mind out to see who was making the commotion inside the house - it was Inoko wearing a boar head with two swords in each hand. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and began to dig a hole when he found Daki's feeding ground. A smile instantly paints her lips before bringing her mind back inside her head.

"Let's not worry about that, Himari, Tsumigi. Mother will have it solved." She says, caressing their cheeks in her hands. Both Himari and Tsumigi made a hum and continued to help Sakura with her kimono and obi. And out of nowhere, a courtesan opened her sliding door with a look of panic and fear painting her face.

"Oiran, we have to get out of here! Yoshiwara is burning!"

Getting up on her feet and wearing her slippers, Sakura held both Himari and Tsumigi's hands while running out of the house. Upon exiting through the front door, it was just like what the courtesan told her - Yoshiwara is indeed burning. Thick, black smoke engulfing around them as bright orange flames burned house to house and people evacuating through the front gate. Though everyone looked terrified for their lives, Sakura had a smile on her face.