Ashen Demon

12

If there is one thing Byleth does not miss, is Kyojuro's greedy stomach. Only a day of traveling has passed, and they made a stop in a village to eat some food. Before then, they ran into a woman getting in trouble with the demon. Byleth managed to see Kyojuro in action, seeing how swift he moves and how he wields the katana. Compared to the rest of the Hashiras, it seems like he is the perfect balance. In other words, he is much more athletic compared to the rest.

They even heard rumors that involves the murders on the train, either as relation or referring to the same forty people gone missing so suddenly. Apparently, the murderer was being known as the 'Slasher'. Having overheard of the two talking while they are eating, the owner of the noodle shop hands them a tabloid about the 'Slasher'. Aside with how rumors go as it states, there was little to no new information that would help.

While Byleth paces herself with eating her own ramen, Kyojuro was slurping down bowl after bowl of ramen while yelling out 'Umai' after each slurp and bite of the tempura. She would worry about the money on them, given with the bowls that kept stacking but Kyojuro said he'll pay.

"Don't choke next time. It would be rather embarrassing to be killed by food stuck in your throat." Byleth said after finishing her fifth bowl of ramen, after patting Kyojuro's back when he started coughing. The broth, thankfully it wasn't the noodles itself, had gone down the wrong pipe in his vigorous slurping.

"If I choke to death by food, I would have no regrets!" Kyojuro grins.

"You're sounding like someone who would say the same thing." Byleth lightly smirks at him, instantly thinking about Rapheal and his love for food. "Either way, still a pitiful way to go from the living."

He just laughs boisterously.

"Say, Byleth! Have you asked the two about their thoughts on the matter?" Kyojuro then questions her, and Byleth knew he was referring to Douma and Rui. He can't just say their names out since the owner is there doing his usual business, and revealing the demons themselves is obviously a bad idea.

"They instantly believed it was the work of the Twelve Moons. The only problem, is if it's either the Lower Moon or an Upper Moon." Byleth tells him, purposely leaving out the 'demon' part to not spook the owner and the other lingering customers there. She taps her chin with her index finger in thought.

"I don't think it's one of the Upper Moons, personally, based on their abilities of sudden disappearances. So I think it might be a Lower Moon." she added as an afterthought.

"Is that so! Only one way to find out!" Kyojuro beams, just as a fellow demon slayer enters the shop and spotted the two.

 From there, they were given the information from what he had learned. With their next destination being the train station as the slayer left, both of them got up as the Hashira pays the food before leaving.

______________

Upon arrival, the station is empty with no sign of anyone lingering around. But it's to be expected given the recent disappearance of the people from the Mugen Train, so people who have heard of it would avoid coming here to not become part of the statistics. Either way, it gave off a very gloomy feeling in the air.

"What a dreary sight, don't you agree Byleth?" Kyojuro comments while smiling.

"Well-" Byleth began to say, only to be cut off by a young female voice.

"Demons aren't real!! Are you seriously bringing it up demons of all times right now?!"

It came from the young girl herself, who is with an old lady. Obviously from the looks of it, the old woman is most definitely her grandmother. Then she spotted the bento boxes, to which the two must be selling for the passengers. But given the situation right now, they were not meeting up the sales as they used to.