⊱ ❅Clouded Judgement ❅⊰ | ❆ - • A Demon Slayer Story • - ❆

Chapter 2.

This would have been the end of my pathetic existence. It should have been. The moment silence fell over me, I accepted that it was over me. After all, didn't I deserve it? Didn't I deserve to suffer such an anticlimatic death after what I had done? After not crying when parts of my own mothers face flew into mine? To do this day, I wish I had cried to the death of a loved one just once. Maybe it was because I was emotionally overwhelmed and yet so distant from heavier concepts such as death.

But at that moment, I wished for death to come quick. That time, the concept was clear and graspable to me. But it didn't. It didn't come for me. I remember waking up approximately four hours later. I was in a small space, filled to the brim with other people, most of which were children. The space was tight and loud, and the people were screaming in a wild panic. Some tripped on each others feet and legs, fell on their faces and continued yelling and crying with bloody noses. Others had their panic attacks in the corners. What was going on? Where were we?

"Oh, have you just woken up?" A voice asked next to me. How did I not notice him before? His voice sounded welcoming and kind, and even though he was clearly frightened aswell, he put his arm around my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me. An unnecessary gesture, but he did a convincing job of maintaining a false composure.

"We're in here to be transported to an abandoned village of demons. This seems like a traditional thing, but it seems the vehicle has stopped in the middle of the forest!" He explained to me with a surprisingly nice tone in his voice. Oddly enough, there was no malice behind his words for once, which was a refreshing experience. He was being honest and helpful, in a cold and cruel world such as this one?

And demons? Right, the man from before brought it up too. I was more concerned about my safety than anything else however.

"Can we leave?" I ignorantly asked. He laughed at me, right in my face.
"No, we can't" he answered, "but if we're already dying, wanna tell me your name so I get to take it to my grave?"

Despite such bleak words, he sounded cheerful and optimistic. It was obviously nothing more than a facade, but at the time I was impressed by his positive composure.

"My name is.. Noriyuki, I think." I told him after an excruciating pause.
"Nice to meet you, Nori. My name is Sho-.."
He stopped himself and hesitantly continued; "..Kiseki Shota."

And that's how we accidentally met for the first time. We all had to stay in that vehicle for six more hours. Many died of starvation, and I was on the verge aswell, but Kiseki had fruit with him. Cherries. I'm still not sure how he managed to sneak those in there. We bonded and told each other about ourselves, and I found out a great deal of things about him. It's funny how talkative and outgoing he was, yet he barely found out anything about me. I had no interesting qualities about myself to begin with, so that was natural. Kiseki and I then passed the time betting on who would die of starvation next. We ended up in a tie, 5-5 in correct guesses.

Maybe it was nice making a friend before dying of starvation, atleast I could spend my last moments happy. Was that what fate still had in store for me after everything? Maybe it wasn't a bad thing that I didn't die the moment I was knocked out and my head hit the ground. Maybe, just maybe, there were still positive things to live on for. Was I wrong for wishing for death to come for me?

Light. Bright light. I heard a door being opened behind us, dust flying into our faces. It reeked of blood on the man who opened the door in question, but we couldn't care less. We just wanted to leave behind all those corpses and run away to a better life, the life I promised my mother. However, it surprisingly turned out Kiseki had better plans.

"Sir, we're starving! Please, take us to the nearest food place! It's all we ask for!" he begged the man. He was surprisingly good at doing a victim voice, I even believed him myself for a second or two. The old man who had just saved our lives groaned in advance, but as much as he tried to hide, he obviously had a soft spot.

"..Fine. Where are you two planning on staying after I take you someplace to eat?" He asked us on the way to the nearest village.

Kiseki was once again quick to answer; "We'll go die by a river where no one will see us! We're only asking for a meal, sir!"
I knew he wasn't being serious, but his words sent a shiver down my spine because that possibility felt real, and it terrified me. I was afraid of dying. Afraid of the cold eternal silence, afraid of taking my last breath, afraid of the way it was inevitably coming for all of us. For the first time, death terrified me rather than anything. Why now? Why wasn't I scared of death before meeting Kiseki?

The man was speechless, and he was loosely holding back tears of his own.
"..How about a different option? You two come live with me and grow up peacefully, in return I train you to be my successors as demon slayers." He regained his illusion of composure again.

"My name is Kamiya, what are your names?" He then asked us. Kamiya came off a lot friendlier than he did before. I wanted to answer his question, but Kiseki was once again the fastest one.
"My name is Kiseki Shota and this is my friend, Noriyuki!"

His friend? Is that what he called me? One thing I do know is that I grinned when he said that, and I know for a fact that he noticed it.
Once we had introduced ourselves to each other, it seems he forgot to take us someplace to eat, so all three of us walked out of the village and started entering deep into a forest. We walked for a while, and my feet quickly started hurting from it. That was it. It would be over for me, I would die of walking too much- But, to no one's surprise, that did not happen.

We eventually arrived at a small house in the depths of the forest. He opened the door that sounded like it was about to fall out with another push, and he led us into his dining room. Despite the house being small, compared to my mothers house, even the door was huge.

"Sit down", he calmly ordered us as he brought food to our knees, "While you enjoy your permanent stay, I'll tell you the story of my other son, Kaito."