It has been a full year since the incident with the tree, and yet it has yet to be cut down. To make matters worse, Haruka has been treating you as if you do not exist. During the winter season, Sakura attempted to bring everyone together to celebrate the occasion of Christmas, yet Haruka was nowhere to be found. This has only added to the tension between the two of you.
Anyways, your relationship with Sato has gone closer. Instead of being annoyed by him, you actually laughed at one of his stupid jokes!
It was currently January, meaning the weather was still cold. So you decided to wear a scarf to keep you warm, a scarf sewed by no one other than Yuri.
Ever since you got sick from training during the winter, she got worried a lot and stayed with you all day! Which was quite concerning, ok ok... To be honest, Yuri has been acting weird, you said this before earlier, but this time she's kind of...freaking you out.
She has been staying with you everyday before and after your training to treat your wounds, which you could treat it yourself!
Although I had grown fond of her company, She would always tell me stories about the 'Demon Slayer' corps, which sounded incredible. I had heard of the word before from Sora, but never really paid them much attention.
Apparently, the corps was composed of elite demon slayers known as 'Hashiras' who were powerful enough to take on the fearsome 'Twelve Kizukis', an army of demons serving the Demon King Muzan. It was this same Muzan that had caused the existence of demons in the world, and the death of your beloved sister.
You actually remembered asking her about joining, but all she gave you was a worried look and told you that it was up to Sakura.
At this point, you were getting quite annoyed, there were so many secrets that Sakura and the 3 held! Especially Sato! Who was literally and definitely Sakura's brother!
But he just keeps saying, "Who's Sakura?" In a mocking tone, you immediately know that old manwas hiding something from you!
With all of these secrets surrounding the 5, you couldn't just help, but feel quite left out and that they wouldn't share anything to you.
Maybe you weren't worthy enough?
Is it because you haven't cut the tree yet?
It has to be...
Oh shit...your self esteem was getting low again, you need to focus on the bright side. 'Can I just stop?' You said to yourself, gripping tightly on the swords sheath.
You felt yourself getting closer to the tree, but something was wrong. You didn't sense Sato, which may seem weird at first, but Sato always has this weird presence around him.
It always made you... comfortable around him, so not feeling this presence, you obviously felt weird. So weird that you started to speed walk up the hill.
Reaching the top of the hill, a feeling of confusion and bewilderment overcame you. Instead of the expected sight of Sato, there was only an empty basket, a spear and the grand Sakura tree.
You could not comprehend why he was not there, as he had never failed to be present in the past. A sense of unease and apprehension filled the air as you pondered his whereabouts.
Was it something you did?
You shook your head and started to look around, although there were no signs at all of the mischievous pink-hair boy. You turned around to see the basket which was usually filled with swords.
Feeling a little bit desperate, you walked towards the basket and looked over to see a note. You immediately took it and started to unwrap it.
You expected to see a long letter on why Sato wasn't here, but instead...it has 2 chilling words:
YOU ARE READING
Under the Cherry Tree
ActionYou weren't poor nor rich, but needless to say you were suffering either way. Your mother and father disappeared one day, leaving you with your sister who was sick ever since birth. You tried your hardest, getting every doctor in the village to help...
