Candles || Kokushibo

🖤22: ᴜᴢᴜɪ's ᴡɪᴠᴇs🖤

      The female demon grins as her golden eyes focus on Mabel. The young girl realized she was helpless to save herself. Furthermore, the hit from the upper moon six had left her brother in distress already. The female demon flew at her and swooped her up inside her pink sash before Tanjiro could respond. "Mabel!" Tanjiro's body is on the verge of collapsing when another sash approaches. It was an odd sensation because she still has her increased sense of touch while the sash's interior was heated. She was still bound in the sash when it flew into a little hole in the ground that led to other people who are also imprisoned. Some of them appeared to have been here for some time, and they were all passed out.

      The young girl looks around her with panic in her maroon eyes. She glances inside the pink sash and notices that it appears to go on forever, but despite sensing the edge of it against her body, she is unable to escape from it. She scans the room, looking at one female after another, until she spots a certain man. "Zenitsu nii-chan!" She calls for him, but his sleeping form remains motionless. Mabel whimpers as she begins to struggle against the gradually increasing heat, but she stops abruptly when she feels something in the distance. When she turns to face the ground, she notices a man flying out of a hole there. Her eyes enlarge as she realizes. Inosuke lands on his feet after repositioning them, his gaze turning to the sashes. Her shiny eyes are on the verge of crying. "Ino nii-chan, please help me!" The mentioned man glances up and recognizes the young girl he has become attached to. "Mabel!"

      The five-year-old sees the man gazing about, and sweat starts to drip off her face. If only she could help, but her frail physique prevented her from doing anything. Furthermore, even if she had the strength, what could she fulfill? Due to her reluctance to leave her big brother, she got herself caught. She was to blame for the situation. She ought to have told Tanjiro about her feelings, but instead she only confessed in a man who is unseen to most people. She draws in a long breath as she suddenly feels worn out as Inosuke finally notices Zenitsu. "And what are you doing?" Inosuke looks around and notices another strange-looking sash. "You're going into someone else's storehouse." Mabel was jolted awake by the sound of Inosuke fighting the sash with eyes and a mouth. Her body was still weak, so she chose to survey the area in the hopes of finding a means to escape. She notices Inosuke slicing through the crowd of captive people, and this greatly calms her. She exhales a sigh of relief when she notices the recognizable pig mask dodging the attacks and approaching the kid. He swings his swords, but the sash in the air rises higher. "You'd think I'd let you get her so simply, wouldn't you? I'm supposed to hold her hostage for that man!" Mabel's breathing grows restless as she experiences another round of vision blurring caused by her tears.

      Inosuke leaps at the strange talking sash as it retreats. "There's no point in cutting me. I'm not the real body after all." The statement causes Mabel's eyes to expand. She is convinced that Tanjiro's attacker was the original body. "But more importantly, you worked so hard to save those girls. You sure it's okay to neglect them?" Realization dawns on him as he freezes and returns his gaze to the group of passed out females. Inosuke panics as a gang of pink sashes progressively encircles them. Unexpectedly, kuni's pierce through the edges of each material, pinning them on the floor. The young child notices two unknown women holding additional kunis in the distance, one of whom is grinning while the other is sobbing frantically. "'Maggot sash,' huh? I couldn't have said it better myself!" The smiling woman shouts and looks at Inosuke while fixing her kuni. The other woman also lifts her kuni while still weeping. "That thing is so gross. You are so right! I'm telling Tengen-sama!" They continue by slicing through the sashes that are lunging at them from the feminine male's side. "We'll back you up, so good luck, boar head!" Inosuke is perplexed by the girls' abrupt appearance and turns to stare at them. "Who the hell are you guys?!"