SaneGiyuu: Wind and Water don't get along

PART 42: THE KOBAYASHI COUPLE

Giyuu and Sanemi walked out of the room and went to call Mitsuri.

Mitsuri was looking at the mirror.

I look so nice!
She thought.

She heard a knock on the door.
She approached it and opened it.

"Kyaa! Shinazugawa-San and Tomioka-San! HI!!!"
Mitsuri shouted.

"Sigh... Are you ready yet, Kanroji?"
Sanemi asked Mitsuri.

"Yes! I am ready!"
She replied, smiling energetically.

"Then, let's leave."
Said Sanemi.

"Yes!!!"
Said Mitsuri happily.

They walked out of the house.
_______________________________________

The three kept walking. They walked pass a lot of houses.

Minutes later.

They stopped in front of a big house.

"What's that noise?"
Giyuu said and the three Hashiras' attention went to the noises of crying and sobbing that came from the house.

They could hear people crying from the inside and decided to investigate out.

Giyuu knocked on the door but without any reply, decided to slide the door open.

"Excuse me, is anybody here?"
Asked Mitsuri.

With no reply yet again, they followed the sounds of continuous weeping coming from upstairs.

They carefully went upstairs with their hands on the sword to stay alarmed.

The sounds were clearer and louder. They were coming from a closed room right in front of them.

The three carefully stepped forward.
Sanemi slowly slid the door open.

They saw a man and a woman, crying loudly. Beside them, were two futons covered with blood and leftover pieces of what looked like flesh.

"Wh-Who are you!?"
The man asked, frightened.

"They have swords!"
Shouted the woman.

"Don't worry! Everything is going to be fine, we will not harm you. Trust me! I will take you both to a safer place."
Said Mitsuri.

"She doesn't sound like she will harm us..."
Said the woman.

"Y-You're right, darling."
Replied the man and they both stood up, shakily.

"Before I take you to a safer place, I would like to ask you a few questions!" Said Mitsuri.

"Okay... We trust you."
Said the man.

"So, what is your name?"
Asked Mitsuri.

"I-I am Kobayashi Haruki and this is my wife, K-Kobayashi Keiko."

"Okay! So, why were you crying?"

The couple stutter in shock,
"T-The... D-Demon..."

"It's okay, calm down. Tell me, why were you crying."
Mitsuri asked again.

They stay silent for some minutes.

"I-I... had two children... But tonight, as I came back from work, I came to know that they were not in the house. I asked my wife where they went and she said that she didn't know since she went to take a bath. So we both went upstairs and w-we saw a... D-De...mon."

The man couldn't say anything more than that. He burst into tears. His wife
held her tears back and tried to comfort him.

"D-Darling! Don't cry..."
The man couldn't help it. He kept sobbing.

"What happened!?"
Asked Mitsuri, concerned.

"W-we saw a Demon eating the leftover flesh of our... Children!"
The woman said and she too, burst into tears.

Seeing the crying couple, Mitsuri felt very disheartened.

She tried to comfort both of them and took them downstairs.

Sanemi and Giyuu followed them.

A few minutes later, the couple calmed down.

"Umm... Kobayashi-San?What happened after that?"
Mitsuri asked, curiousity crawling onto her.

The man sniffed and took a deep breath.

"I had twins, a girl and a boy. I always warned them to never go out after I heard the news about a demon roaming around that ate children. I thought the demon only catched kids who were outside houses... I never knew that it could come into houses and kill."

He stopped and again began,

"Right after we saw the demon, it went away, leaving the leftovers behind."

"And it didn't attack you?"
Asked Mitsuri.

"They do not attack adults, children is what they eat."

"What were... The names of your children?"
Giyuu asked.

"My daughter's name was Chiyoko and my son's name was Asahi..."

"How old were your kids?"
Asked Sanemi.

"They were 8."
Said the mother of the late children.

"How did the demon look like?"
Asked Giyuu.

"The demon looked like a normal adult human. He was in a white kimono."
Said the man.

"Oh... I see."
Said Giyuu.

"Do you have any more information?"
Asked Sanemi.

"Since the others in our neighborhood also experienced this, I can say that the demon only eats children of around 10 years old. Also, some said that they saw a lady in a white kimono. So, maybe there's two of them out there. That's all we are aware of..."
Said the woman.

"Oh, okay! Thank you so much for this information."
Mitsuri said.

"Since the demon doesn't eat adults, you should be safe in this house. But still, stay careful."

"Y-yes, Thank you!"
Said the couple and the Hashiras left.

The three walked out of the house and continued their search.