When the stars align for us

Chapter 7

Right, and......done. Shinobu released the tiny drop of blue liquid in the purple poison. That should be stronger than my previous concoction. But is it strong enough?
Shinobu put her poison down as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Picking up the vial, she inserted the poison in her body (with the help of Tamayo, who Tanjiro had introduced to her some time ago), before putting the rest of the poison in the fridge.
'CAW!'
She turned her head in the direction from which the sound was coming.
'CAW! Tengen Uzui, Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira have defeated Upper Moons 6.'
Yes!
Elated, she got out of the room.
...
About an hour later, a group of kakushi entered her estate with a heavily injured Uzui. After him, came the three boys, who were injured as much as Uzui.
Rushing towards the infirmary, Shinobu spotted Aoi, who came to her aid once she saw the slayers.
'I'll take care of Uzui, you can start with Tanjiro, as he seems the most injured of the boys,' she whispered to Aoi, who nodded.
Hmm...Uzui won't be in the battlefield for a while. She glanced at the boys. Their situation isn't so severe.
By midnight, Shinobu and Aoi had finished treating the slayers, who remained unconscious for the rest of the night.
...
The next morning, Shinobu took her daily dosage of wisteria poison, before going downstairs to check on her patients.
She entered the room with a smile, which Tanjiro returned.
Sniffing around, Tanjiro commented:
'You smell a lot like wisteria. Now, even more than usual,'
She stared at him. That doesn't mean he'll realize what I'm doing.
She sighed, still smiling.
'So, how are you all?'
...
Ayaka stared at the human-like female demon as it spoke to the Insect Pillar about a more potent wisteria poison. But what really captured her attention was the last sentence:
'Once the Upper Moon's body is filled with your blood after he has consumed you, even a Mizunoto will be able to slay him,'
Sure, she had come to ask for some iodine pills, in a place full of unusual patients who acted in the weirdest ways, but she wasn't expecting this. She wanted to stop Kocho from executing her horrible (though brilliant) plan. She admired Kocho's courage and confidence and she thought that her fellow Pillar deserved a long and happy life after the war. Knowing how important family was to people, and being familiar with Kocho's bravery, Ayaka wasn't surprised by what she had overheard. But that didn't mean that she wasn't upset. Determined to stop Kocho from going through with her suicidal plan, she decided to alert someone who could convince Kocho to change her ways.
Recalling their first (and only) Hashira meeting, the name that came to her mind was 'Tomioka'. After all, she had seen him speak to Kocho, and from what she had heard from the others, Ayaka was able to discern that Kocho was the only Pillar he ever spoke to outside of missions.
Kocho might have other friends in the Corps, she did look sociable. Although, from all of those people, it's hard to tell who she's closest to.
I should talk to Tomioka tomorrow after the meeting.
...
All ten Pillars were kneeling in front of their leader, having just exchanged their custom greetings with Oyakata-Sama, when he spoke:
'Now, I'm sure you all know how Kyojuro and Mitsuri have defeated the great threat that Upper Moon 3 posed on humanity,' he tried to smile at the pair, but due to his worsening eyesight, he looked over at Sanemi, who frowned.
'And about the successful attempt of Tengen, and the Mizunotos Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke to save us from Upper Rank 6. Though of course, they are not here, as they are suffering the results of battling an Upper Rank,'
'Great job in that, my children. But despite everything you've done so far, there are still at least four Upper Moons left, along with Kibutsuji himself, so this is no time to celebrate,'
All the Pillars muttered words of agreement.
'May I ask you something, Oyakata-Sama?' Rengoku said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
'Of course, Kyojuro,' the leader smiled.
'What did you mean by 'at least'?'
'Ah, that. Well, when one of his strongest servants dies, Kibutsuji replaces it with a weaker one. So, unless he hasn't found out about the deaths yet, which I doubt, he's going to replace the lost Upper Ranks,'
Ayaka looked around, surprised that they didn't know about this.
'Anyway, I declare this meeting over, so you may go if you wish,'
Ayaka spotted Tomioka heading for the door. Where does he think he's going?
'Tomioka!' she shouted across the yard.
The man turned around.
'I need to talk to you,' she uttered.
He crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow.
'It's about Kocho,' she stated.
He raised both his eyebrows and slowly made his way towards her.
Ayaka barely managed to hide her smile.
I was right.