I Spy

Chapter 53: Side Hustles

Date: December 17, 2024
Time: 11:21 AM
Location: Infinity Castle
Weather: ???

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The Infinity Castle shook with shock waves as Akaza and Kokushibo were dueling it out in a very large battle arena.

"Ha!" Akaza said with a grin as he aimed for Kokushibo's head with a kick, but was effortlessly blocked by Kokushibo with his sword. He then returned the kick to Akaza's chest and sent him flying and tumbling to the ground as he picked up shards of wood while flying.

"Tch..." Akaza said as he got up with a spec of blood dripping from his mouth that he quickly wiped off, "I don't know how you became Uppermoon 1 so fast in just a matter of a few decades, I have to admit, it's pretty impressive, but I will soon take back my original rank!" Akaza said as he prepared himself by getting into a sitting with his fist latched onto his side.

"Blood Demon Art: Disorder!" He said as he launched a barrage of shockwave punches towards Kokushibo who stood there with no emotion. 

The demon lifted up his sword, "Moon Breathing: Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant." He said as a multitude of moon-crescent-shaped blades was unleased from his sword and flew threw the air while slicing pieces of the surrounding arena.

The crescent blades met the shockwave attack and they both collided with a large puff of smoke and dust along with shrapnel flying into the air. Kokushibo stood there without any expression on him, as compared to Akaza who was visibly frustrated.

"Oh ho~, this is fun! What do you think about this Nakime?" Douma said as he cheered on the two duelists while sitting on a red cushion next to Nakime who was slightly elevated above him while also sitting on a red cushion.

Nakime ignored Douma's question as she found it to be a waste of her time and personally, she found Douma to be a creep. "Ah! I see, you're still not talking to me! Ah ha, that's fine, you can talk to me whenever you feel like it!" Douma said as he smiled at her and looked back at the fight.

Back with Kokushibo and Akaza, Akaza charged at Kokushibo at full speed with his fists on his side while watching Kokushibo standing there with no reaction at all or even preparation for the attack.

Akaza managed to bridge the gap between Kokushibo and created two circular shockwaves, one in each hand. "Blood Demon Art: Annihilation Type!" He said as he aimed for Kokushibo's main body.

Kokushibo countered by swinging his sword horizontally once, "Moon Breathing: Fist Form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace." He said as a singular crescent-shaped blade formed from his sword and headed straight toward Akaza.

Akaza was caught by surprise at the incoming crescent blade and had limited time to react, so he had to use his attack on the crescent blade in order to avoid getting sliced in half.

As he struck the crescent blade, another large puff of dust and smoke sprouted from the area and engulfed Akaza.

After the smoke cleared, Akaza was looking for Kokushibo but was nowhere to be found. He was frantically searching around until, to his shock, his head was in his hands and Kokushibo appeared behind him.

"This battle is...finished," Kokushibo said as he put his katana back into the Saya as he walked off. 

"Wh-how-curse you Kokushibo! One day I'll defeat you in battle!" Akaza said as he regenerated his head and turned around to face Kokushibo with an expression of pure rage and annoyance.

"Silence!" A voice screamed as the three Uppermoons and Nakmie turned around and saw Muzan with a few pieces of debris on him from the shockwaves the battle created that traveled throughout the Infinity Castle and managed to cause some walls to fall down and break, which also included one of the walls in Muzan's office.

"Muzan-sama!" Akaza said as he immediately bowed down in apology and prostration along with Kokushibo and Douma (who did it for fun).

"Don't call me that! Mind explaining to me what the hell is going on?!" Muzan screamed, "Oh uh...I challenged Kokushibo to a practice battle to see who would win..." Akaza said with a little squeak out of pure nervousness, "So...let me get this straight...instead of doing the duties that I assigned to you as Uppermoons such as searching for the Blue Spider Lily or eating humans, you decide to have a petty fight that serves no purpose and disturb the peace of the Infinity Castle along with me while I was busy working on my new serum?" Muzan asked with a very furious tone. 

"Ye-" Douma tried to answer before getting interrupted, "IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!" Muzan screamed as he lifted his fist and squeezed it. Douma's head then immediately blew off and bits of flesh, blood, bones, and a pair of eyes were seen covering the area where Douma was sitting in. He immediately grew his head back and lifted his head to face Muzan while smiling brightly.

Muzan's current expression was a mix of disgust, annoyance, and fury at the sight of Douma's expression added with his current mood. "Tch..." He said before he turned to Nakime, "Nakime, any news from the group that was assigned to get the shipment on the 9th?" Muzan asked.

"No sir," Nakime replied with a monotone voice as she continued to play biwa. "Tell them that I'm getting impatient. Without that shipment, I can't continue my research until the next one arrives." Muzan said as Nakime nodded.

Muzan then turned from Nakime to the three Uppermoons, "You three, if I ever catch you having a battle in the Inifity Castle without my permission, the consequences will be dire! This also applies to the other Uppermoons." Muzan said as he added a bit of an emphasis to "dire" before walking away back to his office, leaving the four demons there in silence.

After he left, the three Uppermoons got up from their spots. "Well, that was certainly nice of Muzan for him to visit us!" Douma said with a large smile, "Shut up Douma." Akaza said as he faced away from the three and scoffed in annoyance.

"Awww, why are you so cold Akaza-dono...?" Douma asked before gasping, "I'll know what will cheer you up!" Douma said, Akaza slightly turned his head and raised his eyebrow in genuine curiosity as if he was asking himself, "What could this man have that could actually please me?"

"I have a few fresh bodies at my place, and since they are all young women, they'll be extra appetizing, especially for you!" Douma stated, that immediately after he said that, Douma's head was once popped open again but this time by Akaza. "IN YOUR F*CKING DREAMS, YOU PHYSCOPATH!" Akaza angrily said before he stormed off.

After Douma regrew his head again, he and Kokushibo looked in the direction Akaza was storming away before Nakime teleported him back to his place. 

"So, you want to do anything with me Kokushibo-dono?" Douma asked as turned toward Kokoushibo. Kokushibo gave him a bland expression before also walking away, "No thanks, I have much more important things to do than to waste my time with your petty games." He answered before also getting teleported by Nakime.

After he watched Kokushibo leave him, Douma then turned to Nakime to speak with her. But as soon as he tried to open his mouth, he was already sitting on a red cushion in a dimly-lit building.

"Awww...how come no one wants to chat with me...?" Douma said with a fake expression of loneliness before he turned and picked up a fan.

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"What happened to the shipment? I'm still waiting for it." Muzan asked into a computer with another person on the other end. "I-it's still coming boss, just give it a few more day-" The person said out of nervousness before getting interrupted by Muzan, "I DON'T HAVE A 'FEW MORE DAYS', I NEED THE SHIPMENT NOW! SO TELL ME, DO YOU HAVE IT? OR DO YOU NOT?!" Muzan screamed into the computer which only raised the man's anxiety.

"We-well u-uhhh no...?" The man weakly replied, "THEN WHERE THE F*CK IS IT THEN?" Muzan exclaimed, "S-so wh-what happened was th-at appr-rently, the g-group we assigned t-to retrieve the package w-as actually killed b-y some unknown p-eople, and app-arently, the cops managed to intercept the package in-instead..." The man said as he turned into a stuttering mess.

"Very well..." Muzan said with a calm tone, "You may go, thank you for talking with me." Muzan added, "Really? Are you sure?" The man said with a shocked expression behind the screen, "Yes, you may leave, I'm sure you have a family to care for and I'm sorry for wasting your time." Muzan replied.

"T-thanks you sir!" The man said as he immediately left the meeting between him and the Michael Jackson copy. Muzan then closed the computer and reached for his before as he dialed a number.

The phone rang for a while before someone on the other end picked it up, "What do you need, sir?" A mysterious voice said on the other side, "I need you to 'neutralize' a certain organization that were responsible for picking up the shipment from the docks on the 9th." Muzan said with the most calm tone he could muster up at the moment.

"Very well sir, consider it done." The voice said before he dropped the call. 

Muzan placed the phone back into his pocket and a very creepy and evil smile slowly formed on his face, and he soon started to evilly chuckle before it soon turned into all-out maniacal laughter.

"AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!" He laughed out of pure sadistic mind.

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"Hey, I'm here," Tanjiro said while waving toward the camera.
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"Oni-chan, Oni-chan! Can we get that?!" Akira said as he tugged on her older brother's shirt sleeve. "Akira, that sweater costs like a 4-month salary for us slayers, and it's a simple article of clothing. We have plenty of sweaters and other clothes at home, remember, we're trying to survive out here. Without our parents, then we have to fend for ourselves, so we must spend on what is necessary." Isamu replied while carrying some bags full of groceries in his hand.

Emiko was also there as she tagged along earlier to help them with shopping and to do some shopping of her own. "You're no fun..." Emiko said with a slight pout at the response that Isamu gave to his sister, "Ok fine, tell me. What would you spend your hard-earned money working as a slayer on? A singular piece of clothing that serves no benefits other than the same benefit as regular, cheap clothing. Or something else that actually provides for one of your necessities, such as food or water?" Isamu asked.

Emiko lifted up her finger to answer but was very quickly interrupted by Isamu who answered for him, "Exactly, food and water. That's what I thought." Isamu said with a cold face.

"Bah! You are always so serious and cold Isamu! You never really liked to have any fun when growing up, did you?" Emiko said as she stuffed her face in Isamu's chin and started to rub it with her head as a way of getting answers by annoying him. "Yeah! Oni-chan has always been a stickler to the rules and was never really a fun person to begin with!" Akira said with a devious grin as she too stuffed her face into her brother's after figuring out Emiko's plan.

The two started teasing him with phrases such as: "No fun!", "Idol Isamu!", and "No emotions!".

They continued to tease him with the aim of making him break and finally answer them. Isamu held off for a few minutes, but he soon broke at the uncomfortable sensation he was getting by having the faces of two people intruding into his. He soon shoved them off and started walking ahead, "Just because I put my needs first doesn't my I don't like to have fun. Once in a while, I would treat myself or your guys to something nice such as food or drinks, but that would only come once a month due to how much we get paid per month from the Ubuyashiki clan." Isamu replied as he soon started walking.

The two girls quickly followed behind him as soon as he started to walk off. "So why can't I have the sweater?" Akira asked with an eyebrow raised, "Because we already had our 'fun' this month. Remember a few days ago when I took you guys for some sightseeing?" Isamu asked, the two girls behind him suddenly re-call the moment that Isamu took them to see some splendid waterfalls and gardens. The experience overall was fantastic for the two of them, there was a large pond in the middle of the gardens with strobe lights in the center of the pond.

They witnessed a light show at the pond which finished off their visit as they soon snapped back to the current time. 

"Oh yeah!" Said Emiko who remembered it all almost immediately, "Well yeah, the tickets ain't free and it cost me some of my saved money that I had kept aside for occasions like this. I spent about half a month's worth of my salary in order to get the tickets." Isamu replied.

A wave of guilt soon struck both Akira and Emiko, but Emiko was feeling a bit more angry toward Isamu for not telling her that he was doing this. "Isamu...you could have told us about this, and we would've pitched in, you don't have to do everything for us..." Emiko said as she pinched Isamu's cheek out of frustration.

"I don't want you guys to waste your own money on something that will only bring us temporary happiness, I want you guys to save up your own money just in case we need it anytime soon," Isamu stated while grabbing Emiko's hand and taking it off his face and putting it to her side.

"Have you ever heard of splitting it up? You're asking us to save our money, meanwhile, you keep spending yours on us. We get paid the same amount here, we're in the same boat Isamu." Emiko replied in a demeanor that sounded like she was about to explode with frustration at the sight of Isamu being very selfless. 

"Emiko, I appreacit-" Isamu stated as he turned to face her but was met with Emiko putting her hand on his shoulder along with a very aggravated aura resonating from here.

"Don't 'Emiko' me, Isamu-kun~." Emiko stated in a very deep tone, "Shit..." Isamu thought with a dull face.

"Oh crap, Oni-chan is in for it now." Akira thought as she slowly stepped away from the two in order to witness the fireworks that were about to go off.

"You know that we are given the same amount of money as you and you still spend your own money in order to make us happy? Not to mention how you've been so selfless lately, you acting like a parental figure sacrificing everything for us 'children'. Is that how you think of me and your sister?" Emiko said in a threatening voice as her grip on Isamu's shoulder got harder, "For Akira, yeah..." Isamu nonchalantly replied.

"Hey!" Akira exclaimed out of offense, "Speaking truth," Isamu stated. "Ara ara, is that how you think of your sister? Well, I think it's time to teach you a lesson about letting us also carry your burden because we're all in this together. It's not just you that's suffering Isamu, remember we also lost family too, and we're still dealing with it. But just because you want to help us with our issues doesn't mean you can't help yourself. Haven't you heard the phrase, 'Love yourself before you love others'?" Emiko asked while cracking her knuckles.

"Uhh..." Isamu answered before he started to pick up the pace of his walk, "Where do you think you're going, Isamu-kun?" Emiko asked as she soon started to run after Isamu through the shopping district.

"Home you crazy women," Isamu answered while running away from the now very angry Emiko.

"Come back here Isamu Hamada! I'm not done with you yet!" Emiko exclaimed as she chased her friend throughout the shopping district and all the way back to their houses with Akira following closely behind.

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"And maybe next time Isamu, maybe you shouldn't be so selfless and let us also carry your burden," Emiko stated with an innocent smile while patting Isamu on the back, who had a large bump on his forehead.

"Understood..." Isamu dully replied, "Great! So, Akira! You want to go out for drinks along with your Oni-chan?" Emiko cheerfully asked her friend.

"Hell yeah!" Akira answered while pumping her fist in excitement, "Great! I have to go now, but I'll see you two tomorrow at school!" Stated Emiko as she started walking away from the two while waving back at them. "Bye, Emiko-chan! See you tomorrow!" Akira yelled as she and her brother went ahead inside.

Inside, Isamu put the groceries on the counter and quickly headed to the living table where a stack of papers was littering one of the seats. Isamu picked one of the papers up and began to scan through it while repeating some of the words to himself. 

"Let's see...government...1992...people dead...exile...wanted criminals...death row..." He mumbled to himself before heavily sighing. "Nothing here about the man..." He said to himself, "Maybe because you're looking at the wrong documents..." Akira said while trying to search through the papers and pulling out some random papers.

"Nope, I already looked through them. The current description we have for that man is too vague, black hair, average height, and weight. Yeah, that describes about 95% of all male government officials in Japan." Isamu replied, "So I thought I would go through the documents that turned us into outlaws and see if I could find anything there." He added, "It's still surprising that you're still committed to finding the identity of this man, even after he first showed himself to us and managed to pose a threat to us and our cause on the first sighting." Akira stated, "Well it's simple, I don't want to die before seeing those demons finally be eradicated from the face of this earth and us getting the vengeance we need for our family." Isamu replied as he started shimmying through the papers.

"Ok, Oni-chan..." Akira simply answered back with a growing expression of concern for her brother, afraid that he would one day stress too much about it and end up harming himself.

"You really need to loosen up a bit Oni-chan...I don't want you to hurt yourself...you're the only family I have left..." She thought while watching her brother sit down and read through every sheet again.

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And now it's time for another segment of "Kimetsu Gossip"! Brought to you by...

Tanjiro: Me!

No, shut the f*ck up, go back.

Tanjiro: No!

I swear to god I will send you to the white room.

Tanjiro: Bet.

Fine, go, don't bother me until this chapter is over.

Tanjiro: WO-

Anyway...back on track...this segment is brought to you by...Isamu and Emiko!

Emiko: Hello everyone!

Isamu: Hi...

Emiko: So...on today's segment, we're going to be talking a bit more about our clubs and the teachers that operate in them, specifically, the ones that we and the rest of our friends are in!

Emiko: To-

Isamu: Let me do this.

Emiko: Eh?

Isamu: What she was trying to say was one student can be in multiple clubs at the same time, but then they have a bit more to deal with on their hands. Currently, most of the clubs focus on physical ability such as sports or let's say...martial arts.

Isamu: Most of those clubs are led by Tomioka-sensei because he is the gym teacher...I mean duh...

Isamu: I, Akira, Emiko, and the others are in some of these clubs, such as the kendo club, which all of us are in. The shooting club, which I think only Genya is in...

Isamu: Then we have clubs that don't focus on physical ability, and more on providing for the community such as the botanical club. They usually go out somewhere in the city and plant flowers and plants to make the area more "lively" per se...

Isamu: The only people that I actually know who are in the botanical club are Kanao and Aoi, because their sisters are also the heads of it.

Isamu: Anyway...I think that's time...join us next time in the chapter, "Suprise and Orientation", where we see Tanjiro attend his first meeting in order to begin his career as a slayer.

Emiko: Hu..uh...you didn't let me talk!

Isamu: Let's admit it, you were probably going to spend at least an hour explaining the purpose of each and every club.

Emiko: I-ok...you have a point...

Isamu: See? Now say goodbye.

Emiko: Bye guys...