Mafia Affairs

Hashira Meeting

   3 Days Later:
   "I'm bored." Zenitsu groaned loudly.
   "So? What do you want me to do about it?" Inosuked grumbled.
   Zenitsu didn't respond and just continued chipping at wood with his sword.
   "Ah, good afternoon you two." Shinobu said cheerfully.
   "Good afternoon Ms. Shinobu." Inosuke replied.
   "When is Tanjiro returning from his mission?" Zenitsu blurted out.
   "He's only been gone for five days and you're already crying about it?" Inosuke questioned.
   "Yes! He makes things fun! Without him, life is boring!" Zenitsu screamed as he clung to Inosuke.
   "Get a hold of yourself!" Inosuke yelled as he shoved Zenitsu off him.
   Shinobu chuckled a bit and responded, "He should be back within the next week and a half."
   "Huh! A week and a half!? That's way too long!" Zenitsu shouted out.
   He then fell backward and laid on the ground, staring at the sky. Inosuke gritted his teeth in irritation and then looked over at Shinobu.
   "Did you come over here for something?"
   Shinobu smiled sweetly and replied, "I just wanted to see how you guys were doing." She then looked down at Zenitsu who was still sulking in the dirt. "And it seems one is doing better than the other."
   "That's an understatement." Inosuke said callously.
   "Well, I'll get out of your hair now." Shinobu said after a moment of silence.
   "Hashira meeting! Hashira meeting!" Mitsuri shouted loudly.
   Inosuke and Shinobu looked over to see all the hashira gathering at the master's manner.
   "Ah, another meeting. These seem to be happening a lot more often lately." Shinobu said sarcastically.
   "Well, let me know how it goes. You know I don't like missing out on things." INosuke said arrogantly.
   "Of course." Shinobu replied as she began to walk away.

   "Good afternoon my children." Master Kagaya said after the meeting started.
   "Good afternoon master." The hashira said in unison.
   "I've called forth this meeting to say that we received a letter from Tanjiro earlier today and I'd like for it to be read aloud." Kagaya said.
   "A letter? You called a hashira meeting for us to read a letter?" Sanemi asked arrogantly.
   "Now, now, Sanemi. There's no need for you to raise your voice." Shinobu said softly.
   Sanemi scoffed but said no more.
   "The point of this meeting is to let you all know the importance of understanding what goes on with people in the corps. Even if you find it unnecessary." Kagaya explained.
   There was silence for a moment before Kagaya continued. "Kocho, would you please read the letter out loud?"
   "Of course master." Shinobu replied as she walked up and took the letter.

DEAr HAshIrA,

I hoPe this LEtter FiNds You well. I wrote it to inforM you that I will Be gone longer than originally planneD. The dEmons are being more obnoxious than they usually are lately. Don't be alarmEd though cause I'm doing just fine. Tell NezuKo that I'm okay and will be back soon. I hoPe you are all Doing great and I'll see you soon!

Yours truly,
Tanjiro

   "Thank you Kocho." Kagaya said when Shinobu finished reading Tanjiro's letter.
   "Hmm, that's a bit odd." She replied.
   "What's odd?" Mitsuri questioned.
   "There's a lot of random capitalizations in here." Shinobu observed.
   "That's probably just the brats way of mocking us. Don't think too hard on it." Sanemi scoffed.
   "Sanemi." Kagaya said sternly.
   "Sorry master." Sanemi said softly.
   "Do you think it could be a hidden message of some sort?" Tomioka asked.
   "Hmm, it's possible. Although I think it's Tanjiro just messing around." Shinobu said with a smile as she handed the letter back to Kagaya.
   "Maybe." Tomioka said hesitantly.
   "Alright, this meeting is officially dismissed." Kagaya said.
   All the hashira began to leave as Tomioka walked up to Kagaya.
   "Excuse me master."
   "Yes Tomioka?" He asked.
   "Do you mind if I take the letter with me? I wanna examine it a bit." Tomioka responded.
   "Of course you can." Kagaya said as he handed the letter over to Tomioka.
   "Thank you sir."
   Kagaya nodded and Tomioka retreated back to his room."
   When he got there, he sat down and began reading Tanjiro's letter. He spent hours upon hours trying to decode the message he's sure was in there. He wrote all the capitalized letters down on a piece of paper to try and shuffle them around. He worked on it until nightfall. He put his pencil down and leaned his head back.
   "Tomioka? You okay?" Shinobu asked as she knocked on Tomioka's door.
   "You can come in Kocho." Tomioka responded.
   Shinobu opened the door and walked in carrying tea.
   "I came by a few minutes ago and noticed you were still awake so I figured I'd come and bring you tea." She said as she sat a cup on Tomioka's table.
   "You didn't have to do that." He remarked as he looked back down at the table.
   "I know that, but I wanted to." Shinobu responded.
   "Hmm." Tomioka said as he picked up his pencil and continued to write.
   Shinobu looked over his shoulder at his work in confusion.
   "What are you doing Tomioka?" She asked.
   "I'm trying to find the message hidden in this letter." Tomioka responded without stopping his pencil.
   Shinobu sighed softly and put her hand on his shoulder. "Tomioka. I'm sure Tanjiro's fine. You're overreacting. I'm sure that if anything happened to him his crow would report it."
   "You're wrong Kocho." Tomioka said bitterly.
   "Excuse me?" She asked, a bit startled.
   "Tanjiro's crow is sick and is being treated at the butterfly mansion. Meaning that Tanjiro didn't have a crow accompanying him when he left for his mission."
   "Tomioka, I think you're thinking about this too har-"
   "And another thing. Tanjiro doesn't write stuff like this just to mess around. He's better than that. Which means there's gotta be something here that we're just not seeing."
   There was a tense silence between the two before Shinobu sighed and knelt down next to Tomioka.
   "Alright. If there is a message hidden inside the letter, how do you plan on finding it?"
   "That's what I've been trying to figure out. So far, I've taken all the capitalized letters and written them on a separate sheet of paper and now I'm just trying to figure out how to shuffle them around into words that make sense." Tomioka said as Shinobu took the two pieces of paper and looked at them.
   "Hmm."
   "What is it?" Tomioka asked.
   "Ah. It seems you're missing a letter." Shinobu said as she wrote the letter I down on the piece of paper.
   "How did I miss that?" Tomioka asked, puzzled.
   "The letter wasn't super noticeable. You'd have to be looking for that letter specifically to see that it was capitalized." Tomioka looked at Shinobu in shock for a moment before looking back down at the paper.
   "These letters still don't make sense though." He said with a sigh.
   "Let me see the pencil." Shinobu said as she gestured towards it.
   Tomioka handed it to her and watched as she wrote the letters closer together in different orders.
   After nearly ten minutes her eyes lit up. "I think I've got something."
   "Really?" Tomioka asked as he leaned forward.
   "K...I...D..." Shinobu said to herself as she continued writing. "Oh dear." She said grimly.
   "What? What does it say?" Tomioka pressed.
   "Something I wish it didn't." Shinobu said as she looked up at Tomioka, a look of concern on her face.
   "Do we need to call a meeting?" Tomioka asked.
   "It would be smart to, but it's really late." Shinobu replied.
   "Yea, but if Tanjiro's in danger we need to inform Kagaya as soon as possible." Tomioka continued.
   "I guess you're right." Shinobu said with a sigh.
   "Alright, I'll go inform Kagaya, you wake up the hashira."
   Shinobu nodded her head and her and Tomioka went their separate ways.

   "What the hell is this about?" Sanemi grumbled sleepily as everyone gathered in front of Kagaya's manner.
   "I agree with Sanemi. There better be a good reason you woke all of us up at this time." Iguro said angrily.
   "It's because we have news about Tanjiro." Shinobu said sternly.
   "I don't care about that brat. I'd rather be sleeping." Sanemi said angrily.
   "Sanemi, be respectful." Kagaya said as he entered the meeting.
   Sanemi said nothing more and Kagaya nodded toward Shinobu.
   "Tomioka and I read over Tanjiro's letter a few times and tried to unscramble the capitalized letters because we felt they stated a hidden message." Shinobu explained.
   "Aren't you the one who brushed them off as being a joke earlier?" Mitsuri asked.
   "I did. But Tomioka managed to convince me that there was more to it than that and I decided to help him." Shinobu responded. "The letters that we wrote down were, "D,E,A,H,A,I,A,I,P,L,E,F,N,Y,M,B,P,D,E,N,K,P,D,E,!."
   "Those are super random." Sanemi blurted out.
   "They may seem random but they unscramble to say these words, "kidnapped by mafia need help!"." Shinobu continued.
   "What? Do you think he's okay?" Mitsuri asked.
   "He's fine. That message was probably put in there to mess with us." Sanemi said bitterly.
   "Now Sanemi, why do you think Tanjiro would do such a thing?" Kagaya asked.
   Sanemi didn't reply.
   "Alright then. Because of that, you get to go with Tomioka and Shinobu to help rescue him."
   "Huh?" Sanemi responded.
   "It's either that or be suspended from demon slaying until I feel as though you can learn to be respectful." Kagaya continued.
   "Alright, I'll help them." Sanemi said coldly.
   "The problem though is we have no idea where he is." Tomioka said.
   "I've heard about a very specific mafia group that live just a few towns over. They're very skilled and talented while also being really good at keeping themselves hidden and off the radar." Mitsuri stepped in.
   "How do you know that?" Muichirou asked.
   "I just do." Mitsuri responded.
   "Alright, then that's where we're headed. Only we'll have to wait until daybreak." Shinobu said nonchalantly.
   "Do you think he has enough time to wait?" Mitsuri asked.
   "Don't worry Mitsuri. If the mafia did kidnap him it's because they want him for something so they'll do whatever they can to keep him alive." Iguro responded.
   "Do my ears deceive me or does it sound like you actually care?" Shinobu teased.
   "Look, I may not like the kid but that doesn't mean he deserves what's happening and, like master said, it's important to be respectful. Also, I'm just looking at the situation realistically. They wouldn't kidnap him just to kill him. That's not how mafia's around here work. Now if y'all want any chance of helping I suggest you go to bed so you can wake up in the morning." Iguro replied.
   Shinobu snickered and the meeting was adjourned. Everyone went back to their rooms, their minds filled with thoughts on what was gonna happen next.