The Flower and the Butterfly

First Mission - Part 2

Hours passed. We spent an entire day walking, but the eastern village was still far away. Night had fallen, and Mitsuri and I entered a resting area. I wasn't exactly "dead tired," so to speak, but Mitsuri took full advantage of the rest to do some stretching. I didn't feel much like joining her; instead, I stayed outside, gazing at the stars. It was a beautiful night, but nothing significant happened. We just ate and slept. Early the next morning, we resumed our journey towards the village. It seemed like we would never arrive. Demon Slayer missions are very risky, putting you in life-or-death situations... Just getting to the mission puts you in a death-only situation.

After some time, we finally reached the village. The sun was still in the sky. I'd guess it was around four o'clock at that moment. Anyway, I followed Mitsuri the whole time. The village seemed quite busy, not like a big city, but still with many people for a village. We soon arrived at a restaurant. Mitsuri sat at a table and gestured for me to sit as well.

-"Kanroji-sensei, I don't want to question you or anything... But why are we in a restaurant?"

-"Isn't it obvious, Hayashi-san? We're here to gather information..."

-"Okay, but don't we already know his location? Can't we just call the crow?"

-"First, you are questioning me. Second, asking for information can often help us learn how the demon attacks and what kind of people he targets. This way, you already know who the next victim will be and can prevent something from happening. And finally, we know the locations of the demon's last sightings. We don't know where he is right now." Mitsuri was usually very childish, but she was so "professional" at that moment that I was surprised.

-"But anyway... A bowl of ramen doesn't hurt anyone, right? I heard this restaurant makes delicious ramen. Not amazing, but for now, I would love it!" She returned to her usual self with me, looking a bit blank as I listened to her and gave a long sigh.

-"Alright then... I think I'll try to gather information while you eat..."

-"You're not eating?"

-"I'm not very hungry, and I think the mission is more important." Mitsuri looked at me, biting her cheek.

-"Are you saying I'm not taking it seriously?"

-"No... It's just that I'm not very hungry because I'm excited. My mother would smack me for lying right now."

-"Oh, okay." Mitsuri believed me ._.

-"Well, just be careful and don't do anything reckless without me."

-"Got it!" I said with a salute, leaving the restaurant while a waiter attended to Mitsuri.

I respect her and understand her being hungry; I know she's very strong and doesn't underestimate her opponent, but seeing her act like this on a mission irritates me. Is she always like this? This demon is killing people, and she's acting more childish than I am... I sighed and decided to call my crow, asking it about the demon's last sightings and then going after him.

He was seen in three different places. The first one I arrived at was a very monotonous street; almost no one passed by. However, analyzing the place, I could see signs of a struggle, even though it had been a few days. The demon might have been large, as I could see marks on the ground and the terrain, which was probably flat. There were small, almost imperceptible elevations created by the confrontation, but I wouldn't find anything else there. The walls showed no damage, and there was nothing nearby either. So I went to the second location.

Upon arrival, it was a garden. There were more people, but nothing special. It was a garden with simple flowers that you see everywhere and poorly trimmed bushes. The trees had thin trunks, and their leaves were quite green, but I wasn't there to admire the gardening. I started analyzing, and something that immediately caught my attention was that several trees had been cut, but not in a normal way with an ax. Something had been thrown so hard against the trees that it broke them. "This demon... he likes to play with his victims," I deduced. He keeps letting the victim escape, giving them false hope of escape, and finally kills them when he's satisfied. This irritated me a lot. I could see dried blood on some parts of the trees, human blood, reinforcing my theory. However, like the first place, there wasn't much else to analyze. So I went to the last one, where I thought I would get my answers.