Into the Darkness (A Demon Slayer Fanfiction)

Chapter 3: Isn't the Moon Lovely?

Disclaimer:

I do not own nor claim all the rights to 鬼滅の刃 | Kimetsu no Yaiba | Demon Slayer; all rights are reserved to its respective creator, Koyoharu Gotōge. This is purely a work of fiction; names, characters, businesses, events, localities, and occurrences are all extrapolated from the author's writings and imagination or utilized in a fictitious manner. As such, any direct or indirect references to actual entities, dead or alive, or events do not, in any shape or form, resemble the opinions of the author.

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"..." = Dialogue

'...' = Internal monologues

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Just a reminder that this chapter isn't as long or detailed as the other ones.

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The panoramic view of one of Japan's biggest and fastest-growing cities could enamor even the most intransigent traditionalist whose own purview of societal progress is confined to the backcountry to which they so revere and embellish to be humanity's only abode. The once starlit skies of the arable farms were now completely engrossed by the luminous streetlights and industrial, black fumes exuded by the factories and the congested streets of this new city in this new era.

However, despite this flamboyant projection of the industrializing metropolis that seems to be embedded within the consciousness of anyone who postulates the nature of this city, the fringes of this urban center were less frantic, more attenuated to the archaic lifestyle that the elderly laud as being more 'straightforward' or lucid in the sense that the tribulations and misgivings of the modern world that blue-collar workers seem to harbor bears no ground in the simplicity and stagnation that comprised life in the agrarian nation—rather than the soon-to-be industrial one. So, even as the city's reaches stretched into the countryside, there were pockets of antediluvian subsections that adamantly refused to accommodate for the modernizing facets of contemporary society that are perceived to be encroaching upon the traditional dispositions of these localities.

Characteristics of the pre-Taisho or even pre-Meiji period can be ascertained as the presence of traditional structures coupled with the anachronistic architecture along with the multitude of natural, contiguous vicinities—parks, you could call them—that assuages the coal-ridden, dirty, and steel-like atmosphere in conjunction with the heat of the factory miasma and the rotten smell of smelted iron that primarily defines the idiosyncrasies of the urban center.

Within the purlieu of such an alluring and environed setting, the enthralling and scintillating luster of the moonlight that engulfed the entirety of the proximity to its illuminating glare was shining morbidly upon the Hashiras and the respected (well, multiplied by half, due to the unfortunate presence of drunk man 1.0) elders for whom were discussing the details of a negotiated exchange of goods and services—lodging and hostels.

However, there was a distinct caveat with regard to the undertaken bargain that caught both of the Hashiras completely off guard.

".............. Eh?" Shinobu, unable to comprehend what she had just heard, said.

"Oh? I guess I might've surprised you there. I think I meant to say that I was FORMERLY the landlord around here; my services and duties have all but retired since five years ago. Now, I only serve as a local tax collector, administrative representative, and maybe some lodging for guests if needed," Fumiko Arata, the elder lady, clarifies.