A pair of superpowers in the demon slayer world let's goooooo

by MidnightMorp

Summary:

A boy and a girl, both of whom are fans of the Kimetsu no Yaiba series, get transported into the world of Demon Slayers through mysterious means, and now have to find their way back home.

The catch?

They have shapeshifting abilities at their disposal.

Will this make their time in the Demon Slayer world easier or harder? Read on to find out if you wish to...

 

Or, having self-inserts in Demon Slayer wasn’t enough for the author, so she threw them superpowers so that they could actually survive.

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: A New World

“Miiiike! Micheal!”

 

The obnoxiously loud call made the sixteen-year-old boy stop in his tracks, school backpack swinging from his shoulder. He didn’t need to look over his shoulder to see the girl barreling her way towards him, but he did it anyway to shoot an exasperated look at her. “Jess, you couldn’t have waited until you reached me to call out?” he asked.

 

“Tried that once, but you didn’t like it,” Jess said offhandedly as she skidded to a halt beside him. Both began walking side-by-side down the sidewalk as they chatted animatedly (or, to the untrained ear, argued). “You asked for a warning ‘next time.’”

 

“That’s because you scared thirty years off of me when you did it!”

 

“It was funny. I liked the face you made,” Jess said, with no sign of teasing or mockery. Just full sincerity.

 

Mike huffed, but found that he couldn’t stay mad any longer. Besides, it wasn’t like she decided to approach him out of nowhere; he was the one that asked for her attention for this very afternoon. “So,” he began, clapping his hands together, “you remember me asking you to meet at my house today, correct?”

 

“Mm. You said it was important.” She raised an eyebrow at the last word. “It better be. I wanted to go to the beach for the afternoon and play around with a dolphin body or something. You know, with last day of school and all. Had to get away from the house too, or else Ma’ll get all in my face and—”

 

“Right, right. So! That important thing is,” As he spoke, Mike reached into his bag and very slowly, very delicately pulled out a rather thin book. With barely contained excitement, he presented it in its full glory to her, “ this .”

 

“...”

 

Mike stared at her with twinkling eyes.

 

“... Your comics?” she asked, her tone plummeting into a chilly tone. The book obscured most of her face, but he could still see her narrowed eyes just peeking over the edge. “You dragged me away from happy fun sun times for this?”

 

He let out a gasp. “Comics? Jess, this is a manga ! How many times do I have to tell you this?” he groaned. “There’s a difference, but that’s not the point! I was wondering if you could, you know, come over to my place today and read it?”

 

She gave him an incredulous look. “So you called me here for a... Japanese comic?”

 

‘... Well, that’s close enough.’ “It’s not like the other ones, I swear! This is really cool!” He held up the manga. “It’s got a bunch of cool demon slaying and fights, and, um... cute girls!” At this point, Jess perked up with sudden interest. “Yeah, lots and lots of really pretty girls! And there’s good-looking guys too, and—“

 

She waved off the rest of his words, and leaned closer to get a better look at the manga. “Fine. At least I can hide out at your house for a little while. What’s this even called?” She squinted. “Kim... Kiiiiime... no?”

 

“Kimetsu no Yaiba,” Mike promptly corrected. “But you can call it Demon Slayer, if you want.”

 

Jess stared at him, and he flushed. “I, uh, thought it might be easier for you,” he muttered, plucking at the corner of his manga. He could feel her eyes burning on his head, and he stayed tense until...

 

“... Whatever.” She turned away. “So, we going to your place?”

 

“Y-yes!” he said with relief.

 

“Okay then,” she said, and looked down at him. “This had better be good, you hear?”

 

Despite the threatening undertone, Mike felt his lips curl up into a smile.

 

“Oh, trust me, you won’t be disappointed.”

 

~0~0~0~

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention: there’s a show, too!”

 

“Oh, for fuck’s— “

~0~0~0~

“So, how was it?”

 

“...”

 

Mike scooted around Jess to peek at her expression. She was staring blankly at the television screen before her, where the end credits of Episode 26 was playing. “Well?” he prompted.

 

“... Is there more?” she finally asked. For Mike, it was like Christmas had come early this year.

 

“Nope!” He didn’t even bother to hide his delight — if she was actively looking for more, then that had to mean that she liked it — and it only grew when Jess’ expectant look fell. “There’s supposed to be a movie after this, but I don’t know when it’s coming out. But! I can take you to go see it if your mom’s cool with it!”

 

“Mm.”

 

“So, who do you like?”

 

Jess tilted her head back, eyes staring at the ceiling with a faraway look. “... Human or demon?”

 

“Either one’s fine. Mine is Tanjiro,” Mike offered. “He’s a really sweet main character, don’t you think?”

 

“I... guess so.” Her head tilted to the left. “I like Inosuke better, though. Much more spirit. And my god, I want that flexibility. Think about the things we can do with that.”

 

‘Of course she would.’

 

“And for demons... Spider boy, too.”

 

“Spider boy? Oh, the Lower Moon Five?” Mike asked, frowning in confusion. “Why him?”

 

“Cool powers. And cool dress,” Jess said with a straight face. “Imagine swinging around with those threads of his. Like a demonic Spider-Man.”

 

“Uh... That’s not a dress. It’s a yukata... or is it called a kimono?” After mulling over it for a while, he simply shrugged to himself when the answer didn’t come to her. He could always look it up later, anyway. “It’s not a dress either way. But I suppose he could make for a, uh, pretty useful morph. Once you get over the ‘can’t be in the sun’ factor, that is. But isn’t there anyone else you like?”

 

She shrugged.

 

“What about the Pillars?” Mike prompted. He had assumed that she would at least take some sort of liking to them, but judging from the face she makes at the term, it seemed like his assumption was dead wrong.

 

“I don’t like ‘em. They’re really weird. And they stabbed Nekuzo,” Jess said, huffing.

 

“It’s Nezuko...”

 

“Whatever. Everyone else is alright, I guess?” Jess drew her knees to her chest, an unusually contemplative look crossing her face. “It kinda sucks that they’re not actually creating fire or lightning, though...”

 

Mike hid a giggle behind his hand. “Yeah, a lot of new viewers tend to fall into that pitfall.”

 

“Mm.”

 

An awkward silence fell upon them.

 

Jess kept staring ahead, not saying a word. Deciding that he should perhaps take the initiative, Mike cleared his throat. “If you want to, I got the volumes of the rest of the series here with—“

 

Without warning, Jess shot up to her feet. “—Oh, do you need to go back home now?” he asked. This wasn’t really unusual; if he could recall properly, her mother was pretty strict with curfew (overtly so, in his opinion, but he wasn’t in a position to butt into another family’s matters).

 

But she shook her head, and the single motion left him instantly clueless of her goals. As he watched on in confusion, she snatched up his hand and yanked him to his feet easily. “Whoa! Uh, what are you—“

 

“I did your thing,” she interrupted, dragging him to the front door, “so we’re gonna do mine now.”

~0~0~0~

Apparently, that meant running off into the nearby woods to let their shapeshifting abilities run rampant.

 

“I, I don’t know about this,” Mike said nervously, as Jess stood off to the side doing stretching exercises. Both of them were in a casual mix of jeans and T-shirts, with him wearing a hoodie around his waist. “What if someone sees us?”

 

“Then don’t talk.”

 

His mouth snapped shut, expression morphing to become offended. Jess’ head perked up at that moment, as if noticing the silence, and glanced back over her shoulder. “I mean, nobody really comes here. And... you’re always telling me to quiet down about our powers. I thought you would appreciate the reminder.” Again, there was no sign of insincerity. She was talking so blandly and boldly that, for a moment, Mike wondered if this was just a really convincing act she was putting up.

 

... Nah. Jess wasn’t that clever.

 

“You’re right,” he conceded. “But still, I’d rather it be for a little while only.”

 

“Sure.”

 

Jess bent her knees, and remained that way for several seconds before looking back in confusion. “You’re not coming?”

 

“Huh? Why would I—“

 

“Because it’s more fun with more people. C’mon,” Jess said immediately, extending one hand. Mike hesitated, the thought of declining the invitation crossing his mind, but the look in Jess’ eyes... They told him that she was not about to take that lying down. So, it was with a sigh that he accepted the appendage that dragged him forward once more.

 

His eyes flitted back and forth as he mentally laid out the numerous possibilities of taking this risk. Meanwhile, she was already starting the shapeshifting process. ‘Okay, okay... it’s fine. It’s fine! As long as we keep quiet, don’t do anything nonanimal-like, and hide our stuff, we’ll be hunky-dory!’ He hurriedly shoved the backpacks they had carried there into a clump of bushes, throwing loose leaves and branches until they were sufficiently covered. “There!” he muttered in satisfaction.

 

Jess looked over in his direction, face already peppered with brown-and-white feathers. “What the heck is the holdup? Hurry up before—!“ The rest of her sentence was cut off the moment her mouth twisted into a wickedly curved beak, causing her previously coherent words to devolve into unintelligible garble, but he felt like he could still guess it. He motioned for her to calm down, and the screeching quietened.

 

“I know, I know. But if we’re going to go out together, the least we could do is to take some precautions,” he said in his best reasoning voice. “Look away, will you?”

 

Jess, now fully in her hawk form ( ‘A ferruginous hawk, to be exact,’ he thought in silent admiration), gave him a single caw and fluttered off to the nearest branch, tail feathers facing him. With privacy given to him, Mike quickly stripped down to his gym clothes and began the shapeshifting process.

 

It was a curious power, now that he thought about it. It wasn’t painful, but it could definitely induce nausea in a person that wasn’t used to it. He could feel his bones hollowing out, his arms contorting and shrinking as feathers sprouted everywhere. His bare feet was squashed, skin turning progressively scaly as his toes became fearsome talons. <It’d suck for anyone who’d try to snatch up our belongings, wouldn’t it?> he asked, fluttering up to where Hawk Jessica was sitting.

 

<Yeah, ‘cause we’ll claw out their jugulars if they do!>

 

<Yeah, that... that was the implication.> Mike sighed. <Well, come on then. Time is ticking, so let’s make use of it while we can.>

 

That was all Jess needed to hear, apparently. With a mental whoop, her hawk form catapulted off their sitting branch and flew away, the only evidence of her presence being the brown blur that flitted between trees occasionally. The sight, despite his earlier apprehension, made his bird half flutter with anticipation, and with a single hop, he dived off the branch and zipped off after her.

 

Exhilaration. Adrenaline. Fear. All of those and more were coursing through his veins as he allowed the hawk mind to steer the body for them. It was rather like riding a roller-coaster through the air, except with someone driving it like a complete maniac, and you know what? He loved i—

 

Well, no, that was a little inaccurate. Jess loved it. He treated it like a dangerous sport to dip his toes into once in a while.

 

Minutes turned to hours as they dove in and out of the foliage like ducks in water, sometimes chasing each other in a playful game of tag. Eventually, every bit of Mike’s anxiety melted away as he crowed out his elation, the wind ruffling his feathers ever so pleasantly. Any human thoughts, worries or desires were lost to the scenery left in their wake...

 

‘Oh?’

 

Mike nearly rammed into a tree when a voice suddenly intruded, and it was only thanks to a hard, last-minute bank to the right that he didn’t break into two. <Jess! How many times have I told you not to scare me like that!>

 

<Like what?>

 

<Don’t play dumb with me!> he said angrily. <You thought-spoke to me out of the blue again!>

 

‘Two humans...’

 

<See?!>

 

The hawk in front of him slowed its flight, fluttering back onto a branch. <Dude? I didn’t say anything.>

 

<You... didn’t?> Mike tensed, and started to slow to a stop. <Then who—?>

 

The mysterious voice cackled. ‘You’ll do.’

 

Then his vision was plunged into blackness.

~0~0~0~

“... ey... Hey... ake up! Wake up!”

 

Mike jolted awake with a gasp.

 

Jess was kneeling next to him with a bemused expression, one hand poised in the air as if she was about to hit him. Wait, why did his cheek sting so much?

 

“Did you... hit me?” he said slowly.

 

Jess rolled her eyes. “Duh. You weren’t waking up and you were stuck in the middle of turning back, what else was I supposed to do?” She gestured at his body, which was stuck in an ungodly combination of feathers, talons and flesh. Uttering a rare swear, Mike scrambled to his feet as he pulled back in the various hawk parts. She snorted. “Dude, calm down. ‘S not like anyone’s here to see you.”

 

“But we can’t be careless about it!” he said insistingly, quickly checking over every single part of him. There wasn’t a feather in sight, thank goodness. He aimed a glare at Jess. “What if someone sees us?”

 

She cocked an eyebrow upwards. “Yeeeaaah, about that. I want to ask you something.”

 

“O...kay?”

 

“Alright, so, where was the last place you remember being?”

 

“Erm... I’m pretty sure it was the nearby woods.”

 

“Cool. Do you remember that woods being in Japan?”

 

... What the heck? “What kind of question is that?” Mike asked, giggling nervously. “I know you like to joke around, but uh, this isn’t really the time for that.”

 

“I’m not.”

 

“Huh?”

 

She jerked her head to her right. “You might want to see where we are right now.”

 

An uneasy feeling began creeping up his back. He didn’t know what to expect now; from her very confused and confusing hints, he thought that maybe they had landed themselves far from any signs of civilisation (again), or maybe even on the other side of the world or something outlandish like that.

 

It was worse.

 

From the looks of it, they were in a whole other time period.

 

He was standing near the edge of a cliff, with only a bunch of trees behind them. Their belongings were nowhere to be seen, save for the clothes on their backs. From their vantage point, he had a bird’s eye view (not a literal one, unfortunately) over what looked like tightly-pack groups of old-fashioned wooden buildings. A village? They reminded him of the old Japanese homes his family had toured in years and years ago...

 

“See anyone?” Jess asked. Mike could only shake his head, though. With the distance between them and the village, he could barely make out the houses, never mind the people living in them. “Yeah, makes sense. I had to go hawk morph to scout, and nothing still made sense. I was hoping you’d know what’s going on.”

 

“I...” If she didn’t know anything even after a full scout, then how the heck would he?!

 

At that moment, Jess broke out into a huge grin like she had read his thoughts. “Y’know I’m the stupid one of us, dude. C’mon, lay the theories on me,” she said, dropping to squat on the ground. “What happened?”

 

“Hrm...”

 

Mike frowned in thought as he sat next to Jess. “I think... Let’s go back to what we do remember. We were in the woods near our neighbourhood, in morph and flying, yeah?”

 

Jess nodded.

 

“Then...” It hit him, and he snapped his fingers. “That’s it! Hey, Jess, do you remember hearing a voice before coming here?”

 

Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Uuuh... Yeah, I heard you, I think.”

 

“No, no, no, I meant a voice in your head,” Mike clarified, tapping the side of his head.

 

“... Yeah, I heard you, I think.”

 

“No, that’s not—!” A frustrated groan cut off the rest of his words as Mike facepalmed. “Okay, this isn’t going anywhere, so let’s just go.”

 

“Go where?” she asked with a bemused stare as Mike scrambled to his feet.

 

“I don’t know yet, but we can’t sit around twiddling our thumbs,” he said. Holding out a hand, it took several seconds before she accepted it reluctantly, and after pulling her up to her feet, he pointed at the scenery below. “First thing we can do is look around and see what’s going on. Sorry, but sneaking around as animals won’t be enough.”

 

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want to turn into a rat again,” Jess accused.

 

“That, too.”

 

“Tch. Fine,” she said. “But promise me that we’ll go back to flying soon?”

 

“Soon, after we find out just what the heck happened to us.”

 

And that was their plan. Armed with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they started their trek down the gigantic cliff side. Hopefully, whatever they found down there would give them answers...

~0~0~0~

“Holy shit, that place is huge !”

 

Mike cringed for the umpteenth time that day. Doing his best to ignore the dirty looks thrown their way, he desperately tried to wave for Jess to quiet down, but she was either oblivious or just didn’t care. “Holy shit, Mike! Look! That guy’s selling weapons!” she said excitedly, doing her damnest to drag him over to a man with a blacksmith apron attending to a forge. “Look, look!”

 

“Jess, not so loud!” he hissed. It took all of his strength and then some to slow her down, heels digging into the soft ground. “Those aren’t weapons, they’re probably kitchen knives and stuff, and quit. Running. Everywhere!”

 

The only reason she was acting like this had to be because their neighbourhood was extremely boring in comparison. That was the only thing Mike could think of as he forcibly steered her forward and away from the staring locals. So many new sights, smells and sounds were present in this village; if he was being honest, it was probably partially his fault that he had dragged Jess to this place without telling her anything about his plan (he had forgotten).

 

Speaking of Jess, she was still sulking about being prematurely separated from her new object of interest. “I just wanted a quick peek...” she muttered.

 

“That was more than a peek!” he said, rubbing his temples. “Come on, let’s just... Follow my lead, okay? I’ll find someone to talk to that you haven’t scared off already, and you can take a look around when I’m asking the questions.”

 

Jess was amiable to that, so they were off again, this time with Mike taking the lead as she closely followed him. He was glad, not only for the peace and quiet, but also for the opportunity to properly drink in the sights.

 

This village was unlike anything in their own neighbourhood, much less country. Heck, he didn’t even think that the version of Japan he’d visited was as rural as this one. Instead of the monumental skyscrapers with their gleaming windows and office workers streaming in and out like ants in a colony, this place had very traditional Japanese houses, as well as various shops. Most were easily identifiable, with the blacksmith and marketplace and pottery shop, but there was one or two that had strange items he’d never seen before. A part of him itched to get a closer look, but that part also knew that he’d be a hypocrite for it. ‘Maybe another time,’ he promised himself.

 

The folks here were also an interesting sight, if only for what seemed to be the common attire here. Kimonos, yukatas... There were some shirts-and-pants wearers around too, but for the most part, all of them had a Japanese quality to it. It certainly made them stand out, with their hoodies and scuffed sneakers.

 

“Oi, Mike, when d’you think we can eat? Or sleep?” Jess piped up. “I’m starving over here.” As if to punctuate her point, her stomach growled at that moment.

 

“Oh, sh... That’s right, I completely forgot!” If he could slap himself right then, he would, but he just settled for giving their surroundings a quick once-over before turning to Jess. “Okay, um, quick change of plans. We look for information, and then we’ll go look for a place to stay. Does that sound good?”

 

He received a shrug as a response, which he supposed was good enough for now. Tightening his grip on her hand, he began hitting up various stores and houses, asking them a multitude of questions. There was some variation, but the responses they received all boiled down to these:

 

“Are you both foreigners? Your clothing has that western style to it...” an old man in what seemed to be a pottery shop muttered, his hands caked in clay. Mike was quick to hit the exit door to that and many more conversations of the same nature.

 

“No problem, dearies! You are looking for the closest town from here, yes? It’s far enough to require a few days of travel, but you’ll be there in a flash if you can find a willing soul to transport you!” a stout, middle-aged woman said with a simpering smile (“Dearies?” Jess had muttered).

 

“Time?” a grizzled-looking man grunted, peering down at the duo with furrowed brows. Mike could only muster a weak smile in response, desperately trying to ignore how Jess was practically hovering over the man’s fresh produce with a look of wonder. “Hmph. If you’re talking about today’s date, it’s the third of January.”

 

“What about the year?”

 

The grizzled man snorted. “Don’t your parents teach you kids anything these days? It’s 1919 now.”

 

His jaw dropped, and Jess’ head snapped around.

 

“What are you looking at me like that for?” the man demanded, snapping Mike out of his shock.

 

“N-nothing, sir! Jess, let’s go,” he hissed at her, who was still staring at the man with a mystified expression. When she didn’t move an inch, he had to snatch up her hand and drag her out instead, barely able to yell out a “Thank you, sir!” over his shoulder as they left.

 

Amidst the sea of curious glances they were garnering, both of them half-walked, half-stumbled down the road with dazed expressions. Jess was acting compliant, and while it was normally something of a rare treat, he couldn’t say that he liked seeing it this time. “I can’t believe... We’re actually—“

 

“Mike?”

 

“Uh, y-yes?” he asked, glancing back. Jess had a faraway look in her eyes.

 

“We’re time travellers.”

 

“... Oh. Um, maybe we should talk about this once we’re out of town,” he suggested gently. Thankfully, Jess didn’t seem to take any offence to that as she grinned.

 

“Back to the forest? Fine by me. I like that place better anyways.”

 

“Yeah, I think that’s for the best. We kind of... stand out as it is,” he said, gesturing at their clothing.

 

She made a face. “That’s your reasoning? Then why don’t we just go hawk m— Mmph!”

 

“Ssh, not so loud!” Mike hissed for the second time that day, his hand slapping over her mouth. She was able to shake it off in an instant, but took the hint and stayed quiet (not without a glower, though). “We can’t let anyone know about our you-know-what.”

 

“I’m not, I’m just saying that—“

 

“Later. We’ll talk about this later,” he said in the firmest voice possible. Jess opened her mouth again, but whatever she was about to say faltered as soon as she saw his face.

 

“Tch... Fine.”

 

“Thanks, Jess, now let’s get out of here.”

 

‘Everything’s fine, Mike! We have a plan now, and we just need to think things through carefully,’ he assured himself as he pulled Jess along, tracing back the route that they had taken from the mountainous area. ‘My parents have to be looking for me now, and Jess’ mom always freaks out if she’s not home when she’s supposed to. They’ll find us soon.’

 

And yet, as the sun blazed down on their backs the further they climbed up the mountain, he had a niggling feeling that something about this wasn’t right...

~0~0~0~

By the time the rocky ground beneath their feet turned into compact dirt, Jess spoke up. “Hey, it’s getting pretty dark.”

 

“What?” His head jerked up, and sure enough, the previously golden rays of afternoon sunlight was now turning into a vivid orange-yellow shade, blinking through the canopy above them like a nauseating disco ball. His eyes widened. “Uh-oh. Come on, let’s hurry it up.”

 

“Gotcha.”

 

Jess then quadrupled in speed, nearly pulling his arm off and actually pulling him off the ground. He just barely managed to catch himself. “Whoa, hey, slow down! We still need to find someplace to sleep for the night!”

 

To his surprise, she nodded instead of arguing. “I know. Look,” she said, pointing at a space between a cluster of trees. “Space.”

 

“Oh, nice catch!” he said as he squinted in the same direction. Her lips twitched into a smug smile. “It’s a little too open for my tastes, but it’s not like we have any other options, so... shall we?”

 

Jess nodded, and he led her forward as they slowly manoeuvred their way around the prickly bushes, shaking off the overgrown roots that got caught on their pants leg. ‘Ow... Jeez, these clothes are really not meant for outdoor wear. How can Jess stand this?’ he thought, wincing as a particularly pointy root dug into his shin.

 

“Oi. Stop dancing and get over here,” Jess called out, somehow already at the clearing. Her bare shins were covered in similar scrapes and scratches, but it might as well not exist for her.

 

Mike grumbled, shaking off one last piece of root before jogging over to join her on the ground. “I don’t get it.”

 

“Yeah, how can someone suck so much at walking through a couple of trees?”

 

“Not that...” Mike groaned, swatting away her snickers. “I’m talking about everything else! How did we travel back in time? How are we in Japan? And in tangent to that, how are we understanding everyone?”

 

All of that and more were crossing his mind at the speed of lightning, but he had barely any success with the answers to them. At the very least, he had been hoping Jess would offer a piece of her... unique perspective, but she only shook her head. “Maybe someone tried to kidnap us and left us in Japan,” she suggested.

 

“Yeah, but... why?”

 

She shrugged.

 

That was how they spent the next hour or so, while the sun sank into the horizon behind them; with Mike tossing out every theory possible and Jess striking them down with a single shrug of her shoulders. As more and more failed theories laid scattered at their feeling, something akin to bleakness inched further and further into his heart until it truly had him in its grasp.

 

They were far from home.

 

They did not know how to get back home.

 

They had no way of contacting their families and loved ones.

 

“And ‘m hungry.”

 

“Yes, I know,” he sighed. “No need to rub it in.”

 

She huffed at him. “Fine. Then if you don’t mind, I’ll go eat something.” With that curt declaration, she pushed herself to her feet. “Wonder if there’s any mice here...”

 

“There should be some around here, but don’t take too long, okay?”

 

“I know!” she snapped.

 

He didn’t back down. “Still, be careful, okay?”

 

She glared at him in the middle of bending her knees, preparing for take-off. “Don’t tell me things I already know, so back off—“

 

“What are you two doing here this late?!”

 

Mike nearly jumped out of his skin, while Jess whirled around with his fists raised. Not like that was going to do anything, he realised as he turned around himself.

 

Whoever this man was, Mike was pretty sure he was a mountain posing as a man. He was easily a head taller than Jess (who was already taller than Mike), and the old-fashioned clothing he was wearing did nothing to hide his muscled arms. In his hands was an axe with a blade that could easily cover his own head (and probably smash it in). However, that wasn’t the scariest aspect; no, that honour went to the absolutely heavy scowl marring his features, intimidating despite his greying hairs, like they had done something to offend him and they didn’t know it. The sight made him gulp.

 

Not like this deterred Jess in any way. “Who the hell are you?” she snapped, raising her fists higher.

 

His eyes bugged out in horror, and he scrambled to his feet to plant himself between her and the stranger before a fight could break out. “Hey, hey, hey! There’s no need to, to fight, okay? Jess, please don’t tick off the dude that can easily lop our heads off,” he quietly begged. To the man, he quickly bowed as words tumbled out of his mouth like a waterfall. “I am so, so sorry about my friend here! She’s just, uh, jumpy— We’re both pretty jumpy, actually, because of all the, uh, wild animals and b-bandits, and we just weren’t expecting anyone to come by! But, um, we’re really sorry if this is a restricted area of some sort, we’ll leave right away—“

 

“What?!” Jess blurted out, and her fists were suddenly turned to him. “There’s no way this is a restricted area, you goddamn moron!”

 

“W-wait, what are you mad at me for?”

 

“You—!”

 

“ Both of you, shut it!”

 

That made their mouths snap shut in an instant, and the man sighed. “That’s better. You haven’t answered my question yet: what are you doing here? Don’t you know how dangerous it is to frolic about at this time?”

 

“Oh. Oh, n-no, we weren’t doing that at all! We were just trying to find a place to sleep...”

 

The way the man kept palming his huge, sharp axe made his heart skip a beat every time, and he quietly motioned for Jess to join him.

 

She caught the hint and was by his side in a flash, an arm circling around his shoulder. “Our turn. Who are you?” she snapped.

 

“The person that’s about to save your hides,” the man shot back, unimpressed. “Have you not heard of the rumours?”

 

“Ru...mours...?” Mike gave Jess a baffled expression, who shot back a “What do you want me to do?!” look. “Um, what are you talking about, sir?”

 

“Oh my god.”

 

Those three words carried such a note of defeat that Mike felt compelled to apologise, for some reason. The man ran a hand down his face, muttered something under his breath, then finally looked up at them with a considerably gentler gaze. “It will take too long to explain now, so if you would follow me, I can take you to somewhere safe first.”

 

“And why should we trust you?” Mike said, his voice shaking.

 

“It is either that, or you risk your lives staying out in the open like this.” The man started to turn, but then paused as if he had realised something. “... If it makes you feel any better, my name is Tobe Takahiro.”

 

“T... Tobe Taka...hiro?” Well, at least they had a confirmation that they were in Japan.

 

“That’s right. Now are you coming or not?”

 

“Mike, he’s weird ! We can’t go with him!” Jess hissed in his ear. The arm around him was slowly tightening into a vice grip. “We can just camp out here! We’ve done it tons before, we can do it again.”

 

Normally, he’d agree with her. “Stranger Danger” was a thing, after all. But... the way this Takahiro guy made it sound, it was like that there was something really bad prowling around here... A vague sense of déjà vu was chewing away at the edge of his conscience, but for the life of him, he could not figure out why.

 

To buy himself some time, he said aloud, “Jess, maybe we should go with him first. You know, since we don’t really know anything about this place?”

 

“But...” Any protest Jess had against the idea died when her stomach growled, and she huffed. “Fine. But I’m blaming you if we end up getting killed in a secret basement.”

 

“I don’t expect anything less,” he said. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the man. “Thank you for your offer, Mr...?”

 

Takahiro blinked, and his expression became something more... reassuring, in a way. “Heh, you two really are foreigners, aren’t you? Your clothes and way of talking...” He shook his head. “Tobe-san is just fine.”

 

Takahiro gestures for them to follow before disappearing into the greenery beyond. Mike turned to Jess for some reassurance, but she wasn’t there— the tip of her sneaker was already vanishing from view, and he suppressed a groan. ‘This is going to hurt...’

~0~0~0~

It wasn’t long before they finally re-emerged from the trees, Jess casually strolling along while Mike limped and hissed in pain behind her. Somehow, Takahiro was farther along than the both of them, and even had the energy to bark at them to pick up the pace! Honestly...

 

“Mm. Nice smell.”

 

Jess piping up with that random observation managed to break the monotonous haze that had fallen upon Mike, and he wearily lifted his gaze. “What?” he mumbled.

 

“It smells like a flower.” Jess inhaled deeply, and uttered a tiny “Ooh”. “It smells so good. So much better than the stupid essential oils Ma gets.”

 

“Do you like it?” Takahiro asked with a proud smile. “It’s wisteria incense.”

 

Mike frowned.

 

“Incense?” Jess echoed. “You religious?”

 

Takahiro snorted. “A few little incense sticks doesn’t make a man religious, little miss.”

 

“Eh, t’was just a guess,” she said with a shrug, sticking out an arm for Mike to steady himself without breaking her stride. He accepted gratefully. “But then what are they for?”

 

“To put it simply, it wards off bad spirits.”

 

His eyes widened.

 

“Bad spirits. Pfft. What, ghosts?”

 

A sharp look was shot her way, causing her to stifle her snickers. “Obviously you haven’t heard of the rumours floating about,” he said.

 

“Yeah, you said that just now too. What rumours?”

 

Mike swore he could hear a pin drop in the sudden silence that had fallen upon them. Takahiro answered, and the answer left Mike reeling back from the shock.

 

“Rumours that man-eating demons prowl the mountainside.”

 

Mike was suddenly caught in a coughing fit that forced him to stop in his tracks. Jess stopped next to him, fist already thumping his back furiously. “Is there something wrong, boy?” Takahiro asked.

 

Words beyond him at the moment, Mike could only shake his head.

 

“I think he just needs water. He’s been running under the sun a lot,” Jess said swiftly as she rubbed circles on his back, carefully leading him forward.

 

“Very well. Hurry and bring him inside, and I will have tea prepared for him.” Takahiro was pointing at a house— at least, he thought it was a house. Mike couldn’t tell; through the film of tears blurring his vision, he could only see a dirt brown structure with two tiny pots sitting in front, where the wisteria smell was the strongest.

 

Still, he did his best to speak, even if gasps and chokes interject at irregular intervals. “I-I— Demo— You—!”

 

“Don’t talk,” Takahiro ordered. “You, help your friend in.”

 

“W-wait...”

 

Jess flicked his forehead before he could say more — her own way of shutting him up — and led him through a beaten door. Seeing that neither were going to let him go, he instead gave up and decided to take a look around the house they’d just entered.

 

The house was... Mike wouldn’t say “dilapidated”. Because that would be very rude. He couldn’t help but think it, though. The walls were showing obvious signs of wear and tear, although if it was from age or otherwise, he couldn’t tell. The furniture had clearly seen better days, too. Chipped cups filled with steaming tea were set on a rickety-looking table, where Takahiro was sitting. His axe was thankfully nowhere to be seen.

 

Jess plopped down at the table immediately, and Mike slowly followed suit. “Th-thank you for the tea, sir,” he wheezed, shakily raising the cup to his lips. The liquid was scalding, but otherwise, it was pretty refreshing.

 

“Are you feeling better now?” Takahiro asked gruffly. Mike nodded, and he crossed his arms. “Good, that means we can get on with introductions, eh?”

 

“Erm, yes! Ah... My name is Micheal Jones,” he said, pointing at himself. “She’s Jessica Maxwell. We’re... Ahaha, I suppose it’s kind of obvious, but we’re not from around here.”

 

“Obviously,” Takahiro snorted. “No sane person from the village would have so brazenly strolled through the forest at nighttime. But still, why didn’t you stay at the village? I’m sure someone there would have given you shelter.”

 

“Ah...”

 

His mind stuttered to a halt as it scrambled to come up with an answer that wasn’t “Oh, we hopped dimensions!”, but nothing else came to mind. Out of desperation, he glanced over at Jess to mouth for help, and she raised an eyebrow at him before answering herself. “We don’t know anyone there. We don’t even know how we got here,” she said blandly. Mike nearly choked on his tea— that wasn’t what he wanted her to say!

 

“You don’t even know how you got here?” Takahiro, understandably, sounded baffled. “I... don’t quite understand. Can you elaborate?”

 

“Um! Wh-what she means is...” After some deliberation, Mike took a deep breath and continued. “We woke up in the forest a few hours ago, and... we don’t remember how we got here. Everything’s a blur.”

 

“Do you at least remember where your home is?”

 

“America,” Mike promptly answered. He promptly regretted it too, when Takahiro’s confusion seemed to only grow.

 

“So far away...?”

 

A minute of nothing but tense silence passed, as Mike waited for the response that might or might not end with them getting kicked out of here. Jess seemed completely nonplussed, but her barely narrowed eyes starting straight down at the tea cup gave away her anxiety.

 

Then Takahiro sighed. “This is obviously a rather large tale from the sound of it, so I won’t push it for now. We can continue this line of discussion tomorrow.”

 

Mike sighed with relief. Safe for now!

 

“Our turn,” Jess said, glaring suspiciously at the man. “What was that about demons just now?”

 

Not safe!

 

A low chuckle rumbled in his throat. “From the tone of your voice, it sounds like you do not believe me. Am I correct?”

 

“It’s not that I don’t believe. I just don’t want to.”

 

Beside her, Mike groaned into his tea; did she not realise how stupid that sounded?!

 

“... You are a very strange lady, Jessica-san,” Takahiro snorted. After taking a sip from his own cup, he continued. “But I do not blame you. For a good portion of my time living here, I had also believed demons to be nothing but the products of rampant paranoia. I constantly ventured into the Aokigahara forest without any thought, until...”

 

The twinkle in his eyes disappeared.

 

“... I was attacked by a demon myself.”

 

Both of them perked up at that. “Wait, really?” Mike questioned.

 

“Yes. By all rights, I should not have survived that encounter, but I was lucky to escape with nothing but a scar,” he said, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a long, thin scar stretching from shoulder to chest. It was a stark white against his tan skin.

 

Mike winced in sympathy, while Jess whistled. “You fought him off?” she asked with the most enthusiasm she’d shown tonight.

 

“Barely. I couldn’t kill it, but I was able to fend it off a little with my axe. Until someone else stumbled upon me and was able to help out.” As Takahiro said that, his gaze flitted to the wispy smoke trails curling skywards. “He also made the suggestion of using wisteria incense. Claimed demons weren’t very fond of the plant.”

 

“I... I see. Oh wow,” was all Mike could stupidly say. What else was he supposed to say to a story like that? “Is that thing dead?”

 

“Yes,” Takahiro said, and Mike sighed with relief. “So there is nothing to worry about, as long as you do not stray far into the night.”

 

“Yes, Tobe-san!”

 

He seemed satisfied with the answer, and set his cup down before climbing to his feet. Stay here while I prepare a spare room for you. It will be a bit of a squeeze, so I hope you do not mind.”

 

“No, no, no, we don’t mind at all!” Mike reassured, quickly waving off his concerns. “Thank you very much, Tobe-san!”

 

“... Thank you,” Jess said quietly.

 

Takahiro nodded in acknowledgement and disappeared through another door, leaving the both of them alone. Mike snuck a glance at Jess. She wasn’t looking his way, though. He cleared his throat. “Jess.”

 

She made a loud gulp as her cup’s contents vanished in an instant. She smacked her lips. “Mm, that’s good. Better than the expensive crap Ma gets,” she said absentmindedly.

 

“ Jessica .”

 

“What?” she snapped, setting the cup down so heavily that it rattled the table itself.

 

“Don’t you see what’s going on?” he hissed, scooting closer to Jess. She looked exasperated, but leaned in closer regardless. “Look, I couldn’t say anything before there was just so much going on, but I think now is a good time to say this.”

 

He took a deep breath.

 

“Jess, I think we’re in the Demon Slayer world.”

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Conflict of Interests

Notes:

Hey hey! It's been a while since I've posted, but here I am with another chapter! Lemme know what you think about it, so without further ado, onto the chapter!

[Jessica]

 

“Jessica-san, Micheal-san! Get up, I have something to ask of the both of you!”

 

Her eyes flew open. A hand flew out from under the covers, reaching for an alarm clock—

 

—that wasn’t there? Jess stared blankly at the wooden wall before yesterday’s events all came rushing back to her. ‘Shit, that’s right. We... got yeeted into another world? Huh. That sounds weirder when I’m actually thinking it.’

 

It seemed so obvious to her the day before. Foreign world, weird locals, and supernatural creatures all screamed “different dimension”. But now that she had slept on it, it made her head hurt just thinking about it. She blamed Mike for dumping that crapload of questions on her in the first place.

 

‘How did we get here?’

 

‘Why are we in the Demon Slayer world?’

 

‘Can we get back home?’

 

A hint of another headache pulsed, driving her fist into the thin futon the old man had given them. Stupid Micheal! That idiot was supposed to be the smarter one out of the duo, so why was he asking her questions?

 

All he had to take care of was the problem-solving, and she with the problem-punching. It was so simple, even she knew it.

 

Crawling out of the futon, she slipped back into yesterday’s clothes (whoever dumped them here didn’t bother bringing their stuff along, that asshole) and turned to Mike... who was still snoring away. She frowned, but it was momentary as the sight lit a single lightbulb in her head.

 

Her face split into a massive grin stretching from ear-to-ear.

 

Snickering, Jess dropped onto her stomach and army-crawled to her still snoozing friend. Her mouth next to his ear, she drew in a deep breath...

 

“GET UP, DUMBASS!”

 

“GYAH!”

 

Jess would forever treasure the image of Girly-Screamer Mike flailing helplessly under the covers, and right on cue, Old Man Tobe came bursting into the room. “What happened?!” he demanded, his axe raised in the air.

 

Jess grinned up at him, doing her best to look innocent while lying next to her screeching friend. “Nothing much. Just doing what you said,” she said.

 

The screaming suddenly cut off at that moment. Mike stared up at the ceiling with eyes as wide as saucers, fingers clutching the flimsy futon like a lifeline.

 

“... Hmph. Stop fooling around and get out here. I need to talk to the both of you.” Without another word, he turned and slammed the door shut behind him.

 

As his heavy footsteps faded into the distance, an odd wheezing sound came from below her. “What... the heck... was that for?” Mike wheezed.

 

“He asked me to wake you up. I woke you up.” She gave him a cheeky grin. “What’s wrong with that?”

 

His only response was to throw a fist, which she took without complaint.

~0~0~0~

“You two will be helping me with errands today.”

 

Errands? Jess frowned at the word.

 

“Aw, don’t be like that, Jess. He’s already doing us a massive favour by letting us stay here for now, so the least we could do is help around a bit,” Mike chided. She shot him a dirty look.

 

“It’s not that! It’s...” Jess trailed off, frustration getting the better of her. That wasn’t the reason she was mad. It wasn’t . But Mike’s pointed look was telling her to shut it for now.

 

Old Man Tobe nodded in Mike’s direction. “Thank you, Micheal-san. I hope this isn’t asking too much of you. Normally, I am capable of carrying these tasks out myself, but—“

 

“No, no, we understand! It’s better than sitting around doing nothing, anyways, so just let us know what we can do, Tobe-san!” Mike said, wearing a way-too-shiny smile. “And, um, you can call us Micheal and Jessica, no need for the formalities!”

 

She mouthed “Suck-up” at him.

 

He ignored her.

 

“Very well, and thank you again,” Old Man Tobe said. “Onto the errands...”

 

As it turned out, these “errands” actually turned out to be regular errands, for the most part: grocery shopping, cleaning up after themselves...

 

Then there were the weirder chores, and out of the lot was wood chopping. Jess barely paid attention to the intricate details — that was what Mike was for — but there was one point that was worthy of attention: the a—!

 

“No!” Old Man Tobe barked. “You’re not allowed to handle my tools without my permission whatsoever! You can help with carrying the wood around, but I don’t want to hear any complaining about my terms, do you understand?”

 

Her shoulders slumped. “Yes...”

 

Mike nudged her in the ribs and tried to shoot her a comforting smile. “Don’t worry, it won’t be so bad! At least you get to be in your element, ha ha.”

 

“Yeah. As his pack mule. Why don’t I just turn into an actual mule and save everyone’s time?” she groused, shrugging off the sharper jab in her ribs. “Shove off, I’m not actually being serious.”

 

A dubious look was sent her way, to which she rolled her eyes at. Who did he think she was? God knew how many times he had pounded “The Excruciatingly Crucial Lesson” into her head: never show anyone their powers! Personally, she thought that was a stupid rule; what were people gonna do if they somehow found out? Try to hand them off to government officials? Hah! Good luck trying to find them in a flock of birds!

 

... But even so. The thought of deliberately ignoring his instructions didn’t sit well with her. For two reasons only: Mike would be disappointed, and Mike would most definitely get hurt trying to cover for her. It was for those reasons and those reasons only that Jess simply gritted her teeth and followed after Old Man Tobe, who was drumming his fingers against the axe’s handle like he had been waiting a million years for her.

 

“Thank you, Jess,” Mike said too happily. He started walking in the opposite direction with a errands list in his hands. “Just hang in there until I get back, alright? See you!”

 

Hang in there? Easier said than done.

 

Jess reluctantly waved him off, and jogged over to the old man before he could start nagging again. “Ready to go?” he asked.

 

She gave a half-hearted thumbs-up, and soon, they started their trek into the deep confines of the forest in search of good wood. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

~0~0~0~

As it turned out... it wasn’t that hard. It was actually kinda nice, being able to stretch her legs and breathe in fresh forest air.

 

But guess what would’ve made it better? Getting to use her powers!

 

But nooooo, Scaredy-Cat Micheal just had to go “BuT whAt If tHEy SeE uS?!”, and forbid the use of their powers in broad daylight. Why? Because it could give the old man the wrong impression that they were demons. That, and a heart attack. But how would that be her fault? If anything, it would be his fault for jumping to conclusions! Tch.

 

“I wouldn’t have to do this undercover bullshit in the first place if we just struck out on our own and camped for the night,” she muttered to herself. “Stupid, trusting Mike...”

 

“Is there something wrong?”

 

Jess grunted in reply, pausing to readjust the load on her back. “No.”

 

“Are you certain?” For some reason, the old man didn’t get the hint to leave her alone. “We can take a short break if you wish to. I know you’re not used to this kind of labour, which is why I hadn’t planned for us to go too far today.”

 

“I’m. Fine .” She jerked away from his outstretched hand, but that only sent her load tumbling to the ground with a loud clatter. “Oh for fuck’s sake!”

 

“Language, young lady,” Old Man Tobe admonished, setting down his axe. Larger, calloused hands joined hers to pick up the fallen wood.

 

She scowled at him. “I’m not your godda— I’m not your kid!”

 

“And do your parents let you talk like that?”

 

“Uh.” Shit, he got her there. “No, but—“

 

“Then I expect you to at least maintain the level of politeness you do with your parents.”

 

His tone and way of talking was exactly like Mike whenever he got peeved. Which was pretty often. Her shoulders slumped. “Fine...”

 

‘This sucks,’ she thought sulkily when she finally managed to gather up every single piece of wood. They soon continued their trek through the forest. ‘Why are we even rooming with this old dude? Why can’t we just travel by ourselves?’

 

Oh wait. She knew the answer to that question. Because Mike was too scared of the demons!

 

... On second thought, maybe she shouldn’t blame him for that. People tend not to like being eaten by man-eating monsters.

 

Tch. That was the thing, wasn’t it? All that was holding them back from independence was those stupid demons roaming around at night. If they weren’t around, then they could’ve easily covered so much ground during the time they spent running these dumb errands! Maybe even be back home by now! All she needed to do was find a way to travel by night...

 

Wait.

 

Wait.

 

Jess bit her lip, weighing her options (which were about as heavy as the mini-mountain she was lugging around now, god how was it still growing). On one hand, if she asked Old Man Tobe this, it might piss Mike off. But on the other, she was about this close to punching herself to end the boredom.

 

Which one was more important? Mike’s pain, or hers?

 

Mike, or her?

 

Mike? Her?

 

...

 

‘Screw it. Sorry Mike, but I need to know this.’ “Hey, old ma— Er, Tobe-san?”

 

“What is it?” he responded.

 

“Do... demons eat humans?”

 

Old Man Tobe threw a sharp glance at her, and she immediately glared back. “What makes you ask that?” he asked.

 

She wasn’t the smartest, and she’d be happy to admit that, but even she could hear the edge in his voice. Unfortunately, though, that was the extent of her non-idiocy. “No reason. Just curious.”

 

The old man continued staring at her suspiciously as she stared back with a blank look (always an effective method), before he broke it off with a snort. “There is a reason rumours refer to them as man-eating demons. They will always target living humans, and humans only . But I’m not entirely sure of the reason behind that,” he added thoughtfully. “Perhaps humans are far more appealing to demons than animals are? The only way one can truly know is if they ask a demon, and as you know, that’s not something anyone can do.”

 

Old Man Tobe paused next to an unmarked tree, and turned fully to face her.

 

“That’s not something anyone should be doing,” he said sternly. “Do you hear me?”

 

Jess had to swallow down the more sarcastic comments she had wanted to say. “Doooon’t worry, Mr Tobe-san. I, human Jessica, promise not to approach demons to ask whether they eat demons or not,” she pledged with a mock salute.

 

Old Man Tobe simply shook his head, turning to chop the tree down, and Jess grinned widely. Maybe this little excursion wasn’t going to be as boring as she thought it’d be.

 

That, and he’d just given her the perfect plan for getting to shapeshift in secret.

~0~0~0~

“What?”

 

“We sneak out at night as animals,” Jess repeated.

 

They were back in Old Man Tobe’s house, unwinding after doing a morning-and-a-half’s worth of errands. She had ended up staggering back, worn down to the bone, but Mike had the audacity to appear through the door with all the energy he had from this morning, bags of groceries swinging from his sunburnt arms and his cheeks holding a tint of rosy red.

 

Had she mentioned his audacity yet?

 

At least Mike also brought back some funky-smelling, but refreshing tea. He had graciously given her a cup, of which she accepted eagerly, but when she told him her plan, he looked like he was seriously reconsidering gifting the tea to her at all. She held the cup to her chest. Just in case.

 

“I... Jess ,” he breathed out. “You know that demons are out there prowling about. Demons that eat humans like us! Is this your weird way of telling me to eff off, or are you being serious?”

 

“I’m serious!” she insisted. Mike sat back heavily, staring at her like she had sprouted another head, and she was inwardly glad that the old man wasn’t around at the moment (he’d gone to the village to sell the collected wood). “We just don’t go walking around like humans. You get me?”

 

Breaking through the baffled expression he wore was a vaguely contemplative one. Was he starting to understand her? “You’re saying that the demons won’t bother us if we’re animals?” Mike asked slowly.

 

She gave a vigorous nod. “Hell yeah! You’re finally getting it!”

 

“I... I dunno, Jess,” Mike muttered, scratching his head. “I can’t really believe that wholesale, you know? It seems a little unbelievable that they ignore animals completely.”

 

“But they don’t . They only care about humans! That’s their whole schtick!” she snapped. “And you fancy yourself an expert about Demon Slayer lore?”

 

His mouth fell open. “I-I never said that!” he said, tone offended now.

 

“You act like it.” She crossed her arms. Why the hell was he acting so goddamn wishy-washy about this? It wasn’t a difficult concept at all, if even she could get it. “‘Sides, the old man said himself that demons don’t eat animals. Case closed.”

 

That got his attention. “Wait, he really said that?” he asked.

 

Jess nodded again, more eagerly.

 

“I... Tobe-san would know a little about demons, being a local here and all...”

 

She held her breath.

 

Then his gaze hardened. “But he’s no demon slayer. It’s too big of a risk, so it’s still a no from me.”

 

The sudden whiplash felt like she had rammed right into a brick wall, leaving her spluttering. “But...! Seriously? What are you gonna do if we run into a demon wrecking a town, huh? Sit there and twiddle your thumbs?” she asked, frustration colouring her tone as her hands gesticulated wildly.

 

Mike looked at her, then all of a sudden and for no reason at all, his face turned sad. “So that’s the problem, Jess? You just want to hide with your animal form?” he asked.

 

“Huh?”

 

“You don’t need to say anymore. I get it, really. I’m scared, too! But this isn’t the way to go about it.” Mike kept babbling on and on about nonsensical crap and Jess was finding herself increasingly confused by it. And when she was confused by something, she also got sick of it. “I get that you’re... better at using the animal forms than me, but that doesn’t mean that it’s wise to hide in it excessively, yeah? What if you lose yourself to the animal’s instincts? Then you’ll get yourself tangled in a demon’s claws, and... well, that won’t end well.”

 

She mulled over his words, then... froze.

 

Scared?

 

Scared?

 

“ Scared? ” Her voice came out in a breathy sort of way, her brow twitching erratically as his explanation sunk in. “What the fuck. I did not say anything like that. Nothing.”

 

“I know, but—“

 

“You think I’m scared? I think you’re the scared one!” she yelled, jumping to her feet. “You keep going on and on and on about hiding our powers, but that’s just ‘cause you’re shit at controlling it! You’re just taking the easy fucking way out and making up excuses for it! ‘Want to blend in’? Fuck off with that!”

 

“... V-vulgarities won’t make me change my mind, Jess,” Mike said evenly. His body language suggested that he was much more composed than her, but she could barely see his fingers digging into the material of his pants. His gaze was practically drilling holes into her forehead. “Look, I suggested that we travel to the nearest town to look for a demon slayer because it’s the most sensible option. It’s low-risk, and even better, we don’t have to use our powers senselessly!”

 

“It’s not senseless!”

 

“Yes, it is!” he shot back. “I’m not an adrenaline junkie like you, okay? So stop playing around and let’s just focus on getting back home.”

 

He turned back to his tea. Jess stared at him incomprehensibly, mouth opening and closing as she tried to find her words. “Wha— I... Fine, then!” she snapped, face flushing redder by the second. “You don’t want my help? Then good luck finding your way out of a completely different world by yourself!”

 

Jess threw herself back onto the cushion, deliberately keeping her back to that stupid jerk. Stupid, stupid... He didn’t even consider trying out her own plan! Acted all high and mighty, but he couldn’t bullshit her; he was just too scared to use his powers again, she just knew it.

 

Behind her, Mike was muttering to himself in between sips of tea. Words like “blood art” and “corps” reached her ears, but she quickly clamped down on any curiosity that nibbled at the edge of her conscience.

 

Just then, the front door opened, and Old Man Tobe stepped into view. “My house hasn’t been burnt down while I was away? Good job, you two,” he chuckled. Hanging from his hand was a bag, which he set down in front of them. Mike’s arm shot out to grab hers before she could even make a move to see what was inside.

 

“Jess, don’t—”

 

“Fuck off —!”

 

“What did I say about language, Jessica?” After glaring at her for a moment longer, he dropped it. “And that’s supposed to be for you.”

 

“O-oh. Erm, thank you then, Tobe-san.” Embarrassed, Mike retracted his hand at the same time Jess yanked away hers.

 

“Don’t thank me when you haven’t even seen what’s inside. Go on,” the old man urged.

 

Jess didn’t need anymore encouragement. Hands diving into the cotton shopping bag, they clutched onto a bunch of soft fabrics and withdrew, revealing... clothing? In fact, they looked a lot like the ones they’d seen being worn at the village yesterday.

 

Mike was the first to catch on. “Is that for us, Tobe-san?” he asked, taking one of the clothing articles. At the same time, Jess held up her own. Both were mostly identical, except for the size: the one she was holding was slimmer than the other. They looked pretty cool, though! It helped that they were a pretty shade of sky blue.

 

“Yes. Since you don’t have anything other than the clothing on your backs, I hope that having spare clothing would aid you on your journey back home,” Old Man Tobe said, looking very heartened by their positive reactions. He took a seat next to them. “I won’t lie and say that it won’t be a difficult journey back home, but it is good to at least take the first step forward, don’t you agree?”

 

Mike, who had been measuring the clothes he got against his body, wasted no time flashing Old Man Tobe a dazzling smile. “That’s right! Thank you so much, sir, we won’t forget this!” The speed his head rocketed at when he sank into a deep bow damn near took it off altogether. “If there’s any way we can repay you, please let us know!”

 

However, his offer was waved off like nothing. “Don’t worry about that. Just focus on finding a way back to your home and families,” he said, the gentle tone already dissipating into the air to make way for his usual gruffness.

 

The tiny smile on her face was wiped off, and she glanced down at the clothes in her hands. So they were meant to help blend in with the people here? These looked brand new, too... Did the old man buy these with his own money? Money he could’ve used to help himself and the house (because Jesus Christ)? He didn’t have to...

 

Suddenly, the spiffy new clothing didn’t seem cool now.

 

The other two were still talking. “You really didn’t have to, Tobe-san,” Mike said, sounding very much like he was holding back from gushing.

 

“Yeah, you really didn’t have to,” Jess muttered bitterly.

 

Neither heard her, thankfully.

 

“Again, don’t worry about it. If anything, this will benefit us all; I can’t stand to think of someone wearing the same thing everyday and living in my house.” Old Man Tobe waved him off. “Go and try them on. If they don’t fit, I will bring them back down to the seamstress for replacement.”

 

Of course, that prompted Mike to start spouting more promises of repayment. Jess didn’t bother; not for something that she hadn’t asked for. She simply turned and ducked back into their borrowed room, diving back onto the futon as thought and plans ran wild in her head...

 

Several minutes passed by before the door squeaked open and closed behind her. “Jess, can I see the one you got? I think it might fit me better,” Mike said as he sat next to her. She tossed it over without a word. “Hey, careful! Tobe-san probably spent a lot on these...”

 

Her fingers tightened around the futon’s flimsy material.

 

“Oh, this does fit me better. What the heck? This is supposed to be yours, right? Um, never mind. Clothes are clothes, after all...” Jess got so lost in the ensuing rambling that she barely realised it coming to an end a minute later, and she rolled onto her back to see Mike in Mother Hen Mode over her. “Jess? Are you feeling alright?”

 

“Mm.”

 

“Are you still mad about just now?”

 

Silence.

 

“Jess...”

 

“Leave me alone!” she snapped. “Keep it to yourself. I don’t want to hear it.”

 

A pause, then she heard a sigh. “Alright, alright, calm down. I won’t talk if you don’t want me to, just... Don’t do anything stupid, okay? I don’t want to make Tobe-san worry more than he already is.”

 

She could’ve sworn she heard a tooth crack, with how hard she was gritting her teeth together.

 

Mike didn’t even notice. He was too busy admiring his new clothing to even notice the hypocrisy of his own words. He “didn’t want to worry Tobe-san”, and yet he insisted on staying with said Tobe-san when they could’ve easily struck out on their own? Yeah, right . He probably didn’t want her to leave so that she couldn’t prove him wrong and make him look stupid. ‘Well, fine then!’

 

Her glare grew determined.

 

‘If he’s too chicken to do it, then I’ll test my theory for the both of us!’

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Calm Before The Stupidity

Summary:

In which Mike and Takahiro have a nice chat and absolutely nothing bad happens.

[Mike]

 

It had been many hours since their fight, and Mike still couldn’t push aside the lingering worry he was feeling.

 

In hindsight, he wasn't surprised that Jessica “Jumps off cliffs on a daily basis” Maxwell wanted them to dive headfirst into the unknown on their journey back home. What was surprising was the ease in which she gave up the fight. Surprising, and very troubling, too. Unfortunately, he couldn’t push Jess for more information even if he wanted to. She was lying face-down on her futon, trying to sleep — or suffocate herself, it was hard to tell — and refusing any attempts to get her attention. All he could really do was leave her be for now...

 

Realising that the sensation squeezing his heart was guilt, Mike swiftly squashed it. ‘I don’t have anything to feel bad about,’ he told himself firmly. ‘My plan will be the one to get us out of this mess, she’s just being her usual stubborn self about this. All we have to do is find someone who is knowledgeable about demons.’

 

By process of elimination, that meant the Pillars if the show was anything to go by. But... Well, if he was being honest with himself, he couldn’t imagine that meeting going well in the slightest. The best-worst scenario possible would be if they never found the Pillars ever, and the worst-worst case was... What if they got mistaken for demons? Even worse, sun-immune demons?! Ugh, they’d probably get cut down so fast that their heads would spin. Literally.

 

... Still, the Pillars were the best chance they had of ever getting back home. Mike swallowed down his misgivings, forcing himself to take a few steady breaths. ‘I’ll have to hope that we have a little more luck than that, or Jess will never let me hear the end of it...’

 

He still had to think of the plan leading up to that meeting, though. Deciding that some fresh air would do him wonders, Mike left the room, finding Takahiro sitting at the table and eating some sort of Japanese dish: a rice bowl with several little dishes of ingredients, including miso soup that smelled heavenly. His stomach chose that moment to growl, catching the attention of the other man in the room. “Ah, good evening, Micheal. Could you go fetch your friend? It’s about time for dinner for the both of you.”

 

“Um. I don’t think Jess wants to eat right now. I think she’s pretty tired. From this afternoon. I think,” he said stiffly, the prospect of talking to her now not yet appealing.

 

Takahiro raised a bushy eyebrow. “Oh? So that’s all it takes to tucker her out, hm?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“She’s quite a rambunctious woman, especially for her age. Any other lady her age would have settled down somewhat by now, but she keeps going and going and going like her life depends on it,” Takahiro snorted, and gestured for him to take the other rice bowl on the table. Mike eased himself onto a free cushion, doing so. “In fact, I was quite surprised to see her keep up with me so easily. She hadn’t needed a single break during our trek through the forest, and she even refused my help with carrying a single piece of wood! It was rather admirable, but I have to admit that I was getting worried that she might be pushing herself too hard. Is she usually like this?”

 

At that, Mike couldn’t help but giggle a little. It looked like this was a question he could safely answer. “Usually? Try ‘all the time’! That is to say, she’s always been like this. She’s in tons of sports clu— erm, physical activities, and she loves to wander in the nearby woods.” And that wasn’t even bringing up every single time she goes off to shapeshift, shifting through so many forms at such a speed that he was surprised she hadn’t accidentally puked her own guts out at any point.

 

“Oho, is that so? Very unusual for a city folk, if I have to say so myself.”

 

Another nervous giggle. “Oh, well… Good thing she was the one to follow you up the mountain then, hehe.”

 

“Yes, I won’t deny that. But what about yourself? Do you partake in the same activities as her?”

 

“Me? Oh, um, that’s...”

 

Casual conversation eventually took over the table as Takahiro probed with questions about their lives, and Mike did his best to answer as honestly as possible while avoiding the... sensitive details. He didn’t seem to notice, though; every answer Mike gave was met with a nod, and yet another question following that answer. It was almost like he enjoyed listening to Mike ramble on?

 

Well, that would make sense. Takahiro was living here by himself, wasn’t he? That had to be a lonely situation to be in all the time...

 

“Can I ask you something, Tobe-san?” Mike blurted out.

 

He looked puzzled, but nodded for Mike to continue regardless.

 

“Why... Why do you live alone? Won’t it be better to live in a more populated place, like the village?”

 

An expressionless look crossed Takahiro’s face, and his heart dropped. ‘Oh no, did I accidentally say something bad? Dang it, I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth...’

 

“... Are you worried about me?” Takahiro murmured, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Even though we met just yesterday?”

 

“Well, you bought us clothes when you barely know us, so...”

 

Takahiro actually chuckled aloud this time, and Mike ducked his head. “If you want to know, I felt that I had a... duty of a sort, to stay up in the mountainside.”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“My house sometimes serves as a temporary shelter for any passing travellers, and in my years of living here, not one demon has dared to approach the house itself. Not after I started lighting the wisteria incense,” he explained. “Perhaps they thought that my ageing body was not worthy as a meal in their eyes? Whatever the case, I have no reason to leave this place.”

 

“But... did the demons try to come after those travellers?” Mike pressed, his fingers tightening around the bowl.

 

“Not once. Of course, they’ve only ever stayed for one night. But that is not to say that they will come after you!” Takahiro quickly said after correctly interpreting Mike’s gasp. He reached out with a calloused hand, giving his shoulder a reassuring pat. “Don’t worry too much about that, alright? Just keep your head low and don’t wander off into the night.”

 

“R-right. I’ll... keep that in mind.” Asking him not to worry about being possibly eaten was a bit of a tall order, but Mike didn’t point it out. Takahiro did live here for a good while now, so maybe what he was saying was true and the demons won’t come.

 

A brief silence fell upon them as they returned to their meal. It was only broken when Takahiro cleared his throat, catching Mike’s attention. “Speaking of earlier, there is something I wanted to ask of you myself.”

 

“What is it?”

 

Takahiro’s gaze turned stern. “What is your plan to return home?”

 

“Eh?”

 

“I know you two want to return home as soon as possible,” he continued. “But what is your exact plan? Sometimes, it will help you to verbally lay it out, and I could perhaps help iron out any flaws it may have.”

 

Oh. Plan. That was the whole reason he had come out, wasn’t it? And he hadn’t given it a single thought yet... Oops. Mike leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table as he laced his fingers tightly together. “My plan, it’s...” He cleared his throat. “I... I was planning to keep to towns with, uh, dense populations. With many people, I mean. And then I was planning to find some demo— I mean, people like the one that protected you that time.”

 

His chopsticks froze in the act of bringing fish to his mouth. Frowning, Takahiro set it back down. “Why would you go out of your way to look for them? Why not the police?”

 

“Because they won’t know anything about the demons, the demon slayers would!” Mike said, looking up at him hopefully. Maybe if he pushed this hard enough, Takahiro would let slip something about them.

 

His frown only deepened further. “What makes you so certain that a demon was responsible for your situation?”

 

“I—“ Mike stared in astonishment. Did he really have to explain this?! “Well, what else could’ve dragged us halfway across the world?”

 

“I can think of a few, actually. Human smugglers, for one,” Takahiro said, raising an eyebrow. “There has been a few cases of which I’ve heard about— None that were local, thankfully, but it has happened before.”

 

‘A human smuggler can’t make us jump dimensions!’ he wanted to shout, but he couldn’t just say that. Who the heck would believe a story like that?

 

“Or perhaps kidnappers who wanted to hold you for ransom?” Takahiro continued, then sighed. “I don’t know everything about your situation, yes, but blaming a demon for your problem is quite a far leap, isn’t it?”

 

His shoulders slumped. Despite knowing how much his theory made sense, Takahiro’s tone certainly had a way of making him feel stupid. ‘It’s not, though...’

 

“Demons eat humans. I’ve nearly experienced it for myself, and others have surely encountered them a thousand times more than I have.” Takahiro paused to take a sip of his soup, which only reminded Mike of his rapidly cooling dinner. He hastily shovelled in several bites. “The idea of a demon dragging two healthy, living human beings across the world just to abandon them on a mountainside is, and forgive me for the harsh wording, extremely absurd.”

 

That gave Mike pause. “That’s... That’s a good point, actually,” he mumbled through his food (“Don’t talk while you’re chewing,” Takahiro admonished). If it really was a demon that did this to them, then why didn’t it just take the chance to devour them while they were unconscious? They must’ve been a five-course meal served on a silver platter in its eyes! So why...?

 

Unless... it had lost them somehow? Someone else snatched them up?

 

Mike ended up being so lost in thought that he stayed silent for several long minutes. Takahiro’s gaze softened. “You will find your way home soon,” he said with such resolve that it made Mike look up in surprise. “You seem to be an honest lad. If you keep that up, I have a feeling that many more people will not hesitate to extend a helping hand to you. Just don’t lose heart, okay?”

 

“... Yes, T-Tobe-san,” Mike stammered, ducking his head. He didn’t want Takahiro to see the red creeping onto his cheeks, nor the suspicious shimmer in his eyes. Takahiro — a complete stranger to him and vice versa — reminded him so much of his own dad that the distance between him and his family suddenly made his chest hurt. Mike discreetly reached up to scrub his eyes dry. “I, I...”

 

He heard a chuckle above him, and a calloused hand ruffled his hair briefly, albeit with obvious affection. It worsened the sting in his eyes. “Don’t think much about it. How about some tea before bed?”

 

“I-I’d like that, sir. Do you mind if I help with the dishes, too?”

 

Takahiro nodded, getting up to his feet to make the aforementioned tea while Mike took the opportunity to swipe away any building tears. Once the tea cup entered his hands, Takahiro brought up an “interesting” topic. One that made him want to strangle Jessica.

 

“Your friend, Jessica. She’s quite an animal lover, isn’t she? It was rather surprising, she didn’t seem like the type.”

 

Mike paused mid-sip, fingers tightening at the mention of “Jessica”. He stared at the rippled reflection on the surface of the liquid, doing his best to maintain an outwardly calm facade as he started freaking out internally. The loudest thought amongst them all was ‘What the heck did Jess say?!’.

 

“... Y-yeah, I think she has a pet, or, or something,” he said calmly. The cup shook in his hands as he raised it to his lips. “How do you know about that?”

 

“She asked if demons consumed animals like they do with humans,” Takahiro said casually, and Mike suddenly found it very much unsafe to continue drinking. “It was rather out of nowhere, but I guess she might have been looking for a topic to talk about.”

 

Mike nodded quickly.

 

“A very odd girl...” That part, Takahiro seemed to be talking more to himself than anything else. “So physically strong for someone her age, yet she can act that soft...”

 

“Y-yeah, she’s always been like that!” Mike hastily piped up. He had to steer the conversation in the opposite direction at all costs! “Jess always likes to act tough, like taking up tons of sports stuff, tossing me around when she’s mad, stuff like that. Like...”

 

He was about to bring up their earlier fight as an example when his heart gave a guilty jerk. He forgot, she hadn’t lashed out at him like she normally did. She ignored it and... that was it. That was all she did, and weirdly enough, it worried him. He wanted to go and check on her, but... would she even want him around now? Maybe what she wanted was him to keep away for now. Yeah, that made the most sense.

 

... He still felt bad, though.

 

“Tobe-san? Do you think we can do the dishes together?” Mike asked hesitantly. A second too late, he added, “Please.”

 

Takahiro seemed surprised by the sudden question, but then he gave a gentle smile. “Of course. Come, let’s get started before it gets too late, okay?”

 

“Yes, Tobe-san!”

~0~0~0~

It took a little less than half an hour before everything was cleared. Time went by much faster than he had anticipated, but it served as a distraction from current events just fine, if not more. Now his head was clearer than ever, and he felt more confident he could talk her into accepting his viewpoint. Mike bade Takahiro a good night before entering his own room.

 

“Hey, Jess?” This wasn’t something he was looking forward to doing, but he couldn’t put it off forever. “I need to talk to you about something, so maybe we could start by... Jess?”

 

Jess wasn’t on the futon. All that was there was the clothes that he had exchanged with her, still slightly rumpled from her lying on them. But she wasn’t there anymore.

 

His mouth fell open, but Mike managed to catch himself before a shout of panic could be released. “Sh-she could be hiding somewhere sulking,” he quickly rationalised to himself, and his search began. His very, extremely frantic search.

 

He flipped up the futon. Nothing.

 

He smacked his face against the floorboards trying to peer through the cracks in-between. Nothing.

 

He crouched low to peer under the cabinet. Nothing .

 

He searched and scanned and dug through every square inch of the room, but not even a cockroach could be found. Then, more out of desperation than anything else, he began whisper-shouting her name. “ Jess! C’mon, enough with the practical jokes, alright? This isn’t funny anymore.” Pause. “Please come out!”

 

“Is everything alright?” a voice suddenly boomed outside of the door. Micheal scrambled back to his feet, accidentally bashing his head against the cabinet bottom.

 

“Y-yes sir!” Then he remembered his lie, and lowered his voice. “Um, I’m looking for something. Just, uh, don’t want to wake Jess up.”

 

“Is that so? Very well, have a good night, Micheal-san.”

 

His footsteps receded into the other room, and Mike sighed with relief. It didn’t last, though. ‘Crap, where the heck did Jess go? She couldn’t have snuck past us, could she?’

 

Multiple scenarios, one worse than the last, raced through his head as he frantically tried to work out what happened... until a faint breeze hit his face. Looking up, he spotted the source: an open window.

 

... Wait.

 

She didn’t. She didn’t, she didn’t—

 

That idiot went out to shapeshift?!

 

The realisation made Mike freeze up. She was going to get eaten, either by a demon or a predator, and he didn’t know which one was worse! That stupid, stupid idiot was throwing herself into danger, and for what? A moment of excitement?!

 

Mike sucked in a deep breath through his teeth, pressing the heels of his palm against his eyes out of sheer frustration.

 

As much as he wanted to speculate, every minute wasted on that was another minute Jess was not here. No, that wasn’t important now. He had to think of his next course of action… But that only presented a new dilemma. 

 

Should he leave to look for her? 

 

Or should he stay so that Takahiro wouldn’t discover their secret?