Kōbe Hikaru sat on a rock.
The shrine maiden's figure had long since vanished, leaving only the vermilion torii gate standing in silent vigil on the hillside.
A strange feeling crept over him.
What did this remind him of?
That scene in Journey to the West — Tripitaka left behind to wait while everyone else went off to do something useful.
Not that he was Tripitaka. And he certainly wasn't Tripitaka's flesh. If anything, the Shikon Jewel that Kikyō was carrying was the real "holy monk's meat" in this scenario — one bite grants eternal life and all that.
Getting the Shikon Jewel, on the other hand, would send a demon's power skyrocketing.
"So what does that make me?"
Kōbe Hikaru muttered to himself.
"Sun Wukong?"
[Hiraikotsu: You're disturbing it.]
"Sorry, sorry."
He gave the Hiraikotsu resting across his knees a gentle pat.
The thing was still half-asleep, and its temper was enormous.
He fished his water skin out from his robe, poured a small amount into his palm, and began to wipe down the yellowed bone surface.
His touch was light.
Meticulous.
Like someone tending to a very demanding nobleman.
[Hiraikotsu: Affection +1]
[Current Affection: 1 (Budding)]
[It concedes your technique is acceptable. Barely passing.]
A reaction, at last.
The corner of Kōbe Hikaru's mouth curved up.
He kept wiping, his palm sliding along the arc of the bone blade, feeling the satisfying weight of it.
"Your name is Hiraikotsu, right?"
He kept talking as he worked.
"I heard you were forged from the bones of many demons. So does that make you a… communal dormitory?"
[Hiraikotsu: It finds you dull.]
"All right, no more jokes."
Kōbe Hikaru let the smile drop, his tone turning more serious.
"Your master — that old man — he had me deliver the Shikon Jewel to Kikyō. That was his last wish before he died."
"He worried about you. Did you know that?"
[Hiraikotsu: ...]
[No reaction. But it seems to be listening.]
"I'll bring you back to the Demon Slayer village," Kōbe Hikaru said.
"Back into the hands of his family."
"Until then, I'm keeping you safe in his place."
He tipped a little more water from the skin — this time pouring it directly over the bone blade — and used his sleeve to wipe it clean, working carefully into every groove.
Not a single line overlooked.
[Hiraikotsu: Affection +1]
[Current Affection: 2 (Budding)]
[It acknowledges that you have a way with words. Still doesn't fully trust you.]
Two points now.
Slow going, but at least it was going.
Kōbe Hikaru gave a satisfied nod and went back to waiting on his demanding charge.
Just then.
Footsteps drifted up from the mountain path below.
Light steps.
Yet deliberately placed to be heard.
Kōbe Hikaru didn't look up. He kept wiping down the Hiraikotsu.
The newcomer stopped five paces in front of him.
"Excuse me…"
A woman's voice.
Young, with a flirtatious lilt to it.
Only then did Kōbe Hikaru raise his head.
And stopped.
A young woman stood before him.
Sixteen or seventeen, maybe. A figure that defied all reasonable expectation.
Not just good. The kind of good that made it hard to look away.
She wore a dark crimson bodysuit, the fabric offensively thin, clinging to every curve like a second skin. The neckline plunged low enough to reveal two pale, rounded swells pressing together into a deep shadow between them, trembling faintly with each breath.
Her waist looked slender enough to wrap one hand around, and yet from it bloomed proportions that seemed to defy physics in both directions. The fabric cinched tight at her midsection, tracing the flat plane of her abdomen and the faint hint of a navel beneath the cloth.
Below that — the sweep of her hips was generous and perfectly curved, the thin fabric conforming to every rise and fall as though painted on.
Her legs were long and pale, gleaming like porcelain in the sunlight, smooth and fine-textured, with deep shadows gathering at their inner contour. Her feet were bare, ankles slender where they met the ground.
Her features were delicate. An oval face, willowy brows, bright almond-shaped eyes with peach-flush cheeks — pretty and lively, with the wholesome appeal of the girl next door.
Most striking of all was her hair.
A jet-black crop that reached only to her shoulders, yet impossibly dense. Every strand seemed alive, swaying in the faint breeze.
But —
In the middle of the wilderness, what were the actual odds of running into a real 'girl next door'?
Kōbe Hikaru kept his head clear.
"I got lost in the mountains. Is there a village nearby?"
The girl tilted her head slightly, baring a line of pale throat, the motion trailing a wisp of perfume through the air.
Kōbe Hikaru looked at her.
Said nothing.
"Big brother?"
She stepped forward.
The movement sent a ripple through her chest — a swell and bounce that could have made a man dizzy. Her waist swayed with the step, putting that slender middle on full display, and the curve of her hips pulled taut with the motion, tracing an outline that was difficult to describe politely.
"Why aren't you answering me?"
She gave a small pout. The expression, combined with that figure, carried genuine destructive potential.
"Is it because I'm wearing too little? Did I embarrass you?"
She glanced down at her own neckline as she spoke, making a show of it.
The gesture pressed those pale swells even closer together, the shadow between them deepening.
Then she looked back up and blinked.
"Or… does big brother like to look?"
Kōbe Hikaru's expression remained perfectly calm.
He set the Hiraikotsu down on the rock beside him and rose to his feet.
"You're a decent actress."
"Huh? What acting? I don't know what you mean~"
The girl tilted her head, the picture of innocence.
"I really am just lost, honest."
She stepped closer.
Close enough now that Kōbe Hikaru could catch the faint scent drifting off her.
It was strange.
Like the smell of… hair?
"Big brother is so handsome," she said, tilting her head back to look up at him, those bright eyes full of admiring warmth.
"The most handsome man I've ever seen."
"Your complexion is a little pale, though. Are you not well?"
She reached out a hand, apparently intending to touch his face.
"I could take care of you, you know~"
Her fingers were slender and fair, the nails painted a soft pink.
Very pretty.
But Kōbe Hikaru noticed something else.
Her hair was moving.
Not the way wind moves hair.
The other kind — deliberate. Wriggling.
Like countless tiny snakes, quietly closing in.
"Let me guess," Kōbe Hikaru said suddenly.
"You're here for the Shikon Jewel, aren't you?"
The girl's movement paused.
Only for an instant.
But that was more than enough for Kōbe Hikaru to catch.
"Shikon Jewel? What's that?"
She kept the innocent face perfectly in place.
"I'm just an ordinary lost girl~"
"An ordinary lost girl?"
Kōbe Hikaru laughed.
"Dressed like that, wandering through the back of beyond?"
"You think I'm stupid?"
The girl's expression finally shifted.
The innocent facade peeled away, replaced by something languid and amused.
"Caught, am I."
Her voice changed with it — the coy lilt gone, replaced by a kind of lazy ease.
"And here I thought I'd get to play a little longer."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
Kōbe Hikaru asked.
"Keep performing?"
"No."
The girl — or rather, the female demon — licked her lips.
"No point putting on a show once the curtain's been pulled."
"Your presence is unusual, Ghost Warrior."
Her gaze drifted past him, up the hillside.
"That shrine maiden has the Shikon Jewel with her, doesn't she?"
"I can smell it from here."
"Wonderful smell."
"So wonderful I can barely stop myself from wanting a taste."
Around her, the jet-black strands of hair had begun writhing more violently now — a mass of dark serpents coiling and tensing, ready to strike.
Kōbe Hikaru looked at her.
"I have a question."
"What?"
"You're a demon."
"Yes."
"I'm also a demon."
Kōbe Hikaru pointed at himself.
"A Ghost Warrior. You know what that is?"
"I do."
"Then tell me —"
His tone shifted without warning.
It went cold.
"What in the world made you think you could seduce a ghost?"
His hand was already on the hilt: "Brazen creature! I saw through your disguise the moment you appeared!"
His voice cracked out like a thunderclap.
And right behind it came the blade.
A cascade of steel light, ringing and bright, wrenched free from Kōbe Hikaru's hip!
「!?」
Did he just call himself a Ghost Warrior?
Since when does a Ghost Warrior draw his sword with thunder?!
And what do you mean you saw through me immediately?
You're not exactly human yourself!!
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