Y/N's Pov

Once I had everything I needed for tonight's plan, I went back to the meeting point I agreed with Shinobu. Overall, I was feeling satisfied enough with the results of my investigation, as I had gotten a way to attract the Demon, so now I could only hope that Shinobu was successful in hers as well.

It took me barely a minute to get with her, and as I got closer, I could see Shinobu, with a small group of people that seemed to be listening to something she had to say. This confused me, as we never spoke about gathering people, otherwise I would've tried to talk to a few people about this. Either way, I simply went towards her.

As I approached her, I could listen to a bit of her speech. "Alright then, let's go over this one more time. We're preparing a final stand against that Demon. That thing's terrorized this town for long enough. Certainly some of us won't make it out, but that's a risk we're willing to take to protect those we love!" Then, everyone started clapping at her, and I think I would've done the same if my hands weren't occupied right at the moment.

After that, all of the people moved away and started talking and apparently training between them, meanwhile, I got closer to her, and once I was a few feet away, I said to her. "Looks like you really know how to inspire them." This made her aware of my presence, and so, she turned around and said.

"Y/N!" And after I left the crate of mangoes on the floor, we gave each other a quick hug. "So, how did it go for you?" She asked to me, once we broke of the hug, and while I pointed to the crate, I said to her.

"Well, I got a lead." I then proceeded to explain everything that the fruit seller told me. She paid close attention to everything I said, and once I was done talking, she said that it was pretty good, so I then said to her. "And what about you? It seems like you gathered quite an army for yourself." She then turned to look at all the people she brought from the town, and with a nervous chuckle, she said.

"Hehe, yeah. It's a fun story." And while we decided to take a quick stroll around, she started to tell me everything that happened on her side. "Well, after we decided to split, you went mainly towards the shopping area. Where all the stores are located, but I went towards the urban area. Of course, we didn't plan for this, but apparently, it really impacted what results we each got. I knocked a few doors, but I think most people were very busy with their preparations for the festival, since I didn't find most people at their homes, and what few adults I did find, they looked quite busy, and those that did answer my questions, were quite angry once I mentioned the Demon, so I didn't get much out of them, however, when some of this kids heard me, they got interested, and so, they came to ask me what was going on, and so, I gave them the abridged version. It seemed that this was enough to convince them that something needed to be done, but in order for them to agree to help, they wanted me to tell them everything. At first, I wanted to reject their help, since this mission is extremely dangerous for them, however, they insisted on wanting to help. The Demon has been tormenting them for far too long, and if it ended up cancelling their summer festival as well, some of them would go crazy already. I'm still uneasy about my decision, but I figured they had enough determination for this to work, so I decided to give it a try, and so I told them everything." We then came to a stop, and turned to look at everyone that Shinobu gathered, and while it wasn't the most reassuring sight, it was good to at least see that we had some back up this time.

We then turned to look at each other, and I could see her expectant face, so I said to her. "Good job." While also flashing a bright smile at her. She then let out a nervous chuckle, and after we shared a quick kiss, I stretched my arms, and finished with. "Anyway, we better get start with the planning." And as I got infront of the crowd, I called out for all of them to gather around.

It took them a bit to notice me, but soon enough, they were all back at a circle, and so I started with. "Hello, everyone. Thanks for coming to come help. As my partner, Shinobu, already explained, we are haunting a Demon. This creatures are extremely dangerous, so we'll definitely need a plan. Before we begin though, I was wondering if any of you had questions?" I was hoping for maybe some sort of technical questions, like some more details about Demons, but instead, I got something very different.

After a few seconds, I had raised at the back of the group, so I called out for that person to ask away, and so, I could see that it was a man a bit older than the two of us. "Yeah, I know we all already agreed to work together to kill this thing, but I was wondering, why are two kids in charge?" And honestly, while hearing this was simply annoying, it was honestly a genuine concern in my opinion, seeing as the two of us definitely didn't look all that imponent. "I mean, I'm already 23 and what are you two? 14? 15?" We then corrected him, saying that both me and Shinobu were 16, with Shinobu being about to become 17 in a bit less than three months, but that didn't discourage him.

Looking around at the rest of the group though, I could notice that the nervousness was starting to spread. Just from the look of it, I could already somewhat tell those that agreed with him, a few that seemed to be with us, and finally, a few that were starting to get pretty nervous, and were probably about to leave.

If this went on like this, all the work that Shinobu did gathering them around would be useless, so I needed to do something quick. As usual though, Shinobu was quicker at this than me, as she walked forward, but just after two or three words went out of her mouth, I stopped her, and said. "Wait, let me handle this." She seemed surprised by this, but than said that it was alright, and so, she stepped back.

I thanked her for this, and so, I took a deep breath, and while trying to copy her for a bit, I brought a smile to my face, and then walked towards the guy. "Alright then. How about this? We'll have a quick spar, and whoever wins, gets to pick who's in charge." The guy scoffed at my suggestion, but probably noticing the same problem as me, he ended up agreeing with me.

"Alright then." He started saying, with a pretty condescending tone. "But don't blame me if you get too injured." I actually found this a bit funny, so I let out a chuckle and said.

"I was about to say the same." However, I also didn't want this to get too bloody either, so I suggested. "We don't have that much time though, so let's finish this quickly. Whoever taps the back of the head of the other wins. Quick and simple. Sound good?" The guy still looked at me as if I was inferior, but he was at least reasonable, so he agreed.

Now that all was settled, I decided to leave my flail and axe on the floor beside me, so it wouldn't slow me down, while he said. "Don't worry. I won't mess around with you too much. I'm going to make it quick." While showing me a pretty smug grin, however, I kept a sincere smile, and then said.

"I can't wait to see that." Which seemed to irritate him quite a bit. We then got someone else to make a countdown for us, and while he went from 3 to 1, I took a deep breath to boost my body, flexed all of my muscles to prepare them, and as soon as I heard go, I released everything.

With one swift movement, I got directly behind him, and without even turning to look around at him, I simply tapped the back of his head with the back of my hand. The surprise was so much that I made him lose balance, and so, he fell on top of his face.

I simply took a glance at him, mostly to make sure he was alright, but after seeing that he just tripped, I turned around to look at the rest, and then said. "Alright then. If no one has any other questions, can we continue?" Looking around, everyone was speechless, which was exactly what I was aiming for, as I focused myself entirely on speed, probably even being able to rival with Shinobu's usual speed.

Once everyone seemed to snap out of it, they all said that they understood everything, and so, we could finally get with the plan. I then simply let out a sigh of relief, and after picking up my flail and axe from the floor, I went back with Shinobu, and once I got with her, the fist thing she said to me was. "Showoff." While also scoffing at me.

I found this funny, so I let out a chuckle, and said that it at least seemed to work, which she had to agree on. I then turned to look back at the crowd and said. "Alright then everyone. Here's the situation. The most important thing you need to know is that there's only three ways of killing a Demon like this one: Direct exposition to sun light, decapitation through a special type of weapon, just like my flail and axe, or an injection of poison, created from wisteria flowers, which Shinobu brings some with her. This means that no matter what you guys do, there's no real way in which you'll be able to kill them. With this in mind, we'll position all of you around the town as a means to protect the people living there, just in case the Demon tries to escape that way. While you do that, Shinobu and I will prepare a trap for them. An 'offering' will be placed outside the town, just outside the forest. Once the Demon sees it, they will think that the town surrendered and is starting to pay some sort of tributes. When they get distracted though, the two of us will come out, and in we case we aren't able to take it down in one blow, they'll be trapped between us and you guys, so it won't be able to fight. Does everyone understand the plan?" After hearing this, they all nodded, which made me a bit excited to be honest. The plan wasn't fully finished though, so I started getting closer to them, and asked. "Alright, but I don't really know the distribution of the town, so how about someone of you helps me decide how to place you down for the defense?" After that, they talked a bit between them, and after a few seconds, a girl, maybe a year or two older than me, came forward, and said that she could help.

She then started explaining everything I needed to know about the town to me, like what parts of the residential areas had most of the elderly and children. She also told me other stuff, like where the main provisions were stored, and with all of this information, we could start to discuss where to place everyone down. The most important part was to make sure not to fight close to any important, and so, we picked the middle point between the houses and the depots of the town. This left us a bit too close to the reunion center of the town for my liking though, as that was the place where the summer festival was going to be celebrated, and I didn't want anything to happen to that place, in case they would have to cancel it, but after a bit of discussion, the girl made me agree that it was more important to protect the people and the town, in which she was entirely right.

We then distributed everyone that came to help, around, focusing mostly on placing the toughest looking guys between the fight and the town, so they would somewhat intimidate the Demon into staying in place. We then placed as much as we could next to the houses, so they could help with any possible evacuation, and so, after placing a few more guys around town, just to be safe and make sure no bystanders would get in danger, we were done. I then quickly told everyone what their specific roles were, and after making sure that they all learned their role, I told them to rest for now, as they would really need all their energies for tonight.

Now that it was all done for now, I let out a sigh of relief, as it did feel a bit exhausting, and decided to go back with Shinobu, but now that I thought about it though, I was confused as to why she didn't try to help more with the planning, because almost as soon as that girl came out to help me, she stayed to the back, not saying anything while I discussed with her and a few others.

After a few seconds of looking around to find her, I could see her to the edge of the group, and while she did what seemed to be maintenance to her sword, I could see a tall guy trying to talk to her. I was sure that I didn't have anything to worry about, but it still gave me a bitter mouth taste to see him talk to her, so I decided to get there even quicker than before.

As I got closer, I could finally hear them talking, and I noticed that it was mostly the guy talking, as he was asking things like, 'Where are you from?' 'What's a girl like you doing with a sword like that?' in a pretty flirty tone if I was honest.

It was really starting to grind my gears to be honest, but I did just like Shinobu always does, and managed to keep a smile on my lips, and once I got with them, I said. "Well, everything seems to be settled. What do you think, Shinobu?" And without even turning to look at the guy, she just put her sword away, and then got up to get closer to me.

"It all seems pretty good to me, dear." I was somewhat surprised that she called me that, since it still wasn't something we usually did between the two of us, but before I said anything, she got right beside me, and tiptoed herself high enough to leave a kiss on my cheek, which once again surprised me, as I didn't expect her to do it infront of someone else.

I didn't complain though, as I quite liked it, but when I took a moment to think about it, I realized we still had to deal with the guy, as he was just standing there, quite confused, and annoyed. In regular fashion though, before I got the chance to ask her about it, she turned to look at him, and asked. "Oh, and who might this be, Y/N? Did you bring him?" Which confused me even more, as she had been speaking with him just a moment ago, but once I brought that up, she simply said. "Really? I don't recall. I just hope that he didn't try to talk to me while I work on my sword, because interrupting someone like that is quite rude." And at that moment, I finally realized what she was trying to do, but I tried not to break her act, so I kept my expression, and after a few seconds, the guy simply said that he had to go. He tried to say that he heard someone calling him, but the two of us knew that no one actually did.

Either way, once he started moving away, we simply turned to look at each other, and we couldn't help letting out a chuckle. "Thanks for that too. I didn't know how to get rid of that guy." She said to me, as she stopped her laugh, and so, while I rubbed the back of my neck, I replied to her.

"Oh, come on. I didn't do anything, and this time it's for real. You said everything, I just got here." To which she couldn't help letting out a smug smile, and then said.

"I guess you're right. I know how to intimidate people when needed." Which made me let out another chuckle, as I told her that I was well aware of that. She simply scoffed at this, though I could see that she was smiling to herself, however, we simply continued talking. "And by the way, what di you think of that girl that helped you? It seemed to me like she really picked your eye." And honestly, hearing her talking like this was really surprising to me, as I never expected her to react that way to me talking to someone, but I would be lying if I said I didn't find it fun.

She then turned around for a moment, but I took the opportunity to hug her, and while placing my head on top of hers, and smiling a bit mischievously, I said. "Oh, don't tell me you got jealous? I figured you were better than that." At that moment, I could see a light blush appear on her cheeks, but she quickly hid it, and while trying to shake my head of hers, she simply said.

"Of course I didn't...It just seemed to me like you got a bit too chummy with her, besides, I bet you thought something similar when you saw me with that other guy." She was somewhat right about this, as I did get jealous, but to be fair, most of what got me annoyed was realizing that he was definitely bothering her, but that was beside the point.

Regardless of this, I simply said to her. "Fair point, I guess, but it wasn't a huge concern to me either. I trust that you wouldn't hurt me like that." Then, as I let her go of my hug, and instead just held her hand in mine, I continued with. "And you can be sure that I wouldn't do it either to you. You're the only girl that's in my mind now." And as we smiled sincerely at each other, we gave us a kiss, and then changed the topic.

As we walked around, we started to prepare everything for the trap, and that's when Shinobu said. "By the way, it was pretty impressive how you managed to round everyone up." This took me a bit by surprise, and when I catched up with it, I couldn't help but rub the back of my neck with a bit of embarrassment.

"It wasn't that impressive. I'm sure you could've done better." However, she only shook her head slightly from side to side, and said to me.

"Maybe, but regardless, it was great, you know?" And honestly, it was nice to hear her say this about me, and she was done though, as she then said to me. "By the way, the whole sparring session you did with that guys was impressive. You've really been improving. I was barely to keep up with my eyes." I thanked her about this again, and then said.

"Yeah. I may have gone a bit overboard with that one, but I really wanted to make sure to finish things as quickly as possible." She agreed with me on this, saying that it was definitely the best thing to do, but at the same time, she said that I came as a bit of a showoff, for which I had to apologize, but regardless, she said that I did good, which felt really good.

We continued talking for quite a while, but soon enough, we realized that it was almost nighttime, and so, we really had to prepare everything in our plan. The first thing was to send everyone to the areas they were supposed to protect, as I also told them to try not to stand out too much, since we didn't want the Demon to think something was wrong.

While they did this, both me and Shinobu took it upon us to finish setting up the bait. The first thing was set down the things that the Demon liked. Obviously, the main focus was the mangoes I brought, which I also cut open, since I figured that Demon had to smell them in order to come. This wasn't the only thing we used of course. We also brough one of the town's cows, and while it felt heartless to use it as bait like that, it seemed like our only option, because as much as the Demon liked mangoes, that was definitely not enough to draw them out.

Once that was settled, we placed them both around a lonely torch right outside the forest, and with a sign that read 'Please, leave us alone.' We waited for the Demon to come out. While we did so, the two of us hid inside the leaves of a pretty dense tree, and kept a keen eye over the bait we left, making sure to notice any minor change, in case the Demon was particularly sneaky.

Another few hours went by, and while the two of us could definitely withstand the entire night on look out thanks to our training, we were definitely starting to get bored, and even started to question if the Demon would come for a bait like this. "You really think it will come out?" Asked Shinobu. "It's already been a while, and I wouldn't want to waste this people's time. It's clear just how stressful this whole situation is." I had to agree with her on this, because as much as the plan was sound, and I trusted in both of our fighting abilities to take the Demon down, just the fact that we were relaying so much on the Demon deciding to come out by themselves, was way too risky,

The only thing I could do was shrug my shoulders and say to her. "Sure hope so. Otherwise we're in for a long mission, and the festival will undoubtedly be cancelled." However, after saying this, I couldn't help thinking about something. "Hey, um, Shinobu, do you think this is really worth it?" I asked to her, but it was clear that she didn't understand me at all from just the look on her face, so I explained myself. "Well, the thing is, we weren't really asked to fight the Demon head on. We were only told to protect the town and mount watch, but we went ahead, and only drew in more danger here, and for what? Only so we can get to spend some time together in the festival. Don't you think it would be better if we took a safer approach? Maybe let the festival be cancelled this year, and wait for it to be safer next year?" She seemed to think about this for a bit, but after just a bit of thought, she replied to me.

"I won't lie. I don't think you're entirely wrong. I am well aware of how dangerous this plan is, but I still think it's worth it. I mean, all this people have been tormented by this Demon for weeks at this point, and even with all that, they still poured their heart and souls into making this festival possible because of how much it means to them, and because of how important it is to their jobs. We have the chance to allow them to go through with it without having to worry about any more attacks, so I say we do our best to help. They deserve it." I was honestly still unsure, but her words sounded convincing enough to me, so I took a deep breath, and turned to look at her, while saying.

"Alright. Let's do this, for all of them."

Chapter End

Taisho Era Rumors

Most of the guys that were rounded up by Shinobu, mostly consisting of 18 to 25 year olds that were starting to get tired of their situation, assumed that the one gathering everyone was one of them, mainly one of the most popular guys in town, however, when they noticed that everything was being organized by two kids younger than pretty much all of them, they all pretty much stopped believing in them, but Y/N's display of skill quickly gathered them all again, as they were baffled by his speed, and wanted to at least know who they were.

Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I uploaded my last chapter, and I apologize for that, but I promise to try and improve yet again.

Yesterday, I actually watched the new Demon Slayer movie, and it honestly made me feel quite motivated to keep going, so I'm quite excited to keep writing even more this time around.

I guess I'll be seeing you next week then, so if you have any suggestions for my book, or any other comments you may want to share, I'm more than open to them.

We'll catch up next time, SET YOUR HEART ABLAZE!!!