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'I could get used to this life. There's nothing to worry about. It's calm and peaceful. I need to find a way back to Tempest but, while I'm making progress. I could enjoy the time I spend here.' I wrote down in the journal that I have been keeping even since I entered this world.

I lifted up my gaze from the journal and out of the window, I was starting to see the first slither of sunlight over the horizon.

I smiled as I got up and started to tie my hair into a high ponytail. I also moved over to the closet and pulled out a seemingly comfortable blue kimono.

Tanjiro and the others were still sleeping and I decided that I was going to surprise them by going out and gathering a bunch of various different fruits.

'Alright, let's get going.' I thought to myself as I pulled on my kimono and sandals and started walking down the path into the forest.

"Hmmm, I wonder what they would like. I don't think I could find that many fruits here. I most likely should just gather some berries and bring them back." I said to myself while holding a basket.

"We could have them with tea while sitting down together. That would be pretty comfortable."

"I could also go into town, maybe there would be more variety there because they should be freshly grown if they're up for sale." I said as I was looking around at my surroundings.

'This forest really is beautiful.'

I eventually managed to find what seemed like a berry bush.

'Raphael, are these safe to eat?" I asked as I held the mysterious fruits in my hands.

I nodded as I started picking them off of the bush.

Eventually, I had finished picking all the berries.

"Alright, this should be enough for everyone."

I got up and noticed that there was definitely more room in the basket.

'Hm, I could pick some more fruit. There's no harm in it, but if I stay any longer then they're probably going to wake up and wonder where I am.' I thought considering between the two options. 'Well, if it's just for a little more then it's not that much of a problem.' I shrugged and continued down the path.

'They're always so kind to me. They took me in without knowing who I was. Without them, I wouldn't know anything about this world. I would be lost and probably living in the woods not knowing where I was and what to do for months, probably even years.'

'I have to repay them in any way possible.'

...

I continued making my way down the path and realized that I had reached the end of the forest. Through the trees, I saw a small remote village with many different unique people living out their lives. There were merchants, children, families, so many different kinds of people. A peaceful village.

'Wow, I walked really far.' I thought looking behind me. "Well, since I'm here, I could probably take a walk through town."

I walked down to the village and started staring at my surroundings. The bustling streets, the busy merchants, the laughing children. All of it was so...

Familiar.

I stared around at everything as it brought me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, but I couldn't place my finger on why exactly.

Ah, that's right.

Tempest.

I eyes felt wet as the memories came back to me. All of the time I spent in the nation, all of the things that I did. The safety of all of my friends.

Benimaru, Shion, Shuna, Soei, Rigurd, Milim, Diablo, Kurobe, Veldora, Ramiris, Ranga, Gabiru, and everyone else.

Suddenly, I felt something wet running down my face.

I raised my hand slowly up to my face.

'Huh? Tears?' I let out a pained chuckle as I realized what was happening. 'It's been so long I've forgotten how it felt like.'

Of course, I was getting strange glances from passing citizens as I was standing straight in the center of a busy street.

"Oops." I said as I walked out of the street, my cheeks burning. 'That was embarrassing.' I thought to myself.

I continued to walk down the street while staring at the several different vendors and sights.

A couple bickering, children playing, people eating delicious meals, it was all here.

I silently walked to a small cart that looked like it was selling various different kinds of fruit.

"Excuse me," I said to the man running the stand. "May I have some of these?" I said pointing to some raspberries.

"Sure, lady." The man rudely said. "That'll be 500 yen." He said holding his hand out.

I cringed at the fact that he called me a "lady" but let it slide as I reached my hand into my kimono pocket.

I didn't have any money.

My heart froze as I realized the situation that I was in.

"Hey, hello? Are you deaf or something?" The man said starting at me.

Oh, crap.

'Raphael. Please, can you create 500 yen for me real quick?'

Oh god, you had to stall for time.

"So... nice weather today, right?"

"What? Listen, are you going to pay or not? We don't have all day." The man said to me while staring

We're losing ground, we might have to retreat.

"Come on, don't be like that. You know, on my way here, I saw a pretty cool flower. I've never seen a flower like that before. It had all different kind of colors-

Timeskip

"Honestly, it reminded me of you."

I sighed in relief and quickly pulled out the 500 yen.

"Anyways, here you go. Have a good day, sir." I said as I put the 500 yen in his open hand.

He just stared at me in confusion as he handed me the fruits that asked for.

"Thank you." I said bluntly as I took the fruits and placed it in my basket.

'Oh yikes, that was too close.' I thought as I walked away from the awkward situation I was just in.

'At least I got what I wanted in the end.'

Timeskip

I stared up at the sky as I realized the sun was setting.

'Crap, I ended up losing track of time.' I clicked my tongue in annoyance as I started running back to the house.

'I'm in for a real scolding once I get back there.' I thought about the Kamado family waking up to realizing that I wasn't there.

'I should've left the second I finished gathering the fruits but I had to walk around the village some more.'

I was running at extremely high speeds dodging trees and jumping over branches that were in my path.

'The faster I get there, the less worried they'll be. Not that that'll change much.'

Suddenly, I felt something. It was a powerful aura. Something that I didn't expect. It was terrifying and was dripping with malice. Almost like it was-

Demonic...

'What the hell is that?' I thought as I turned to where the aura was.

'If I let something like that go, it's going to be really dangerous.' I thought considering going to figure out what the aura was.

I sighed.

'Well, I did promise to protect the Kamado family. If I let something with this aura go by then that'll be a really big problem.'

I then proceeded to run straight to where the aura was, it was surprisingly, a lot farther away than I thought.

'If I can feel this creature's aura from this far away, then it must be really dangerous.' I thought while jumping from tree to tree to propel myself forwards so I'd get there faster.

I finally reached the location, when I saw it:

A small house, only fit enough for a small family. The family residing in that house, lying on the ground:

Slaughtered.

The smell of the blood was sickening as I felt my breath hitch when I realized what was happening.

'What kind of thing could've done this?'

Then I turned around and saw this:

A person, no a demon, with pink hair and markings all over his face and body, on his eyes, were engraved the words:

Upper Moon Three

"Hey, what are you doing here? Sorry, this place is already claimed you can go somewhere else." The pink haired demon said to me.

"You... were you the one who did this?" I turned to him.

"Yep." He replied bluntly.

"Why?" I questioned.

"Just hunting." He said.

That was enough for me:

'Water Blade' I held my hand forward and a blade of water suddenly appeared, the blade then fired straight at the demon decapitating him in an instant:

'Vile creatures like him don't deserve to exist.' I turned away from him to the dead family getting ready for a burial when-

"Did you really think that would kill me?"

I turned around to see him holding his own head and reattaching it to his body.

I was surprised to see his own decapitated head had already healed.

"How?" I asked him.

"You can't kill demons like that. You should know that." He said as he got into a stance.

"Well, I wasn't looking to fight a woman, but I guess there's no choice if you're that powerful of a demon." He said as he prepared himself.

"Destructive Death: Annihilation Type" He said as his power surged.

'What? His aura, it's changing.' I thought as I prepared myself.

Suddenly, the pink haired demon dashed forward preparing a punch.

'He's fast.' I quickly thought to myself as I avoided the punch and flipped in the air to deliver a kick to his stomach.

The kick only managed to knock him back a couple of meters.

I scoffed in annoyance at the effectiveness of my attack.

'I really am that much weaker, huh?' I thought to myself.

"Huh? You avoided my attack." He said while laughing. "How interesting. Hey, demon, what's your name?" He said while pointing at me.

"You have no right to know my name." I said to him, my voice laced with vemon. "and I'm not a demon. If demons are anything like you who go around murdering innocent people without a reason, I'm nothing like you."

"Your aura and strength says otherwise." He said while smirking.

'Activate Strengthen Body!'

I felt my power surge and I immediately dashed towards the demon:

He dodged easily as I went past him.

I kicked off the ground utilizing the momentum of the failed hit and jumped high off the ground as I avoided the punch that was aimed towards my back.

'Come on!' I thought while flipping myself in midair so that I was facing towards him.

'Quickly, Universal Thread!'

Suddenly, several different threads came out of my fingertips surrounding him.

The pink haired demon just smirked.

"Destructive Death: Disorder"

Suddenly, the demon was right in front of me.

'What?' I thought as I was surprised at the extreme speeds he was moving at.

I quickly kicked off his face, surprising the pink haired demon, launching myself in the air and avoiding his punches.

I quickly flipped myself in the air so I was facing towards the demon:

"Black Thunder!"

A bolt of black lightning came down at the speed of light, shocking Akaza.

'Please, at least do some damage.' I thought while waiting for the smoke to clear.

There in the middle of the destruction, was Akaza down on one knee.

"Wow, you're a lot stronger than I expected." He said while getting up and dusting himself off.

I just stared at him with a shocked expression.

"With that strength, you could easily become one of the Twelve Kizuki." He said smirking at mee. "If you come with me, can give you his blood and you can become more powerful than you can ever imagine."

"I would rather die." I said with grit teeth.

"I thought you'd say that." He sighed in disappointment. "Well, I have to leave anyways." He said while staring at the rising sun.

"We'll meet again, strange demon." He said while jumping up and leaving the house.

Questions were flooding into my mind.

Who's he? Who are the Twelve Kizuki? Why did he run away from the sun like that? What are the demons?

'Well, I'm sure I'll get the answer to all these questions over time.' I thought to myself as I shrugged and started walking home.

'I feel like I just got myself into something I shouldn't have.'

I was escaping from the Sun's rays through the fortress, moving at extremely fast speeds.

'What a strange demon.' I thought to myself recalling the events that had just transpired.

"I better report this to Master." I said to myself hearing the sound of a biwa being struck.

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