Moments passed after Urokodaki finished expressing his gratitude to Kagerou. He quietly took his leave, bowing once more before slipping out of the room. He didn't want to disturb what came next, and everyone knew the next conversation would be heavy.
Silence settled.
Then Kagerou raised his hand.
"Before we start… let me say something first." His voice was calm, but direct enough to draw every eye to him. He looked around the room, pausing deliberately on Tengen and Gyomei.
"My father and I came here because we wanted to talk about Obanai, I mean, this kid's situation. So… is there really a need for the Stone and Sound Hashira to be here?"
Tengen arched a brow.
Gyomei remained motionless, beads clutched in his hands.
Kagaya smiled softly, the kind that made tension evaporate without force.
"They are here because of you, Kage-kun," he said gently. "But we will speak about that later. For now, we must discuss this boy… and his family. This matter affects the Corps as a whole. That is why I asked Gyomei and Tengen to join us"
His expression, though gentle, carried weight.
"Throughout the Corps' history, we have never encountered a case like this. Humans working for demons, raising them, protecting them… it is unprecedented. And dangerous"
Gyomei bowed his head slightly, voice deep and solemn.
"Humans cooperating with demons… if this continues, the future threat we face may not be demons alone. We may one day have to fight humans as well. We cannot allow such a future, not when we exist to protect them"
Tengen let out a sharp, cold snort.
"That's humanity for you. Greed with no end. Some people will gladly throw away their humanity for power, wealth, or comfort. Nothing flashy about it... just pathetic"
Kagaya nodded, not disagreeing.
"And that is why we must be prepared," he said. "So that something like this never happens again. That is why we are all here today... So Shinjuro, if you can, please tell us everything that happened in your last mission in detail to us"
Shinjuro nodded his head at that, but he didn't directly tell them the story, he first looked at Obanai.
"... Obanai, don't you mind if I tell them?"
Obanai didn't say anything, he looked at Shinjuro for a while and then nodded his head slowly.
"... Okay," Shinjuro said, inhaled slowly, gathering the pieces of memory he'd rather forget.
Everyone in the room fell silent. Even Tengen's usual flamboyance faded into stillness.
"…It started when I was passing through the forest, right after I got off the ship," Shinjuro began. "I wasn't even at the mission site yet. I just noticed… something small moving through the trees"
He paused.
"Not something. Someone"
Kagerou's eyes narrowed. Gyomei leaned forward slightly. Obanai sat rigid, his hands curling into the fabric of his haori.
"It was Obanai," Shinjuro said. "He was running barefoot, covered in dust and blood. Not demon blood. Human"
Quiet gasps rippled through the room.
"His breathing was unstable, his steps were weak… but his eyes," Shinjuro's jaw tightened, "his eyes were full of terror. The kind of terror you don't see in someone his age"
He glanced toward Obanai, but the boy only lowered his gaze further.
"I approached him, but before I could say anything, he fainted. The snake around his neck tried to protect him, hissed at me, but even it was wounded"
"That was when," he continued, "I noticed the scent in the air. Blood. Far too much of it"
Gyomei's fingers tightened around his rosary.
"So I carried him and followed the scent to the nearest settlement." He shook his head slowly. "Calling it a settlement would be generous. It felt more like a ritual site masquerading as a home"
He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering.
"…But I was already too late. Far too late. The demon had become enraged. It slaughtered every member of the clan, every last one because they let its 'offering' escape"
#A/N: "Different from what you know? Well, I slightly changed it (v:)"
Kagaya's expression darkened, though his voice remained calm. "…The demon's lair?"
"Yes. The ritual place"
Shinjuro's hands curled into fists.
"When I forced my way inside, I found the truth of what they'd been doing." He swallowed hard. "They'd been raising girls... generation after generation… to bear children for that snake demon"
A sickening silence swallowed the room.
"And the boys?" Tengen asked, unusually quiet.
Shinjuro's eyes hardened.
"There were none. Because the demon didn't want boys"
Gyomei bowed his head, sorrow washing over him.
"That's why Obanai was kept in a cage," Shinjuro said, voice cracking. "He was the first male born in centuries. They fed him like livestock. Groomed him. Prepared him to be… offered"
Obanai's breath hitched, so faint it almost wasn't there.
"And when he escaped," Shinjuro continued, "it wasn't vengeance the demon wanted… it was reclaiming ownership"
Kagerou's eyes darkened as smoke curled from his kiseru.
Kagaya's voice remained gentle but steady. "And the demon?"
"I killed it! I killed it the moment I saw her slaughtering people," Shinjuro said. "It was… too easy. Too easy for how much horror she'd caused. I burned her to ash. Destroyed the lair. Cleansed the ground"
He finally exhaled, a long, tired breath.
He didn't mention Obanai's cousin. There was no need.
"That's everything," Shinjuro said quietly. "That's what happened"
The room remained silent.
Shinjuro's words hung in the air like the echo of a nightmare.
Because what Shinjuro described wasn't just demon cruelty.
It was human cruelty.
And that, more than anything, was the true danger.
No one spoke.
Not Tengen, who always had something sharp to say.
Not Gyomei, whose prayer beads trembled faintly in his massive hands.
Not even Kagerou, whose smoke usually filled the silence, yet now even the ember of his kiseru seemed to dim.
Kagaya finally broke the stillness.
"…Thank you, Shinjuro," he said softly. "You've carried something unbearable alone"
Shinjuro shook his head. "He carried more." His gaze fell on Obanai, small, quiet, sitting with his back perfectly straight as if afraid to occupy too much space.
Kagaya's gentle smile faded into something... colder.
A sorrowful coldness.
"What happened there," he said, "is not only the sin of a demon… but the sin of humans"
Tengen let out a slow exhale, arms crossed.
"The way you tell it," he muttered, voice subdued, "those people were already rotten long before the demon came. Flashy on the surface maybe, but hollow inside"
Gyomei inclined his head.
"Humans blinded by desire… are more frightening than demons," he said, voice steady yet heavy. "Demons act according to their nature. But humans… choose"
Obanai's fingers twitched at those words.
Kagerou finally spoke, smoke drifting from his lips.
"…So this is what we're dealing with now," he murmured. "Not just demons... But humans willingly feed them"
Shinjuro gritted his teeth. "That's what terrifies me the most. For every demon we slay… there might be a human helping them grow"
"And that is why we must be prepared," Kagaya said again, firmer now. "This incident must never be repeated. That clan may be gone, but the idea..." His hand tightened on his lap,"... The idea must be crushed"