Kaito's eyes fluttered open, the sharp sting of headache and injuries lingering but somehow lessened from the last time. For a moment, he didn't know where he was — then a strange warm sensation on his arm made him freeze.
Kaito turned his head to the side; he blinked and saw a small, wrinkled old woman leaning over his arm, her tongue carefully along one of his wounds. Kaito jerked his arm away with a half-choked yelp.
"Ah! Who are you and what are you doing to my arm?! Why are you licking me?!" Kaito asked, confused and disgusted.
"Oh, don't interrupt my work, brat!" The old woman smacked Kaito hard on his stomach. "Gah!"
"You're in the hospital of our village, and I'm a nurse. I'm using my magic to heal your wounds, so stop moving around too much and let me do my work. Not like I get paid enough to deal with your mischief!" The old woman took his arm again and started working on his wounds.
Suddenly, Kazuki — the Soul Slayer who saved Kaito, Hakari, and Noboru from Ren — walked in.
"You're already awake, I see, Kaito," Kazuki said with a smile.
"Kazuki-san... where's my sister Hakari and Noboru? Are they alright?" Kaito asked, concern written on his face.
"No need to worry, they're just fine and already up. See for yourself."
Kaito looked outside the door to see Hakari running, with Noboru chasing behind her, seemingly playing.
"Thank God they're alright..." Kaito thought.
The old woman moved back. "Brat, don't move around too much and you'll be alright. The wounds will heal up quickly. I need to get paid soon..." She mumbled the last part before leaving the room, causing Kazuki to laugh lightly.
"She's always yapping about getting paid, but believe me, she's one of the best healers. You can always rely on her."
Noboru and Hakari walked into the room, jumping on top of Kaito.
"Kaito-kun! Brother!" They both seemed happy that Kaito was already awake.
"Ow, that hurts, you two!" Kaito cried softly.
"I thought you'd died, Kaito-kun!" Noboru said, tears and snot running down his face.
"Brother, I was scared that you might be too hurt, but the old woman treated you. I almost thought I'd lose you too..." Hakari said sadly, nuzzling her face into Kaito's chest.
"I'm alright, both of you... and Noboru-san, you were poisoned. Are you alright now?" Kaito asked with concern, remembering how Ren — the powerful demon — had poisoned Noboru.
"Yes! I'm feeling all good! I think the old woman fixed my wounds and the poison too! I feel like I can beat up many demons now! Not that I wanna fight any — they're scary..." Noboru said, jumping and showing his muscles, though the horror of demons still lingered on him.
Kazuki smiled at them. "Looks like you guys are having your fair moment, haha."
A beautiful young girl walked into the room, her long blonde hair flowing behind her. She seemed to be wearing a plain white haori with a ribbon, giving the look of a uniform.
"Captain, what's taking you so long? We still have a mission to work on, and here you are wasting time with some peasants!"
Kaito, Hakari, and Noboru looked at her, taking in her beauty — especially Kaito, as a small, almost unnoticeable blush crept onto his cheeks.
"So cute..." Kaito thought to himself.
"Whoa, she's too beautiful, like an angel!" Noboru said, jaw dropped.
"My sister is still more beautiful..." Kaito mumbled to himself, not wanting to fall for some random girl.
Kazuki said with a nervous look, "A-hah, I almost forgot, but thanks for reminding me, Noelle—" Before he could finish, the girl named Noelle punched him in the stomach.
"You're just slacking off, trying to avoid the mission, you damn old man!"
Kazuki held his stomach and laughed nervously. "Oye, c'mon, I'm only 27! And where's the respect I should have as a captain?"
Noelle looked over at Hakari, Kaito, and Noboru.
"So you're the peasants our old captain was talking about. Think yourselves lucky to be in my presence, you peasants."
Kaito and Noboru's expressions changed instantly as they both said together,
"So scary!"
"Alright, Noelle, I'm going to do my work, so in my place, can you show them around the village? They're new," Captain Kazuki asked Noelle, a member of his team.
Noelle held her head high with pride and smirked.
"Heh, since you asked so nicely, I guess I will show them around."
Kazuki walked out of the room with a smirk toward Hakari, Kaito, and Noboru.
"Have fun — and make sure you don't piss her off, or else who knows what she'll do to you... heh."
Kazuki left the room. Noboru was the first to speak.
"Hey, what's your name? Mine's Noboru! Let's be friends, hehe~"
"And I'm Hakari!"
"I'm Kaito, Hakari's big brother."
Noelle smiled proudly.
"My name is Noelle, and I'm one of Kazuki's team members."
All three of them — Kaito, Hakari, and Noboru (who was still sitting beside Kaito on the bed) — looked curious.
Kaito spoke up.
"What do you mean, Kazuki-san's team member? Is he a captain of some type of team or what?"
Noboru looked equally confused.
"Mhm, I wanna know too! Is he some kind of captain? Because all I know is that Soul Slayers are very strong."
"Soul Slayer?" Hakari thought.
Noelle looked shocked.
"You peasants don't know about Kazuki — and especially what Soul Slayers are?! Fine, I'll tell you on our way."
Noelle looked over at Kaito, who was lying on the bed, still injured.
"I guess you guys had a fight. Those wounds don't look good."
Kaito felt embarrassed that he couldn't protect Hakari and Noboru on his own.
"Y-yeah... it hurts pretty bad."
Noelle glanced at them before heading toward the door.
"Alright, I'll show you around the village, and let's get you three something to eat first. You all look pretty hungry and beaten up. You should consider yourselves lucky that old woman healed your wounds and saved Noboru-kun from the poison... he was on the brink of death."
Noboru's face went pale.
"W-wait, what poison? Who's dying? I don't remember that at all!"
Before Noboru could finish, Hakari got excited and ran up to Noelle.
"Yeah! Yeah! Let's go eat something! I'm really hungry anyway! C'mon, Brother, Noboru, let's go eat and look around the village!"
Kaito slowly got out of bed and followed behind them. Thanks to the old woman's healing magic, his wounds were already mostly healed, and he could walk fine.
"Yeah, we should get something to eat. I'm starving."
Noboru added excitedly,
"I wonder if there are any cute girls in the village!"
"You pervert!" Noelle smacked Noboru lightly on the face.
Five minutes later
All four of them walked through the streets filled with people doing their daily work — kids playing, men chatting, women carrying baskets of fruits and flowers. Birds chirped softly in the distance.
A cool breeze passed over Kaito, and for the first time in a while, he felt safe — able to lower his guard, knowing they might be safe here.
"Alright, so what do you all want to eat? We have every type of food here," Noelle asked.
Kaito, Hakari, and Noboru said together,
"Ramen! Let's eat some ramen!"
"Alright, I'll feed you peasants with my money," she said proudly.
The four of them entered a small restaurant, and Noelle walked up to the cashier.
"Four medium bowls of ramen."
"No, I want a large one!" Noboru said.
Noelle looked over at him in shock.
"You should be grateful I'm even feeding you peasants, just because Captain Kazuki told me to!"
As she said that, Kaito, Noboru, and Hakari's stomachs growled at the same time.
"F-fine! I'll buy you large ones!"
They sat down with their bowls of ramen. Noboru was the first to eat.
"Mmm! Delicious!"
Noelle looked slightly shocked at how eager Noboru was.
"Disgusting..."
Kaito and Hakari showed proper manners.
"Thanks for the food," they said before eating.
"It's so delicious, it melts in my mouth! I've never tried ramen before!" Hakari said excitedly.
"Indeed... it's delicious, just as I'd heard," Kaito said, enjoying the taste.
Noelle looked surprised.
"You've never eaten ramen before?!"
"Yeah, we never had proper food for a while — especially not ramen," Kaito said while eating.
Noelle frowned.
"But your friend here seems to have eaten it before... though he eats like it's the end of the world," she said, pointing at Noboru, who was devouring his meal.
"Aren't you guys friends? You must know each other well."
Kaito replied,
"Well... not really. Hakari here is my sister, and we met Noboru two days ago."
Noboru said between bites,
"Y-yeah! I helped them when they were fighting a demon in a haunted house!"
Kaito thought to himself,
"You just stole the glory..."
Noelle blushed lightly, embarrassed.
"W-well, in that case, I suppose I can feed you guys more later."
Her expression then turned serious.
"We have to meet up with the captains of the other teams and the head of the Soul Slayers — they want to see who you newcomers are."
Noboru asked with a giggle,
"Is the head a girl?!"
Noelle laughed.
"Haha, no, you dumbass. He's just a rusty old man, but I'd say you'd better not underestimate him! And you three better behave in front of the other captains... or they'll KILL YOU."
Noboru, Hakari, and Kaito all flinched.
"Kill us?!"
Noelle's voice darkened.
"They will if they get suspicious of you three. But since Captain Kazuki might be there, you should be fine. He seems to like you three — not that you're interesting or anything!" she said, blushing slightly.
"So what exactly are the Soul Slayers?" Kaito asked.
"The Soul Slayers — like me. I'm a lower-ranked one since I only joined a month ago. The captains of the seven teams are considered the strongest Soul Slayers."
Kaito looked intrigued.
"Why Soul Slayers and not Demon Slayers?"
"We're called Soul Slayers because we believe a demon's soul is hidden in the core of its chest — that's their weakest point. Even if you behead them, they'll regenerate quickly, so always aim for the chest."
Noboru spoke while eating,
"Really? The captains are that strong? I wanna meet them!"
Hakari looked at Kaito.
"Brother... will they really kill us?"
Kaito smiled and patted her head.
"No matter what, I'll protect you. Don't worry."
Noelle's eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Hey, listen, you peasants — why don't you three join the Soul Slayers? It'd be fun going on missions together, and they pay money~"
The last part caught Noboru's attention.
"They really pay money?! I wanna join! How can I?!"
Kaito thought for a moment,
"Join the Demon Corps...? Hakari's too young and can't wield a sword..."
"Oh, and what about our swords? That Ren guy broke them," Noboru said.
"Wait, you guys fought Ren and came back alive?!" Noelle screamed, fully shocked they were still alive after facing one of the Bloodfang demons.
Kaito's hand moved over the scar on his forehead, given by Ren.
"Kazuki-san is the one who helped us. Otherwise, we'd be dead for sure..."
Noelle stood up from her seat.
"I almost forgot! It's time we head to the Demon Corps building to introduce you peasants to the captains and the head!"
Just then, someone kicked open the restaurant door and spoke in a dark voice:
"Noelle... I'm gonna kill you."