Tokinari POV :
It's dark out now, sort of. It's at that period where I can still see, but the sky is starting to become darker, there's no sun out.
I'm still extremely paranoid, everything feels like it's closing in on me, I keep hearing voices and seeing things, but thankfully, Kaoru is here with me.
And I think we are capable enough to defend ourselves against any regular demon so long as it isn't one of the stronger ones, even if I have to die a couple times.
Nearing my house, the smell of blood and the familiar feeling enveloped me, making my skin feel tight, making me sweat.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, Kaoru tapped my shoulder and said, "Okay, let's go find your brother."
Nodding, I started walking forward.
But to my surprise, there wasn't anyone here.
My father who was dead on the floor, was gone.
"Where'd they all go? Had someone come to collect them?" Kaoru asked, stepping forward.
Ignoring this, I continued forward into the house, where I had left Riku.
And…
He wasn't there.
My heart dropped.
I turned and looked at Kaoru, who looked back at me with an expression filled with guilt .
With a sigh, I couldn't help but smile somberly.
I had kinda thought this would happen.
If people had come to check up on our family, then surely people would come to check up on these people.
And if they saw a baby, what kind of person would just leave a baby out here in the open?
"I'm sorry, Toki." Kaoru said, averting his gaze from me, afraid I'd be looking at him with hatred.
But, I wasn't.
Realistically, Riku would be safer with people in the village.
I couldn't be mad, even if I wanted to.
"It's okay, don't worry." I said, my voice a little dry.
Kaoru looked up, still a feeling little guilty. "Really?"
"Yeah, don't worry. If anything, he's probably safer now."
As much as I would've liked to have Riku with me, as my only remaining family, that's selfish. He is better off without me, even still, I should go to the village to check on him, right?
But that only seemed to make Kaoru feel worse.
Another sigh escaped my mouth, but it wasn't in disappointment, it was in understanding.
I stood up and walked over to Kaoru, "Okay. Let's just get away from here, I don't want to be anywhere near here anymore."
He looked up and nodded. "Back to the cave?"
Humming in thought, I nodded back.
*CRACK!*
Hearing a twig snap behind me, my head immediately snapped in that direction, hyperaware.
"Oh."
The colour drained from my face, my eyes widened in horror and my mouth gaped.
"Hm? What is it?" Kaoru said, turning to face whatever I was looking at.
His eyes also widened.
Standing about 15 meters away from us was a humanoid creature about the same height as Kaoru, it had green skin and two thin antennae on its head. But the only thing that stood out to me…
Were it's two bladed arms.
It wasn't Mukorozan, but it was definitely familiar.
It had killed him once, maybe twice?
Why was it still here? Maybe looking for anything left behind by Mukorozan?
Well, we're here.
The moment it's eyes landed on us, it straightened.
Kaoru immediately unsheathed his machete.
As much as I wanted to grab my axe, I couldn't stop shaking.
Just seeing a demon…
Am I going to go through all of that again?
Should I just run away again?
"Snap out of it, we've got this, together." Kaoru said, looking me straight in the eye.
I closed my eyes, and with a sigh, I grabbed my axe.
…
The demon stepped forward.
It's body was lopsided, skin green and dirty. Instead of having normal human arms, they were replaced by jagged blades.
Not clean like a sword, but very ugly, cleaver like things caked in old, flaked blood.
"Little humans," it rasped. "Do you taste the same as the big humans?"
Tokinari stepped forward before his brain let him. His body moved, even if his thoughts were behind. He raised his axe, grip shaky.
"Kaoru, maybe you should run." He muttered.
"Not happening."
Kaoru darted to the left, fast, very fucking fast, drawing the demons attention. His rusty machete flashed as he swung, but the demon easily blocked, blades ringing out as metal struck whatever its arms were made of. Kaoru spun, kicked the thing in the ribs and backed off.
"It's skin is hard!" He called. "Hard as hell!"
Tokinari ran forward. Not gracefully at all, clumsily, like someone who hadn't ran in ages. The axe swung from below, chopping low aiming for the knees.
*CLANG!*
Blocked, effortlessly. The demon countered with a backhand with the flat edge of the blade.
*TWANG!*
Instead of hitting Tokinari, the blade was deflected by a rusty machete.
Kaoru had intercepted.
Tokinari didn't waste the opportunity and slashed once more, aiming for its neck.
However, the demon leaned back, the axe brushing past its nose.
Instead of returning to its original stance, the demon placed one blade on the floor and twisted.
Spinning, he aimed a kick directly for Tokinari's abdomen.
However…
*CLANK!*
Kaoru had intercepted the attack, again.
Tokinari didn't have time to thank him before the demon kicked Kaoru away and aimed a headbutt at him.
His eyes widened and just like that…
*BANG!*
Tokinari was sent staggering a few meters away, bumping into a tree, skull flaring in pain.
"Ah shit, maybe he's not much weaker…"
"If only I had died, to understand its movements…"
He held his throbbing head. His vision was doubled.
Kaoru managed to shout something, a warning? Maybe.
Then a scream tore through the air.
Tokinari blinked, and when he focused, he saw Kaoru in the demons arms, one blade plunged through his stomach. His rusty machete clattered to the ground.
"TO—KINARI—!" Kaoru shouted, blood in his mouth, eyes wide in disbelief. "Do something, man!"
Tokinari moved forward, his heart pounding hard in his chest. He was moving out of terror.
He roared, swinging his axe in a wide arc, using the same breathing technique used to cut down trees.
The axe collided with the demons shoulder and—split the demon in half, from its shoulders up.
The demons upper half fell to the ground and Kaoru fell from his grip.
Tokinari grabbed Kaoru and moved away.
Kaoru looked at him, blood on his hands and dripping from his mouth.
"You better die and go back in time, so that I can live… you idiot." He sputtered.
That's when the demons lower half appeared.
It was still moving even without a brain attacked and managed to kick Tokinari hard, sending him flying back. His axe slipped from his grasp. He landed on his side, gasping for air like a fish on land.
Kaoru lay bleeding on the ground. Still. His fingers twitched once. Then he went limp.
"Fuck!"
"Kaoru's dead."
"I could've stopped it."
"I CAN stop it…"
The demon's lower half turned toward him.
The discarded upper half spoke from the floor, "You fight like you've never been in a fight before, and you think you can beat me? Don't disrespect me by being so weak."
Tokinari clenched his teeth and found the axe.
His ribs were broken and he was definitely gonna die.
But what did he care? He was going to live regardless, he could just loop, right?
Now all that mattered was doing as much damage before he died.
To learn what he could, for the future him.
He stood shakily.
He swung shakily.
The demon met him mid charge and sliced across his stomach.
White hot pain exploded through him. His blood splattered across the trees. His knees buckled. His axe dropped. He fell forward, gasping, eyes locked on Kaoru's body as his vision blurred.
He was gonna rewind.
Right?
Why the fuck isn't he looping?
The familiar feeling of death enveloped him.
And he died.
…
"AAARRRGGHHHHHHHH ILL KILL YOU!"
Suddenly waking up from a nightmare, Tokinari shot up awake with a guttural roar, still covered in blood, clothes dirty, hands bruised and slightly mentally unstable.
Sitting across from him, Kaoru Kazeneko had his hand over his chest, scared half to death from Tokinari's sudden outburst.
"Huh?"
Tokinari looked around, confused.
Then he winced in pain, the feeling of death hitting him late.
Kaoru, still a little shocked, blinked at him in confusion. "What the hell are you on about? Who are you gonna kill?"
Tokinari looked up, relieved that he looped.
He looked at Kaoru, who was blissfully unaware of everything they had just been through
Tokinari sat up and looked at him dead in the eye.
"Listen to me. Everything I tell you from this point on is the truth."
Kaoru, still shocked and extremely confused, nodded slowly.
And just like the first time, Tokinari explained everything about demons, what happened to his family and the rewind.
And just like before, Kaoru was skeptical.
But then Tokinari continued.
"You brought my axe with you, you left my brother at the house, I killed people, you dragged me away."
Kaoru's gaze sharpened slightly.
Tokinari stared deep into his eyes. "And I just looped again. We both died."
His composure faltered for a second as his eyes widened. "We both died? I died?!"
Tokinari nodded.
"How?"
"We both went back to look for my brother, he wasn't there. The only thing there was a demon with sword arms. We fought it for about two minutes before you died, then I died."
Kaoru hummed thoughtfully, "Seriously? So I died? I guess I can believe you if you show me."
"Huh?" Caught off guard, Tokinari questioned.
"The demon, let's go fight it. It doesn't matter if we lose, you'll come back, right?" Kaoru asked.
Tokinari gave him a dirty look. "So you want me to experience the agony of death and witness my only friend being ripped to shreds so that I can go back in time and do it all over again. You won't even remember, dude."
Kaoru pursed his lips. "Ah yeah, you're right. I guess. When does it happen?"
Tokinari placed his fingers on his chin, "Roughly twenty minutes? I think? When it's dark, since they can't be out in sunlight."
Kaoru nodded. "And you can't control these… 'loops' right?"
Tokinari nodded. "Yeah, if I could, I would've looped to where you believed me, so I didn't have to explain all of this again."
Kaoru chuckled.
"So, what now?" He asked.
Tokinari tilted his head. "Well we have a choice, we can either make a plan of action and go fight or we can completely ignore it."
"Right, let's go fight it." Kaoru replied, standing up.
Tokinari held out a hand, stopping Kaoru. "We shouldn't, not yet anyway. Sunrise is in like twelve hours. We are not gonna be able to fight him for twelve hours straight."
Kaoru clicked his tongue, "Ah yeah, you're right. So what can we do?"
Tokinari pulled back his arm. "We could go hunt for food or something and maybe I can actually clean myself up while we come up with a plan. Demons have a good sense of smell from what I've gathered and can usually find people without too much trouble, I reek of blood so that's no good."
"And when it finds us? Or when we find it?"
"Okay, here's my plan, gathered from what I learned the last time round." Tokinari said, voice low. "You're fast and have pretty good reflexes, you're great at defense. I'll lead the charge and you can block any incoming attacks, giving me openings." He continued.
Kaoru nodded.
"The demon usually uses his blades, but he's not afraid to attack us with brute force. He's fast, but from what I saw, you're faster. If we can manage to incapacitate him and then somehow restrict him, by placing something heavy on him or by tying him down... we could leave him out until sunrise, burning him in the sun." Tokinari said, his voice a little muffled behind his hand.
Kaoru couldn't help but grin, "Whatever you say goes, I trust you."