The Hashira meeting had just concluded. … The master of the mansion had alerted the pillars that accounts of demons, travelling in large groups, had been spotted near several villages, spreading evil and terrorizing the villagers in those areas.

The case was odd, to say the least, and something about it didn’t quite sit right with the Wind Hashira. Demons rarely travelled in groups. If it were one case being accounted for, yes, it would be rare, though much more fathomable than several different reports. Not to mention the marked areas were hundreds of miles away from each other.

Something was undeniably amiss. … Sanemi knew the master of the mansion must have felt it too; the eeriness of this case gave a dreadful promise that something terrible was about to unfold. There was no other reasonable explanation for the master to pair up the Hashiras, sending them out in groups of two to investigate and rid the villages of the infestation. If he had thought it to be suitable for a singular pillar alone, it would have been made known.

If anything, Sanemi also preferred to go on missions alone. If he absolutely had to be paired up with anyone, he would choose Obanai, though, unfortunately for him, he was granted neither. And so, he packs himself a small bag for the road and adjusts the sword on his hip before heading out, walking towards the front gate of the butterfly mansion to meet his fellow pillar who had been paired with him...