Demon Slayer : LEveLing uP

Ishida headed south to a mountain forest for his next mission, following a tip from a crow. People had been disappearing in those woods, and four swordsmen were sent to investigate. Sadly, three of them were killed by demons, and only one survived, returning badly injured but with some information for the Demon Slayer Corps.

This mission was tagged as "high risk" by the crow, which made him curious. Unlike his usual solo missions, he was to team up with two other members, although he didn't know who they were. The plan was to meet them near the mountain, where he was heading at the moment.

After some time, he finally reached the given location, where the first thing he noticed was a familiar face looking at him with a bit of urgency, as if saying, "You're late."

It was none other than Kazuki, who Ishida had met during his first official corps mission. But he was not alone; there was someone else there who didn't look very familiar to him as he walked towards them with a curious look.

"You're a bit late, you know that, right?" Kazuki said with a nonchalant look. "We've been waiting for some time now."

Ishida looked towards Kazuki and then at the person standing behind him, who was also looking at him now.

"Are you Ishida?" The question came from the girl standing behind Kazuki. She seemed to be in a very serious mood.

The girl standing in front of him had long black hair, red ribbons, bright green eyes, and a green and red outfit. She had a necklace with a green pendant and looked at him with a neutral expression.

Ishida simply nodded to that question.

She didn't seem to be much older; at best, she would be Ishida's age. Her height was much shorter than Ishida, who stood at almost 5'7", while she was a little closer to Kazuki in terms of height, as he was 5'4".

"Do you know all the information about our mission, or will you need me to explain?" She asked with the same serious and neutral expression.

Ishida glanced at Kazuki again and looked back at her, "No, I know everything. We can start the mission."

"Good. Let's go then..." She said as she walked ahead towards the mountain forest, their destination for the mission.

Ishida and Kazuki remained standing, as Ishida was surprised and astonished by her reaction or lack of one. She didn't even give her name to Ishida and went ahead.

"What's up with her?" Ishida asked Kazuki.

"She's ignoring you!" Kazuki responded.

"I saw that. I'm asking why!"

"For the same reason you ignored me and Sakura the last time... And the first time we met," Kazuki responded with a smirk, as if he had been waiting to say that line to Ishida for some time. Saying this, Kazuki immediately walked in the direction she had left just moments ago.

Ishida also followed him soon after. As he caught up to Kazuki, he remembered something, "By the way, what's her name?"

"Oh, she didn't even tell you her name, did she?" Kazuki said with a smile, which vanished immediately under Ishida's glare. "It's Karin... Karin something, I forgot," he replied.

Ishida nodded as they moved forward.

[Inside the Jungle]

After some time, they finally caught sight of Karin; she seemed to be inspecting something.

"So you both came? I thought you would have run away," she said without even turning towards them but still they could sense her taunting without looking at her face.

Ishida didn't react to her statement as he walked forward to look at whatever she was examining. He found that it was footprints. According to Ishida, they were human footprints, followed by dragging marks. As Ishida stood up and followed the trail, it vanished into thin air after just 4-5 steps.

"This must be the demon dragging the slayers..." Ishida said with a bit disappointing voice.

"Of Course, The slayers can't drag the demons , so obviously it's the other way around" Kazuki said, but his smile vanished, but this time for the glare Karin gave him.

Ishida looked up at the mountain above , as the forest continued throughout the mountain, to below at the ground beside the mountain, where they were currently standing in.

"Before moving to the mountain top, we need to search through the forest below" she said with a commanding voice, "for that we will spread out in three direction, that way we will cover more ground" She continued.

"Wait... I think staying as a team is better for all of us you know... Spreading out will make it easy for the demons to pick on us one by one" Kazuki said in a worried tone.

"Don't tell me you are afraid of Demons ! Cause if you are , you can leave any time" she said , as she pointed to the left of the place they were currently standing,"I will leave you two to decide for yourself then" She said walking away towards the direction.

Ishida didn't understood why she was acting like that , or maybe he understood but didn't wanted to accept. In any case , she had been already decided to be their teammate, so they had to work as a team. And for now following her plan was what Ishida was planning to do, although for Kazuki,

Ishida looked towards Kazuki, who was also looking at him, "What do you..." Ishida Started, but before he could finish he was interrupted by Kazuki.

"I will take this direction then" He said, as he pointed towards the opposite direction of where she left. Which was the direction of where they just came from, the entrance of the forest.

Ishida narrowed his eyes , "What !?" He exclaimed.

Ishida narrowed his eyes, a skeptical look crossing his face. "What? You can't just head back that way."

Kazuki threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, listen, buddy. I'd rather face a dozen demons than be caught in the crossfire between you and Miss No-Nonsense over there." He gestured vaguely in the direction Karin had gone, a dramatic shiver running through him.

Ishida couldn't help but smirk at Kazuki's antics. "You're exaggerating," he replied, trying to maintain his serious demeanor.

Kazuki shook his head with theatrical dismay. "No, no, I'm not. Did you see the way she looked at me? It's like she could cut through steel with that glare. And you, with your silent, brooding hero thing? I refuse to be the casualty of your ego war."

Ishida shook his head,"Don't be such a baby , and go to that direction. We are wasting too much time."

"I guess I have no choice!" He said , as he moved towards the given location for him as Ishida moved towards the remaining direction.

'The Demon here have killed slayers as well, but I don't even sense any demons around !? Did they leave or something!?'

Ishida thought as he progressed through the forest.