A boring day. It was how Shiro would describe his day. He was home with Michikatsu. Who was passed out on the couch, his glasses still on his face, his laptop would've fallen off if it wasn't Shiro holding it in place.

'Uncle Michi is tired...' He sighed, taking the laptop and placing it on the table and taking off his glasses. He also tucked him in. "Sweet dreams, uncle."

Shiro turned off the TV and went over to the kitchen and looked over the fridge for anything to eat. On his reach were a few cherries. He took them and washed them in the sink with the help of his stool.

He began munching on the small fruit, making sure to spew out the seeds just as his mother told him and walked over the large stack of books that their family had owned.

It was quite a sight, various storybooks to important documents that had been passed down from their family since the start of time. His uncle almost burned it down once, because he was embarrassed of his old pictures in the albums.

Just as he was eating, a pair of books caught his attention. He set the bowl of fruit down on the ground and used the ladder and took the two books.

He sat on the ground, examining the books. They looked quite old but they were completely different styles and one looked older than the other. The one that looked older was more of a western style and made of leather with a few golden accents.

The other one looked more Japanese. The ones from old times.

He opened the pages of the two books, immediately confused. The two books were written by the same author despite being completely from different cultures and times. [👀]

Shiro went over the pages of the old Japanese book. Images flashing here and there and immediately becoming interested in them.

On a certain page showed a blade with a sharp handguard.

"A... ni...chi... rin... nichirin sword..." He began to read the words, struggling a bit. "A blade to des..troy... demons. They are made from ores from a mountain that is con-ti...nuously bathed in sunlight."

He paused, tilting his head to the side. A bit confused by what the book said. 'Does that mean it's always morning there? But the earth always turns around the sun? What does that mean?' He shook his confusion away and continued to read.

"The ones who use these blades are the demon slayers." On the page showed an old picture of a man with short black hair with a woman beside him with white hair and there were other people too. It was old and worn out but it was still possible to make out features. "They look familiar..."

On the old photo, were people that wore the same uniform except the man and woman and five children. "They are called... hashiras? The most important people in the or...organi...zation... right under Oyakata-sama, their leader."

Shiro turned to the next page and kept reading, "The names of these war...ri-ors are lost within his...tory. I am but a humble wri-ter and I am here to sha..re their story."

Shiro was already interested in the story, it was the same as the stories his mother would tell. About heroes, demons, and magic.

"It started from the... pre...predec- hmph." Shiro closed the book, already exhausted from the large words. "I'll ask mommy to read it to me tonight."

He set the book aside and took the leather covered one, opening to the first few pages. There were nothing but words of the author that he didn't bother reading.

"Ah. Here." Shiro had skipped through pages and arrived at a picture, a map in black and white. "A map?"

He began to read. "The con...ti..nent was divided into two after... the fallout of the god-dess and her... hmm... too many words." He flipped the pages, ignoring the words until he stopped on a page with pictures.

Shiro looked at the pictures, it looked like the person was in pain as horns tore their head, their teeth falling off and being replaced by sharper ones, their eyes being split by a glowing hand.

"Uh..." Shiro felt a shiver run up his spine at the gruesome and scary method. "Scary... it must hurt." He sniffed, feeling pity for the people in the story. "Mommy... it's scary... daddy..." He began to cry, feeling scared of what he read.

"Meow?" Shiro looked beside him to see his cat trying to comfort him. Shiro picked up the little cat and cuddled with him, feeling a little bit better now that he was here.

"Hoyo, it's sad." He wept, still cuddling the cat. "It's so sad. It must've hurt." (the cat is called Hoyo.)

Michikatsu shot from the sofa, feeling a disturbance in the force. He looked around the living room to find his nephew, who he supposed to be babysitting, gone. He began to panic.

But the little sobs he heard finally gave him a clue as to where he was.

"Shiro?" He called out to the little boy crying on the ground. He crouched beside him to look at what he was reading. A storybook. "What's wrong?"

"Uncle... the story... it hurt..." He whispered, still sniffing.

Michikatsu picked him up, along with Hoyo and the books. He went over to the sofa again, placing the books on the table and opening up his laptop and putting a kid's movie.

"It's just a story, Shiro. It's not real." He said, patting his head. "Why don't you watch a movie, then we'll go get your uncles from school."

"...Okay..."