Judging by the length of their strides, they were probably two children in their early teens.
Tetsu no Sosuke did not dare delay. In a flash, he was up in a tree.
He waited quietly, and within a few minutes, the footsteps had reached him.
Under the dim moonlight stood a young boy and girl, both around twelve or thirteen.
The girl held the boy by the wrist. He carried a lantern in his other hand and called out as they ran, "Slow down, Kyou-chan! Slow down! It's hard to see at night. Don't trip!"
"Oh, Ken-kun, you're such a dummy."
Grumbling, the girl excitedly pointed at a slope. "This should be it. This should be the Wishing Slope they were talking about."
Hidden in the tree, Tetsu no Sosuke had been frowning deeply ever since he spotted the two children.
How had children this young managed to slip away from their parents in the middle of the night, leave town, and come all the way out into the wilderness?
Weren't they afraid of running into a demon?
Yet when the girl finished speaking, he froze for a moment.
Wishing Slope?
Was there a place by that name around here?
Where had these two children heard about it?
His curiosity piqued, he did not immediately reveal himself and go down to scold them.
Instead, he stayed quietly hidden, ready to hear what they would say next.
They stopped walking. Ken-kun looked around, then counted on his fingers. "Yes, this should be the place. There aren't many slopes in this direction, at this distance. This has to be it. This is the Wishing Slope!"
"They say a One-Eyed Goddess lives on the Wishing Slope, and she can grant the wishes in people's hearts."
With a yearning look on her face, Kyou-chan