The scenery of the hometown village, returned to after a long time, was not much different from before. Even so, since I had hardly wandered during the day, the only thing I could assert hadn't changed was the shadowy forms of the buildings.
Avoiding sunlight and people's gazes, I pulled down my hood and headed toward the Ayaki family. Lacking the courage to enter through the mansion's back door, I circled around to the store.
Inside the quiet store at lunchtime, there was only one clerk and no customers. I was worried it might be someone I didn't know, but fortunately, it was the familiar manager.
After saying "Long time no see," and taking off my hood, three seconds after we faced each other, the manager exclaimed, "Young master!!! You're back!!!" and disappeared inside. Soon after, the noisy sound of frantic footsteps approached.
My uncle and aunt poked their faces out.
"I've come to greet you after a long time──"
""Rei!!""
Before I could finish my words, I was tightly hugged by the two of them. Their voices, alternating as they asked where I had been all this time and saying they were worried, were tearful, and my own eyes grew hot.
"How have you been all this time?"
My aunt, who had been holding me tightly for a while, wiped the corners of her eyes and asked. As I was pondering where to start explaining, my uncle pointed at the sword at my waist.
"What's that sword? You're not a military policeman."
"……I've become a demon hunter."
Instantly, my uncle and aunt's movements froze. Only their eyes looking at me were shaking greatly.
Right. Hearing the word "demon" suddenly, it must be hard to accept easily.
"Um, demons are……"
I explained step by step from the beginning so that my uncle and aunt, who knew nothing, could understand.
The ecology of demons. That they eat people. Their weakness is sunlight. Monsters that can only be killed by cutting off their heads with a special sword. And demon hunters. Beings who slay demons with Nichirin Blades.
However, I couldn't talk about the Demon Slayer Corps, so I passed over that part as vaguely as possible.
"So…… people like me with white hair and red eyes are targeted by demons. That's why when the fortune teller said…… that my very presence brings disaster, I thought it was because of demons."
Neither my uncle nor my aunt said anything.
"……I didn't want to cause trouble for everyone, so I left home. I'm sorry for making you worry."
The two of them listened to my words quietly, even forgetting to blink.
"Actually, I had no intention of returning in the future. But when I heard from a friend that my uncle was still looking for me…… I wanted to come back."
The lack of response from the two made me anxious.
Was I explaining properly?
"I have work to do, so I must leave soon. But I heard that a demon appeared in this area, so I plan to slay it before going. ……But uncle, aunt."
After finishing all my words, I finally asked what I was most curious about.
"Is Rui doing well?"
It was strange that only Rui wasn't here when my uncle and aunt had come. I thought we would be eating lunch together, but perhaps he wasn't feeling well and was lying in his room.
"I want to see his face, even if I go into the house……."
"Get out."
It took a moment to realize that the cold, hardened voice was my uncle's. With an expression I had never seen before, my uncle glared at me.
"Get out right now. Don't ever come to our house again."
My aunt, who had grabbed my uncle's sleeve, shook her head with a pale face. Shaking her off, my uncle pushed my shoulder.
Staggering, my uncle repeated the same words to me once more.
"Don't come back twice. Disappear from our sight right now! You damn freak!!"
＊
As soon as the staggering footsteps faded away, I covered my face and slumped down in that spot.
I had a guess about the characteristics of demons that Rei mentioned.
I recalled my son, who had traded his healthy body for the inability to step into sunlight.
I recalled. One morning, the color of blood stained on Rui's kimono.
Rei's story that demons eat people.
A few days ago, the incident where the wholesale merchant family in the neighboring village was slaughtered.
The demon that Rei said he would slay── is Rui.
As I trembled and crouched, my wife approached from behind me.
As if understanding everything about me, she wept again.
I'm sorry, Rei.
There was no other way.
I'm sorry, Rui.
Now, there's no other way.
Holding my wife's hand tightly, I stood up quietly with resolve.
Ah, I must send the people away.
So that tonight's affair is not disturbed by anyone──
＊
"Stop sniffling!!"
I, who had been holding back tears with my head raised, instinctively wiped my tears at the familiar shouting voice that landed in the back alley.
"Hanachiyo-chan?"
"Haa~ Really, even though you're old enough! You haven't improved since the first time we met!"
"Uh, why did you come?"
"Surveillance, surveillance! There's no way they'd just expel a member involved with demons!"
"If you reveal it's surveillance, it kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?"
"Shut up!! It's because you're sniffling!"
Ah, so she came down because she was worried about me, who was on the verge of crying.
Grateful for Hanachiyo-chan's concern as she circled above my head, I sniffled and laughed, and was kicked with a "Stop giggling!" Sorry.
"Well, then, let's wait until night."
"Huh?"
"You want to meet that kid Rui, right?"
"Uh, huh?"
"I'll help you, so sneak in at night and meet him."
"What's with this extreme kindness…… oh, upon closer look, you're not Hanachiyo-chan?!"
"It's Hanachiyo!! Don't tell me you forgot the sheen of these feathers!!"
Hmm, the sharpness of this beak is indeed Hanachiyo-chan. It hurts. I could confirm it was the real Hanachiyo-chan by the beak authentication, but still, what's with this sudden kindness?
As I wondered, Hanachiyo-chan averted her gaze slightly and answered.
"……Since you've been working hard until now, allowing a reward like meeting family should be permitted."
"Hanachiyo-chan…… Hanachiyo-nee……!!"
"I'm still ten years old!!"
"Hmm~ converting a crow's ten years to human age……"
"It's not about probing a lady's age!"
I felt saved by the conversation that was no different from usual.
And when night arrived. Around the time people were asleep, Hanachiyo-chan and I headed toward the Ayaki family.
What we were about to do was illegal trespassing, so I was reluctant, but with Hanachiyo-chan's refreshing attitude saying, "It's not like we're stealing, so it doesn't matter," I steeled my resolve too.
Walking along the wall while tracing my memory, I stopped at a certain point. A garden tree sticking out over the wall. Rui's room faced the garden. If my memory was correct, Rui should be right over there.
"Hanachiyo-chan, please."
Nodding her beak up and down, Hanachiyo-chan lightly jumped over the wall. We had agreed that if it was safe to sneak in without being detected, she would give a signal from inside. But.
"Rei!!! Demon!!!"
What burst out was a completely unexpected scream.
Why my uncle had told me to leave.
I could understand at a glance upon seeing the tragic state of the room I rushed into.
＊
Dad tried to kill me.
Mom didn't stop him.
But big brother is different, right?
"Big brother."
Before I could deliver the final blow to dad, the figure that took dad away. My vision, which had noticeably improved after becoming a demon, caught that white hair I loved so much.
"It really is big brother!"
Seeing the color of the eyes that looked back, I jumped up.
A red color like pomegranate, much deeper and transparent than what was flowing from dad's stomach. Even though he had grown taller and his face had become somewhat more mature, big brother's color was just like before.
"……Rei, why…… I told you not to come back……!"
From behind big brother, dad spat out a voice mixed with tears and blood. That made me angry.
After searching for big brother like that, how could he say such harsh words? Or was it just pretending to search, and he actually didn't care about big brother?
Clearly, it was only a superficial, fake bond. Just like me.
"I'll do it, we'll take responsibility…… Rei, you don't have to do anything…… I don't want to involve you……!"
Gently shaking off dad's clinging hand, big brother walked toward me. From outside the fully opened sliding door, mom's crying voice became even louder.
"Rui."
A voice I didn't know, already past the change of puberty. A clear, transparent smile as if filled with only affection.
"Rui, long time no see."
I loved this person so much who bent down to my eye level.
"Big brother!"
Unable to hold back, I hung onto his neck, and a large palm stroked my back.
"Welcome back!"
"I'm back. You've become much healthier."
"Yeah! I don't cough anymore, and I don't get sick. I can even have running competitions."
"Is that so."
"But I was lonely because there was no big brother to play with."
Big brother must feel the same. Since he was driven from home because of me, he must have been lonely all this time.
"……I'm sorry, Rui."
"No. It's fine since you came back."
Different from dad who tried to kill me or mom who didn't protect me. Big brother was definitely on my side. Feeling a true bond from that fact, my heart became very calm.
"……I'm sorry."
But, why is the body of the brother holding me trembling? It was so unsettling and worrying that I was about to call him, when I suddenly realized.
"……Big brother. This…… what is it?"
A sword at his waist. The moment I saw it, what Lord Muzan taught me came to mind.
Nichirin Blade. Demon hunter. Demon Slayer Corps. He said that in this era, those who carry swords are mostly such people.
I detached myself from my brother and carefully looked at his face. It was an expression as if he was about to cry. An expression as if he was already saying goodbye just after reuniting.
I understood. As my brother's hand reflexively reached for the sword hilt, I pressed down from above. So that the blade wouldn't come out of the sheath, so that he absolutely couldn't cut me.
"Big brother is the same as dad?"
"No. Wait, Rui."
"No, you're not. You're thinking of killing me, right?"
"Listen to me. Please, I beg you, let go of this hand."
"Everyone tries to kill me. For being family, as if I'm not family!"
Suppressing with a demon's grip, a sound like a branch breaking came from my brother's hand. In arm wrestling when we were young, I never won even once. Humans are really weak.
"Liar! Liar liar, big brother is fake too!"
The moment I shouted that, an unfamiliar presence rushed into the room.
＊
A jagged, saw-like killing intent flew toward Rui and my neck. With Rui entangled, I couldn't draw my Nichirin Blade. All I could do was instantly shield Rui.
It would have been good if I could counter with my Nichirin Blade, but my fingers were completely shattered and I couldn't even hold the sword.
Hugging Rui and falling onto the tatami, a burning pain assaulted my shoulder. My arm cleanly snapped off.
Sensing the second attack, I flung my body while holding Rui with my remaining arm. After the wound from the wolf demon throbbed, a slash split the tatami, and simultaneously, a deep wound was carved into my leg that couldn't escape.
Rui swallowed hard, and my uncle shouted my name. My aunt was trembling without even making a sound.
"I came because I heard a demon appeared, but who would have thought there'd be a bonus attached. Lucky me."
A vulgar voice, a delinquent attitude. That member who particularly picked on me laughed while pointing a blood-stained sword.
Of all people, it had to be you who took over Lord Shōjuro's mission.
"No uniform, but there's a Nichirin Blade. So it's a lukewarm expulsion punishment. How boring. I deliberately threw in sparks to make it an execution, but it seems those old Pillars desperately protected you?"
"……I thought rumors spread unusually fast, so it was you after all? How pathetic, trying so hard."
Tensing muscles with breathing. Stop the bleeding. But I couldn't hide the smell of blood. The sound of dripping water. Saliva flowing down Rui's chin.
Rui, held in my arm, was staring fixedly at the wounded area.
"Blabber all you want."
The opponent sneered like that.
"As if I'd care about means when driving out a nuisance."
"I don't remember interfering."
"Ha, you've been interfering with me from the start."
Even with a demon right in front of him, he spoke in a calm, leisurely tone.
"On Mt. Fujikasane, you killed all the demons I deliberately left behind."
"……Deliberately?"
"Yes. It wasn't neglecting inspection, but properly maintaining them. So that only demons that apprentice swordsmen couldn't handle remained."
"What are you talking about, that……"
"Isn't it basic to stomp on newcomers to reduce competition?"
I couldn't understand what he was saying. Competition, stomping on newcomers, what nonsense is this guy spouting?
"I want to become a Pillar. Because I can receive unlimited salary. But the world is unfair, and only those obsessed with dying, with nothing in their heads but slaying demons, rise in rank."
He spoke with a genuinely disgusted voice. With an attitude as if he were the worst victim, he shook his head as if it were absurd.
"Fighting those kinds head-on and winning isn't something a sane person would do. So I decided to strike at their weak points. Become an inspection officer, raise mutated demons, deliberately arrive late to support requests, hinder others in joint missions…… If they die, hurray, if limbs are cut off, it's break-even."
What suddenly came to mind was the member who lost his leg during the horse demon mission. I heard he was injured because coordination with his partner in the same team didn't work, but could it be.
"……You sure talk a lot. Don't you know you're making a huge revelation?"
"A gift for the journey to the underworld. Use it to fill your little brother's stomach."
From my chest, Rui growled. Clicking his teeth, sweating all over, trembling finely. He was enduring── barely.
"Ru, Rui! No, you mustn't eat Rei! He's family!"
"Annoying, half-dead guy. Surprisingly minor injury? Shall I stab you later."
That guy looked at my uncle as if bothered. It was a light tone, but not a joke or threat, a sincere mutter.
"If you do that, you're the one who deserves execution!"
"Id~iot, of course I'd stab over the wound. I've done it several times, never been caught so far. That woman over there is unharmed but…… well, if we say the demon did it, most corpses can be covered up."
I was horrified. I had never seen a human so fitting of the word evil.
More than Rui, who was desperately suppressing his appetite in my arm, this guy was far more of a demon.
"Now, white hair and red eyes are said to be a feast for demons, right? Go ahead and eat."
"……!"
"If not, you'll die again at the hands of 'big brother'. Don't hold back. It's fine, isn't it, since he's a fake big brother?"
"……Ah,"
Drooling saliva and rough breath, Rui groaned something. And a small voice repeated once more.
"No, ya."
Whose sigh was it that leaked out with a "ha"? Clinging to my clothes, Rui stiffly shook his head.
"Earlier, you shielded me, so."
Droplets flowing down cheeks where red patterns emerged.
"He's not fake. I won't eat. ……Big brother is real, so I absolutely won't eat!"
To Rui, who returned me to the position of family, not as food or a hated demon hunter, I couldn't continue speaking. My uncle and aunt also opened their eyes wide, and a different kind of sparkle than tears clouded their pupils.
A sparkle that could perhaps be called hope. But it was trampled in an instant.
"Then I'll make you want to eat!!"
A swiftly thrust Nichirin Blade. I wished the coward's sword was a bit more sloppy, but the blade tip, enough to aim for Pillar, was something I couldn't avoid in my current state.
The sword pierced Rui's head and reached my chest holding him. The sensation of a torn lung suffocating with blood. Unable to hold back, the bright red blood I vomited from my mouth stained Rui's face.
Rui's pupils rapidly narrowed. Eyes looking at prey. Teeth bared, mouth open. Tongue licking and swallowing the blood on his face. Saliva. And laughter.
Consciousness fades. Before that, a fleeting panorama.
Am I going to die again leaving countless things undone?
Without finding Lord Muzan, without making demon medicine, without meeting mom again, and come to think of it, I only deciphered the research book up to halfway.
I didn't become a Pillar. I didn't find a disciple to inherit Moon Breathing, I didn't cut my master's head as promised with Mr. Rengoku, and this time too, I only increased what I wanted to do or had to do, and ultimately accomplished nothing.
But. Ah, but──
Gathering my last strength, I hugged Rui as hard as I could.
The fact that I could leave without cutting the demon I thought I had to slay gave me a self-indulgent relief.
Consciousness cut off there.
"Stop———!!"
＊
From behind the man who raised his sword again, Mrs. Ayaki gathered all her strength and rushed in.
Originally, Mrs. Ayaki was a weak woman. Weak in body, and consequently weak in heart, crying whenever something happened.
But at this moment, the woman's weakness disappeared.
The child born from her painful labor, and the nephew loved like her own child. With the lives of her two sons in danger, a mother's pride overcame all that.
Even so, the woman's helplessness was pitifully frail, and though she clung to the man's waist, her small, light body easily fell off. Yet, Mrs. Ayaki raised her trembling body and this time grabbed the man's arm.
Clutching the man's wrist with both hands overlapped as hard as she could, Mrs. Ayaki desperately shouted.
"Rui, Rui, no! You mustn't eat your brother!"
Had there ever been another time in her life when she made such a loud voice?
Shouting toward her own child, Mrs. Ayaki regretted.
If she had given birth to Rui more robustly, such a thing wouldn't have happened. If her nephew hadn't left home because of a foolish fortune, and if her son hadn't lamented his sickly body and become a demon.
Like now, the two children wouldn't have been hurt by such a villain.
"Please, Rui! Listen to mom! Run away with Rei!"
It's not right.
Originally, she had intended to bear her child's sin with her husband and Rui, and die together. Not doing so and shouting for her demon child to run away was against reason.
After running away, he might eat other people. He might commit greater sins.
Yet, now she couldn't help but shout.
She couldn't hand over Rei's life, who had no sin, let alone Rui's life, to such a murderer.
She knew. That they, who had said they wouldn't let him commit more sins, that they would atone for sins, and intended to die with their child, were ultimately no different from murderers.
But even if that were nothing but the selfish delusion of parents, she wanted to believe that their killing and this man's killing were different.
"Damn it……!"
Ignoring the wife clinging to his arm, the man tried to swing his sword.
But at that moment, an unexpected weight was added to his arm. Not caring about the blood flowing from his stomach wound, Mr. Ayaki grabbed the man's arm while gasping for rough breath.
"Both of you, run away!!"
As a voice slightly more accustomed to shouting than his wife's burst out, Rui's narrowing pupils shook for a moment.
Mr. Ayaki also regretted. When Rei left home, he had always regretted hiding that fact from Rui until the end and sometimes showing awkward attitudes.
He should have explained to young Rui that it was all dad's fault. If he had, he might not have such belated regrets now, he couldn't help but think of a hypothetical future.
The annoyed man turned and roughly kicked Mr. Ayaki who was nearby. As the strong man's hand fell off, what remained was only the helpless wife.
Lightly shaking off his arm, the wife was also thrown onto the tatami, and the man swung his sword at Mrs. Ayaki who couldn't even resist. Blood seeped in a line into the torn blue kimono.
But the wife didn't care and stood up again. Such pain is trivial compared to giving birth to Rui.
Compared to her own children being killed, the fear of her body being cut is how insignificant.
"Persistent!! I'll kill you first!"
"Try it! We've already resolved to die with that child!"
"If you lay hands any further, I won't forgive you even in death!!"
The smell of blood from big brother, dad, mom, and many others invaded Rui's sense of smell.
His wounded body craved human flesh and blood.
But Rui bit down hard. Resisting the demon's instinct, he tightly hugged his much larger brother's body as if dragging it, and before the sword-wielding man could notice, rushed out into the garden and jumped over the wall.
Chasing the fading sound of his brother's heartbeat, he ran into the darkness of the night without looking back.
Continuously calling the name of the god who saved him in his heart.
"Finally opened your eyes? Perfect timing. I was getting tired of seeing that peaceful, foolish face."
Tightly clenching my lost right hand, he smiled as if nostalgic.
"………………Long time no see, Lord Muzan."
My throat, just awakened from sleep—— was thirsty enough to make me nauseous.
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