Following the trail of tenacious blood left by Lord Sabito, at the end was a fish-headed demon.
In the light of the single lantern, Lord Sabito's shadow, battered as if to set an example, was swaying. In one corner of the room, girls huddled together, trembling in terror, unable to even make a sound.
First, I checked the eyes of the demon who was startled to see me. Hmm, 'Lower Rank 2' is written in its left eye. This demon is the target of the extermination. A filthy beast that doesn't know 'yes loli no touch'.
Good. I want to send it to salvation immediately, but before that——
"Moon Hashira, Tsuyuri Kōgetsu!!"
With a bright smile, I announced my name. But this sudden self-introduction was not for Lower Rank 2, but for Lord Muzan.
If it were an ordinary lackey, it might not matter, but if it's the vision of the Twelve Kizuki, he must be watching. I wanted to let him know of my existence. And if I'm lucky, I hoped it would reach my teacher as well.
Even though I changed my hair and eye color, it should be fine, right? Right?
"A Hashira? Hehe, what's a Hashira? I'm one of the Twelve Kizuki, Lower Rank 2! How about that, scary, huh?"
"Shut up, fish face. If you want to grind down my SAN value, come back with six eyeballs."
I didn't engage in, listen to, or tolerate any further conversation.
With a footstep utilizing Thunder Breathing, I used the First Form: Thunderclap and Flash. The demon's head rolled on the ground with a stupid face that didn't even realize it had been cut.
Now, extermination complete. All that's left is to calm the girls who are confused and in chaos, and lead them outside.
Fortunately, though they were terrified, none were injured. They should be able to walk on their own.
Lord Sabito... will have trouble walking on his own. I'll have to carry him. He's still breathing, but it seems he was beaten quite harshly, and the damage to his fingers is severe. If it gets infected, it'll be a big problem, so I need to hurry outside for treatment.
"Ladies, you can relax now. Let's go home."
When I spoke with a 100-point smile, a sense of relief gradually spread among the girls. And as one child, her tension released, burst into tears, the others started crying one after another.
"Now, save the crying for later~ We need to get out quickly. Hold hands with the friend next to you. If you get lost in the cave, it's dangerous, so never let go."
As I gave instructions while carrying Lord Sabito, the girls, their faces still red at the nose, obediently followed my words.
I decided to gratefully take the lantern from the cave. If it were just me, the darkness wouldn't matter, but the children might need it.
At times like this, I really think changing my hair and eye color was a good idea. If I had kept my white hair and red eyes as they were, I would have just scared them more unnecessarily.
"Everyone holding hands? Then the child at the front, hold my hand——"
As I reached out my hand to the girl at the front.
"......Meichiro?"
A familiar name flowed from the girl's mouth. Why does this girl know my name, which only my mother, Lord Yushiro, and the children at the temple knew?
After gazing at her for a moment, I realized.
Her hair and height had grown, but it was unmistakable. Her still youthful face was——
"Sayo."
She was a survivor of that night.
・
・
・
The rescued girls were later led by the Kakushi who arrived at the scene and returned to their parents' embrace.
But only Sayo ended up being taken back by me personally. Because she held my hand tightly and wouldn't let go.
Even though the Kakushi tried every method to separate Sayo, they ultimately failed. Apologies followed for causing trouble to the Hashira, but I didn't mind. I too had things I wanted to tell Sayo.
"Sayo. It wasn't Lord Himejima who killed everyone at the temple."
On the way taking Sayo back, when I said that, the hand holding mine trembled slightly. Her footsteps stopped.
Sitting down carefully beside Sayo, who had turned pale and stood still, I continued speaking slowly, as if soothing her.
"Lord Himejima fought to protect Sayo from the demon."
I had no intention of blaming Sayo. However, I really wanted to convey the truth. Even if these words might hurt her, I hoped that at least this child would acknowledge the courage and love Lord Himejima showed that night.
Sayo stood dazed. Tears welled up in her eyes. Ah, did I hurt her after all?
Just as I was about to apologize, Sayo nodded.
"Yes, that's right."
The girl gripped my hand even tighter.
Her eyes were as if she had finally met a fellow countryman in a foreign land where language didn't work.
"No, the teacher is... the monster is that person. He killed everyone. The bad one is that person. The teacher, the teacher isn't...!"
Sayo, having said that far, seemed unable to hold back any longer and cried out loud. She sobbed loudly on the night road.
Repeating the same words like a broken record: The teacher isn't, the teacher isn't bad.
Only then did I realize Lord Himejima's misunderstanding.
The 'that person' Sayo mentioned was none other than the demon.
From the beginning, Sayo had never betrayed Lord Himejima's heart.
＊
Inflating my lungs to the limit, I took a big, fast breath and stepped forward. I repeated only that.
Sayo clung to my back as I ran through the dawn air. Our destination was Lord Himejima's house.
Upon learning that Lord Himejima, imprisoned as a death row inmate, was alive, Sayo continuously pleaded that she wanted to apologize to him, to convey her gratitude for protecting her.
Frankly, I hesitated. I was worried whether Lord Himejima's wounded heart could accept Sayo's words as they were now.
But to move forward, I had to do something. Whether it's forward or backward.
Of course, I received permission from Sayo's parents to take her to Lord Himejima.
Sayo's adoptive parents originally lived at the foot of Mount Hinode but moved to this seaside village so Sayo could forget the events of that day. They probably never dreamed it would become a cause and involve them in a new incident.
But perhaps it's a blessing in disguise, or a silver lining in misfortune. Through this incident, they learned of the demons' existence and finally seemed to realize that Lord Himejima was innocent two years ago.
"The child kept saying 'the bad one isn't the teacher,' but we couldn't believe her."
"We couldn't believe that the kind Lord Himejima committed such a heinous act, so we mistakenly thought the culprit was someone else... we dismissed it like that..."
The neatly dressed couple bowed their heads deeply, seemingly genuinely regretful.
The fact that Sayo was unable to speak properly due to shock after the incident must have also been a factor that deepened the misunderstanding.
Thinking about how Sayo must have lived for the past two years, unable to clear Lord Himejima's name, my heart ached. Above all, I was ashamed of myself for believing that Sayo thought Lord Himejima was the culprit.
My beating heart throbbed. Since the Hashira meeting day, I hadn't exchanged a single word with Lord Himejima, let alone faced him.
If it weren't for the weight of Sayo on my back, I wouldn't have had the courage to head to Lord Himejima's house.
When we arrived at the Oyakata's mansion standing alone deep in the mountains, it was around noon. A warm food smell wafted from inside the house.
"Excuse me! Lord Himejima, are you there?!"
Without waiting for the homeowner's answer, I slid the door open.
In the entrance were a pair of large straw sandals that seemed to be Lord Himejima's. And two pairs of small straw sandals, not even half their size, were lined up beside them. I don't know whose they are. Did he take on a tsuguko?
"......What is it, Meichiro."
Lord Himejima appeared from the inner room. At his stiff voice tinged with bewilderment, I choked up and froze, unable to say anything. But Sayo was different.
She was braver than anyone here in facing her past.
The weight disappeared from my back. Kicking off her straw sandals and rushing into the entrance, Sayo clung to Lord Himejima's thick knees.
"Teacher."
At that tongue-tied word, Lord Himejima stopped breathing.
"......Sayo?"
"Teacher, teacher, I'm sorry... I'm sorry......!"
Why are children's voices, especially crying voices, so straight and sincere?
"No, I didn't mean the teacher. Not a monster. The monster is that person. I was stupid, couldn't speak, properly... not the teacher, the teacher is......"
Sayo's speech was much more stuttering than children her age.
"The teacher, protected me...!"
Those tears seeped into Lord Himejima's cracked heart. Lord Himejima, kneeling as if collapsing, hugged Sayo's small back. Shedding warm tears from his sightless eyes.
Beyond two years of time, finally, his soul was saved.
＊
Kibutsuji Muzan was enraged.
He was determined to protect that extraordinary friend at all costs.
"That fool, joining the Demon Slayer Corps again without getting tired of it!!"
Kibutsuji Muzan screamed after seeing his friend introduce himself through Lower Rank 2's vision. The overturned experimental worktable spilled test tubes and flasks, crashing into the wall.
An experimental tool grazed the cheek of Kokushibo, who had been suddenly summoned by his furious superior, but Upper Rank 1, having heard the whole story from his superior, was too restless to care about such things.
"Moon Hashira... Tsuyuri Kōgetsu. A good name......"
"Is this the time for such talk! No, not that it's wrong!"
Yes, Moon Hashira. Demon Slayer Corps. Kibutsuji Muzan became emotionally unstable and clutched his head. If possible, he wanted to grab his friend's shoulders and shout, "Remember the cause of your death in your past life!"
While feeling sympathy for his superior's feelings, Kokushibo couldn't contain his joy.
When he heard about the end his disciple met in his past life, it was half expected, half disappointed, sinking into hellish despair.
But all that was offset by one name of his disciple in this life. There's even change left. Rather, let me pay. I'll buy it at the calling price.
The disciple introduced himself as Kōgetsu. The name Kokushibo had hoped to call him. That was undoubtedly the disciple's own declaration of intent to target his teacher's neck.
The disciple still hadn't given up on the sword, on his teacher.
Thinking of his disciple, not even mid-teens, rising to the position of Moon Hashira, Kokushibo's heart danced.
This disparity with Kibutsuji Muzan, raging in anger. Are their emotions at the level of the Mariana Trench and Everest, these guys.
"Lord Muzan, what else did the disciple say......"
"The rest is insults toward Lower Rank 2. Clearly......"
──Shut up, fish face. If you want to grind down my SAN value, come back with six eyeballs.
His friend often said incomprehensible things. Whether it's language from across the sea or some professional term, meaningless words whose meaning is unknown. 'SAN value,' what is that, isn't the pronunciation different from 'sanchi,' I miss the old days when I pointed that out.
Each time, Kibutsuji Muzan actively tried to learn, saying "What language is that?" "What does it mean?" so he could understand to some extent, but it was an impossible area for Kokushibo.
Reluctantly, Kibutsuji Muzan translated it so Kokushibo could understand.
"...Shut up, fish face. It means, if you want to scare me to the point of losing my sanity, come back with six eyeballs."
"......, ......, ......"
Kokushibo fell silent. The moment 'six eyeballs' was mentioned, Everest collapsed and sank to the bottom of the sea.
Looking at such Kokushibo, Kibutsuji Muzan, already in the Mariana Trench, suddenly realized.
Come to think of it, this man, when dealing with his disciple in his past life, was always wearing a mask.
"Hey, Kokushibo."
Guessing what his superior was about to say, Kokushibo averted all six eyes at once.
"Don't tell me you, didn't show your true form to it?"
"......Kōgetsu was... terribly scared...!"
"Kokushibo, you... you trained so harshly in swordsmanship......"
Aren't the other parts too soft?
Dumbfounded and speechless, Kibutsuji Muzan eventually closed his mouth. Instead, he complained via telepathy.
"I have no face."
Immediately prostrating on the tatami, Upper Rank 1.
What if by some mistake he ends up meeting it in a visible state? Kibutsuji Muzan became uncharacteristically worried. This time, he didn't even point it out via telepathy.
>> Intermission
＊
"Leave this to me! Murata, take care of Giyu!"
Shouting that and swinging his sword at the demon, Sabito's back overlapped with Tsutako noona.
Reaching out my hand toward Sabito's back as he rushed out to protect me, but the words 'don't go' never came out. Just like I couldn't say it to Tsutako noona that night.
A coward who only gets in the way and receives help, a weakling who can't protect anyone. Despairing at myself, who hadn't grown at all since that day, the memories after that were faint.
When I came to, it was a recovery facility. The date was a week after the mission. The first thing that came to mind when I opened my eyes was Sabito.
In the middle of the doctor explaining that the head injury had a lot of bleeding but wasn't severe enough to require stitches, I jumped out of bed.
Leaving behind the doctor's voice shouting not to run in the hallway, I wandered barefoot through the building looking for Sabito. And the moment I saw his figure in the last room, I collapsed in front of the door.
With relief and reassurance, and despair overwhelming them.
Sabito was alive.
Having been tortured all over by the demon, suffering severe injuries that would take a year to recover.
Beside Sabito, sleeping as if dead on the pure white bed, only breathing deeply, I couldn't find any words of apology and just cried.
A year in boyhood is long. A trained body quickly deteriorates, and having to spend an important training period asleep is too great a loss.
The more I thought of Sabito the swordsman's 12 months, my spine felt like it was freezing. Crushed by the weight of time, I couldn't breathe.
If only I could drown in regret, how good it would have been.
After a few weeks, when Sabito regained consciousness, he calmly accepted his condition. Even in the face of the fact that it would take a year to return, he never blamed me once. Sabito was a man whose heart was as strong as his sword.
That man's one year and my one year. Which is heavier, truly. Which can live more for someone else.
I already knew the answer.
If I hadn't suffered trivial injuries. If I had been just a little stronger. If I had jumped in instead of Sabito.
Ah, but since I'm not as strong as Sabito, I probably would have died quickly. Since I'm not as brave as Sabito, I might not have even thought of sacrificing my fingers to create a path to the demon.
But if it's to the extent of taking away Sabito's year, it doesn't matter what happens to someone like me. No matter how much I struggle, Sabito is superior to my entire life.
Then me. Yes, me──.
"Giyu, stop it."
Sabito stopped me before I could say anything. The sharp gaze of my friend, sitting up in bed, seemed to pierce through my eyes into my heart.
"Don't think 'I'll take your place.' I must have told you before."
Even though Sabito didn't shout, that voice pierced my ears and sent a shiver down my spine.
Suddenly, my left cheek grew hot. The spot where Sabito hit me during training under our teacher. When I spat out that I should have died instead of Tsutako noona, Sabito hit my cheek and got angry with that same voice back then.
"Straighten your back. Look straight ahead. If you're a man. Are you going to spend the year I'm gone with your head bowed like that?"
Sabito's scolding, with the corners of his eyes raised, slapped my cheek fiercely with just that voice. That day, Sabito said to carry on the life Tsutako noona saved.
I'm a fool. To realize only after hearing such words again. Truly a fool.
Swallowing the tears welling in my eyes, I looked straight at Sabito. Seeing that, Sabito finally relaxed the corners of his eyes. His always sternly raised eyebrows only come down when he smiles. I really liked that mature smile.
"Someday, I'll definitely catch up. ...Don't make it easy to catch up, okay?"
"......Yes!"
Let's train even a little, just a little more for his share. Let's fight. Let's save.
As Sabito did for me, I want to carry on the same thing. For someone other than myself.
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