"Haaa…"
On the way back to the Moon Hashira estate after a two-hour Hashira meeting, I let out a deep sigh.
It was half a sigh of relief that everyone had forgiven me for failing to defeat Upper Rank 6, and half a sigh of dejection over my own incompetence in letting him escape.
"Still dragging on about the 6? That was already a month ago. Forget about it now."
"Don't suddenly appear behind people."
Despite my complaint, Uzui just shrugged his shoulders without a single word of apology. Don't approach without a sound. What kind of assassin family are you from?
Ah, right. This guy was from a ninja clan.
"Don't be so cold. We're comrades, aren't we? Let's get along."
Saying that, Uzui casually slung his arm over my shoulder.
That's right. This guy, from this meeting onward, has become a Hashira like me. Already, the height difference is big, so leaning against him is heavy, and his arms are bulging with muscles, making it hard to breathe.
He's only two years older than me, so how does one get muscles like that?
"Uzui, what do you usually eat? What do you eat to get those muscles?"
"The meals my wives prepare."
"Eh, you're married…? You're sixteen and already married?!"
"In our clan, we get wives when we turn fifteen."
"If you have time to worry about me, hurry back. Your wife must be lonely if she's home alone."
"No, I have three wives, so she won't be lonely."
"……Three?"
"Yeah, three."
"……Wives?"
"Yeah, wives."
"……One each in Idolmaster, Kantai Collection, and Touhou?"
"What?"
Upon closer listening, it was three-dimensional. Uzui had three wives existing simultaneously in three dimensions. I don't even have one in two dimensions!
Why does this guy have three times as many wives as other people? He's not an Arab oil tycoon, so is polygamy allowed? This is just weird no matter how you look at it!
"Please, Uzui, disappear from my sight right now. Before the demon named jealousy dwelling within me goes on a rampage……!"
"What, I really want to see that. Great. Let's start flashily, wife bragging!"
"Uooooh, stop it!! Ugh, how can I stand being next to a guy like this! I'm going back to my estate!!"
"Hey hey, don't run away. I haven't even started the story yet!"
"Damn it! Uzui doesn't understand people's feelings!!"
"Do you think you can escape from this Sound Hashira, Moon Hashira? I'll grab you so you can't move and brag about my wives right in your ear! Hahahahaha!!"
As he said, escaping from Uzui, a Sound Breathing user derived from Thunder, is nearly impossible.
Wife bragging is terrible, but being grabbed by a burly man and unable to move while hearing whispers right in my ear is even worse! It gives me the creeps and chips away at my SAN!
If this were Rei's era, I would have sued for sexual harassment right away!!
Angry at Uzui, who seemed to enjoy this game of tag, following from behind at a distance not too close nor too far, I racked my brain for a way to get back at him. Then it hit me.
Right, let's go to the Millennium Bamboo Forest.
＊
"………Hey, I'm back."
"Ah, Lord Tengen! Welcome ba…… Gyaaaah?!"
"Shut up, Suma! Why are you screaming like…… Uwaaaah?!"
"What's going on with both of you…… Lord Tengen?! What happened to you like that?!"
"Really, you're covered all over in bamboo leaves! At first, I thought you were a bamboo leaf monster imitating Lord Tengen, but it was really you, so I was shocked!"
"I agree without a single word off, but don't just chatter, go heat up the bathwater! And clothes to change into, quickly!"
"Are you hurt anywhere?! I heard you went to a Hashira meeting, did you encounter a demon on the way back……?"
"…Well, in a sense, it was a demon. It's nothing. Sorry for making you worry."
Calming his three wives who were causing a commotion over their husband's return covered in green bamboo leaves, Uzui Tengen soaked in the prepared bathtub. Then, looking up at the sky, he groaned.
"That guy being the Moon Hashira is a flashy lie. Isn't he the Bamboo Hashira…… What is that, Bamboo Leaf Breathing?"
The terrifying aspect of the Moon Hashira backed by the bamboo forest was clearly witnessed in the beast demon mission, but experiencing the power firsthand was on a different level.
Who would have imagined that he, a Sound Breathing user and ninja confident in his speed, would be knocked down several times without even being able to touch a finger.
After getting out of the bath, he was interrogated by his wives.
Upon hearing that the culprit who made their husband covered in bamboo leaves was the Moon Hashira, the three wives bristled with anger, but upon learning the cause was their husband's unnecessary teasing and picking fights, they immediately changed their attitude.
Moreover, upon learning that the Moon Hashira was two years younger than their husband, they frowned even more.
"Lord Tengen, chasing after a child who's younger……"
"No matter what, there are things you can and can't do……"
"It's too childish. I feel sorry for that child!"
"……Right."
Although they usually follow Tengen, unlike their husband, they have common sense, so they speak quite directly when they have something to say.
Tengen, who embodies self-centeredness and lives as he pleases, surprisingly bowed his head obediently to his wives' words.
Perhaps out of rebellion against his father, who disregarded them saying 'wives are tools for bearing children and existences to die in place of their husband,' Tengen respected his three wives equally.
"I'll prepare an apology gift, so why don't you go apologize tomorrow or so?"
Hinatsuru's suggestion sounded gentle, but there was an irresistible force. Makio and Suma also nodded firmly. Tengen didn't dislike that firmness.
Hinatsuru, Makio, and Suma were just worried about their husband. They were concerned that giving a bad impression to the Moon Hashira, who is friendly with other Hashira, might isolate their husband among his comrades.
To repay his wives' hearts, Tengen nodded. Honestly, he was also reflecting on whether he had teased too much.
・
・
・
"Two years younger…… He must have thought of his younger sibling."
Looking at her husband's back as he headed to his bedroom with extremely tired steps, Hinatsuru smiled bitterly. At those words, Suma and Makio also bowed their heads. It was a silent agreement.
Her husband, Uzui Tengen, had a personality hard to believe for a ninja.
He likes flashy things, is bright and noisy, and kinder than anyone. At first, they were taken aback by such a husband, unlike a ninja.
The moment that feeling began to change to affection was when he acknowledged their worth as living beings, saying, "You are the most precious."
He treated them, who were mere disposable pawns as kunoichi, existences to be cut off first if something happened, as if they were truly wives with whom his heart connected. When leaving the ninja village, he took all three with him, even though he knew escape would be much harder.
The women who came together merely by the clan head's order, without love or affection, for the single reason that "you are my wives."
"……Lord Tengen had a very tired face, but he looked a bit happy."
"Like a child who played excitedly until sunset."
Suma and Makio said that, looking at each other and smiling.
Her husband had nine siblings.
But by the time her husband turned fifteen, the only ones who survived were him and his younger sibling two years younger.
Although her husband seemed to dislike that inorganic younger sibling who acted as a perfect ninja, it seemed he still had some concern as they were blood relatives.
Her husband is originally a kind person. They might have even imagined what if he had been born into an ordinary family.
"What does the Moon Hashira like? I heard he often drinks tea with the Lord Kagaya."
"With the ingredients we have at home, we can make red bean mochi, glutinous rice mochi, and… ah, dorayaki would be good too."
"Since he doesn't have a tsuguko and lives alone in the estate, let's also prepare some meals for him!"
Please, may the Moon Hashira get along well with her husband.
Carrying that wish, the three women moved their steps to the kitchen.
＊
Last night, there was no mission, so I could rest deeply for the first time in a while. As of now, no new missions have come in either.
While casually thinking about what to do today while polishing my Nichirin Blade, there was a knocking sound at the front door. Wondering who it could be from this early morning.
"Hey, it's the arrival of Lord Uzui Tengen. Open the door immediately. If you don't open it, I'll flashily blow up the entrance."
Even a yakuza would be better than this. Is this a terrorist's self-introduction?
"Not here. Moon Hashira Tsuyuri Kōgetsu is not here. Please go away."
"You're flashily at home!!"
You're telling me to get lost in a roundabout way, you brat.
Uzui guy, what did you come for? Did you come all the way to do the wife bragging you couldn't do yesterday……? Even if you're free, there's a limit?
Uzui rattling the locked front door is terrifying. How much does he want to brag about his wives? Is he planning to tear my mental state to shreds with wife terrorism, not food terrorism?
"If you blow up the entrance, I'll tell Lord Kagaya."
"That's cheating!"
"There are no rules for an explosion terrorist to argue about. Go away."
"Enough, open up. At least hear me out."
"Then let's go to the bamboo forest. I might think about listening to you there, or so I don't think."
"You're planning to knock me out flat!"
Continuing that tug-of-war, I was stubbornly waiting for Uzui to give up but──
"If you don't open this door right now, I'll flashily infiltrate from the roof! I'll make my own secret passage and come and go as I please! Don't look down on ninjas!"
…In the end, he exploded like that, so I had no choice but to open the front door.
Uzui, who wasn't in his uniform, perhaps off-duty, was wearing a splendid kimono with a simple haori. He's handsome. Annoyingly handsome.
Raising his hand lightly with a "Yo—" to greet, in his other hand, he held a lunchbox wrapped in a cloth.
"Here."
Uzui held out the cloth and said.
"Eh, what's this?"
"……An apology gift. Yesterday… well, I went a bit too far too."
"Uzui, that's commendable, but what happened? Is it a new type of trap? Will it explode if I open it?"
"No way. What's inside are sweets and meals my wives made themselves."
"Ooh, a high-level indirect wife brag? Fine, then let's go to the bamboo forest."
"It's not bragging! My wives told me to go apologize to you, so I came!!"
"Ah, really?"
Uzui, who is arrogant to others, seems weak to his wives. What, he has an unexpectedly cute side. Though there's no cuteness or anything in a muscular, burly sixteen-year-old.
If we keep talking at the entrance, it'll be a nuisance to the neighbors, so I let Uzui in and guided him to the guest room.
As a return for the gift his wives made themselves, I should at least serve a cup of tea. What sweets to serve—there's yōkan and senbei, but I want to eat the yōkan myself, so I'll give senbei to Uzui.
"Here, tea. And senbei."
"Thanks."
Uzui, holding the teacup, suddenly stopped his movement right before bringing it to his mouth. Wondering if there was something wrong with the tea, he sniffed the aroma with a puzzled expression. How rude.
"…I didn't put poison in it, you know?"
"Sorry. It's a habit. There's an unfamiliar scent… is it medicinal tea?"
"Yeah, my special blend tea."
What I served Uzui was Shabana tea.
"Hmm, despite the aroma, it's tasty."
"Unnecessary comment."
"Yeah yeah, my bad."
With an attitude that doesn't think he's done wrong at all, Uzui stuck out his tongue. Is this guy here to apologize? Or did he come to make me angrier on purpose?
While contemplating whether to kick him out right now, Uzui looked around, glancing about.
"……No presence of other people. Do you live alone?"
"Well, yeah. But someone often comes to visit, so it's not that lonely. Takechiyo, that is, the crow is also here."
"It must be hard to manage the estate. Don't you hire someone to help with lodging and meals?"
"Hmm, I don't plan to."
"I see. It would cause a fuss if your disguise got exposed for no reason."
"Right, if we accidentally meet in the bath, it would be trouble, so……"
Crunch. Only the crisp sound of Uzui biting the senbei echoed refreshingly. Swallowing the senbei he was chewing crunchily, Uzui spoke with a nonchalant face.
"As a ninja, I'm sensitive to such incongruities. The hair is dye, right? And you put something in your eyes too? The color is subtly different."
To Uzui, who spoke lightly as if making small talk, I didn't know how to make an excuse.
I never imagined that the appearance I thought I hid skillfully would be exposed so easily.
Why did Uzui bring this up? Is it blackmail? Is he planning to use this as leverage to pluck bamboo shoots from the Millennium Bamboo Forest? What do I do, those already went into my stomach last night.
"Hey, don't turn so pale. This makes it seem like I'm bullying you. I'm not going to do anything."
But contrary to my expectation, Uzui looked more flustered than me, whose disguise was exposed. There was no sense of threat like blackmail or anything ominous.
Rather, it's like an older brother who accidentally made his younger sibling cry without meaning to and is at a loss what to do.
"No, but if your disguise suddenly gets exposed, who wouldn't be surprised?"
"Ah~… Sorry. It was meant as plain small talk."
"Don't point out people's secrets as small talk."
"Among ninjas, this is small talk. You guys talk about 'did you get a haircut?' too, it's the same, you know."
"Don't put haircuts and disguises on the same level."
That's as different a problem as a magical girl's transformation and a high school debut. They're not similar at all. Completely different.
Looking at me, itching to fire back a retort, Uzui grinned and leaned in.
"So, what do you really look like?"
"The duty to tell you has gone missing."
"That much is fine, isn't it? I won't tell anyone, okay?"
Uzui, resting his elbows on the table and winking, looked like a still from an otome game with sparkle effects, but.
"Sorry, but I'm a guy. Even if a handsome man comes on to me, I don't get flustered at all."
"Is that so? Fine, then I have no choice."
"…Huh?"
The next moment, Uzui, who had climbed onto the table, grabbed my collar and, without giving me a chance to resist, applied a flashy headlock.
With exquisite control of force that barely didn't choke my neck but made it impossible to escape, my head was fixed, and Uzui showed me a flashy smile.
"I'll brag about my wives a whole lot until you lower your tail. Right in your ear, with a very nice voice, plenty of it."
"Ah, wait, I don't want that! Stop, don't breathe in my ear! Ah, ah, aaaah!!"
"Hoh, white hair and red eyes. Certainly worth hiding."
"Satisfied… then please just go away……"
"The eye color is a bit brighter than mine."
"Don't come again… my mental state is in pieces……"
"The hair is completely white too, but somehow……"
"Huh?"
"It's plainer than I thought. I'm more flashy!"
"Shall I make you a body that never leaves the bamboo forest, you bastardtttt!!!"
＊
20 monkey demons, 5 bear demons, 3 horse demons, 1 bird demon.
Kibutsuji Muzan did not hide his disappointment toward Upper Rank 6 Sairo, who lost all the beast demons he had carefully made and trained in one night.
Even considering that the opponents were the combination of the bamboo forest and his friend, the guy's foolishness was beyond measure.
If he had retreated when the monkey demons were defeated, the damage would have been limited to that extent, but Kibutsuji Muzan was fed up with the disgrace of Upper Rank 6, who, obsessed with eating the white-haired red-eyed one, failed to properly grasp the situation.
Originally, Sairo's combat ability itself isn't very high. A demon who creates and trains beast demons to lead a pack and only then exerts power. If he loses the beast demons to rely on, he might be weaker than Lower Rank 1.
If he shows more disgrace, I should consider stripping him of the 6 position── Kibutsuji Muzan was coldly judging so, but,
"If it were my disciple in his prime… if only the mark had appeared… if he hadn't left the bamboo forest… beheading a 6 would have been easy… tsk!"
To the disgrace of Upper Rank 1, who seemed extremely frustrated and slammed the tatami, Kibutsuji Muzan thought this wasn't the time for that.
"Which side are you on, Kokushibo!!"
Kibutsuji Muzan gave up thinking and fired a retort, but Kokushibo wasn't even listening.
Ever since hearing that his disciple had failed to finish off Sairo by a hair's breadth, this man has been in this state. He seemed to want to shout 'Actually, he can do better!' and was grinding his teeth.
He's done for, this guy. He's only seeing from a teacher's perspective and forgetting his own position.
"But Moon Dragon Halo… a technique hard to handle with a human body… and to unfold it in mid-air…… to reach that level at fourteen years old… how much blood and effort did he accumulate, Kōgetsu……!"
Kokushibo, trembling with desire to praise his disciple too much, was now left to his own devices. Do as you please, you overindulgent bastard.
──Kibutsuji Muzan did not give the order to turn his friend into a demon to Sairo, who encountered his friend.
Partly because he was confident that his friend wouldn't lose to someone like Sairo, but there was a more important reason.
It's not time yet.
Turning his friend into a demon is after completely annihilating the Demon Slayer Corps.
And to annihilate the Demon Slayer Corps, stronger demons are needed. Preferably ones who obey orders well and can be trusted, like Akaza or Kokushibo.
'Those who have learned martial arts since before becoming demons, like Kokushibo or Akaza, have a foundation to become strong. Shall I aim to turn such individuals into demons? Others who are deeply loyal and unlikely to betray their master……'
Living for a long time, numerous pieces of information naturally gather. From masters of the front world to residents of the back world.
Kibutsuji Muzan narrowed his eyes, twisted the corner of his mouth, and smiled.
'Hmm, it's not that there's no place to grasp.'
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register