Horitake's proposition resonated like a clarion call, a sudden peal of thunder that left Shinobu and the young girls at the table in a state of profound shock.
For centuries, the Demon Slayer Corps had hunted man-eating demons. Yet, almost no one had ever truly paused to bridge the gap between the monsters they bled for and the demons of ancient folklore. Now that Horitake had drawn the line connecting them, the similarities were impossible to ignore. It begged the question: did the legends stem from the reality of man-eaters, or had the nature of the demons somehow been shaped by the weight of human belief?
As Shinobu followed this train of thought, her mind began to race. A sense of unease crept over her—a feeling that perhaps, beneath the surface of their struggle, a hidden thread of fate was pulling the strings of destiny.
Horitake, sensing her spiraling thoughts, cut through the silence to ground her with his conclusion.
"That's why I believe the beans we eat every day must harbor some latent power to suppress demons. As for how to draw that power out? I don't know yet. But if we can isolate the core components of these beans and fuse them with our poison, we might just trigger a reaction more miraculous than anything we've imagined."
Shinobu blinked, pulled back to the present by his voice. She considered his words, and against all her scientific instincts, they made sense.
It's strange, she thought. This is entirely unscientific... so why does it feel so right?
Watching Shinobu sink into contemplation, Horitake felt a stir of complicated emotions. There was another thought at the back of his mind—one he couldn't easily voice.
What is Nezuko's name, really?
Nezuko.
The significance didn't lie in the name as a whole, but in the specific kanji used to write it. Her name contained the character for "Bean" (豆). In Japanese folklore, beans were the bane of demons; they were the tools used to drive evil away.
In the original story he remembered, Nezuko was the ultimate anomaly among demons. The medicine developed from her very blood was what eventually allowed a demon to turn back into a human. It was clear that the "author" of this world had hidden a hint in her very name: Nezuko was the "Bean Child," the natural enemy of her own kind.
If Nezuko is the bane of demons, Horitake mused, then could actual beans truly hold the key to their destruction?
It was a bold, perhaps even reckless, hypothesis. But on the other side of the table, Shinobu was reaching the same tipping point. The more she thought about it, the more plausible it became. In a world where monsters roamed the night, sometimes the most "metaphysical" explanations were the most logical ones.
Suddenly, Shinobu made her move. She set her chopsticks down, her dinner half-finished, and stood up abruptly. She looked at Aoi with a piercing, serious gaze.
"Aoi, are there any beans left in the kitchen?"
Aoi, still reeling from the surreal turn the conversation had taken, could only nod dumbly. "Yes... yes, we have plenty."
Without another word, Shinobu abandoned her dinner and dashed toward the kitchen like a woman possessed. There was no doubt about her goal: she was going to gather every bean in the house to begin her experiments.
The five younger sisters watched her disappear, their faces etched with worry. Sumi was the first to speak up.
"Horitake-sama... will Shinobu-sama be alright?"
Horitake smiled reassuringly. "She'll be fine. Your Shinobu-nee just found a massive blind spot. This is a good thing."
Kiyo asked in her soft, sweet voice, "Horitake-sama, can beans really kill demons?"
Horitake shook his head. "It's not quite that simple. If we could just toss a handful of beans at a demon to kill it or drive it away, this war would have ended a thousand years ago."
Naho clenched her small fists, her brow furrowed. "Then, will the beans really help with your research?"
"I have a strong feeling they will," Horitake said, his eyes bright with newfound hope. "I have a hunch that the breakthrough we've been looking for is hidden inside those little legumes. It's actually quite ironic, isn't it? Shinobu and I have been rotting away in that lab for days, frustrated to the point of madness, and the answer was sitting in the kitchen the whole time. Life is funny that way."
With a chuckle, Horitake began scarfing down his food. He finished his meal in record time and stood up.
"I'm finished. I'm heading back to the lab to pull an overtime shift. Hopefully, Shinobu and I can hammer out this new poison tonight. Aoi, please save some dinner for Shinobu. If she gets hungry later, I'll heat it up for her."
Aoi nodded vigorously, and with that, Horitake hurried to the research room.
When he arrived, Shinobu had already donned her white lab coat. Her eyes were alight with scientific fervor as she began a fresh round of tests. Beside her workstation sat a bulging sack of beans.
Horitake couldn't help but tease her as he saw the sheer volume. "Shinobu-nee, it's just an experiment. Did you really need to bring the whole pantry?"
Shinobu didn't even look up from her microscope. "Better to have too many than too few. We might need every single one if we're going to finish this. We need to push ourselves, Horitake. We have to complete this new poison as soon as possible!"
Horitake began putting on his own lab coat, his expression turning serious. "You're right. We don't have much time left—barely half a month. By next month, we have to pause the poison research to fulfill our quota for the Vitality Serum. We need to finish that batch for the Corps before we can even think about returning to this."
"Exactly. So stop talking and start working!"
And so, the two of them dived back into their work, burning the midnight oil. They labored through the night, the lamps flickering as the hours bled into dawn. Neither of them slept a wink. Shinobu never even touched the dinner Aoi had set aside for her.
Though they were exhausted, the results were exhilarating.
While they hadn't reached the finish line yet, the path forward had finally emerged from the fog. It no longer felt like they were banging their heads against a dead-end wall. It was as if a crack had finally appeared in that wall, and through that crack, a brilliant light was shining.
All they had to do was strike one more time, shatter the barrier, and the road to success would lie wide open.
Despite their fatigue, their spirits were soaring. After a brief few hours of rest, they threw themselves back into the fray.
As their investigation deepened, the progress became smoother and swifter. It turned out that the common bean contained a specific set of compounds that acted as a catalyst for the poison. It didn't just supplement the Wisteria toxin; it stimulated it, causing it to evolve.
The resulting poison was deadlier, more volatile, and far more potent than anything they had ever created before. The "Legend" was finally becoming a terrifying "Reality."
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