Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
---
At the same time.
At the Butterfly Mansion.
"Cough!"
Inosuke lay unconscious in the courtyard. On top of his boar mask was a huge lump, and white foam was bubbling out of his mouth.
"I-Is he okay?!"
Tanjiro looked worried and quickly crouched down. After carefully checking Inosuke's pulse, he looked around helplessly.
"What should we do?"
He had only been passing by, but this guy, whom his father said was called Inosuke, kept pestering him.
He had even tried to attack him.
Left with no choice, Tanjiro had given Inosuke a headbutt.
"W-Wow…" Zenitsu crouched nearby and glanced at Tanjiro's completely uninjured forehead.
"Poor guy."
That wide forehead isn't just wide for nothing.
Zenitsu hugged his knees quietly, his gaze lingering on Tanjiro.
"I'm really sorry."
Looking at the unconscious Inosuke foaming at the mouth, Tanjiro sat beside him with his hands on his knees and spoke apologetically.
Under the eaves nearby.
Tanjuro withdrew his gaze and took out several paper dolls from his robe.
His fingers rubbed against them as he counted their number.
Rustle…
When he finished counting the final wrinkled paper doll, Tanjuro blinked.
One of them was missing.
---
Near Gyomei's residence.
"Meow?"
A white cat poked its head out from the doorway, curiously watching the direction its owner had run off toward.
It pulled its head back and slowly sat down, licking its pink paw.
When Chachamaru appeared suddenly in front of the white cat, his body shifting from transparent to solid.
He wore a small bag on his back, and a paper with drawn eyes hung around his neck.
The white cat froze mid-lick.
The two cats stared at each other.
!!
"MEEOW!!"
The white cat's fur exploded as it leaped backward in terror, growling.
But when it looked again, Chachamaru had already disappeared.
Meow! What the hell was that?!
After nervously glancing around, the white cat sprang onto the roof.
Leaving the now-invisible Chachamaru crouching where he stood.
Chachamaru quietly watched the white cat leave, then sniffed the ground in confusion.
He raised his golden eyes and looked across the street toward Senjuro.
Strange.
The small cat pondered.
It followed the scent.
But why... isn't it that human?
Tanjuro's figure surfaced in his mind.
After thinking for a moment, Chachamaru turned his head toward Gyomei's house.
A very fragrant smell seemed to be drifting out from inside.
The scent instantly filled his thoughts.
Chachamaru stood up, tiptoed forward, and waddled into the courtyard.
Inside his small bag, a pink liquid mixed with cherry blossom petals gently sloshed inside a test tube.
...
"There he is again!"
"Amazing… even though he can't see."
Neighbors poked their heads out of their homes to watch the commotion.
Seeing Gyomei nimbly leap and pivot over boxes by the roadside, they exchanged glances.
"…Is that guy really blind?"
"Namu Amida Butsu…"
Gyomei kept running, every step thudding against the street.
His massive body bulged beneath his monk's robes, an awe-inspiring sight.
The wide robes swayed slightly with each stride.
His ears twitched, sensing the flow of air brushing against his body as he judged everything around him.
Whoosh!
While running, he instinctively turned his head and noticed Sayo, whom he had just passed.
After sensing her clothing.
'A Kakushi?'
His pale eyes paused.
At that moment, Sayo was tugging on Senjuro while shouting tearfully.
Gyomei's transparent perception swept over the two of them, and his usually calm emotions stirred faintly.
His heartbeat began to quicken.
"Namu."
Feeling the disturbance in his heart, Gyomei frowned slightly and pressed his palms together, quietly chanting as he ran.
After learning the Transparent World, Gyomei had begun exchanging letters with Tanjuro.
Of course, the letters were read aloud by his Kasugai crow.
In the first letter Tanjuro sent, he wrote:
"Never allow your body temperature to reach 39°C while your heart rate exceeds 200 beats per minute."
"Such a condition will trigger a state known as the 'Mark.'"
"After opening the Transparent World, controlling every muscle in your body becomes easier, and those conditions can be created deliberately."
"But never do it."
"Remember this. Remember it well."
Yes.
The letter was a warning to never activate the Demon Slayer Mark.
Activating the mark dramatically boosted one's physical ability, but it came with a severe consequence.
Every marked swordsman dies before reaching age twenty-five.
Except for a few special cases.
And Gyomei had just turned twenty-five this year.
In the original timeline, Gyomei had not awakened the Transparent World this early.
Yet he still managed to awaken the mark on his own, even without external stimuli.
That was exactly Tanjuro's concern.
If Gyomei accidentally activated the mark under these circumstances,
He would die at dawn on the very night it appeared.
As a monk, Gyomei felt no curiosity about the "consequences" Tanjuro mentioned.
Nor had he ever experienced the ability to deliberately raise his body temperature to such extremes.
But when he sensed Sayo,
Himejima stopped and turned his head. The beads in his hand swayed slightly.
His pale eyes never left Sayo's figure.
Perhaps.
He now understood how the mark could awaken.
For a moment, he returned to his senses.
"Ugh—cough, cough!!"
The old woman leaned on her broom, drenched in sweat from exhaustion as she finally caught up behind him.
"No wonder people say you're pretending to be blind…"
Her voice muttered weakly.
"You're built like that, yet you're blind… what a cruel world."
After catching her breath, she straightened her wrinkled back and pointed at him angrily.
"Stop playing that stupid shakuhachi!"
"It sounds awful!"
After she scolded him, she held her breath and walked home.
"Even your cat sounds better than that!" She shouted over her shoulder.
"Ah… how heartbreaking…"
Gyomei lowered his head sadly, two silent tears sliding down his cheeks.
"Himejima-san!"
Senjuro waved as he jogged toward him, pulling Sayo along.
He was stopped in his tracks as he couldn't move her any farther.
"What's wrong?"
He turned back in confusion.
"Wait!"
Sayo's face tensed as she pulled her hand free from Senjuro's grip, her anxious eyes staring at Gyomei.
This man!
His imposing, muscular presence was completely different from the tall, thin, gentle teacher she remembered.
And.
Her eyes moved downward, catching a glimpse of the massive spiked flail beneath his robes.
'What is that?!'
'A flail?!'
Her legs trembled as she struggled to pull away from Senjuro like a cat refusing to go home.
When her panicked gaze caught sight of Himejima's eyes and forehead.
'Huh?'
The long scar and pale eyes instantly overlapped with the teacher's in her memory.
Though he had no sight, she still felt the compassion her teacher radiated through those eyes.
In that instant, countless thoughts raced through Sayo's mind.
She stopped resisting entirely and let Senjuro pull her forward.
Senjuro looked back worriedly.
The girl he was holding seemed completely frozen.
At that moment, without anyone noticing, a wrinkled paper doll slowly crawled out of his robe and floated into the air.
It drifted behind them and attached itself to Sayo.
The instant it touched her, Sayo blinked as if her mind suddenly snapped back.
And she was already standing directly in front of Gyomei.
"Excuse us, Himejima-san."
Senjuro stepped aside with a smile.
"This Kakushi member wanted to speak with you, so I brought her here."
"…Mm."
Gyomei nodded slowly and said nothing. He rolled the beads in his hand and lowered his head toward Sayo.
He "looked" at the flustered girl before him.
His emotions were complicated.
Some things he had already thought about the last time he met Kaigaku.
Why did Kaigaku join the Demon Slayer Corps?
Even though he had once made that deal with a demon.
Gyomei had been pondering that ever since.
Perhaps it was guilt.
Atonement.
Or self-preservation.
He didn't know.
But now, seeing the child he took in before him wearing a Kakushi uniform and nervously facing him, his emotions gradually calmed.
After the anger that had nearly consumed him before, his mind now felt crystal clear.
He had found the answer in his heart.
His gaze softened.
In front of him stood twelve-year-old Sayo, small in her black Kakushi uniform.
"Ah… um… yes…"
Her voice trembled as she stammered helplessly. Her eyes drifted toward Senjuro as if asking for help.
"Sen…"
'This is bad…'
'My voice… won't come out…'
Her eyes trembled as tears gathered.
She had waited so long for this chance.
Anxiety and nervousness filled her eyes with tears.
Just when she thought she had ruined everything.
"...You've done well."
A broad, warm hand gently rested on top of her head.
"…Huh?"
Sayo looked up, tears glistening in her eyes.
It was Gyomei.
His expression was gentle as his hand softly stroked her head.
"You're twelve now, aren't you?"
His pale eyes curved downward in a smile.
"Happy birthday, Sayo."
The children Gyomei had once taken in were all orphans.
None of them knew their birthdays.
So they had chosen a single day together. The day their "father," Gyomei, would decide.
And today... was Sayo's birthday.
The moment she heard "twelve years old" and her name, her trembling eyes finally overflowed.
'Sensei… he…'
Her nose burned, her eyes reddened, and she nodded desperately.
Guilt surged up like an unstoppable tide.
Tears streamed from her eyes.
Smack!
Biting her lip, she lowered her head and placed her hands on Gyomei's hand as she sobbed loudly.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Feeling the warmth in his palm, memories from when she was four flooded back vividly.
Large tears fell down her face.
"W-We…"
The paper doll on her back smoldered slightly along its edges.
In that instant—
Whoosh—
Seven faint figures gradually appeared around them.
Each had a different appearance and height.
They looked like children wearing worn clothing.
They glanced at one another and then gently placed their hands on the crying Sayo.
Sayo looked up through tear-blurred vision as sorrow poured out of her heart.
"We've always wanted to apologize for that day!"
"Sensei!"
"The boys weren't trying to run away…"
"Because you couldn't see, they wanted to protect you. There were farming tools outside, so they tried to get them as weapons…"
She clung to Gyomei's arm as guilt poured out.
"Everyone went to find help…"
"That's why we split up…"
'Why do I know all this…'
Through her blurred vision, she seemed to see everyone gathered around.
Wiping her tear-streaked face with her small hand, she sobbed.
"If…"
"If tomorrow had come like normal, we could have explained everything properly."
"Everyone loved you the most, Sensei!"
She took a breath, remembering everything she had ruined.
"I'm sorry! I was too stupid; I never managed to explain!"
"You saved me… the one who killed everyone was a demon…!"
"The one who was wrong… was me!"
After saying that, all the strength drained from her body.
She collapsed.
Gyomei crouched down slightly, letting her fall against him.
Her eyes were swollen and red as she buried her face in her arms, tears quickly soaking her black uniform.
Her voice murmured weakly.
"…Thank you..."
Hearing the words of gratitude that had come eight years too late.
He looked down at Sayo, who had cried herself to sleep against his knees.
Drip.
A tear slid down his face and fell onto her head.
His hand tightened around his prayer beads.
"No… I was the one… who failed to protect you all…"
He slowly bent forward and embraced the sleeping Sayo.
His usually steady voice loses its composure.
Around them, the seven small figures faintly appeared again, clinging to Gyomei.
They wept together.
Gyomei's brows lowered.
Indeed.
If tomorrow had arrived as usual,
He might truly have remained nothing more than an ordinary monk in a temple.
The children could have grown up safely.
Everything... would never have turned out like this.
The hand gripping the handle of his flail tightened, veins rising.
Gyomei lifted his head, his pale eyes heavy with righteous fury.
Everything was because of the existence of the Demon King, Muzan.