What was his food?
As a demon, how could he not know?
Especially now, when his body's instinctive craving for flesh constantly conveyed its needs to him—clearly and unmistakably telling him what his food was.
But as someone who had once been human, even though he had now become a demon, he still couldn't accept it.
So…
He had no way to answer Kanao Tsuyuri's question.
Thus, lying in the pitch-black pit beneath the wooden cover, he could only remain silent.
"Eat," he finally said after a long while.
Kanao was very sensitive to the atmosphere around her. She sensed that her question had made her uncle unhappy, so she didn't dare to ask further. Obediently, she began eating in small bites.
The food on the tray was plentiful. For Kanao, who once could only dream of having her fill, it was a supreme delicacy.
Yet now, it didn't taste quite as good.
Her body clearly still liked the food, but in her heart… she suddenly didn't.
The strange feeling puzzled her. She couldn't understand why she felt this way. She only thought that since Uncle never ate… he must be very hungry.
She finished all the food in small bites, even licking the tray clean. Then she set the empty tray aside and curled up in the corner beneath the bed. The room fell silent once more.
While the room was quiet, outside was lively. Curled beneath the bed, Kanao lifted her head slightly. She could hear children laughing, accompanied by chaotic footsteps—children nearby playing happily.
Her violet eyes blinked unconsciously, but she quickly lowered her head again, sitting quietly.
Soma lay silently in the dark pit as well, his fists slightly clenched. The demon's instinctive craving for flesh assaulted his heart once more. Especially with the faint scent of "food" occasionally drifting from nearby, the desire grew even stronger.
He silently gritted his teeth.
Silently endured.
Silently held fast to his own bottom line.
...
Time passed unnoticed. Before long, the sun set and darkness descended upon the land.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Soma felt his body become active and invigorated. This was the instinctive joy of a demon when sunlight vanished and night arrived.
He pushed aside the wooden board covering the pit and poked his head out. He saw Kanao sitting there, hugging her knees and curled up. At the sound of movement, she lifted her pretty pink-purple eyes to look at him—they sparkled brightly.
"You haven't been sitting under the bed this whole time, have you?" Soma muttered softly. Seeing her about to move closer, he gestured forward with his chin. "Crawl out first."
Her big eyes widened as she watched her uncle crawl out. Excited, she quickly followed, as if they were playing a game to see who could get out faster.
In a flash, she scrambled out from under the bed, then bent down outside, poking her head back under it. Her large eyes seemed to say: I'm faster than you.
She's just like any other kid, Soma thought to himself.
But then he paused slightly, suddenly realizing that Kanao wasn't very old at all—she really was just a child.
Perhaps because of her childhood experiences, the girl had always seemed a little dull and rarely spoke. In Soma's impression, Kanao Tsuyuri had always been somewhat wooden, lacking the lively energy typical of children her age.
So when she suddenly displayed such childlike behavior, it felt rather abrupt—almost out of character for her.
But in truth,
this was how Kanao was meant to be.
"You crawled out pretty fast."
Soma climbed out from under the bed and praised her with a smile.
Kanao looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. But having just crawled out from beneath the bed, her hair was messy and speckled with dust.
Soma reached out gently to brush the dust off her. Then he found a towel in the room, dipped it in water from a wooden basin, and returned to her side, carefully wiping her small face.
The warm towel glided across her cheeks. Watching her uncle's gentle expression, the girl's eyes widened.
"Close your eyes."
Soma lightly tapped Kanao's head. The towel was about to wipe across her eyes, yet she still didn't know to close them.
The girl obediently shut her eyes. She could clearly feel the towel passing over the corners—damp and warm.
After washing her face, Soma put the towel back into the basin. When he turned around, he noticed that Kanao was still keeping her eyes closed.
"Kanao, come here."
He beckoned to her.
Following the sound of his voice, Kanao trotted toward him—only to bump straight into his chest.
Caught off guard, Soma was momentarily surprised. Seeing that her eyes were still closed, he understood. "You can open your eyes now."
The girl immediately opened them.
Soma reached out and lightly pinched her small nose. "When I told you to close your eyes, I didn't mean you had to keep them closed the whole time. Once I finished washing your face, you could open them."
Kanao looked at him, her pretty pink-purple eyes blinking. She seemed to understand a little… yet perhaps not entirely.
Seeing her like this, Soma couldn't help but think of the Kanao from the anime.
In the future, after being saved by Kanae Kocho, because of her traumatic childhood, Kanao would often act like a wooden doll. If no one told her to eat, she wouldn't lift her chopsticks—even if her stomach growled with hunger. Without someone giving her instructions, she wouldn't make any decisions at all, not even something as simple as deciding to eat.
So Kanae had given her a coin, teaching her to toss it to make decisions for herself. Yet even then, there had been a time when the coin landed in such a way that Kanao held her breath while waiting for it to fall—nearly suffocating because she didn't know what to do.
"In the future, you need to learn to listen to the voice in your own heart, understand?"
He patted Kanao's head gently.
She blinked at him.
"I mean the voice inside you."
Soma lowered his voice and placed his hand lightly against her abdomen. "It's your own feelings—like when you feel hungry, you go eat. For example, just now when I wiped your face with the towel: when you felt it was about to touch your eyes, and you felt like you should close them, then you should close them. And when you feel it's time to open them, then open them. You don't need to wait for me to decide everything for you."