Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
---
Giyu sat on a chair to the side of the bed. His hakama was cut open, revealing the location of his injury.
Shinobu was re-bandaging his wound with great effort while smiling.
Squeeze...
Giyu grunted as Shinobu tightened the bandage strongly.
"Kocho."
Giyu's sharp gaze fell on Shinobu's arm as her sleeves revealed her forearm. She quickly covered it and hid her arm away from Giyu's gaze.
"What were you doing before I came?"
Perhaps it was his training in Transparent World, or perhaps it was because of his closure with his sensei.
He felt his senses had become sharper than before.
Shinobu stiffened hearing Giyu's question. "Does the person who made a mistake choose to scold others first?" She huffed, irritated.
Her eyes flickered as she looked at Giyu in the eyes. "Where were you last week, Tomioka-san, hmm?"
"This is the third time you've disobeyed the doctor's orders."
Without waiting for an answer.
She reached out and picked up the potion that had been prepared on the table with her hand. "Here, drink this."
Giyu's gaze shifted to the strange-looking liquid in Shinobu's hand.
The light green potion seemed to release steam, even without being heated or cooked. There was some bubbling too.
"Kocho."
"What's in this...?" Giyu asked tentatively.
Shinobu smiled brightly. "Don't ask so many questions now; drink it~." Her eyelashes curved as she forced the potion into Giyu's hand.
"..."
Gulp.
As soon as Giyu drank the potion, his body swayed and fell into the bed. Some snoring was heard as Giyu fell into a deep sleep.
Shinobu watched silently.
She rolled up her sleeve and looked at the needle marks on her arms. She had been injecting wisteria poison into her body.
In the beginning, she uses small doses. Experimenting and testing whether the wisteria poison could be absorbed by the human body.
Before meeting Doma, she would not die until her revenge was achieved.
Today is the first time she will be injecting the wisteria poison in a large quantity.
She has planned it.
If her calculation were correct, she would need to inject the wisteria poison continuously for 2-3 years until every inch of her body, including her organs, blood vessels, and even her eyes and brain, was contained with wisteria poison.
With this method, she planned to take down the demon who killed her sister by sacrificing her life to be eaten.
Shinobu looked at the drawer containing the syringe. Her palm clenched tightly until it turned white.
She reached out with trembling and opened the drawer and took out the syringe to continue her injection.
Bam!
Behind her, the sound of something falling was heard from Giyu's position.
She was startled again and quickly turned her head to look.
She saw that Giyu was still asleep while moving to his side and a wooden lunchbox on the floor.
The lid of the lunch box was knocked open from falling, revealing the food inside.
Ginger tsukudani simmered in soy sauce, carefully prepared on top of onigiri rice.
Shinobu blinked her eyes at the food. She stood up and walked to pick up the lunchbox from the ground.
She stared at the lunch in her hand, her eyes trembling slightly.
She picked up a piece wrapped in onigiri and put it in her mouth.
"...Nee-san."
Her voice was choked up from holding back tears, but fortunately, no one in the room heard her.
The kakushi of the Butterfly Mansion all knew that Shinobu's favorite side dish was ginger tsukudani.
But what they didn't know was that it was also her sister's favorite.
No, it was the whole family's favorite, their best dish.
...
Shinobu walked out of the room with a slightly huffed look.
If you can see her arms through her sleeves, there are no new needle marks on them.
Meanwhile, a kakushi who had been waiting for a long time near Shinobu's office carefully poked their heads out from the corner.
It was only after Shinobu walked far away down the corridor that they dared to turn their gaze to the office being left open.
The sleeping Giyu was tightly bound to the bed with several curtain cloths that made his skin pale, but the man seemed unaware and continued sleeping.
On her desk, there was a clean wooden lunch box.
...
...
Meantime,
"Ah, I see."
Kie's voice gradually softened as she sat down next to Tanjuro. She rested her face on his shoulder and listened to his explanation. She nodded in realization.
"It's related to demons."
The hairpin that was on the ground was already picked up by her hand. She had never seen a demon with her own eyes.
But during the time Kie was at the Butterfly Mansion, she also saw many people who had suffered heavy injuries being carried back one by one.
Especially after the final selection exam ended the day before.
'So many young children, and they already have to face things like this?'
She looked at her children, Hanako, Shigeru, and Rokuta, whose eyes were still full of innocence and curiosity.
But the injured children she has seen these past few days are all about the same age as Tanjiro and Takeo.
It's really... cruel and unfair.
Kie's eyes flickered.
"Yes, that's right." Tanjuro breathed a sigh of relief. After explaining, he turned his attention back to the letter in his hand.
Next time, when he wrote another letter, don't let the children see it.
He promised to himself.
"Hey! Hey!" Shigeru was still excited. He looked at his parents while pointing at the letter in Tanjuro's hand.
"Dad! Mom!"
"Can we go to that Yoshi-whatever in the red-light district?"
"It sounds like a really fun place!" He said in a pleading tone.
"We haven't been out for so long! Everyone is getting bored!"
As he spoke, he pointed to Takeo, who was standing to the side. "Takeo-nii also says that it would be great if he could go down the mountain to travel around."
Kie was shocked. Her sadness after remembering the reality of a demon slayer was forgotten by Shigeru's statement.
Kie raised her head and looked at Shigeru. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her tone of voice was heavier than usual.
"Shigeru."
"Eek!" Shigeru suddenly shrank back in fear. His animated movement stopped as he glanced at his mother and quickly ran away to hide behind Takeo in a flash.
"Why... are you hiding behind me!?" Takeo startled and whispered angrily to Shigeru. His face tightened as he was forced to stand between a formidable enemy and his foolish brother.
Shigeru didn't dare to talk and only peeked over Takeo's shoulder.
"Hahaha!" Hanako laughed at her two brothers.
Tanjuro also smiled and looked away.
His attention turned to look up, just outside the window. His family's chattering slowly faded into the background.
Flap!
Gonpachiro flew in from the window. His wings flapping in preparation to land on the desk Tanjuro was writing on.
"Caw!"
He glanced at Tanjuro and then at the scattered letter on the table. It seems like he would deliver something today, but before that...
"Tanjuro-san! Tanjuro-san!"
"The swordsmith has come to visit!"
"They are waiting in the courtyard right now!"
...
"Chief, you didn't have to come in person, you know."
"It's just delivery; I can do this thing for you."
Tecchin looked expressively at the village chief while wiping his forehead from sweat. He was feeling very anxious.
The swordsmith village chief is the backbone of the village. If something were to happens to him...
Although Tecchin claimed to be the next chief of the village, his skills in blacksmithing were far from enough to qualify him as the next leader.
The chief was sitting on a cushion under the eaves in the courtyard with his arms crossed, ignoring Tecchin's rambling.
"You're still young, Tecchin."
"The sword forged by their forger must be handed over to the swordsman by the creator himself. Have you forgotten that?"
Tecchin's brows furrowed as he heard the words flow from the chief's mouth.
His eyes looked at the chief in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe such a statement came out of this old senile.
"Chief..."
'If that is true...'
'Then, why is it that every swordsman always comes to the village to pick up their swords...'
Tecchin stood there silently and judgingly at his village chief, left to grumble to himself.
But there were no swords or boxes that held a sword by the village chief's side.
However, he did bring an object that looked like an arm sleeve.
Not long after.
Tanjuro came down to meet the chief; after he handed him the letter he wrote to Gonpachiro.
Even before he was there, he could hear Tecchin shouting his name. "Tanjuro-san!"
Tecchin waved his hand in the air; the Fire God mask on his face was askew.
"Over here!"
The three of them sat down under the eaves and looked at each other.
"Chief..." Tanjuro started. He took in the chief appearance. He detected some hesitation and asked tentatively. "Is my nichirin blade ready?"
The village chief turned his head slightly. He stretched his withered old hand full of calluses and gently scratched his mask on his face. "Ah, that's..."
His eyes behind his mask were staring blankly until some light returned as he remembered that request.
"Sorry." He sighed deeply.
"I want to create a nichirin blade like the one you carry, Kamado-san. But I..." The chief lowered his head.
"I have no idea how." He said honestly.
Tecchin listened from the side but didn't say anything.
The chief has always been like this.
If he didn't forge a sword that forced him to become a better blacksmith, he would never be satisfied. For this reason, he often forced himself to immerse himself in the forging process for several nights.
Just as Tanjuro nodded and was about to comfort the chief.
"BUT!" The chief suddenly raised his head. His previous shame and lethargy vanished. His tone was full of vigor and pride.
The chief brought out the item that looked like an arm guard from his side and placed it in the middle of the group.
"The other thing you asked for, I have forged it to perfection!" He said confidently.
"All of them are made of high-purity scarlet sand iron, including the iron rope used for hooking and pulling as well as throwing shuriken!"
"The axe, spear, and wakizashi will soon be delivered to you."
"I guarantee you, it will work exactly as the drawing suggests!"
"How is it?" He said so much in one breath and crossed his arms in front of him. He expected the man to gush with admiration for his genius and skills. He hummed as he blew air out of his mask.
Tanjuro's gaze turned to take in the Shinobi Prosthetic laid in front of him.
This was his other request. He provided the drawing to the chief in hope that the other party can create his most versatile weapon in his arsenal.
Of course, it was not a 100% replica of his original prosthetic.
After all, he still has both of his hands.
He is determined not to lose his left arm again.
With his understanding of the Shinobi Prosthetic, he modified the blueprints of an arm into an arm sleeve that only needs to be equipped to achieve the same effect.
It looks like the armguard from Assassin's Creed.
"It is exactly what I had in mind." Tanjuro nodded and thanked the chief, who was feeling pleased with himself. "Thank you."
He picked up the arm sleeve and put it on his left arm.
A touch of familiarity came with the equipped tools. Tanjuro lowered his gaze and looked at the small shuriken stuck in the groove of the mechanism.
His fingers pulled the triggers gently, releasing shuriken to his fingers, and then he threw them at the wooden wall on the other side of the courtyard.
Whoosh! x3
Thunk! x3
Three sharp shurikens immediately plunged themselves into the wall.
Its flight path startled Tengen, who was passing through the mansion.
Watching the shurikens fly past his face, a few strands of his hair fell from his head.
The apple he had bitten fell to the ground as he wasn't expecting an attack in this safe location.
He turned his head, and his eyes met those of Tanjuro, who was expressing apologetic energy on his face.
'As expected!' Tengen kept his eyes on Tanjuro's form, taking in his appearance. His gaze slowly drifted to the arm sleeve on his left hand.
'My sixth sense was right! This guy... is a ninja!'
After that, the chief pulled some more compliments from Tanjuro before leaving. But Tecchin insisted they have to stay the night since he was worried about the chief's safety.
Tecchin was afraid that if they left now, they would arrive at the village in the middle of the night and, worse, encounter a demon on the way back.
So, they stay the night and set off in the morning.
---
-Location: The new swordsmith village-
During the night of the same day.
The lights in the houses were being put out as people prepared to sleep.
A swordsman wearing a snake-patterned haori and wearing wooden clogs from the Warring States Period appeared at the end of the road.
"Really..."
Michikatsu was scanning the surroundings intently with his remaining two eyes.
"Too sloppy..."
His voice held a disbelief at the people of this village.
How could he not be flabbergasted?
He just followed the traces left behind by the moving villagers and easily came to this new location.
After parting with the Tokito family, he is still searching for the meaning of his existence.
Certainly, his decision to teach his descendants as his way to continue his 'existence' is the right one.
But...
His eyes suddenly shifted from his contemplating.
Whoosh!
A small cloud of dust rose from the spot as he turned into an afterimage.
He reappeared at a house that the resident knew as Tecchin's house.
Michikatsu landed in the yard of the resident with his back to the moon.
Because in front of him was a wooden box with a strange aura in it.
A familiar aura... that was constantly emitting from the inside as if it were attracting him with its presence.
He was about to draw his sword but hesitated.
After a moment, he decided to reach out and opened the box.
The moonlight shone into the opened crate, allowing Michikatsu to see the content clearly.
It was the Yoriichi Zeroshiki, who looks exactly like his brother, Tsugikuni Yoriichi!
Michikatsu widened his eyes as the doll reflected on his pupils. He unconsciously touched the doll's earrings with trembling hands.
"Yoriichi..."
"What is this...?" He muttered to himself.
"While I was turned into a demon..." Michikatsu's eyebrows twitched frustratingly.
"...How many traces have you left in this world!?"