Only the moon was watching.
Only, the moon alone.
"Young Moon is working hard again today. Here, have a dumpling."
A certain night when both Yoriiichi-san and Michikatsu-san were away on missions. The one who approached me training in the garden was Enju, Rengoku-san.
With his red and yellow lion-like hair, he is a kind older brother who often gives me snacks. But Myouju said he's noisy with his booming shouts on the battlefield and very scary.
As I mumbled 'Rengoku-san's dumplings are tasty,' Rengoku-san suddenly brought up this topic.
"Young Moon, do you like Lord Michikatsu?"
Yes, I like him. He's cool. Because I can purely respect him as both a swordsman and a human. If I had a voice, I'd like to call him 'Master,' I like him that much.
"Then shall I tell you a little secret? You mustn't tell anyone?"
Rengoku-san, sitting on a rock in the garden, held out an extra dumpling as if it were a hush-money fee. I can't speak anyway. Should I call it a listening fee? Anyway, I nodded and took a bite of the dumpling.
"Lord Michikatsu, you see, dislikes himself."
Whoa, getting straight to the point from the start, Rengoku-san.
＊
Young Moon, I had my older brother killed by a demon.
Even though I wasn't in a position to inherit the family, I became a demon slayer for that revenge.
Out of hatred for the demon that killed my brother, I swing a blade that cuts demons. Most in this Demon Slayer Corps are likely the same.
Some, like you Young Moon, are taken in, but it's rare. Everyone comes here after losing something. They grasp their blades with prayers that no one living happily will shoulder the same sorrow as them.
But Lord Michikatsu is not like that.
He hasn't had a close person murdered to the point of ruining his body with hatred, and above all, he was a person with family and status.
Yet he abandoned those and became a demon slayer like us.
…Yes, he must have lost nothing. And yet, Lord Michikatsu always stands on the battlefield hating something. Always gripping his sword in anger at something. Anxiously driving himself on, devoting his body to harsh training enough to cough blood.
But what makes him that way is not hatred for demons. It was strange. Odd.
But I realized. I had to realize.
Young Moon, this is truly a secret?
When he gives off the scent of hatred, at the end of that gaze, there is always── Lord Yoriiichi.
Lord Michikatsu hates. But the target is not Lord Yoriiichi.
He hates himself for being unable to protect his younger brother.
As you know Young Moon, Lord Yoriiichi is a very strong person.
Our demon slayers' fighting strength has been hardened and trained even more thanks to his achievements.
A demon that had taken the heads of ten swordsmen at the cost of their lives is easily slaughtered by a single genius. An innate talent so great that even daring to admire him would be presumptuous. He is truly the child destined by God for demon slaying.
But, but you see. Even such a person is merely a single younger brother to Lord Michikatsu.
When he heard the news his younger brother had become a demon slayer, Lord Michikatsu's heart must have surely turned cold.
He must have lamented why his own younger brother had to be thrown into such danger.
──In the end, Lord Michikatsu undoubtedly became a demon slayer because of Lord Yoriiichi.
If my older brother were alive and saw me, who became a demon slayer, he would have scolded me to stop such dangerous work. He would have stopped me even by force.
But if I said I wouldn't stop slaying demons… wouldn't he have gripped a sword with me? To help his lacking younger brother.
That's what an older brother is.
An existence that cares for his younger sibling.
My older brother was like that.
Sacrificing himself, becoming the bait to save me.
A kind, strong, noble person.
Lord Michikatsu must be the same. Because he too is an older brother.
Lord Yoriiichi is strong. Strong enough to transcend human limits. One cannot even guess how to protect him. Rather, we are the ones who need protecting.
To protect such a person, Lord Michikatsu struggles. Solely because of that one fact—that he is the older brother. To protect his younger brother as an older brother, to remain by his side, he continues endless tempering even today.
But Lord Yoriiichi's sword has already reached a realm transcending humanity.
Trying to stand side by side with that, an ordinary person's spirit would break before their sword does.
…Ah, what humiliation enough to cough blood.
Not having the strength to protect what must be protected must be pain enough to twist one's guts.
Tonight too, Lord Michikatsu will surely look at Lord Yoriiichi with an air of hatred.
Because he must unbearably hate himself for letting the younger brother he must protect stand on the front lines.
──How strong, kind, and noble,
and also how suffering a person he is.
If he could change, surely
Lord Michikatsu, wishes to become Lord Yoriiichi.
＊
That was a misconception.
A great misunderstanding by Enju, who places absolute trust in the attribute of 'older brother'.
Enju couldn't even imagine there might be an older brother who hates his younger sibling.
Enju doesn't know the fact that there are older brothers in the world who hold negative feelings toward their younger siblings.
But the truth lies only within Michikatsu
and the one who knows that truth is not here.
Therefore, the acceleration of misunderstanding does not stop.
It was a preposterous tragedy.
＊
"He looks only at Lord Yoriiichi, and does not look back at himself. He is excessively strict with himself, not even allowing room to acknowledge himself. He always drives himself into a corner. Even though he is already sufficiently splendid. And yet, in pursuing Lord Yoriiichi, he even shows signs of shame, considering the Moon Breathing he himself created as failing to reach Sun Breathing."
Listening to Rengoku-san's story, I was in no mood to take a second bite of the dumpling.
"Surely, no matter what we say, it won't reach his heart. To us, even Lord Michikatsu is a distant existence, let alone Lord Yoriiichi."
Especially someone like me without a mark, Rengoku-san said, pointing to his own face.
On his moderately sun-tanned skin, no mark had manifested like other swordsmen.
"Truly! While it is the sun that kills demons, what we are grateful for is the moon."
Rengoku-san looked up at the sky. He narrowed his eyes and gazed at the full moon illuminating the night.
That gaze suddenly turns softly toward me.
"Lord Michikatsu seems happier since Young Moon came than before. If it is your heart, using the same Breathing, it might reach him someday. Please teach him that the moon never lags behind the sun──and that it too is a beautiful existence."
Saying that, Rengoku-san said 'Do your best!' and patted my head before leaving. Left alone, I just stood there dumbfounded for a while, clutching the dumpling I'd taken a bite of. The wind blowing with a high sound was the wind through the gaps in my heart.
Li-like, I'm not at all jealous of Yoriiichi-san or anything, or so envious of Yoriiichi-san who Michikatsu-san thinks of that much that I feel like I'll burst with jealousy, I'm not thinking that even this much!!!!
＊
That night, Young Moon came for vocal training on his own.
He went to Yoriiichi's room late at night and literally slapped the sleeping room owner awake. Yoriiichi, waking from sleep with supernatural speed, said this was rare and sat on the veranda holding Young Moon.
Basically a good person, Yoriiichi almost never refuses when asked something by others. Even the forced sparring that is an initiation rite for new members—there was a part of him doing it because those around requested it, though he'd rather not if possible. He was that nice a person.
That night, Young Moon was filled with unprecedented motivation. He faithfully followed Yoriiichi's teachings and repeated them again and again. This seriousness, even using his breath with a *hoooo…* to train.
Not only that, Young Moon, if he felt sleepy before Yoriiichi noticed, immediately slapped his own cheeks to shake off the drowsiness. Just what was driving the boy to such extremes?
The special training continued until the sky grew faintly bright. Just as Yoriiichi was about to stand from the veranda to return this child with sensitive skin to his room before sunrise.
"Ah"
A single syllable. A faint sound that leaked out like a breath.
Not Yoriiichi's. This was a softness unique to a child.
It was Young Moon's voice.
Even Yoriiichi, who had thought he would be able to speak someday since there was nothing wrong with his body, was surprised as if thinking 'could it be' and forgot to even usher him into the room. He thought he would speak someday, but hadn't expected it to be today.
Leaving such a Yoriiichi behind, Young Moon made sounds that weren't yet words, as if checking the tone of his voice.
After repeating that several times, like a cat disliking being held, he scrambled out of Yoriiichi's arms and hopped down to the garden like a rabbit.
The look Young Moon gave Yoriiichi was sullen. And then, he extended his fingers toward Yoriiichi—fingers that were calloused and thick from gripping a sword, contrary to his young age.
"Dum~my."
"…Are you fine with your first words being that?"
"Shut up! I thought so too."
The first words uttered by the immature voice, unaccustomed to rolling the tongue, were profanity. That extremely simple, easy-to-understand childishness was accepted by Yoriiichi without particular anger. Surely he didn't make an effort just to insult me. Nah, surely not. (※That was exactly it.)
Young Moon jumped back onto the veranda and said "Well then, bye!" waving his hand as he plodded away. His destination was undoubtedly Michikatsu's room.
But, just as his retreating back was about to fade from view, as if remembering something, he let out a groan and turned back before the corner.
"Yoriiichi-san."
The childish voice called out like that. Instead of asking what, he tilted his head, and the boy waved his arm grandly from the forearm.
"Thank you~"
As if responding, when he waved his hand lightly, this time the boy's figure truly disappeared beyond the corner.
・
・
・
The masters, who doted on the youngest in various ways, were truly delighted by the fact Young Moon had spoken.
Michikatsu, whose sleeve was grabbed with a "Master," softened his wide eyes and smiled faintly as if savoring it, and next, Enju, who was called "Rengoku-san," lifted Young Moon with shouts of 'Wasshoi! Wasshoi!'. It was a bit of a festive atmosphere.
No one knew Young Moon's first words were profanity. They didn't even know the first name he called was "Yoriiichi-san." In this world, there are things better left unknown.
While everyone simply and purely rejoiced that the boy who couldn't speak could now talk, the one who rejoiced in a different direction, saying "Now we can finally communicate!" was Myouju.
"Because this guy was expressionless and I couldn't tell at all what he was thinking."
"Huh."
At those words that came out so nonchalantly, Young Moon's movements—scratching his head in embarrassment from being fawned over by adults—stopped. Beckoning Myouju's gaze with gestures, Young Moon pointed at his own face with his index finger.
"This, what, expression?"
"The face of someone who lost their entire fortune gambling."
"It's a smiling face, dummy."
"Young Moon, don't use harsh words."
"I'm sorry, Master."
"Apologize to Myouju."
"Sorry~"
"Becoming able to speak has made you even more cheeky~~~?!"
Grumbling, Myouju's face was half-smiling. He was happy he could talk with Young Moon, for all that. Watching that out of the corner of his eye, Enju quietly called to Michikatsu.
"Now that things have come to this, how about praising his efforts and giving him a reward or something."
Before Michikatsu could affirm this, Enju smiled at Young Moon.
"Young Moon, is there anything you want?"
At this question, the boy blinked his eyes. A moment of pondering.
Soon, as if a good idea came to him, the boy who raised his voice looked at Yoriiichi, and then looked up at Michikatsu, saying with a bright voice unbecoming of his expressionless face.
"Bamboo, flute!"
At that moment, Yoriiichi, who holds the title of the Demon Slayer Corps' strongest, had his knees give way for the first time in his life and collapsed. He despaired, realizing he had aided the enemy. Those around were startled.
And a few days later.
Young Moon was given his first mission.