"I'm sorry.... Please take care of this child!"
"Hey! Who are you? Don't just go causing trouble for people!"
"Please, I beg you... His name is Taka.... I'm begging you!"
'What voice... a woman? Where am I?'
In the haze, Taka felt his consciousness was like a lump of paste, soaking in a darkness where he couldn't stretch his limbs, completely unable to see anything clearly.
He could only vaguely make out the figure of a woman with jet-black hair, desperately pushing him into the arms of an old woman before running off like crazy into the distance.
"I'm sorry... Taka.... I'm sorry!!"
After she ran off, a group of swordsmen wearing black kimonos began searching house to house for something. Finally, at the order of the leader, they gave chase in the direction the woman had fled.
As these swordsmen faded into the distance, Taka's consciousness slowly grew hazy, sinking deeper and deeper until it plunged into the depths of darkness.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Maybe an instant, maybe an endless eternity.
Suddenly, Taka only felt a piercing pain, and ferocious, terrifying images of slaughter flashed frantically before his eyes before shattering. Then, he abruptly opened his eyes wide.
"Old man!"
He shot up with a start, his entire body aching as if falling apart.
Taka breathed heavily, looking around in alarm and uncertainty.
This was a modest Japanese-style room, simply and quaintly furnished. Beneath him was tatami matting covered with a soft cotton mattress, and he was wrapped in a thick, warm, soft comforter that still carried the fragrant scent of having been aired in the sun.
The air was filled with a bitter, medicinal scent, like that of wintergreen herbs on a medicine shelf, probably coming from the small cabinet in the corner.
On top of it sat a cup of unfinished, dark-coloured medicinal brew.
'Where is this...' Taka felt a bit panicked. He instinctively reached for his long sword, only to find his side empty.
He looked around uneasily and finally spotted his battered blade leaning alone and deserted against the wall in the corner behind him.
Taka struggled to get up, wanting to gather the long sword into his arms, but the excruciating pain and tearing sensation throughout his body made his brows twitch. Fine beads of cold sweat oozed from his forehead, and the strength he had just mustered dissipated instantly.
He slumped to the floor, bracing his body, crawling bit by bit towards the long sword.
The most important lesson the Rukongai had taught him was: Don't easily trust kindness that comes without reason.
It was because he had believed the nonsense of those men in black, for the sake of a few meals and drinks, that he had been tortured so cruelly by that man, eventually ending up in this godforsaken place...
If he hadn't been too weak to resist back then, he wouldn't have let that old man save him, even if the other party truly meant well.
In this world, people eat people. If you don't want to be eaten, you have to grow thorns all over.
Click!
But before he could crawl to the side of the long sword, the door to the room was pushed open.
"Oh my, what are you doing?"
"We heard a commotion and thought something was wrong. You mustn't move recklessly! Your injuries are severe!"
A boy wearing a light green kendo uniform, looking one or two years older than him, exclaimed in surprise.
Beside him, a girl with long, jet-black hair, carrying a steaming earthenware bowl, also rushed towards Taka with concern.
The girl's clear eyes were filled with worry. She gently placed the earthen bowl on the tatami and tried to help the struggling, crawling Taka. "You only stopped bleeding not long ago, please lie back down!"
Taka's movements froze instantly. Not because of the girl's concern, but because he saw the light green kendo uniform on the boy who had barged in.
Although the colour was different, it really did resemble the black-clad swordsmen who had captured him from the Rukongai and subjected him to inhuman torture! This immediately set off alarm bells in his mind!
"Get away!"
He roared angrily, the bandages on his shoulder seeping crimson from his violent arm movement.
Enduring the intense pain throughout his body, Taka suddenly curled backwards, pressing his back tightly against the wall, glaring fiercely at the two intruders.
"Who are you! Where is this!"
His gaze was filled with undisguised hostility, as if he was ready to fight the girl to the death if she came any closer.
The boy in the kendo uniform was bewildered by this sudden hostility, his footsteps halting in place as he exchanged a stunned look with the girl beside him.
"You bastard!"
They hadn't expected Taka to reject their goodwill so strongly. The boy felt a surge of inexplicable anger and wanted to say more, but the girl quickly stood up and tugged at his sleeve, signaling him to calm down.
The girl took two steps back, maintaining a safe distance, and spoke softly, "Please don't be nervous. We mean no harm...."
"This is Hayama, a place specifically for training swordsmen to fight demons. My name is Rika, and he is Kenichi."
She pointed to the wisteria pattern on the wall. "It was the Demon Slayer Corps' members who found you unconscious and severely wounded in the snowy forest and brought you here."
"Demon Slayer Corps?" Taka listened to this unfamiliar term, his vigilance not fading. He still stared at the impatient-looking Kenichi. "What are demons?"
"Huh? Didn't they bring you to the training grounds as an exception because you killed a demon?" Kenichi took over the conversation. "They found human remains and strong residual demonic energy. Judging by the battle traces at the scene, they concluded that you slew a demon."
Saying this, Kenichi added, "Demons are monsters that eat people! They're immortal, and only sunlight and Nichirin Blades can kill them! I really don't know how you managed it!"
'Monsters...' Now Taka understood.
'So that twisted, man-eating monster was what these people called a demon.'
But hearing Kenichi mention the remains of another person... Taka's eyes dimmed, and his hostility lessened somewhat.
Sensing Taka's emotional fluctuation, Rika sighed softly and picked up the bowl of medicine again.
"Anyway, you need proper treatment and rest right now... Your injuries are extremely severe. It's a miracle you survived at all. You should treasure your body...."
Rika quietly placed the medicinal brew in front of Taka, not forcing him. Taka, equally wary, looked at Rika with no intention of taking the medicine.
The atmosphere in the room remained awkwardly frozen like this until Kenichi, getting somewhat irritated and impatient, spoke up again.
"Hey! I'm talking to you! Rika here worked hard to brew this medicine for you. Even if you won't say thank you, why are you looking at her like she's a thief!"
"...Let me go." Taka didn't know what the truth was, but he just wanted to leave this unfamiliar place first, even if he was covered in wounds.
"You little...!!"
Just then, a deep, robust voice carrying an air of fortitude came from the doorway.
"Kenichi, what's all this commotion about?"
The three of them turned to look simultaneously. A tall figure stood outside the room.
It was a man around fifty years old, with a face as cold and hard as if carved by knives and axes, and thick, steel-needle-like short hair.
He wore a simple dark green kimono, casually draped with a dark haori. Deep nasolabial folds and a scar between his brows marked his face with the traces of time. His empty left sleeve was neatly tucked into his waist.
The man simply stood there, without any threatening or aggressive movement, yet it made Taka's hairs stand on end.
'That feeling again... an extreme sense of oppression and unease, as if this man standing there was nothing less than an unsheathed blade, ready at any moment to erupt with terrifying power!'
And the moment they saw the man, Kenichi, who had been getting somewhat worked up, looked like a chick with its neck grabbed. His face instantly flushed, and he hurriedly bowed his head with reverence and respect:
"Arasaki-sensei!"
Rika also quickly bowed. "Sensei."
The man swept his deep, calm eyes across the room and immediately understood the situation.
He didn't reprimand Taka for his rudeness and hostility. He merely waved his hand lightly, signaling for Kenichi and Rika to leave the room first.
Then, calmly entering the room by himself, he slid the door shut, walked slowly over to Taka, and sat down cross-legged in front of him.
"Name?"