"Could this be hell?"
Doma died.
Then woke up again.
Opening his eyes, he found himself in a strange place.
There were no angels with wings here, nor demons with horns.
No God descended to punish him, and no Satan came to welcome his arrival.
It was just pitch black, with nothing at all.
No, that wasn't entirely true...
The direction he was facing was pitch black darkness, while the direction behind him was filled with light.
Doma tried walking toward the light, but no matter how far he walked, he couldn't reach it. That brightness always remained before him, impossible to approach.
[I see...]
Finally, Doma understood everything.
That light probably represented what people called "heaven."
The gods deemed him burdened with sins, so they wouldn't allow him entry.
And the darkness on the other side was undoubtedly hell—the only place someone like him, heavy with sin, could go after death.
As for this place... could it be some kind of "transfer station" where souls arrive after death? The dividing point between heaven and hell?
"The gods really are stingy..."
Trying to walk forward once more and confirming he truly couldn't reach that light, Doma finally gave up.
He stood in place and let out a light sigh.
"Really now, I just wanted to take a glance at what heaven looks like, and they won't even allow that. So I really can only go to hell, huh..."
"E-excuse me, are you lost?"
Suddenly, a female voice rang out behind Doma.
The voice sounded somewhat timid. Doma turned around and saw a short little girl.
The girl was beautiful—the cute kind of beautiful. Combined with her naturally frail constitution, she truly inspired pity at first sight.
Worth mentioning was that the clothes the girl wore were very vintage—the kind of attire only people from several hundred years ago would wear.
"Oh! There are actually other people here?!"
The moment he saw the little girl, Doma instantly became excited.
He grinned and ran to the little girl, crouching before her, and eagerly pressed:
"Little sister! Can you tell big brother where this place is? Who exactly are you? An angel from heaven? Or a demon from hell?
But then, the only ones who would come welcome me must be demons, right?
I see, so demons are actually this cute—myths and stories really are all lies...
By the way, little sister, how did you appear just now? Why did you go *whoosh* and suddenly appear behind me?
Come on, please tell big brother, okay?
If that doesn't work, big brother can also act cute and show you his belly?"
"Huh? A-act cute and show belly?"
Seemingly shocked by Doma's astonishing words, the little girl's face was written all over with astonishment.
At this moment, if Mitsuba and Akaza were here, they would surely look at Doma with eyes full of disgust, as if looking at trash.
But this little girl did not.
Facing Doma's completely shameless words, after her brief shock, she said very anxiously and concernedly:
"N-no, you can't do that! You're not a child anymore! How can you casually show your belly to others? That's not right!"
Oh! Why does this little girl feel somewhat motherly?
"This isn't heaven or hell, and I'm not an angel or demon—just a soul lingering here.
As for why I suddenly appeared, it's actually because I've been here the whole time. You just couldn't see me..."
"I couldn't see you?"
"Yes, that's right..."
Under Doma's puzzled gaze, the little girl gently closed her eyes.
"Relax your body and mind, then imagine that you have disappeared, that others can't see you—and then you can truly disappear..."
As she said this, the little girl's figure actually vanished again before Doma's eyes?!
"Ohhh! How amazing!"
After following her instructions and discovering that he had also disappeared, Doma let out another exclamation of wonder.
"Could this be some kind of miraculous technique?! Thank you, little sister!"
"You're welcome. This is something every soul can do..."
"Pfft!"
Just as the two were chatting happily, a snicker suddenly rang out from beside Doma.
Immediately after, another female figure suddenly appeared.
Compared to the little girl, this figure was obviously taller and her demeanor more mature, but their appearances were quite similar.
Clearly, they were either mother and daughter or sisters.
"Little sister?"
At Doma's form of address, this figure couldn't help but laugh:
"She's my mother, a woman who's been dead for who knows how many hundreds of years, and you're calling her little sister?
This is really... no, I'm going to die laughing..."
"Shinobu! D-don't talk about mother like that!"
"I didn't say anything wrong. It's you, mother—every time you encounter a soul wandering in circles here, you jump out to help them.
Really, where did you come from, some kind of angel?"
"But he looked like he was lost. If no one came out to help him, I just felt like he would be so pitiful..."
[Shinobu?]
Not paying attention to the conversation between this mother and daughter, Doma's attention was completely captured by this name.
Honestly, from the very beginning, he had felt that the two women before him looked somewhat familiar, but he had never been quite certain.
Vintage clothing, plus the butterfly hairpins in their hair, and the time period of several hundred years ago, and finally the name Shinobu...
Suddenly, a conjecture surfaced in Doma's mind.
"Um..."
Raising his hand to interrupt the bickering between the mother and daughter, Doma asked tentatively:
"Excuse me, is your name Kocho Sumire?"
Instantly, the bickering stopped.
Kocho Sumire turned her head and looked at Doma in surprise, asking:
"Who are you? How do you know my name?"
"It really is you?!"
His conjecture confirmed, Doma hurriedly stepped forward, dancing about excitedly:
"Hello! Miss Kocho Sumire! I've heard the Holy Maiden mention you in the past!
During the early Edo period, you were the one who ultimately saved the Holy Maiden's life, right?!"
"The Holy Maiden? Are you referring to Mitsuba?"
"..."
"Upper Rank Two extermination successful! Repeat! Upper Rank Two extermination successful!"
"Oh? That idiot actually died?"
At another battlefield within the Infinity Castle, hearing this news being spread everywhere by the Kasugai Crows, Akaza raised his head in some surprise.
He truly hadn't expected that someone with Doma's strength could actually be exterminated by Demon Slayers.
Did that guy play around too much and screw himself over again?