"Let go of me!"
"We're both demons! Why are you killing us?!"
"You won't get away with this!"
Two demons were bound to a tree, their arms broken at unnatural angles, unable to even attempt untying the ropes. Haruki stood several paces away in shadow, watching them struggle with an expression that revealed nothing.
He turned his head toward the east, where the faintest hint of light was beginning to stain the distant sky. Dawn was approaching. Haruki retreated further back, ensuring he remained completely within the shade of the surrounding trees.
Seeing the sun about to rise, the demons' struggles intensified into pure panic. One with pale gray eyes suddenly turned on his companion, shrieking with desperation.
"It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here! If you're going to die, then you die! I don't want to die!"
The other demon froze, staring at his brother in disbelief. They were brothers—actual blood brothers—both turned into demons together on the same terrible night. The older brother had always taken good care of him, protected him, guided him through this cursed existence.
When they'd first become demons, they'd eaten their own parents. The horror of what they'd done had consumed them both. They'd been so scared they hadn't even left the house at night for days, paralyzed by the memory of their parents' terrified faces. They were afraid of being discovered as monsters, of what they'd become. They'd gone without food for several days, so hungry they could barely move.
Until a neighbor who hadn't seen their parents had come to check. When he'd opened the door and seen blood everywhere, he'd tried to run. But the two starving brothers had pounced, devouring him completely.
When they'd eaten their parents, they hadn't been in their right minds—the transformation had clouded everything. But this was the first time they'd truly tasted human flesh while conscious. The first time they'd understood how delicious humans were to demons.
He'd been truly starving. When he'd reached for that last arm, another hand had reached out too. He'd looked up to find his older brother also reaching. But his brother had pulled back and given it to him instead.
"Little bro," his older brother had said. "From now on, it's just the two of us. I will definitely protect you."
Several years had passed since then. The two of them had survived while avoiding the Demon Slayer Corps' pursuit, supporting each other through countless nights. They'd been all each other had.
But now, facing death, his older brother was blaming him.
Last night, they'd found three humans returning late through the forest. After killing them, they'd begun to feed. The younger brother had always been greedy, always consuming everything even when full.
Just as they'd prepared to leave, a figure had appeared. Those blue eyes had stared at them like an abyss. Before either could react, both their arms had been shattered. They'd had no room to fight back.
Ironically, the opponent was also a demon and apparently couldn't kill them directly. They'd been slowly worn down through the night until now, until sunrise came to finish what their attacker had started.
"Big brother! I don't want to die! Save me, please!" The younger brother's voice cracked as the sun's first rays touched his skin. His whole body began to smoke and burn. His howls echoed through the forest.
"No!" Despite everything, the older brother couldn't bear to watch his sibling die. He struggled desperately against his bonds, trying somehow to save him.
But there was nothing he could do.
Haruki watched quietly from the shadows, his expression complicated. These demons had been brothers. They'd cared for each other. Yet they'd killed innocent people—people who probably also had siblings, parents, loved ones.
When these demons had harmed others, those victims' families had suffered exactly this kind of loss. Perhaps worse, because humans couldn't even say goodbye.
Let them atone for their sins in hell.
The sun rose fully, reaching both demons. Their screams cut off as they crumbled to ash, leaving only charred remnants and ropes.
Haruki turned and walked deeper into the forest. He'd been away from Butterfly Mansion for five days now. Each night while traveling, he'd search for demons. Within five days, he'd killed seven demons using this method, including the two brothers just now.
But the process was troublesome and time-consuming. He should have asked Shinobu for a Nichirin blade before leaving. Using sunlight to kill demons was too slow, and it forced him to wait until dawn each time, which delayed his journey and limited how much ground he could cover.
. . . . . . . . .
"Caw! Demon to the southwest, southwest! Please go and slay it as soon as possible!"
Shinobu's Kasugai Crow, "En," circled above her with agitated cries.
"I hope there's actually a demon this time," Shinobu murmured with slight frustration.
For three consecutive days, she hadn't encountered a single demon. She wouldn't question the intelligence capabilities of the Demon Slayer Corps—their network was extensive and generally reliable. Other Corps members hadn't reported killing demons in this region either. The demons had simply... disappeared.
It was unusual. Suspicious.
Weaving through the darkening forest, Shinobu arrived at the location. She searched thoroughly.
Again nothing.
"West! Traces of a demon in Linshan to the west!"
En redirected her.
Linshan was considerably farther. Today's mission had come late—by the time she reached Linshan, the sky would likely be lightening with dawn. Just to be safe, Shinobu increased her speed, her feet barely touching the ground as she flew through the trees.
No matter what, she had to investigate. Demons were most active just before dawn, when they were desperate to feed before sunrise forced them into hiding.
As she approached the area, a strong smell of blood permeated the air, thick and cloying. The scent was fresh—very fresh.
Was she too late?
Following the scent, Shinobu arrived at a clearing. Large patches of blood stained the ground, still glistening. Her trained eye recognized human blood. Multiple people.
She looked around carefully, her hand resting on her weapon. Several mounds of freshly turned earth caught her attention not far from the blood pools. She approached cautiously and knelt to examine them.
"Someone buried them..." she murmured, surprised.
These were graves—crude but respectful. Someone had taken the time to bury the victims' remains. But looking at the blood's freshness, these people had died very recently. And who could have buried them right under a demon's nose?
Unless the demon was already dead.
Catching a glimpse of destruction on the ground—cracks and gouges that extended out of the clearing and deeper into the forest—Shinobu quickly moved to investigate. The trail of damage stopped at a large tree. Two pieces of torn clothing and a length of rope were scattered on the ground beneath it.
Shinobu knelt and examined the remnants carefully. The fabric had that distinctive texture that demon flesh left behind when exposed to sunlight—not quite cloth, not quite ash, something in between. From all this evidence, one conclusion was clear: demons had been here. Someone had tied them up and killed them using sunlight.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something else under a patch of shade—a piece of blue cloth lying on the ground, partially hidden by fallen leaves. Shinobu picked it up and felt her heart skip slightly.
She recognized it immediately. She'd personally chosen this outfit for Haruki, had selected the color because it complemented his pale hair and blue eyes. It had suited him surprisingly well.
Everything clicked into place.
This was why demons had been disappearing. Haruki had been hunting them, systematically eliminating every demon in her territory before she could find them.
Shinobu's lips curved into a genuine smile. For some reason, she suddenly wanted to see him.
She knew his speed from their brief time together. He hadn't left her territory in five full days, had stayed within her region specifically to help lighten her burden. Recalling Haruki's earnest, caring words when he'd said goodbye—"You need to rest properly"—Shinobu looked at the fabric in her hand and sighed softly with a mixture of exasperation and fondness.
"Haruki really is something," she said to the empty air. "He seems not to care about anything, but he's actually quite meticulous..."
She tucked the cloth into her sleeve, then looked at the rising sun. A small frown of worry crossed her features.
"I wonder if he hid well. He should have just left this territory already? Haruki... I'm a Hashira. I'm not that fragile, you know."
But despite her words, she felt warmth in her chest. Her decision to let Haruki go, to trust him—it hadn't been a mistake. Even though he often seemed lost and disconnected, he still has a soft heart.
. . . . . . . . . .
At that same moment, the sun had risen fully above the horizon, Haruki could no longer move freely. He was forced to travel slowly, carefully avoiding sunlight while keeping to shadows and dense tree cover, waiting for night to fall again.
He still didn't plan to leave Shinobu's territory. If he was going to repay her kindness, he might as well be thorough. He would eliminate every demon within her territory before moving on.
Shinobu was a good person. But she carried too much weight, too many burdens on her shoulders.
Haruki hoped she could be a little more relaxed. It was a small thing he could do. He would diligently repay those who showed him kindness—that felt like an important principle, even if he couldn't remember where he'd learned it..
In his demon-hunting experiences these past few days, Haruki understood the flaws of humans. Human injuries were irreversible, while demons could regenerate almost instantly from wounds that would kill a human. Their strength, speed, and durability were superior in nearly every way.
With such overwhelming disadvantages, with what kind of determination did humans fight demons? What drove them to face death again and again?
Was it justice? A sense of moral duty to protect the innocent?
Or was it revenge? Personal vendetta against the demons that had destroyed their lives?
Probably both, Haruki concluded. Justice and revenge often walked hand in hand.
But that raised another question, one that had been circling in his mind with increasing frequency: If people harmed by demons became Demon Slayers, then why did demons become demons in the first place?
What about him? Why did he become a demon?