Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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At the Rashomon Riverside.
The crude gate barely concealed the stench of the slums that lay beyond it.
'Daki… who came up with that name?'
It's terrible.
A hunched, frail boy covered in dirt, with strange black scars on his face, stood with his head bowed.
Before him stood his sister, his complete opposite.
"…Ume." Gyutaro, holding his sickle, looked at Ume and parted his lips slightly, as if to say something.
But then he hesitated.
'Strange?'
He blinked his eyes, tilting his head in confusion as he scratched his disheveled hair.
'I…'
'What was I just doing, again?'
"Onii-chan?" Ume also looked at Gyutaro with confusion, who was frozen in place.
After glancing at his sister's somewhat dirty and worn-out kimono, Gyutaro suddenly seemed to remember something.
'Oh, right.'
'Today's the day I collect debts.'
Though his body was frail, he turned out to be surprisingly good at fighting. By collecting debts, their difficult days were slowly getting better.
His gaze rested on Ume, and the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily.
And he had a sister like this, who made him so proud.
With that thought.
Gyutaro tugged slightly at the hem of his tattered clothes, crouched down, and brought his eyes level with his sister's.
He gently patted her shoulder, his eyes slightly raised, as always:
"Ume, listen carefully. Today's the first time you're staying home alone."
"If something happens, you have to strike first before they take anything from you."
Though young, Gyutaro's voice was still hoarse and frightening, just like his appearance, causing others to call him a monster.
He softly comforted Ume, who looked a little worried.
"It'll be okay. You can do it too."
Upon hearing this, Ume's earlier urge to ask more questions vanished. She nodded slightly, looking somewhat anxious, her gaze fixed on her brother's weary face.
"Okay."
"I'll be back early." Seeing his sister gradually relent, Gyutaro nodded slightly.
After straightening Ume's clothes and patting her head, he stood up. "I'm off."
He walked towards the opposite bank of the riverside.
Ume kept her face taut as her lips pressed together. Her eyes locked on Gyutaro's back, extending her hand as if to reach out and hold on to his precious back.
Watching her brother's figure gradually disappearing.
She took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs. Her face flushed red as she mustered up the courage to say her words all along.
She felt like she would regret it if she didn't say it.
"Onii-Chan—!"
"Take care!"
"Yeah." Gyutaro stopped for a bit before continuing his walk. The corners of his mouth lifted, he turned slightly, and for the first time, a real, happy smile spread across his face.
"I'm going!"
Seeing her brother's smile, Ume's heart leaped with joy. She raised her hand high, laughing brightly and cheerfully, waving towards Gyutaro.
The two innocent siblings bid each other farewell.
Thump.
"…?"
The older Gyutaro has a shocked expression on his face. He gripped his fleshy sickles in both hands, his tall figure hunched, his arms wrapped in red and black ribbons.
His future demon-self had appeared abruptly and stood between the two siblings.
The demon one tilted his head in confusion, looking at the happiness of his younger self.
'No.'
'This isn't right.'
His eyes revealed a tremor of fear as he kept staring at his younger self.
'What are you smiling about!?'
'Getting full of yourself from experiencing a little happiness?!'
'Don't go! Come back!'
Gyutaro stared intently at his departing self. He tried to move his feet but found that he couldn't budge an inch, to his despair.
He opened his mouth to shout but only managed a choked sob. A strange phenomenon blocking his throat to produce sound.
His eyes grew increasingly frantic.
It was at this time!
After he left, his sister was visited by a samurai. She heeded his advice, fought back, and gouged the intruder's eye with her hairpin.
As retaliation, that damn bastard set her on fire.
When he returned, all he saw was Ume lying in their small house, burned beyond recognition.
"My sister. My dear sister.'
To save her, he had no other choice but to turn her into a demon.
In truth, his greatest wish was simply to live on together with his sister.
Watching his younger self's silhouette disappear from sight, Gyutaro turned back.
He looked at his sister, standing eagerly by the door, unwilling to leave for a long time.
"Mm-hmm!" Ume clenched her little fists, her small face flushed with excitement, nodding vigorously.
She looked utterly adorable, muttering to herself:
"I'll get everything ready before Big Brother gets back!"
With a hmph, Ume's expression turned petulant. She turned back to their living room/sleeping room and closed the front door.
"Stupid big brother, always calling me dumb, and he completely forgot today is his own birthday."
"Birthday?" Gyutaro was taken aback. He didn't remember teaching his sister that.
Such useless luxury was only for the rich; he hated that kind of thing.
Recalling how, in his memory, Ume had one day excitedly asked him when he was born, he had been choked up for a moment before casually naming a date.
Had she heard it from some passerby?
His body trembled more intensely.
'Ume…'
"My little sister is clumsy yet very honest and diligent but someone who struggles to take care of herself."
'Silly little sister.'
'Someone like you definitely can't be left to live alone safely…'
She's different from him.
If only she had been born somewhere else, not as his sister.
Maybe she could live happily.
Gyutaro gazed blankly at the young Ume.
She would surely have been able to inspire and help so many more people.
'Just like she helped me.'
The memory gradually faded to white, and his surroundings slowly emitted a soft, white, radiant glow.
Gyutaro suddenly shuddered.
Yes.
In truth, he had been happy with what he had.
The memory of a summer blue sky, accompanied by a breeze carrying falling green leaves, brushed across Gyutaro's deformed face.
...
"Guh-ah!"
Gyutaro's eyes rolled back. He trembled, turning his gaze back, his eyes darting rapidly before finally locking onto the Nichirin blade nearing his neck.
He glanced sideways at Ume's head, held in Tengen's hand.
She was crying loudly, shouting something in his direction.
'Ume.'
Gyutaro's eyes focused.
'Compared to mine.'
Sha—!
The edge of the glowing red blade touched his neck, and the skin immediately sizzled.
'YOUR LIFE IS MORE PRECIOUS!'
"ROAR—!!" Gyutaro didn't struggle. He simply threw his head back violently, rage veins instantly spreading across his entire body!
His disheveled dark green hair danced wildly, his amber eyes wide open as he let out a primal roar.
His already gaunt frame withered away visibly, and the flesh sickles in his hands turned to ash in an instant.
The life force of an upper-rank three vanished in the blink of an eye!
The next moment.
Tanjuro swung his arm with force.
Whoosh!
The red-hot Nichirin blade cleanly sliced through Gyutaro's neck.
His head flew high, but there was no regret or surprise on his face.
Gyutaro simply parted his lips.
"Ume!!"
Gyutaro twisted his head in mid-air, choking back tears, and shouted to his sister.
"RUN—!!"
Tanjuro paused mid-motion in his follow-up. He twisted his body abruptly and halted his charge to look behind him.
"Huh?" Ume blinked in confusion, her gaze fixed on Gyutaro's disintegrating head.
She didn't notice herself at all.
Below the severed neck was her body that had immediately regenerated.
"What?!" Tengen looked beside him in shock. He instinctively tightened his grip on his Nichirin blade and swung it straight at Daki's neck.
Whoosh!
Clang!
But the blade was suddenly blocked by sashes rising from Daki's body!
"…My… body…?" Ume looked down blankly, stunned for a moment by the regrown body and the surging power within her.
Tanjuro glanced at Gyutaro's head, which had landed on the street and was slowly turning to ash.
He slammed his foot onto the rooftop, his figure swiftly rushing towards Tengen.
He understood what had happened in that split second.
Gyutaro had transferred all his power to Daki.
This was a suicidal act. Turning the two demons, who were one entity, into only one demon possessing all the power.
The consequence is Gyutaro's own death.
But it would give his sister a chance to survive at all costs.
Not only Tanjuro, but Daki understood even faster what her brother had done. The boost in her power was telling.
"Onii-chan…" Her pupils trembled violently as she stared at Gyutaro's headless body staggering and falling.
In her dazed vision, the instant she saw Gyutaro's body begin to turn to ash.
Daki lost control.
Her neck felt swollen; her eyes stung. She clenched her jaw and lowered her head slightly as an unparalleled rage surged within her.
"HAaaaAAAH!!!"
She screamed hysterically, the sashes behind her soaring into the air and flailing wildly.
"DIE! DIE!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!!
Countless sashes surged up from the street, piercing straight through the rooftops toward the sky!
Debris and dust were kicked up; the surrounding buildings instantly turned to powder. Tengen took a direct hit, being the closest to Daki.
A stray sash grazed his left arm, almost cutting it off along with his nichirin blade.
Blood sprayed.
Giyu saw this and quickly stepped forward to shield his colleague.
)—Water Breathing Eleventh Form!—(
)—Nagi!—(
(tr. Dead Calm)
Countless blue-blade flashes lay hidden beneath the calm surface. All sashes passing within the range of Giyu's arm swing were cut instantly.
The area he could protect was limited to approximately 3 meters within his blade's reach.
Tengen clutched his left arm as he stared in astonishment at Giyu's back.
...
-Kyogoku House-
Okami stood in the shattered room, looking through the broken wall at the sashes soaring skyward in the distance.
"…Wha—what is that?!" She stumbled back in terror, the revolver in her hand trembling slightly.
Suddenly.
Rustle…
In the corner of the room, a single ribbon brushed against the wall.
!!
Bang!
With a flash of gunshot, a wisp of smoke dissipated from the muzzle. Okami fixed her gaze on the corner of the room, holding her revolver shakily.
There was a scorched bullet hole in the blank space on the sash bearing the portrait of Tamako.
Flutter.
The sash fell limply, as if its master had no energy left to spare.
...
Thump… thump… thump…
Gyutaro's head rolled on the ground, slowly turning to ash from the neck down.
Lying on its side, it watched the countless sashes shooting into the sky, following their direction to the rooftop not far away.
"What an idiot little sister." Gyutaro's tone was helpless.
"That power… isn't for you to fight back with."
"…Run."
He no longer had enough energy to shout at his sister.
He could only watch as Tanjuro left a trailing streak of dazzling flames from his blade as the man ran straight towards where sashes filled the sky.
Tanjuro gripped the red-hot Kusabimaru, running swiftly toward Daki's location. White vapor puffed from his lips as the scenery rushed past him.
His gaze was fixed on the sashes constantly attacking him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
His techniques shifted in his hands, mixing Isshin-style swordsmanship with Sun Breathing, constantly dodging or severing the ribbons.
He shifted the techniques to repel all the attacks, mixing in Isshin-ryu swordsmanship with sun breathing, dodging, and severing the sashes.
In his vision, the name above Daki's head blurred momentarily.
Finally, it changed to—
[Upper Moon Three] Ume.
Two red dots now became one.
"HAAA——!"
)—Sun Breathing, Isshin-ryu: Modified!—(
He focused on the direction where Giyu and Tengen were buried under the ribbons.
He didn't know how much longer Giyu could withstand such a desperate assault.
Advancing by cutting through layers of ribbons one by one would take too long.
Tanjuro gripped his sword hilt tightly and took a deep breath.
Fwoom! Fwoom!
Solar flares blazed up powerfully from the base of the blade. The dazzling light, combined with the rapid swing of the red-hot blade, turned into an extremely long blade of light.
He charged forward!
Whoosh—Boom!
Sun Breathing, from the First Form to the Twelfth Form, he swung it completely and with all his might.
He executed all forms of sun breathing, from the first to the twelfth, in complete succession and with no delay.
Instantly, Tanjuro stepped out from the countless sashes that had been instantly shredded and raised the red-hot Kusabimaru high as he appeared before Ume's stunned face.
"ONII-CHA—" Ume flinched, her head jerking back. She called out instinctively but then choked up, her nose stinging slightly.
Tears welled from her eyes, evaporating instantly upon contact with the scorching blade.
Tanjuro closed his eyes briefly.
"Rest in peace."
Then, he swung the red-hot blade down vertically with force!
The blade easily sliced through her neck.
Snick!
Her white-haired head flew high into the night sky, and the lavender sashes crumbled into ash, piece by piece.
Ume's green eyes gradually turned blue as she gazed at the bright moon in the sky, her expression slowly clearing.
Thump… thump… thump…
By some twist of fate,
She rolled to a stop next to Gyutaro's head, which was already turning to ash.
The two sibling demons locked eyes.
"Onii-chan…" Ume's eyes reddened as she choked up from her tears.
"Why didn't you run?" Gyutaro's tone was filled with helplessness. "If you'd run, you could have survived."
"With that kind of power, running away—"
But Ume puffed out her cheeks at that moment. "I don't care!" She cut off Gyutaro's sentence.
"If Onii-chan isn't there—!" She squeezed her eyes shut, her voice trembling with sadness.
"Then life would have no meaning at all!"
Ume's voice echoed through the empty streets of the entertainment district, leaving Gyutaro speechless.
...
On the other rooftop.
Tanjuro froze, blinking his eyes.
Because he had sensed a new battle memory.
But not about the Daki and Gyutaro siblings.
Rather, it was a battle memory—
—of Tsugikuni Yoriichi.