"This…"
Tanjiro Kamado's wild move left Riku completely stunned.
No way around it. For Riku, a guy from modern-day who'd only ever "bowed" to God, this habit of dropping to his knees at the slightest thing was seriously hard to wrap his head around.
Still, considering the limitations of the era and Tanjiro's reasons for doing it, it wasn't entirely impossible to understand.
"Get up and talk, man."
Riku sighed, exasperated, quickly reaching out to help the kid to his feet.
But the moment Riku extended his hand, the "female demon" who'd been trailing behind Tanjiro, looking all dazed and clueless, suddenly sprang into action.
Nezuko Kamado darted in front of Tanjiro, her face full of anger, clearly ready to protect her brother.
"Nezuko, it's okay. He's not a bad person."
Tanjiro hurriedly stood up, pulling his sister behind him, earnestly explaining to the now-demon Nezuko.
"How do you know I'm not a bad guy?"
Riku couldn't help but ask, even though it sounded a bit like he was picking a fight. He was genuinely curious—how could this kid be so sure he wasn't trouble?
With the way Riku looked right now, even he wouldn't have the confidence to call himself a good guy. His charm had been docked ten points, and he didn't even have a single intact piece of clothing. His pants were barely holding it together, his shirt was in tatters, covered in bloodstains—he looked every bit like a vicious demon.
"It's your scent. I can tell by your scent."
Tanjiro answered without hesitation, his sincerity practically radiating off him.
His honesty, though, only left Riku more confused.
"My nose is really sharp. I can pick up on people's emotions through their scent. Even though you've got a strong smell of blood on you, I know you're not a bad person."
Seeing Riku's puzzled expression, Tanjiro elaborated further.
"…"
Riku was half-convinced, but given Tanjiro's status as the protagonist, he leaned toward believing him. Not bad, main character. Comes with a built-in ability to sniff out the good guys.
At this point, Riku pieced it together—Tanjiro Kamado probably hadn't become a Demon Slayer yet.
Realizing Tanjiro wasn't a Demon Slayer yet, Riku relaxed. The threat to his life was off the table for now.
Fighting a professional Demon Slayer in his current state? Riku had zero confidence in that. Plus, his "transmigration" ability was still on a 25% cooldown, meaning it wouldn't be ready until at least midnight. He couldn't even run if he wanted to.
"Sorry, kid, I'm afraid I can't help you. As you can see, I've got my own problems to deal with."
When it came to Tanjiro's request, Riku genuinely had no way to help.
He'd only managed to break free from control thanks to his [Limit System], but there was no way this girl, Nezuko Kamado, could replicate what he'd done.
"But Nezuko, she…"
Tanjiro's face fell at Riku's words. He'd had high hopes for this demon guy. After parting ways with that Demon Slayer named Giyu Tomioka, he'd brought his sister here.
"You're wondering why she's like this, aren't you?"
Riku picked up the thread, understanding what Tanjiro meant. This sister of his did seem a bit… out of it.
"To be honest, I don't know much about demons myself. Not gonna lie, I only became one a couple of days ago."
After mulling it over, Riku decided to be straight with him. He had a soft spot for this sincere, loyal kid.
"So you're saying Nezuko might get better in a few days?!"
Tanjiro jumped to a hopeful conclusion. Even if she couldn't turn back into a human right away, becoming as clear-headed as this demon guy would be a start!
"I didn't say that. Every demon's probably different. When I first turned, I wasn't nearly as calm as your sister."
Riku had only ever met three demons: Muzan Kibutsuji, himself, and Nezuko Kamado. How could he possibly know the standard process for turning into a demon? And even without thinking too hard, he could tell Nezuko wasn't following the usual demon transformation route.
This anime aired stayed super popular, and never got banned, so there's no way Nezuko Kamado would ever actually eat people! If anything, Riku should be the one asking her for tips—he was still struggling with the whole "eating" issue himself.
"Well, Nezuko wasn't always like this either."
Tanjiro scratched his head, quickly catching on after Riku's comment. That Tomioka guy had also said Nezuko was special.
"Even though I can't help you, here's some advice: never give up. As long as you keep pushing forward, you'll find a way."
Riku put on a serious face. Even if he couldn't help directly, he didn't mind planting a seed of goodwill. After all, he was dealing with the same problem as Nezuko. If the protagonist squad figured out a solution later, maybe he could piggyback on their success. More friends, more paths, right?
"Thank you! I'll never give up. I will find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human!"
Sure enough, Tanjiro chugged Riku's motivational chicken soup like it was the last bowl on earth, looking thoroughly inspired.
"Mr. Demon, can you tell me what happened to my family? Do you know who did this?"
Turning Nezuko back to normal was one of Tanjiro's goals, but he had another: avenging his murdered family.
Yesterday, after selling charcoal, it was already late, and with the snowstorm, Tanjiro stayed the night at old man Saburo's place at the foot of the mountain. Early this morning, before dawn, he rushed back home, only to find his family's bodies waiting for him.
Tanjiro was devastated. He couldn't understand why this had happened, why misfortune had struck his family.
In his despair, he discovered Nezuko was still alive, though she'd been hung up at the woodshed door. Cutting her down, Tanjiro didn't hesitate to carry her down the mountain, clinging to even the slightest hope.
Then, Nezuko turned into a demon and tried to eat him. As they struggled, a Demon Slayer named Giyu Tomioka showed up.
The Demon Slayer wanted to kill Nezuko, which Tanjiro couldn't allow. He fought to protect her, though "fight" was generous—it was more like a one-sided beatdown. The Slayer didn't even need to move to shrug off Tanjiro's attacks.
In the end, the Slayer defeated both Tanjiro and Nezuko but spared them, moved by how they protected each other. He left Tanjiro an address, telling him to find an old man named Sakonji Urokodaki, then left.
So, coming to terms with everything, Tanjiro returned home with Nezuko and buried his family.
It was only then, once he'd calmed down, that he noticed Nezuko carried a scent—one that matched the smell of someone he'd encountered in a cave yesterday.
Thanks to his keen sense of smell, Tanjiro quickly deduced that two beings had been at his home. One scent was overpoweringly pungent, while the other was fainter. The fainter one matched the person he'd smelled in the cave. That demon must've come later and was the one who hung Nezuko up.
"He might know something!"
That was one reason Tanjiro came here. Of course, he wasn't reckless. He'd come because of that "scent connection" from yesterday, which earned Riku a "good guy card" in Tanjiro's book.
"First off, stop calling me 'Mr. Demon.' My name's Riku.
Second, by the time I got there, it was already over, so I don't know exactly what happened.
But I've got a hunch. The demon who did this is probably the same one who turned me into a demon."
Riku hadn't seen it happen, but he had a strong guess—one he was pretty darn sure of.
"Who is it? What do they look like?!"
Tanjiro's eyes lit up at Riku's words. Just knowing this was enough!
"It's the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji. A handsome young guy with sickly pale skin, blood-red eyes, medium height, dressed in Western-style clothes."
Riku described Muzan Kibutsuji as he remembered him. The description wasn't super distinctive, but it'd narrow things down.
"Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji…"
Tanjiro muttered the name, committing it to memory. One day, he'd find this Muzan Kibutsuji and avenge his mother and siblings.
"What're you planning to do next?"
Riku asked, tempted to warn the kid not to stick around since Muzan Kibutsuji might still be nearby. But seeing Tanjiro's "hot-blooded" vibe, he figured it was better to keep quiet. Otherwise, this guy might actually go pick a fight with Muzan.
For a kid who'd just lost five family members and had his only sister turned into a half-human, half-demon, staying as composed as Tanjiro was already a miracle. Riku couldn't ask for more.
"I'm taking Nezuko to Sagiri Mountain. Mr. Tomioka told me to find an old man named Sakonji Urokodaki there."
Tanjiro didn't know Riku was holding back info and openly shared his next steps.
"Sounds good. Maybe those Demon Slayers can help you out."
Riku nodded. Leaving was the best move—no chance of running into Muzan Kibutsuji here.
As for this Sakonji Urokodaki guy, he was probably Tanjiro's guide to becoming a Demon Slayer. Riku hadn't watched the anime, but he knew the tropes of shonen anime like the back of his hand.
"…"
Tanjiro looked at Riku, hesitating for a few seconds before gritting his teeth and asking the question that'd been weighing on him.
"Mr. Riku, what are you going to do?"
In Tanjiro's nose, Riku's scent was very similar to Nezuko's. That meant Riku had likely just become a demon too—and, like Nezuko, hadn't eaten anyone.
"You're worried I might start eating people, aren't you?"
Riku couldn't help but chuckle. Tanjiro's sincerity was refreshing, though his attempt at being subtle was a bit awkward, and his expression gave him away.
"N-No! That's not what I—"
Man, the moment Tanjiro tried to lie, his face twisted like he was in more pain than if he'd been stabbed.
"Relax, I get what you're worried about. But I'm like your sister—we're both a bit special."
Riku shook his head with a smile, then, right in front of Tanjiro, bit into his own forearm.
Tanjiro froze, dumbfounded, as Riku chewed on his own flesh. He couldn't wrap his head around it.
"As you can see, I'm not like most demons who can only eat human flesh. I can eat demon flesh—even my own."
Riku swallowed the chunk of flesh, flashing a grin full of bloody teeth. The sight was so intense it made Nezuko take a step back.
"Uh… that's really…"
Tanjiro racked his brain for a word to describe it, but his limited vocabulary came up empty.
Riku's actions blew his mind. He couldn't imagine the willpower it took for Riku to casually eat his own flesh like that.
His judgment was spot-on. To avoid eating people, Riku was willing to torment himself, even devouring his own body.
In that moment, Tanjiro felt like he truly understood the weight of Riku's earlier words: Never give up, and you'll find a way.
But for some reason, Tanjiro couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about this scene. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it just felt… wrong.
Riku could explain the weirdness: it was all a bit too in line with the law of conservation of energy. Eat an arm, it grows back. Eat it again, it grows back. What, was he running on perpetual energy with zero loss?
Even normal demons needed to eat human flesh to recover quickly from serious injuries. If they didn't, their regenerative powers would weaken. But Riku's stunt completely ignored that rule. Tanjiro might not know much, but his gut—honed by life experience—told him something was strange.
Still, Tanjiro's reaction was just due to inexperience. Once he saw Nezuko's "sleeping technique" later, he'd probably stop thinking Riku was the weird one.
Nezuko, who could go without eating anything, just sleeping, and still be a powerhouse in battle—too scared of sunlight to even claim photosynthesis as an excuse—was the real physics-defying one.
At least Riku was eating his own flesh, putting something into his body. If you stretched it, you could justify it.
Maybe his digestive system was just that good, with zero energy loss. Or maybe demon flesh was equivalent to human flesh for him, and eating a chunk of himself gave him way more energy than it took to regenerate it.
And if that didn't add up? Well, the [Limit System] was just that broken. Exploiting a system bug not being logical? Totally normal.