Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of chapters lately. I haven't been able to upload because my Patreon account was blocked, but luckily everything is fixed now and we're back.
Thanks for your patience! 😏🔥
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Hearing Tamayo's past, Tanjiro's eyes went wide.
He didn't know any of that… Tamayo had always been kind to him, warm, with that quiet tenderness. She… had killed her husband? Her own child? She'd devoured people for over a century?
But he knew the way Marcus was, and he knew he wouldn't lie to him about something like that.
The inner struggle settled right onto his face. His jaw tightened, his fists clenched, and his eyes trembled between disbelief and something that looked a lot like pain.
'Tamayo-san… so kind… so warm…'
'Was she really someone like that…?'
'If she was… could I… bring myself to attack her?'
'…Could I?'
Without paying him any more attention, Marcus looked away, making Inosuke follow the movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned his focus back to Spider Mom.
"You heard me. I've got more than one Demon on my side."
"When you've already got that many lice, one more doesn't itch. So tell me…" He leaned toward her, lowering his voice slightly. "Do you still wanna die? Or would you rather try something new?"
Spider Mom's head started smoking.
In her entire long life, her experiences could be counted on one hand, and none of them had prepared her for this.
She looked at Nezuko, clinging to Marcus, looked at Tanjiro, still lost in his existential crisis, and at the boy in the boar mask, floating in the air thrashing and cursing nonstop…
…Wait.
'Floating?'
She narrowed her eyes. The boar boy had no threads… No silk, no spiders, nothing holding him up. He was just… floating.
'How…?'
"Oh, that?" Marcus noticed her curiosity. "I can devour demons' abilities, and what you're looking at is a little gift the last one I ate left behind."
The color drained from Spider Mom's face in an instant.
E-EAT… DEMONS?
Tears burst out immediately, fat ones, from sheer terror.
"D-Don't eat me!" She hugged herself, shaking like a leaf. "I-I DON'T TASTE GOOD!! I can't taste good!"
Marcus licked his lips. Staring straight at her.
"You might not taste good, but you sure look delicious…" He took a step toward her. "And if you won't come with me the easy way… well, I'll just have to have a taste the hard way, won't I?"
"WAAAHH!!" Spider Mom hiccupped so hard she could barely speak. "W-wait, wait, wait! No…! I'll follow you, I'll follow you, I'm coming! Whatever you want, whatever you want, just DON'T…!!" She was already trembling. "PLEASE DON'T EAT MEEE!!"
'Done!'
Marcus smiled with satisfaction.
"…"
Off to the side, Tanjiro had been quiet for a while. His hand kept going back and forth over his sword's hilt, gripping and releasing, gripping and releasing. Unable to decide.
"Senpai…" he murmured, still somewhat torn. "What you said about Tamayo-san… is it true? Did she really kill her own family?"
"Every demon goes through that, Tanjiro." Marcus didn't soften his tone. He wouldn't be doing him any favors by sugarcoating it. "Muzan's blood distorts everything. Memory, reason, willpower. The newly turned lose control completely, and the first ones they attack are always the ones closest to them. The ones they love the most."
As he spoke about this, he looked at Spider Mom, still sobbing on the rock.
"She was turned when she was seven years old. Maybe eight."
!!!
Tanjiro shuddered from head to toe.
The image of his house's floor, the blood, the bodies of his family. And Nezuko lunging at him with empty eyes and sharpened teeth. If that day he hadn't dodged… if Nezuko had tasted the blood…
Would she have ended up like that? Like the woman trembling on the ground in front of him?
"But Senpai…" he raised his head, his gaze still conflicted, "Even so. She killed slayers. People. Those people had families, they had…"
"Tanjiro."
Cutting him off, Marcus struck an unusually serious tone. "Why did you join the Corps?"
"To protect the innocent. To turn Nezuko back to normal. To…"
"To get revenge?"
"…"
Tanjiro pressed his lips together. He lowered his gaze and nodded.
"Good. And after the revenge, then what?" Marcus didn't let him hide in the silence. "Kill every demon? Each and every one? Including Nezuko? Tamayo? All those poor bastards who one day were living their normal lives and the next Muzan forced his blood into them?"
"I…" Tanjiro didn't know what to say.
Marcus sighed. He stepped closer and placed his hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly.
Not like a superior talking to a subordinate, but like someone who was genuinely asking him to listen.
"I'm not going to insult you by telling you what she did doesn't matter. Of course it matters. Killing is killing and the dead stay dead—nobody can erase that." He paused, glancing sideways at Spider Mom. "But let me ask you something. If there were a way for demons like her to pay for what they've done, but at the same time serve to put an end to all of this… to finish off Muzan, the demons, the whole shitty cycle once and for all… wouldn't it be worth trying?"
!!!
Tanjiro froze. "…What do you mean?"
"Tamayo's research has made a breakthrough…" At this point, Marcus had to lower his voice until only the two of them could hear it. "She's working on an experiment so Nezuko can walk under the sun."
Tanjiro's eyes flew open. "…What?"
"You heard me."
"U-Under the sun? Nezuko? For real?"
"Why would I lie to you?" Marcus raised his eyebrows. "But she needs volunteers. Self-aware demons willing to cooperate with the experiments."
"So I'm taking her with me. Not just to have her as my servant, but also to help in the lab."
"That does more good for the world than chopping her head off here and feeling good about it for five minutes, don't you think?"
"…"
Tanjiro went quiet.
He looked at Marcus, then at Spider Mom still trembling, and finally at the sword in his own hand, the moon's reflection running along the blade.
And somewhere in his memory, Urokodaki's voice spoke to him: "The sword is for protecting the weak, Tanjiro. Not for venting your hatred."
"Senpai." He finally raised his head, looking him in the eyes. "Give me your word she won't kill again."
"You have it." Marcus didn't hesitate for a single second. "Tamayo will give her the same modification she gave herself and Yushiro. Nobody dies."
Tanjiro breathed deep. The air filled his lungs, and with the exhale, something that had been squeezing his chest for a while loosened a little.
Not all the way. But enough.
He sheathed his sword. "…Understood."
Marcus smiled. "I'm glad you trust me."
With the debate settled, he walked toward Spider Mom. Tanjiro hesitated for an instant, watching his senpai's back, then followed him in silence.
And Inosuke, who'd been playing human chandelier for a good while now, finally lost his patience for good. "HEY!! Are you two done with your emotional little heart-to-heart?! Get me down already! THAT DEMON'S GONNA TAKE OFF WHILE YOU'RE OVER HERE CRYING!!"
And sure enough, Spider Mom wanted to run, but her legs were shaking so badly that both attempts to stand up had ended with her right back on the ground.
Crouching in front of her, Marcus ran his fingers along her cheek, wiping away her tears.
"Hey. Look at me."
Spider Mom raised her eyes. Green, watery, swollen.
"Now I'm asking you for real." Marcus's voice was different. No mockery, no games. Just him. "Do you want to come with me? To a place where nobody lays a hand on you, where you don't have to pretend to be something you're not, and where you never have to kill anyone again."
Spider Mom looked at him. Then at Tanjiro, and finally at the one still flailing in the air.
Her lips trembled.
"I… can I really… not die?"
"You don't have to die." Marcus nodded. "But I'm going to be honest with you, because I don't like deceiving people."
"You'll have to cooperate with some experiments. It might hurt a little. They'll draw your blood, run tests, stuff like that. It's not exactly a walk in the park." He held her gaze. "But it's still better than the alternative, right?"
The memory of Rui's fingers sinking into her cheeks came flooding back to Spider Mom, the sound of her own face being ripped off, and a violent shiver ran through her.
"Yes!" She nodded quickly, terrified that Marcus might change his mind. "I'm willing! Whatever it takes! Anything is better than… than…!" She couldn't finish the sentence, but she didn't need to.
"Perfect." Marcus relaxed. "Then, starting with the basics… what's your name?"
Spider Mom blinked.
"…Name?"
She tilted her little head and furrowed her brow, concentrating with everything she had.
The moonlight fell full on her face, and that expression of effort had something unintentionally adorable about it.
After a good while, she lowered her head in defeat.
"I-I… I don't remember."
"Everything from before I was turned is blurry. Like a dream. And ever since I came here… everyone just calls me 'Mom'…"
Hearing this, Marcus's expression turned strange…
Mom…
They call me Mom…
His brain, which had been functioning with total clarity up to that point, took a completely unnecessary detour.
He pictured himself at home, lounging comfortably. "Mom~ bring me a glass of water." The image shifted. "Mom~ bring me my clothes." "Mom~ it's bedtime, you coming?" "Mom~ come with me to…"
…
…???
What the hell am I thinking?
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