The demon's fingernails suddenly grew long, and with a casual swipe, he cut the stick in Haruki's hand in half as if it were tofu. Haruki frowned slightly and quickly retreated, his movements instinctive rather than planned.
"Hehe, Scared, aren't you, little demon?" The demon leaned forward, his grin widening. "You haven't eaten a human yet, have you? You look so weak. So pathetic. Did you think a stick would save you?"
Haruki didn't react. His expression remained calm—blank even—as if the demon's words meant nothing. Because they didn't. He had no emotional frame to attach to the threat, no understanding of fear or humiliation. Just a silent assessment of the situation.
He needed to stall this demon. Dawn was still hours away, but sunlight… sunlight should kill him.
Even now, Haruki couldn't sense any pain from the fatal wound Shinobu had inflicted earlier. His chest had healed completely. The poison—deadly to demons—had vanished from his system. His body was definitely not normal.
He glanced at the broken stick.
If he had Shinobu's slender blade, maybe this would be easier.
But he didn't. So he would have to rely on whatever his body could do.
Haruki moved first, rushing forward with instinctive speed. The sharpened end of the half-broken stick scraped across the demon's chest, leaving just a shallow gash. The stick also cracked from the impact, and Haruki immediately pulled away.
The demon looked down at the scratches, then threw his head back in laughter.
"Are you tickling me?! I can barely feel that! Hahaha! This is great—keep struggling, little brat. It makes the meal taste better!"
He was no longer in a hurry to attack; watching the ant's final struggle made his originally irritable mood pleasant. This would be entertaining before his meal.
Haruki exhaled quietly.
The injuries he inflicted were too small. Too shallow. Too slow.
He dropped the stick.
He stared at the demon's hands—those unnaturally long nails.
If this demon could change his body…
Then maybe he could too.
Haruki concentrated, trying to focus power into his own fingertips, but nothing happened. No growth. No changes.
So he shifted that focus into his hand instead. Something responded. Strength gathered under his skin like a rising tide, swelling his muscles slightly—subtly—yet unmistakably.
It works.
Haruki then tried to do the same with his legs. He pushed off in an instant, leaping several meters, his speed astonishing even to himself. Under the demon's surprised gaze, his right fist shot forward and pierced directly through its chest.
"What—?!"
The demon reacted with a howl of pain and rage, angrily severing Haruki's right hand with its fingernails. The hand flew off and fell to the ground with a dull thud. Haruki raised his left leg and kicked the demon away with a powerful strike, sending it tumbling backward.
He covered his injured right arm, feeling the strange sensation of flesh growing back. Within moments, the bones in his wrist twisted, reformed, and knit themselves together. Muscle and skin followed, crawling across bone like growing vines.
A fully restored hand flexed at the end of his arm. Even Haruki was surprised, tilting his head slightly as he examined it. If such an injury could heal so easily could that demon also heal the same way?
"Damn it, damn it, it hurts so much!" The demon looked at his pierced chest, sweating from the pain. Blood oozed from the massive wound. "You little bastard! How did you do that?!"
Such a large wound would take at least half an hour to heal. Then when he saw Haruki's right hand fully regenerated, the demon's eyes widened in horror, his bravado crumbling.
"No—NO NO NO! That regeneration speed… that's impossible! Only the Twelve Kizuki can heal like that! What ARE you?!"
What are the Twelve Kizuki? Haruki didn't know what that meant, so he didn't pay much attention. But he understood from the demon's reaction that not every demon possessed this recovery speed. If so, if he encountered a demon again, could he fight more recklessly, since no matter how severe the injury, it would heal?
Before the idea could settle in his mind a oft echo rose in his mind—gentle, familiar, and painful all at once.
'Cherish your body, otherwise I will be sad.'
For some reason, Haruki didn't want her to be sad. He didn't understand the feeling, but it was there—a gentle pressure in his chest. So he abandoned the idea of fighting recklessly. The owner of this voice seemed very important to him, though he couldn't remember why.
Intense pain suddenly filled Haruki's mind. Whenever he was about to remember something, the pain would strike like a blade through his skull. That's why he didn't bother trying to remember about his past when he was at bamboo forest.
It seemed as if something was preventing Haruki from recalling his memories, blocking them behind a wall of pain. The severe pain made Haruki kneel on the ground, clutching his head. Even his heart felt a fine, pricking pain. When his right hand was severed, Haruki didn't even blink, but now he was tormented like this.
'Why would even the thought of her make me suffer so much?'
'Who is she, exactly?'
As Haruki knelt in pain on the ground, the demon had already begun to crawl toward the unconscious woman lying in the grass. He muttered curses under his breath, careful to keep quiet—he had no intention of attacking Haruki again.
"You damn brat… I haven't lost yet… As long as I eat that Marechi, I will win. Just wait. Just wait… I'll make you suffer when I finish."
Getting closer and closer to the woman, the demon became more and more anxious, his movements growing less careful in his desperation. Finally, only a few meters remained, and the demon couldn't contain himself. He launched himself in a dive towards the woman, claws extended.
"CAW! CAW! The demon is just ahead! Just ahead!!"
Fast footsteps cut through the forest.
Shinobu burst through the trees, breath steady, eyes sharp. She spotted the demon instantly, her hand already drawing her nichirin blade.
Her expression tightened.
Too far!
She jumped, technique forming on her tongue.
"Insect Breathing… Dance of the Butterfly: Caprice—!"
But the demon had already reached the woman. Shinobu's heart dropped.
No—!
A blur moved faster than her attack.
Haruki.
His body slammed between the demon and the woman. The demon's claws carved a deep, brutal wound across Haruki's chest, but Haruki didn't slow. His fist shot forward—
—and shattered the demon's skull.
What remained of the demon's head flew off and landed several meters away, its body flailing blindly, claws swiping at empty air.
Even without eyes, its hatred pulsed through its trembling hands.
'Almost… almost! I would have eaten her! You ruined EVERYTHING!'
Haruki stepped in close. The demon's blind swipes couldn't touch him. He grabbed one flailing arm—
—and ripped it clean off.
The demon couldn't even scream without his head, instead it started thrashing harder. Haruki didn't stop, grasping the other arm and tearing it away with the same mechanical precision.
Breathing lightly, Haruki dropped the demon's limbs to the ground.
A soft voice rose behind him.
"Haruki?"
Haruki froze.
He turned slowly, eyes meeting Shinobu's violet ones.
Her expression held equal parts confusion, caution… and something like fascination.
"I..."
"Haruki, you didn't die even after being poisoned by me. That's truly surprising." Shinobu's smile was gentle, but her grip on her blade remained firm. "Also, what exactly are you doing here?"
Shinobu had, of course, already seen that Haruki had protected the woman on the ground. As a demon—and an injured one at that—not to mention she had just briefly checked and found the woman was a Marechi, a rare blood type that demons craved above all else. Yet Haruki could actually endure the temptation and protect her instead. Shinobu could hardly believe it. Her sister's words echoed in her mind, but she pushed them away.
"..."
Haruki looked down at the woman, then back at Shinobu. Why was he here? What was he doing? The answer felt simple, but putting it into words was difficult.
"…I just… did what I wanted to do."
Haruki glanced at the demon on the ground, still trashing wildly despite missing its head and arms, then said to Shinobu, his voice halting as he searched for the right words.
"Use your... blade to kill... him."
After speaking, Haruki remained silent. He really wasn't used to speaking so much. His throat felt strange from the effort.
Shinobu observed him for a moment longer before moving. She swiftly injected the poison into the demon's body with practiced efficiency. In a few breaths, the demon began to disintegrate, its body crumbling to ash and vanishing on the wind.
Looking at the dissipating demon, Haruki watched the process with detached curiosity. He had also been injected with poison before. If the poison hadn't disappeared from his body, he would have died like this too. Turned to dust. Gone.
Why hadn't he died?
Meanwhile, Shinobu swiftly provided basic first aid to the woman, checking her injuries and wrapping the worst of her wounds with clean bandages from her medical pouch. She pulled out a small whistle and blew it—a signal for the crow to message the Kakushi to arrive and take the woman back to safety.
Only then did she approach Haruki again.
Her eyes held clear curiosity now—sharp, analytical, and impossibly calm.
"Haruki," she said gently, "you're certainly not a member of the Twelve Kizuki. But you overcame my poison. That alone should be impossible." She tilted her head. "How did you manage it?"
Haruki stared at her.
He didn't know.
Truly didn't.
After a long silence, he spoke.
"I don't know."
Shinobu's smile almost faltered, a flicker of frustration crossing her features before she quickly calmed herself. She took a small breath, her composure returning like a mask sliding back into place.
"I see~ Haruki doesn't know." Her tone remained pleasant, almost amused. "How interesting."
"Haruki."
"?"
Haruki looked at her, waiting. He didn't understand what she wanted.
"Do you have anywhere you want to go now?"
Haruki considered the question. Where did he want to go? The concept felt strange. He'd been at the house in the bamboo forest, but did he want to return there? He didn't know. Did he want to go anywhere else? He didn't know that either.
"No."
"Then," she said softly, "would you like to come with me?"
Silence.
The forest's night breeze drifted between them. Birds chirped quietly from distant branches.
Haruki's gaze lowered. His blue eyes reflected the moonlight, faint and uncertain.
"…Why?"
Shinobu held his gaze, her voice almost musical, tinted with genuine curiosity.
"Because," she said, "I am very curious about you."