Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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They were scum.
It is only natural that the person born in a family of scum would become scum.
Obanai had always believed this way after being saved from the mouth of a demon by the former Flame Hashira.
In his memory,
The crying girl's face was covered in blood, and she cursed him as tears ran down her face. "If you hadn't run away, then all the members of the clan! MY sister and MY aunt wouldn't have been killed by the snake demon! It's all your fault!"
"It's all because you ran away! You're just a living sacrifice; why couldn't you just be eaten obediently!"
"Why! Why wasn't it you who died?!"
His cousin, who was also saved by the Flame Hashira, also cried and cursed at Obanai's young self like this.
'Is it my fault that I want to live...?'
Those hysterical words brought a heart-wrenching shock to the young Iguro Obanai.
From then on, he locked away his emotions in the dark and narrow corner of his heart.
He never thought about what would happen to his family after he ran away.
Even though he had spent his life in a cell that none of the sunlight could come through.
—Just to be eaten by a demon someday.
He doesn't want that, so he ran away.
He was carrying the sins of his entire clan with his act, and the weight was too heavy for him to walk the path of a normal life.
The only thing he could do was to put all of these negative emotions into killing demons.
Kill! Kill! KILL! Kill! Kill! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!
These single-minded suicidal tendencies allowed him to become a Hashira but also turned him into a walking corpse whose only purpose was to kill demons.
Living blindly to the wonders of life, only to die on a sidewalk or secluded location that no one knows about.
Until—
"Hello! Nice to meet you!"
"My name is Kanroji Mitsuri!"
The pink-haired braided girl introduces herself enthusiastically.
Her face showed the joy of finally meeting someone in this large and confusing forest.
"This is great!"
Her tone of voice was cheerful and lively. "I've finally found someone to talk to!"
Her light green eyes take in Obanai's appearance and his frozen face.
'Bandages over the face, how mysterious!'
'What's that on his neck? A snake?'
Mitsuri raised her hand and waved them lightly. "How cool!"
"Sir, you're also a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, right!?"
Mitsuri smiled with the sunlight behind her head, creating an effect of cheerfulness too bright for Obanai to see.
She blinked her eyes as she suddenly realized something and pointed to herself.
"AH, how rude of me!"
"I am Rengoku-san; that is Rengoku Kyojuro-san's disciple!"
She lowered her eyes, counted her fingers, and began to explain her predicament from the beginning. "No, we should be colleagues...!"
"Rengoku-san said so after all..."
Only to be lost in her rambling.
Obanai stared blankly at Mitsuri, who was still talking non-stop. His brain still couldn't figure out how to stop rebooting.
'What's wrong with her...'
Such a person, to be so full of cheerfulness and life, was like the dazzling sunlight that he couldn't look at directly.
Her personality was such a complete opposite to him that it made him want to try and live again.
Obanai's mind couldn't handle such positivity as he short-circuited.
Rengoku-san...
Obanai tilted his head slightly.
'Does she mean the new Rengoku who wants to succeed the Flame Hashira?'
'I see...'
Mitsuri babbled quickly, and her words came out jumbled to Obanai. She put her hands together in a begging position as she looked pleadingly at Obanai.
"Anyway, I was careless!"
"Then, I got lost in these woods."
Mitsuri was a little embarrassed to admit that she was distracted on the way and felt a little stupid getting lost on this familiar territory.
She scratched her face as two blushes rose up on her cheeks.
"So... Mister, do you know the way to the Butterfly Mansion?"
After waiting for a while for an answer, Mitsuri was confused and looked up to see what was wrong with Obanai.
She saw that the boy was just standing there with a blank look on his face.
Mitsuri leaned her face toward Obanai, her long eyelashes glinting in the sunlight. Her captivating light green eyes were staring straight at Obanai's own.
"Sir?"
"...!"
Obanai's eyes still haven't left Mitsuri's face, and the only thing in his head is a buzzing sound drowning all other noises.
"Hiss..."
Kaburamaru, coiled around his neck, flicked his tongue as he lifted his head and opened his mouth.
Chu!
Kaburamaru bit Obanai's face.
The action brought some light back on in his brain, not caring at all that Kaburamaru had bitten him.
His furrowed brow slowly relaxed itself, but the mix of complex emotions in his heart raged up.
'What...is this emotion...?'
It was like the stone wall that had been weighing in his heart had been pried open a little, allowing his repressed emotion to burst out.
Almost overwhelming him with its intensity.
"Eeek!"
Mitsuri saw the bite and exclaimed in surprise. "Are you okay!?"
"It's...it's nothing."
Obanai averted his eyes so he couldn't keep seeing those beautiful eyes, recovering himself quickly from the dizzying experiences. "I know the way to the Butterfly Mansion..."
"Really? That's great!" Mitsuri's surprised smile appeared on her face, relieved to know that she will be out of these woods, finally.
She took a step forward and took hold of Obanai's hand and brought it up to her chest level. "I'm saved...! Thank you, kind sir!"
She wiped away her tears from the corner of her eyes. Her tensed body calming down.
"That's right!"
She perked up as she had just realized something.
"I don't know what your name is, sir." Mitsuri asked.
"...Iguro Obanai."
"Iguro-san! Thank you!" She said sincerely.
The two figures finally walked again in the direction of the Butterfly Mansion this time.
It doesn't take long for Mitsuri to strike up a conversation.
"Speaking of which, Iguro-san's eyes are different colors!"
"Green and Gold!"
"It's so beautiful!"
"I have four cats at home, and one of them has different colored eyes... it's really cute!"
"Its name is..."
...
"Oh yes, the other cat also likes it very much..."
In just over ten minutes.
Obanai knows everything about Kanroji Mitsuri's family, her cats and their personalities, and the color of their fur.
He didn't know why, but he filed away every little thing she said in his mind.
Like the time her cat's favorite foods, favorite spot to scratch, and favorite napping time.
...even the time when her cats hump each other on her leg when she's sleeping.
—I must remember everything!
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-Location: The Ubuyashiki Residence-
"...cough cough!"
The head of the Ubuyashiki family, Kagaya, was enjoying basking in the morning sun as he coughed and coughed again.
The purple curse on his face is spreading even more.
"Caw! Caw!"
A jet-black kasugai crow flapped its wing and announced its arrival from the sky above the residence.
Then it folded its wing and swooped down at great speed.
Before hitting the ground, the crow spread its wing and smoothly landed on the balcony beside Kagaya.
"Oyakata-sama! Amane-sama!"
"Tsuguko, Rengoku Kyojuro, recent battle report has been written!"
"And a letter to the Lord!"
The crow walked to Kagaya and spread the hand that he placed down so the crow could give the letter tied to its feet. "Please take a look!"