Three days ago.
It was another night shrouded in darkness, and the forest was bustling with activity as six children gathered there.
"Hehehe, Hotaru lost, so you're IT!" a little boy said with a mischievous grin to the little girl wearing a cherry blossom hair ornament.
"O-okay... But don't hide too far, I'm a little scared..." Hotaru looked at the quiet surroundings and said to the other five children.
"Don't worry, we'll just hide nearby. You'll definitely find us very quickly," one of the little boys patted his chest and promised Hotaru.
"Mm!" Hotaru nodded happily at his words.
Then she turned and leaned against a tree, closed her eyes, and began to count.
"1—"
"2—"
"3—"
"..."
"Where should we hide?" a child asked one of the little boys among them.
The little boy didn't speak, but smiled and pointed to the top of a large tree. The other children understood, and the five of them quickly ran to the base of that large tree. Then, helping each other, they all climbed up the tree and positioned themselves on its various branches.
"Hehehe, this way Hotaru won't be able to find us, right? And we're hiding right near her," the little boy said somewhat proudly.
The other children all nodded in agreement.
"Twenty-nine—"
"Thirty!"
Hotaru finished counting, opened her eyes, and turned around to find that all her little friends had disappeared.
"I'm coming to find you!"
Hotaru looked around and then shouted, hoping to hear some movement, but the surroundings remained silent.
Everyone hides so well.
Hotaru thought to herself, then chose a direction and started searching there.
The five children in the tree watched Hotaru run past, covering their mouths to stifle their laughter. Only after Hotaru had left did they quietly chuckle to themselves.
After laughing for a while, the little boy said to the others, "When Hotaru comes back next time, we'll go down. If she can't find us for too long, she'll probably get scared and cry."
At his words, the other children also agreed.
Meanwhile, Hotaru searched for a while but still couldn't find anyone.
"Where did everyone hide...?"
Looking at the quiet surroundings, Hotaru felt increasingly scared.
"If you run around at night, you'll encounter demons!" At that moment, the words of a Grandma from the town suddenly echoed in her mind. She swallowed, feeling even more afraid.
Maybe I should just go back...
As soon as Hotaru had this thought, a series of footsteps entered her ears in the silent night.
"Ah!!!" Hotaru, already scared, was startled and screamed loudly with her eyes closed.
...
"That's Hotaru's voice."
The five children also heard Hotaru's scream.
"She didn't run into any danger, did she?" a child asked worriedly.
"Let's go, let's go down and find her!" The little boy who had initially suggested hiding in the tree said to the remaining children, then was the first to slide down the tree. The other children also climbed down from the tree.
The five children began to run in the direction Hotaru had just left.
...
"Little sister, what happened?" A magnetic voice entered Hotaru's ears.
Hearing this voice, Hotaru opened her eyes somewhat fearfully. A tall young man wearing black clothes, a black and white hat, with a pale complexion and plum-red eyes, was walking towards her.
So it's a person.
Seeing the man, Hotaru breathed a sigh of relief, then said somewhat awkwardly to the young man in front of her, "I'm sorry, Uncle, I... I just thought there was a demon."
The young man's eyes moved slightly, then he smiled and said to Hotaru, "Is that so? Why are you still out so late?"
With other "people" nearby, Hotaru wasn't as scared anymore. She smiled and replied, "My friends and I are playing a game of 'human catches demon.' I lost at rock-paper-scissors, so I have to be the human to catch them, but everyone hid too well, and I can't find anyone."
The young man heard this, reached out, and patted Hotaru's head. He smiled and said to her, "So that's it. But why is it human catches demon and not demon catches human?"
Hotaru looked up, a little confused by his words. The young man smiled and touched her forehead with his right index finger.
The next second, the smile on the young man's face suddenly vanished, replaced by a cold and emotionless expression. The nail of his index finger suddenly elongated, piercing Hotaru's forehead.
"Ah ah ah!!!" After nearly ten seconds of screaming, Hotaru's appearance changed. Her teeth became sharp, and her nails began to lengthen.
Only then did the young man pull his nail out of Hotaru's head. This fellow, who looked like a young man, was the progenitor of demons, Kibutsuji Muzan.
"Search for the blue spider lily here. If you encounter Demon Slayers, kill them," Kibutsuji Muzan said coldly to Hotaru, simultaneously transmitting information about the blue spider lily from his mind to her.
"Yes..."
The suppression of her bloodline made Hotaru completely unable to disobey Muzan. She knelt on the ground and replied respectfully. Now, all her memories of being human had disappeared.
"Hotaru— Hotaru—..."
Just then, several voices came from far to near. The other five children had found their way here.
"Found her!"
It was too dark, and the children didn't clearly see Hotaru's transformation. They shouted and ran towards her.
Hotaru, whose body was very weak after just transforming into a demon, constantly drooled when she saw the five children.
"Go," Muzan said coldly, looking at the five children.
Receiving Muzan's command, Hotaru immediately pounced on them.
The children only then realized something was wrong, but it was too late. The child running at the front had his neck snapped in an instant, and his clothes also began to corrode.
"M-monster!!!" The other children immediately trembled, turned, and fled, but how could their physical abilities compare to a demon's? Screams erupted one after another, and blood splattered everywhere.
"To be able to use Blood Demon Art right after transforming into a demon, her talent is not bad. She might even be able to enter the Twelve Kizuki in the future," Muzan commented indifferently after seeing the scene, then lost interest and turned to leave the place.
The screams faded, replaced by the sound of flesh being gnawed...
After some time, the children's parents came into the forest to search for their children. By this time, the corroding demon had eaten its fill. Its remaining memories allowed it to recognize its brother, so it did not reappear. It jumped onto a thick tree with the uneaten corpse, corroded the tree trunk, and hid inside, thereby also escaping the daytime sun.
It wasn't until three days later, when all its human memories had completely vanished, that it reappeared after smelling the scent of its blood relatives...
In the silent forest, only Musashi remained, clutching the young boy's outer garment, standing alone in the moonlight...