As the last rays of the sun faded and the day came to an end, night descended.
Legend says that when the late hours of night arrive, terrifying demons emerge to prey on humans.
Because of this, very few people choose to go out after dark. Every household keeps its doors and windows tightly shut, and the bustle of the day has long since given way to silence.
On such a night, however, a thin and petite girl quietly stepped out of her house.
The girl had beautiful pink eyes, though her gaze seemed somewhat vacant. Her light green clothes clung to her frail body, making her appear even thinner.
When the soft moonlight fell upon her delicate face, it only emphasized the pallor brought on by malnutrition.
In the pitch-black night, it was difficult for ordinary people to see the road ahead. Walking in such darkness was nearly impossible for humans. Yet the little girl's eyes seemed unusually sharp, able to capture everything before her with clarity.
Guided by the faint yet gentle moonlight, she could clearly see the road, avoiding muddy puddles as she walked through the quiet streets of the town, her pink eyes searching everywhere.
Whenever night fell and her stomach began to ache with hunger, she would sneak out while her parents weren't paying attention to look for something she could eat. Perhaps leftovers thrown away by a restaurant, or a discarded rice ball.
What others would consider nothing more than garbage was, for the girl, a delicious meal that could fill her empty stomach.
Girls her age should have had warm rooms, good food, and the loving care of their parents. But none of that existed for her.
Her parents did not care about her. They would beat and scold her and her older sister for no reason at all.
No… they no longer beat her sister.
Because her sister had already been beaten to death.
Now she was the only child left in the family.
Earlier today, her father had spent the entire day gambling before returning home. He hadn't brought any food back, and there was nothing to eat in the house. Her stomach hurt with hunger, so she slipped out while her father was asleep to look for something to eat.
When she passed by the entrance of a restaurant, the girl immediately ran to a nearby trash pile to search through it. This was usually the place where food could most easily be found.
Her luck seemed good tonight.
Before long, she discovered a rice ball wrapped in a lotus leaf.
Her eyes lit up with joy as she tightly gripped it in her small hand.
She took a small bite.
As the rice entered her stomach, the taste of food spread through her mouth, and an intoxicated expression appeared on the girl's pale little face.
After taking another bite, the girl suddenly noticed a long shadow stretching across the ground. Startled, she looked up.
On the eaves of the restaurant sat a man dressed in simple robes, quietly gazing at the moon in the sky.
That mister again.
Recently, every time she came out at night to search for food, she would see him. He appeared almost every night, sitting on that high roof for a long time. Sometimes she would wander around the town for a while and return, only to find that he was still sitting there.
Although they had seen each other many times, they had never spoken.
At first, being outside alone in the silent night made her very afraid. Especially the first time she saw him, she had almost believed he was one of the legendary demons.
But after seeing him several times, she gradually stopped feeling afraid.
In fact, she even felt a strange sense of safety.
"Out looking for food again tonight?"
The man's voice drifted down from the eaves.
"Ah! Y-yes."
The sudden voice startled the girl, making her stutter as she answered. This was the first time in all these nights that the strange man had spoken to her.
"My name is Toji. What's your name?"
Toji looked at the girl and asked in a low voice.
He had already noticed that the girl standing below looked very similar to Kanao Tsuyuri.
He wasn't originally from this world.
In his previous life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary employee at a small company, living a dull and repetitive life. In his spare time, he enjoyed watching anime and movies.
But he had never expected that one day he would end up in such a world.
The world of the anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
When he first arrived in this world, he had been extremely excited, imagining how he might one day make a name for himself.
However, before he could even begin, he encountered Kibutsuji Muzan.
The progenitor of demons who had lived for over a thousand years.
The absolute ruler of all demons.
After that encounter, he himself was turned into a demon.
A creature that feeds on humans.
A subordinate bound to Kibutsuji Muzan's will.
The reality crushed all of his earlier excitement, leaving him feeling depressed and hopeless for a long time.
Since becoming a demon and losing the ability to walk under the sun, he spent most of his nights sitting here.
And during those nights, he often saw this girl wandering the streets in search of food.
At first, he paid little attention to the small girl digging through trash for something to eat.
Until one night, when he saw her face clearly.
And suddenly realized that she looked remarkably similar to Kanao Tsuyuri.
After realizing that she resembled Kanao Tsuyuri, Toji became extremely cautious.
After all, Kanao Tsuyuri was a swordswoman of the Demon Slayer Corps. As an organization dedicated to hunting demons, if the Demon Slayer Corps discovered a demon like him, they would not hesitate to cut off his head with a Nichirin Blade.
Even though he had already become a demon, a pitiful creature that could not walk under the sun and even fed on his own kind, he still did not want to die.
However, after observing her more carefully, he realized that things were not as he had imagined.
She was not a member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
She was simply a poor girl who sneaked out every night to rummage through trash heaps in search of food.
"I… I don't have a name."
The girl answered softly.
"How can someone not have a name?"
Toji shook his head.
The girl pursed her lips and remained silent.
"Then how does your family call you?"
"My sister used to call me Kana-chan."
The girl whispered quietly.
"So you have an older sister?"
A trace of curiosity appeared on Toji's face. He had always seen the girl wandering alone, so he had not expected her to have a sister. It seemed she only resembled Kanao Tsuyuri and was not actually the Kanao Tsuyuri from the Demon Slayer.
After all, he had never heard of Kanao Tsuyuri having a biological older sister.
"She's gone now."
The girl pressed her lips together.
Toji fell silent for a moment, feeling somewhat awkward.
But the little girl no longer seemed to care about such things. Or perhaps she had already realized that caring was useless. She simply held the rice ball she had found and ate it in small bites.
Having just asked an unfortunate question, Toji felt a little awkward, so he changed the subject.
"I see you out looking for food every night. Don't your parents cook for you?"
"Father spent the whole day gambling at the casino and didn't bring any food back."
"Just eating this isn't enough. It has no nutrition at all."
"Being able to eat something is already very good."
The girl answered softly.
"How about this? If you come out again at night, I'll bring you some proper food. You're far too thin right now."
The little girl looked up at him with bright eyes, then lowered her head again.
After a moment, her childish voice quietly asked,
"Mister… why are you being so kind to me?"