"Why...?"
"If I have to give a reason, it would be because... the capabilities of a creature like the human being are limited."
Tamayo was left a little stunned. "Li... limited?"
"Yes. Limited."
Marcus stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders, never taking his eyes off her.
"Strength is limited, health is limited, lifespan is limited. Everything, absolutely everything, has a low ceiling. And if I want to break through these limitations, the only path left for me is to stop being human."
"B-But..."
Before she could finish, Marcus extended a finger and pressed it gently against her lips.
In the darkness of the night, his eyes shone with a surprising intensity. But in that intensity there wasn't a trace of madness, only an unquestionable seriousness.
"There is no 'but', Tamayo. This decision is already made, and I'm not going to change it. From this moment on..." He took a deep breath. "I cease to be human, so please, use your blood and turn me into a demon."
As soon as those words finished leaving his lips, the night breeze swept through the courtyard and the leaves rustled.
Tamayo was paralyzed.
"Y-You... I-I... can't... I..."
Unable to speak properly, panic began to consume her.
Sensing her agitation, Marcus tightened his grip on her shoulders.
"Tamayo. Only this way will I have the absolute certainty of being able to kill Muzan, and of reaching the peace we've been searching for for so long."
"NO!" Tamayo shook her head hard. "There has to be another way! Killing Muzan doesn't mean you have to become a demon!"
Marcus sighed. "... It's not just about killing Muzan."
Cradling her face in his hands, he wiped away the tears welling up at the corners of her eyes.
"It's also for the future. For... all of you."
"The future...?" Tamayo froze. "Us...?"
"Yes. Our future."
Marcus's eyes returned a gaze overflowing with love.
"Look... I don't want my life to last only a few decades. Not even a few more years beyond what I've already lived."
"I don't want the day to come when all of you still look as beautiful as you do now, and I'm left with a body wrecked by old age. I don't want to be bedridden a few years from now, sick, being a burden to you, needing to be looked after every moment. And, above all... I don't want a day to come when all of you are gathered around my bed, watching me die."
Tamayo was stunned for a few seconds, then quickly rushed to answer him.
"I-It won't be like that. If the reversion experiment goes well, we can become human again too, and grow old by your side."
"Tamayo..."
A subtle curve formed on Marcus's lips.
"And why couldn't we keep living like this? Why can't we keep loving each other while we're still young, instead of growing old together until we waste away?"
"....!"
A shudder ran through Tamayo.
"Living a long time... isn't necessarily a good thing..."
She lowered her gaze, as if remembering a past she didn't want to revisit.
"... I know."
Marcus took a step forward and wrapped her completely in his arms.
"If you live in loneliness, in hardship, in disgrace... I agree that living a long time isn't necessarily a blessing."
He tilted his head and gently rested his forehead against hers.
Their breaths intertwined.
"But if life is full of laughter, of affection and freedom. If you're surrounded by all the people you love, without fear, without chains... then I hope to live as long as possible."
He held her a little tighter.
"I want to be with you. And... with all the people I love. I want to stay with all of you. And never be apart again."
"..."
Tamayo went completely mute, staring at him with a dazed expression, as if the sentence was taking its time to fully sink in.
But as the seconds passed, her eyes began to redden.
Four hundred years flashed through her mind: a life of repression, of hiding, of living in anxiety.
If it hadn't been for the last shred of dignity still burning in her chest, and for that obsession that kept her going, she might have given up on living a long time ago.
And yet, at this very moment, Marcus's words made countless precious images bloom in her mind—images she hadn't even dared to dream of before.
In those scenes there was laughter, cheerful conversations, peaceful mornings, sunlight streaming through the windows... And he was in every single one.
"... D-Do you really mean that?"
Without speaking, Marcus simply tilted his head and sealed her lips with a kiss.
When they finally pulled apart, after a long while, Tamayo's cheeks were completely red and her eyes had welled up entirely.
Looking at her, Marcus flashed a mischievous smile.
"Remember our promise?"
Tamayo startled, but quickly understood what he meant.
The day the experiments came to fruition would be the day they would finally be together. And now... the daylight experiment had been a resounding success.
Chuckling under his breath, Marcus suddenly swept her up in his arms, princess-style.
"Kyaa! Y-you... what are you doing?!"
Letting out a squeal of surprise, Tamayo instinctively clung to his neck.
"Well, what do you think I'm doing..." Marcus leaned in close to her ear, his voice low. "Keeping our promise."
And with that, Tamayo's face turned even redder.
She was terribly shy, terribly flustered... and yet, she didn't resist in the slightest.
She only hid her face against his shoulder, letting herself be carried as he took her up the stairs, straight toward the bedroom.
...
Meanwhile, in the small guard post in the front courtyard.
Gritting his teeth, Yushiro held a slipper aloft, relentlessly whacking a rag doll that bore a chillingly close resemblance to Marcus.
"Take that, you damn bastard!"
"Take that, you pervert!"
"Take that, you son of a bitch!"
It was a doll he'd gotten by spending every last bit of his savings, having it custom-made by a supposedly very famous witch.
It was absurd, ridiculous even, and he knew it better than anyone. But that very night he had secretly overheard the promise between Tamayo and Marcus, and he also sensed, with a clarity that turned his stomach, what was about to happen between them.
But he didn't have the power to stop it.
So all he had left was to resort to this kind of behavior—behavior he would have utterly despised at any other point in his life—just to vent, even a little, the enormous frustration he felt in his chest.
"Take that! Take that! Take that!"
Unfortunately, no matter how hard he beat the doll, there was no way to stop the burning intensity being unleashed on the other side, inside Tamayo's room, where the night seemed to have suddenly become something else entirely.
Inside, two silhouettes gave themselves to each other without reservation.
One was the absolute pinnacle of human physical prowess. The other, a demoness who never knew fatigue.
And between the two of them, that battle was waged with a ferocity and hunger capable of turning the earth upside down.
Especially when Marcus discovered that his Divine Speed didn't just work on his hands and feet... but could also be applied, perfectly, to his hips and core.
From that moment on, the sounds escaping the room grew more and more intense, more abandoned, more impossible to ignore for the poor wretch still pummeling the doll on the other side of the courtyard.
...
The next morning.
The sun was already high in the sky when Marcus opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was a dull ache running through his body, as if a carriage had run him over during the night.
Especially his lower back and glutes.
He made the effort to sit up, but the moment he moved...
"Sss!"
A sharp twinge tore a hiss out of him.
Beside him, Tamayo was already awake. She rested her chin on one hand, watching him with a radiant smile.
Her face looked fresh, rested, with a serene warmth that gave away just how good a time she'd had last night.
"Awake?"
"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine."
Marcus struggled once more to get up.
But it was in vain.
He was empty!
He was completely drained, as if someone had pulled out his engine.
"Fufu~..."
Tamayo couldn't hold back a giggle. She arranged the pillows against the headboard and carefully helped him sit up.
"That's what you get for being greedy. Look at the state of you."
Marcus shot her a withering glare. "You say that as if you weren't just as insatiable. If you hadn't been so cooperative, do you think it would have ended up like this?"
Tamayo's cheeks flushed a soft red, but instead of getting embarrassed—whether because the night had loosened her up or because she fully intended to finish him off—even with her face burning, she dared to give him a seductive look.
"The way you're talking, it sounds like you weren't satisfied. How about we...?"
"N-No, no!" Marcus shook his head with surprising energy. "First inject me with your blood, and once we're done with that, we'll continue! That way we play fair!"
Tamayo's smile faded and she frowned.
Seeing this, Marcus's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Tamayo, what is it now? We talked about this last night. You can't just back out of what you promised like that. What a cruel woman you turned out to be!"
"Hmph! If I said I accepted, it's because I accept. That's not up for debate."
"Then..."
"It's just that..." Tamayo looked at him intently, with an unexpected seriousness. "Did you really think it through?"
"Completely. No doubts." Marcus didn't hesitate for even half a second. "I don't want to go through the pain of goodbyes again, or the pain of death. I don't want to watch everyone around me grow old and die while I can't do anything about it. I want to live a long time. Long enough to take all of you with me and discover, together, every beautiful thing this world has to offer."
"Hmph~"
Tamayo gave him a light tap on the chest. "You and your silver tongue!"
"So..." Marcus took her hand carefully. "Does that mean you accept?"
Tamayo tucked her hair back and nestled against his chest. The burning contact of her skin made a certain friend of Marcus's stir slightly back to life...
"Accept, I do, but it's not time yet. The experiment isn't fully perfected."
"What do you mean it's not? Wasn't the sun experiment a resounding success just yesterday?"
Tamayo fell silent for a moment. "...Even though the sunlight experiment worked, there's still one unresolved problem."
"A problem? What kind?"
And then, looking at her closely—nestled there in his arms, her ears completely red, stroking her belly with a gaze full of a very particular kind of longing...
Marcus's eyes went wide as saucers.
____
Things between Tamayo and Marcus got intense… 👀 Wanna see how it all went down? Run to my Patreon.