Chapter 102: First Meeting with Tamayo
Led by the calico cat, Chachamaru, Akira handled a series of winding corners before stepping into a secluded, shadowed alleyway. At first glance, it appeared to be a simple dead end, walled off by weathered brick and creeping moss.
However, Chachamaru didn't even break its stride. The feline swaggered straight toward the side wall near the alley's end and phased right through the solid stone. An illusion.
Akira's lips quirked upward. The fact that the creator hadn't chosen the obvious dead-end wall, but rather an unassuming side wall, proved that whoever—or whatever—was pulling the strings possessed a sharp, cautious intellect.
Without a second thought, Akira stepped forward, letting the false bricks wash over him like a cool mist, and emerged into a tranquil, hidden courtyard.
Nestled within the secret space stood a quaint, two-story villa. Paper talismans, identical to the one hanging from Chachamaru's collar, were plastered carefully along the courtyard boundaries and the villa's exterior. Together, they wove a flawless barrier, completely erasing the property from the outside world.
Waiting by the front steps was a woman in the prime of her life, accompanied by a slender, pale young man.
"Sir, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the woman spoke softly, her voice like a soothing breeze. "I am Tamayo, and this is Yushiro."
Tamayo wore a deep purple kimono, elegantly patterned with light purple branches, delicate leaves, and striking accents of bright red. Her thick, raven hair was gathered into a low, neat bun at the nape of her neck, secured by a simple hairpin. When Akira met her gaze, he found smoky purple eyes that radiated a deep, gentle calm—a serenity forged over hundreds of years. Yet, beneath that placid surface, his keen senses picked up the faint tremors of a deeply suppressed, intense emotion.
Beside her, Yushiro stood rigid. The young man with pale green hair appeared to be a teenager, though Akira knew he had been in his thirties when he was transformed. Dressed in a crisp, white traditional kimono, Yushiro's small frame was coiled tight with tension. His light purple eyes glared daggers at Akira, brimming with fierce vigilance and undisguised hostility.
"My name is Kanzaki Akira," he replied, his tone relaxed and even. "The current Sound Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps."
The air shattered.
"He's a Hashira!" Yushiro roared, throwing his arms out to shield the woman. "Lady Tamayo, run quickly! I will hold him back!"
Akira had barely finished his introduction before the pale-haired demon, who had only just managed to keep his temper in check, bristled like a threatened feral cat.
"Enough, enough," Akira chuckled, waving a hand dismissively. "If I really wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be standing here right now. I've come solely to meet the only demons who have managed to escape Muzan's control in the last few centuries. And, incidentally, to ask for a small favor."
Yushiro bared his fangs, ready to spit another threat, but Tamayo gently raised a hand. At her silent command, Yushiro immediately snapped his mouth shut, though his chest still heaved with agitation.
"Mr. Kanzaki," Tamayo said, her gaze narrowing slightly as she studied his relaxed posture. "You seem to know a great deal about us."
"Not everything, but I happen to know pieces of your past," Akira said, leaning casually against the hilt of his Nichirin blades. "Rest assured, I didn't learn this through the Demon Slayer Corps. Aside from me, not a single member of the organization knows you exist."
Looking at her, Akira couldn't help but feel a pang of respect. Hundreds of years ago, Tamayo had been nothing more than a dying mother. Desperate to stay with her beloved husband and young child, she had sought out every possible medical cure to prolong her fragile life. Instead, she found Kibutsuji Muzan. Deceived by the Demon King, she was transformed into a monster.
The tragedy of her early days as a demon was a heavy burden; driven mad by the bloodlust of her new nature, she had slaughtered her own husband and child. When her sanity finally returned, she was left with nothing but ash, grief, and a marrow-deep hatred for Muzan. For years, she was forced to act as his puppet, manipulated into taking countless innocent lives.
That was, until Tsugikuni Yoriichi appeared.
Like a god descending from the heavens, the legendary swordsman had cornered Muzan, slashing the invincible Demon King to the brink of death in a single, impressive encounter right before Tamayo's eyes. In that moment of Muzan's absolute weakness, Tamayo seized her chance. Fueled by sheer willpower and centuries of festering hatred, she violently severed her connection to the Demon King.
It was her rebellion that sparked Muzan's eternal paranoia. Terrified that other demons might break free and unite to overthrow him, he issued the absolute decree forbidding his kind from gathering.
Since that day, Tamayo had dedicated her immortal life to medicine and pharmacy. Through agonizing, repeated self-modification, she had fundamentally altered her demonic biology, breaking her dependence on human flesh. Now, she survived solely on small, periodic donations of human blood. Traveling the world as a doctor, she traded her miraculous healing for the tiny amounts of blood she needed to live.
More, she held onto a desperate, burning hope: that demonification was merely a physical illness, and like any illness, it could be cured. For centuries, she had researched a way to reverse the process. Along the way, she offered a choice to dying, incurable patients—with their consent, she turned them into demons who shared her modified, non-lethal biology.
Yushiro was her only human success story. Well, Yushiro and the calico cat, Chachamaru.
Despite hundreds of years of failure in curing the demon curse, Tamayo never stopped. Her crushing guilt, her pity for the victims of Muzan's cruelty, and her absolute hatred for the Demon King kept her in the dark.
As for Yushiro? He was simply the ultimate Tamayo loyalist. A fiercely devoted, easily provoked, and incredibly stubborn protector.
"I do not believe there is anything about me worthy of a Hashira befriending me in private," Tamayo said, breaking the silence. As a demon who had survived for centuries, she was well aware of what a Hashira represented—the absolute pinnacle of humanity's lethal force against her kind.
"I completely disagree," Akira replied, his tone shifting to one of absolute sincerity. "There are quite a few things about you that the Corps should value highly. First and foremost, your medical expertise is unmatched. Whether it's developing medicine for severe trauma, synthesizing lethal poisons against demons, or your ongoing research to reverse demonification—your intellect is an incredible asset."
Akira knew the truth. Without the complex, multi-stage drugs co-developed by Tamayo and Kochou Shinobu in the original timeline, humanity would have been slaughtered in the final battle. A drug that aged Muzan fifty years per minute, prevented him from splitting his body to escape, and targeted his cellular structure? It was a masterpiece of biological warfare. She had even succeeded in creating the cure for demons. Such a brilliant mind deserved the utmost respect.
"," Akira continued, his eyes locking onto hers, "you possess very useful intelligence regarding Kibutsuji Muzan and the founder of the Breathing Techniques, Tsugikuni Yoriichi. That knowledge alone could change the tide of this war."
Tamayo's serene mask finally cracked. Her breath hitched, and her smoky purple eyes widened in shock. "Just who... are you?" she whispered, unable to maintain her composure. His knowledge of her deepest secrets was terrifyingly precise.
"I told you," Akira smiled, a calm, reassuring expression on his face. "I'm the Sound Hashira. But don't bother asking how I know all of this. Even if you ask, I'm going to keep my secrets."
A heavy, stunned silence fell between them. Tamayo stared at the strange swordsman, her mind racing to process the impossibility of his existence.
Beside her, silenced by Tamayo's earlier command, Yushiro practically vibrated with a mix of intense jealousy and overwhelming anxiety for his master's safety.
Finally, Tamayo found her voice. "Then, may I ask, Pillar of Sound... what exactly have you come here to do?"
"Like I said, I came to introduce myself," Akira replied cheerfully. He then pointed a thumb at the glaring green-haired demon. "And, incidentally, to have your assistant here do me a tiny favor. I need him to draw up a dozen or so of those paper talismans—the ones infused with his Blood Demon Art that grant invisibility. I have a very specific use for them coming up."
Yushiro's face flushed dark red with absolute outrage.
"Is that how you ask people for favors, you arrogant brute?!" Yushiro shrieked, his temper finally shattering completely.
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