Sanemi Shinazugawa lay in the shadows, quietly watching until the silhouettes of Inosuke and the other two vanished completely.
His chest rose and fell violently.
That heart—just repaired moments ago—
had grown not only new blood, but also the deep relief of surviving a calamity.
He lowered his head, looking at the black claws on his hands, then touched the demon markings on his cheeks.
The sense of power was real.
The instinctive aversion to sunlight was real.
He… had truly become a demon.
"B-Brother…"
A timid voice came from behind him.
Sanemi's body stiffened.
He slowly turned around and saw Genya, also huddled in the shadows.
A long silence followed.
Sanemi opened his mouth—
he wanted to curse, to tell him to get lost, to ask if he was in pain—
But it was as if something was lodged in his throat.
Not a single word came out.
Genya saw his brother hesitate like that and grew anxious.
He instinctively shrank his neck, his gaze wandering, finally landing on Sanemi's demonized, somewhat ferocious face.
"Um… well…"
Genya fidgeted awkwardly, rubbing his hands together.
After holding it in for a long time, he finally blurted out a sentence that made Sanemi's brain crash completely:
"Actually… Brother…
you look kinda cool… as a demon."
"…..?"
The air froze.
"Huh?!"
"Did this kid get his brain blown out?!"
"At a time like this… what nonsense is he saying?!"
Sanemi raised his hand abruptly. The claw sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.
Genya flinched all over, instinctively squeezing his eyes shut and ducking his head, waiting for the familiar blow.
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said something stupid!"
The expected pain never came.
One second.
Two seconds.
Genya cautiously opened one eye.
That demonic claw was hovering above his head—less than a centimeter from his hair.
And it was shaking.
Violently shaking.
Sanemi stared at his brother, eyes shut tight, waiting to be hit.
Stared at that body which had been blown to pieces, now barely pieced back together only because he had turned into a demon.
The last shred of composure he had forced himself to maintain in front of Inosuke and the others—
the fierce mask—
Shattered completely at that moment.
"You idiot…"
Sanemi's voice broke.
The claw gently fell. He suddenly grabbed the back of Genya's head.
Thump!
Sanemi stepped forward and pulled Genya into his arms, hugging him fiercely.
So hard it felt as if he wanted to crush his brother into himself—never to separate again.
"Waaahhh…"
Years of suppressed emotion burst like a broken dam.
The man known as the coldest, most ruthless Wind Hashira
was now clutching his brother in the corner of an abandoned ruin, crying his heart out.
"Why did you follow me?!!"
Sanemi cried as he pounded Genya's back with his fist—yet didn't dare use any strength at all.
"You're the only brother I have!!
Do you know that?!"
"If you'd died… if you'd died… what would I have done?!"
"You idiot!! A total idiot!!"
Genya froze.
He felt his brother's scorching tears soaking into his neck, felt the trembling warmth of that embrace.
It was the hug he had dreamed of for so many years.
"Waaaahhhh!!"
Genya finally broke too. He wrapped his arms tightly around Sanemi's waist and cried like a wronged three-year-old.
"You're the idiot!! A super big idiot!!"
"I only have one brother too!!"
Genya shouted through his tears.
"You kept pushing me away… kept telling me to get lost… never forgave me…"
"I was so scared… so scared that even on the day I died… you still wouldn't look at me…"
"I thought you hated me… wuuuu…"
At those words, Sanemi's body shook violently.
He held Genya even tighter, so tight their bones creaked.
"I never hated you…"
Sanemi buried his face into Genya's shoulder, his voice utterly shattered.
"Not once… not ever…"
"I just… I just wanted you farther away from danger…"
"I wanted you to marry, have children… I wanted you to grow old and die peacefully…"
"All this sin… all this danger…
it was enough for me alone to bear!!"
This was the secret buried deepest in Sanemi's heart.
A clumsy love disguised as rage.
Hearing it, Genya cried even harder.
"I don't want you to bear it alone!!"
"I want to do it together with you!!"
Genya lifted his head, his horned face filled with stubborn resolve.
"I'm not the useless brat who hid behind you crying and blamed you anymore!!"
"I've gotten stronger too! I can protect you now!!"
"Even if we go to hell, I'm going with you!!"
Under the eaves lit by morning light,
Two monsters held each other tightly.
They cried, they yelled, and in those long five minutes,
they melted away all the missed years, all the misunderstandings, all the unspoken feelings.
Until—
As the sun rose higher, the drug's effect began to fade, and the signs of demonization slowly receded.
The horn withdrew.
The fangs fell away.
Their skin returned to human color.
Sanemi felt the change first.
He sniffed, awkwardly released Genya, and roughly wiped the tears from his face.
That familiar Wind Hashira edge returned.
"Idiot! How long are you planning to lie there?!"
Sanemi stood up and lightly kicked Genya.
"Get up already! We're going back to the Demon Slayer Corps!"
"Huh? Back to the Corps?
Aren't we resting first?"
Genya was still a bit dazed.
Sanemi straightened his tattered uniform, his gaze firm beyond belief.
He looked in the direction Inosuke had left.
"I still have to go back and explain everything to the Master—to all the Hashira."
"Inosuke… is no traitor."
"Move it! Keep up! Stop dawdling!"
"Yes, Brother!"
Genya scrambled to his feet, looking at the man ahead of him—still hot-tempered, but now slowing his steps to wait for him.
He grinned foolishly.
...
Yoshiwara, a certain luxurious inn.
"Hahahaha! A dojo that opens at night?!"
"Third Uncle, are you stupid?! Or is it specifically for demons?!"
Daki sat cross-legged on the tatami, mercilessly mocking Akaza.
Dōma and Gyutaro were laughing so hard they nearly fell over.
"Lord Akaza, does anyone really go to a place like that? Won't it be mistaken for a haunted house?"
"Shut up! What do you know?!"
Veins bulged on Akaza's forehead as his face turned red.
"Only true warriors seek power in the dead of night!"
He raised his fist threateningly.
"Waaah! Third Uncle's hitting people!"
"Dad! Help! Third Uncle's trying to silence us!"
"Oh my, oh my~"
Dōma sat to the side, watching the chaos, laughing until his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Lord Akaza, you should be gentler with everyone."
"Opening at night does sound a bit like a shady shop—how about I sponsor you some lanterns?"
"Get lost!"
Akaza roared back.
In the corner,
Kotoha covered her mouth and laughed softly, her eyes curved like crescents.
"Everyone's so lively."
"Mr. Akaza looks scary, but he really likes everyone, doesn't he?"
Daki and Gyutaro sat beside Kotoha. They no longer mocked Akaza—just quietly watched her, like two well-behaved cats.
Daki peeled an orange and carefully handed it to Kotoha.
"Auntie Kotoha, have some. It's really sweet."
Kotoha smiled and accepted it.
"Thank you, Miss Ume."
Daki gazed at her smile, deep attachment surfacing in her eyes.
Just hours ago, this fragile human woman—
when facing a Lower Rank demon's self-destruction—
hadn't screamed or fled, but instinctively tried to shield Nezuko behind her.
And Lord Dōma had taken all the damage for her.
"How nice…"
Daki thought.
"I used to hate this place. Hate humans."
"But now… I don't hate it anymore."
"As long as Auntie Kotoha is here…
I like anywhere."
Gyutaro said nothing. He simply nudged a teacup closer to Kotoha's hand.
Even his jealousy-filled eyes were gentle when he looked at her.
...
After the laughter faded,
Inosuke alone walked to the window.
He pushed it open and gazed toward the sky over Yoshiwara.
The usual roguish grin vanished from his face.
What appeared instead was compassion.
Inosuke slowly closed his eyes, pressed his palms together, and bowed deeply in that direction.
"Shōzaburō…"
In his mind surfaced the image of that ragged child—who had smashed his head bloody to save his mother, only to become a demon and self-destruct.
"I don't blame you."
"Anyone with half a brain knows… that was Muzan's doing."
"I hope… you and your mother…"
"Really made it to that heaven… that Pure Land."
He opened his eyes.
A deep sense of powerlessness washed over him.
He had saved Sanemi.
Saved Genya.
But he couldn't save Shōzaburō.
He was still too weak.
"I must… become stronger."
"When Lady Tamayo finishes the medicine… when the Blue Spider Lily blooms…"
"Muzan… I'll make you pay this debt with interest."
Just then—
"Oh? Inosuke, are you praying to the Buddha?"
Dōma appeared behind him without a sound.
Leaning against the wall, golden fan in hand, his rainbow eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the boy's back.
He had seen Inosuke's sincerity when his hands were clasped.
"This child…"
Dōma's lips curved into a meaningful smile.
"So… he really is different from how I was back then?"
Back then, Dōma sat on a high platform listening to believers' prayers, feeling only disgust and ridicule—thinking humans foolish, death the only salvation.
But Inosuke now…
He was truly praying for a dead soul.
He truly wanted to save everyone.
"How interesting…"
"Raised by me, yet growing into a true divine child?"
"Dad."
Inosuke didn't turn around, just called out calmly.
"I'm here~"
Dōma instantly switched back to his teasing tone and pounced over to hug him.
"Did you miss Daddy? Want Daddy to take you for a late-night snack once it gets dark?"
"Get off! Don't wipe your snot on me!"
"Aww, these are tears of emotion~"
...
Hell.
There was no light here.
Only endless darkness—and burning karmic flames.
Shōzaburō woke up.
He looked around in confusion. He had returned to the appearance of a six-year-old child.
"Where… am I?"
He curled up, trembling as he looked at the wailing souls burning in the sea of fire.
"This is hell."
A bull-headed jailer said coldly, shoving him hard.
"Shōzaburō. Crime of matricide.
You are sentenced to Avīci Hell, to suffer without end."
"Matricide…"
The words struck like thunder.
Memories flooded back.
That bowl of poison he had fed her with his own hands.
His mother's face bleeding from every orifice.
"Mom!"
Shōzaburō suddenly jumped up.
Ignoring the lashes of the jailer, ignoring the scorching ground beneath his feet, he ran madly through the crowd of souls.
"Mom!! Where are you?!"
"Mom!! Your son is here!!"
He pried open one face after another.
Not her.
Not her.
Still not her.
He ran and ran through hell.
Until his feet were raw and bleeding.
Until his throat was hoarse and broken.
He searched every corner nearby.
He had even prepared himself—
even if his mother was being punished, even if she hated him, he would find her and suffer in her place.
But—
Nothing.
She wasn't there.
Shōzaburō stopped.
He collapsed onto the scorching ground and stared blankly at the dim sky.
"She's not…"
"Mom isn't in hell…"
"She's not here…"
Suddenly—
He laughed.
It started as soft sobbing, then turned into relieved, unrestrained laughter.
Tears streamed down his filthy little face.
"That's wonderful…"
He cried and laughed at the same time, slapping the ground.
"That's wonderful… Mom…"
"You're really not in hell…"
"The divine child didn't lie to me…"
"You were so kind… you gave me all the rice balls… you even gave me the clouds in the sky to eat…"
"You suffered so much… how could you come to hell?"
"You must've gone to heaven… to the Pure Land…"
"There are so many rice balls there… endless new clothes…"
Shōzaburō curled into a small ball.
At this moment, he was unimaginably at peace—and happy.
"Mom…"
"I won't go there."
"I'll stay here…"
"It's dirty here. It hurts here.
I'll bear it all by myself."
"As long as you're up there, enjoying your happiness…"
"…your son will stay here in hell…"
"…bowing to you."
The small child bowed deeply toward the empty void above.
Amid the karmic flames,
He showed the brightest smile of his six-year life.
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