I CAN'T BELIEVE IT... 🤯
I raised the goal to 800 PS thinking you'd finally give up... AND YOU BLEW PAST IT LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!
I don't even know what to do with you anymore. You're MONSTERS. Here's your chapter, you earned it fair and square 🔥
But now... the moment of truth has arrived. Let's break the ONE THOUSAND barrier
New goal: 1050 PS đź’Ž
Four digits? Impossible... or is it?
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The Hashiras exchanged glances of absolute bewilderment.
After everything they had lived through, few things were capable of surprising them. But that cry of "Mommy"… that one had pulled it off.
They were talking about Sanemi Shinazugawa here!
The most ill-tempered, violent rebel in the Demon Slayer Corps.
"Did he just say… 'Mommy'?"
Tengen turned toward Mitsuri, who was at his side.
Her eyes brimming with emotion, Mitsuri covered her face with both hands while nodding over and over. 'Sanemi-san's contrast is so… ADORABLE!'
Rengoku watched the scene slack-jawed, his eyes wide as saucers.
But the one with the most extreme reaction, hands down, was Obanai.
Upon hearing that "Mommy" slip from Sanemi's lips, he first stood petrified. And a second later…
"That cookie was poisoned! Sanemi's brain has melted!!"
"PROTECT THE MASTER!"
Not caring about his own wounds, he drew his sword and lunged toward the eaves.
But…
WHAM!
A cylinder wrapped in bandages slammed a backhand straight into his face.
"You're the one who's gone stupid!"
Bringing his hands to his reddened face, Obanai looked at Sanemi in absolute disbelief.
He had been keeping watch on Nezuko. On Marcus. Even on those invisible arrows… But it had never once occurred to him to guard against Sanemi!
'This bastard…! Hitting him from behind… all to defend that demon?!'
"Nobody butts into my business."
Sanemi shot him a sidelong glance. From the profile he showed, it was obvious his fury was genuine.
"You think I do this for fun?!"
Without letting go of his nose, Obanai shot daggers at him. And while he was at it, he shot daggers at Marcus too. Then he walked over to Kagaya and bowed respectfully.
"Forgive my discourtesy, Master…"
"Hmm? Ah… don't worry about it, Obanai."
Hearing such a distracted reply, he lifted his gaze and felt the last pillar of sanity he had left come crashing down. The Master, always serene, wise, and kind, had at that moment a… strange expression.
He was murmuring softly with his two daughters, the three of them with the same look of being focused on something else.
It was just that Kagaya, simply, couldn't see, and curiosity was eating away at him: he needed to understand how it was possible that his Wind Pillar had had such a drastic change in a matter of seconds.
In that instant, he was listening to his daughters break the scene down for him word by word, gesture by gesture. He had no time to attend to him.
And Obanai… Obanai sank into the deepest darkness. Wrapped in a gloomy, depressed aura, he dragged his feet back to his spot in the line.
"It seems… nobody needs me…"
Beneath the eaves, Marcus was holding back his laughter as he watched Sanemi, completely flushed.
The latter was looking at Nezuko with a clumsy, childlike tenderness, and she, tilting her little head, fixed her eyes on Marcus's shoulder.
He understood right away what the girl wanted.
He slipped his hands under her armpits and lifted her up over his head. During the movement, Nezuko shrank smaller and smaller, until she was sitting comfortably on Marcus's shoulders, riding piggyback.
She wrapped her tiny hands around his head and rested her chin on the crown of his head, looking at Sanemi innocently.
Seeing her like that, now shrunk to an even tinier size, Sanemi's lips twitched slightly.
He was finally managing to climb out of the pit of memories about his mother.
But then he met Marcus's mocking gaze, and a vein swelled up on his forehead again.
His face turned red and he started grinding his teeth in rage. However, for some reason that not even he himself understood, despite the embarrassment and the fury, he didn't feel the urge to blow up.
At least, not in front of her…
After a deep breath, he stopped the bleeding and tried to settle his emotions as best he could.
"Ne… Nezuko doesn't eat humans."
His voice came out in a barely audible murmur.
"But those other two have devoured a whole bunch!"
Marcus smiled, twirling his fingers around Nezuko's dangling little feet.
"From now on, they won't."
"And what good is your saying so?" Sanemi furrowed his brow. "Do you really believe that just because Nezuko is capable of resisting the temptation of my blood, those other two will be able to as well?"
"So you also consider that Nezuko deserves special treatment…" Marcus arched an eyebrow. "Are you still thinking about killing her?"
'Kill Nezuko?!'
Hearing those words, Sanemi panicked and looked up at her.
When he noticed the little one seemed to have understood perfectly what had just been said, that she was nervously interlacing her fingers and a trace of fear was creeping into her eyes, Sanemi got desperate.
"W-When did I ever say I wanted to kill Nezuko?! I-I… I just… I-I NEVER SAID ANY SUCH THING!"
"…"
The whole place fell into silence.
"PFFF!"
But Mitsuri broke it.
This time she was incapable of holding back, and she didn't even bother to cover her mouth anymore. She doubled over with laughter until her braids brushed the ground.
"S-Sumimasen!"
She apologized between cackles, while tears rolled down her cheeks.
Seeing Sanemi overheating from embarrassment, Marcus shook his head.
What was happening was exceeding even his own expectations. He knew that Tanjiro, being the protagonist that he was, possessed the rare ability to transmit "warmth" to humans and even to demons.
…What he hadn't expected was that Nezuko, in her own way, had exactly the same gift.
He looked at her.
"Mmh?" Feeling his eyes on her, Nezuko lowered her gaze.
Chuckling under his breath, Marcus turned his attention back to Sanemi, who was watching him with something very close to envy.
"The experiment isn't what you think."
His tone turned grave.
"For some time now, we've been capable of eradicating the desire to eat humans in demons. And, most importantly, of severing the bond that ties them to Muzan."
"If you let me take those two with me for a month, I can guarantee that they won't have so much as a single thought of devouring a person ever again."
"But they killed four members of the Corps!"
Sanemi wouldn't budge.
"And if the experiment goes well, they'll save the lives of four hundred."
Marcus held his gaze.
"Besides, let's suppose you really don't allow me to take these two 'test subjects' with me."
"Then… the next experiments, the ones that would put a life at risk, would have to be carried out by… Nezuko."
"NO WAY!"
Two voices rang out in unison.
One was Tanjiro's, who up until then had remained kneeling off to one side, not daring to step in, but who now raised his head with a face drained of color.
The other was Sanemi's!
He had practically roared. And the moment he did, he himself stood petrified by his own words.
The scene fell back into silence.
This time, even more awkward than before.
Tanjiro had his mouth hanging open, staring straight at Sanemi.
'There's definitely nobody normal here!'
Marcus shot Sanemi a grin from ear to ear.
"So… do you agree?"
The old scars on Sanemi's face had lit up a fiery red. He himself didn't understand what was happening to him! His lips moved, trying to retort, but he couldn't find the words.
When his eyes drifted toward Nezuko, he met a gaze so clear and transparent that he thought he could see himself reflected in her eyes.
Sanemi looked away in an instant.
'Could it be… that I'm projecting onto her the guilt I feel about my mother?'
… He didn't know. And at that moment, he wasn't in any condition to figure it out. The only thing he could do was glare fiercely at Marcus.
"Only one month."
He whispered under his breath, his stance still unyielding.
"In a month, I'll go check it out myself. If they still hold so much as the slightest desire to eat humans, I won't show any mercy!"
"Sounds fair to me."
"Hmph!"
Right after that, he made to turn around and leave. It was then that he realized that… he was still floating under Marcus's control.
A fresh wave of embarrassment washed over him, forcing him to lower his head with his face completely lit up.
"Put me down…"
This time, Marcus didn't give him any grief about it.
With a simple gesture, he was about to set him back down in his original spot. However, right at that instant, an idea popped into his head.
He had no clue how Nezuko had managed to "tame" him, to the point that he was willing to make a sacrifice for her. But since things had taken that turn… why not stoke the flames a little more?
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And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790