Under the cover of night, the culvert entrance—shrouded in thick mud—exuded a stifling sense of oppression as time ticked by.
The moonlight drifted silently through the stillness of the dark. Inside the culvert, Kiyokazu and Ume held their breath so completely that the air grew still enough to hear the pounding of a heart. Gyutaro's breathing, heavy and ragged from his injuries, seemed dangerously loud in the silence.
Along the riverbank outside, the disorganized tramping of Kondo and his men, along with their impatient cursing, drifted in and out. The sound hovered nearby, then receded, keeping the tension at a breaking point.
"Where the hell did those three little brats crawl off to?!"
The irritable voice echoed across the water. Kondo, leaning heavily on his crutch, looked as ferocious as a fiend. The veins on his forehead bulged, and the pain from his severed leg made his temper incredibly volatile.
"Don't you dare split up! Stay in groups of at least two! That bastard brat moves like a ghost; if you're alone, he'll gut you!"
He hissed, spittle flying. "But they haven't left the city. The guards at the gate are friends of mine, and they haven't seen any kids pass through. Besides, they're all hurt—especially Gyutaro. Even if Chojiro only hired two men, that kid was badly mangled. They can't have gone far. That other brat is wounded too, and he's dragging a half-dead anchor with him! They're definitely around here!"
Listening to the voices from above, Kiyokazu took a deep breath.
What made him most nervous wasn't the handful of thugs overhead, but that faint, nauseating, fishy stench of a demon. However, Kiyokazu didn't think himself particularly unlucky. From the moment he saw that peace officer in the afternoon, he had suspected something like this might happen.
The thugs were bound to come looking for them, and the suspicious movements of such a large group wouldn't go unnoticed by a demon, who would be most active at night. Combined with the thick scent of blood they carried, they were essentially a walking banquet. There was no reason for the demon not to follow them.
But as long as they hadn't been discovered, he didn't need to worry about the demon yet. He was perfectly content to let the monster feast on those wretched thugs instead.
As for the idea of protecting humans from being eaten? Kiyokazu knew better. He had a brain to protect, not just a hero complex.
Kondo's men were doing their best to search for any trace of them, but the night was too dark. The riverbanks were overgrown with weeds—some over a meter tall—and the men were terrified of venturing into the thicket. In the daylight, it would have been easy, but with tonight's visibility, everyone feared a single slip that would send them tumbling into the water. Knowing their companions' characters, no one would risk their life to save a man who fell in.
The river was notorious for accidents, filled with tangled aquatic plants that made it difficult to survive a fall even during the day, let alone at night. Under these conditions, finding Kiyokazu and the siblings—hidden in a mud-covered culvert—was nearly impossible.
Kondo roared and urged his men to keep searching, but he understood he couldn't push them too hard. With his own leg severed, he couldn't personally climb down to search, and truth be told, even if his leg were fine, he wouldn't have gone down there anyway.
After searching for over an hour with no results, he finally conceded and ordered the men back to rest.
Hearing the footsteps recede into the distance, Kiyokazu let out a quiet sigh of relief. The ordeal hadn't been as harrowing as expected; the riverbank was vast, and the closest the men had come was about fifty meters—they had never stood a chance of spotting the hiding spot.
Regardless, as long as they left, there was a high probability they could get some rest tonight. If they could just make it through until morning, things would get easier.
But in that moment, Kiyokazu suddenly felt an incredibly unsettling sensation crawl up his spine. It was the feeling of being locked onto by a predator—a prickly, skin-crawling discomfort that made his hair stand on end.
"Your... your back!"
At Ume's muffled gasp, Kiyokazu instinctively reached back and touched his shoulder blade.
A cold sensation met his fingers. The moment his hand brushed the skin, a needle-like sting shot through his back. When he pulled his hand away and saw what was in his palm, his expression turned grim.
There, wriggling in his palm, was a tiny piece of flesh the size of a hair, its color nearly identical to his own skin. He could feel that this flesh had burrowed out from one of his wounds—which was likely why it hadn't been destroyed by the sun.
There was only one thing capable of such a feat that also feared the sunlight.
A demon.
This was something the peace officer demon had planted on him today! With the faintness of the sensation and the urgency of the situation earlier, he hadn't noticed it at all.
Its presence here meant that his movements had been tracked from the very beginning!
Damn it! I'm the one who led him to Ume and Gyutaro.
Realizing this, Kiyokazu turned to Ume. His voice was thick with guilt but tempered with iron resolve.
"Ume, this is a demon's trick. He's likely had my position locked for a long time. I'm sorry... I'm the one who put you both in danger. We have to split up now. If a fight breaks out outside, I promise you that as long as I draw breath, no one will get past me to chase you."
"We can't stay here anymore," he continued urgently. "Since the demon has my location, this culvert is a death trap. Try to wake your brother. Even if he only regains a sliver of consciousness, it'll make him easier to carry. This is all I can say. I'm sorry!"
Kiyokazu didn't give Ume a chance to argue. He turned and bolted out of the culvert. Ume reached out, her fingers just missing the edge of his garment as his silhouette vanished.
At the same time, the lizard-like demon, Yamada Mura, watched the moving Kiyokazu with eyes full of predatory amusement.
Though he hadn't yet manifested a Blood Demon Art, any demon could sense their own flesh. Planting a fragment in Kiyokazu had been his plan all along. While his sensing range wasn't infinite, as long as he had a general direction, he could lock onto his prey.
He had found Kiyokazu's location long ago. He had only held back to wait for the thugs to exhaust themselves and to let Kiyokazu's mental guard crumble.
Caution—that was the primary reason a demon like him had managed to survive this long.
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Demon Slayer: Starting by Snatching Daki(52 Chapter- Ongoing)
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