Satoshi Kamado

88. Revived Memories.

Doma had already simultaneously slashed at Inosuke's chest twice creating an X-like mark.

He quickly summoned more ice and tried to knock Inosuke but Kanae grabbed him quickly and brought him into the cult's room pond.

Inosuke was in the pond, on his knees, facing down. Kanae and Shinobu stood in front of him, facing Doma.

"INOSUKE-KUN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT! PLEASE CALM DOWN!" Kanae concerned for the boy. He didn't reply.

Doma then said, "Now listen till the end, boy. This encounter is nothing short of a miracle."

He then continued his story, "So now, about your mom. I had no intention of eating her. Having someone beautiful next to you feels preety nice, you know? She wasn't very smart though, unfortunately. However, she was beautiful and also very good in singing. She used to carry you and sing to you a lot. It was that pinky promise lullaby for some reason. Pinky promise, pinky promise. That was all she sang to you."

Inosuke hearing that, started remembering vaguely about the lullaby.

"And everytime she sang that pinky promise song, the lyrics were different. At some point, it became a Tanuki village song. It was so cute." Doma commented.

After this comment, everything started hitting at Inosuke like a truck. He realised that it wasn't Kanae who he met. It seemed like it was her, but it wasn't.

Doma continued, "I wasn't going to eat her. I purely planned on keeping her by my side until she passed away. But your mom.... right, her name was 'Kotoha'. Kotoha was very sharp despite being stupid. She found out I was eating my worshippers. Despite all my explanations, she couldn't understand my benevolence. It was insult after insult saying I spouted nothing but horrible lies. She then ran away from my temple."

FLASHBACK
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Kotoha ran away from the cult with Inosuke in her hands.

She panted as she ran through the forest.

"I'm sorry, Inosuke. I'm so sorry. Mommy's so stupid." She apologized to her baby as she ran.

"I always make mistakes. I always go the wrong way. I'm so sorry, Inosuke. I'm your mother, I needed to keep it together, yet....."

She didn't finish her sentence as she had reached a dead end. She apologized over and over again to her child.

She knew there was no other way to run, and the two of them would be killed. She then thought that at the very least, she can save Inosuke.

She hugged her child for one last time as she cried heartbrokenly. "I'm so sorry, Inosuke. I'm so sorry."

Right after she apologized, she dropped Inosuke from the cliff into a river. Just after she dropped him, she got slashed by Doma.

He commented, "There's no way you could have saved him by dropping off this cliff. You were stupid till the very end, Kotoha."

He then looked down the cliff to where Inosuke was dropped and said, "To think you died because your mother dropped you off a cliff.....how sad?"