'Demon Slayer' Slayer

Chapter 36: Kahane

As it turned out, I was assigned to guard the Butterfly Mansion the very next night. I stood at my corner, watching the dark forest and messing around with my bow. I shot several small creatures to get the wisteria poison out of my arrows. I had promised Nensho to destroy it all.

Around one in the morning, I told Tomioka that I was going inside to piss. Unfortunately, he still had to know where I was at all times. Not for long, though.

Inside the building, I went straight to the wisteria storage room. There were several large barrels of distilled wisteria poison. How am I going to destroy all this? I wondered. If I stab the side, people will know it was me. But if I make it look like a leak happened...

Glancing around to make sure no one was around, I carefully lifted one of the barrels and propped it up at an angle. I stabbed the floor, making sure there was a place for the spilled venom to go. Then I stabbed the bottom of the barrel and lowered it back to the floor. I did the same thing to the other two barrels, watching them until all the wisteria poison had drained out into the ground.

I hurried back outside to my post. My shift would end in two hours, and then I'd be able to get some sleep before the inevitable battle. I have to convince the master. Nensho was right- we can't take any risks. The Demon Slayer Corps has to die.

The next day, I was called to another Hashira meeting to check in on how the training was going. I listened impatiently to everyone else's reports. When the master asked me what I'd been doing with all my extra time, I was happy to provide an answer.

"I know where Muzan is. Right now, anyway."

Everyone turned to me. Amane said, "Are you sure, Kahane? How do you know for sure?"

Trying not to smile, I told her, "I caught a demon the other night and tortured it with my wisteria arrows. He told me that Muzan is going to be in the ruins of the Swordsmith Village. He doesn't know why he's going to be there, but he did know that he'll only be there for a few days. If we want to kill Muzan, we have to go now."

"Where is this demon? Can we question him further?" Himejima asked.

"No, I killed him. But it's hard to come up with complex lies under torture, and his story seemed to fit together pretty well. I think we can trust it. This is an incredible opportunity. We haven't been able to find Muzan for the last thousand years, and now we know exactly where he is!"

"Well, I have to admit that it's tempting. But how do we know we can trust your story? How do we know you're not lying about all this?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes in exasperation. "If I'm lying, then we'll go there and find an empty forest. You'll kill me, and then you'll go back to your normal lives without consequence. Why on Earth would I lie to you when it's so dangerous for me?"

"Maybe because you're a psychopathic demon slayer killer," Shinazugawa commented. "You just want to cause havoc and destruction. We should never have let you become a Hashira."

"Well, she's served a purpose. She saved me from Upper Moon Four," Fujimatsu pointed out. "And she killed Upper Moon Five, as well as several Lower Moons. I, for one, am glad she's on our side. But that's not the point."

I gave Fujimatsu a grateful look. Oh, if only you knew...

"Well, you have a point, but we still can't trust Kahane completely. She's not like other demon slayers. She doesn't have the same motivations," Tomioka pointed out. "Kahane, how can we be sure?"

"Well, do you trust my Kasugai crow?"

"Yes..."

"Okay. Crow, come here now!"