Recap of last chapter: Nezuko got beaten up by a mysterious boy in a fox mask.
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"—————ah."
"Oh, you're awake."
Nezuko sat up, grimacing as her wounds from the fox boy ached on every part of her body. She blinked a few times, realising that the sun had set, while in its place had risen the moon.
"Are you okay?"
A soft voice of a young girl called out from next to Nezuko. She heard the voice, but didn't answer the question; she had a different matter on her mind.
"Did you see that!?"
Nezuko shouted, turning to the source of the voice. A young girl with slick black hair and aqua eyes was squatting next to her, holding her knees and staring into Nezuko's face. A white fox mask with a different design was pushed to the side of her head.
The girl, who heard Nezuko's shout, cocked her head to the side.
"...........?"
"His movements... not a single bit of wasted motion! Not to say his speed and power — what kind of training does he......... and his skills!"
Nezuko remembered her duel with the fox masked-boy, a completely one-sided battle where even with a real katana, she couldn't even chip away at the opponent's wooden sword. She could easily understand that such a performance was only possible with a level of skill achievable only through a gruelling training.
"———I want to become like that! Do you think I can become like him....?"
The girl listened to Nezuko quietly — and replied.
"I'm sure you can......"
She stood up and patted dirt off her clothes. She then looked back at Nezuko sitting on the floor, making a soft smile.
"........because I'll be looking after you."
Nezuko gazed at the girl for a while.
——What a cute girl.... she has a fox mask, is she an acquaintance of the boy from earlier?
"Who..... are you?"
"My name is Makomo." The young girl answered in her soft tone. "And the boy who beat you up, his name is Sabito."
Nezuko scanned around at the scenery. "Where is he.... Sabito, was it?"
Makomo chuckled. "He's embarrassed that he mistook you for a boy. That's why he's hiding right now."
"Ah..... haha....."
Nezuko had tried to point out the boy's mistake as they fought each other, but she was knocked out before she could.
"What's your name?" Makomo asked.
"I'm Nezuko. Kamado Nezuko."
"Nice to meet you, Nezuko. By the way....."
Nezuko noticed that Makomo was not looking at her, but something on her lap——
"Mmmhh!!"
"Onii-chan!?"
Tanjiro, in the form of a young child, had been slouched on Nezuko's lap. Realising that his sister had finally noticed him, he lifted his head and moaned again.
"Mmm!"
"I-I didn't notice him at all...." Nezuko muttered.
She gently patted Tanjiro on his head, to which he squirmed happily in response. She smiled, and asked her brother.
"What are you doing here, Onii-chan?"
"Oh, so he's your older brother." Makomo nodded next to them.
"When he appeared while you were asleep, I was afraid that a demon had showed up to attack you."
That's right... since they're acquainted with Urokodaki-san, that must mean they're also demon hunters!
Nezuko realised that she had to convince Makomo that Tanjiro was harmless.
"M-Makomo-chan... He's a demon, but he's never attacked a human! And... ah! U-Urokodaki-san also said——"
Makomo smiled, interrupting her words.
"It's okay, Nezuko. I can tell that he has no hostility towards you.'"
"R-Really...?"
Makomo nodded.
Nezuko sighed in relief. "O-Okay...."
Makomo chuckled. "Well, that's that. Nezuko, about what I said earlier...."
"—Ah, you said you were going to look after me...?"
"Mh-hm. Sabito asked me to mentor you..... so, I'll ask again. Are you alright?"
Nezuko stood up with Tanjiro. She moved her arms and legs, checking her body's condition.
".....it pains, but I'm alright."
"That's good."
"Um.... this might be a weird question but.... Makomo-chan, are you strong?"
Makomo looked surprised, as if that question was unexpected.
She then smiled mischievously.
"Fufu.... I'm as strong as Sabito, you know?"
* * *
"Urokodaki-san would get worried if we stayed in the mountain for too long." Nezuko said. "Makomo-chan, please give him.... Sabito my regards as well."
"See you, Nezuko." Makomo smiled softly and waved.
She watched as the short-haired girl disappeared into the trees while holding hands with his demon brother, Tanjiro, who apparently had an extremely good sense of smell which allowed him to lead the way in the complete darkness.
Makomo looked on until the two of them had disappeared from sight, then turned around to face the massive boulder in the centre of the open space.
".....Makomo."
The pink-haired boy wearing a fox mask called from on top of the boulder, where he had been seated. Makomo raised her eyebrows.
"You were there, Sabito?"
Sabito didn't respond to Makomo's question. He stood up and leapt off the boulder, landing softly next to the young girl.
The two of them stood side by side, but were facing opposite directions as they stood. Silence followed for a while.
"———What is the meaning of this, Makomo?"
It was Sabito who broke the silence. His voice was low and deep, and there was a certain coldness to it — if Nezuko had been here, his tone would've made her shiver.
Makomo, however, smiled nonchalantly.
"......What do you mean?"
Sabito sighed; he was scowling hard behind his mask.
"That.... was a man-eating demon."
"Oh, you mean Tanjiro?"
Sabito nodded slowly. Makomo laughed.
"You have nothing to worry, he's harmless."
"........I don't care that it's harmless; it is a man-eating demon nonetheless."
".......?"
Makomo cocked her head.
"But Nezuko said that Tanjiro hasn't eaten anybody yet...?"
"And you believe that?"
Makomo narrowed her eyes. "——I think Nezuko can be trusted. She's an honest girl."
"That's not the point!" Sabito growled; his anger seemed to be making the atmosphere sharper.
"If demons could control their hunger like that.... damage done to human society in the past 1000 years would've been incomparably small!! And my... our families might've been alive!!"
Makomo silently listened, but her eyebrows twitched at Sabito's words.
"Millions have died, including our families, precisely because demons cannot control their hunger!! No matter what a kind person they were when they were a human, once turned into a demon, they lose all of their humanity and indiscriminately devour people!!"
"........."
"When no such thing had occurred for a thousand years, how can you be so sure that the story of a demon who do not devour humans is a reality!?"
"Sabito."
Makomo called his name. Unlike her usual floaty and soft tone, she had spoken in a stern way. Sabito stopped to stare at the young girl.
"It's as I said..... I trust Nezuko."
"——!! But that———"
"And."
Makomo interrupted Sabito once again.
"I trust Urokodaki-san who is watching after them."
"............."
Sabito stayed silent; beneath his mask, he widened his eyes in realisation.
"Sabito, I understand your anger. We all share the same emotion."
Makomo continued, returning her usual soft smile as she saw Sabito turn his face to the side uncomfortably.
"I..... also found it hard to believe that such a thing could happen. But then... I thought."
Sabito looked back at Makomo.
"......?"
"——If such a thing did happen, wouldn't it change everything?"
Makomo widened her arms, maintaining her smile.
"Something that had not happened for a thousand years... who cares about the odds? This could become the breaking point for our battle against the demons."
".........a thought like that.... is far too idealistic."
"Perhaps. But who are we to decide?"
Makomo leapt up, spun her body vertically in the air, and landed on top of the boulder. Looking back down at Sabito on the ground, she continued.
"We're only fledglings.... no, we couldn't even fledge as Demon Slayers."
"But as a result of some miracle, coincidence, or whatever of the sort.... we are here in the present as remnants of the past."
"..............."
"We should leave all those worries and doubts to those who are living the present. For us, who live in the past..... what we can do, and will do, all come down to one thing."
"..............."
"We'll entrust it to them. We hand over what we've gained, so that our tragedies do not repeat. We will entrust everything.... so that Urokodaki-san won't suffer the same pain again."
".............!!"
"At the end of the day, that's why we're here, right? Because we both love Urokodaki-san, and we don't want him to bear the pain of losing his students again. In the end, we're both here for a selfish reason... so let us stick to that, Sabito."
"............."
Slowly, Sabito crouched down where he had been standing. He lowered his head, and sighed deeply at the ground.
Silence followed for a few moments.
".............you're right."
Sabito lightly kicked off the ground and landed next to Makomo on top of the boulder.
".......It's as you said." He muttered, and lifted his mask. "In the end, what we do won't change."
Makomo nodded. "Mh-hm."
Sabito smiled at the girl. Now standing next to each other, he was over a head taller than her.
"You're amazing, Makomo." As he said, he patted Makomo's slick black hair. "Even though you're younger than me, you're thinking so much more."
Makomo pouted as she looked up at the pink-haired youth. ".....If we both had survived, we'd be about the same age."
"Hahaha....."
The two of them sat down together on the boulder.
Makomo's head leaned on Sabito's shoulders, while his head rested on top of her head.
A boy and a girl.... whose lives probably never intersected in their previous lives.
——As remnants of the past, they form a relationship that no living soul would ever know......
The moonlight shone on the empty space atop the massive boulder.
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End of chapter 8!
Damn, I got poetic all of a sudden....
I originally thought of making this story with a "What-if" situation with Sabito and Makomo still alive..... that's how much I love these two.
But then I realised. Sadly, their characters shine precisely because they are who they are as ghosts of the past. Cruel is the world of Kimetsu no Yaiba..... and because of it, really beautiful. Hopefully I could do my part to represent the beauty of the story.
I'd intended to get to Nezuko cutting the boulder at the end of the eighth chapter........
Next chapter, Nezuko's training arc finishes!!
I hope.........