After that, Hiru continued gathering information alongside Hijima Gyoi. Though Hijima tried hard to hide it, Hiru could still sense the man’s wariness toward him.
【Did I give sothing away? Or does he have so unpleasant mory I accidentally reminded him of?】
Watching Hijima question people with such careful thod and structure, Hiru kept following him, eyes subtly fixed on the man’s back.
Hijima couldn’t see, but he was unusually sensitive to being watched. Hiru’s constant staring had clearly caught his attention. “May I ask… is there sothing wrong with ?”
“Huh?” Hiru blinked and quickly shook his head. But after eting Hijima’s pale eyes, he hurried to add, “No, nothing at all.”
“Then why have you been staring at this entire ti?”
“Oh, that…” Hiru scratched his cheek in embarrassnt. “You seed wary of , so I kept wondering if I’d done sothing wrong… or violated so taboo…”
Hijima bowed his head slightly. His pale, unseeing eyes sohow still made Hiru feel as though he was being looked at directly.
“No. You’ve done nothing wrong.” Hijima gently rolled his prayer beads between his fingers. “It’s simply a knot in my own heart.”
“I see…” Hiru nodded. “Got it.”
“...You’re not curious, Hiru?”
“I an, saying I’m not curious would be a lie. But if it’s a ‘knot,’ it must be sothing you’d rather not recall.” Hiru reached out and patted Hijima’s shoulder. “I’ve had my own knots too. From experience, those are things I wouldn’t want to talk about—definitely not sothing I’d want to revisit. So I kind of understand how you feel.
Also, sorry for making you uncomfortable.”
“...No, it’s fine.” Hijima paused in his bead-rolling. “Would you mind if I said a little more?”
“Ah, go ahead. I’m listening.”
“Truth is, just a year ago, I was nothing more than a blind monk who knew nothing about the world and simply looked after orphans.” Hijima turned, walking slowly as he spoke. “But when the wisteria incense at the temple stopped working, a demon broke in.
Though blind, I had the strength to fight. I shouted for the children to co to , but they were terrified and ran everywhere.
Only the youngest girl, who was frail and sickly, stayed behind . In the end, she was the only one who survived.”
As Hijima spoke, Hiru couldn’t help recalling the first user of the Breath of Stone he had learned about—Iwayuki Ritsugawa, who had also once been a teacher.
Was Hijima the sa? Soone who stepped onto the path of slaying demons because he couldn’t bear to see children hard?
“But when dawn ca and the officials arrived, the demon had already been killed by the sun. In her fear, the surviving child pointed at as the murderer. I was thrown into prison.”
“...Huh?” Hiru froze. “But little kids get confused when they’re scared. Shouldn’t checking the corpses have solved everything?”
“There was another child.”
“I thought only the youngest survived?”
Hijima fell silent for a long mont. “He wasn’t really one of the temple’s children. I had taken him in, raised him—but he kept stealing money and never repented, so eventually I expelled him.
That night, he returned crying outside the temple gates, begging to let him in. He said it was too dark, he was scared, and pleaded for to shelter him for just one more night…
Later, during interrogation, he also insisted I was the one who killed the children. They found that the wisteria incense had been deliberately broken. I was the only one strong enough to do sothing like that—and the only person in charge of the incense.
So the authorities concluded I had done everything.”
“So…” Hiru lowered his eyes, voice steady, though his furrowed brows gave away his anger. “In truth, that child lured in the demon, broke the incense, and then blad everything on you?”
“Perhaps because I cannot see, they thought I was a dark-hearted man venting his emotions on children…” Hijima rolled the beads again, chanting softly rather than answering directly. “After that, though Oyakata-sama saved from execution and brought into the Demon Slayer Corps, I’ve never been able to trust children again. They are fickle creatures by nature.”
“Yeah… after going through sothing like that, I can see why—” Hiru’s nod suddenly froze. He snapped his head up and stared at Hijima. “I’m not a child!”
“I heard that among those who passed the Final Selection this year, there were two brothers—and that the older one had only just co of age…”
Hiru: …
“And judging by your speech patterns, eating habits, and general behavior—even if your age ets the requirent, you are still undeniably a child.”
Hiru: …Tsk. It's all Sabito’s fault for putting ideas in people’s heads!
Hiru was already imagining challenging Sabito to a fight the next ti they t, but Hijima remained oblivious to his internal fury and spoke earnestly. “Even with my reservations, I will place trust in my Demon Slayer comrades when it cos to missions.”
“...That didn’t comfort at all.” Hiru pouted, muttering, “Why are all my teammates so composed? I just want to work with my big brother…”
Hijima: …Truly a child.
Though still wary, he earnestly continued discussing the mission with Hiru.
“Even though the people in this city know disappearances have been happening, they firmly believe the Maiden Deity protects them. They insist no demon would enter the city, and that the missing people must have been punished for lacking faith…” Hijima pressed his palms together and chanted a Buddhist prayer. “In my view, this ‘Maiden Deity’ is most likely the demon causing all this.”
“Agreed,” Hiru nodded, eyeing the heavily guarded small shrine with its long line of worshippers. “But we can’t get in there.”
“There is a way,” Hijima said, gently stroking the crow on his shoulder. “Yoshika ntioned a path up the mountain behind the shrine.”
“…Who is Yoshika?”
“One of my kasugai crows.” Hijima resud rolling his prayer beads. “Because I cannot see, I have two crows who stay near and guide the way.”
“…These crows have nas?”
“You an you never knew?”
“Who would know that?! Seriously, who goes around asking a bird for its na?! Who has that kind of free ti?!”
Hijima listened to Hiru’s rapid-fire complaints in silence, beads softly clicking between his fingers.
【A child who has been dearly cherished, no doubt.】
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