When the demon's head hit the ground, he still hadn't realized what had happened.
Only when he could no longer sense his body did he finally beco aware of his condition.
"Ah… ah!! AH!!!! Damn it… DAMN IT ALL!!!"
Now reduced to just a head, the long-haired demon began screaming wildly.
Perhaps it was unwillingness, or maybe sothing else, but his head wasn't disintegrating right away—its dissolution was unusually slow, leaving him enough ti to rant:
"That damn woman! It's all her fault!! If she hadn't brought you people here, how could I possibly—!"
"Shut up!!" His furious complaints pushed Sakoma Iori over the edge. She shouted at the demon:
"Even after you turned into a demon, Miss Hanako still protected you! What right do you have to bla her?!"
"Protect !? I didn't need her protection! If I had known it would turn out like this, I should've just eaten her last ti she ca! Instead of waiting until now!!"
The demon kept spewing his resentnt, seemingly genuinely enraged.
But the one who had slain him—Takeo—stood there calmly, watching. After the outburst, he slowly asked:
"…Would you really have eaten her?"
"Of course I—!"
"Brother!!!!!!"
The long-haired demon had just opened his mouth to respond, but a heart-wrenching scream cut him off mid-sentence.
He turned toward the voice—and when he saw that familiar figure, the speed of his disintegration seed to slow, just a little. For the first ti, in those red-and-black demon eyes… a different light flickered—sothing not belonging to a demon.
Ah… Ha.. an.. ko…?
It was as if sothing had flipped a switch.
The mories that had long been sealed away suddenly burst forth, breaking through the dam and flooding his mind. In that mont, the demon finally rembered who she was—who he was.
But it was already too late.
"Brother!! No, no—don't go… please, brother!!"
Hanako ran to where his head had fallen. She knelt and cradled his severed head in her arms, holding it close to her chest as she wailed in agony.
Her tears mixed with the rain—it was no longer clear what was rainwater and what was sorrow.
"Hanako?.. I.. now.. rember.." The demon looked up at his sister, now weeping uncontrollably. His eyes trembled. "I.. what have I done.."
He wanted—just like in the past—to comfort her… to reach out, stroke her head, and say, "Don't cry, Hanako. Your Big Brother is here."
But in the end… he couldn't say anything at all.
The disintegration could not be stopped. A demon slain by a Nichirin sword would vanish, just as if they'd been exposed to sunlight—inevitably, and completely.
The long-haired demon knew…
He was dying.
Before dying, he had countless things he wanted to say to his sister.But in the end, as mories of the past flooded back, all those countless words condensed into a single sentence.
"…Hanako…"
"Brother!!"
"…I'm sorry."
The long-haired demon finally shed tears—tears that slid down his face, though it was unclear if they were from regret or sorrow.
Those tears beca the last traces he left in this world.
And then… he turned to ash, fading away in the rain.
The downpour, now without anything to stop it, fell freely into Hanako's open hands.
As she felt the cold droplets, she finally realized what had just happened.
But she didn't scream.
She didn't sob or collapse.
Instead, she knelt there like her soul had vanished, her body still, like a lifeless statue.
The three Demon Slayers stood nearby, silently watching.
Takeo looked at the scene before him and let out a quiet sigh.
This was… probably the first ti he had truly witnessed such a painful, irreversible parting between loved ones. What he'd seen in films or on TV didn't count.
Until now, Takeo hadn't fully grasped the depth of tragedy demons brought.
When he had first crawled out of that grave, the Kamado family had already been killed by demons. And the first demon he ever faced… hadn't actually managed to kill anyone.
Back when he and Iori had fought the bandage-wrapped demon woman, Takeo had only vaguely guessed that sothing tragic had happened in her past—but he never truly knew the details.
Only now, with Hanako and her brother's story unfolding fully before his eyes, did it beco painfully real. It didn't just deepen his understanding of what demons were—it also taught Takeo sothing else:
The appearance of demons only ever brings sorrow and pain.
And what Demon Slayers are ant to do… is to slay every demon they encounter.
To put an end to that pain and sorrow.
Yoshizuru Asato stood beside Takeo, staring at Hanako's back. He looked like he wanted to say sothing, lips parted—but before he could speak, Hanako moved.
After kneeling silently on the ground for who knew how long… Hanako finally stood up.
She walked toward the remnants left behind by her brother. There, on the ground, was a cloak—sothing she had given him during the winter to keep warm.
Now, it was all that was left of him.
Hanako stepped forward, picked up the cloak, wrung out the water, folded it carefully, and tucked it away. Then, with a gentle smile of quiet release, she looked at the cloak and said:
"…Let's go ho, brother."
"Miss Hanako…" Asato looked at her with worry in his eyes.
Hanako turned at the sound of the voice. She faced the group and bowed deeply.
"Thank you… Thank you for giving him peace. I… I deep down ..actually knew, after he beca like that, that he could never co back. But…"
But she had still clung to a sliver of hope.
That part, Hanako didn't say aloud. She simply remained bent in a deep bow, and only after a long pause did she straighten and say:
"…I'm going ho now. I wish you all… safety and strength in your battles."
"Miss Hanako, let us escort you back," Asato offered gently.
Hanako shook her head. "No need. Please… just let be ...alone for a while."
Her brother had just been killed—and the ones who had slain him were the Demon Slayers standing before her. How could she possibly face them calmly?
Asato understood that well. So he didn't insist. He simply reminded her to be careful… and silently watched as she walked away.
Shhhh…
After Hanako's departure, the sound of rain grew lighter. At so point, the downpour had beco a drizzle. Takeo looked up at the dark, overcast sky, then finally turned to Asato and asked:
"What about the other missing people?"
"What do you an, 'what about them'?" Asato asked, confused.
Takeo explained, "It's true the demon was the one who devoured them—but the one who brought them here was Miss Hanako. That makes her an accomplice… so I'm asking, should we report this to the local authorities?"
What happened to Hanako was certainly tragic, yes. But tragedy didn't erase responsibility. Sympathy couldn't justify endangering the lives of others.
Originally, Takeo hadn't planned to interfere. As a mber of the Demon Slayer Corps, his duty was to slay demons—nothing more.
But he hadn't forgotten the request from the Akita family. Their son, Tōjirō, had asked him to find his older brother.
Now, it was clear that Tōichirō could no longer be found—yet no matter what, there had to be an explanation.
Yoshizuru Asato was quiet for a mont after hearing that.
He scratched at his rain-soaked hair and said,
"…Alright, how about this: let's talk to Miss Hanako later and ask her to turn herself in."
"Fine by ."
Takeo had no objections. If Hanako turned herself in, the Akita family would at least get closure—even if it was a tragic one.
The two of them planned to go speak with Hanako after a short while—but Sakoma Iori, who had been standing nearby, spoke up with a different take:
"I'm telling you two—if you're planning to go see that Hanako lady, you'd better go now."
"How co?" Takeo turned to her.
Iori hesitated for a mont, just about to respond—when Yoshizuru Asato suddenly realized sothing.
He imdiately shot to his feet and ran toward Hanako's ho.
Takeo and Iori exchanged a look, then followed right after him.
The three of them moved at full speed, quickly making their way back to Hanako's house.
But as they neared the ho, a faint scent of blood in the air made Takeo's heart sink.
Asato didn't have Takeo's keen sense of sll, but he was ahead of them—he rushed straight into the house to look for Hanako.
And he found her.
But he would have preferred not to have found her.
"Ah..."
Because there, lying beside the wall of the room… was Taniguchi Hanako.
A pair of scissors had been driven straight through her flesh.
Blood poured endlessly from the wound, pooling beneath her on the floor.
Even in that final mont, Hanako was tightly clutching sothing in her arms—
The coat.
The only thing her brother had left behind.
________
12 Advance chapters—P@treon/HornyFBI
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