Biwa Player

The speaking demon froze. On second thought, Muzan really had never said anything about ruling the world.

At the time, he had only seemed to tell them not to slaughter innocents. Other than that, he had given no orders. As for the wars of the past several decades, they seemed to have been something they wanted to do themselves. At most, he had merely encouraged them to end the wars.

So they had all just imagined it?

Most of the demons before him wore expressions that said, Was I mistaken?

"Thought it through?"

Seeing that they had all come to understand, a tube-like whip suddenly shot out from Muzan's waist and pierced straight into Maruoka Masa and Maruoka Kinuko's heads with a whoosh.

The remaining dozen or so demons shuddered in fright and instinctively darted aside. Only after seeing what had happened did they awkwardly turn to look at Muzan.

The two demons receiving his blood wore agonized expressions, low growls rumbling from their throats.

Muzan felt that he should not simply grant blood whenever someone's limit increased. Since he was willing to do it, he might as well make rewards and punishments more distinct.

Muzan withdrew the tube-whip. The two demons knelt on the ground, bent over and gasping heavily.

Muzan glanced at the others. "What are you looking at? If there's nothing else, go do what you're supposed to do."

Hearing that, the dozen or so demons came to their senses and left. Maruoka Masa and Maruoka Kinuko slowly rose to their feet and withdrew as well.

Muzan vanished in a flash.

Tsugikuni Kokushibo had already married and had children. When he finally encountered Yoriichi, who had joined the Demon Slayer Corps, he abandoned his wife and children, resolutely picked up his old dream of becoming the strongest swordsman, and joined the Demon Slayer Corps.

That fool Yoriichi still believed his beloved older brother cared for him only as a younger brother. He thought the two of them had a wonderful brotherly relationship, and he treasured the bamboo flute his brother had given him as if it were priceless.

Little did he know that Tsugikuni Kokushibo was practically obsessed by now.

Muzan needed to take advantage of Yoriichi being out on a mission to go give him a reminder.

At that moment, Tsugikuni Yoriichi was carrying out a mission with his beloved older brother.

Because the Demon Slayer Corps still treated demons and Half-Demons as the same thing, and Yoriichi had no ability to distinguish demons from Half-Demons, he could only take whatever missions he received.

Moreover, in his view, even demons under Muzan's command had to be beheaded if they slaughtered innocents.

The two of them had been tasked with finding a man-eating demon in a small town.

According to the mission report, the husband of a local Biwa Player had been tortured to death by a demon. The Biwa Player had escaped the demon's clutches that day and emerged in tattered clothes to perform.

It was said that, having lost her husband that day, the Biwa Player's music had been exceptionally moving.

Though it felt somewhat unreasonable, the Demon Slayer Corps held to the belief that no evil demon should be spared. They sent the two Tsugikuni brothers to investigate, ordering them to be sure to kill the demon if one truly existed.

At Kokushibo's suggestion, Yoriichi and Kokushibo split up to investigate.

Yoriichi had just questioned a passerby and learned nothing useful. Seeing the sky growing darker, he felt that he should meet up with Kokushibo first and exchange the information they had found.

But in a daze, he suddenly caught sight of a figure in an alley.

Yoriichi stopped and looked doubtfully toward the alley, so dark that almost no light reached it. That figure seemed to overlap with someone from his memories.

Standing outside the alley beneath the setting sun, Yoriichi watched the familiar figure turn toward him and blurted out, "Muzan?"

Muzan smiled. "I came to see you."

Yoriichi hurried into the alley. He knew Muzan could not be exposed to sunlight, so it could not have been easy for him to come looking for him while it was still daytime.

"You must have something to tell me if you came looking for me, right?"

Though they had not seen each other for five years, Yoriichi knew Muzan was not so idle that he would come see him for no reason.

Muzan curled his lip. "Can't an old father simply come see his son?"

Yoriichi was busy carrying out his mission and had no mind for small talk with Muzan. Nor did he take Muzan's words seriously. Instead, he asked:

"Can you tell whether there are demons nearby?"

"What's wrong?"

"I received a mission..."

Yoriichi explained the details of the mission. Muzan frowned.

"No. I can sense it—there are no demons nearby, and the demons under my command do not slaughter innocents."

Muzan once again emphasized that neither he nor his demons would slaughter innocents.

Yoriichi's expression turned strange. "I looked into it. The Biwa Player's murdered husband could hardly be called innocent..."

"?"

"He gambled and abused his wife. It would not be an exaggeration to say he deserved to die..."

Yoriichi explained. To be honest, he also felt that a man like that only ensured that the word scum would never lack someone worthy of it.

Yet Muzan felt a strange sense of familiarity upon hearing it. Still, such things were not uncommon. He merely found it similar, then assured him:

"I can be certain that a demon did not do it. Otherwise, I would know. And I haven't sensed any Half-Demons nearby either."

Yoriichi was puzzled as well. "Could it have been an incident between ordinary people?"

"Probably. Enough about that. I came to remind you of something."

Yoriichi looked confused and waited for Muzan to continue.

"Your brother has become somewhat obsessive. His mindset is too extreme."

"?" Yoriichi did not understand. In his eyes, his older brother was steadfast and hardworking, brave in battle, and caring toward him. He was simply perfect.

Muzan truly could not imagine how many layers of brotherly filters Tsugikuni Kokushibo had been given in his younger brother's eyes.

He decided to explain it all plainly.

After spending several hours, Muzan carefully explained everything from the beginning up to the present. But Yoriichi, possessed of a "brother filter," still believed him only halfway.

Seeing his expression, Muzan felt that he had wasted several hours of saliva. "Fine. Go verify it yourself. I'm not so idle that I came all this way just to fool you."

By then, the sky had already darkened. Though Yoriichi did not entirely believe him, a small possibility had taken root in his heart. Feeling that it was time to meet up with his brother, he hurriedly bid Muzan farewell.

Muzan watched him leave and did not hurry back.

Only then did he finally remember why the Biwa Player Yoriichi had described felt so familiar.

Nakime!

But he had seen no shortage of similar incidents over the decades. Muzan merely had a suspicion.

Furthermore, the original story had never described when Nakime first appeared. Muzan felt that he could go take a look.

What if it really was Nakime?

Without much effort, Muzan found out where the Biwa Player would be.

Though he did not know where she lived, fortunately, she would have another performance three days later. He could simply go then.

Muzan found an inn and stayed there, enjoying a comfortable soak in a hot spring.

Whatever else could be said, soaking in a hot spring really was comfortable.

On the night before the Biwa Player's performance, Yoriichi and Kokushibo had long since left. Muzan wandered through the night market, taking advantage of the darkness to get some fresh air.

After standing atop a three-story pavilion and enjoying the breeze for a while, Muzan went downstairs to head back.

Because the inn was not in a lively area, he had to pass through a sparsely traveled path to get there from the night market.

As Muzan turned a corner, he suddenly sensed someone rapidly approaching.