Welcome Back, Yuko

"Sigh."

Life as a demon is hard, Yuko sighed.

She removed the hat and veil that concealed her face. Although it was highly likely she hadn't grown into anything bizarre, she couldn't see her own appearance, and it would be bad if something went wrong.

There happened to be a bronze mirror in the room. She picked up the mirror from the table and poked at her cheeks.

Everything was the same as before, as if she had just gotten her nails done.

Just as Yuko was thinking this, she suddenly noticed something odd about her eyes.

She leaned closer to the mirror and pulled at her eyelids. In the mirror, within her eyes, there were actually two pupils.

Great, now she wouldn't dare mock Kokushibo for being a six-eyed lemon spirit anymore.

One eye had two pupils, one large and one small. The smaller one was almost stuck to the larger one, looking like some kind of sticky malformation, making Yuko's wine-red eyes appear extremely bizarre.

Double pupils?

The last person who was this awesome was some Hegemon King who could shoulder the world.

Could she also have the aura of a king?

Yuko tried to find humor in the situation and carefully examined herself. Besides the abnormal pupils, there were indeed no other changes.

Hmm, and two slightly protruding little fangs.

Yuko bared her teeth and, facing the mirror, concentrated her energy on the top of her head.

The next moment, two jagged demon horns emerged from her scalp.

At first glance, they didn't look like demon horns, but more like dragon horns.

These horns were at least twenty centimeters long, meaning that when she stood up, including the horns, she would be as tall as Kokushibo.

She had undergone secondary development, so to speak.

Yuko fully demonized, and her beautiful wine-red long hair instantly turned white from the roots. Her fingernails also grew slightly longer.

From a distance, she didn't look like a bizarre and ugly demon, but rather like some unknown deity.

The only thing that detracted from her beauty was probably the faint, ghastly veins beneath her skin when she was fully demonized.

"Wow~"

I'm so cool.

Yuko's eyes lit up.

This appearance was truly handsome!

After admiring her own beauty, Yuko reverted to her human form.

Only the double pupils in her eyes, perhaps due to her current weakness, couldn't be completely erased as a demonic trait.

Fortunately, it wasn't too serious; a hat could cover it up a bit.

Yuko pondered her next plan in the room.

Well, at least she had to report back to Yoriichi that she was safe.

But she could only go back at night. She might be discovered by Yoriichi before she even got close to home.

It would be bad if Yoriichi mistook her for a low-level monster.

She had to at least give him a heads-up.

Thinking this, Yuko found a shop assistant.

"Could you please find me some paper and a pen? I want to let my family know I'm safe."

Looking at the hair ornament on Yuko's hand, the shop assistant couldn't find any reason to refuse.

After writing the letter.

"Please trouble you to deliver this letter to..."

"This is for your trouble."

Taking the jewelry from Yuko, the shop assistant suppressed their inner joy and patted their chest, promising, "Don't worry, miss. Even if it costs me my life, I will definitely deliver the letter to your family!"

Yuko: "..."

Why did she suddenly feel a little uneasy?

While the shop assistant was delivering the letter, Yuko stayed there.

It wasn't until several days later, when the shop assistant described Yoriichi's appearance in detail, that Yuko was finally convinced he had delivered it.

As night fell, Yuko checked out of her room and walked down the street, starving.

She was so hungry she felt like eating people.

In Yuko's eyes, the lights of every household were like barbecue stalls lit up by the roadside in the dead of night.

Making her unable to resist the urge to approach them.

She averted her gaze, trying her best not to think about it, and hurried on under the cover of night.

After becoming a demon, the injury in her lungs healed, and her physical condition improved dramatically.

She had been using the Constant Flow breathing technique the entire time she was traveling.

This was the first time she had used the Snow Breathing technique so smoothly since mastering it.

In the pitch-black room, Yoriichi sat on the floor, his Nichirin Blade placed beside him, along with a broken white Nichirin Blade.

He hadn't slept a wink for several days.

Because of Yuko's letter.

[To my dearest Elder Brother, It is I, Yuko. I am deeply sorry for leaving without saying goodbye.

But please, Brother, listen carefully to my words. After leaving home, I happened upon Kokushibo in a certain mountain… After becoming a demon, I discovered I had broken free from Muzan's control and had not lost my sanity. It seems to be the same situation as Miss Tamayo's… I will return home one night soon.]

This letter arrived in Yoriichi's hands almost at the same time as the news from the Demon Slayer Corps.

The Demon Slayer Corps had informed him that signs of Yuko fighting a demon had been found in a certain mountain, but Yuko herself had not been seen. Only a broken Nichirin Blade was found at the scene.

The result was self-evident.

For an ordinary person, Yuko's letter would have been like a ghost returning from the dead seven days after their passing.

It was bone-chilling.

Yoriichi's gaze flickered to Yuko's broken sword, and he sat there with a grim expression.

He swore that if Yuko's letter was Muzan's doing, he would dig three feet into the ground to unearth him.

To deceive him under Yuko's name, to desecrate the memory of the dead...

Yoriichi suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on the door.

Yuko had already entered the city, not far from where she and Yoriichi lived.

She wondered if Yoriichi was asleep at this hour.

But with Yoriichi's senses, she would likely be discovered long before she got close.

Yuko thought this as she cautiously approached the house, praying that Yoriichi wouldn't mistake her for a low-level enemy and attack.

She didn't think she could go head-to-head with Yoriichi right now.

The last person who confidently challenged Yoriichi head-on was now hiding inside his shell and wouldn't come out.

As she neared the house, Yuko's powerful demonic senses allowed her to instantly detect a human figure sitting inside.

In the middle of the night... weren't they sleeping?

Creeaak~

Yuko sneakily pushed open the door. Moonlight slanted in, illuminating Yoriichi's lower body as he sat.

The moment she saw Yoriichi, something in Yuko's heart fluttered.

In a daze, she saw a blurred figure wielding a Scarlet Blade rushing towards her.

These were the Muzan cells remaining within her body.

Yoriichi's eyelids twitched. The Transparent World unfolded before his eyes, and the person before him was undoubtedly Yuko.

But Yuko's turbid aura also served as a reminder that the person before him was indeed a demon.

However, unlike other demons, she didn't have that foul stench of having eaten humans.

"Um, Brother... you're not sleeping this late."

Yuko's somewhat awkward voice reached him, and the coldness on Yoriichi's face instantly vanished.

Yoriichi's expression softened as he spoke, "Yuko..."

Yuko closed the door and slowly sat down in front of Yoriichi.

Seeing the worry on Yoriichi's face, she smiled gently, "I'm sorry, Brother, I'm late."

Yoriichi blinked, then returned a gentle smile.

"Welcome back, Yuko."

That night, the siblings talked for a long time.

Yoriichi, who had once let Tamayo go, no longer held the sole intention of exterminating all demons, especially not his own family.

However, regarding Kokushibo's actions, he only felt pity. Not only had he fallen into becoming a demon himself, but he had also... his own younger sister