An Exchange with Tamayo

The village had just been through a war. Amid the ruins, embers still crackled, and beneath the drifting black smoke, two figures sat on bloodstained boulders beside a mountain of corpses in the village square.

"So, you were turned into a Demon by your own elder brother?" While sitting on the stone with Yuko, Tamayo nibbled at an arm she had obtained from one of the villagers on the ground.

Her eating manner was remarkably elegant.

"Mm. I'll never forgive him." Yuko's fingers clenched unconsciously, and her eyes grew frighteningly dark.

As she nibbled at her food, Tamayo deliberately observed the person beside her from time to time.

The distinctive crimson pupils made her look incredibly mysterious.

Yoriichi's disciple and the younger sister of the current Upper Rank One—were they really proof that birds of a feather flock together?

The talent in this family was terrifyingly strong. If Miss Yuko had been there that day, would Muzan have had no chance to escape?

A bloody arm suddenly extended toward her, carrying the faint smell of burnt flesh. The sight was nauseating.

Yet the worms in Yuko's stomach began to stir restlessly.

She had not eaten in many years.

"Would you like some?"

Yuko licked her lips. "No, thank you."

Tamayo glanced sideways at her and pursed her lips slightly. "Miss Yuko, you've never eaten a human, have you?"

"Mm."

Tamayo's expression shifted slightly. Although she had already sensed it, hearing the expected answer from Yuko still left her deeply astonished.

She could not understand how Yuko had managed to overcome that hunger. It was far more agonizing than an ordinary person going two or three days without food.

Especially during the period immediately after being transformed, one could think of almost nothing besides eating humans.

Tamayo's gaze darkened slightly. After wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, she turned and asked, "Miss Yuko, what do you plan to do next?"

"Wait."

"Wait?" Tamayo looked somewhat puzzled.

Yuko lowered her eyelids. "With our current strength, there's no way for us to kill Muzan."

At the very least, they had to wait until the Taisho Nine Hashira appeared—the ones said to rival the Hashira of the Sengoku Era.

After Yoriichi's death, Muzan began taking action. Together with Kokushibo, he swiftly exterminated every swordsman who knew Sun Breathing.

Many Hashira families were slaughtered to the very last member, nearly cutting off their lineages entirely.

That was why Yuko knew about it despite never contacting the Demon Slayer Corps.

Cases in which an entire household was brutally killed were not common.

Even if those families had not mastered Sun Breathing, they knew about it. As long as there was even the slightest possibility that the Breathing Technique could be passed down, Kibutsuji Muzan would never allow them to live.

The shadow Yoriichi had cast over him back then was simply too deep.

After the first-generation Hashira died from their Marks and Yoriichi left, the Demon Slayer Corps had already begun to decline.

Not a single swordsman could master the Mark, the Transparent World, or the Scarlet Blade.

Ultimately, the reason the Hashira of the Sengoku Era had been able to master these techniques was inseparable from Yoriichi.

After Yoriichi left, their loss was inevitable.

Even all these "weak Hashira" together would not be enough for Kokushibo to cut down alone, much less with Muzan as well.

The Demon Slayer Corps suffered a devastating blow and declined from that point onward.

If not for the Hidden Corps' excellent concealment and intelligence work, it might have been wiped out entirely.

Even the so-called Taisho Nine Hashira, despite mastering the Mark, the Transparent World, and even the Scarlet Blade, could only be called a plot-driven victory by netizens after more than half of them died or were injured.

This showed just how powerful Muzan was.

Yoriichi's and Muzan's powers were both far too detached from the norm. Now that Yoriichi had passed away, the combat strength of Demons and humans was utterly incomparable.

Given the people and strength available now, they simply did not possess the conditions to fight Muzan.

Hearing Yuko's words, Tamayo fell into thought. She remembered the sight of Muzan instantly splitting into thousands of pieces of flesh and could not help nodding heavily.

At the very least... they had to restrict that ability to split apart...

Otherwise, even if they could defeat Muzan, they would have no way to kill him completely.

Moreover, Muzan had already overcome the weakness of his neck. Perhaps only sunlight could kill him.

Tamayo asked again, "Does Miss Yuko intend to cooperate with the Demon Slayer Corps?"

"Mm."

After all, everyone who held a grudge against Muzan would gather in the Demon Slayer Corps.

Aside from those who inherited the tradition through their families, the Demon Slayer Corps' swordsmen were an alliance of avengers whose families had been destroyed by Muzan.

A trace of worry appeared in Tamayo's eyes. She smiled bitterly. "But given our identities, will they really accept us?"

Yuko was not worried about that. "They will."

Even if they could not accept them now, they certainly would in the future.

Yuko's firm answer left Tamayo slightly stunned, and the corners of her lips curved upward.

"Miss Yuko really is as reliable as Mr. Yoriichi."

"You're the first swordsman I've ever encountered who let a Demon go."

Yuko smiled. "That's because Miss Tamayo hasn't harmed anyone."

Tamayo lowered her eyelids and shook her head. "No. I've killed many people before."

"I was an evil Demon in every sense of the word. I would have had no complaints if I had been beheaded."

"I'm different from Miss Yuko..."

Yuko's expression froze slightly. She truly knew nothing about Tamayo's past. When Tanjiro encountered her, she and Yushiro had already been surviving solely on human blood.

Although traces of humanity still remained on Tamayo now, it was clear that she had not killed people of her own volition.

She had merely used human corpses to sustain herself.

Yuko was silent for a moment before saying, "Could you tell me about it? I think someone like Miss Tamayo must have had her own reasons."

Otherwise, Yoriichi could never have let such a man-eating Demon go.

The desire to confide was indispensable to emotional beings.

Everyone wanted to share the happiness, pain, or grievances in their hearts with someone else.

Tamayo gazed at the sky. The bright stars resembled pairs of divine eyes, watching the suffering on the ground without emotion.

She slowly recounted her past.

When Tamayo was human, she suffered from a terminal illness that medicine could not cure. In order to live long enough to see her children grow up, she searched with all her might for a way to treat it.

"When my condition worsened day by day and I fell into despair, that man appeared..." At this point, Tamayo's hands clenched unconsciously, and the veins on the backs of them stood out.

"He told me that drinking his blood would cure my illness..."

Deceived by Kibutsuji Muzan, she became a Demon and, unable to control herself, slaughtered her own husband and children.

It was not difficult to imagine what kind of agony Tamayo had endured after regaining her sanity.

"After that, I gave up on myself and killed many innocent people." Tamayo closed her eyes in grief. "Muzan forcibly kept me at his side while searching for a way to overcome sunlight. It wasn't until Mr. Yoriichi defeated Muzan that I was able to escape his control."

At the mention of overcoming sunlight, Yuko thought of the Blue Spider Lily in front of Uta's grave. Perhaps she could let Tamayo study it.

With that thought, she spoke. "As for overcoming sunlight..."

"Hm?" Tamayo looked over in confusion.

Yuko turned her head, and their eyes met. "I've already done it, actually."

"Eh?"