Gyokko

Yuko asked, "You saw it with your own eyes?"

The brothers looked at each other, then at each other again, a little awkwardly. "Not exactly, but everyone in the city is talking about it. It should be true, right?"

Yuko: "..."

"I heard you say three people died. Were you talking about the three people who died at the Shindo Style dojo?"

The two brothers waved their hands repeatedly. "No, no! It was five or six, I think!"

"?"

"It was the dojo masters! Three of them died! And it seems two apprentices died too."

It was obvious that the two of them were only passing along rumors.

Still, the general direction was probably right.

Asking questions was a way to gather information. What seemed useless to one person might prove extremely useful to another.

Three dojo masters...

Yuko's mood sank slightly. "You mean other dojo masters were attacked too?"

"Yeah! It's only been a few days, hasn't it? All three martial arts dojo masters in the city are dead."

The other brother added, "Four days."

Basically, one person had died every day.

"Did they all die at night?"

The moment Yuko asked that, the two looked at her as though she were an idiot.

But she was their source of income, so they didn't dare say it aloud.

"They all died at night, and they were all beaten to death in the training grounds of their dojos."

"Everyone says that demon was a battle maniac when he was alive."

That fit... her understanding of Gyokko.

Her understanding of Gyokko came entirely from the Flame Hashira's clips: a pink buzz cut, blue-black tattoos, and the imposing air of a practical martial artist, barefoot and barehanded.

Only after living here for several centuries did she understand that those tattoos were actually marks of a criminal, meaning he must have committed some crime while alive.

"Were there any witnesses?"

The brothers stared blankly at each other.

All right. She might as well have not asked.

Just as Yuko was about to get up and leave, one of them asked his companion uncertainly,

"Wasn't the daughter of the Shindo Style kendo dojo master still alive?"

"That's right, that's right! The master's daughter is still alive!"

"That girl's a real beauty too~"

Yuko helplessly raised a hand to interrupt them. "Which way is the Shindo Style dojo?"

"That way." The two pointed in the same direction.

Yuko took a deep breath. "Thanks."

What a rip-off.

Even though she had no use for the money, she still felt cheated.

Following the direction the two had pointed, Yuko asked around along the way and arrived at the entrance of the Shindo Style dojo without trouble.

The passersby she questioned all seemed wary of the matter and didn't want to say more than a few words to her. Those who were slightly kinder simply pointed out the way.

The entrance to the Shindo Style dojo stood wide open. It was empty and deserted, with not a single person in sight.

There was a faint smell of blood in the air. Yuko followed it to the dojo's training ground.

Before she even approached, she heard faint noises coming from inside.

After hesitating for a moment, Yuko stepped inside.

On the broad grounds, a petite figure was half-crouched on the floor, wiping something away.

Yuko swept her gaze around. Large pools of dark-red blood had only just begun to congeal, splashed everywhere like a slaughterhouse. The floor was shattered in several places, torn open into deep pits.

Clearly, an astonishing battle had taken place here yesterday.

Unless someone had intentionally dismembered the bodies, there was no way so much blood could have covered such a large area.

But this destruction... didn't look like a one-sided massacre.

It had been a battle.

Only a clash between two sides could have caused such devastation.

Sensing movement behind her, the petite figure turned around.

She was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen. She looked at Yuko without expression, her eyes filled with grief.

Yuko stepped into the training hall. "Hello."

The moment Yuko greeted her, the girl silently turned back and continued wiping the floor.

Yuko slowly walked over to her.

"I know this is a cruel question..."

"May I ask if you saw that demon's appearance?"

Under Yuko's gaze, the girl drew a deep breath into her lungs. The next moment, she forcefully exhaled through her nose and continued lowering her head to wipe the floor.

It meant she was furious, but had suppressed her anger instead of directing that malice at Yuko.

The girl's emotionless voice rang out. "What would it matter if I saw it?"

"What would it matter if I didn't?"

"Can you avenge me?"

Yuko's wine-red double pupils fixed on the girl. "A pink buzz cut. Criminal tattoos."

The girl's heart tightened with a sudden jolt.

Yuko's pupils narrowed slightly. She actually knew.

The girl wasn't strong. Though it was clear she had probably learned some self-defense, there was no doubt she couldn't defeat a normally built man, let alone evade a demon's attack.

"You know him?!" The girl suddenly raised her head and seized Yuko by the collar. Tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes, while the fury on her face erupted without restraint.

"Where is he?! Where is that monster?!"

Yuko's wine-red double pupils reflected in her eyes, and the girl froze.

Yuko slowly pressed down her hands and answered with her own words, "What would it matter even if I knew?"

"Can you kill him?"

The girl's tense body gradually relaxed.

Yes. What would it matter even if she knew?

The heart that had only just been burning fiercely suddenly fell silent again.

The girl suddenly said, "You're not with the Demon Slayer Corps, are you?"

"They came looking for you?"

"Mm."

"No."

"Aren't you going to ask what they wanted?"

"They're no match for that demon. Even if they found him, they couldn't stop him."

"What about you?"

"I can."

The girl looked over with hopeful eyes. Her lips moved twice as she steadied herself and began to recount what had happened.

"When the other two masters were killed, I told my father that he should leave."

"But he didn't listen to me."

Yuko narrowed her eyes. "So yesterday, he waited here for the killer?"

The girl sobbed softly. "Yes. He thought it was just someone pretending to be a ghost."

"You were there too?"

"My father had arranged for me to stay at my aunt's house, but I grew worried in the middle of the night and ran back."

"What did you see?"

"My father was fighting that demon..." The girl's face was somewhat pale. "The arm my father cut was restored in an instant."

A demon capable of wounding Upper Rank Three—regardless of whether he had been serious, the dojo master clearly possessed some skill.

"That demon saw you." Yuko said it without hesitation.

Since the girl had been able to spot him, there was no reason he wouldn't have sensed her.

Unlike Doma, that kind of "mage," Gyokko should have been a battle maniac who craved combat above all else. There was no reason he could have failed to notice her.

"Yes, he saw me."

"But you didn't die."

The girl's tears washed away the blood on the floor as she choked out, "I was so scared that I knelt by the entrance. I couldn't stand up until he left. All I could do was watch him eat my father."