The Biwa Woman

The demon who had spoken froze. Thinking it over, Muzan really did seem never to have said anything about ruling the world.

Back then, he seemed to have only told him not to slaughter innocents. Beyond that, he had given no orders. As for the wars over the past few decades, those seemed to have been his own idea. At most, Muzan had encouraged him to end the fighting.

So I made all of that up in my head?

Most of the demons before him wore expressions that said, Did I get the wrong idea?

"Figured it out?"

Seeing that they had finally understood, Muzan abruptly extended a tube-like whip from his waist, driving it straight into Maruoka Masahito's and Maruoka Yoshiko's heads.

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

The two demons receiving his blood grimaced in agony, low growls rumbling in their throats.

Muzan felt that he should no longer give out blood just because their limits had increased. Besides doing it whenever he pleased, he could make rewards and punishments a little more distinct.

Muzan withdrew the whip. The two demons knelt on the ground, doubled over and panting heavily.

Muzan glanced at the others. "What are you staring at? If you've got nothing else to do here, get back to your business."

Coming to their senses, the dozen or so demons answered and left. Maruoka Masahito and Maruoka Yoshiko slowly rose and withdrew as well.

Muzan vanished in a flash.

Tsugikuni Michikatsu had already married and had children by then. When he finally encountered Yoriichi, who had joined the Demon Slayer Corps, he abandoned his wife and children, resolutely took up his old dream of becoming the strongest samurai, and joined the Corps.

The dense fool Yoriichi still believed his beloved brother felt nothing but brotherly affection for him. He thought they were loving, respectful brothers with an incredibly close relationship, and cherished the bamboo flute his brother had given him as a priceless treasure.

Little did he know that Tsugikuni Michikatsu was already on the verge of becoming utterly consumed by his obsession.

Muzan needed to find an opportunity while Yoriichi was out on a mission to give him a warning.

At that moment, Yoriichi Tsugikuni was heading out on a mission with his beloved brother.

Since the Demon Slayer Corps still treated demons and half-demons as one and the same, and Yoriichi had no way to distinguish between them either, he could only carry out whatever missions he received.

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

Their current mission was to find a murderous demon in a small town.

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

It was said that the Biwa Woman's music had been particularly moving that day because she had lost her husband.

Although it did not seem entirely plausible, the Demon Slayer Corps was determined not to let a single evil demon escape. They sent the two Tsugikuni brothers to investigate, with orders to slay the demon if one truly existed.

At Michikatsu's suggestion, he and Yoriichi had split up to investigate.

Yoriichi had just finished questioning a passerby without learning anything useful. As the sky grew darker, he felt he should meet up with Michikatsu first and exchange whatever information they had found.

But just then, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure in an alley.

Yoriichi stopped and looked questioningly into the alley, where barely any light reached. The figure seemed to overlap with someone in his memories.

Standing outside the alley in 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; coming to find him while it was still daytime must have been difficult.

"You must have something to talk to me about, right?"

Although they had not seen each other for five years, Yoriichi knew Muzan was hardly idle enough to visit him for no reason.

Muzan pursed his lips. "Can't an old father simply come to see his son?"

Busy with his mission, Yoriichi was in no mood to exchange pleasantries with Muzan. He did not take Muzan's remark seriously either, instead asking:

"Can you tell whether there are any demons nearby?"

"What's going on?"

"I received a mission..."

Yoriichi explained the mission report, and Muzan frowned.

"No. I can sense that there are no demons nearby. Besides, the demons under my command don't slaughter innocents."

Muzan once again stressed that neither he nor his demons slaughtered innocents.

Yoriichi's expression turned odd. "I investigated a little. The Biwa Woman's husband who was killed doesn't quite qualify as innocent..."

"Hm?"

"He gambled and abused his wife. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he deserved to die..."

Yoriichi explained. Honestly, he also felt that a man like that only stayed alive to make sure the word "scum" had someone to describe.

Hearing this, Muzan felt a vague sense of familiarity. But such things happened often enough; perhaps it only sounded similar. He assured him again:

"I can say for certain that a demon didn't 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. Anyway, enough about that. I came to warn you about something."

Yoriichi looked confused and waited for Muzan to continue.

"Your brother has become a little obsessive. His state of mind is getting extreme."

"Hm?" Yoriichi did not understand. In his eyes, his elder brother was steadfast and hardworking, courageous in battle, and loving toward him. He was simply perfect.

Muzan truly could not imagine how many layers of rose-tinted glasses Yoriichi wore when looking at Tsugikuni Michikatsu.

He decided to explain it all.

Over the next few hours, Muzan carefully walked Yoriichi through everything from the beginning to the present. Yet Yoriichi, blinded by his admiration for his brother, remained skeptical.

Seeing him like this, Muzan felt he had wasted hours of talking. "Fine, go verify it yourself. I'm not so bored that I'd come all this way just to mess with you."

By then, the sky had gone dark. Although Yoriichi did not quite believe him, he had ultimately begun to think there might be a sliver of truth to it. Feeling it was time to meet up with his brother, he hurriedly bid Muzan farewell.

Muzan watched him leave but did not rush back himself.

He had finally remembered why Yoriichi's description of the Biwa Woman had sounded familiar.

Nakime!

But he had seen plenty of similar incidents over the past few decades, so this was only a guess.

Besides, the original story had never explained when Nakime appeared. Muzan figured he could go take a look.

What if she really is Nakime?

Without much effort, Muzan learned where he could find the Biwa Woman.

Although he did not know where she lived, fortunately, she would give another performance in three days. He could simply go there then.

Muzan found an inn to stay at and enjoyed a comfortable soak in the hot spring.

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

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

After enjoying the breeze atop a three-story building for a while, Muzan headed downstairs to return to the inn.

Since the inn was not in a bustling area, getting there from the night market required passing through a sparsely traveled lane.

Muzan rounded a corner and suddenly sensed someone approaching rapidly.