Haruto felt that something was wrong.
Because white text was still appearing, sliding from the right side of his vision to the left before disappearing.
[So this is what our senior looked like at thirteen?]
[And thirteen-year-old Sabito... boohoo, my precious baby~]
[Giyu... hehehe... Giyu...]
Something unholy had slipped in.
Haruto frowned, feeling as though his world had suddenly begun to crumble.
Why hadn't these floating comments appeared during the past fourteen years?
His gaze turned toward the sea of wisteria, and a guess formed in his mind.
Perhaps... he had encountered a character from the story here.
Maybe this world really was an anime on a video-streaming site, and the comments had appeared because characters from the story were present.
His previous fourteen years had never intersected with the plot, so they hadn't been part of the anime. Naturally, there had been no comments.
At that thought, he rubbed his stomach.
Well, apparently thinking too hard had made him hungry ahead of schedule.
He was discreetly checking whether the Ubuyashiki Family had provided a final meal for the youngsters taking the selection when a comment sliding through his vision caught his attention.
[This white-haired guy is seriously hot. Too bad he's about to get offed.]
[True. Aside from Sabito, he's probably the unluckiest one in this batch. The Hand Demon kills him the moment they meet.]
White-haired guy...
Haruto slowly scanned the crowd, then realized...
The white-haired guy seemed to be Haruto himself.
Of all the youngsters present, he was the only one with beautiful, silky, slightly wavy silver-white hair of medium length, its tips tinged with pale blue.
Huh?
Who?
Me?
I'm about to get offed?
Eh? "(º Д º*)??
That can't be right.
Aren't I the protagonist?
The text that seemed to be floating comments vanished from his vision again, as though Haruto had merely dreamed it all.
While his thoughts ran wild, the Ubuyashiki Family announced that Final Selection had officially begun, and everyone surged into Mount Fujikasane.
At this point, if he turned tail and ran over a comment that might have been a hallucination...
He would be a laughingstock for the rest of his life.
And he would drag down his Master, who worked so hard in the Swordsmith Village...
Haruto gritted his teeth. The two strange-looking boys in fox masks were already nowhere to be seen.
There was nothing for it. He could only take things one step at a time.
Wisteria grew all around the outer slopes of Mount Fujikasane. The Ubuyashiki Family hadn't planted so much of it merely for its beauty.
Demons despised these flowers. Demon slayers captured weak demons and brought them to Mount Fujikasane, where the barrier of wisteria kept them from escaping.
No wisteria had been planted in the mountain's central region, allowing the captured demons to roam freely within it.
Haruto tightened his grip on the Nichirin Blade Godogawa had prepared for him.
Although Haruto hadn't officially joined the Demon Slayer Corps yet, Godogawa had still set aside part of his own allotment to forge him a Nichirin Blade.
Only with the sword in his hand did Haruto's heartbeat slowly settle.
He could sense a strong demonic presence in these woods.
Were there a lot of demons here?
That must be it. The demons on Mount Fujikasane weren't very strong, or they wouldn't be used to test newcomers.
With that thought, he recalled his daily training and began searching the forest for shelter.
After all, he needed to survive here for seven days. Supplies and safety were both essential.
"Aah-!"
Haruto raised his head. He thought he had heard someone scream far in the distance.
Had a prospective swordsman already encountered a demon?
Should I go take a look?
What if...
Haruto shook his head.
"Wasn't I the white-haired guy who just got a death notice? Why am I worrying about other people again?"
His wooden sandals landed on the ground, crushing dead leaves.
Frowning, Haruto closed his eyes and let his awareness spread like flowing water.
Heavy footfalls, accompanied by malicious murmurs.
A demon!
He immediately drew his Nichirin Blade and licked his dry lower lip.
A sharp gust brushed past his ear. Haruto swung his sword backhanded, but the gleaming blade cut through empty air.
It disappeared?
Haruto froze, then his heart clenched.
A dark green monster covered in bulging veins, with numerous arms growing from its body, appeared in his vision.
Its entire body was fat and swollen, and its heavy footsteps sounded like those of a toad walking on several legs at once.
Its vicious eyes, with their tiny pupils, turned toward him and met Haruto's gaze directly.
"Hmm?"
Haruto's sword hand began trembling uncontrollably.
This was the first demon he had ever seen.
No matter how many powerful swordsmen he had met who slaughtered demons as easily as dogs, this was still his first encounter with a real one.
Especially one this...
Hideously ugly...
Those beautiful female ghosts in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, who turned into beauties to seduce impoverished scholars, couldn't possibly exist!
Haruto's Adam's apple bobbed as he forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit.
His heart hammered in his chest, and his limbs already felt weak before the fight had even begun.
No, this wasn't some weak demon at all!
The demon covered in hands stood at a distance and spoke in a low voice, though Haruto couldn't tell where its mouth was.
"Another year's selection..."
"Before I knew it, I'd been imprisoned here for nearly forty years..."
Haruto's mist-blue pupils abruptly contracted.
Forty years?!
Why would they put a demon that had lived for forty years here?!
According to the Ubuyashiki Family, these demons had only eaten two or three people each!
"Forty years..."
The demon seemed to reminisce for a moment, then said through gritted teeth, "I haven't spotted any of Urokodaki's fox brats yet, so I suppose you'll do as the first lucky one to enter my stomach this year."
Fox brats?!
Before Haruto could think further, the moment the Hand Demon finished speaking, a dark green hand shot through the air without giving him any time to react!
Slash! Slash!
Haruto reacted in time, swinging his Nichirin Blade and immediately severing the incoming hand!
But dark green muscle instantly welled up from the smooth cut, and a new hand formed, reaching for Haruto's head!
Haruto immediately leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the demonic hand.
He kicked hard off the tree trunk behind him and lunged forward with his sword!
"Hiss-"
As he breathed in and out, scorching heat gathered in his chest.
The Nichirin Blade clenched in his hand turned fiery red as well.
"Flame Breathing, Second Form..."
The fiery-red Nichirin Blade swept upward through the air, tracing a dazzling crimson arc.
"Blazing Heaven Ascension!"
Flames scorched the dark green muscle, swiftly severing the demon's hand before it could retract.
Haruto heard something moving through the bushes. A person? Or another demon?
The Hand Demon seemed not to feel any pain from its severed arm. Haruto's body paused in midair, then he lunged straight forward without hesitation.
His blade changed direction in the air. His strongest killing move was ready.
"Flame Breathing, Fifth Form!"
The swinging Nichirin Blade crackled with fiery bursts in the air. Its edge wavered slightly; the move was strenuous, and he was barely managing it.
But at last, a blazing tiger leaped from the tip of his sword and charged straight at the Hand Demon!
"-Flame Tiger!"
The blazing tiger pounced on the Hand Demon with raging force, its flames illuminating the dark forest.
Haruto's heart suddenly clenched.
What he had thought were swollen folds of fat around the Hand Demon's neck weren't fat at all!
The creature had folded its many arms around its head, shielding it layer upon layer!
That cunning bastard!
In that case, the Flame Tiger he'd barely managed to unleash would...
"Watch out!"
An urgent voice suddenly reached his ears.
Amid a clatter of footsteps in the forest to one side, a boy with long peach-colored hair and a fox mask leaped high, his long sword tracing azure ripples!
At some point, a cluster of thick arms had escaped Haruto's notice and burst out of the ground, hurtling straight toward him!
Thwack!
Something had ruptured.
Haruto looked down. A dark green arm coated in his flesh and blood withdrew from his chest, leaving a hole the size of a human head.
It's over. I'm cooked.
A chill ran from Haruto's chest all the way to the back of his skull.
The fox-masked boy's cries seemed to linger beside his ear, yet also seemed far away on the horizon.
The white-haired boy collapsed to the ground, the light gradually fading from his beautiful mist-blue eyes.
A forty-year-old demon ambushed a trainee with only two and a half years of practice.
...You damned bastards, Ubuyashiki Family.
Haruto Takanashi died.
The end.
Before you continue