"Kanao Tsuyuri."
The girl murmured the name again. A long-forgotten joy welled up in her silent, withered heart, and the sudden return of feeling left her a little bewildered.
Su Mu had been watching her all along. Seeing how much a simple name meant to her made his heart ache, and he could not understand how any parent could be so cruel to their own child.
Out of nowhere, he felt the urge to kill someone he had never met.
People said demons were terrifying, but some human hearts were crueler than any demon.
"Kanao, eat your food."
He spoke gently to the girl, whose heart had finally felt joy again.
The girl blinked her lovely pinkish-purple eyes. Only after a long moment did she realize that "Kanao" meant her. She obediently lowered her head again and ate, but her numb heart was like a dried-up pool in which a spring had suddenly opened. The cool water flowing from it slowly moistened a pool that had been dry for who knew how long.
She ate in tiny bites, stealing glances at the man.
He had returned to the fire. Gentle moonlight spilled through the window onto him, while the flickering flames cast their glow over the visible half of his face.
Holding her little bowl in both hands, the girl suddenly felt utterly content. How wonderful it would be if she could stay beside him like this every day.
The thought that her father would sell her in two days, that she would never see Uncle at night again or stay by his side, suddenly filled her with panic. She felt as though she were suffocating.
She had felt fear and panic before, but she had always endured them in silence. Gradually, she had even lost the ability to feel those emotions. Now that she felt them again, they seemed almost more than she could bear.
Without knowing why, she walked over to the man beside the fire, reached out her little hand, and clutched his sleeve.
Su Mu looked down at her hand gripping his sleeve, then reached out and lightly tapped her head.
"Tell me, would you like to stay with me from now on?"
Kanao Tsuyuri froze. Her eyes suddenly reddened, her thin little body trembled, and her small hand tightened its grip.
"But staying with me might be dangerous. And I... how should I put this? I'm not really what you think I am. When you grow up and learn what I am, you might start to fear me, to be afraid..."
After all, he was a demon. The girl did not yet understand what demons were, or how terrifying it was to stay beside one.
Demons craved human flesh. Many people who became demons had relatives who refused to abandon them, but in the end, those relatives became their "food."
As he spoke, he seemed to picture the future Kanao Tsuyuri. "If you don't stay with me, you might meet a kind older sister someday. She'll take good care of you. And in the future, you'll meet someone you love..."
Though the girl was like a withered flower now, it was just as Kanae Kocho had once said: when the right moment came, Kanao's heart would blossom. One day, she would meet a boy she liked, and she would change.
But Kanao Tsuyuri did not seem to have listened to all that-or perhaps she simply did not care about any of it right now. Her little hand only gripped his sleeve tightly, her pinkish-purple eyes fixed on him.
To Kanao Tsuyuri as she was now, he seemed to matter even more than he had imagined.
"Since that's your choice, let me take you to say goodbye to your past."
Su Mu spoke as he watched her reaction.
Kanao Tsuyuri did not quite understand what he meant. Su Mu did not explain. He simply stood and gently picked her up.
The girl was thin and light. To Su Mu, a demon, holding her felt like holding a wisp of willow fluff.
Carrying Kanao Tsuyuri, he returned to her front door.
Bang.
Something struck the floor with a loud crash.
"Where did that little brat run off to? If I catch you, I'll skin you alive!"
An angry man's roar came from inside.
In Su Mu's arms, Kanao Tsuyuri could not help trembling, unmistakable fear showing in her eyes.
For a child, home should have been a warm haven. For Kanao Tsuyuri, however, it was something utterly terrifying.
Sensing Kanao Tsuyuri's distress, Su Mu reached out and gently stroked her head. "It's all right," he said softly.
Kanao Tsuyuri still felt instinctively afraid, but the warmth of Uncle's large hand brushing over her head suddenly eased her fear. Even if her father whipped her again in a moment, she would be able to endure it.
He pushed open the door and walked inside, where he saw a man in tattered clothes with disheveled hair. The moment Kanao Tsuyuri saw him, her body visibly trembled in Su Mu's arms.
This man was probably the girl's father.
"Who are you? What are you doing holding my daughter? Put her down!"
The man turned at the sound of the door opening. Seeing Su Mu holding his daughter, he looked furious.
Su Mu ignored him. Instead, he gently stroked Kanao Tsuyuri's head and lowered his voice. "How about I kill your father?"
The words were clearly cruel, yet to Kanao Tsuyuri, they did not seem as cruel as one might imagine. Even as that father's daughter, she felt little resistance to the idea.
"What did you say? What do you mean, 'how about'?"
The man had not quite heard the first part of Su Mu's words; his voice had been too quiet. And when Su Mu still failed to put his daughter down, he stepped forward, ready to snatch her from this stranger's arms.
After all, he had already sold his daughter. If she disappeared, he would have a hard time explaining it when the buyer returned.
As for the man who had brought her back, he paid him no mind at all.
"You..."
The man's steps faltered. Pain in his abdomen made him look down. At some point, a flame-colored blade had pierced his belly. Before his eyes, crimson blood dripped down the blade onto the floor.
The man raised his head, eyes wide, and stared at Su Mu, who stood within arm's reach holding his daughter. He could not understand why.
"I said, how about I kill you?"
Su Mu looked at
the man and gave him a very gentle smile. But in the man's eyes, he looked like the most terrifying demon in the world.