"It wasn't a happy story, and I wanted to change it."
Kanzaki Kumo didn't go into detail. He only said that many people had given their lives to fight Demons.
"In that story, the part about me..." Makomo was about to ask for more details, but then she waved a hand. "Never mind. I can pretty much guess."
Without Kanzaki Kumo's appearance, she wouldn't even have survived Final Selection. What story could she have had after that?
At that thought, Makomo tightened her arms around Kanzaki Kumo a little. After their earlier kiss, she was now sitting sideways in his lap.
"Hey, Kumo."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
"Um... you're welcome?"
"Pfft. Kumo, you really can be clueless sometimes."
"I can't help it. Someone already pledged herself to me to repay me for saving her life. Saying 'thank you' now really leaves me at a loss for how to answer."
"Mm..."
"Hahaha-"
Blushing furiously, Makomo buried her face in Kanzaki Kumo's chest, drawing a soft laugh from him.
"Stop laughing... hmph!"
Under a flurry of "little punches" too light to even count as a massage, Kanzaki Kumo barely managed to compose himself.
"Speaking of which, your appearance must have changed more than just my story, right? What about everyone else?"
"Well~ there's no need to learn about those unhappy stories, is there? It was only a dream, after all. At least we're all living well now. Isn't that enough?"
Kanzaki Kumo didn't really want to go into detail about that story, which was titled "Demon Slayer" but jokingly called "Hashira Slayer."
In his previous life, after learning those people's stories, he had merely felt some lingering regret. After a brief sigh, he had still gone on living his life, day after day.
But things were different now. Those people were all living,