"Just for a possibility, she took a risk like that?"
As Tetsu no Sosuke rode Big Hammer back, he found himself thinking about Tamayo.
She had been a doctor before she died. Kibutsuji Muzan had deceived her into becoming a Demon, and her entire family had died by her hand. By the time she broke free of his control, it was too late for regret.
Yushiro was a Demon she had transformed herself.
He was a young man who had wanted to live without submitting to Kibutsuji Muzan's control.
He was hopelessly in love with Tamayo.
Even now, the two of them might still be searching for a way to turn Demons back into humans.
Had they heard the rumors about him capturing Demons for experiments and grown interested?
"But even with preparations, facing a Pillar alone would still be reckless and dangerous, wouldn't it?"
Tetsu no Sosuke shook his head. "Was she just hoping to find some possibility down that road?"
He couldn't make sense of Tamayo's thinking. After returning to the ruins of the Hammer Hut, he meant to go straight home. But the bleak mountainside made him sigh, and he took Big Hammer toward the Back Mountain instead.
Traces of that day's battle remained: craters blasted out by explosives, Wisteria poison lingering among the trees, stubbornly refusing to disperse...
Tetsu no Sosuke passed through the mountain mist and came to the Storm Pillar's grave.
"All alone out here. Did you not have many friends besides me?"
Tetsu no Sosuke smiled. "Though that makes sense. Who comes to pay their respects in the middle of the night? What if you really stuck out an arm and invited me in to lie down for a while? Tell me, would I lie down or not?"
He sighed softly and cleared