Erika looked up at the rising sun stretching across the sky. But then a sudden, urgent thought struck her.
"Wait, Nezuko! She can't step into the sun! What happened to her!?"
She knew Tanjiro and the others had gone to finish off the main body, and Nezuko's box hadn't been anywhere near them. If the sun rose now, Nezuko barely had any place to hide.
Akira said, "Relax. She should be fine. I already made sure nothing will happen to her."
Erika blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Remember that small medicine pill I gave her before the fight?"
"You mean that suspicious pill?" Erika asked. "Wait, was it something that turns her immune to sunlight?"
"Not exactly," Akira replied. "It only speeds up the process that was already happening in her body. She was already slowly gaining immunity to sunlight on her own. I just gave her something to accelerate that process."
"So… she's fine?" Erika asked.
"She should be," Akira said. "If you want, we can go and check."
"We should go," Erika said immediately. "I'm worried about them."
"Sure," Akira said, then paused. "But… uh, can you somehow carry me? I think I broke my legs."
Erika blinked in surprise. "W…what?"
Then she remembered the state of his hand. She grabbed his wrist and looked at it closely and her eyes widening in shock.
"Wait… what happened to your hand? Why does it look like this? And why is your leg broken too!?"
Akira answered casually, as if describing the weather. "Well, my hand got like this because of my fight with Akaza. My final Falcon Punch it's my strongest punch, and my hand isn't strong enough to handle it. So… yeah. It'll take some time to heal."
He pointed at his leg.
"As for my leg, remember that new technique I told you about? It was my first time using it, so I, uh… miscalculated how much strength to put into my leg."
Erika stared at him, confused and upset. "How could you miscalculate? You never make mistakes like that."
Akira scratched his cheek, looking away. "Well… I kinda panicked seeing you fall. So I didn't think much."
Erika's expression softened, sadness flickering in her eyes. "I… I'm sorry."
"Don't worry," Akira said. "It'll heal in a few minutes. I just need to not strain them too much."
"You should've told me sooner," Erika said, puffing her cheeks slightly. "You always act like nothing is happening, even when you're hurt."
"I was trained not to care too much about it," Akira said. "My parents can do it too. But really, don't worry."
Erika sighed deeply. "Fine…"
Akira then asked, completely straight-faced, "So, can you carry me somehow?"
Erika blinked at him. "I can… but how should I do it… Hmm."
She stood there thinking, eyes drifting to him… and then a sly smile slowly spread across her face.
Akira stiffened. "…Why are you looking at me like that?"
In the end, Erika ignored his suspicion and lifted him up in a full princess carry, smiling proudly as she held him.
Akira awkwardly said, "Can't you carry me another way? Like with your ribbons? Or a piggyback?"
"But it's more fun this way," Erika grinned.
"It's your first princess carry, brother", Selena chimed in telepathically. "But since you're technically a prince, maybe it's a prince carry?"
Akira let out a defeated sigh. "As long as you're having fun, I guess… Are you even okay carrying me like this?"
"Don't worry," Erika said proudly. "I'm way stronger than I look."
"Alright… but we need to get to the others. Can you move faster?"
"Oh! I forgot about that." Erika braced herself. "Right, we need to speed up."
Akira's eyes widened instantly. "WAIT, don't run like that through the forest with me…!"
She didn't listen.
Erika dashed through the forest at high speed, weaving through trees effortlessly while still princess-carrying him, not bumping into a single branch or trunk. It was honestly impressive.
Soon, they burst out of the trees into a grassy field and saw everyone.
Tanjiro, Genya, several swordsmiths who hadn't evacuated in time, and Nezuko, who had just conquered the sun, were all there.
Erika ran toward them, calling out, "Everyone!"
Tanjiro turned, relief flooding his face.
"Akira-san! Erika-san!"
Akira raised a hand from her arms. "Oh? Looks like all of us survived. That's good."
Tanjiro's gaze dropped to Akira being carried in a princess carry.
"Akira-san, are you okay?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just some broken bones," Akira said casually.
Then Nezuko tilted her head and said in a childlike voice, "Are you… no?"
Akira turned to her. "Oh, I'm…huh?"
Before he could finish, Erika dropped him straight onto the ground.
She clapped her hands over her mouth. "O-OH MY GOD SHE TALKED!"
"AKIRA-SAN!!" Tanjiro screamed as Akira hit the ground.
From the ground Akira groaned, "Excuse me… Erika, I am still hurt."
Erika flustered, scooped him back up immediately.
"S-sorry, Akira! I was just too shocked!"
Akira sighed. "I think my healing leg is broken again…"
"I'm REALLY sorry," Erika said, nearly crying.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine." Akira said, reassuring her with a smile.
Tanjiro stepped closer, concerned. "Akira-san, are you really okay?"
"Don't worry. This is nothing," Akira said, waving his uninjured hand dismissively. "So, how's your sister doing?"
Tanjiro looked at Nezuko, voice trembling.
"Oh, I don't know what's happening, but… she somehow conquered the sun. And now she's talking. Akira-san, was it the medicine you gave her?"
Akira shook his head.
"Nezuko was already on her way toward this. My medicine only sped up the process. It's all her own doing."
Tanjiro's eyes filled with tears of pure joy.
"Thank you, Akira-san… truly!"
Akira sighed with a smile. "Don't cry. I just did what was right."
Then they heard a familiar voice from the forest.
"EVERYONE! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" Mitsuri came sprinting toward them, tears already in her eyes. The moment she reached the group, she pulled all of them into a tight hug, crying, "I'm so sorry I was late! But thank goodness, everyone survived!"
She immediately swept everyone into a massive hug.
Akira, trapped somewhere in the middle of her crushing embrace, muffled,
"M-My legs…"
Nezuko cheerfully added, "Thank goodness!"
"Huh!?" Mitsuri yelped, leaning back in shock at Nezuko's sudden words.
The sudden movement made Erika lose her balance, and she accidentally dropped Akira again.
Akira hit the ground hard.
"Guys…there is a patient here…" he groaned from the dirt.
Erika panicked and grabbed him back up. "A-AKIRA! SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!"
Mitsuri bowed repeatedly. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Akira let out a long-suffering sigh, thinking, "Why do I feel like I just became a comic relief character…?"
Selena spoke telepathically, her tone light. "Don't worry, brother. You're the protagonist. I'm sure of it".
Then Mitsuri, overwhelmed with relief, hugged everyone again, another full-force group hug.
Akira's legs took the brunt of it for the third time.
In a certain high-class house somewhere in Japan, a woman walked down a quiet hallway. A maid followed behind her, carrying a tray of tea.
The woman stopped in front of a door and knocked gently.
"Toshikuni, I'm coming in, all right?"
She opened the door.
Bookshelves filled the room, except several shelves had collapsed and were now lying scattered across the floor. Papers and books were strewn everywhere. A little boy stood in front of another shelf, flipping through books with frantic motion.
"What's gotten into you, Toshikuni?" the woman asked. "Making such a mess… I see you've been doing some research. You can't find the book you need? I'll help you look. But for now, let's take a break first and have some tea."
The boy didn't respond.
Then, quietly, he said:
"…At last."
The woman blinked. "What's that?"
"At last," the boy repeated, still staring at the shelf. "Someone able to withstand the sun has appeared. Good work, Hantengu."
"Huh? Well, you certainly seem to be enjoying yourself," the woman said with a soft laugh. "Perhaps it's from the stories you've been reading…"
She suddenly fell silent.
The maid's breath caught in her throat. She turned toward the woman.
Only to see her headless body collapse to the floor.
"Madam…? Huh? Madam? What happened to your head!?" the maid cried out in shock.
The boy slowly turned around.
Except that the voice that came from him was no longer that of a child.
It was deep. Cold. Familiar.
"Now… there's no need to search for the Blue Spider Lily anymore."
The maid trembled as the boy's body began to grow, flesh stretching and bones shifting at unnatural speed. His shadow warped with him, swelling, darkening.
"It took so long," he continued. "But it was for this reason. For this reason, for one thousand years, that I've continued to increase my kind. Unwillingly. Waiting for a rare constitution that never appeared even among the Twelve Moons…"
The maid fell backward, screaming.
"Y-You murderer! You murderer! You monster!"
Her voice cut off abruptly, her head fell from her shoulders as easily as a petal dropping from a flower.
The transformation finished.
Standing in the room now was not a child.
It was Kibutsuji Muzan.
His expression was calm. Too calm.
"The chosen demon…" he murmured. "If I devour that girl and absorb her, I too will be able to conquer the sun."
He stepped over the bodies without so much as slowing down.
"I will get my hands on Nezuko… and become the perfect being."
The door slid shut behind him as he walked out.
"No matter what."