The destroyed clinic fell into tense silence. Debris crunched under Yushiro's feet as he stepped forward, his usual composure cracking like porcelain.
"What?! Are you kidding me!!!"
His voice climbed higher than I'd heard before. The veins on his forehead stood out, hands clenched at his sides. Around us, moonlight filtered through the holes Susamaru's temari had punched in the walls, painting everything in silver and shadow.
I leaned against what remained of a support beam, examining my nails. "Trust me when I say the Demon Slayer Corps isn't as powerful as you think it is." I met his furious gaze. "Besides, you've got me. Is that not enough for you to not get scared?"
"I'm not scared!" Yushiro's face flushed, caught between indignation and something that looked suspiciously like genuine concern. He jabbed a finger at me, the gesture sharp enough to puncture. "You're taking this way too lightly! Muzan Kibutsuji isn't someone you can fight on your own—you need the strength of the Pillars!"
Tanjiro shifted beside his sister, hand instinctively moving toward where his sword usually rested. Nezuko—human Nezuko, still getting used to not having claws—gripped his sleeve.
Tamayo placed a restraining hand on Yushiro's shoulder. Her expression carried the weight of centuries, every line on her face a testament to how long she'd survived in Muzan's shadow. "Yushiro is right, Akira-san."
Her medical precision carried into her words, each one measured like a dosage. "Even the two of us would be of no help to you against Muzan's full force. Please, seek help from the Demon Slayer Corps. With your medicine, they will do their best to keep you safe from his reach."
The concern in her voice was genuine. Real. The kind that came from watching too many people die across too many years.
I exhaled slowly, letting the playfulness drain from my posture. "Sigh." I straightened, met Tamayo's eyes. "Tamayo-san. Yuro—"
"Yushiro!"
"Yushiro... my bad." I raised my hands in mock surrender, then dropped them. The levity faded completely. "I'm fully aware of the extent of Muzan's capabilities."
I started counting on my fingers. "His Lower Moons, his Upper Moons, and his desperate obsession with overcoming the weakness of the sun." I paused, let that sink in. "Earlier, I saved that couple right in front of him. Deliberately. With that, I thought he'd be the one showing up here..."
I glanced at the destruction around us—the work of Susamaru and Yahaba, pawns sent to test the waters. "But it seems he's way too prideful than I thought he'd be."
Yushiro's eye twitched. "Lady Tamayo, I don't think it's a good idea to tag along with him." He gestured wildly at me, at the ruined clinic, at everything. "He'd only bring unnecessary troubles for us! If he keeps pulling stunts like this, we'd—"
"Die?" I finished for him. "You're already being hunted, Yushiro. Muzan knows about Tamayo's research. He knows she's working against him. The only difference now is that I've given him another target to focus on."
"That's not—" Yushiro started.
"It is, actually." Tamayo's voice cut through his protest. She was looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read—part calculation, part something else. "Akira-san has a point. Muzan will divide his attention now. Between eliminating me and acquiring that cure."
She moved toward the remnants of her medical supplies, began salvaging what she could. Her hands never stopped working, even as she spoke. "But that doesn't address the core issue. You're underestimating him, Akira-san. Muzan has survived for over a thousand years by being cautious, by eliminating threats before they grow too large."
"He's not cautious." I pushed off the beam, walked to where moonlight pooled on the floor. "He's paranoid. There's a difference."
Tanjiro finally found his voice. "Akira-san, I don't understand. Why did you provoke him?" The kid's earnestness was almost painful to witness. "If you have that cure, if you can help people, why make yourself a target?"
I looked at him—really looked at him. Fifteen years old, already carrying trauma that would break most adults, and still asking questions like he actually cared about the answer.
"Because someone has to," I said simply. "The Demon Slayer Corps has been fighting Muzan for generations. Hundreds of years, thousands of lives, and they're no closer to killing him than when they started."
I held up the bottle of HWL, let it catch the light. "This? This changes everything. Not just because it can cure demons, but because it represents something Muzan can't control. Can't predict. Can't eliminate by simply being stronger or faster or more ruthless."
Yushiro made a frustrated noise. "That's exactly why you should give it to the Corps! Let them protect it, use it strategically instead of—"
"Instead of what?" I interrupted. "Hoarding it? Rationing it? Using it as leverage?" I shook my head. "I've seen how organizations operate. They'd lock this away, study it for years, form committees to discuss optimal deployment strategies. Meanwhile, people keep dying. Keep being turned into demons."
"That's not fair," Tanjiro protested. "The Corps saves people every day. They fight demons, protect villages—"
"I know." My voice softened. "I'm not saying they're ineffective, Tanjiro. I'm saying they're limited. Bound by tradition, by hierarchy, by the same patterns that have kept them alive but haven't won the war."
I turned to Tamayo. "You've been researching for how long? Two hundred years? And you've made more progress toward understanding demon physiology than the entire Corps combined. Know why?"
She met my gaze steadily. "Because I'm not bound by their methods."
"Exactly." I gestured around the destroyed clinic. "This right here? This is me not being bound by anyone's methods. Yes, it's reckless. Yes, it draws attention. But it also forces Muzan to react instead of act."
"Look what happened to two demons who got killed in minutes?" Yushiro's voice dripped sarcasm.
I corrected. "One of them mentioned Muzan wanted the cure. That means he sees it as a threat to his plans, not just an inconvenience. And the one with arrow techniques—" I glanced at Tanjiro "He wasn't strong enough for you right?"
Tanjiro nodded slowly.
"Which tells us Muzan is taking this seriously enough to send lowly demons, but not seriously enough to come himself or send an Upper Moon." I smiled without humor. "He's testing.. Trying to gauge the threat level or to be honest, he don't see us a threat at all, just a minor inconvenience"
Tamayo set down the medical supplies she'd been organizing. "And, it's only a matter of time, he will send a lower rank or upper rank demon after you"
"And that's what I intend to do." I moved to where Nezuko sat, still holding her brother's sleeve. She looked up at me with eyes that were fully human now—no demonic gleam, no inhuman hunger. Just a teenage girl who'd been through hell and somehow made it back.
"Nezuko," I said gently. "How do you feel?"
She blinked, seemed surprised I'd asked. "I... strange. Everything is sharper but also light? Like I can smell as much and clearer."
Tamayo observed, but didn't interrupt me as I continued.
"The cure doesn't just reverse from demon to human, it enhances the vitality and senses to the great levels" I pulled out another bottle of HWL, held it up. "This medicine is way more than just a simple cure, it's like an elixir of life, which is beyond human reach"
Yushiro stared at the bottle like it might explode. "You're just carrying those around? What if you'd been hit during the fight? What if one broke?"
"They won't break so easily. Trust me, I tested it." At their looks, I added "Dropped one off a cliff. Nothing. These bottles are more durable than they look."
"That's not the point!" Yushiro's voice cracked with frustration. "The point is you're treating priceless medical miracles like it's a candy, that you can get from a shop easily!"
I corked the bottle, tucked it away "I'm simply treating them like tools. Meant to be used, not worshipped." I looked at Tamayo. "You said you want to help people, right? That's why you've spent two centuries researching?"
"Of course."
"Then help me distribute these. Not to the Corps, not to any organization—directly to demons who want to be human again." I pulled out two more bottles, offered them. "Starting with you and Yushiro, if you want them."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Tamayo stared at the bottles like I'd offered her the sun itself. Yushiro's mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
"You're..." Tamayo's voice was barely a whisper "You're truly willing to give these to us? Just like that?"
"Just like that." I kept my hand extended. "But I need to know—are you ready to be human again? No enhanced strength, no regeneration, no Blood Demon Art. Just mortality and all the limitations that come with it."
Tamayo reached out slowly, her fingers trembling. Then stopped. "If we become human, we can't fight Muzan as effectively. Our medical knowledge would remain, but our ability to survive his attacks, to evade his detection..."
"Would decrease significantly," I finished. "Yeah. That's the trade-off, But you would be a human?"
She withdrew her hand. "Then I must decline....For now." Her expression was conflicted. "As much as I desire humanity, I'm more useful to the cause as a demon until Muzan is destroyed."
Yushiro sagged with visible relief "Thank you, Lady Tamayo. I was worried you might—"
"But I won't ask you to make the same choice," Tamayo continued, turning to him "Yushiro, if you wish to become human again—"
"Absolutely not!" He looked horrified. "If you're staying as a demon, I'm staying as a demon. Someone has to protect you, and it's certainly not going to be this reckless human!"
I couldn't help grinning. "I'm growing on you, aren't I?"
"Why you..." Yushiro muttered.
Tanjiro cleared his throat. "Um, Akira-san? About the Demon Slayer Corps..." He fidgeted with his haori. "I know you have concerns, but they're good people. My master, the Tomioka san, they genuinely want to help. Maybe if you just explained about the cure—"
"They'd want to control it." I cut him off, not unkindly. "Not out of malice, Tanjiro. Out of responsibility. They'd see this cure as too important to leave in one person's hands, too valuable to risk losing. They'd be right, from their perspective."
I leaned against the wall, felt the cool night air through the broken sections. "But this cure isn't the endgame. It's like barely scratching the surface"
"Hm?" Nezuko looked confused as I patted her head and gave explanation to them.
"Unlike the nichirin blade, thats needed to kill a demon, which you can use offensively in a combat" I added "This cure is basically reversing a loved one from demon to human, that's what I think it is for now, unless you have the power to shove this into the mouth of Muzan or his demons"
"And yet you intend to face Muzan on your own?!" Yushiro interjected "If you don't join with Demon Slayer Corps, it won't be too long that you'd be killed by Muzan"
"He is right, Akira san" Tanjiro added. "Even if you're really powerful, Akira-san, even if you can do things we can't...fighting alone is harder than it needs to be."
These kids, who'd lost everything, were trying to convince me not to isolate myself. Well, I can't blame them. If only they knew, I just slayed an ancient dragon recently.... yeah yeah, knocked out..they would be bowing at me repeatedly to teach them skills.
"I'm not planning to fight alone," I said finally as I smiled at the duo "That's why I adopted you two, remember?"
"YOU CAN'T JUST DECLARE ADOPTION!" they shouted in unison.
I grinned "Too late. Already did. You're stuck with me now."
Yushiro pinched the bridge of his nose with a grunt "Lady Tamayo, he's insane. You realize this, yes?"
"Haven't you heard about power of friendship, Yushiro?" I countered as he grumbled "Besides, I can't just leave these kids in world filled with demons on their own, can I?
Tamayo actually smiled at that. "Fair point." She finished organizing her salvaged supplies. "Very well, Akira-san. We'll accompany you. But on one condition."
"Sure, tell me. I'm all ears"
"You listen when we advise caution. Not necessarily obey, but listen." Her expression was serious. "Your confidence may be warranted, but arrogance gets even the strongest killed. I've seen it happen too many times."
I considered that. "Alright. I'll listen. Can't promise I'll always agree, but I'll hear you out."
"That's all I ask." She turned to Yushiro. "Begin preparations. We'll need to relocate quickly"
Yushiro nodded, moving with practiced efficiency despite his earlier protests. Within minutes, he'd started packing essential supplies, organizing things with the kind of speed that came from decades of practice.
Tanjiro helped Nezuko stand. She wobbled slightly—human balance after months of demon agility. "We should report to the Corps. They need to know Nezuko is human again, and—"
"And they'll have questions," I interrupted. "About the cure, about me, about tonight. You ready to answer those questions?"
He paused. "I'll tell them the truth."
"The truth that a mysterious doctor appeared out of nowhere with a miracle cure, killed two demons with his sword, and declared he's going to take on Muzan without Corps support?" I raised an eyebrow. "That'll go over well."
"So what should I do, Akira san?" Tanjiro asked
I shrugged "Think carefully about what you tell them. At least until we've got a better plan on approaching them. We got two demons with us afterall"
Nezuko tugged her brother's sleeve as Tanjiro nodded at me.
Tanjiro looked torn between duty and pragmatism. Finally, he nodded. "Okay. Akira san. But, we have to report in."
"Sure" I agreed.
"We need to move before more demons show up. Tamayo san, how long until you can relocate?"
"Give me one hour to pack the essential research materials." She was already moving, pulling out hidden compartments I hadn't noticed. "Yushiro, help me with the specimen containers."
They worked in synchronized efficiency, years of partnership evident in every movement.
I turned to the siblings. "You two should rest. It's been a long night."
Nezuko looked ready to collapse. The transition from demon to human, combined with the earlier battle and emotional whiplash, had clearly drained her.
. . .
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