The sudden sensation of weightlessness made Kocho Shinobu instinctively grab the table for support. She gulped down air, her pupils trembling without her realizing it.
The suffocating pressure from that violent blow had been so overwhelming that even now, after escaping that place, she still struggled to steady her breathing.
[Does a demon that powerful really exist? Was it an Upper Moon? Or… was it Muzan Kibutsuji?]
After several deep breaths, Shinobu finally forced the chaotic thoughts from her mind and regained her composure.
By the dim candlelight, she looked down at her hands. Realizing she was still inside the illusion, anger flashed across her face and she slammed her fist against the table.
"Another illusion… damn it! How am I supposed to get out of this?! What is that guy trying to do?!
Does he think that just because his identity was exposed, he can trap all of us here and let us die inside these illusions?!
Demons really are demons. Nothing they do ever makes sense!"
Right now, Shinobu's mind was in turmoil. What she felt wasn't just anger—it was the shock of being betrayed by someone she had trusted.
It was true that she hadn't liked Hiru at first.
He had seemed frivolous and immature. The way he did things was always unconventional, yet he somehow managed to stop just short of crossing people's boundaries. Before long, he would start treating everyone like juniors, acting overly familiar and affectionate with them.
In short, he was the kind of person who made others feel strangely uncomfortable—yet somehow impossible to truly dislike.
And that, more than anything, irritated her.
Yet her teacher, Mikazuki Reima, had begun praising Hiru as a genius ever since he identified the root cause of the Master's illness.
Reima often invited him to discuss pharmacology. Even though Hiru rarely agreed to meet in person and mostly communicated through letters, it never dampened her teacher's enthusiasm.
Whenever Reima spoke about Hiru, the usually stern man would show a faint hint of pride.
During breaks between lessons, he would often tell Shinobu how knowledgeable Hiru was and urge her to study well under him.
And the truth was exactly as her teacher had said.
Hiru's knowledge of medicine was astonishing. Even the poison Shinobu now used to kill demons had originally been developed and refined by him.
Unlike many pharmacists who passed their knowledge only to their own apprentices and guarded it jealously from outsiders, Hiru never hesitated to share what he knew.
If anything, when someone surpassed him, he seemed genuinely pleased.
Under such open and generous guidance, Shinobu had long since begun to regard Hiru as another teacher—even if she had never said it aloud—respecting him just as she respected Reima.
But…
But why a demon?!
If he was a demon, then why join the Demon Slayer Corps in the first place?! Wasn't it completely absurd for a demon to be part of the Corps?!
Shinobu clenched her fists, forcing herself to take another deep breath until her emotions settled.
Right now, the most important thing was escaping this illusion as quickly as possible.
No matter what, she wanted to hear it from Hiru himself—why someone who constantly spoke of how detestable demons were, someone who clearly hated them so deeply, would choose to become one.
Was it because he had witnessed his own brother turn into a demon and seen that overwhelming power?
Had that been enough for him to abandon his resolve to remain human?
If that were the case, then what right did he have to hate demons?
Wasn't that utterly ridiculous?
Shinobu pressed her lips together and looked around the room.
Her gaze eventually settled on the bottles and jars scattered across the desk. She carefully opened one.
"…Wisteria extract? A demon wouldn't keep something like this in their home. That means he's still human right now… but then why—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
After a brief silence, Shinobu picked up the candlestick from the desk and began searching the room in the darkness, hoping to find something that might help her escape the illusion.
As she passed a bookshelf piled high with notebooks, she suddenly stopped.
Almost unconsciously, she pulled one down and opened it.
Because of the differences between ancient and modern grammar, it took her some time to read it smoothly. But once she grasped the meaning, her surprise only deepened.
The handwriting was neat and precise. Smaller annotations had been written along the margins of each paragraph.
Line after line meticulously recorded the effects of combining wisteria with various medicines on both demons and humans.
There were even records of experiments in which parts of a demon's body had been exposed to sunlight to observe how quickly they regenerated.
Shinobu couldn't help continuing to search through the shelf.
Every notebook described in detail how demons had been dissected and subjected to various experiments.
The language was clinical and formulaic, carrying an almost chilling indifference.
Yet most of the books appeared to be nothing more than experimental records. Many pages still had crisp, untouched edges.
Only when she reached the very bottom shelf did Shinobu find several notebooks whose pages were clearly worn from frequent use.
The first one was the thickest.
It was filled with names—some familiar, others not.
After each name was a brief record of that person's life.
Rather than a diary, it resembled an official registry kept by the authorities.
Shinobu flipped through it quickly, her brows knitting together slightly.
She couldn't understand why this book had been handled more often than the experimental records.
Until she saw the final line on the last page—words that clearly did not belong in a simple record.
This hatred must not be forgotten.
It should not be forgotten.
It cannot be forgotten.
Shinobu stopped turning the pages.
She lowered her gaze to the worn edges of the paper, smoothed down by countless touches. Having just witnessed that tragedy herself, the notebook in her hands suddenly felt unbearably heavy.
The faint confusion lingering in her heart vanished at once.
After a moment of silence, even though she knew this place was only an illusion, Shinobu carefully placed the notebook back where it had been.
If the contents of the first notebook were understandable, then the second notebook completely exceeded Shinobu's expectations.
It contained extensive speculation on how demons and humans might transform into one another.
Alongside those theories were repeatedly revised formulas for a demon-transformation drug.
When Shinobu reached the line—
[Should be kept on hand at all times, in case of unforeseen circumstances.]
Her anger surged again.
"Actually developing something like this… a madman. He's completely insane!"
After muttering a few curses, Shinobu recalled Hiru's habit of hiding medicines.
She searched around her body and quickly found a medicine pouch.
But before she could open it—
Crash!
The sound of doors and windows shattering suddenly rang out, and the gust of wind that followed instantly snuffed out the candlelight.
Shinobu's entire body tensed.
She stepped back until her back pressed against the bookshelf, gripping the extinguished candlestick in front of her like a weapon.
At the same time, she briefly shut her eyes to adjust to the darkness more quickly.
"Who's there?!"
The only answer was a chorus of overlapping, grotesque laughter.
[Two… no. Three.]
Shinobu carefully judged the direction of the sounds while stuffing the medicine pouch back into her clothes.
[Demons… this is bad. If I had my Nichirin Blade right now, I'd be confident I could cut off their heads. But with just this candlestick…]
Before she could finish the thought, something sliced through the air.
Instinctively, Shinobu dropped low, raising the candlestick to block.
But using ordinary iron to clash with a demon's claws was far too naïve.
A sharp pain tore through her palm, and the candlestick was knocked from her grasp.
Yet Shinobu had no intention of surrendering.
Rolling across the floor, she sprang up in one smooth motion, shoving aside a nearby bookshelf as she moved.
Guided by memory, she lunged straight toward the desk.
She remembered the medicine jars on the table. Though she had no idea what effects those medicines might have, in her current situation anything that could force the demons back for even a moment would be enough.
Give her a little time, and she was certain she could find a way to use those drugs to kill the three demons.
But she had clearly underestimated the demons' speed—and overestimated her own strength.
Her hand had only just touched one of the jars when an irresistible force yanked her from behind, dragging her entire body backward.
In the chaos, Shinobu didn't even know what she had grabbed. Clutching it tightly, she drove it toward the demon's eye socket.
She managed to wrench herself free from its claws, but the demon, shrieking in pain, violently flung her away.
The sudden sensation of weightlessness, the world flipping upside down, made Shinobu's vision blur. Compared to that, the pain of hitting the ground barely registered.
Before she could recover, another heavy blow struck her, sending her rolling across the floor.
Struggling to her feet, Shinobu leaned against the wall to steady herself. Her eyes had only just adapted to the darkness when she saw the three demon silhouettes advancing toward her.
A long-forgotten feeling of helplessness surged up from deep within her heart.
It felt as if she had returned to that nightmare of a day.
Her father and mother had died one after another beneath a demon's claws. She had watched with her own eyes as that hideous creature, its face twisted with cruelty, tore out their hearts and stuffed them into its mouth, chewing greedily.
Like a cat playing with a mouse, it had driven her and her sister out of the house—always leaving them just enough space to flee at the last moment, only to chase them again.
After joining the Demon Slayer Corps and gaining the power to hunt demons, she had thrown herself completely into killing them.
So completely that she had forgotten just how utterly powerless ordinary people were when facing a demon.
She didn't know whether the others trapped inside illusions had other ways out.
But for her, there were only two choices—swallow the medicine, or be toyed with by demons until she died.
And no matter what, she refused to experience that same helplessness from that night ever again.
Which meant she had only one path left.
Watching the demons slowly draw closer, Shinobu stopped hesitating. She pulled the medicine pouch from her clothes, tore it open, and swallowed the powder inside.
The powder hadn't been ground very finely. The bitter taste of herbs spread across her tongue, mixed with a faint burnt flavor. As she swallowed, a slight sting scraped down her throat.
The first thing Shinobu felt after taking the medicine was the world snapping into sharp clarity.
Only then did the pain arrive.
It was as if every bone and every strand of flesh in her body were being crushed and rebuilt all at once.
She clearly saw the expressions of the three demons in front of her change—from mockery to terror.
And deep within her heart, a violent thrill surged.
The demons that had been impossible for her to resist moments ago had now become nothing more than toys in her hands.
Facing her, they couldn't even run.
The situation had reversed in an instant.
And the feeling of holding another's life so easily in her grasp… was strangely intoxicating.
But no matter how powerful a demon's regeneration might be, ordinary demons couldn't withstand being torn apart again and again.
Very quickly, they dissolved into writhing masses of flesh before crumbling into ash.
Before Shinobu could marvel at the power of demons or consider what she should do next, an overwhelming hunger crashed over her like a tidal wave—again and again, threatening to crush her sanity.
[Hungry… so hungry…]
No.
That's wrong. I have to resist.
[I need to eat… I have to eat something…]
But she was so hungry…
[To the west is a village. Go there. Right there! Just eat a few people and it'll be enough! Go eat!]
Ah… right.
Just a few people…
That should be fine, right?
The moment that thought appeared, Shinobu's body began moving on its own.
The night wind brushed against her face, yet it did nothing to cool the burning hunger inside her.
Soon, a town appeared before her—its scattered lights flickering like tiny flames.
The sweet, alluring scent of blood instantly flooded her senses.
But just as Shinobu's hand touched the door—
She suddenly felt someone grab her arm.
The hunger that had burned through her sanity vanished in an instant.
The world before her twisted violently, the scenery shifting rapidly until she found herself back in the original room.
But this time, she was no longer inside Hiru's body.
She was only a spectator.
Just as Shinobu stood there stunned by the sudden change, Hiru's voice sounded beside her.
"Well? Suppressing your appetite isn't so easy, is it?"
Shinobu jerked her head up.
Hiru was standing beside her with his arms folded, the same relaxed smile on his face as always.
Her emotions instantly surged. She reached out and grabbed the front of his clothes.
"What exactly are you trying to do?! Were those your real experiences just now?! Are you a demon that has eaten humans?!"
Hiru allowed her to grab his collar and vent her emotions.
Only when Shinobu began breathing heavily did he finally speak.
"No, no, no. That was your reaction. I simply passed on everything I felt back then to you. After all, words alone aren't convincing—especially since Demon Slayer swordsmen naturally distrust demons.
"So in order for us to have a proper conversation later, I used my Blood Demon Art to bring you into my memories."
Hiru turned his head, looking toward another frozen version of himself standing nearby.
"But unlike the first memory—where you could only watch as spectators without truly experiencing the emotions—I didn't place any restrictions on the second one. Everything you felt was completely real.
"Of course, part of the reason was also that I wanted to see whether the me from back then might have had another way out."
He glanced at her.
"So? How did it feel… becoming a demon?"
[My… real reaction?]
Shinobu's eyes slowly widened.
Her face filled with horror as she raised a hand to cover her mouth.
[That means… if I turned into a demon… I would eat people? No… that's not right. I hate demons more than anything. How could I possibly—]
Seeing her on the verge of emotional collapse, Hiru let out a small sigh.
"Anyway, I'll reduce the shared sensations to about thirty percent from here on. The rest you'll just observe as a third party."
Shinobu clutched her stomach, which had begun twisting violently again, and grabbed Hiru's sleeve.
"What are you trying to do?! Why drag us into this illusion?! What exactly do you want?!"
Hiru lowered his eyes to look at Shinobu's pale face and gently ruffled her hair.
"…Just watch the rest properly. After it's over, we'll sit down and talk calmly."
Shinobu watched as Hiru's figure slowly disappeared.
She pressed her lips together.
Only after the churning in her stomach gradually settled did she turn her gaze toward the candle beside her, which had begun flickering again—and toward the figure seated at the desk.
[Hiru.]
Unlike the Hiru she knew, this version didn't carry that gentle, easygoing smile.
Between his brows there was only an unrelenting gloom.
Everything began playing out again.
Shinobu watched as Hiru was driven into a corner by the demons and swallowed the medicine pouch.
After easily tearing the three demons apart, he ran straight toward the forest.
Without hesitation, she followed.
The hunger rose again inside her stomach—just strong enough that she couldn't ignore it, yet still within what she could endure.
But her thoughts were no longer focused on that.
No matter how hard she tried to concentrate, Shinobu couldn't stop recalling the expression on Hiru's face just before he disappeared.
Helpless. Lonely. And tinged with apology.
She clenched her teeth quietly.
"I should be the one crying… you awful bastard!"