It was those two he had seen before… "Demon Slayer Corps?" Yi Shui regenerated his arm, but they weren't wearing Demon Slayer Corps uniforms, nor did they even have nichirin blades!
How did they manage to cut off his arm without any warning?!
Yi Shui looked warily at Shinobu and Yoizumi, his gaze falling on the blond man. This person… no… his aura was very subtle.
He's a demon!
Wait, a demon?!
A demon and a human together?!
Is that even possible?
Yi Shui felt a moment of disorientation. The next instant, a biting cold blast of snow knocked him to the ground, his body covered in large patches of thin ice, making him shiver.
Yoizumi stared at the wooden stick in his hand, which had turned into ice shards. Sure enough, besides a nichirin blade, other things couldn't fully utilize the breathing technique.
He had seen Rengoku use a wooden sword with the breathing technique before.
Is it because he is a demon?
But he couldn't decapitate him; after all, only a nichirin blade could do that.
He really had to wait until dawn… The things he prepared didn't seem very effective during the day… "Fortunately, I was prepared when I left home~" Shinobu took out a small glass bottle containing a pale purple liquid from her small bag. It was her specially concocted wisteria poison, precisely for situations like this.
She handed it to Yoizumi, "Be careful~ Don't get it on yourself."
"Hmm."
Not good! He'll die!
Blood Demon Art… "Huh?" The water surface he used to escape was frozen. Yoizumi casually broke off a branch from a tree, which shattered again. He raised his hand, and without a physical attack, a compressed force directly shattered Yi Shui's abdomen from close range.
He pulled out the cork from the glass bottle and poured the pale purple liquid onto Yi Shui's wound. The hand attempting to retaliate was cut off out of thin air again.
Yi Shui collapsed to the ground, unable to win… "You are a demon, why are you with a human?"
Feeling the poison spread through his body, Yi Shui spoke with difficulty.
"Is it important?" Yoizumi looked at the demon on the ground and said indifferently.
"Is she your lover?"
"Yes."
The poison began to take effect. Yi Shui's grayish-blue skin started to show black-purple patterns, and his body slowly disintegrated.
He's clearly a demon… yet he can resist the urge to feed, defying his instincts to be with a human?
Yi Shui knew very well that the aura of a demon who had eaten humans was different from one who hadn't.
When he first became a demon, the craving for flesh and blood was irresistible. How did he manage it?
Yi Shui recalled the scene he had glimpsed then: the boy's soft yet fervent gaze, gently watching his lover.
And now, the look he gave him was cold, as if he were looking at a dead object.
Is this the difference?
A gaze reserved only for a lover.
Is this the purest form of love?
Yi Shui seemed to understand that phrase.
The look of someone in love cannot be hidden.
And that woman, the wisteria poison she used—in his understanding, only members of the Demon Slayer Corps would use such poison, right?
A Demon Slayer Corps member and a demon are together.
Two entities from opposing factions, yet they fell in love.
It's incredible… Ah… I want to understand…
His body gradually dissolving, his chestnut eyes stared unyieldingly at Yoizumi and Shinobu.
Dying by their hands… it doesn't seem so bad. At least I witnessed… I also wish… I had such a romance…
Yi Shui completely dissipated, leaving only a photograph behind.
Shinobu, nearby, checked the wounds of the three people, confirmed they only had superficial injuries, and after giving some precautions, she noticed the photograph. She knelt down, picked it up, and examined it.
"Oh my~" When she saw the image on it, Shinobu unconsciously curved her eyebrows, which prompted Yoizumi to lean over and ask, "What's wrong?"
She carefully put the photo into her small bag, not letting Yoizumi see it, and then looked at him with a meaningful glance.
"I'm not telling you~"
"?"
Is there something else he can't see?
The three people over there started arguing again, and from just a few words, Shinobu understood what had happened between them.
She could kill demons, but she couldn't deal with the 'demon' of infidelity.
"What's wrong with them?" Yoizumi looked confusedly at the arguing trio.
"Yoizumi doesn't need to know, let's go."
"Oh."
Held in Yoizumi's arms again, Shinobu placed her hand on his chest, carefully feeling its belonging.
There's only one heart, only one love. How could it be divided among so many people?
Shinobu didn't understand… loving one person already occupied her entire heart, leaving no room for anyone else… This path… it's so familiar!
Shinobu clearly saw the path by moonlight. Yoizumi wasn't moving very fast because, in that case, the wind would mess up Shinobu's hairstyle.
The book said to protect a lover's appearance and not let it be ruined.
"We've arrived." Yoizumi set Shinobu down and turned to look at the dilapidated house before them, a surge of emotion in his heart.
Shinobu felt the same.
Her purple eyes stared blankly at the wooden house. How could she forget?
This was… the place where they first met.
It was also where she almost killed Yoizumi.
She had once stabbed Yoizumi's heart with her nichirin blade here.
And now, that heart, which she had pierced, was beating for her.
"Looking at it now, it seems even more broken," If he hadn't met Shinobu, he might have stayed here forever, slowly withering away like this decaying wooden house, waiting to die.
But Shinobu found him, and he found his home.
"Yes…" Thinking about it now, this was the starting point that changed her destiny.
"This isn't the final destination yet. Please, Shinobu, cover your eyes." Yoizumi took a black ribbon from his pocket and tied it over Shinobu's eyes.
Her vision plunged into darkness, making her hearing exceptionally sharp. The rustling of the bamboo forest, Yoizumi's breathing, were right by her ear.
Yoizumi simultaneously held both of Shinobu's hands. He had spent a day and a half preparing this, unsure if Shinobu would like it. Yoizumi didn't understand what romance truly was; its definition was so vague and unclear, and he couldn't grasp its essence.
He could only act with the desire for Shinobu to like it.
"Shinobu, we're almost there."
Unable to see the path, one would normally feel panicked, but Shinobu trusted Yoizumi with all her heart.
Her lover… was clumsily creating a surprise for her…
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