"You're pregnant already?!"
Tamayo froze for a moment, and then, with a mix of bashfulness and irritation, gave him a light smack.
"The things you say!... We only did it last night... it's way too soon for that..."
As she spoke, her voice grew fainter and fainter.
"Besides... demons are sterile."
Marcus was stunned for a moment, but he quickly grasped what her worry was really getting at.
Smiling, he gently pinched her cheek.
"So that's what was bothering you? If that's all it is, you can set your mind completely at ease. The truth is, I'm pretty indifferent to the whole having-kids thing."
He wasn't lying.
Coming from a future where the desire to have children had naturally grown scarce, he showed a genuine lack of interest in all of that.
And on top of that, looking at it coldly: why bother having heirs if he himself was never going to die? That classic argument lost a lot of its meaning.
Tamayo, however, didn't see it the same way.
"You're indifferent now because you're still young and you just don't care about having kids at this particular moment."
"And I'm always going to be young in the future~"
"Hmph." Tamayo shook his arm like an impatient little girl. "Listen to me, please."
"Okay, okay." Marcus wrapped his arms around her. "Alright, go ahead. I'm listening."
Leaning against his chest, Tamayo went on. "You don't want them now because you live like a child yourself. But did it ever occur to you that not wanting them today doesn't mean you won't want them tomorrow? That over a very, very long time, nothing inside you will change?"
"In an almost endless life, the day will come when, out of a whim or just naturally, the idea of wanting a child will surface in you. And then... as someone used to getting everything easily, suddenly facing an unattainable desire is going to quickly turn it into an obsession."
"That obsession is going to take over your mind and rob you of your happiness. And the more you dwell on it, the more miserable you'll feel, and the heavier it'll become..."
"For human beings, with their short lifespans, if they can't have children, then they just can't, and that's that. In a few decades, they have no choice but to accept their fate. But... what happens if you live hundreds of years? Or thousands?"
"Then that obsession has a very high chance of slowly piling up, until it becomes a real nightmare."
"..."
Seeing Marcus furrow his brow, deep in thought, Tamayo gave him the clearest example.
"Muzan."
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
"In the past, Muzan was a sickly invalid, confined to his home for life." Tamayo continued, not looking away. "If back then someone had offered him good health in exchange for never seeing the light of day again, he would have accepted without a second thought. Why? Because at that point in his life, basking in the sun had never really mattered to him."
"And what about now? Walking under the sun like any ordinary human, and becoming a perfect life-form, have turned into his nightmare. Into the desire that haunts him every night."
"His indiscriminate slaughter of innocents is driven by his own nature. But, to be honest, it's pretty clear that it's also deeply tied to that obsession that built up in him over the centuries."
...It made sense. It made a whole lot of sense.
Marcus stayed there, reflecting.
Truly, at this precise moment, he didn't care in the slightest about having kids.
But looking ahead to the long years to come, he couldn't guarantee anyone, not even himself, that the thought would never resurface.
Maybe someday, after exhausting every possible form of entertainment, he'd suddenly feel the absurd, capricious urge to raise a child.
And even if he could steal one, kidnap one, adopt one, or amuse himself with other people's children, those would never be as good as his own... When that moment came, he'd probably be filled with an unbearable anxiety and frustration.
Better to settle the matter as soon as possible instead.
If he wanted them, he'd have them. If not, then not.
Let everything be done according to the desires of his heart, with no obstacle standing in the way.
That... is true freedom.
"So what are you trying to say?"
Tamayo's face flushed. "Give me a little more time... I'm going to perfect the experiment. There'll be results soon."
"Perfect the experiment? Results very soon?" Marcus narrowed his eyes, and a smile loaded with suspicion slowly spread across his lips. "...You haven't been running some experiment behind my back, have you?"
!
Tamayo panicked instantly, her face turning red all the way to her ears.
"That's a lie! I haven't! You're talking nonsense!"
"Hehe." Marcus smiled with a deeply suggestive expression. "Are you assuring me that you completely refrained from doing any research into... ahem... getting the she-demons pregnant?"
WHAM!
Marcus, completely naked, went flying out from under the sheets after a well-aimed kick.
He winced, gripping his waist as he glanced off to the side.
In that moment, Tamayo wrapped herself up completely in the blankets, like a little girl, doing her best impression of a caterpillar.
Marcus burst out laughing. "If you wanted to have a kid with me, all you had to do was say so. Why hide it like this?"
"Y-You... get out of here!" Tamayo's embarrassed voice came out muffled from deep within the lump of blankets.
"Alright, alright, I'm going. But don't forget about the experiment, okay?"
The caterpillar squirmed a little, by way of a reply.
Marcus shook his head with a resigned smile and pressed the little bell at the head of the bed.
While he waited for Ivy and Pearl to arrive, a cautious voice came from inside the sheets.
"Marcus..."
"Hmm?"
"...In the Demon Slayer Corps, do you have any enemies, or anything like that?"
The sudden question caught him off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"..."
Tamayo fell silent. It was plain to see she was struggling to keep talking.
"...Never mind."
But they'd been together for quite a while now, and Marcus knew right away that she wanted to say something.
"The Corps is a real mixed bag. It's got all kinds, including some pretty unsavory characters. And yeah, I know a few people who could vanish without anyone missing them too much."
From inside the blankets, Tamayo let out a relieved sigh.
"It's just that I'm worried... that there might be some kind of interference between the Breathing Technique, the process of turning into a demon, and the effects of the sunlight experiment. And if... if that sort of person you mentioned really does exist, I... I was thinking of..."
Using him as a guinea pig?
To ensure Marcus came through the process intact, Tamayo was willing to go to any length.
And naturally, Marcus answered without missing a beat.
"There is one, love, of course there is!"
A wicked smile spread across his face. "As it happens, I know just the guy, an animal who's mastered a breathing style and who should've stopped breathing a good while ago."
"Hehe... Now that the subject's come up, I'll take a little trip to bring him to you."
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Throw your stones, drop them ALL! đź’Ž
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