"For thousands of years, the Demon Slayer Corps has never been as strong as it is today. Shinichi, I want to thank you all for your dedication, for not giving up even during the Corps' most difficult times," said Ubuyashiki Kagaya, the master and the soul of the Demon Slayer Corps, with a smile on his face.
Sitting across from the master, Shinichi was also deeply moved.
He recalled when he first joined the Demon Slayer Corps, there were only four Hashira including himself.
But in just a few years, all kinds of geniuses had emerged one after another and now the ranks of Hashira had grown to over ten.
"May the Demon Slayer Corps live forever!"
At a time like this, such a chuunibyou words like that were perhaps the most fitting.
The master chuckled softly, reaching out to slowly feel for the teacup on the wooden table in front of him.
As time passed, the master's curse had inevitably worsened.
Now both of his eyes could no longer see anything, only weakly perceiving some changes in light and darkness.
This was already the result of Shinichi's persistent use of Forest Breathing on the master.
Without Forest Breathing, Shinichi couldn't imagine how terrible the suffering the master would be enduring now.
The resilience of the Ubuyashiki family was truly strong.
"By the way, Shinichi, have you ever thought about what should happen to the Demon Slayer Corps if one day all the demons are eliminated?" Kagaya asked gently.
Whoosh!
The room suddenly fell into silence.
For the first time, an expression of bewilderment and uncertainty appeared on Shinichi's face.
What would happen to the Demon Slayer Corps after all the demons were eliminated?
This was the first time Shinichi had heard and pondered this question.
Although the Demon Slayer Corps' motto and slogan had always been to slay all demons, almost 90% of the Corps members had never considered what they would do if all the demons were eliminated one day.
Or rather, every member who joined the Demon Slayer Corps thought only of eliminating demons.
No one had ever imagined they would live to see the day when all demons were destroyed.
It sounds laughable, but isn't it also a kind of tragic heroism?
Vowing to slay all demons without ever daring to hope for a beautiful world without demons.
"Oyakata-sama, I... I've never really thought about it. But if that day truly comes, I still hope that I can be the last demon to pass away," Shinichi said frankly, which was actually...
No matter what, Shinichi was essentially a demon.
Over the years, his appearance had hardly changed, still maintaining that sharp youthful look.
Standing next to his disciple Yuichiro, no one would think they were master and student.
'Uh, wait, that's not right.
Tamayo and the others are also demons, and they're good people.
And there's Nezuko too.
So..... a few good demons could still remain in the world if its possible' Shinichi thought to himself.
However, somehow, when thinking about life after all the demons were eliminated, the image of Shinobu's charming figure appeared in Shinichi's mind and refused to leave.
'Shinobu... our identities...'
A hint of melancholy flashed in Shinichi's heterochromatic eyes.
After so many years, even if he were truly dense, he would have realized by now.
But he still didn't dare to take the final step with Shinobu.
In Shinichi's heart, the gap between humans and demons was too great.
'If possible, i want to be an ordinary person and being with Shinobu, that would be very happy ending, wouldn't it?'
*****
"Eh? What? a letter for me? is it from the old man?" Shinichi asked in confusion as he took the thick envelope from a Kakushi.
Shinichi had limited friends and besides the old man, he couldn't think of anyone else who would write to him.
Moreover, the Demon Slayer Corps' Kakushi contact points were not something ordinary people could know about.
When Shinichi opened the envelope, the first thing he saw was a thick stack of banknotes.
He immediately realized who had sent this.
Ryukawa Chinatsu.
Looking at the letter and banknotes in his hand, Shinichi felt truly helpless about this girl.
Over the years, while Shinichi had been slaying demons, Chinatsu had been making great strides in the business world across the country and even globally.
The Moriki Group she founded had become a giant conglomerate spanning over a dozen countries.
Even though Shinichi paid no attention to the business world, he often heard about Chinatsu's legendary exploits while slaying demons in various places.
Sometimes he wanted to complain, who's really the protagonist here?
While working hard and striving forward, Ryukawa Chinatsu hadn't forgotten about Shinichi.
Now, most of the Demon Slayer Corps' logistics and intelligence networks were strongly supported by the Moriki Group.
Even in government high circles, due to the Moriki Group's influence, the government had granted many special sword-carrying permits to the Demon Slayer Corps.
This had transformed the Demon Slayer Corps from an unrecognized illegal organization to a semi-legal organization.
At least they no longer had to hide their swords and weapons when slaying demons in big cities like before.
Shinichi's silver mirror at his waist was stuffed full of banknotes sent by Ryukawa Chinatsu, so many that he couldn't even count them.
This girl's personality was probably quite straightforward.
Every time she wrote to Shinichi, she wouldn't say much besides a few greetings and then showering him with money.
However, this time, Chinatsu wasn't simply showering him money like before.
She mentioned something in her letter.
The Moriki Group was building a railway from Kanagawa Prefecture to the Kyoto area, which was nearing completion.
However, recently, construction workers had been disappearing from the railway, and many ordinary people along the route had also gone missing.
Even more bizarrely, a test train with over ten carriages had simply vanished during its journey.
The Kyoto police and Kanagawa Prefecture police had investigated for over a month but found nothing.
In the past few days, five police officers had disappeared.
Chinatsu suspected that such supernatural events might be related to demons, so she actively sought help from the Demon Slayer Corps.
At the end of the letter, Chinatsu showed a rare moment of emotion by inviting Shinichi to bring his friends to visit the holiday resort that the Moriki Group had built in Kyoto.
After reading the letter, Shinichi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But jokes aside, he took the contents of the letter very seriously and immediately went to seek instructions from Kagaya.
Considering that demon appearances had greatly decreased recently and that the Moriki Group was a major supporter of the Demon Slayer Corps, Kagaya very decisively agreed with Shinichi's idea.
To cause such large-scale disturbances along a long stretch of railway, the demon causing trouble couldn't be just one.
There might even be members of the Twelve Kizuki involved.
To be cautious, several Hashira stationed at headquarters, including Shinichi, were dispatched simultaneously, along with dozens of Demon Slayer Corps members of various ranks, divided into groups to investigate along different routes.
Little did the Demon Slayer Corps members know that this mission would become the spark that ignited the great war between humans and demons.
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