The Yoshiwara Entertainment District at night was brightly lit and bustling with people, lively even in the biting cold of winter. Exquisitely made-up courtesans were displayed like goods on the street, wrapped in gorgeous dresses, silently watching the passing crowd.
As Doma walked through Yoshiwara, his exceptionally handsome appearance earned him many flirtatious glances and even a tossed handkerchief. "Everyone is so passionate~" He spun the bamboo dragonfly in his hand, uninterested in conversing with the courtesans; he just wanted to find something to eat.
"This place should have many people in need of salvation, right?" Doma smiled without a care, his steps light as he turned into a less crowded area.
The cold winter wind howled, carrying a faint scent of smoke mixed with the barely perceptible stench of burnt flesh. Doma stopped, turned his head towards the direction the wind was coming from, and saw a plume of black smoke rising in the distance before being scattered by the wind. He blinked his eyes, drew out a fan to cover his chin, and headed towards the source of the smoke.
"Ume! Ume!" A hoarse cry echoed through the dark street.
Gyutaro's body trembled as he looked at the charred body in the pit. The sickles and food in his hands fell to the ground. His most beautiful sister, all his pride and hope, had been reduced to this state. Her snow-white hair was gone, her fair skin burned to black charcoal. Her whole body was shrunken in the pit on the ground, twitching and convulsing, on the verge of death.
Why? Why are you so cruel to us? Why is everything so merciless to us? You gave me nothing, yet you still want to take away the most important thing from me? Don't they say what goes around comes around? Shouldn't good and bad things come in turns?
"No, no, no!" Gyutaro hugged his charred sister, looking up at the night sky with tears streaming down his face, roaring in despair. "Don't take my things! Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"
"Restore my sister to her original state!"
"Otherwise, whether it's a god or a Buddha, I will kill them!"
A samurai with a bandaged left eye swung his sword heavily from behind, leaving a deep wound on his back. Gyutaro fell to the ground, holding his sister, the gushing blood flowing and staining the charred ground a dark red.
"Oh my, how cruel." A sharp golden fan swept across the samurai's arm. Amidst a spray of blood, the arm holding the sword fell to the ground. The samurai clutched his shoulder and let out an ugly scream, while the middle-aged brothel madam behind him collapsed to the ground in terror.
Doma, who had just arrived, stood by and looked down at the brother and sister on the ground, tears of pity streaming from his eyes. "It must be so painful. You poor children." Witnessing the tragic state of these siblings firsthand was indeed extremely pitiful.
In fact, over the many years, Doma had occasionally wandered through Yoshiwara for fun. He had never run into them, nor had he deliberately sought them out; everything was left to fate. But while so many things had changed, did fate still lead him to meet these pitiable siblings at a time like this?
"Such a fateful encounter is truly a miracle," Doma remarked softly.
Gyutaro paid no attention to what he said. He grabbed his sickles, sprang up from the ground, and glared viciously at the samurai and the madam nearby. "Did you do this to Ume?" he asked in a low, hoarse voice.
"It has nothing to do with me!" the madam quickly shook her head. "It was Ume who blinded the samurai lord's eye, that's why she was punished..."
Before she could finish, Gyutaro shot in front of her with incredible speed and severed her neck with a sickle. Then he nimbly turned back and viciously plunged the sickle into the samurai's head.
"Ah—how impressive," Doma said, fanning himself, his praise untimely.
Gyutaro walked back with his head down, picked up the charred Ume, and tears streamed down his face again. "Save her! I beg you, save her!"
"I'll do anything you ask!" He knelt crying before Doma, begging in a low, submissive voice to this tall, gorgeously dressed man who was clearly well-off.
"Eh—this girl can't be saved," Doma said, covering the lower half of his face with his fan, revealing only his tear-filled rainbow eyes. "You, on the other hand, can still be saved if you get treated in time," he said seriously.
In truth, Doma was reluctant to turn people into demons. After all, a demon was destined to be a twisted and pathetic creature, trapped by its obsessions, constantly committing sins, and destined for hell after death. Going to hell would be very painful. Doma, who could never bear to see people suffer, was not keen on doing something that would send people to hell, as it went against his duties.
"Your sister looks like she's in a lot of pain. Do you need me to help her find release sooner?" Doma looked at the charred bundle in Gyutaro's arms with a piteous expression, his eyes welling with tears.
Gyutaro said nothing. After hearing Doma say he couldn't save Ume, he stood up without a word, holding his sister, and staggered away. "Save her, can anyone save her..."
"Eh? I told you, she can't be saved. If you don't treat your wounds soon, you'll die too," Doma said with a sad expression, walking beside him. "Life is a precious thing. You should cherish it," he said in the gentle and kind tone he usually used to comfort his believers. "Someone just told me earlier that to live with all your might is the beauty of life."
"A life without Ume, a life that has lost everything, has no meaning," Gyutaro said hoarsely. His legs gave out, and his emaciated body fell heavily to the ground, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him.
Snow began to fall from the sky, melting coldly on the ground. The breath of Ume in his arms grew fainter.
"What touching brotherly love," Doma said, wiping his tears. This intense emotion sparked a hint of emotion and longing in his heart. "Actually, it's not entirely impossible to save her." He lowered his head slightly with a piteous expression, his rainbow eyes seeming to hold a trace of real emotion, yet also seeming as empty as ever.
Gyutaro suddenly looked up at him, his eyes wide, his splotchy face filled with hope and pleading.
"But there is a price to pay," Doma said, his expression gradually becoming blank.
"I'll pay any price! As long as you can save Ume, I'll do anything!" Gyutaro reached out to him with a trembling hand.
"Even if it means becoming a demon that feeds on humans and can only live in darkness?" Doma asked, his face expressionless.
Gyutaro had a look of realization and said firmly, "Yes, even if I have to become a demon!"
"Even if you will go to hell after death and suffer endless pain?" Doma's words seemed completely cold, yet also held a hint of temptation.
Gyutaro's pupils trembled, his eyes bloodshot. "Whatever sins there are, I will bear them all alone," he said. "Ume shouldn't have to die like this!"
"Why not? To die as a human is to be freed from the suffering of this life and to welcome a new one," Doma said with a troubled expression, closing his fan and tapping his shoulder lightly.
"Will the next life be happy?" Gyutaro asked. "Will we know each other in the next life?"
"Mmm—that's hard to say," Doma pouted.
"Then it has no meaning!" Gyutaro roared through his tears. "Why should we be forced to gamble on the next life?"
"Even if we find happiness in the next life, it won't be the same me and Ume as now!"
"We haven't received any happiness in this life, so why... why should the versions of us in the next life get any!"
"I won't accept it! I won't allow it!" He slammed his fist on the ground, his knuckles quickly becoming bloody.
Doma watched him, slightly stunned, then suddenly opened his fan to cover his lips. "What an interesting child," he said softly. "I just don't know what to do with you." He slowly clenched his right hand, his nails instantly turning sharp and purple, and pierced deep into his palm. "Fine, I will share my blood with you," Doma said with a smile. "As long as you are chosen by that man, you can become demons."
The blood of an Upper Moon was concentrated enough to turn a human into a demon, but Muzan had placed a restriction on it, requiring his approval for the process. Mmm, but as long as I don't abuse this privilege, Lord Muzan will basically agree. After all, this counts as a recommendation.
Doma fed his blood to the dying Ume, then watched as Gyutaro drank his blood. He watched them transform in agony, and slowly stood up. "Ah! That samurai can be your first meal." He dragged the two of them into an abandoned house and helped prepare their food, then nodded in satisfaction. "Oh my, I'm so considerate~" Doma said with a grin. He took one last look at the brother and sister and walked out into the snowstorm.
A long time later, the transformed brother and sister instinctively ate the food before them. After breaking free from the desire to feed, they regained their senses. Looking at his sister, who had become beautiful again, with only a pink flower-like tattoo on her cheek, Gyutaro held her in his arms, tears streaming down his face. "From now on, I will never let you suffer like this again. I swear, I will kill anyone who wants to harm you!"
"My sister is so beautiful. She deserves to have everything she wants. Even if I'm not here, I will get it for Ume!"
Ume leaned against him blankly, instinctively clinging to her brother's embrace.
"If hell really exists, then we'll just go kill those who should have gone to hell long ago. This place is full of people like that..." Gyutaro held his sister's bewildered face. "If the day really comes when we have to die, if we must fall into hell in the end, all the sins and mistakes will be mine."
"My sister must always be this beautiful, this clean..."
The snow outside grew heavier, gradually covering everything, dyeing the ground a pure white.
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (330 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (130 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (140 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (330 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (160 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (170 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (90 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (130 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (140 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (140 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (140 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (110 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (120 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (70 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it.