Miserable people, pitiful people, wretched people.
I want to help them, I want to make them happy.
That's why, on that snowy day, I picked up Yukiji who had collapsed on the road.
Because that child, treated worse than a stray cat, was so miserable, pitiful, and wretched.
The state of Yukiji's body that I showed to the doctor after picking them up was truly deplorable, making me wonder how they had lived until now. It was to the point of being impressed that they had managed to survive like this.
It would have been easier to just die. Perhaps they didn't want to lose the only thing they had—their life—or perhaps they had no choice but to desperately cling to this dust-like existence. How pitiful.
Yukiji's eyes were redder than nandina berries, and their hair was white as snow. Their skin was even much whiter than others', so if a snow woman gave birth to a child, it would surely be a child like that. It wasn't hard to imagine that they must have been treated worse than an animal because of that unusual appearance.
Humans all have red blood flowing beneath their single layer of human shell, yet they treat others specially or look down on them based solely on appearance. I'm also just a human, but believers look at me as if worshipping a god or buddha. My now-deceased parents were the same. They were truly pitiable people who mistakenly thought I could hear the voice of god.
For example, even if I said that having hair and eyes that aren't black is actually the correct color for humans and that everyone around is equally wrong, no one would acknowledge it.
Right and wrong are decided by numbers. Majority rule is violent justice. If you don't wield the violence of numbers, you can't be confident that you're right, so humans with poor minds are truly pitiful. Yukiji, swept up in the values of such poor-minded humans, is even more pitiful.
Yukiji was a wise child.
Much more so than my adult believers.
When believers who have more money than they know what to do with bow their heads saying "Please lead us to paradise" and offer large donations, I get a bit troubled. Even if you pile up large sums, there can't be a paradise, nor can you create one.
If you have that much money, doing what you want to do and living would be much more constructive and fulfilling.
I've always found it endlessly curious why these adults don't know such simple things. They've lived longer than me so they must know much more about enjoyable things, but are their minds so poor that they can't utilize that experience?
Even while thinking that, I don't say it out loud. Nor with my expression, of course. Satisfying and making happy the hearts of people who believe paradise exists and wish to go there is my role. I'll accept the money as sincerity and use it for the pitiful believers being protected at the religious institution.
Yukiji was looking at the believers kneeling and pleading for paradise with pitiful eyes. Those red eyes knew that there were no gods, buddhas, or paradise. Of course, if there were gods or buddhas or such, you wouldn't have ended up in a place like this.
Yukiji was a perceptive child.
Because despite taking meticulous care not to be noticed by the believers, they instantly saw through that my physical condition wasn't good.
If I fall ill, the believers make a fuss. So I didn't want to be found out and earnestly asked them not to tell anyone. If I called a doctor, the fact that I'm unwell would become known, so I endured even that. It would be troublesome if the believers who follow me kept coming to ask about my health, saying "Leader, how is your body?"
You'd think they'd know that resting quietly is best when you're unwell, but believers disturb my recuperation with the excuse of worry.
Are you worried about me? Or are you worried about yourselves who have no one else to talk to but me? I'm not a fool, so I won't ask such obvious questions.
There there, it must be hard. You must be anxious. You probably can't bear it because you feel pitiful. You must feel like a baby bird fallen from its nest.
The night I suppressed my cough and fell asleep because it would be troublesome if the believers found out, Yukiji came to my room and handed me medicine saying it was a fever reducer.
If I were in my right mind, I wouldn't drink medicine made by such a small child, not even as a childish game. But Yukiji's nagging that I wouldn't get better if I didn't drink it was so severe that I had no choice but to drink it, and I became warm from inside. The severe chills also subsided, so I was really surprised at the time.
"How about other symptoms?"
Imitating a doctor and asking, Yukiji speaks like an adult even though they're younger than me. It wasn't playing doctor as a joke—their eyes were so serious that I couldn't brush it off and ended up revealing my true feelings saying "I'm cold." Thanks to Yukiji's medicine, my body was starting to warm up but I still felt my hands and feet were cold.
To cure my shivering, Yukiji slipped into the futon. I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep at first since I was sleeping with someone else, but Yukiji's, a child's body temperature was warmer than expected so I quickly fell asleep, and by the next morning the sluggishness in my body had disappeared.
I remember being very surprised that while a doctor's medicine would have taken more time to recover, with Yukiji's medicine I could recover in just one night. I had looked down on them as a child without learning, but unexpectedly, Yukiji's medicine was effective.
This could be useful.
From that day, instead of a doctor I couldn't call because the believers would make a fuss, I started confiding my pains to Yukiji.
No matter how trivial, Yukiji would nod and then bring medicine to my room at night, avoiding the believers' eyes. Whether it was medicine to drink or apply, Yukiji prepared anything.
It was quite a while later that I gave them the name Yukiji.
At first I tried to call them Rabbit, but Yukiji made such an extremely disgusted face that I burst out laughing. Other believers would rejoice tearfully over anything I give, even dust, but Yukiji wasn't like that.
That child was unconstrained. They called me Leader, but didn't respect me as a leader.
That wasn't very pleasant, but not to the point of saying it was unpleasant.
Perhaps it was because Yukiji was wise.
Yukiji, though a young child, knew how to do more things than adults. Even though they were a child who couldn't live without others' help, they accomplished most things alone.
However, one troubling point was that Yukiji would often say "Thank you for everything. I'll be leaving soon."
Each time, I would say they're still young, that it would be hard to live with that appearance, and hold them back, and Yukiji would be convinced on the spot, but not long after would say the same thing again without getting tired of it.
Since they said the same thing several times, I couldn't help but think maybe Yukiji actually had a poor mind, but certainly Yukiji had the ability to live alone.
Around the time they first came here, they were a child of just bones and skin, but by about a year later they had transformed into a healthy child who didn't even catch colds, had good conversational skills to talk smoothly even with adults, and unlike believers who asked the Leader about everything, had a mind that thought for themselves. Their medicine-making skill was the same.
I, who trust them most, believe they could manage sufficiently even if they left the religious institution.
But I didn't want to let Yukiji go. It was convenient because they made effective medicine, but above all, not having to do painful or difficult things is the teaching of the Eternal Paradise Cult. There's no need to rush out of the religious institution where food, clothing, and shelter are guaranteed and suffer outside.
A child despised because of their appearance, abandoned by parents, who couldn't even eat properly. How pitiful. Because of that experience, Yukiji became precocious. I think children should grow up more freely.
I only felt pity for Yukiji, whose period of being able to be a child was short. Thinking of Yukiji who had to quickly become an adult to accommodate poor-minded adults brings tears to my eyes.
Growth should follow proper stages, so since Yukiji couldn't be a child when young, they won't become a proper adult. How pitiful.
"Yukiji, I got star candy, let's eat it together."
So, stay by my side just a little longer, Yukiji.
I alone will treat pitiful you as a child. Instead of parents who didn't love you, I'll sleep with you. Yukiji has high body temperature so they're perfect for cold seasons. Sleep sleep, our baby. The snoring is a bit noisy though. Can't you do something about that, Yukiji.
By the way, it's not like I drank medicine or anything, so why is it?
When I'm with Yukiji, my chest feels warm.
＊
"My stomach hurts."
"Huh? The dumplings in the hallway are rat poison, Leader."
"What do you think of me, Yukiji?"
"Then it must be from the tempura we ate for dinner. I'll go gather some herbs!"
"Come back safely~"
Waving to the Leader, the boy Yukiji energetically rushed out of the religious institution. It's already been 3 years since he was picked up and started acting as the Leader's exclusive pharmacist. Currently, the boy Yukiji is 8 years old. The Leader is 20.
For reference, they still sleep together. They sleep together every night, not losing to summer or heat. The eyes of the boy Yukiji, who is forced to share a bed with a fully grown man who has completed secondary sexual characteristics, were slowly approaching death. With empty eyes similar to the level of Yoriiichi's lap pillow, spending days thinking 'I'd rather have a big-breasted older sister' while sleeping soundly.
The boy Yukiji wanted to gradually leave the religious institution and change jobs to the Demon Slayer Corps, but he couldn't get an OK sign from the Leader. Each time he was persuaded with a serious tone and dragged along saying "Then just a little longer…" before he knew it 3 years had passed.
A religious person's speaking skills are dangerous. If you're not good at speaking, you can't proselytize, so speaking skills are an essential skill for religious people. Especially the Eternal Paradise Cult Leader's persuasiveness is amazing. To use a TRPG analogy, it's so great they could succeed a persuasion roll without dice.
With speaking skills that work even on a god-like GM, there's no need for something like the dice goddess's smile. The Leader has a beautiful face with APP 18, so if they smile from that side, the GM side completely falls for it. No dice needed, it's a battle of appearance.
For that reason, the boy Yukiji, who still remains at the religious institution, was looking for grass for stomach medicine in the fields for the Leader's health that day too. After gathering what he was looking for, as he descended the mountain thinking to return, the boy Yukiji found a person on his way back.
He was hanging a lantern so the boy Yukiji could see his face well. And that man could also see the boy Yukiji's appearance.
The man was the boy Yukiji's father.
That damn human who had hit, kicked, and tried to sell him before, and eventually abandoned him on the road.
The man pointed at the boy Yukiji with his finger and approached with rough steps saying "You, you bastard!!" He even smiled saying "Found you!!"
But that smile wasn't from joy at reuniting with a long-lost child.
"I found a buyer for you."
It was a vulgar smile as if he had found a golden egg.
The man grabbed the boy Yukiji's arm. "Samurai-sama, Samurai-sama, I found him!" he shouted, dragging the boy Yukiji somewhere. The boy Yukiji was frozen in fear and couldn't move.
Even though 3 years had already passed, and it was now summer, he just let himself be dragged along, recalling that snowy day.
As if responding to the man's call, the one called samurai-sama approached from over there. Though only his outline was visible in the darkness, a man in strange attire wearing a straw hat deeply pulled down even at night. As befitting being called a samurai, he wore a sword.
Was that man the buyer? What business would a samurai whose posture alone showed he was a strong person have with a white-haired, red-eyed child? Though their eyes didn't meet, the boy Yukiji could well tell that the samurai was staring intently at him from under his hat.
Anyway, I have to run.
With his mind sharpened by the samurai's presence, the boy Yukiji shook off the man's hand. He didn't think he, who had trained in Breathing, would fall behind a human, but to buy time to escape, he kicked the man hard toward the samurai. The experience of kicking the Myouju's butt several times in the Warring States period was utilized here.
It shouldn't have been unavoidable, but the samurai, who seemed distracted by something, didn't dodge. The lantern's light went out from the impact with a whoosh, plunging the surroundings into darkness. The samurai's straw hat fell from the impact of the man colliding, and then.
In the darkness, his gaze met six vividly glowing eyes.
Seeing them at a glance, the boy Yukiji tore through the darkness with a shrill scream and fled. He had never seen such a terrifying creature. Probably a demon. Demons can basically do anything. But he had never seen such a scary demon. The multi-eye attribute was completely new, so the boy Yukiji was in a panic.
Completely final boss demeanor. Just looking at the posture, it was different from common demons. The boy Yukiji instinctively sensed he couldn't win.
No, but that face looks like it has about two more stages of transformation left. Wouldn't something like a destruction beam come from its mouth? Beams would come from its eyes. With six of them, they must have them prepared as seeing ones, shooting ones, and reserves.
There weren't demons like that in the Warring States period. Did demons evolve as the era changed to Edo? Anyway, it's scary.
The boy Yukiji, this life's first full-speed dash.
But the presence! Ahh the presence! That demon samurai's presence is chasing from behind! No, it's gradually closing the distance! Damn it!
I'll be caught like this!
He prepared for instant death, but then.
Seeing a bamboo grove where he had fled blindly, the boy Yukiji thought.
Ah, escape is confirmed with this.
＊
Upper Moon One Kokushibo was looking for a white-haired, red-eyed child.
None other than by order of his master, Kibutsuji Muzan. But why he was looking for a white-haired, red-eyed child, the detailed contents weren't conveyed. All that could be known was that not just anyone with white hair and red eyes was good, but that Kibutsuji Muzan was obsessed with one specific one among them.
One only needs to nod saying they understand an order from above, not wonder about it. Kokushibo obediently followed the order. Recalling a lost fragment of the moon from a certain night when he was human from the characteristic of white hair and red eyes, he was silently carrying out Kibutsuji Muzan's order.
That night too, while tracking rumors and looking for people, Kokushibo came upon a certain couple who had given birth to a white-haired, red-eyed child. Since there was a strict order to not kill the target's family if they had one and to resolve it with money if possible, he didn't draw his sword.
When he said he would buy them for the price of calling the white-haired, red-eyed child, the couple's eyes lit up. But the child they thought would be produced immediately wasn't there, and when pressed, they said they had abandoned it 3 years ago.
Saying there was nothing more to discuss then and trying to leave, they pleaded to wait as they would definitely find him, so Kokushibo gave a three-day deadline. But one day passed, two days passed, and finally even after three days passed, not a single strand of white hair could be found.
Just after Kokushibo left saying he had wasted his time, however, the child he was looking for was found. The moment he saw the child the man dragged over joyfully saying "I found him, Samurai-sama!"—Kokushibo's six eyes opened wide.
Because that boy resembled so, so much.
The lost fragment of the moon.
The successor who breathed his last in his arms.
The child who smiled saying the moon was beautiful.
The boy who left without a name.
The red eyes, the white hair, the facial features, the number of calluses left on the hands, everything.
It resembled so much the past he wanted to recover, the future that slipped through his fingers, that it was enough to lose one's soul. As if they had been reincarnated.
His gaze captivated by that hair, those eyes, that face, so Kokushibo didn't notice the man kicked by the child collapsing toward him.
The lantern falling from the impact. The arriving darkness. The straw hat he wore to compensate for his not-so-special skill of transformation fell.
Still, his eyes were looking at the boy. Yes. Three pairs of non-human eyes met the boy's eyes wide open in fear.
"Kya, kyaaaaak── eye monster───!!!!!!!!"
Oh dear, was my transformation undone? Trying to close the upper and lower eyes I had opened wide, but it was already too late. The boy who screamed with all his might left behind a scream and ran like a rabbit. Though more fluent in speech compared to that child, even the voice was the same. Hearing that voice scream somehow makes my heart ache. It stabs deeply.
With feelings of being slightly hurt, Kokushibo pulled himself together and chased the boy. But the distance that should have been closed instantly with a demon's leg strength only decreased very slowly.
The unique breathing sound rushing through the darkness. This boy is running using Breathing. How can a child who isn't even a Demon Slayer Corps member use Breathing? Judging from it, it's not something learned in a day or two.
Could it really be—no.
There can't be something like reincarnation. It must just be a different person who greatly resembles him. That night he lost that child was also engulfed in darkness like this, so it's just that the situation overlapped and memories revived. This is just an illusion.
Don't involve personal feelings. What you must do now is just capture the boy according to orders and silently offer him to your master.
Kokushibo denied his own imagination.
Blinking the eyes that were about to curve round with longing, he opened the cold, rational eyes of a demon.
But seeing the boy darting into the bamboo grove like an arrow, Upper Moon One Kokushibo, also known as Tsugikuni Michikatsu, instantly discarded the denial from a moment before.
Ah, that's Young Moon.