The Kasugai Crow's shrill voice rang beside Kazuki's ear. He rose from the steps and grasped his Nichirin Blade.
Is this finally my first mission? Demons—just wait. I'll wipe every last one of you out!
Following the crow's directions, Kazuki ran southwest. Partway there, as he passed a courtyard, he unexpectedly saw Sanemi Shinazugawa again. Sanemi was sitting on the steps, holding a piece of ohagi and feeding it to a small dog in front of him. Despite the scars covering his face, a gentle smile rested there.
That smile soon faded, replaced by a trace of worry. The dog finished the ohagi, barked twice, and wagged its tail. Sanemi patted the dog's head, then turned and went back inside.
You were right, Genya. Mr. Shinazugawa really is a very gentle person.
Having witnessed this, Kazuki felt even more certain of his earlier guess. But with a mission at hand, he didn't linger and continued running southwest.
Night fell. Stars glittered overhead, and the moonlight was hazy.
Guided by the crow, Kazuki arrived at the indicated location—a forest outside a small town.
If I want to find a demon's trail, it's best to ask the locals.
The crow could only point out a general area. The exact location still required investigation by a Demon Slayer. Kazuki planned to head into town to gather information.
"Sakura… Sakura…"
Just as he was about to move, a hoarse voice calling someone's name drifted toward him from afar, growing closer.
The voice was already rough and strained, yet it never stopped.
Out of curiosity—and because he sensed it might be related to a demon—Kazuki moved toward the sound.
"Sakura—Sakura—"
The closer he got, the more clearly he could hear the exhaustion in the voice, mixed with anxiety and worry.
Soon, Kazuki found the source: a boy around sixteen years old. His clothes were worn, his face haggard, his eyes bloodshot—he looked like he hadn't rested in a long time.
When the boy saw Kazuki, he immediately ran over.
"Have you seen my little sister? She's ten years old, wears a cherry blossom hairpin, about this tall," the boy said urgently, gesturing with his hand. His eyes were filled with desperate hope.
"No," Kazuki shook his head, then asked, "What happened?"
The boy's eyes dimmed at once. In a hoarse voice, he replied, "My sister disappeared. Three evenings ago, she came here to play a game of 'catch the ghost' with her friends and never came back. That night, I came looking for her, but she and all her friends were gone.
"The townspeople whose children went missing called the police. The police searched this place for two days during daylight, but they only found some bloodstains. They decided the children were eaten by wild animals and stopped investigating…"
As he spoke, the boy's voice began to choke, and his body trembled.
"But I've lived here for over ten years. I've never seen any wild animals. Sakura must still be alive. I have to find her…"
With that, he staggered forward again. His legs were already shaking—he must have been walking nonstop without rest.
It was probably a demon…
Kazuki looked at the boy with sympathy. After three days with no sign, his sister had most likely met a terrible fate.
Suddenly, the boy stumbled, lost his balance, and fell forward.
Kazuki rushed over and caught him. The boy's body was extremely weak—it was hard to imagine how long he had been searching like this.
"Are you okay?" Kazuki asked worriedly.
"I'm fine…" the boy replied, then immediately tried to move on again.
"I'll help you," Kazuki said.
Although the chances of the boy's sister being alive were slim, Kazuki still wanted to help. Moreover, what the boy described was very likely the work of a demon. Following him might increase the chances of finding one.
Seeing the sincerity in Kazuki's eyes, the boy nodded and agreed.
The two searched the forest together. Though it was night, the moonlight made the paths barely visible.
"This is where the police found the blood," the boy said, pointing at the ground. "There's nothing else besides these stains. If it were really wild animals, there should've been other traces…"
They searched for a while but found nothing. Kazuki suggested examining the bloodstain area more closely for clues.
After a careful look, he found the boy was right. There was nothing but blood. The stains were scattered—one every dozen meters or so—and some were splashed on tree trunks.
"Sakura is very timid. She only dared to come out because her friends were with her. I was repairing shoes for customers that day and agreed without thinking. If only I had stopped her…"
The boy murmured in self-blame, tears streaming down his face. Deep down, he knew his sister had likely met with disaster. Blood didn't appear out of nowhere. He just refused to accept it—so long as he hadn't seen her body with his own eyes, he still clung to hope.
"Life was finally starting to get better… why did this have to happen…"
His words pierced Kazuki's heart. He felt a deep resonance—self-blame, pain, confusion. He had once been the same. Fortunately, he had met Rengoku and joined the Demon Slayer Corps, giving him a purpose.
Should I tell him about demons? Maybe he'd even join the Corps…
Kazuki thought about it.
But without certainty that this was a demon's doing, telling him now would only make him doubt it. And this wasn't the time for that anyway.
So Kazuki stayed silent and continued studying the bloodstains, trying to uncover some clue.
Suddenly, a sound like red-hot iron searing flesh rang out.
Kazuki snapped his head toward the source.
For some reason, a large tree trunk had been corroded, a hole eaten into it—and that hole was rapidly expanding.
The boy noticed it too. For reasons unknown, he stood there, staring blankly, frozen in place.
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