Night.
A narrow path.
In Kanae Kocho’s violet eyes, a figure wreathed in a dangerous aura was reflected—a demon.
She tilted her head slightly, the butterfly ornament in her hair trembling with the motion.
A smile—so gentle it seemed to embrace the very night—curved her lips.
Ara.
“This… sir?”
“On a night as dark and windy as this… are you planning to eat people?”
As a Hashira, she could read the demon’s condition at a glance.
The aura clinging to him was neither thick nor stable—clearly, he had only recently been turned.
If only I had arrived a little sooner… Even a little.
Perhaps I could have saved him before he became a demon.
Kanae sighed inwardly, her fingers tightening around her sword’s hilt.
In this cruel world, every delay meant another life lost—or another tragedy born.
Rin stared at the smiling girl before him, her presence calm yet suffocating.
Memories of his past life flickered through his mind like a blade.
Flower Hashira.
Kanae Kocho.
A tragic figure who would meet her end at Douma’s hands.
Rin took a deep breath, his crimson eyes locking onto hers.
His voice was firm.
“I don’t eat people.”
Running was impossible.
At this distance, against the Hashira renowned for her speed and agility, escape was a fool’s wish.
Besides—in the original story, Kanae Kocho was the only Hashira who truly believed in coexistence between humans and demons.
Kanae blinked, surprise flickering across her violet gaze.
She didn’t refute him immediately.
Instead, she leaned forward slightly, as if trying to see his expression more clearly.
“You don’t eat people…” she repeated softly, her tone thoughtful.
“But your eyes are very red.
And the aura around you… it’s the same as those wicked children who harm humans.”
That’s a physiological reaction.
I can’t control it.
Rin silently cursed Muzan Kibutsuji’s cursed blood while keeping his face carefully neutral.
“I truly have no intention of eating people.
Humans… aren’t on my menu.”
“Is that so?”
Kanae pressed her hands together, seeming to believe him—at least a little.
Her smile brightened.
“That’s wonderful.
Since you don’t eat people, why are you heading so urgently toward the human town?
What do you plan to do?”
Though she smiled, there was a hint of sorrow in it.
She could see it clearly.
This demon was at his limit.
Hunger made his muscles tremble faintly.
For a demon, hunger was the precursor to losing control.
Once that threshold was crossed, instinct would devour reason, turning him into nothing more than a beast of flesh and blood.
That was a demon’s sorrow.
And a demon’s fate.
At the words human town, Rin’s stomach betrayed him with a thunderous growl.
Hunger blazed in his gut like an unrelenting fire, scorching his thoughts until they frayed.
The emptiness wasn’t just in his stomach—it was in every cell of his body, screaming for energy.
“Hungry…”
Rin clutched his stomach instinctively, his vision swimming.
“I want… something to eat…”
“Something to eat?”
Kanae’s smile froze.
One second, she was the gentle girl next door.
The next—
Clang.
A sharp metallic ring cut through the night.
Too fast.
So fast that Rin’s eyes couldn’t even register the drawing of the blade.
Cold steel pressed against his neck, a hair’s breadth from his carotid artery.
Kanae still smiled—but now, that smile carried compassion and resolve.
“Mr.
Demon, lying is not the behavior of a good child.”
“You said you don’t eat people.
Yet now you say you’re hungry and heading to a human town to find food.
For a demon… what ‘food’ could there be in a town, other than innocent humans?”
She sighed softly—regret for her own naivety, sorrow for the life she was about to take.
“What a pity.
For the safety of everyone in the town… I cannot let you pass.”
The blade’s pressure was suffocating.
The cold edge, like a basin of ice water, instantly extinguished the feral hunger clouding Rin’s mind.
Rin could feel the sting at the tip of the blade—the searing sensation unique to a Nichirin Sword, meant only for demons.
“Misunderstanding!
A huge misunderstanding!”
Rin threw his hands up in a textbook French military salute—the universal gesture of surrender.
“Let me explain!
When I said I was looking for food, I didn’t mean people!
I meant human food!”
“Eh?”
Kanae, who had been poised to swing, hesitated.
“Human food?”
“Yes!
Like rice!
Noodles!
Steamed buns!
Mantou!
Or tempura—tempura fried shrimp!”
Rin spoke at breakneck speed, terrified that a single second’s delay would cost him his head—courtesy of the Flower Hashira.
“Even though I’ve become a demon, I’ve discovered that my digestive system seems to have a bug—no, a mutation.
I can eat human food!
And eating it actually restores my energy!”
This had been the biggest shock since Rin transmigrated into this world.
Days ago, when he’d woken up in a field of rubble and corpses, only to realize he’d become a demon who feared the sun, his heart had shattered.
But then, starving and desperate, his mind instinctively rejecting human flesh, he’d grabbed a half-bowl of cold rice overturned by the roadside and shoved it into his mouth.
When that long-lost feeling of fullness returned, when his strength came back—he’d almost wept with relief.
In a world that devoured itself, being able to live as an upright food lover was a blessing.
“Rice… tempura?”
Kanae froze.
Her sword hand trembled slightly.
The killing intent that had gathered so sharply now showed a crack—courtesy of this absurd answer.
She had seen countless demons.
Cunning ones.
Brutal ones.
Demons who wept with remorse in their final moments.
But never—never—had she seen or heard of a demon that survived on tempura.
“Are… are you joking?”
Kanae wavered, though vigilance still lingered in her eyes.
“A demon’s physical structure cannot process human food.
Eating it would only make you vomit as if you’d swallowed sand.
That’s common knowledge.”
“That’s why I said I’m special!”
Rin pointed at his blood-red eyes, his tone so earnest it was almost painful.
“Look at my sincere eyes!
If I wanted to eat people, I would’ve attacked while you were distracted.
The reason I was heading toward the town is that I’m genuinely starving.
I want a bowl of steaming hot ramen—preferably with a soft-boiled egg!”
The wind blew, sending a few fallen leaves drifting between them.
Kanae stared at Rin for a long, silent moment.
She possessed sharp intuition—a swordsman’s instinct, and a woman’s sensitivity.
And in her perception, although this demon wore the skin of a wicked creature, his soul… didn’t carry that nauseating stench of blood.
On the contrary, when he’d said ramen and soft-boiled egg, the longing in his eyes, that spark of light—it was exactly the same as a human’s.
A love for life.
A yearning for good food.
Slowly, Kanae lowered her Nichirin Sword—though she did not sheathe it.
Her tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and her smile finally became a little more real.
Not forced.
Not sad.
Hopeful.
“This is truly… incredible.”
Kanae murmured softly, and in her eyes, a light called hope began to glow.
She had always dreamed of a world where humans and demons could coexist peacefully.
That dream had been mocked by countless people.
Even her beloved younger sister, Shinobu, could not understand it.
After all, demons fed on humans—that was an irreconcilable contradiction.
But now, this demon before her… if what he said was true…
“If you can truly survive on human food, then you don’t have to harm anyone…”
Kanae’s voice trembled slightly, and her gaze toward Rin grew gentle.
“Perhaps… this is the beginning of humans and demons living together in peace.”
Rin looked at Kanae—at those clearly shaken, hopeful eyes—and sighed inwardly.
This girl is so kind it hurts.
In the cruel world of the original story, such kindness often meant a short life.
But it was also that very kindness that had saved Kanao, that had warmed the hearts of countless readers.
“I truly don’t eat people.”
Rin emphasized again, his voice calmer now.
“Human flesh isn’t just unappetizing to me.
I was once human too.
Eating people is a psychological barrier I cannot cross.
I just want to live quietly and eat delicious things.”
“Hmm.
I believe you.”
Kanae tilted her head.
“After all, your eyes are very clear.
And… not once have you directed any malice toward me.”
With a soft click, Kanae slowly sheathed her Nichirin Sword.