Demon Slayer: I am a Demon.

Makomo hesitated for a moment before handing over the wine jug.

He took the wine jug and took a big gulp.

"You seem to enjoy drinking?"

Makomo wrapped her clothes tighter around herself and moved closer to the campfire, but even so, the mountaintop of Fujikasa was still quite cold at night. Meanwhile, the other person, who had just been shirtless and was now dressed in very thin clothes, seemed to feel nothing at all, and his body was clearly stronger than she had imagined.

"Fortunately."

Su Mu took a sip of his drink, savoring the taste of the alcohol in his throat, and glanced at Makomo: "Are you alright?"

"Fortunately."

Makomo gave the same answer as Su Mu had just given: she had been hit on the back by one of the Hand Demon's tentacles while fighting the Hand Demon, and she still felt a burning pain in her back.

However, I feel almost completely better now.

After asking Makomo, Su Mu turned his gaze to Tanjiro: "Where is Tanjiro?"

"I feel almost better."

Tanjiro lowered his head and immediately replied, perhaps still not fully recovered from seeing the eight arms growing from the adult's back.

"That's good."

He took another sip, took out the prepared rice balls from his bag, and began to heat them up next to the campfire.

Once the rice balls were heated up, Su Mu distributed some to everyone.

The three people and the ghost sat around the campfire, eating rice balls. The firelight illuminated their faces, and apart from Kanao, who only had eyes for her uncle, the others were clearly preoccupied with their own thoughts.

So everyone fell silent, as was unusual, and just stared at the flames of the campfire.

Perhaps it was because daylight was approaching, even the ghosts hunting on the mountaintop stopped hunting, and the entire mountaintop seemed to become much quieter.

"Crackling and popping."

The sound of burning wood broke the silence. Makomo seemed to snap out of her reverie. Her face was obscured by the mask, but her eyes were red, probably because she had just thought of something sad.

"Could I have some wine too?"

Su Mu glanced at Makomo, whose eyes were red-rimmed, and handed the sake pot to the girl.

The girl picked up the wine jug and started drinking, but she was clearly not a good drinker. After only a few sips, she couldn't help but cough violently.

As soon as her cough subsided, the girl picked up the wine jug again and started drinking.

When Tanjiro saw this, he looked up, wanting to say something, but seeing that the adult didn't, he shut his mouth.

After taking a few more sips, the girl began coughing violently again.

Perhaps because she couldn't hold her liquor very well, the girl seemed a little dizzy, her eyes glazed over: "I thought... you would try to persuade me."

After taking another sip, the girl looked up at Su Mu.

Why should we try to persuade them?

Su Mu looked at the increasingly intoxicated girl and said, "Get drunk, get completely drunk, forget all the unpleasant things from the past in your drunken dreams, and when you wake up tomorrow, everything will be wonderful."

"I hope that when I wake up tomorrow, all the pain will be forgotten."

The girl picked up the wine jug and poured more into her mouth, becoming more and more intoxicated with each sip.

As she got drunk, the usually well-behaved girl started muttering incessantly.

Or they might recount the happy times they spent with their senior classmates.

Or it could be a story about a boy named Sabito who once vowed to protect his most respected master, Urokodaki.

She also recounted the days she spent hunting demons with Hiroshi Furukawa, revealing that she knew he had feelings for her, but she didn't know how to reject him before he was cruelly murdered by a demon...

She also recounted the departure of her senior brothers and sisters.

He spoke of his most respected master, Urokodaki, as he heard the lonely figures of his disciples who would never return.

As she spoke, the girl began to cry.

Although the hand demon that killed his senior brother, senior sister, and Sabito has been killed, the sadness of the past still remains.

The bitter wine goes down your throat, and the more you drink, the more bitter it becomes.

Looking at the girl who was completely drunk and had even started to dance around, Su Mu also regretted letting Makomo drink too much.

Tanjiro, who could sense people's emotions through his breath, could also feel the sadness and pressure in Makomo's heart. He couldn't help but glance at the adult and roughly understood why the adult was no longer trying to persuade her.

Perhaps getting drunk would be a good way for Makomo, who has been under a lot of pressure, to release her emotions. If she keeps everything bottled up inside, problems will inevitably arise one day.

Seeing that Makomo was becoming more and more intoxicated, Su Mu opened his bag, found some thick clothes and spread them around the campfire, then pulled the girl, who was dancing and laughing and crying by the campfire, to sit down on them.

He reached out and gently removed the mask from the girl's face.

That girl's face, like a sweetheart from next door, was streaked with tears.

He looked at the girl and smiled gently: "Your face is all stained from crying."

"Is there?"

The intoxicated girl unconsciously reached out and touched her wet face.

"Not completely drunk yet."

Su Mu asked in a low voice, "Are you worried that ghosts might come?"

The girl's dreamy eyes opened slightly.

"Don't worry, leave everything to me. You've had quite a bit to drink, so take a good rest."

The girl's dreamy eyes gazed at the man's gentle gaze, paused slightly, then lowered her head and whispered, "One more sip."

Su Mu handed the wine jug to the girl.

Makomo took the sake bottle and gulped it down. Perhaps he had gotten used to the strong liquor, as he no longer coughed as he had at the beginning.

The girl's alcohol tolerance was already low, and after taking such a big gulp, she finally couldn't take it anymore. Her eyes became blurry with drunkenness, and her petite body went limp.

Su Mu reached out and put his arm around the girl's waist, letting her wave her hands wildly as he listened to the drunk girl uttering incoherent nonsense.

"You're... really hard to understand, but you just seem so gentle, so kind."

The girl buried her head in his chest, muttering softly, and then vomited up a large amount of undigested food.

Su Mu looked down at the scene and shook his head helplessly. Then, he took the towel that Tanjiro handed him and wiped the filth from the corner of Makomo's mouth. He then helped her to the place where clothes were laid out, helped her lie down, and covered her with thick clothes.

"Get some rest. When you wake up tomorrow, everything will be alright."

He looked at the girl with her eyes closed, shook his head slightly, and while cleaning the vomit off his body, he looked at Tanjiro who was looking at him and said, "You should get some rest too."

Tanjiro paused for a moment, then nodded. He took a thicker piece of clothing from his bag, laid it on, and slept fully clothed on a dry, soft spot by the campfire.

Su Mu went to a secluded spot to change his clothes. Seeing Kanao still sitting there waiting for him to return, he smiled and walked over, gently patting the girl's head: "You should go to sleep too."

Kanao looked up at him with her pinkish-purple eyes and said softly, "Kanao wants Uncle to hold me while I sleep."

"Ha, still like a child."

He patted Kanao on the head, sat down next to Makomo, and patted his own thigh.

Kanao came to his side, leaned against him, and looked up at him with her pinkish-purple eyes: "Uncle, goodnight."

Goodnight, Kanao.

He whispered, watching the girl gently close her eyes, watching her long eyelashes slowly calm down from their trembling.

He reached out and found a thicker garment in the bag next to him, then covered the girl with it.

They threw a few more pieces of firewood into the campfire to make the flames burn brighter.

He sat quietly, gently holding Kanao, watching the ever-burning campfire, until hurried footsteps approached.

He raised his head slightly, looked at the person who had come, and put his hand to his mouth, making a 'shh' gesture.

The black-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing a magatama pendant stopped in his tracks, looking at the scene before him with some shock.

Su Mu pointed to the empty space near the campfire.

Kaigaku hesitated for a moment, then gripped his Nichirin Blade and sat down by the campfire.

Su Mu added another piece of firewood to the campfire, and the flames burned even more fiercely.

"Rest assured, I'll keep watch here, no ghosts will come."

He looked at Kaigaku and spoke in a low, gentle voice.

Kaigaku didn't believe Su Mu. Holding his Nichirin Blade, he sat quietly by the campfire, his blue eyes half-closed, pretending to doze off.

Chapter 135 This girl... is worth it

As dawn pierces the darkness and gentle sunlight bathes the earth, the evil spirits have long since retreated.

At the summit of Fujikasa Mountain, those who had spent a harrowing night emerged, basking in the sunlight and feeling its warmth for the first time in a long time.

"If only the sun could shine on every corner of the earth, so that every ghost could be bathed in its light and burned alive by its rays."

A swordsman emerged from his hiding place with a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing feelings, thoughts, and reflection).

"There's no way around it. Where there's light, there's also darkness. There will always be places where the sun doesn't shine."

A swordsman sighed softly.

"That's why the Demon Slayer Corps was born. So, when those dark creatures wreak havoc at night, we will appear to slay the demons and protect humanity. This is the very meaning of the Demon Slayer Corps' existence."

But many more people, having clearly experienced the danger of the night, were filled with fear. When the sun shone on them, they thought of the perilous night before and silently chose to walk down the mountain, ending this dangerous test and withdrawing from the perilous path of ghost hunting.

…………

At the summit of Fujikasa Mountain, while everyone else was joyfully celebrating the arrival of daylight, jumping and basking in the sunlight, Makomo, still hungover, slowly opened her eyes.

My head still hurts a bit, and I don't feel too well overall.

"Drink some hot water."

As soon as she lifted the thick clothes covering her body, she heard a gentle voice. Makomo couldn't help but look up and saw a tall man standing in front of her, handing her a bamboo tube filled with steaming water.

"Thank you."

Makomo took the bamboo tube in a low voice, held it with both hands, and sipped it slowly.