Demon Slayer: I am a Demon.

"I never imagined I would drink so much yesterday, and even get drunk."

As the girl drank warm water, she murmured to herself, thinking about what had happened yesterday. Even now, she still couldn't quite believe that she had done it.

Are you feeling any better?

Su Mu smiled.

"much better."

Makomo lowered her head and took another sip of hot water. The steam from the bamboo tube hit her face, and she felt much more relaxed than before.

"If you keep everything bottled up inside for too long, you'll feel suffocated. Just find someone to talk to and you'll feel much better."

Su Mu offered his advice with a smile.

"Ah."

Makomo nodded, but looked somewhat lost. Everyone she knew had either died while taking the Fujikasane Mountain swordsman exam or while hunting demons. Now, the only people she knew besides her most respected master Urokodaki were the people in front of her.

It seems that deep down, they are also willing to share some of their own things with the other person.

However, many of these are private matters unique to a girl, and since the other party is a boy, it's often impossible to talk about them.

After taking another sip of water, Makomo noticed that there were quite a few people around the campfire, which surprised her.

"They all came over last night while you were asleep."

Su Mu spoke gently.

"Am I sleeping so soundly? I didn't sense a single sound."

Makomo was somewhat annoyed. If a ghost had appeared at the end yesterday, wouldn't that have been very dangerous?

“When they arrived, I specifically told them not to make any noise, so they didn’t disturb you.”

Su Mu gave an explanation.

Makomo nodded.

She reached out and combed her long hair back, then put on a smiling fox mask with her eyes closed, covering her kind and pretty face that gave off a friendly, girl-next-door vibe.

The newcomers were gathered around the newly built campfire, eating rice balls.

As Su Mu and Zhen Gu walked over, they both stood up.

Leading the group was Kaigaku, with black hair and blue eyes, and a magatama pendant around his neck. When he saw Su Mu approaching, Kaigaku lowered his head slightly.

Everyone felt the commotion here yesterday, especially Kaigaku, who clearly knew what kind of powerful demon had come here last night.

But such a powerful evil spirit was slain, which shows the strength of Su Mu and his group.

Su Mu nodded to the group and then said with a smile, "I already told you my name yesterday, so I won't introduce it again. Now, let me introduce the person next to me."

Everyone turned their attention to Makomo.

They had actually seen the girl's appearance yesterday, and it was quite outstanding. However, now she was wearing a fox mask with her eyes closed, but even so, she still gave off a very playful and cute feeling.

"This is Makomo, a disciple of Urokodaki-senpai. You all should have heard the commotion yesterday. Indeed, an extremely powerful demon came here, but Makomo killed it with a single strike."

Su Mu introduced them to the group.

Makomo couldn't help but look up at Su Mu. She knew perfectly well that she hadn't killed the ghost.

When everyone heard that he was Urokodaki's disciple, they were quite surprised. After all, Urokodaki's disciples were renowned for their training in the Fujikasake Mountain swordsmen's examination. There was no other 'pillar' who, after becoming a 'trainer,' not only failed to teach his disciples in the Fujikasake Mountain examination, but also failed to survive.

This is an unprecedented event.

Everyone thought that Urokodaki's disciples were weak, even at the bottom of the rankings. Now, hearing that even such a powerful demon was killed by him, it seems that the truth may not be as rumored.

After Su Mu finished introducing Makomo, Kanao who was beside him, and Tanjiro who had woken up and walked over.

Kaigaku also began to introduce himself.

“Kaigaku, Momoyama, a disciple of Kuwashima Jigoro, practices the ‘Breathing of Thunder’.”

The others also began to introduce themselves.

"Shinichi Izumi practices 'Wind Breathing'."

“Watanabe Masashi practices ‘Breath of Flames’.”

"Kenichi Nishimura practices 'Rock Breathing'."

“Akio Inoue practices ‘Wind Breathing’.”

“Masaki Ono practices ‘water breathing’.”

Su Mu glanced at the group. They were all young and their faces were somewhat immature. Perhaps it was because they had experienced the attack of the evil spirit for the first time last night, and some fear still lingered on their faces. But even so, they did not choose to go down the mountain. They were obviously going to continue on the path of hunting ghosts.

No sooner had the introductions finished than Kenichi Nishimura couldn't contain himself: "We'd like to stay with you for the next few days. Is that alright?"

After Kenichi Nishimura finished speaking, the others looked at Su Mu with expectant eyes. They could probably tell that Su Mu was the one who would make the decision.

"Makomo, what do you think?"

Su Mu, however, looked at Makomo beside him.

"I'll listen to you."

Makomo spoke softly, her words carrying an unconscious hint of dependence.

"Alright then, you can follow us from now on, but I can't guarantee your safety."

He gave a heads-up beforehand, since if he successfully passed the assessment and became a Ghost Hunter, it wouldn't be a big problem for him to form a team with them in the future.

Su Mu chatted briefly with the group, told them to continue eating rice balls, and then led Makomo, Tanjiro, and Kanao back to the nearby campfire.

However, one of them, named Kenichi Nishimura, followed him over, and when he saw him looking at him, he put on a fawning smile.

Su Mu smiled and asked Tanjiro to share the food he had prepared with the other person.

Kenichi Nishimura nervously accepted the gift and, at Su Mu's invitation, sat down by the campfire.

Kenichi Nishimura was pleasantly surprised to find that there was some dried meat in the food he was given.

"It's a pity we're out of wine. If we had any, I'd share some with you."

Su Mu heated up the rice balls while speaking with a smile.

"This is good enough, very good enough."

Kenichi Nishimura said hurriedly.

Su Mu smiled, placed the heated rice ball in Kanao's palm, and said with a smile, "You... your name is... uh, yes, Kenichi Nishimura, right?"

"Yes, yes, Mu-kun has a really good memory."

Su Mu smiled and poured the boiled water into a bamboo tube to cool it down, so that the scallion would taste better later.

While doing his work, he glanced at Kenichi Nishimura again and saw that the other man was eating jerky while glancing in his direction from time to time with a hesitant expression.

"If you have anything to say, just say it. Everyone here is trustworthy."

Su Mu added a piece of wood to the campfire, speaking softly as he did so.

Tanjiro and Makomo also glanced at Kenichi Nishimura.

Kenichi Nishimura gave an awkward laugh, then nervously glanced back at the campfire he had been standing by before before moving closer.

"Mu Jun, I do have something I want to tell you."

"Please speak."

Su Mu put down his work and looked at the other person calmly.

"I... I just wanted to remind you to be careful of that guy named Kaigaku."

When he spoke, Kenichi Nishimura noticeably lowered his voice.

"Oh?"

Su Mu appropriately showed a look of doubt.

Kenichi Nishimura glanced at the campfire again, then moved closer and lowered his voice, saying, "There were quite a few people who followed Kaigaku, but none of them survived. I estimate..."

Kenichi Nishimura didn't say anything more, but he had already conveyed most of what he meant.

"I understand."

Su Mu smiled and said, "Thank you so much."

"It's...it's okay."

…………

Kenichi Nishimura went back, and Makomo approached her as well, asking in a low voice, "Should I get rid of that Kaigaku?"

Perhaps because they were too close, the girl's warm breath tickled his neck. At that moment, Makomo realized that they were too close and quickly moved to the side. Then he pretended that everything was normal. If it weren't for the mask covering his face, he could probably see the girl's rosy cheeks.

Why drive them away?

Su Mu countered with a question.

"Just now, that person said that Kaigaku is not a... good teammate."

Makomo doesn't really like to speak ill of someone, but she attributes Kaigaku to him not being a good teammate.

They are people who cannot entrust their backs to others.

"Perhaps, Kaigaku isn't a good teammate."

He repeated it softly before continuing, "But can every swordsman truly entrust their back to their teammates with peace of mind?"

Even if you're confident, is the teammate you've entrusted your back to truly capable of shouldering the responsibility of protecting your back?

Makomo felt somewhat resentful upon hearing this. Even if she was looking for teammates, it shouldn't be someone like Kaigaku. She felt a little uncomfortable having such a treacherous and despicable person following her.

"Regardless of what exactly happened before, the strength of the Hand Demon is beyond doubt, so it's not hard to understand why Kaigaku chose to run away."

He spoke in a low voice, and seeing that Makomo was still holding her head high, he continued, "Even if you have to choose to drive away every single one of these people, are the people who follow you really the ones you can trust with your back?"

"Is that necessarily true?"

"Furthermore, Kaigaku is a disciple of Kuwajima Jigoro, so his strength should be considerable, which is already clear. As for his personality, you also have some understanding of him. Are you really going to drive away someone you've already seen through, someone who is even quite strong?"

Makomo frowned slightly.

Su Mu said softly, "In the future, Makomo will also continue on the path of demon hunting. As her strength grows, she will not only be an ordinary swordsman, but may also lead a team and even become a 'pillar'. Perhaps she will also lead a team to hunt demons. As long as she can use a powerful swordsman like Kaigaku, she can tolerate him. As for his personality, Makomo knows it herself."