Demon Slayer: I am a Demon.

The swordsman loosened his grip on the hilt of his Nichirin Blade and gave a wry smile: "Just a human girl, that really startled me."

Ghosts cannot bask in the sunlight.

After muttering to himself for a moment, the swordsman looked at the girl who was still walking towards him and couldn't help but ask, "This is deep in the mountains. It's too dangerous for a child like you. Where are your parents? How can you leave them here?"

Kanao walked silently toward the swordsman with her hands behind her back, the blade of the Hijiri Blade pressed against the girl's back.

The swordsman looked at the girl with her hands behind her back with a puzzled expression, feeling increasingly strange. He instinctively sensed a hint of danger, but found it too funny. How could a human child, not a ghost, pose any danger?

"Where do you live? Are you lost? Do you need my help?"

The swordsman gave a gentle smile.

The girl had reached the swordsman.

At this moment, the swordsman finally saw the girl's face clearly. She was very delicate and beautiful, especially her pair of pinkish-purple eyes, which were particularly beautiful.

Isn't such a beautiful girl afraid of encountering something if she runs into the deep mountains?

That's incredibly bold!

However, just as this thought crossed his mind, he noticed that the girl who had walked up to him suddenly moved, with an astonishing speed. To the swordsman's shock, her hands, which had been behind her back, were now revealed, displaying the extremely familiar Nichirin Blade.

"Why does she have a Nichirin Blade? Is it lost? I guess I need to find a way to retrieve it."

With that thought in mind, the girl jumped up.

Suddenly, the Nichirin Blade in his hand slashed out.

"Too fast...too fast."

Unbelievable, followed by indescribable terror, because the other person's knife was coming down on him.

Why would you kill yourself?

When such a thought arises in the mind, the swordsman almost instinctively wants to hide.

But the opportunity was already gone.

The sharp blade sliced ​​across her neck, and crimson blood splattered onto the girl's delicate face, bringing death to her as well.

"boom!"

The swordsman clutched his neck and collapsed to the ground in despair.

Kanao sheathed her sword and stood to the side, her pinkish-purple eyes quietly watching the fallen swordsman.

The swordsman was not completely dead yet, but with his throat slit, he was certain to die.

"Why... why?"

The swordsman couldn't understand, couldn't comprehend it, his eyes fixed on this girl who looked cute yet exuded such terror.

Kanao did not answer, but simply watched the swordsman, watching him clutch his throat and breathe his last in pain and despair.

Seeing the swordsman's wide, desperate eyes, Kanao simply lowered her head, glanced at the blood-stained Nichirin Blade in her hand, and then began digging a pit nearby.

They dragged the swordsman's heavy body to the dug pit and then slowly covered it with soil.

Before we knew it, another swordsman's grave had appeared here.

The person buried at the previous grave was killed by my uncle.

But the grave in front of them was the one that Kanao killed herself.

For Kanao, she felt the warmth emanating from the swordsman, just like the warmth her uncle had given her when she first met him.

That was a temperature I really liked.

But she didn't hesitate to extinguish that warmth, turning it cold.

For Kanao, her heart is very small, it can only hold one place of warmth, and that warmth has long been left behind.

There is no room for anything else.

However, I still felt a little uncomfortable.

I'm a little sad.

I can't explain why.

If her uncle were here, he might be able to tell her the reason, but he is not.

She alone...

Therefore, Kanao chose not to think about anything.

…………

After burying the swordsman's body, Kanao's life continued as usual, without any changes. Every day, she would stand at the cave entrance, looking forward to the arrival of tomorrow.

Time will neither speed up nor slow down because of Kanao's expectations.

It flows at a constant speed.

As the spring rains pass and temperatures begin to rise, it heralds the arrival of summer.

Kanao clearly remembered when Tanjuro Kamado had told her about the time when that flower would bloom.

When spring passes and summer arrives, that flower will bloom.

…………

The first rain of summer started falling sometime earlier than anyone else. Kanao stood alone, quietly in front of a pile of graves on the back hill.

The rain soaked the girl's clothes and hair, but Kanao still stood in the rain, her pinkish-purple eyes gazing at the graves.

Keep staring

We've picked all the flowers here before, but so far, we still haven't found the one that the uncle was supposed to need.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and as it fell to the ground, Kanao unconsciously clenched her sleeves tightly, very tightly.

The girl's usually calm eyes now looked fearful and uneasy, like a small animal lacking a sense of security.

In the past, staying by my uncle's side would calm all my anxieties.

现在

She was all alone.

No one will stand in front of her.

No one will protect her.

She was all alone, facing all sorts of anxieties in solitude.

…………

The sun set and rose again, and it rained for a day and a night. Kanao stood in the rain for a day and a night as well.

The girl's eyes grew increasingly fearful.

My heart grew increasingly uneasy.

My body grew colder and colder, and so did my heart, as if it had sunk into an ice cave.

If there truly is no blue spider lily in this world...

"No, absolutely not."

The girl bit her lip, looking around anxiously, trying to search. Many blooming flowers were smashed to pieces by the heavy rain, but she didn't find what she wanted.

"Really...no?"

The girl gripped the hilt of the knife, recalling the horrific scene. If she couldn't find that flower, she would...

My whole body was trembling.

how……

Would you be willing to cut off your uncle's head?

……

The rain stopped sometime ago. The girl, who had been standing in the rain for a day and a night without eating a single grain of rice, grew weaker and weaker until she could barely stand and collapsed to the ground. But she still supported herself with her arms and kept searching around.

Before we knew it, the sun peeked out from behind the rain, its warm rays casting a rainbow of colors across the sky beneath the rain curtain.

Kanao's consciousness gradually became hazy.

But in a daze

She seemed to see a rainbow.

I also saw that patch of emerald green vines, and on those vines, an inconspicuous flower had bloomed at some unknown time.

The flower wasn't very pretty.

In Kanao's eyes, however, it was the most beautiful flower in the world.

Kanao didn't know what the blue spider lily looked like, nor did her uncle, but at that moment, her intuition told her...

This flower

Just

青色彼岸花

It blooms as spring fades and summer approaches, and then quietly withers away in the darkness of night.

Its flowering period is very short.

And it only lasted for one day.

Now, at this moment, this flower is quietly blooming before Kanao's eyes.

Just one glance

It almost completely captivated Kanao's soul and spirit.

It can no longer contain all things in the world.

Her petite frame swayed slightly as she walked forward, filled with excitement and joy.

Kanao looked up at the sky.

The rain had long since stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the rain, its warm rays filtering through the clouds and casting a rainbow of light across the sky.