My head feels dizzy, and I suddenly find myself lying on the ground.
Mom! Mommm!! , but she doesn't hear me. As I try to stand, I can barely stay on my feet. I stumble through the hallway and open my parents' bedroom door. My body won't move, and I immediately faint.
Luckily, I wake up in my bed, sweat covering my body.
I walk through the house, exploring some things. As I step into the hallway, I catch sight of Urokodaki Sensei and Tanjirou chatting.
"Come and have a seat."
"Both of you have special abilities. You must train and enhance them."
Enhance ability? How am I supposed to do that? I walk away from them, entering the last room of the house. It is filled with darkness, but a beam of sunlight lights up the edge of the room. I spot a picture hanging on the wall—two children and a woman looking at me. It seems to be Urokodaki Sensei's family.
A footstep approaches the room.
"You lost them too, right? Have you ever wondered what happens after death?"
I tilt my head like I haven't!
"Come, you must be hungry."
Sensei, what is this demon we talked about?
"They are called demons because they devour humans."
Devour humans? So that means they're cannibals? Do they have a weakness? What kind of people do they attack?
"Haven't I told you before that you should return to the house before dawn? Do you think it's just because of the traps I set?"
So they're scared of the night and dark?
"Seriously! Do you want to die by my hand? It's not that they're scared of the dark. Are you a demon? I told you to return before dawn because demons roam freely at night."
Oh, so that's why both of them rush home at full speed. But don't they have a weakness?
"Phew! Where's your brain? If they can only be seen at night, that means their weakness is sunlight! You bastard! Go eat your breakfast—today's going to be a long day!"
As I sit in the dining room, a scene flashes in front of my eyes. What is this? Where am I? Why do I see blood again?Why am I standing in a forest and it's really cold , I can hear a man shouting in my name behind me.
But Tanjirou knocks me out of the vision. Seems like I fall asleep.
What I can't understand is why I always see blood in my dreams—it feels so real. Tanjirou, have you lost your family too? I always remember what you said when we first met—how the smell is the same as what happened to your family.
"Maybe... maybe the demon who devoured our families is the same."
Who could it be? The one who devours my family, even though they weren't truly mine... I must take revenge, why would they devour an innocent people and what have my family done to devour them and kill them?
Urokodaki Sensei's words strike me again: "Be careful of the man your mother fell in love with!"
How does he know that? I need to ask him.
We finish breakfast. From outside, a loud voice echoes:
"Are you trying to eat all the food I stocked up?"
"Today, both of you will run through the forest again!"
Ha! That's going to be easy for me.
"Let's see what you can do!"
That's definitely a challenge. Tanjirou, let's race to the start line!
Wait… Tanjirou is faster than yesterday! Last time, I could at least see his shadow. Now, I can't even catch that.
Wait, what a silly me—Tanjirou just comes out of the house, but when? I thought he was beside me! That's something extraordinary.
"You want a race? Okay, loser does 200 pushups!"
Wait! You cheater! You ran before I could even blink!
As I run, I look around. What's strange is there isn't a single tree in sight. How can that be? Even though we're running, there are no traps.
I run as fast as I can. I really don't want to do pushups. I reach the starting line, and Tanjirou is already sitting on a log, waiting for me.
"Hey! You'll be doing pushups after this training. If you reach the top first, I'll do 400 pushups. If I reach first, your loser count doubles."
That's not going to happen. I'll really make you lose.
"We can't wait any longer—it's nearly dawn."
Alright, let's start. We split up and can't see each other. As I walk up the mountain, I slip on something and fall—but a falling log nearly hits me on the head!
So this old man sets a new trap. Interesting. But without trees, I can't do the same thing.
Think! Think! How am I going to reach the top?
If I run as fast as I can, I might be able to dodge the obstacles. Let's try to run like light.
I stand still and steady my feet. I control my breathing so I can launch like a rocket.
One… two… three… I run as fast as I can.
But even the birds in the sky fly faster than me.
What a loser I am.
Even though I'm slow, I keep running. A large log and a stone fly toward me and hit me. If I don't dodge them, I won't make it back before dawn.
I run again with all my strength—but I fall into a hole.
I'm so screwed.
After a long and hard struggle, I manage to reach the top by crawling.
"Hey, loser! You owe 400 pushups!"
What?! He reaches the top unharmed?!
Ugh! What a loser I am. I can't even beat a younger boy.
Urokodaki Sensei stands beside Tanjirou, nods, and heads back inside the house.
"100… 101… Come on, you can do it..."
Argh! This really pisses me off. Next time, you're going to squat 500!I'll surely make you do it, I'm still surprise that I lost before a boy.
Damn it… I'm really a loser.