Before the next dawn arrived, Kibutsuji Muzan had already searched the entire mountain inside and out.
He found no trace of the missing Calamity Demon, though he did kill a few wild wolves and leopards.
Sitting in his dilapidated little shack, Kibutsuji Muzan was utterly baffled.
If this was all because the plot had changed due to time travel...
Were those strange emotions of his also part of it?
Kibutsuji Muzan could sense that, aside from his changing moods, his memories from before the time travel were also beginning to slip away.
He was slowly forgetting that he had once been human, forgetting his former living habits, and even the things he had seen and the songs he had heard were growing hazy.
Was he...
Still truly himself?
Or had he completely and utterly become Kibutsuji Muzan?
Today Shoji actually kept her promise and didn't come, which somehow made Kibutsuji Muzan feel a little unaccustomed to it.
He sat in his chair, scratching away in his diary about the Calamity Demon. Even though he had no idea who would ever read this diary or what the point of it was, writing in it was the best way Kibutsuji Muzan had to kill time.
As for the Blue Spider Lily?
Well... Kibutsuji Muzan couldn't find a single clue.
He wasn't very familiar with the manga's plot; he only vaguely remembered that the Blue Spider Lily grew near Kamado Tanjiro's home and only bloomed during the day.
Since that timeline was still far too distant in the future, Kibutsuji Muzan temporarily shelved the matter.
Right now, the most important thing was not to be discovered and hunted down by that monster Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
....
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
Early the next morning, Shoji arrived at the door of Kibutsuji Muzan's wooden shack, holding several sheets of blank paper and a pen. She hadn't changed at all, as if the events of the night before had merely been a dream.
The test Kibutsuji Muzan had prepared for this girl was very simple: she just needed to write a six-hundred-word composition within a set time limit. Of course, the conditions were that she couldn't pad the word count, couldn't make any typos, and had to write with genuine emotion.
Ah... it was like a nostalgic flashback to exams before his time travel.
As the dignified Demon King, what was wrong with making the blockheads of this world try writing an essay, hm?
With permission granted, Shoji sat down in Kibutsuji Muzan's chair, clutching her paper, and began brainstorming her composition:
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the wooden walls, casting mottled patterns across Shoji's face and reflecting her look of intense concentration.
She furrowed her brow at times, and smiled faintly at other times, as if having a soul-to-soul dialogue with the written words.
Kibutsuji Muzan sat quietly on the bed nearby, his gaze resting on Shoji's figure bathed in the morning light. This seemingly ordinary girl possessed incomparable courage and determination...
He recalled his own former memories—memories from before he became [Kibutsuji Muzan]. Back then, [Kibutsuji Muzan] had not yet fully seized control of the body, remaining cold, merciless, and indifferent to life. Nowadays, such actions as teaching humans and saving humans were simply a disgrace to the title of the [Demon King].
But so what?
Now, *he* was the Demon King!
Hmph.
As time ticked by, a gentle breeze swept across Shoji's face, and she finally finished her composition. Looking slightly exhausted yet resolute, she raised her head and handed the pages in her hand to Kibutsuji Muzan, as if presenting a piece of hard-earned, precious effort.
Kibutsuji Muzan took the composition and began to read, surprised to discover that the story Shoji had written was actually about the two of them.
It started from Shoji's miserable encounters before they met, moved on to her heartfelt thoughts after being saved by Kibutsuji Muzan, and finally... chronicled the little moments they spent together, as well as the scene from the night before when she was rescued by Kibutsuji Muzan during the Calamity Demon's attack.
Shoji's writing style wasn't particularly refined, but it was unpretentious, free of padded filler, and filled entirely with her most genuine, innermost thoughts.
Moreover, the word count actually exceeded a thousand words, which came as a genuine surprise.
After finishing the essay, Kibutsuji Muzan looked up at Shoji. His eyes held a mixture of doubt and perplexity, but in the end, he simply sighed and said:
"You wrote very well, Shoji. Your words carry a distinct emotion that lets anyone genuinely feel what you are thinking..."
"But why write a story about you and me?"
"You could easily have written about other things."
Hearing Kibutsuji Muzan's words, Shoji lowered her head slightly, her hands nervously interlaced.
Finally, she mustered up her courage and spoke, her voice soft yet firm:
"Lord Muzan, you are the most special person I have ever met. Not only did you save me, but you were also willing to teach me how to read, showing me hope for life. I wanted to use my story to record every little detail between us, because all of these are my most precious memories."
Kibutsuji Muzan fell silent for a moment, seemingly pondering Shoji's words. He had never imagined that he, a Demon King, would ever become a cherished part of someone else's memories.
It was like rescuing a stray dog on a whim, only for that stray dog to be willing to risk its life for you. Such a feeling was so unfamiliar to him, yet it carried a faint, imperceptible warmth.
[......]
[Wait... what?]
[Unfamiliar? Why would I find this unfamiliar?]
[This kind of emotion... shouldn't I be quite used to it?....]
An unnamed anger quietly welled up, the veins on the back of Kibutsuji Muzan's hand bulging, though he quickly forced the feeling down.
"Your sentiments have been received."
"You passed. As my first disciple... not bad at all."
Shoji froze for a second, and then joy flashed in her eyes. She nodded obediently, bowed respectfully to Kibutsuji Muzan, and then shared her plans for the immediate future:
"Lord Muzan, I'm planning to leave this village at noon today. I'm going to cross this mountain and keep heading east to live in the town over there."
"So suddenly?"
Kibutsuji Muzan looked at her and asked.
"Yes... I've wanted to go for a long time. Now that you've taught me how to read, I don't need to stay around here anymore."
Shoji looked up and smiled, like a little sun cheering herself on.
"You gave me the chance to choose my own life, and I am truly grateful to you, Lord Muzan!"
With that, Shoji bowed once more to express her gratitude.
"Hmm..."
Seeing her like this, Kibutsuji Muzan said nothing more.
"Oh right, take this."
He pulled a ring from his pocket—the reward previously given by the system, the token of the Demon King.
"Huh? Huh? A ring?!"
Shoji was stunned when she saw the ring, then looked up into Kibutsuji Muzan's face.
Ah... no matter how many times she looked at it, she never grew tired of it. Lord Muzan's face was truly handsome...
As she thought this, a flush suddenly crept up Shoji's cheeks, but she quickly shook her head to calm herself down.
"......"
"This is my token; keep it on you. No matter where you are, if you encounter danger, call my name, and I will come save you."
Of course Kibutsuji Muzan knew what the girl was thinking as her face suddenly flushed red.
Idiot, he wasn't going to propose to a human!!
"Ah? Oh, oh. Thank you, Lord Muzan!"
Hearing Kibutsuji Muzan's explanation, Shoji grew flustered as well. How could she... how could she feel shy in front of her teacher?.... Ahem, ahem.
She took the ring from Kibutsuji Muzan, spoke words of farewell, and then bowed and left his wooden shack.
Kibutsuji Muzan watched Shoji's retreating figure, feeling neither regret nor any desire to make her stay. He knew that he was merely a passing stranger in Shoji's extremely brief lifespan.
However... who could have predicted that this casual gesture by Kibutsuji Muzan would ultimately change his fate in the days to come?
Of course, that is a story for another time.