It was dead into the night and Sonju was left watching the crackling fire.

It is the day till the next that the Grace Field escapees would reach the end of the tunnels. Although he wouldn't admit it, the elder demon had grown attached to the cattle children. Mujika herself had shown genuine affection for the little ones, an affection he hasn't seen since he's found her all those centuries ago…

Still, he can't help but mull over their mystery kid.

When he first found the kid, they were floating in a nearby stream unconscious. Sonju had pulled them out, courtesy of Mujika fretting over the young one, before they would be pulled deeper.

(... The kid was in Mujika's hold, wrapped in his now soaked cloak. Wordlessly, Sonju sat on the ground and peered at them. A soft, unblemished, maskless baby face swaddled in wet clothes stared back at him.

He frowns as he watches his companion fiddle with the green bark lodged in its mouth.

"Are you sure it's female?" Mujika stopped trying to rip off the green bark and pursed her lips.

Sonju shrugs, fiddling with his spear. "I mean it's not like I can check its biology, can I?"

The female demon looks affronted or at least tries to. She shakes her head, no longer fingering the bark—the muzzle, his mind cuts in.

The air around Mujika becomes uneasy, as she herself becomes jittery in place between glancing at him, the child, and the stream …)

Nowadays, it was uncommon to have the mention of child slavery come around. Despite being away from civilization, the estranged prince had always found a way to listen to present news whenever they traveled about.

That and the lucky participants that would willingly come after the duo would tell them in passing quite literally.

Sonju hadn't found anything that caught his eye when he went back to investigate the river. He tried to get a whiff of the kid but Mujika, with her mother hen instincts, slapped him when he got close.

Whoever had dumped them off were gone. No scent to be traced, only to be washed away by the water. He found no footprints around the perimeter either.

It was as if the kid appeared out of nowhere. But how?

The flame shrunk as time went by. The light flickers, the firewood weakening as the cold of the night seeped into the tunnels. Sonju wordlessly adds more firewood to the flame, watching it.

In the midst of his night duty, he hears the faint snores coming from the other part of the tunnel. Among the noise, he hears a slight shuffling. Instinctively, his hand twitches towards the spear that laid against the wall.

It was probably one of the kids.

It could be nothing.

Yeah, as if words could stop him.

Sonju slowly stood up, pulling the large hood over his head, obscuring his mask into a shadow. He makes his way over to the persisting sound, weapon at a ready to strike.

His paranoia had no bounds, after all.

Then, something small bumped his leg. Sonju blinks as he hears a tiny grunt. He looks down.

Sonju feels his face make an expression he can't really make a clue out of, but with what's happening right now could go wrong in so many ways and he can't pay attention to it.

It was a tiny child. The elder demon bit back an uncharacteristic gasp that would make Mujika laugh at him for hours. He was a bit spooked when hot pink eyes gazed up at him. A bright pink like that wasn't what you've seen in everyday figures.

The green muzzle covered their—her—mouth, the durable pink string tied around their head. The oversized colorful robes dragged through too many things brought them down. Oddly enough, Sonju couldn't help but think of those human dolls he'd find when he was younger.

Pink orbs watched him in curious wariness. She makes a muffled noise of askance, eyeing his spear. Sonju puts it down carefully, quietly.

Both demons were tensed but made no move to do anything. The child blinks slowly several times, her abnormal eyes gazing up at him with an unreadable soft tilt.

It made Sonju incredibly awkward like he wanted to do something but his centuries upon century-year-old body wouldn't let him.

Like a puppet on strings, the kid reaches a claw towards his pant leg. She pats it hypnotizing. Then he feels the claws sinking through his pants. He makes no move as the child climbs him like a tree. Even the human children sleeping in the distance weren't this touchy, but at least kept their distance at a minimum.

Sonju just let it happen.

"Hmm?!" He hears muffled laughter behind him. Mujika stands there, a sleeve covering up her giggles as she watches them. The kid clung to his many layers of hoods that rested on his shoulders like a monkey.

"Have you been standing there this whole time?" Sonju asked incredulously, not making any attempts to rip the kid off.

Mujika hides a smile, light chuckling still coming from her throat. "She woke up when I was tucking in the children. Did the same thing but ran away before I could say anything." She comes over with a big smile adorning her face.

She coos, her finger lightly running down the child's face. The child leans into her touch, slitted eyes looking back at her.

"I wonder, who would ever abandon a lovely girl like you?"

"...As you all know, Mount Natagumo holds one of the five world gates that lead into the original world where humanity had once inhabited. It has been recently opened. By what the reports of surrounding Kasugaigarasu watching over the gate, Muzan Kibutsuji and the lower ranks of the Twelve Demon moons were seen destroying the seal and passing through."

"Lower Moons Three and Six have been dealt with accordingly. I feel as though the disappearance of Kamado Nezuko, a human turned demon and sister to my apprentice Kamado Tanjirou, is related to the other circulating mysteries that have been happening for weeks."

"'Former Water Pillar, Urokodaki Sakonji.'" Ubuyashiki Amane finished, rolling the letter sent by Urokodaki.

Nezuko… Tanjiro's eyes started to burn furiously with tears of realization and joy he's thought he'd never believed the words that he'd just heard.

His sister was alive. Not in this world, in another. A world where humans and demons once lived together with their own conflicts, only for the humans to move to a secondary world where they can prosper. The world they inhabit now.

I'm coming. The head of the Demon Slayer corps talked on while the Hashira added in their own words. I'm going to make sure we'll meet each other again.

"That is why I would like to have a group of two leading Hashira go after the remaining Lower Moons."

What?

Not dead, just a bit tired. And overworked. And sleep-deprived.