Kawanishi looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see anything clearly.
The heavy snowstorm had stirred the clouds, making the sky impossible to read.
And with his mind still foggy from earlier, he had no idea how long he'd been running. At this point, he couldn't even guess what time it was.
Moonlight spilled across the snowy ground, refracting off the glistening surface. Though it was still night, everything around him was bright and clear.
"The old folks used to say, demons are immortal—only sunlight can kill them."
"When the sun rises and its light shines, no matter how strong a demon is, it'll turn to ash and vanish."
"If the snowstorm suddenly stops, and it just happens to be daytime… then once the sunlight hits me, I'm done for."
He had wanted to figure out where he was and what time it was, but his hunger surged again, cutting off his thoughts.
Left with no choice, Kawanishi bent down, scooped up a handful of snow, and stuffed it into his mouth. The icy snowflakes melted into freezing water against the warmth of his tongue and slid down his throat.
A cold chill rushed through his body, easing the burning hunger in his gut—just a little.
But then nausea hit him hard. His stomach churned violently, rejecting the snow water.
Moments later, he threw it all back up…
The hunger hadn't eased. It had gotten worse.
"Demons… can't eat anything other than humans?"
"If I don't eat people, I won't have the strength. And energy is conserved—even if I'm immortal, I should eventually fall into a dormant state if I run out of power."
"If I lose my strength, how will I find the one who did this? How will I kill demons…? Do I really have no choice but to eat humans?"
As long as it wasn't his family, for the sake of gaining strength—for revenge—Kawanishi wouldn't mind eating people.
"No. I can't eat just anyone. If I must eat, it has to be criminals, or those already killed by demons."
"Otherwise… if I ever see Tanjiro again, how could I face him?"
Even if he did eat evil people, it would only be as a last resort. If there were any other way, Kawanishi would never choose to eat a human.
It's not just a matter of morality—even the most wicked person wouldn't stoop to cannibalism.
That wouldn't be evil. That would be depravity.
But… if only I could eat demons.
The thought of devouring demons rose from deep within his subconscious. It was so strong, it momentarily made him forget his hunger.
The footprints he left in the snow were already being filled in by the falling flakes.
Kawanishi glanced around. This world of snow offered no sense of direction.
The ongoing storm had stripped him of all bearings.
"I can't waste any more time. I can feel myself growing weaker. I'll lose control soon."
He'd been gravely injured, ran nonstop for who knows how long, and since turning into a demon had only tasted a few drops of Kie's blood—he was at his limit.
Though his body now looked intact—far stronger than before—it was just the surface.
Every cell in Kawanishi's body was screaming for energy. Without it, they would shut down, entering a dormant state until someday revived by flesh and blood.
Realizing how dire his condition was, Kawanishi could no longer stand still, lost in guilt and regret.
"I need to find food—and shelter where I can hide from the sunlight."
With no way to navigate, he randomly picked a direction and started walking briskly, thinking through his next steps as he moved.
Though he called it walking, his pace was closer to a jog for a normal person.
Even as a newborn demon—even while starving—his body far surpassed that of a human.
After all, demons are predators of mankind.
As he moved, Kawanishi silently counted steps in his head. After about half an hour of walking at that pace, he stopped.
He sniffed the air. Instantly, his eyes filled with dense red veins.
He inhaled deeply, letting the cold air settle his raging thoughts.
That familiar scent helped him barely suppress the hunger.
"Whew."
"That smell… blood."
"And something savage, brutal, chaotic… it's a demon."
They were family, after all. The gifts they shared were similar.
Tanjiro's sense of smell was so developed that he could sense people's emotions. Kawanishi's wasn't quite as sharp, but it had always been much better than average.
Now that his senses had been enhanced by becoming a demon, his already keen sense of smell had grown even sharper.
He couldn't yet rival Tanjiro's current ability, but he was close to how Tanjiro had been as a child.
"A demon…"
Kawanishi clenched his fists. His sharp nails dug into his flesh, but he didn't even flinch.
Before Muzan appeared, his skull had been shattered by the black-haired demon.
At the time, he was too injured to see Muzan's face clearly—just sensed his presence in a blur.
"That man turned me into a demon, but I can tell—I don't have the ability to turn others."
"Does that mean only he can create demons? Or maybe only a specific group of demons can?"
"Either way, the ones who can make demons must be incredibly rare…"
"Let's go with that theory for now."
Kawanishi's guess was pretty much spot on—only Muzan Kibutsuji possessed the power to create demons.
"Wait for me. One day, I'll find you."
At that moment, Kawanishi made a decision: he would track down the nearby demon.
It wasn't just the scent of blood drawing him—it was his need to find clues about Muzan.
In Kawanishi's mind, there had to be a connection between demons and Muzan. If he kept seeking them out, he would eventually uncover something about the one who made him this way.
The blood of demons carried inherited knowledge.
That was how Kawanishi understood why he couldn't create other demons.
It was also how he understood the true nature of demons the moment he turned.
An endless hunger for human flesh. An insatiable desire to kill.
No matter how kind or gentle a person was in life, once they became a demon, that goodness would be twisted and erased…
Brutality and savagery—that was the true nature of a demon.
But Kawanishi… was different.
He felt that something about him was special.
Though he craved blood and flesh, he hadn't lost his human reason or memories.
To some extent, he could resist his instincts.
(End of Chapter)