Fish

Snapping back to reality, Kokushibo looked at the familiar Kiyomi in front of him.

He feels as if his life was filled with colors once again, and his emotions struggled fiercely within their imprisoned cages.

"You look like my little sister, whose name was Kiyomi.." Kokushibo answered.

Kiyomi, who was surprised to hear that Kokushibo had a little sister, finally understood why Kokushibo was being so nice to her.

"Oh.. Is that so? Well, I bet your little sister was very cute." Kiyomi complimented.

Lowering his head to take a few more glances at the short Kiyomi, Kokushibo replied with a nostalgic tone.

"Yeah.. she was."

Silence.

"Kay. Now bring me fish! I don't care if it is raw or cooked, I'm hungry!" said Kiyomi hurriedly, while her stomach cooperated beautifully.

*Guuu~*

Raising his eyebrows as if to question her, Kokushibo didn't say anything and disappeared from Kiyomi's sight.

After a short moment of waiting, Kokushibo came back with two boxes filled with the fishy smell of seafood.

'Hehe! Dinner is here! ...Or is it lunch??' thought Kiyomi as her stomach grumbled happily.

Taking the boxes away from Kokushibo's hands, she lifted the lid to find an assortment of sashimi.

Identifying the different kinds of fish, Kiyomi put her hands together and thanked Kokushibo for the food, "Salmon, tuna, sea-bass, and mackerel. Thank you for the food!"

Devouring the sashimi, Kiyomi temporarily forgot about her worries and she happily focused on the fish in front of her.

"Mmmh! This one's salty! ...Oh~! This one tastes like chicken! Yum!"

Seeing Kiyomi eating so happily, Kokushibo couldn't help but doubt, '...When did demons start being able to eat fish?'

He picked up a slice of Salmon and brought it to his mouth.

Kiyomi was staring at Kokushibo with glee, waiting for his disgusted expression.

*Munch*

...

"Well? How does the fish taste?" Kiyomi asked enthusiastically.

Feeling the slimy fish go down his throat, Kokushibo didn't feel repulsed. But he also didn't quite like the taste compared with human flesh.

"It tastes quite bland."

"???" Disappointed, Kiyomi now felt confused as to what she wanted to do next.

"Hey.. brother? I'm going back to visit my family, how should I come back here?"

"Just go to Asakusa, I'll know when you'll be there," Kokushibo said while leaving Kiyomi alone and walking away.

"...Ok, but how do I get out?"

...

Treading on the empty streets of Asakusa, Kiyomi blissfully nibbled on a roasted fish on a stick.

'The Inifinity castle is so fricking big! I had to wander in those weird corridors for hours before finally finding that Biwa demon again.'

Taking out a map, she traced her fingers on it through various villages, cities, and mountains before finding her destination.

'Sagiri mountain, then some random village, and then back to Kumotori mountain..'

"Mhn~ Wasn't Sagiri mountain where the former water pillar, Sakonji Urokodaki, lived?"

Kiyomi remembered Urokodaki because he was the one to train Tanjiro after his family was massacred by Muzan himself.

'Speaking of the death of my family, how should I prevent that from happening?'

Throwing the clean stick into a nearby trash bin, Kiyomi started her journey back home.

'Hm.. taking them to live with Urokodaki sounds like a good choice. My family would be able to be protected by a former pillar, plus, Sagiri mountain is very similar to Kumotori mountain! But before that, let's go give the old man a visit!'

...

Arriving at the foot of Sagiri mountain a few hours before the first break of dawn, Kiyomi saw the ocean of vast trees.

Resolutely trekking up the mountain, she soon came upon a small wooden cottage, just like her home, but a bit smaller.

*Creak~*

The wooden door slowly opened, and an elderly individual wearing a tengu mask that covers his entire face with silver-colored hair holding a blue Nichirin sword walked out.

Closing the door gently, Urokodaki looked at the young Kiyomi, smiling at him.

'This demon... has no smell of malice?'

Urokodaki sniffed the air and frowned, his mask blocking Kiyomi's view of his expressions.

"Hello, sir! My name is Kamado Kiyomi!" said Kiyomi, very cheerfully.

"Demon, what are you doing here?" replied Urokodaki, examining every movement that Kiyomi made.

"I would rather you call me by my name sir."

And then, Kiyomi told Urokodaki about her story.

How she needed to earn money for her family and how she turned into a demon.

She did conceal some of the important parts, like the infinity castle, Muzan, and the Upper Moon demons.

After hearing Kiyomi's story, Urokodaki sheathed his katana.

"Is that so... well, promise me that you will not eat humans, not even drink their blood, and I'll believe that you're special."

Kiyomi, hearing the simple request that Urokodaki made, smiled incomprehensibly.

"Mr.Urokodaki, I don't need to eat humans, I like fish more!"

Three big question marks appeared on top of Urokodaki's head.

"Fish? Demons eat fish?"

"Yeah! I was a Kitsune before I got turned into a demon, so I guess that's the reason I'm able to eat fish instead of humans. Right, the sun is coming up, can I stay for a while? I'll be leaving for my home at night."

The sun was about to come up, and Kiyomi didn't want to die so early yet, so without Urokodaki's consent, she rushed inside the small house.

"...Kitsunes were a thing?" A few more question marks appeared on top of Urokodaki's head as he watched Kiyomi rush towards his house.

The more he knew about this demon girl, the less he understood about her.

"A demon-kitsune hybrid? It seems that I would have to observe her a little more before writing to the headquarters."