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Chapter 89: Busujima Saeko Logs into the Demon Slayer World
"So magical!"
Nezuko stared in wonder at the phantom doorway that had just materialized out of thin air. She had no idea how Suyan had conjured it before vanishing inside.
Instinctively, she reached out to touch the ethereal door.
Her hand passed straight through it, hitting nothing but empty air, as if it were a mere hologram.
Seeing this, another gasp of awe escaped her lips. "So magical!"
She then looked down at the iron chains binding her family, which trailed straight into the doorway. She touched the chains—they were cold, solid steel.
Yet, the moment they crossed the threshold of the door, the other end, previously held by Suyan, simply vanished into nothingness.
"Hey, Nezuko, could you tell me a bit more about Mr. Suyan?"
Tanjiro was equally bewildered by the magic trick, but he used Suyan's brief absence to quietly interrogate his sister.
First, he was genuinely curious about the man's background.
Second, his sister was reaching the age where marriage was a consideration. Mr. Suyan had not only saved their family's lives, but he also seemed like a very capable, reliable man—certainly worthy of his sister.
Judging by Nezuko's attitude, and the way she had been sleeping comfortably on his shoulder just moments ago, it was obvious she didn't dislike him.
If possible, Tanjiro wanted Nezuko and Suyan to interact a bit more to see if they were a good match.
As for the possibility that Suyan might look down on Nezuko?
Are you kidding? That thought never even crossed his mind. His sister was famous throughout the surrounding villages for her beauty!
"Huh?"
Hearing Tanjiro's question, Nezuko blinked.
What kind of person was Suyan?
That question actually stumped her. Now that she thought about it, she realized she had been the only one talking for almost the entire evening. He had mostly just been agreeing with her.
But thinking back on it...
Suyan had saved her family. He hadn't gotten angry when Shigeru and Tanjiro impulsively attacked him. And he hadn't shown even a hint of impatience while listening to her ramble on endlessly for hours.
Nezuko answered with absolute, unwavering certainty. "Suyan is a very good person."
(She nodded to herself, absolutely certain.)
"Is that so?"
Tanjiro rubbed his chin. It seemed his sister really did have a favorable impression of Mr. Suyan. In that case, he could safely entrust his sister to him.
Then, he could set off on a journey to find a cure for his demon-turned family members.
Of course, to ensure his sister wasn't being deceived, he would need to assess the man's character himself first.
At that moment, the ethereal door rippled, and Suyan stepped out, leading a woman with long, deep purple hair.
Tanjiro instinctively took a step back.
This woman was beautiful.
Stunningly beautiful.
He swore he had never seen a woman this gorgeous in his entire life—except for his sister Nezuko, of course.
But the moment she stepped through the door, the first emotion that slammed into his brain wasn't awe or infatuation.
It was pure, primal terror.
It was the ultimate, instinctual dread of a prey animal locking eyes with an apex predator.
Tanjiro's nose twitched violently. He was hit by a suffocating, almost impossibly thick stench of blood rolling off her body.
She didn't feel like a human being. She felt like an Asura, a demon of slaughter who had just clawed her way out of the lowest pits of hell.
It was genuinely unfathomable. Just how much slaughter, how much carnage, did someone have to orchestrate to radiate such a horrifying aura?
In a daze, Tanjiro hallucinated a towering, churning sea of blood rising up behind the purple-haired girl.
"Is it you? The inheritor of the Sun Breathing?"
The purple-haired girl locked eyes with Kamado Tanjiro and spoke in a flat, tranquil tone.
But just from that single glance, Tanjiro nearly suffered a mental collapse. His every instinct screamed at him to turn and flee.
Within the hallucinated sea of blood behind her, a colossal, monstrous purple python erupted from the gore, unhinging its massive jaws to swallow him whole.
Tanjiro squeezed his eyes shut in sheer terror.
When he cautiously opened them a second later, he realized the python and the blood were nothing more than phantom illusions conjured by his own fear.
"Alright, Saeko-senpai, use In to conceal your aura first. Tanjiro's senses are incredibly sharp, don't scare him to death. He's about to demonstrate the Sun Breathing for us."
Naturally, the person Suyan had pulled out of Greed Island was Busujima Saeko.
As the most skilled swordswoman in his group, he obviously wanted her to be the first to witness the legendary Sun Breathing. He had just forgotten to warn her to use In to suppress her killing intent before stepping out.
"Understood," Busujima Saeko nodded.
Instantly, the suffocating, life-threatening aura of slaughter vanished completely, as if it had never existed.
"Is that... sweat?"
Tanjiro wiped his forehead, looking down at the glistening moisture on his palm, and muttered with lingering terror, "What a terrifying woman."
Even though Busujima Saeko had completely concealed her aura, Tanjiro still felt a profound sense of residual dread. He found himself unconsciously standing on his tiptoes, his body coiled in a stance ready to sprint away at a moment's notice.
"Alright, Mr. Tanjiro, could you please demonstrate your family's Dance of the Fire God for us now?"
Seeing Tanjiro's state, Suyan stepped forward, gently patting his shoulder to snap him out of it.
"O-Oh, right—okay—"
Tanjiro jolted back to reality. Right. This terrifying woman wasn't an enemy; she was Mr. Suyan's friend.
Moreover, his family was still here. No matter how dangerous the situation became, he would never abandon them and run away alone.
"Please wait a moment."
Tanjiro quickly ran into the house to fetch the ceremonial tool used for the sacrificial dance—a wooden stick carved roughly into the shape of a sword, with strips of white cloth tied to it like a banner.
Once he was ready, he looked at Suyan and asked, "Mr. Suyan, shall I begin now?"
Suyan didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned to Nezuko and said, "Come watch with us."
"Huh?" Nezuko blinked in surprise. "I need to watch too?"
The Dance of the Fire God was strictly passed down only to the eldest son of the family. Aside from Tanjiro, no one else knew how to do it. And after learning that it was actually a sword technique meant for killing demons, she had lost her reverence for it entirely. She was far more interested in Suyan's magical door trick.
"Yes," Suyan nodded.
According to the lore, Tanjiro and Nezuko's narrative trajectories in the anime were actually completely backwards. Tanjiro was far more suited to being a demon, and Nezuko possessed far more natural talent for swordsmanship than Tanjiro ever did.
"Come join us, you adorable little thing," Saeko chimed in, waving warmly at the charming girl.
Without a doubt, she had a strong feeling that this little girl would eventually become one of their companions.
"Hello, big sister. I'm Nezuko," Nezuko walked over, a bit timidly, greeting Saeko with a bright, crisp voice.
She had never met an older sister this beautiful before. Standing in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious.
But thanks to Saeko's deliberate, warm overtures—and the fact that Nezuko lacked Tanjiro's supernatural sense of smell, remaining blissfully unaware of Saeko's terrifying nature—the two girls quickly bonded.
Before long, Nezuko was happily calling her "Sister Saeko" left and right.
Only then did Suyan finally turn to Tanjiro and say, "Alright, Mr. Tanjiro. You may begin the demonstration."
Tanjiro nodded firmly.
And right there before them, he began to perform the Dance of the Fire God—the ultimate, most powerful Sun Breathing of the Demon Slayer world.
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