Late into the night, bathed in moonlight, a massive metallic beast roared down the uneven, rugged dirt road, its cold black chassis gleaming. It was a machine that absolutely did not belong in the Taisho era.
"Miss Marikawa, please slow down!"
Sitting in the passenger seat, Tamayo gripped the handles with a death grip. Her face was entirely drained of color, paler than her usual demonic complexion. She was terrified out of her mind.
"Relax, relax! You won't die~" Shizuka chirped happily. Despite her reassuring words, her foot remained slammed on the gas. Looking every bit the seasoned street racer, she expertly yet violently wrestled the steering wheel, throwing the heavily modified Hummer H1 toward the Butterfly Mansion.
Shortly after cementing the Equivalent Exchange with Tamayo, Suyan realized a complication. Unlike his Contract with Makomo, the deal with Tamayo only granted him temporary ownership of her services, not absolute loyalty. Their terms were strict:
Suyan provided:
Muzan's blood.
The Blue Spider Lily.
The death of Muzan, complete with the psychological torture of revealing the truth about the flower.
Tamayo provided:
The Restoration Cure.
The Immortality Elixir.
Temporary ownership of herself until the drugs were completed.
Because she wasn't a fully contracted partner, she couldn't pass through the Dimensional Gate into Greed Island. Otherwise, they could have just had Saeko open a portal from the Butterfly Mansion and walk straight through. To get back before sunrise, Suyan had burned a significant chunk of Nen to conjure Minami Rika's prized possession from the Highschool of the Dead world—the heavily modified Hummer H1.
Shizuka had immediately volunteered to drive, and Suyan was happy to let her. Aside from the terrible suspension on the unpaved Taisho roads and her aggressive speeding making Tamayo violently carsick, it was a smooth ride.
SCREEEECH! Shizuka violently whipped the steering wheel. The Hummer's chassis tilted dangerously as the four massive tires painted thick black skid marks across the dirt. With a flawless drift, the armored beast slammed to a perfect halt right in front of a massive wisteria tree.
"We're here!" Shizuka announced brightly.
Tamayo and Yushiro shoved their doors open and practically fell out of the vehicle. Tamayo took deep, shuddering gasps of fresh air, looking back at Shizuka with sheer horror. During that drive, her demonic heart had literally skipped a few beats. She swore she was going to die. She resolved never to ride in one of these 'automobiles' ever again.
Glancing over at Yushiro, she was surprised to see him standing perfectly still, his expression stoic. My, Yushiro is handling this far better than I expected. He's quite resilient. A second later, Yushiro turned green, doubled over, and violently threw up into the bushes.
Suyan side-eyed the retching demon and dispelled his Nen. The massive Hummer vanished into thin air. It was a good thing Shizuka hadn't drifted directly into the Butterfly Mansion's courtyard; if Aoi Kanzaki caught them vomiting all over the estate, she would have blown a fuse. Or, given that they were demons, Aoi might have just wet herself in terror.
Seeing Yushiro completely lose his composure, Tamayo's lips twitched. So much for resilience; he had just been forcing himself to look tough in front of her. Shaking off her lingering nausea, she looked up to take in their destination—and immediately froze.
The entire area was bordered by a dense forest of blooming wisteria flowers.
Panic seized her, and she instinctively took a step back. Wisteria was a lethal poison to demons, second only to the Nichirin Swords and Breathing Styles. Even the Twelve Kizuki couldn't withstand a highly concentrated dose. For pacifist demons like her and Yushiro, who barely consumed enough blood to survive, it was incredibly dangerous.
Her sudden movement, coupled with her lingering carsickness, made her legs give out. She tipped backward, bracing for a harsh impact with the ground.
Instead, a strong arm caught her by the waist, pulling her flush against a solid chest.
It was Suyan.
In that split second, Tamayo found herself utterly intoxicated by the embrace. She wasn't a shallow woman who would swoon over a simple catch, but a profoundly unique, magnetic scent radiated from his body. She had noticed a similar, faint aroma on the blonde woman earlier, but Suyan's scent was overwhelmingly potent. It was more alluring than the vial of Muzan's blood. She felt a deep, instinctual urge to bury her face in his chest and never let go.
Suyan knew exactly what was happening. It was the primal, biological hunger for evolution responding to his Nen. It was the same reason Rei Miyamoto had subconsciously clung to him in her sleep back in his original world. A Nen user's life energy was a delicacy of the highest order, a fact thoroughly proven by the Chimera Ants. If Suyan hadn't been actively using In to suppress his aura, Tamayo probably would have lost her mind and tried to take a bite out of his neck the moment she got close.
"Miss Tamayo, are you alright?" Suyan asked smoothly.
"Ah!" Tamayo snapped out of her daze, her cheeks flushing crimson. She hurriedly pushed herself out of his arms. "T-Thank you, Lord Suyan. I am fine."
Thankfully, Yushiro was still violently vomiting in the bushes. Had he seen Tamayo blushing in another man's arms, his jealousy would have driven him to attack Suyan on the spot.
Regaining her regal composure, Tamayo quickly changed the subject, pointing at the toxic purple canopy. "Um... Lord Suyan, how are we supposed to get inside?"
Instead of answering, Suyan simply raised his hand and conjured two large wooden boxes. It was the exact same method he had used to smuggle Kie Kamado and her children into the estate, mirroring how Tanjiro carried Nezuko in the original story. "Get in."
Tamayo and Yushiro exchanged a deadpan look. The solution was incredibly mundane. But knowing Suyan's strength, if he wanted them dead, he wouldn't need to employ such silly tricks. Resigning themselves, the two demons crawled into their respective boxes.
Once the lids clicked shut, Suyan turned around. "Let's go, Sister Shi—"
The blonde beauty was already gone.
Suyan expanded his En to its maximum radius, sweeping the area, but couldn't detect her aura anywhere. Chuckling and rubbing his temples, he muttered, "Was that really necessary?"
Shizuka was notoriously lazy. She had complained the entire time when he asked her to accompany him to Asakusa. The moment her driving duties were done, she had definitely snuck through a Dimensional Gate back to Greed Island to sleep.
"Lord Suyan? Is something wrong with Miss Marikawa?" Tamayo asked nervously from inside her box. Even knowing he meant no harm, being carried blind into a forest of lethal poison was nerve-wracking.
"No, it's nothing," Suyan replied. Grabbing the handles of both boxes, he dragged them through the wisteria wards toward a secluded house on the outskirts of the Butterfly Mansion.
He knocked gently on the wooden door.
A moment later, it slid open, revealing Kie Kamado. Seeing Suyan standing there with two massive boxes, she jumped in surprise. Smoothing her clothes, she bowed respectfully. "Lord Suyan. Is there something you need at this late hour?"
"You can come out now," Suyan said, kicking the boxes lightly. Without waiting for them to open the lids, he simply dispelled his Nen. The boxes vanished, unceremoniously dropping Tamayo and Yushiro onto the porch.
"Who are they?" Kie blinked, staring at the two strangers. She swallowed hard, a flash of red bleeding into her eyes. "Lord Suyan, I... I can't..."
She instinctively assumed Suyan had brought her live humans for food. Kie, along with her two youngest sons, had been turned into demons and hidden away here by the Hashira. Like Nezuko, her sons seemed capable of replacing the need for flesh with long periods of sleep. But Kie didn't share the innate Kamado bloodline trait—she only carried the surname due to the tradition of taking her husband's name upon marriage—so she couldn't hibernate her hunger away. Because she refused to eat humans, she was incredibly weak and sickly. If Suyan hadn't been actively suppressing his aura, her starvation might have driven her to attack him. Consequently, she completely failed to realize that the two people on the floor were demons, just like her.
"You misunderstand," Suyan clarified gently. "They aren't human. They are demons, just like you."
He gestured to Tamayo. "But they are unique. They don't need to consume human flesh to survive; a tiny amount of blood is enough to sustain them. In a way, they are the doctors I've brought in for you." He turned to Tamayo. "Miss Tamayo, before you begin your work on the Restoration Cure, I need you to help Madam Kamado alter her body to function like yours. I fear she won't survive long enough to see the cure finished otherwise."
"I understand," Tamayo said softly, standing up and assessing Kie's haggard appearance. She recognized the severe symptoms of a demon starving themselves of human flesh, having gone through the exact same agony after Yoriichi freed her from Muzan's control.
"You and Yushiro will live here with Madam Kamado for now," Suyan instructed. "If you need anything, use a Kasugai Crow to contact the Corps. I live in the main estate, just a short walk from here."
After formally introducing them and transferring the medical equipment he had stored in Greed Island from Tamayo's Asakusa clinic, Suyan turned to leave.
"Lord Suyan, please wait," Kie called out, bowing deeply. "Thank you."
"I brought Miss Tamayo here because I need the Restoration Cure for my own purposes," Suyan replied simply. "You don't need to thank me."
"No, that's not what I mean," Kie shook her head, a bittersweet smile on her lips. "I want to thank you for taking such good care of Nezuko and Hanako." She hesitated, wringing her hands slightly. "It might be incredibly presumptuous of me to ask this... but if it is at all possible, I hope you will continue to take care of them. For the rest of their lives."
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