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Chapter 172: An Unexpected Identity
"So amazing!"
Having watched everything Suyan just did, little Koharu's eyes were practically shining like stars. She looked up at him with uncontained awe and asked, "Mr. Customer, are you a god?"
"No, I'm not." Suyan shook his head, offering her a gentle smile. "I'm just an ordinary person."
"Liar!" Koharu shot back, her voice pitching up in total disbelief. "I saw it all! The black lightning on your hands, and how you threw that bad man who was bullying Sister Xiao Hong into the sky—"
"Koharu!"
Xiao Hong hastily grabbed the little girl's arm, cutting her off before she could say another word. Being slightly older, Xiao Hong understood that everyone had their secrets, and there were some things you simply did not pry into—not even with those closest to you.
Besides, they were just ordinary staff, and Suyan was a customer. That was the extent of their relationship. It was the same reason she hadn't dared to ask about the bizarre crow resting on Suyan's head when he first entered the Kyogoku House.
"I-I'm sorry, I was just so excited," Koharu quickly realized her mistake. She shouldn't have spoken so disrespectfully to a guest. Remembering her place, she bowed her head deeply and frantically apologized.
"It's fine," Suyan said softly.
Suyan generally harbored no ill will toward innocent children like her, so long as they weren't the obnoxious, trouble-making sort. Moreover, looking at his own contracted partners, if the Kocho sisters hadn't rescued Tsuyuri Kanao from those slave traders, her ultimate fate likely would have been somewhere exactly like this red-light district.
If she got lucky, she might have ended up like the Oiran Koinatsu from the original canon—trapped in the mud, but eventually meeting a man who truly loved her and bought her freedom. If she was unlucky, she would have just become a cheap prostitute at the beck and call of any man with a few coins.
Suyan opened his mouth to say more, but a sharp, clear voice cut him off.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
Suyan closed his mouth, swallowing his words, and turned toward the source of the commotion.
It was Madam Omitsu, the owner of the Kyogoku House who had originally escorted Suyan inside. Now that Kaigaku had been thoroughly dealt with, she had finally arrived on the scene.
"That customer from earlier? And… Daki?"
The madam took one look at the completely wrecked lobby, her head immediately starting to pound. How much money was this going to cost to repair? More importantly, with the main hall trashed like this, how were they supposed to open for business tonight?
After quickly tallying up the structural damage in her head, she shifted her gaze to Suyan.
To her absolute bewilderment, this bizarre customer who had randomly shown up to eat in the red-light district had actually managed to hook up with Daki!
Daki was pressing herself against Suyan's back, as docile and submissive as a tame kitten.
The madam was frozen in sheer disbelief. This obedient, affectionate girl… was this really the same violently temperamental, ruthlessly arrogant Oiran who would beat anyone half to death just for looking at her wrong?
Well, a deeply strange customer and a deeply strange Oiran. They were a match made in heaven!
"Sir, are you alright?"
Those thoughts were quickly pushed aside as the madam plastered on a highly enthusiastic smile and rushed over to Suyan. When dealing with a customer throwing around this kind of insane wealth, she had to treat him like royalty. If she accidentally offended him and drove him away, it would just be a massive payday for her rivals across the street!
"Sir, please head back to your private room. Your meal will be ready shortly."
After pacifying Suyan, the madam quickly pulled Xiao Hong aside and whispered harshly in her ear. "Xiao Hong, what the hell is going on here? And did you buy the food I sent you out for?!"
It was bad enough that a customer had paid a fortune to eat at their establishment, only for them to have to send a girl out to buy food from the street. If Suyan found out, it would be deeply embarrassing for the Kyogoku House.
Even though Suyan actually already knew.
"Well, about that…" Xiao Hong lowered her head, too afraid to meet the madam's furious gaze. The food she had just bought was currently scattered in a ruined pile across the floor, completely destroyed by Kaigaku.
Seeing the look on the girl's face, the madam instantly assumed she had bungled the errand. She waved her hand dismissively. "Forget it, just go out and buy it again."
"I…" Xiao Hong's head sank even lower.
The madam frowned. "What is it now?"
"The money…" Xiao Hong nervously twiddled her index fingers together.
She was only an Apprentice Oiran who hadn't even begun receiving clients yet. She earned absolutely no income at the Kyogoku House. She didn't have any money of her own, and whenever she occasionally scrounged up a few coins, she immediately spent them on cheap trinkets for the younger girls like Koharu.
Earlier, when she had offered to compensate Kaigaku, it was purely out of sheer, terrified desperation. Even if he had accepted her apology, she had absolutely nothing to give him. And as for the money the madam had given her for the food? It was completely gone, and the food was ruined.
But the madam, unaware of the full context, assumed Xiao Hong had just carelessly lost the money. Furious that she had wasted so much time and still hadn't brought the food back, she raised her hand to strike the girl.
"What?!" the madam glared venomously at her. "You useless brat!!"
But before her hand could fall, Suyan intervened.
He waved a hand at the madam. "Forget it, Madam. Don't make things hard for her. I'm actually not that hungry anymore anyway."
"R-really?" The madam's eyes flashed with a hint of deep embarrassment as she rubbed her forehead. She had tried to hide their lack of food from him, but he clearly already knew. Fortunately, this VIP didn't seem interested in throwing a tantrum over it.
That was a blessing in disguise.
But… not hungry?
The madam's eyes darted to Daki, still clinging tightly to Suyan's back.
Suddenly, everything clicked.
Ah. Of course.
With a peerless beauty like that throwing herself at him, what man could possibly have an appetite for normal food? They obviously had other 'appetites' to satisfy.
The madam shot Suyan a highly suggestive, knowing look and nodded in understanding. "I see. In that case, is there anything else I can prepare for you, sir? Some hot bathwater, perhaps?"
It is a universal truth that embarrassment doesn't just vanish; it transfers.
Hearing the madam's heavily loaded implication, the embarrassment that had just been resting on her face instantly migrated straight onto Suyan's.
"Stop!" Suyan immediately derailed her train of thought, steering the conversation back to Daki. "Madam, if I wanted to buy Daki's freedom, how much would it cost?"
"Daki?" The madam blinked. She glanced at the Oiran on his back—perhaps that was her real name?
"Is this enough?" Suyan didn't wait for an answer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy handful of solid gold leaves, forcefully shifting the topic to kill the awkward atmosphere.
The madam frantically waved her hands. "No, wait—"
"Not enough? What if I add this?" Suyan produced a second massive handful of gold leaves.
He was giving the madam a crash course in what it truly meant to be filthy rich. Usually, the wealthy clients here spent yen or occasionally foreign currency, but who just casually whipped out literal fistfuls of solid gold?
For a moment, the madam was completely blinded by the dazzling luster of the gold leaves. By the time she snapped out of her daze, Suyan had already shoved the entire pile into her hands.
"Sir, you misunderstand! This Warabi… Daki Oiran doesn't actually belong to the Kyogoku House. She is merely an independent partner working with us." The gold leaves suddenly felt like burning coals in the madam's hands. She hastily explained, "So, on principle, if she wants to leave, she is free to leave at any time."
In the Entertainment District, there were generally two types of Oiran.
The first type consisted of girls who were sold to the district at a young age, rigorously trained by the houses, and cultivated into Oirans specifically to make money for their owners.
The second type were women like Daki, who already possessed otherworldly beauty and artistic mastery that eclipsed even the top-ranking courtesans. Entities like her didn't sell themselves to a house; instead, they used the house's prestige as a platform. It was a mutually beneficial partnership.
It was the difference between being an indentured employee and an independent contractor.
"That's right," Daki chimed in breezily from his back.
Hearing this, Suyan's embarrassment flared up again. Annoyed, he reached back and gave Daki's thigh a sharp, punishing pinch. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
"Ngh~" Daki didn't argue. Fully intoxicated by Suyan's intoxicating aura, she let out a breathy, kitten-like purr against his neck.
Even though Suyan refused to admit he was a demon, in her eyes, a man capable of doing all these impossible things was undoubtedly a more perfect, supreme demon than Muzan himself. Thus, she had completely dropped her guard around him and wholly accepted him as her Master.
Suyan honestly didn't know what to do with her.
He had always been the type of person who responded well to softness but aggressively to hostility. If someone cursed him out, he would beat them into the ground without a second thought. But when faced with someone like Daki, who was suddenly entirely submissive and eager to please, he found himself somewhat disarmed.
Suyan glanced at the small fortune in gold resting in the madam's hands. He had no intention of asking for it back.
Honestly, the madam was probably breathing a massive sigh of relief at Daki's departure. Given the Oiran's famously horrific temper…
"Just keep the extra as compensation for the mess in your lobby," Suyan waved a hand dismissively. He then turned his attention back to Koharu, Xiao Hong, and the others. "So? Are you willing to leave with me?"
"I am! I want to go!" Koharu practically vibrated with excitement.
"Thank you, My Lord. I… I am willing as well," Xiao Hong gripped the collar of her kimono, her breathing growing slightly ragged.
If given a real choice, who would ever willingly stay in the red-light district to sell their body? Even as a high-ranking Oiran, it was still a cage.
"Alright, it's settled then." Suyan nodded, then added, "By the way, do you have any friends here? If they want to, they can leave with us too…"
At the very least, they would never have to worry about food or shelter on Greed Island. That was infinitely better than staying in the Yoshiwara to sell themselves.
Suyan didn't force the issue, though. After all, he knew there might be girls who actually enjoyed the vanity and luxury of being sought after, much like Daki. It wasn't so different from the modern entertainment industry—even though everyone knew it was a cesspool, thousands of young girls still fought tooth and nail to break into it every single year.
Koharu enthusiastically raised her hand. "I know! I know! I'll go get them right now!"
Before Suyan could even react, the little girl bounded off like a hyperactive rabbit, completely oblivious to the dark look on the madam's face.
You little brat! Have I ever treated you badly?! The madam shot a venomous glare at Koharu's retreating back.
Then, she turned a highly peculiar look toward Suyan. She couldn't help but complain internally—Did this guy come to my brothel to adopt orphans?
But she didn't step in to stop it.
In this era, there was no shortage of desperate families selling their daughters to the Yoshiwara just to survive. Fresh girls were brought in practically every single day.
While Madam Omitsu ran the Kyogoku House, she wasn't a fundamentally evil woman. In the original canon, when she began to suspect Daki's true, demonic nature, she had even tried to assassinate the demon with a kitchen knife to protect her girls. As a woman herself, she harbored genuine sympathy for the girls sold into this life.
She was genuinely happy to see them find a decent way out. As long as it didn't financially cripple her business, of course.
"Um…"
Xiao Hong nervously peeked at Daki resting on Suyan's back, then gently tugged on Suyan's sleeve.
Suyan turned to her. "Just call me Suyan, that's my name."
"Lord Suyan, actually…" Xiao Hong hesitated for a moment before admitting, "Xiao Hong is just my stage name. If it pleases you, Lord Suyan, you can call me by my real name from now on… Koinatsu."
"Sure, Koi—" Suyan didn't mind. A name was just a label, after all. He casually agreed and began to say her true name.
But as the first syllable left his lips, Suyan completely froze.
He stared at the young girl in front of him, his expression suddenly strange. "Wait. What did you say your name was?"
"K-Koinatsu… Is it a bad name? If you don't like it, you can just keep calling me Xiao Hong," she replied quickly, slightly panicked.
Suyan shook his head. "No, no, Koinatsu is a very beautiful name. It's just…"
Wasn't Koinatsu the name of the Oiran in the Entertainment District Arc who interacted heavily with Tanjiro?
Suyan carefully studied the girl in front of him. She wore light makeup. While her beauty wasn't as aggressively dazzling as Daki—the most beautiful woman in the Demon Slayer world—she was undeniably gorgeous. More importantly, she possessed a soft, gentle aura that felt remarkably similar to Kocho Kanae's maternal warmth.
But in the original storyline, Koinatsu was supposed to be the top Oiran of a completely different house, the Tokito House, wasn't she?
If Suyan remembered correctly, during the Entertainment District Arc, the trio had infiltrated three different houses to investigate the disappearance of Tengen's wives. Zenitsu had infiltrated the Kyogoku House where Daki was. Tanjiro had infiltrated the Tokito House, where Koinatsu resided.
Why was Koinatsu here in the Kyogoku House?
What kind of butterfly effect was this?
Suyan scratched his head. In the original canon, two years from now, Koinatsu would become the top Oiran of her house. She would meet a man who loved her, he would buy her freedom, and after being attacked by Daki and saved by Tanjiro, she would go on to live a remarkably happy life—one of the few genuinely happy endings in Demon Slayer.
Had he accidentally completely derailed her destined future?
But looking at the genuine relief and joy shining on Koinatsu's face, it was far too late to back out now.
Daki, Kaigaku, Koinatsu.
This tiny little Kyogoku House was practically overflowing with major canon characters. Was little Koharu secretly someone important too?
Suyan exhaled softly. Whatever. It is what it is.
Even though he hadn't initially intended to claim Koinatsu specifically, now that destiny had dropped her right into his lap and he was already buying her freedom, there was absolutely no reason to just hand her over to someone else.
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