|•| 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚂𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 |•| 𝕂𝕟𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

XXXXVIII

"Have we met somewhere before?", Douma calmly asked.

"I don't remember meeting a maggot like you before! Don't touch my fur with your dirty hands!", Inosuke yelled.

"No, we have. I know you.", Douma pointed at him once again.

"And I'm telling you we haven't!! You shitface!!", Inosuke yelled.

"Inosuke, calm down. He's just spouting some random nonsense.", Kanao tried to calm Inosuke down.

"Random? Oh, that's surprising. My only saving grace is being serious.", Douma said while crossing his arms with his fans on his arms. "Besides, I have a good memory. I remember the time when I was human quite well.", He said as he put his fan on his mouth.

Douma then stuck his index finger in his head as blood came out.

"UEEEEEEEGHH!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! EWWWW!!", Inosuke yelled in disgust while Kanao looked terrified and Shinobu just cringed.

"Hmmm. Hmmmm?", Douma hummed, trying to remember something as his eyes bled.

"Ahh! Here we go! Fifteen years ago? That's pretty recent.", Douma said after he took his fan from his mouth.

"There was a woman, roughly 17 or 18 years old, carrying a baby. Her husband punched her everyday. And her mother-in-law also bullied her daily. So my eternal paradise cult took in that poor woman.", Douma explained.

"She had no parents or siblings. There was no other place she could go to or be safe at. When I first met her, her face was swollen so badly that I couldn't tell what the original shape was. It was pretty rough. And she was partially blind because of all the beating to her face. But when I touched it, she went back to normal. She was so beautiful, and she left quite a lasting impression on me.", Douma continued.

"She had the same face as you, but she looked more delicate and soft. Your mom, am I right? Oh yeah! No mistake about that.", Douma said.

"I've got no mother! I was raised by the boars!! That has nothing to do with me!!", Inosuke yelled again.

"So a boar gave birth to you? You're a human, so a human must've given birth to you.", Douma sweatdropped.

"Zip it already! You stupid piece of trash!! Give that back!!", Inosuke jumped to Douma and tried to slash his swords at him.

"Breath of the Beast, Sixth fang.."

"Ino...", Kanao was late to warn Inosuke as Douma spoke.

"Hey now. Listen until the end. This encounter is nothing short of a miracle.", Douma smiled before Inosuke's chest was suddenly spilling out blood and he crashed into the pond(?) beside them.

Kanao and Shinobu immediately went to Inosuke's side to protect him.

"Inosuke, are you okay?! Please calm down!", Kanao said as Shinobu took a look at his wounded chest.

"He's lungs almost got sliced but thankfully they didn't, and his chest is bleeding badly. Inosuke, just calm down to ease the bleeding.", Shinobu stated.

"So about your mom. I had no intention of eating her. Having someone beautiful next to you feels pretty good, you know?", Douma said.

"She wasn't very smart though. That was unfortunate. But she was pretty, and good at singing. She used to carry you and sing a lot. It was that pinky promise lullaby for some reason. Pinky promise, pinky promise. That was all she sang to you.", Douma continued as Inosuke's eyes widened when he remembered something.

   "Pinky promise, pinky promise. I will protect you, I promise that.

    Until you get big and strong, your mommy will protect you by herself.

   Sorry, Inosuke. You may be feeling lonely now, but your mom is doing her very best to fill your dad's shoes and protect you.

   Lives can be replaced. But Inosuke, your mom will protect you...", Inosuke remembered the song and saw his mother in a flash, smiling at him warmly.

   "And everytime she sang that pinky promise song, the lyrics were different. At some point it became a Tanuki village song. It was so cute.", Douma added.

   Inosuke was deep in thought, the one he saw long ago wasn't Shinobu, it was his mother, who got killed by Douma.

   "I wasn't going to eat her. I purely planned on having her by my side until she passed away.", Douma smiled before slowly frowning.

   "But your mom... Right, 'Kotoha', was very sharp, despite being so stupid. She found out I was eating my worshippers. And despite all my explanations, she couldn't understand my benevolence. It was insult after insult. Saying I spouted nothing but horrible lies. Then she flew out of my temple and ran.", Douma continued.

  Flashback...

   Inosuke's mother named Kotoha was running through a forest with her baby Inosuke in her arms.

   "Ha, ha, ha.. I'm sorry, Inosuke. I'm sorry mommy's so stupid.", Kotoha apologized to her baby as she kept running as fast as she could.

   "I always make mistakes. I always go the wrong way. Sorry, I'm so sorry... I'm your mother. I needed to keep it together, and yet...", Kotoha said before looking around, still running.

  "Oh no, I don't know where the road is. I got lost... Where's the human village? Oh no. I'm sorry... I'm sorry...", Kotoha panicked as she stopped at a cliff.

  "There's no other place to run. The two of us are going to be killed. At the very least, Inosuke can...", Kotoha started to cry and hug her son.

   "I'm sorry, Inosuke. I'm so sorry...", Kotoha cried as her tears fell onto Inosuke's slightly concerned baby face.

   Kotoha hurried to the edge of the cliff and immediately dropped Inosuke right before she was killed.

   "There's no way you could have saved him by dropping him off this cliff. But you were stupid to the very end...", A figure appeared beside the dead Kotoha as he covered his lower face with his fan.

   "To think you died because your mother dropped you off a cliff... How sad.", Douma cried, but his tears and sadness were all fake.

   Inosuke fell down the cliff with a confused baby face, but thankfully landed on water as he tried not to drown.

   End of Flashback...

   Veins popped on Inosuke's forehead as he could feel his blood boil.

   "So I ate her to the very bone! If she went home, she'd get beaten by her husband. And if she was by herself, she would've ended up dead by the road with you since she's hopelessly pathetic.", Douma stated.

   "Kotoha was so unfortunate. Was there ever a happy moment in her life? She had a pointless existence.", Douma smiled.

   "Cut it out already!! You sleazebag!!", Kanao yelled.

   Inosuke gripped his sword tighter as he had another memory flash in his mind.

   "You're so cute, Inosuke. What tiny hands. You're so warm. My treasure. Being with you is bliss for me.", Kotoha smiled as she hugged her baby son happily while he just drooled cutely.

   "It truly is a miracle, meeting you here.", Inosuke calmly said before snapping his head towards Douma.

  "The demon who killed my mother, and my friends, is right before my eyes!!", Inosuke angrily yelled.

   "Allow me to thank you for letting me remember, but I won't just cut your head off now!! I'll show you what true hell is like!!", Inosuke yelled as he stanced into his fighting position.
__________

    Sorry for the late update again 😫

   I-.. I just don't know what to type 😩

   I'm also ✨ lazy ✨

  So I'm sorry, and see you lovelies at the next chapter 😔