The Demon Queen

A Declaration of War

I stayed with Gyutaro until he fell asleep. Once his body became heavy against me, I set him down on the futon and covered him with the blanket. Just as I was about to leave the room, Daki appeared, dressed in a skimpy pink skirt and top.

"Onii --"

I cupped my hand over her mouth. "He's sleeping. Leave him alone," I said in a quiet voice.

"Mm?" She looked up at me with big eyes. She then nodded. "Mhm."

I removed my hand from her mouth. "Stay quiet."

Daki nodded. Without saying a word, she went over to the futon and curled up next to Gyutaro.

Please don't wake him up, I thought and left the room.

I quietly made my way towards the wing I shared with Muzan, pensively calculating how to approach him about Tamayo. It would be easiest to be direct about it, but the practicality of it depended on Muzan's mood.

When I got to our wing, I found Muzan in the bedroom, getting dressed in his sleepwear. His hair was damp, too, from apparently just having taken a bath.

"The water's still warm if you want to go in," Muzan said casually and gestured to the door in the bedroom leading to our private wash area.

"Sure. I'll be several minutes."

It's best that I wash up, too, I thought. Muzan can be obsessive about us both being clean at the end of the night.

It also conveniently gave me more time to mentally distance myself from all that happened.

"You do have too much lingering smell from that Gyutaro on you," Muzan said and pinched his nose.

"Oh. Yeah." I sniffed myself. "We ended up practising together while we were out." I smiled at Muzan. "I'll wash up now. No worries."

"With a lot of soap, too," he said and went to a mirror to preen himself.

I rolled my eyes. It was almost laughable to me. Strangely, his comments lightened up a situation that was going to soon become very tense.

I took a bath, not too lengthy but not hastily, either. I dried myself with a towel and got into my sleepwear before taking a deep breath and going back into the bedroom.

Muzan was sitting on a mat near the futon. A low table was in front of him with two cups and some sake on it. When he saw me, he tapped the mat next to him and smiled. As I came over, he picked up the bottle of sake and poured a little into each of the cups.

I sat down next to Muzan. He put the bottle of sake back on the table and turned to me to give me a kiss.

"That's better. You smell wonderful now," he said and picked up his shot of sake.

I smiled at him and picked up mine. We then looked into each other's eyes and had our drinks together.

"So then," Muzan began and ran his fingers through my hair. "How was everything tonight?" He paused. "Oh! Did you get a good sale on those pots from Gyokko?"

Shit, I thought. We lost all of those. Not that it matters, taking into account that damn Hashira and Tamayo.

"Well ..." I said in a serious tone. "We got attacked by a Hashira."

Muzan's eyes opened wider. "You did?" he asked. "So they are sending more of those rats out. Hantengu had a run-in with one of those not all that long ago. But naturally, you and Gyutaro killed the Hashira. I assume Gyutaro ate it."

"Gyutaro killed it, but we weren't able to eat it," I said. I put my hand on his and lowered it from my hair. "Muzan, this is very serious. After Gyutaro killed the Hashira, Tamayo showed up."

Muzan stared at me. "She's alive?"

"And she's made herself immune to wisteria," I continued. "She attacked us using a wisteria-based poison."

Muzan's eyebrows narrowed. "She did what to you?"

I explained to him what happened when I was out with Gyutaro. During the whole time I talked, Muzan sat there seething, growing angrier and angrier as a fury for Tamayo burnt within him. When I was finished, he stared at me and grit his teeth.

"How dare she come near you," he said in an angry, but calm voice. "And how is she still alive? That damn Yoriichi couldn't be useful in one way by killing her?"

"She's obviously aligned herself with the Demon Slayer Corps," I said. "That must be how Yoriichi spared her. But I don't know why we haven't seen anything of her until now."

"I haven't sensed her anywhere," Muzan said. 'You know how I can pick up on all the demons I've created. The more contact I had with the demon, the stronger the sensations are. But I've sensed absolutely nothing of Tamayo since that day. It was as if she was dead. Which only means that she's slipped out of my grasp." He stared at me. "She will be eliminated. I promise you, we'll find a way to destroy her."

"We have to be careful, though," I said. "That wisteria immunity she got for herself is dangerous. I couldn't have stayed around that poison mist of hers much longer than I did."

"I know, but it'll be done," Muzan said. He put his hands on my shoulders. "This is war. Any attack on you or me is war."

And an attack on Gyutaro, I thought.

The image of Gyutaro struggling amidst the wisteria poison flashed in my mind.

My eyebrows narrowed. My gaze became as angry as Muzan's.

I will get revenge on anyone that harms Gyutaro, I thought.

"We will kill her, Muzan. You and me," I said. "She won't get away with what she's done."