Chapter 25: Miracle |
At dawn the next day.
Shinobu Kocho, who had been lying curled up on a neat bed adorned with a purple butterfly pattern, slowly opened her eyes.
She yawned, sat on the edge of the bed, and leisurely stretched her entire body.
She rubbed her purple eyes.
Then, she smacked her hand against her forehead.
All night long, she had been haunted by recurring dreams of her older sister straining with all her might to cut a simple strand of hair, only to fail every single time.
Even now, she felt a lingering sense of turmoil.
It was incredible.
Frightening.
This was the first time Shinobu had encountered something so utterly incomprehensible, and she had spent her life following in her sister's footsteps. She had even participated in the recent war, where she witnessed the power of Akaza—the former Upper Rank Three and recently promoted Upper Rank Two—with her own eyes.
To say she was horrified by what she saw would be an understatement. Even the Hashira might have found it impossible to break through Akaza's defense if their attacking capabilities hadn't increased by an order of magnitude after studying the arts of the sword.
Despite all that.
The feeling that youth projected was on an entirely different level.
To put it simply, if Akaza could be described as 'very strong' or 'practically invincible,' then that mysterious youth defied such simplistic labels altogether.
First, he had snatched the girl from right under their noses without them even realizing how or when, and then her older sister hadn't even been able to slice through a single strand of his hair.
Shinobu sometimes found herself wondering: had the progenitor of all demons, Muzan Kibutsuji, even reached such an unfathomable level?
'Sigh...' The girl let out a heavy breath, pulling her knees to her chest on the bed as she stared blankly ahead.
Soon, however, she pushed those thoughts aside, stood up, and got dressed.
When she left her room, she didn't see Kanae.
She wasn't in the courtyard either.
Looking around once more, she decided to head down to the basement of the Butterfly Mansion, where the laboratory was located.
The Butterfly Mansion wasn't just the residence of Shinobu and Kanae Kocho; it also served as the medical department of the organization, where many Demon Slayers were sent for treatment and rehabilitation.
While Kanae mostly used the laboratory here for pharmaceutical research, Shinobu was increasingly drawn to the study of poisons capable of weakening or even killing demons.
Shinobu silently opened the door.
She immediately spotted Kanae's figure sitting at the desk.
"Sister..." she said with a sigh of relief as she stepped inside.
No one answered her call.
Puzzled, Shinobu stepped forward and peered over Kanae's shoulder, surprised to find her frozen in front of the microscope.
"Sister?" Shinobu exclaimed.
Again, there was no reaction.
Kanae's entire body jerked, and she snapped her back straight only when her younger sister lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
Even then, the Flower Hashira kept her wide, glassy eyes fixed on the microscope, not even sparing a glance for Shinobu standing right next to her.
Doubting, Shinobu followed her sister's gaze and squinted, realizing that the strand of hair was mounted on the microscope slide.
"What... what is it?" Shinobu asked, her curiosity piqued.
Hearing this, Kanae remained silent again, but this time she slowly closed her eyes and took several deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself.
"Inconceivable... this shouldn't even be possible..." Even when the Flower Hashira opened her eyes and spoke slowly, the profound shock in her wide eyes, still glued to the microscope, hadn't quite faded.
From the side.
Shinobu grew tired of watching her older sister drift in the clouds. Finally, unable to restrain herself, she leaned toward the eyepiece to look at the hair under the microscope for herself.
She, too, froze rooted to the spot.
The silvery surface of the hair, which occupied most of the microscope's field of view, was composed of myriads of tiny cells arranged in a way that was both unforgettable and indescribable.
Was it orderly? Was it perfect?
No.
Those words were insufficient.
It looked natural, as if it couldn't possibly exist in any other way.
Even that description paled in comparison to what she saw.
She had a persistent feeling that the secrets of the universe were hidden within the arrangement of these cells, as if every minute texture was life itself, and every single cell was a world of its own.
"In... inconceivable..." Shinobu whispered, unable to find the words to describe the overwhelming shock coursing through her.
The younger sister of the Kocho family head and Flower Hashira had diligently studied medicine and poisons; she had healed many people and slain many demons.
Once, Shinobu had even managed to isolate Muzan's cells during her research into the blood of one of the Twelve Kizuki.
What she had seen then had shocked her.
The vitality of each individual cell belonging to Muzan defied the imagination; a single drop of his blood was enough to turn a human into an immortal monster on the level of a Lower Rank!
The life force of any Hashira couldn't even begin to compare to the vitality found in a single drop of the Demon Progenitor's blood.
Back then, Shinobu had even entertained the thought that Muzan's vitality represented the absolute limit of a living organism.
But.
That belief had just been shattered.
If Muzan's cells were the limit of the living, then what was... THIS?
An immeasurable chasm lay between them.
It was like trying to compare a random stone from the side of the road to the most priceless gemstone in the world... no, the gap was even wider, so vast that it couldn't be measured.
Suddenly, Kanae spoke softly.
"I've already tested its properties..."
"Theoretically, such a substance shouldn't even exist, and the energy within each cell is immeasurable."
"An entire region would be instantly wiped off the face of the earth if this energy were released, and that's a conservative estimate..."
"But to compress such energy into the size of a hair, no... to give it the stable form of a strand of hair... that is..."
The Flower Hashira's voice trembled at the end.
Something like this.
It was beyond the imagination of mortals.
Only one word came to mind...
God.
Only a god could be capable of such a miracle.
Kanae had rejected the idea of a god and believed only in herself ever since her parents were brutally murdered by demons.
She had moved through life step by step, protecting her younger sister and becoming who she was today by relying solely on her own strength.
She had never prayed or asked a god for help.
But now...
The miracle she had witnessed shook her convictions to the core.
Kanae wanted to ask why that youth simply watched the endless suffering and tragedies of this world, why he allowed Muzan and his demons to commit such atrocities with impunity.
But she remained silent.
For a while, Shinobu stared blankly from the microscope to her sister's expression, until the same realization struck her.
Shock first registered on her face, but then she clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and tilted her head toward the ceiling. "Hey, you! Do you hear me?!"
"Why did you even show up? I'm asking, why did you appear before us after letting all of this happen to the world?!" Shinobu screamed, her fists tight, her patience far from her sister's.
Her angry cry echoed through the basement.
But there was only silence in response.
Shinobu stared at the basement ceiling, her chest heaving and her teeth bared, forgetting all about her Total Concentration Breathing, as if she could see the endless sky and the figure of the youth standing in the middle of it.
Yeruashi, of course, saw it all.
He saw Shinobu's furious little face, the tears welling in her large purple eyes, and her cry filled with resentment.
But he simply watched.
Explaining nothing.