"Anyway, who are you?" Muzan asked.
The woman replied in a happy voice, as if she'd been waiting for him to ask her name.
"I am Tamayo," she said cheerfully.
Muzan's eyes widened. Now he knows why she looked familiar. It had been 500+ years since the last time he saw the image of Tamayo in the manga. He had finally met one of the most important characters in the story—Lady Tamayo. Tamayo will play a crucial role in the future: she is already an amazing doctor and with Shinobu, they would create a drug that would weaken him, ultimately leading to the Demon Slayers' victory. Many sacrifices would be made—pillars and demon slayers would fall—and Tamayo, too, would meet her end.
Unfortunately, that future will never exist in this life. But who knows? Maybe Fujin will die in that way.
"I... see," Muzan muttered.
Tamayo tilted her head. "Hmm?"
He simply stared at her.
"What are you looking at?" he asked bluntly.
"It's rude to ask someone's name without telling yours, you know," Tamayo replied playfully.
"You're right..." Muzan sighed.
Tamayo smiled, and Muzan caught a glimpse of her gentle expression.
"Then, would you please introduce yourself, Demon-san?" she asked with a teasing smile.
"I'm Muzan Kibutsuji."
Tamayo blinked in surprise. "What?"
"What?"
"You're from the Kibutsuji family... from five hundred years ago?"
How did she know that there is a Kibutsuji family five hundred years ago?
"So what if I am?"
"Being able to live until today, you really are a demon," she said softly.
"Didn't I already tell you that?"
Tamayo's eyes narrowed looking seriously and became cautious. "Are you the Progenitor of Demons?"
Muzan blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Five hundred years ago, the Kibutsuji family had one child, destined to be the heir."
"And?"
"But that heir had a disease. Nineteen years after his birth, he was cured. A year after that, the family's servants began to disappear. Five years later, he massacred his entire family—except for the branch families. Their bodies were distorted, and bite marks were found on all of them."
"Continue," Muzan said calmly.
"After that incident, demons started appearing in the world. People believed the first demon to be that heir. Countless lives were lost. In response, one of the Kibutsuji branch families created a group made of those who lost loved ones to demons. That group is now known as the Demon Slayers."
"I see."
"Are you that 'heir' from the Kibutsuji family? Or a demon created by that Kibutsuji family heir?"
She asked while clenching both her palms.
"I am none of those." Muzan muttered.
"Then... who are you from that family?"
"I'm the firstborn child of the Kibutsuji family—but I wasn't the heir."
"What?" Tamayo asked in disbelief.
"After I was born, I had a strange disease that nearly killed me."
"If you're the firstborn, then... who is that heir to you?"
"He's my younger brother, Kibutsuji Fujin."
Tamayo's brows furrowed. "That doesn't match up. History says the Kibutsuji family only had one child—their heir."
In Tamayo's thoughts: 'So that bastard's name is Kibutsuji Fujin, huh?'
"I see, you don't understand. Let me explain," Muzan said.
Tamayo, now visibly confused, fell silent and listened intently.
"After I was born, I had a strange illness, much worse than Kibutsuji Fujin. My father would've killed me if my mother hadn't threatened to take her own life. In the end, he sent me to an abandoned house on the family estate. They never announced my birth—they didn't want rival families to know their heir was weak. So they didn't chose me as the heir. A month later, my mother told me I'd soon be an older brother and gave me a name. Nine months after that, she died giving birth to him, which I later found before leaving the Kibutsuji residence.
He paused.
"As you know, my brother and I was born with the same disease, but mine was worse. But at that time, my father announced him as the sole child and heir. Maybe because it's impossible for him to have a child anymore since my mother died. But rumors of me spread anyway. I was the first to become a demon after being cured. My brother was the second. Even though I was the first, I barely managed to defeat him when we fought."
"You fought him before?" Tamayo asked, shocked.
"Yes. It was two hundred years ago."
"Then... the history was false? The Kibutsuji family's heir, or should I say, Kibutsuji Fujin, wasn't the first demon?"
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"I am the first demon—but Fujin was the first demon to kill and eat a human."
Tamayo's eyes widened. "So that's why you said you've never eaten a human..."
"Exactly."
"Thank goodness," she breathed in relief . "From today onward, I'll call you Mr. Good Demon!"
".... Is telling my name to you, useless?"
They stared at each other in awkward silence. To break the tension, Muzan spoke.
"Anyway, where did you learn all of that?"
"It's famous here in Japan. Since demons originally came from here, stories about them were passed down through generations. It's practically part of our history." Tamayo answered while sweat drops from her forehead.
I feel like it's a lie. But oh well, I'll know the truth once I spend more time in the outside world.
"Oh?"
"But... stories about you, Mr. Good Demon? I've never heard your name before. Why is that?" Tamayo changed the topic with a dumb question.
Muzan snorted. "Idiot. How could they include my name in stories if they didn't even know I existed?"
Tamayo turned red and started running in circles.
"Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed.
Muzan laughed. "Hahaha!"
"Hmph!" Tamayo crossed her arms. "A five-hundred-year-old demon lord laughing at a sixteen-year-old girl's mistake. And yet you didn't even know your own country's history and had to ask me about it."
Muzan froze in place, ashamed.
"Serves you right!" she said smugly.
"You're sixteen?"
"Yes. Why, old man?"
Muzan froze again, the word old man stabbing his demon pride.
"You... you have emotions?" Tamayo asked curiously.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"
"But demons don't have emotions."
"They do. Fujin must've tampered with their memories after turning them, just to make them loyal dogs."
"How do you know? Have you created demons before?"
"No. I never have."
"I see... So does Fujin have emotions too?"
"Yes. I smelled happiness on him the first time I met him."
Tamayo instantly stepped back and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Jeeez! What a perverted old man!" she squealed.
Muzan froze for the third time that day, deeply wounded.
"Hahaha! Maybe I should stop teasing you, Mr. Good Demon!" she giggled.
"I already told you my name. Why are you still calling me that weird nickname?"
"Because it's funny."
"...."
---
The Next Day.
Muzan stood at the top of the fortress, watching the sunrise.
Maybe things have changed, he thought. Is this all happening because of my rebirth? There shouldn't be Kibutsuji Fujin in this world, and Tamayo should be living in a certain village, destined to have a husband and children—until I... no, the original Kibutsuji Muzan appeared and destroyed her happiness.
He closed his eyes.
I wonder what else will change. A hundred years from now, I'll save some people and turn them into my subordinates—but I'll ask for their approval first. If they don't accept it, I'll still turn them into demons and manipulate their memories. I'll also make sure that my created demons will be loyal to me by creating some incase of emergency standards. But I'll make sure to ask them first...
Choosing my subordinates carefully is necessary as they will naturally conquer the sun the moment they became demons under my blood. Having a weak subordinate may be targeted by Fujin and his demons to be absorbed so he can conquer the sun.
(Tip: One of them is a certain doughnut/donut baker.)
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed from below.
"Demon-san!"
Muzan vanished from the fortress.
"Where'd he go?" Tamayo muttered, only to feel someone appear behind her.
"Yo," Muzan greeted casually.
"Ahhhhh!!!" she screamed.
"Hahaha!" Muzan chuckled.
"I'm hungry..." she pleaded.
"...Ah."
"Oh! By the way, Good Demon-san!" Tamayo said, turning around. "Why aren't you disintegrating under the sun? Is this another benefit of never eating humans?" She asked as if realizing something.
"No," Muzan replied simply.
"I see..." She muttered.
Muzan then left the mountain in search for food. When he returned, Tamayo cooked for dinner. Tamayo made Muzan eat her cooked food, forcefully, by faking her tears and pleads. After cleaning up, they went straight to their own personal resting place.
---
AN: I want it more wholesome, and sweet, to make sure you all have diabetes.
I am sure not all of you wants romance of stuff, but it's my work, I decide what to do.
Some trivia:
This Muzan may not want to kill, eat, or do anything bad to humans. But if they do anything bad to those he deemed important, his cruel side emerges.
He is afraid of death as he doesn't want to experience what he experienced before his reincarnation. He doesn't underestimate his opponents and shows no mercy if it means his survival.