The mountain air was clean.
Sunlight filtered through the trees, casting golden beams across the clearing. Somewhere nearby, a river trickled softly, and birds chirped without fear.
In a quiet village on the edge of nowhere, Rin sat on the steps of the Kamado home, watching smoke curl from the chimney.
Inside, Tanjiro laughed—not the laugh of a demon slayer, but of a brother, a son, a boy.
And beside Rin, Nezuko crouched with a watering can, tongue poking out as she focused very seriously on not drowning the tiny garden.
"Too much," Rin said gently.
She looked up, puffed her cheeks, and tilted the can with exaggerated care. A single flower wobbled, saved from disaster.
"Perfect," Rin said.
She gave him a big, proud nod.
Later that day, the three of them sat under a tree near the stream. Tanjiro was trying to teach Nezuko how to tie flower crowns—though she mostly tied knots.
Rin just watched, arms behind his head, legs stretched out in the grass.
It was… peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Sometimes, he wondered if he deserved it.
"Rin," Tanjiro said suddenly, eyes thoughtful, "you always look calm, but… when you fight… it's like you become someone else."
Rin didn't answer right away.
Instead, he plucked a blade of grass and twisted it between his fingers.
"Fighting's easy," he said. "You just decide who deserves to keep breathing. Everything after that's just movement."
Tanjiro frowned a little. "But… you don't enjoy it. Do you?"
Rin looked up at the sky.
"No," he said. "But I don't hate it either. I just… have to do it."
Nezuko scooted closer, curling beside him with a quiet hum. Her presence was warm. Grounding.
Rin closed his eyes.
He liked this.
He wasn't sure he'd ever had something like this in his last life.
[That Night – Elsewhere…]
Far from the Kamado home, beneath blood-red clouds, a figure knelt in silence.
Kokushibo.
His blade rested across his knees.
He had felt it—a shift. The loss of Doma. The silence of Akaza.
"A predator walks among them…"
He opened all six eyes.
And then… he began to move.
Want the next chapter to jump straight to Kokushibo's investigation?
Or build suspense with another minor demon getting devoured off-screen, while the Hashira begin connecting the dots about what's happening behind the curtain?
We can also have a Hashira meet Rin again soon, to build tension.