44 His Only Regret

Kokushibo cooperated with Kiyomi and waved his hand to signal the demon to go somewhere else.

The demon disappeared from view in an instant, and Sabito took one last worrying glance at Kiyomi before following.

Kokushibo and Kiyomi stood there, silent and still for a minute or two.

After confirming that no one was around, Kiyomi broke out into a brilliant smile and rushed up to Kokushibo.

"Haha! Brother~ How've you been?"

Hugging the teenage girl in his arms, Kokushibi felt a warm pair of hands tucking at his heartstrings.

"I've been doing fine. But you... you've grown quite a lot, haven't you? What do you plan to do?"

He replied with a small and subtle smile on his face.

A doting demon brother and an adorable yet somewhat sadistic demon sister, but still lovable and charming.

Such a lovely pair of siblings, if they weren't a sibling pair made in heaven, then all couples are made in hell.

Looking into Kokushibo's face with doubt, Kiyomi poked his face a few times with her finger as if to confirm it was the real Kokushibo.

"Did you just smile~? Come on~ Give me another smile! You definitely smiled just then!"

She said in a jokingly coquettish way.

Kiyomi had already treated Kokushibo like her biological brother, and Tanjiro would definitely be surprised to find that he has an extra older brother for no reason.

Kokushibo reluctantly gave another smile, a noticeable one, but definitely still a little stiff.

Looking at Kokushibo's stiff smile, Kiyomi also gave him a big, triumphant smile.

Then, Kiyomi held out her hand like she was waiting for Kokushibo to give her something.

Kokushibo stared at her hand, and then at her face.

"..."

Seeing that she won't be able to get what she wanted from Kokushibo, Kiyomi pouted.

"I smell them! Give them to me!"

This time, Kokushibo finally let out a heartfelt and natural smile before taking out an exquisite box with a thin blanket of ice still covering parts of the box.

Grabbing the box from Kokushibo's hands immediately, Kiyomi opened the lid.

"I knew you would bring me my onigiris that I left with Doma to be frozen~ Even though we haven't seen each other for... a while now.."

*Nom*

Watching Kiyomi eat the homemade frozen midnight onigiris that she made herself, Kokushibo automatically ignored the last sentence Kiyomi said.

Lifting Kiyomi up and onto his shoulders, Kokushibo felt his heart tremble from guilt and excitement.

'This was what a qualified big brother should be...'

Kiyomi squealed with bits of rice and fish still in her mouth as she suddenly felt herself being lifted in the air.

She soon stopped as she felt more stable after sitting on Kokushibo's strong, broad shoulders that came from training with kendo.

Gotta say, being lifted into the air by the legs is really dangerous and gives you a weird sense of unproportioned discomfort, even if it is just a few centimeters off the surface you are standing on.

Kiyomi glared at Kokushibo unhappily, still holding an exquisite box in one hand and a rice ball on the other.

A few bits and pieces of residue onigiri were plastered near her lips, and a few strands of her hair covered parts of her vision.

Unable to reach and help Kiyomi, Kokushibo could only look helpless and hope that Kiyomi wouldn't care about such a small thing as he jumped onto a top of a building without much sound.

Kiyomi seemed slightly more pleased with him after this action before going back to happily munching on her food, after using her tails to brush the strands of hair that was covering her vision.

Appreciating how beautiful the cloudless night sky of an unpolluted world was, Kiyomi sat on Kokushibo's shoulder in silence.

'Wonderful~ The colors of the sky! It never gets dull and grey unlike the sky in my previous world. Just goes to show how humans personally destroyed the beauty of their home.'

"Very beautiful, is it?" Kokushibo suddenly spouted from the top of his head.

Before getting a chance to reply, he continued:

"Not that I can understand its beauty after becoming a demon. It's like a chain had bound me the moment Muzan gave me his blood."

Kiyomi continued thinking about it for a second.

"What will you do if you could get rid of those chains?"

Kokushibo didn't look much surprised nor excited.

"I would be able to live this life atoning for my sins."

Kiyomi didn't quite understand Kokushibo's statement, she thought that he meant he will atone for killing all of the humans he had killed.

But no, Kokushibo didn't mean that, he was only remorseful for the fact that he was responsible for the death of 'her'.

He was only capable of being remorseful for her, and he had a guess that it was because that was the only sin that he felt truly repentant for.

Kiyomi felt happy, and in the spur of the moment, she spouted:

"Yosh! Then after I help you break those chains, I'll acknowledge you as my elder brother~!"

Kokushibo always knew that he had only self-proclaimed himself as Kiyomi's "Brother" and he also knew that even though Kiyomi seemed to treat himself like an actual elder brother, it was only 80% of her actual heart.

Hearing the words of Kiyomi at this moment was like being in a wonderful and realistic dream.

Sniffing the air a few times, Kokushibo smelled the scent of blood.

Sighing, he reluctantly put Kiyomi back onto the ground.

"What a weak demon… can't even give us more than seven minutes.."

Kiyomi knew at this moment that Sabito already finished off the demon and was heading back to support her.

She chuckled.

"We'll have time very soon, brother. See you next time, remember to bring some more onigiris kay~?"

Kokushibo nodded, disappearing the moment a gust of wind blew some dust clouds and covering Kokushibo's figure.

Sabito emerged in front of Kiyomi's sight soon after, looking worried.

Kiyomi smiled at Sabito and walked in the direction of the Inn they were planning to rest in without further ado.

"Killed the demon? Let's go, we still have to reach Sagiri Mountain by tomorrow night."

Sabito looked astonished that Kiyomi finished killing her demon so quickly, even having the time to get a box of onigiris and finishing more than half of it.

Following without saying another word, Sabito looked at his sword which was still stained with slowly dissipating demon blood.

And the two rested in their respective rooms for the night, Kiyomi enjoying all sorts of things within her room and Sabito complaining about the mosquitoes constantly biting through his clothes.