Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey-Chapter 147: Do you know the way?

[Seiji's POV]

(1 week after the battle)

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

I watched the stars compete with the dawn. Darkness ended as the sun peeked beyond the horizon like a curious child. Its bright light reflected on the green leaves and the sparkles of dew.

The black and frigid night was dying, swallowed by the first lights of day. The scene was worth a billion yen. The sunrise symbolizes a new beginning, a new hope and another chance to make things right.

The scene was a much-needed therapy for me.

I became increasingly comfortable as the cold, wet roof of the mansion slowly warmed to match my body heat. I felt my muscles relax and get accustomed to sitting after a week of lying in bed.

The cold winter air numbed most sensations in my wounds, so I did not feel pain. The warm sunlight brushed against my skin, making a nice contrast with the cool air.

I remained in my place as minutes passed. The sun had fully emerged above the mountain range in the horizon and dawn turned into early morning.

I finally felt movement beside me. There was almost no disturbance from the action which goes to show how exceptional the person was in the art of movement.

I saw a familiar black hair when I rolled my eyes to the side.

"You know, I don't really like it when my patient who was unconscious for six days suddenly disappeared out of the blue," Shinobu chided softly while standing on the roof beside me.

"Sorry," I said. "I didn't want to wake them up, they looked tired,"

I was talking about Mitsuri and Kanae who slept on a futon beside my bed. They were sleeping so peacefully when I woke up, I didn't want to disturb them.

"They've been waiting for you to wake up for nearly a week. I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Shinobu said.

I hummed.

I agreed but at the same time there was also another reason why I didn't bother to wake them up.

I was not ready to fake a smile yet. I was not ready to lie and tell them that I was fine. I was in no position to soothe their worries.

Right now, I still feel like a bitch. The phantom of the battle still marked my spirit. Even now, my eyes couldn't help but move to every movement around the forest, searching for conflict.

"How are you feeling?" Shinobu asked from the side. A reassuring smile you would see on a nurse was on her face.

"How do you think I feel after I failed so spectacularly?" I asked back with a sigh.

"You didn't fail though? You saved a family and managed to hurt the Demon King to the point of running away," she said.

"You make it sound like a win but it isn't," I said and paused thoughtfully.

"Why not?" she pressed, curious in a way that she wanted to know the source of my problem so she could fix it.

"Because success is subjective. You may see it as a win but I see it as the ultimate failure. The cost of whatever I achieved was too much," I said and paused.

If I wanted to save the Kamado family, I could do that by convincing them to move away or telling them the truth from the start. This option was complicated and would cause drama, but it was a safer alternative.

Hurting Muzan to the point of running away? That was a laughable way to look at it. I just put fuel to the fire and it burned my friend. Now Muzan knew about us, he knew about my Sun Breathing and he knew to be cautious.

I killed his ego - his greatest weakness.

I took a risk for the ultimate reward, and I failed spectacularly. I didn't earn anything, and I didn't save anyone. I put a dam in front of a tsunami so that it may become a bigger threat later.

"I failed to kill Muzan, and condemned my friend to the cruellest fate," I said to the girl who patiently listened.

Her eyes softened. She looked at me with such a gentle gaze that I would have felt better had I stared back, so I looked away.

"You don't have to be so hard on yourself. No one is perfect, we all make mistakes," she said while sitting down next to me. Her small hand found a place on my back and she rubbed it reassuringly.

We all make mistakes. Failure paves the road to success. No one is perfect.

They are different quotes with the same meaning and I hated them to the core.

Because why?

Why must I fail? Why must I make a mistake? Why am I not perfect? Is it inevitable?

What if I worked every second of the day? What if I tried everything I could possibly do? What if I do everything that could be done?

Was I still destined to fail? To make mistakes?

"I can't afford that," I admitted with a weak voice. I was not even sure if I spoke out.

"Because I am the strongest. If I fail, what about everyone else?" I asked.

I was the strongest and I was the only one with the future knowledge. I held the sole responsibility. The saddest thing about that was I had no one to rely on. Not in a way that really mattered. Even in this situation, it is up to me to own up to my failures and fix the mess I had caused.

Even if others fail, I can't do the same. Or else I would be too guilty.

....

Would it have been better if I died alongside my family that night? If I had not interfered, things would proceed as fate wills it to be and then everything would be fine. There will be sacrifices but it will end in humanity's victory.

What if in my attempt to erase those sacrifices, I make things worse? I would've challenged fate only to destroy everything I tried to protect.

So, would it be better if I didn't exist?

Those were thoughts that would shatter any man.

Failure on the road to success always hits hard. But for me, it hit harder and miles harsher.

"...."

"...."

I wait for Shinobu to talk again. I was not expecting wisdom that could help my situation but I also didn't expect her to give up. I thought she'd at least try to say something again.

"You got nothing?" I said with dry humour.

"Nope. You're right, you are the strongest," she said, "How should I rebuke that? I'm just a girl,"

She fakes vulnerability and weakness in her tone. Too bad I knew how badshit insane she was and what lengths she was willing to go for revenge. She was not just a girl.

"It scared me a bit you know," she admitted, "I thought, if Seiji and four other Hashira's failed to bring him down alone, do we really have a chance?"

I smiled at the honesty. That was the effect of being the strongest. You either bring hope or the darkest despair. There was no in-between.

"But not anymore," she said.

"??" I raised my brow in question.

"The blood samples and tissues we collected from the war," she said and a grin spread her innocent face, "They aren't disappearing,"

"!!!!!"

"For the longest time, studying demons was difficult because every mark they left on the world died with them. And the ones we can catch and contain are too weak to be proper research materials. But this time. we finally have ones that did not disintegrate and it is the source itself, Muzan's cell,"

'How?'

The question reverberated in my head but the answer was obvious. Sun Breathing and the Red Blade

Somehow, I was able to cut off not the control Muzan had over his body when I sliced him up. It made sense when I thought about how Sun Breathing could leave permanent weakness on his body.

It destroy the control Muzan had which ultimately made it hard for him to regenerate like the ret of his body.

"That means we are finally able to create more effective poison for the demons or ways to revert the demonification," she said

I stood up abruptly, in equal shock and euphoria.

"Oh god, that's genius!!" I laughed.

The only reason Muzan was defeated in the manga was poison. Muzan was given a poison that would revert him into a human and he had to age himself for thousand of years constantly to fight that back. It was hinted that even if he were to survive the battle, he would die from the poison sooner or later.

They only had that by the end of the manga but now, with my so-called failure, we could get it sooner.

Suppose a medicine that could revert demons back to humans was created like in the canon. It would be so much easier to deal with the Upper Moon and even Muzan himself.

It was a new weapon. A new way to fight the demons other than nichirin sword and raw power.

This could change the whole war and would lead to humanity's eventual victory.

I pulled Shinobu by her hand in my moment of hope and joy. She yelped and leaned on me.

It proved not too wise to lean on an injured man who just woke up. I slipped on the floor which was wet from dew and we rolled down the roof and fell to the ground.

"You're crazy!!" Shinobu yelled while I laughed.

I could see it again.

Hope and a way to win.

I knew once more what I had to do. I must travel back to Tokyo and invite- no even force Lady Tamayo into working with Shinobu.

I felt the world stop pressing me down. Shinobu laid on top of my chest with a blush on her face and I couldn't help but kiss her head.

"Thank you,"

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[IMAGE]

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