Chapter 63: Komaji and Koyuki
On the cover, Kocho Shinobu looked at a wisteria flower in her hand, her eyes seemingly filled with attachment, reluctance, and a resolute will.
Besides that, on the right, there was a character who had never appeared before: a shy girl with floral pupils and blushing cheeks, making a cupping gesture.
The appearance of this girl was puzzling, but Kocho Shinobu's expression seemed to indicate something, giving readers a bad premonition.
This reminded them of the death cover from the previous Infinite Train Arc.
He hurriedly took the light novel home, locked his room door, and eagerly turned to the first page.
The story continued from the previous intense battle.
Giyu Tomioka, after awakening his demon slayer mark, engaged in another fierce battle with Akaza. However, this enhancement was not enough to turn the tide; instead, Akaza gradually gained the upper hand by utilizing his Blood Demon Art and demon regeneration speed.
Just as the scales were about to tip again.
The protagonist, Tanjiro, as expected, recalled a past memory and finally mastered a higher martial arts realm in battle—the Transparent World!
By relying on the Transparent World, Tanjiro was able to conceal his fighting spirit, and with a surge in speed, he successfully beheaded Akaza with a beautiful 'Slanted Sun Turn'!
"Beautiful!"
At this moment, most readers who saw this line of description felt a great sense of satisfaction.
This was because Kyojuro Rengoku, the 'Big Brother' created in the Infinite Train Arc, was simply too good.
However, such a righteous and generous Flame Pillar had died at Akaza's hands, so everyone focused most of their dissatisfaction on Akaza.
As for why it was 'most'?
Of course, it was because he, as the creator, was also held jointly responsible!
However, Akaza did not die just like that; he even broke through his limits, reaching a realm where he could not be killed by decapitation.
But the previously laid foreshadowing led to a memory of Akaza's time as a human.
It turned out that Akaza did not become a demon voluntarily, and he lost his memories after becoming one...
A poignant story thus unfolded.
The appearance of a [flashback] was not surprising.
Because it was a setting within the work itself, having appeared many times before.
The human side's explanation was: when a person is on the verge of death, they automatically seek ways to avoid death.
And for demons, it was simply a recollection, the main purpose of which could be said to be for symmetry and to create different atmospheres.
The comparison of human and demon experiences made the world seem even more ruthless and lamentable.
Akaza's story was a very lamentable and moving one.
Stealing because the money from work was not enough to buy medicine for his critically ill father...
His father committed suicide, feeling like a burden...
Finding a new outlook on life when he was exiled, thanks to the appearance of his master, Keizo...
Promising to spend his life with Keizo's daughter, Koyuki...
Until finally, Keizo and his daughter were poisoned to death, and after he alone destroyed the culprits, he was transformed into a demon by Kibutsuji Muzan.
After this recollection, readers' perceptions of the character Akaza greatly changed... though that's not quite right; it should be said that their impression of the character 'Komaji' changed significantly.
The moment 'Komaji's' consciousness awakened, he refused Kibutsuji Muzan's command, chose to end his own life, and embraced Koyuki, which was even more touching.
Eriri was speechless for a long time, the page remaining open for several minutes.
"Such a sad, touching story... Chihiro is so annoying! He wrote it so well! I hated this Upper Three character so much before!"
She wiped her tears.
"No! I like Komaji and Koyuki, not Upper Rank Three Akaza!"
Eriri shook her head again, gritting her teeth.
After re-reading it, the meticulous readers had already discovered that it was actually full of emotional knives...
For example, the snowflake pattern of Akaza's Blood Demon Art technique was the shape of his fiancée Koyuki's hairpin from his human days, and his peach-pink hair color was the same as Koyuki's kimono. The names of his techniques were taken from the names of fireworks he had watched with Koyuki when he was alive.
Flashbacks are a trope, but character development is difficult.
Especially to write a character well and make him popular with just one story, allowing him to have more shining points, is actually not a simple task.
Boring and uninteresting stories appearing in a flashback would lead to a severe drop in the viewing experience, so Izumi Chihiro really put in a lot of effort to summarize this memory of Koyuki and Komaji.
Basically, most of the time wasted in this volume was on this, while the writing speed in other places was faster than before.
In fact, he also had to thank Nayuta, because his feelings and techniques regarding this part became clearer after reading Nayuta's works.
His skill in expressing emotions in light novels had advanced another small step.
After bidding farewell to Komaji and Koyuki, the subsequent plot made their hearts even more constricted.
Kocho Shinobu died in battle, and was even absorbed into Upper Rank Two Doma's body.
This sudden scene made everyone even more heartbroken.
"Ah? Someone died again? And it's Kocho Shinobu..."
Eriri couldn't help but be stunned.
It wasn't as if people hadn't died before; the Flame Pillar's heroic sacrifice was still vivid in their minds!
But in the subsequent volumes, several main characters they cared about didn't die.
So, this made them somewhat relax their guard.
They thought there wouldn't be any more emotional knives.
But this emotional Sword came so suddenly, it was like a direct stab to the heart.
As a cunning older sister, Kocho Shinobu was quite popular, even though she didn't even have her own main arc...
It was precisely because of this that everyone was even more enraged by Kocho Shinobu's death.
Including the previous grudge between Komaji and Koyuki, they all wanted revenge!
However, Kocho Shinobu's sacrifice was not meaningless, but premeditated. It was because she anticipated the power gap that she deliberately allowed Doma to absorb her.
Weakened by hundreds of times the wisteria poison, combined with the joint efforts of Kanao and Inosuke, Upper Rank Two Doma died here in frustration.
He was an empty creature, without emotions or obsessions, so he couldn't break through his limits.
This scene once again cruelly told the readers that the centuries-long war between humans and demons would never be child's play, where no one dies and they can infinitely revive. Kocho Shinobu's death also served as a reminder to everyone that no one would have a 'get out of jail free' card from now on...
"Chihiro, are you going big this time?"
Eriri swallowed hard, feeling her hands holding the book tremble slightly.
She didn't like the cunning type of character like Kocho Shinobu, but she couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow.
She knew that she liked many of the remaining characters participating in the battle!
But, looking at this situation...
Could it be that everyone will die?