The pink heat was replaced with a new light. That was the first thing Ume noticed. The sudden warmth pressed against the backs of her closed eyelids. Sensing the change, Ume's eyes cracked open in shock as she met a great source of golden light falling over her.
Sunlight to be exact.
She wasn't in that dark world anymore with that man, but instead, she stood there in between several tall trees with her breath escaping her lips as she looked out ahead of herself in utter disbelief and shock. She was in a lush forest alone. She looked down to see that she was holding a small woven basket full of fresh berries in her hand.
The golden sun towered gloriously in the cyan skies, illuminating a green field of trees and mountains in its brightness wherever its stunning rays touched—Ume could look and feel everything. The air was warm and fresh with the scent of wildflowers. Dark pine trees stood in stark contrast against the multi shades of green waking to spring. She could taste the cleanness of the countryside air, and feel the soft warmth of the sun that shone through the pockets of sunlight that filtered down into the trees. Is this what it was once like to see the sun? The crisp wind gently gushed past her, rustling the leaves. It was a euphoric sound to her. Everything was so carefree. Ume began to slowly relax.
Maybe this really will be a pleasant dream for once. Maybe that man truly did help me. With that precipitous hope fluttering in her heart, Ume started to properly observe her surroundings.
Simple, beautiful, and peaceful—it was tranquil here.
Then she heard it. Down the path she stood on, she heard the distinct crunching of grass and twigs and the even louder chatter of what sounded like two small children engrossed in a conversation with themselves in the far distance.
"Hanako, over here! I found some more!"
"Takeo, you can't go too far! Mama said so! You'll get in trouble!"
"I know, but we can pick more over here! Hurry up!"
"Mother said no."
"Mother isn't here."
"Stop it! Come back here or I'll tell Oniichan and Oneesan! I swear I will! You won't go to the village with Tanjiro today!"
"Go ahead! I'm still going!"
"Nezuko, Takeo is misbehaving!" Ume heard the young girl scream out the name of the Accidental Demon and her head snapped towards it almost reflexively.
Oh great…I'm her again…Ume thought displeased. Well, I guess good things must come to an end, huh?
"Nezuko," A soft voice came from behind her.
Swallowing tightly, the horror in her chest bloomed. Her heart was racing beyond all levels of acceleration. Suddenly, her heart stopped pounding when Ume saw a woman approaching her. This time, there were no signs of warning for her nor did she have her sashes to protect her. She braced herself. She thought of hurling the basket at the woman. But her eyes moved like a hawk for something near her; a weapon that she could use to defend herself. She looked down at a large moss-covered rock near her.
Her body refused to move to grab it. Instead, one of her hands went up and made a waving motion as if to alert the stranger to her presence.
What?
"Mother! Over here!" Ume felt those treble words rolling out of her throat without her permission and cutting through the air.
Fresh panic descended upon her. Ume attempted to fix herself to grab at the rock again.
Once again, her body did not obey, her limbs all seemed to have a stubborn mind of their own. She couldn't interact with anything.
What the fuck? What kind of dream is this? Where did that bastard send me?
"Nezuko, I've been looking for you." Ume turned her head to see a woman with a sleeping infant fastened onto her back approaching her. Ume recognized her immediately. One of the most beautiful women she had seen in her life, adorned in a soft purple kimono with a headwear of white tenugui cloth that she wears around her head, covering most of her black hair. The woman that her Master dispose of.
"Dear, how is your picking going?"
"Fantastic, Mother!" Ume exclaimed with a bright smile. "I'm pretty sure I picked enough. See?" She held up her basket. "At this rate, we'll have enough cakes for the Kondos's wedding next week. I can't wait!"
As soon as those words left her mouth, Ume blinked, appalled. What the hell was that? Why did I just say that? Who the hell are the Kondo's? Why am I smiling? Why did—
The woman then stepped towards her and took inventory of her basket and she beamed triumphantly. "Oh my goodness, look how big these berries are this year!"
Suddenly, the woman laid a soft hand on the top of her head and began to rub her head. For a moment, Ume wanted to slap her hand away, but Ume was forced to stand there smiling as the woman affectionately rubbed the top of her head, ruffling up her hair a tiny bit. "Well done, dear. The Kondos will be so delighted." She smiled.
In an instant, Ume could tell that this woman was a kind soul just from her smile alone. A smile that held this distinct softness, a motherly one that gave Ume this fuzzy warm feeling in her chest that she had to fight off. The woman was the picture of motherhood, and somehow it made her even more beautiful.
"No problem, Mother." Ume chirped. Looking into the woman's warm smile, her heart cracked at the thought of her own late mother—Ume tried to remember her mother smiling like this, but all she could recall was Kaoruko. The ugly woman with the cold, cruel eyes shone with nothing but disgust and disappointment toward her and her brother.
Gyutaro once told her that Kaoruko was once a renowned beauty. Tall and graceful with a great mane of shiny oil locks that fell down past her waist and green eyes like her and him, but much brighter with the emerald colour that the gems themselves could only surpass if they turned green with envy.
But her mind was never right.
The stress of raising an unwanted child alone within the unforgiving underbelly of Yoshiwara and her failing career as a Yujo took a great toll on her as the six, long cruel years passed. By the time Ume was born, Kaoruko was far gone in mind and what was left of her good looks was seeped away by the deadly sickness from which Ume got her name.
Throughout her short life, Ume silently witnessed her mother crumble day by day and slowly but surely, Kaoruko's hatred became all too clear. In one breath she'd be that blank-faced, distant woman with hollow eyes staring afar, always lost in her little world as her children turned to skin and bones. And then in the next breath, she would be that raging, vindictive maniac with a petulant tongue that would leave Ume in tears and hard fists that would've left Gyutaro with marks of angry hands on his face over the smallest inconvenience.
Ume was beaten seldom because Gyutaro did not allow such. He would always frighten Kaoruko off, yelling, shouting, and sometimes striking her if she ever dared to lay a finger on her. But during the rare times that Gyutaro was absent, Kaoruko would not hesitate to subject Ume to a thrashing once or twice with a dozen whacks across the backside with a heavy oaken paddle for any little reason she could think of.
When Kaoruko finally dropped dead on the floor, Ume did not weep for her as she expected she would. She felt calm, actually. It was like the first time she had lost a tooth. A rotten tooth, wracked with cavities. Gyutaro yanked it out and it didn't hurt as much as she expected, but the hole in her mouth felt so odd she could not stop touching it with her tongue. There was a hole in the world where mother lay dead, and in the end, Gyutaro became the filling.
"I need you to tell everyone that dinner is almost done." The woman gently patted the top of the infant's black fuzz hair. "Help out your big brother with your siblings, okay? I hear them squabbling back there."
Before Ume could stop herself, the Accidental Demon reached over and placed her gentle hand on top of the baby's hair, smiling tenderly. "Don't worry, Mother, I'll keep the peace."
Then the woman flashed another smile, telling her to be careful before she descended the pathway. In the next moment, Ume found herself running through the undergrowth and onto a narrow path, pushing through the branches and stepping over fallen branches. The lush green forest glimmered like an aurora breezing in trance around her.
As she reached the end of the little path, her mouth spoke on its own accord. "Tanjiro! Hanako! Shigeru! Takeo! Where are you?"
"Sister!" At this, two small children carrying baskets burst out of the bushes near her. A young boy with short, spiky hair that looked to be no older than seven and a wisp of a little girl, not quite six. In a heartbeat, recognition struck Ume so hard that her ears began to painfully ring. It was the two dead children. The boy gave a quiet greeting to the Accidental Demon, but the tiny little girl jumped up eagerly at her.
"Oneesan, look! Look! I got more, see!" The little girl squealed. "I got more than Takeo!"
"No, you didn't!" The boy then showed off his own basket, and the two children swarmed a giggling Ume like a litter of excitable puppies, beseeching her to look at their bursting baskets of fruits, fiercely contesting for who had the most.
The Accidental Demon laughed merrily at their enthusiasm. "It looks like the both of you collected enough, so you both win, okay? Anyway, Mama said that dinner is almost done." She then looked around. "Now, where's Tanjiro and Shigeru?"
"Over here, Nezuko," A high boyish voice called out.
Looking up, Ume saw Tanjiro enter her line of sight. They held eye contact. He was grinning happily, holding the hand of the third dead child, a tiny, dark-haired boy with a buzz cut managing the walk with all the dignity a four-year-old could muster.
"Did Mama already go inside?" Tanjiro asked.
"Yeah. She's finishing up dinner." The Accidental Demon articulated, Ume's eyes affixed on him.
He looked different. Drastically different from the hardened Demon Slayer she came to know. He looked strikingly younger. Shorter and skinny. Early adolescence, perhaps. His voice was high and green. His face was smoother and calmer than she last remembered, his bright burgundy eyes were soft with innocence, he didn't have his trademark pair of long rectangular earrings with a sun symbol clipped on his ears, and most damning of all: he didn't have that visible scar on the side of his forehead anymore.
That's when Ume realised where she was.
No, no, no...
This is not another dream. This is a memory of the Accidental Demon. This was her past memory that was playing. And she was just a character experiencing it.
The revelation resounded in her mind, offering an explanation for all this mayhem she was suddenly plunged into, and at the same time, filling her with a new level of horror. Ume was struggling to process everything. Why the hell is this happening? Her head ached so much.
She had to wake up. She didn't want to be here. It wasn't safe here. She had to find a way to wake up. But..how?
When she succumbed to sleep, Ume fully expected to see all those successions of strange images as she did previously. She never even considered the possibility of being transported into that dark void or a memory. This had to be one of the abilities of this strange demon. How else could she explain it? Ume wouldn't have believed this travesty if she wasn't here to witness it with her own eyes.
"Unfortunately we need to hurry back now. I smell a storm coming this way." Tanjiro's voice jarred Ume out of her frightened thoughts. He was looking up at the skies and Ume couldn't help but follow his gaze, only to see clear skies. No sign of rain whatsoever.
I smell a storm? How? What the hell is he on about?
Ume desperately wanted to ask him what he meant, but of course, the Accidental Demon just shrugged airly and agreed. "Alright, let's go." But before she could take a single step, one of the children loudly protested.
"No, come on!" Takeo exclaimed, before pointing to the direction they came from. "There's plenty of strawberries over there. That's Papa's favourite. So I want some more just for him. It won't take long, I promise."
"I'm positive we have enough to share with him when he starts feeling better," Tanjiro reassured.
"Yeah…Papa still napping." The youngest boy—Shigeru piped up.
"I know but…." Takeo was cut off when the little girl—Hanako, gave the scrawny boy a stern nudge.
"Stop arguing with Elder brother, Takeo! He's right. We have enough!"
Then the Accidental Demon chimed in, "It's best not to disturb him, okay? Papa still needs plenty of rest to recover from that surgery."
Takeo frowned sullenly, looking at the Accidental Demon and Hanako before shrugging his shoulders in defeat. "Fine." He huffed.
"Come on, before dinner gets cold!" Tanjiro urged as he walked off briskly in the same direction as the woman. Much to Ume's chagrin, the Accidental Demon's feet hastened to his side as the two other children steadily followed behind them.
Swallowing softly, Ume struggled to compose herself as she helplessly watched her feet trudge along the ground without a care in the world. It was jarring to see how calm and casual the Accidental Demon was moving while her own mind raced wildly with jumbled thoughts. Why is this happening to me? Why do I have to experience some memories of some girl I don't even like? What is the purpose of this? Ume's mind drew to the man and wondered if he guided her here with ill intent. Ume couldn't tell. But deep down, deep within her, she knew for a fact that the man was not a deceitful character.
Then Ume felt a drop of wetness hit the top of her head. She peeked up to see a herd of foreboding clouds beginning to darken the skies. A tiny drizzle of water began to sprinkle down.
"So Tanjiro can smell the weather." Ume thought in disbelief. At this realisation, Ume recalled how Tanjiro seemed to notice right away that her own scent was different from the Accidental Demon. "So he can smell on a similar level to a demon.."
Ume sucked in a shallow breath, making her decision to play this game. It wasn't as if she had much of a choice anyway. So why not just go along with the ride and see what happens?
The walk was short, but lively, with casual chattering and the occasional laughter from each child, including the Accidental Demon rambling on about some festival due to happen in the nearby village down the mountain. Ume didn't care to listen. Instead, she just took in the surroundings, savouring the calm before the storm. She didn't necessarily like storms themselves, but it was the few precious moments before everything broke forth that stirred some sort of excitement in the pit of her stomach. The way everything was unnaturally quiet, the way nature seemed to be holding its breath… It was the thrill of anticipating something big that captured her like no other kind of weather.
It didn't take long for the rain to fall from the heavens and pound onto the lush forest without mercy. The temperature dropped to a chill as the heavy rainfall matted them and all around them. The woods pressed close around them with the steady raindrops drumming down through the treeline.
The scenery soon changed to a familiar building; a small house made up of old logs and straws. Ume cringed at the sight of it as they approached it. It was those old, Minka-style houses she'd seen on the outskirts of Yoshiwara. The outside of the building seems as if under a constant shadow as if the sunlight keeps reaching for those walls that shrink away. And so its windows stayed black without the rippling effect of the light, never knowing that the dust that clings, the dirt of years, could so easily be washed away. The sight of it all left her disquiet, reminding her of all of the shabby husks she and Gyutaro would slump in.
Quickly, they all crammed inside and were immediately greeted with surprising warmth. A comforting kind of warmth one could expect to feel from being in a mother's gentle embrace. Ume was grateful for it. She was cold and wet, but not as cold and wet as she'd been a short time before.
The air was hazy with smoke and heavy with the smell of roasted meat. The floor was creaking and the rotting walls stank of charcoal and moss. Despite that, Ume actually didn't despise it as much as she expected. Despite how cramped and smelly it was, the small area was surprisingly filled with well-kept and cosy furniture and it looked nothing more like a simple space. Though it looked comfortable and nice, Ume had never felt more out of place in it.
It was in this room that Ume could recall the gruesome image of the five bloodied corpses strewn messily on the floor.
"Mama, we're back!" Tanjiro announced as soon as they all settled inside and laid down their respective baskets. Immediately a door creaked open across the Genkan and the savoury smell of stew and fresh-baked bread filled Ume's nostrils.
The woman emerged from the kitchen, her violet eyes shining with concern. "Oh, goodness, you are drenched. It's pouring out there, isn't it? Go change, I'll wash everything after dinner." She said. "There's dry clothes waiting for you. I'm about to set the food down."
For a moment, all the children took the time to hand the mother their muddy shoes before retreating to their own personal chamber to change. As the Accidental Demon slipped out of her soaked clothes and retrieved her dry clothes, Ume was still baffled. She was still confused about the purpose of this dream. She was still confused as to why she wasn't seeing any of those images anymore. She was still confused as to why she was seeing the random memories of a stranger. And most importantly, she was confused about how she herself felt about all of this.
She did not really know. She knew nothing.
After the Accidental Demon had changed into a dry yukata, she returned to the Genkan to see a dining table packed with all of the young children and a savoury platter waiting for her. There was much more food than she'd expected: hot bread daubed with butter and honey, a warm cup of mint tea, and hot stew thick of roasted beef, carrots, potatoes, and onions, with here and there a ragged shred of beef. She sat down next to Tanjiro, and from where she sat, she could look through the window through her peripheral vision, watching the rain run down the pane. The rain hadn't stopped, but it was gradually subsiding. The rainwater tapped on the ground in singular pellets. But from inside, the sound of rain was soothing.
Over the clatter of knife and plate and the loud cacophony of table talk, the Accidental Demon took her first bite and Ume was amazed by the overwhelming taste dancing on her palette. The human food was delectable beyond measure, unlike anything that Ume had ever eaten in her entire human life. Every bite tasted almost good as Marechi's blood. Even the tea tasted as sweet as honey. It made her feel warm and full in a way similar to her time as a demon.
Nearing the end of dinner, Tanjiro finished his meal first and stood up from the table. "Excuse me," He announced to the table. "I would like to check up on Papa before I head off," He walked from the hall with Takeo hastily following after him. After he was gone, the Accidental Demon began to collect the finished dishes to bring them to the sink. Down the table, the two youngest were exchanging excited whispers with one another and the mother went off to check up on the baby.
"Sister...?" The Accidental Demon turned around to see a glassy-eyed Hanako.
"Aw, why the glum face all of the sudden?" The Accidental Demon asked. Her tone was suddenly so affectionate and sweet that Ume couldn't help but stare at her as she patted the little girl's locks of black hair.
Hanako looked as if she was on the brink of tears. "Takeo said he's going with Tanjiro to the village once the rain stops! Mama said I still can't go!" she whimpered. "So can we please play Sugoroku, please, please?"
Then little Shigeru waded over to them. "Yeah, I want to play too! Please, sister!"
The Accidental Demon hummed out her approval with a tantalising small smile. "Of course, no problem! We can all play as much as you want. And maybe later on, we can all play!"
Then the two youngest children broke out the most joyous cheers that Ume had heard. They both jumped on her and embraced her, and in response, the Accidental Demon crouched down, arms wrapped around two kids and held them tight.
Ume looked at it all.
The Accidental Demon and the two children looked so warm, so happy, and so full of life.
Beautiful, Ume thought distractedly. She could feel tears forming somewhere deep in her eyes. Absolutely beautiful and tragically beautiful.
This is a beautiful memory.
THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE RELEASED IN MID-MARCH/APRIL. Reviews and thoughts, hope you liked it.