Why does the world show a health bar? !

As night fell, the dark world was illuminated by the faint glow of the moon and stars. Though Li Mo knew that the stars in the sky were billions of light-years away, he often forgot this fact.

The three girls were chatting quietly in the room, while Li Mo sat alone on the roof, gazing into the distance. The world under the moonlight was so peaceful. Upon closer inspection, the night wasn't entirely bad—at least the scenery was beautiful.

If only there were no demons, he thought. In the future, nights would be as bright as day, and there would be plenty to do even when walking outside late at night. In this era, people had to lock their doors tightly at night, creating a sense of security to protect themselves from demon attacks.

—Though, in reality, locking doors was useless. Most demons could break in easily.

"Are you thinking about something?"

"It's you, Makomo. What are you doing up here?"

"The sisters are whispering to each other. What reason do I have to stay there?" Makomo climbed onto the roof and sat beside Li Mo, looking at the same scenery.

Li Mo said, "Oh, so you were kicked out too, just like me! Great, now I have company."

"Is that really the right way to put it?" Makomo asked with a stern face.

"Can you just pity me a little?"

Makomo gave him a look that said, "I knew it." "A year has passed, and you haven't changed much."

"Do I have to change just because I became a Pillar? Sorry, but I'm just Li Mo, the same as always," Li Mo replied.

The saying "position determines perspective" is a timeless truth, but sometimes people betray their own interests. Li Mo didn't belong to either category. He had always identified himself as a "transmigrator." Being a Pillar or Kamado Tanjiro's uncle were secondary identities to him.

So why hadn't he left yet?

The return button had been hanging there for a year, and he hadn't touched it. The main reason was that leveling up by slaying demons in this world was just too satisfying. Demons were easy to kill—just close your eyes and swing. Though recently, the experience points from ordinary demons had been decreasing.

"Li Mo, do you remember that former Lower Moon?"

"Of course. Its Blood Demon Art was quite annoying. Spatial abilities are just disgusting. After coming out of there, I even thought about setting its house on fire to see what would happen. Can demons be burned to death?"

Demons don't die from being cut by swords. Even if they're torn apart, they can still survive. So the question is, if they're thrown into a fire and reduced to ashes, can they still revive?

His thoughts wandered, bringing up all sorts of ideas. Li Mo was eager to try it out.

"Some seniors have done that before. Demons can be burned to ashes, but it takes too long. You'd have to..." Makomo began explaining past experiences to Li Mo.

A demon's terrifying regenerative ability allows it to endure in flames for a long time. It can even break free from the fire, so you'd have to restrain it, or else you'd see a flaming demon running around. Once, a senior captured a fairly strong demon and threw it into a fire, but the demon only truly died when the sun came up the next morning, struggling for an entire night.

If an average demon could do that, what about a truly powerful one? It's better to just cut off its head with a Nichirin Blade.

It's impractical.

"At least burning the house would have nullified its Blood Demon Art. Without a house, what could it swap with?"

"What if it caused a forest fire? It's been so long since that incident. Are you still holding onto it?"

Li Mo nodded. "Of course. In the past year, I haven't encountered any spatial Blood Demon Arts. It's normal to remember rare things, right?"

Demons' Blood Demon Arts are bizarre and varied—some enhance the body, some manipulate space, some control ice... all sorts of flashy abilities, like awakened superpowers.

"Right, right... By the way, which Lower Moon was on Mount Natagumo? Why did you think there would be a Lower Moon there back then?"

Makomo still remembered how her junior brother had gone alone to Mount Natagumo and returned as a Pillar.

At the time, she was shocked—shocked that there really was a Lower Moon on Mount Natagumo, and shocked that her junior brother had become a Pillar so quickly. Back then, she had even harbored the desire to catch up to him.

Now?

There was no way she could catch up.

Stumbling along, Makomo, currently a "Kanoe"-rank Demon Slayer, hugged her knees. She listened as the man beside her began to explain.

"Mount Natagumo? I think it was Lower Moon Six. Its strength was just average, but the strange thing was that there were nearly ten demons on that mountain, all claiming to be a family. That Lower Moon was playing house. Weird, huh?"

Li Mo didn't have much to say about Rui, nor did he want to. Its life was tragic, but after becoming a demon and starting to eat humans, no amount of tragedy could掩盖 its sins. If it wanted warmth, it could go to hell and see if its deceased family would accept it. If it wanted forgiveness, it could go to hell and ask its victims if they were willing to forgive.

"Playing house?"

"Yeah. That Lower Moon adopted a bunch of demons as its siblings and even parents." Li Mo explained in detail about Rui's family situation, which was quite unique among demons.

Makomo listened to Li Mo's explanation, but her mind wasn't on that. Her attention was focused on the keyword "family." "Li Mo, why did you join the Demon Slayer Corps?"

"Me? It's hard to explain," Li Mo said, pretending to be calm. Could he say that his family wasn't in this world? Not to mention his life before transmigrating, even the original owner's family... it was practically nonexistent.

Makomo buried her head in her knees. "Oh, then don't say it."

"Makomo, are you missing Urokodaki-sensei? He only left yesterday, right? I remember you share the same surname as Urokodaki-sensei. Were you adopted by him?"

Makomo sighed. "You already know that, don't you? Why are you asking?"

"Because that earlier question was awkward, and I didn't know how to answer... By the way, Makomo, have you mastered 'Total Concentration: Constant'? I feel like your breathing has changed a lot."

Makomo said, "Is it really okay to change the subject so blatantly?"

Li Mo just smiled, looking completely unbothered. Yes, I'm openly changing the subject.

"Hey, junior brother. Will we still be able to meet next year?"

"Of course we will. Let's make it a tradition to gather at Urokodaki-sensei's place every year. We can even invite Giyu and Sabito. Speaking of which, it's been over a year since I last saw those two. I wonder how satisfying it would be to bully Sabito again."

Li Mo muttered to himself. As their senior, his favorite pastime was "training" Sabito, watching him seethe with helpless anger.

Makomo curled up into a ball. She felt like she was growing further apart from her junior brother... Maybe once she became a Pillar, this sense of distance would lessen.

"What are you two talking about? Can I join?"

At some point, Kocho Kanae had climbed onto the roof and asked with a smile.