Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

Chapter 289 Obsession

A subtle, deathly silence, like the air itself, silently spread throughout the room.

This was a very quiet room, and that was crystal clear at this moment.

Not far from the room, there was only a man lying down and a woman sitting down; apart from the faintest breathing sounds, there was nothing else.

Beyond that door, beyond that shadow, lies the sunlight, but the sun is silent; when it exists as it is, no sound will be heard.

The wind blows from afar, carrying the fragrance of wisteria blossoms, a rich floral scent. But the wind is also quiet; it makes no sound. It only makes a sound when it passes by something or affects something. But here, nothing can block the wind's presence, and nothing can be affected by it.

The door was open, as were the windows. There were no wind chimes hanging, and the wind simply visited silently and freely, without needing to greet anyone, obtain anyone's permission, or be stopped by anyone.

Quieter than the moon, more silent than the stars.

"If that's all you're trying to say, then I don't think there's any need for us to continue this conversation."

Rinko was the first to break the silence, which was not surprising to anyone.

Because Ubuyashiki has always been the calmer one, while Rinko is no longer the one who can tolerate silence.

The deathly silence unsettled him. He could endure it; many years ago, he could endure such deathly silence, such stillness. If he had never spoken to anyone, never experienced liveliness, never shared his feelings with others, never listened to other people's stories, if he had always been so quiet from the beginning, he thought, he would still be quiet now. But unfortunately, and fortunately, he had learned to open his mouth.

Refuse to hear what you don't want to hear, and deny some of the opinions of others.

The sunlight streamed into the room through the window. The wind came from afar, and the moon always hung in the sky. So where did the sun come from? Rinko wondered subconsciously. Did it come from a higher place, higher than the clouds, perhaps higher than the moon, and farther than the stars?

It came from a place that the demons couldn't reach, too far away, a place where Rinko couldn't see.

"So... what does Rinko think..."

"What do you mean by that?"

Rinko's train of thought was interrupted, or perhaps not. He subconsciously pressed for an answer, but at the same time, he couldn't remember what he was thinking a second ago. He tried to recall, but gave up after two seconds. This was normal; his brain was only so big, so it was normal not to remember things and to forget them.

Ghosts have long lives, so you can't expect them to remember everything. If they forget, they forget; they'll remember eventually. If they can't remember, then they can't remember.

"About your 'friend'."

Rinko noticed a word with a slight emphasis, and it was hard for him not to notice it. Ubuyashiki's voice was light and airy, but this word was spoken as clearly as a fallen leaf being crushed.

I didn't quite understand what you meant.

Rinko shifted his posture slightly, from a casual side-sitting position to a more proper one. It was a habit that Kokushibo had taught him for so many years. Even though he had forgotten most of it, this habit would quietly resurface at some unintentional moment.

"Well, how should I put it? More than anything, I'm very curious, and also a little confused. In my opinion, Rinko has many friends who want to help you, but it's as if Rinko has never noticed them. She just keeps walking on her own path, as if no one will help her, as if no one will hold her back."

Ubuyashiki's voice grew softer and softer, and he had to take a few moments to catch his breath while speaking. But Rinko was always very patient and never interrupted. He waited until Ubuyashiki had finished speaking and stopped talking. When Amane looked at him again, he took a deep breath and then exhaled more heavily through his nose.

A small gesture to perk you up a little.

With his body relaxed slightly, his mind began to work. Rinko let the words go through his little head twice, and in just a few seconds, the answer came to him.

As he said, he didn't dislike Ubuyashiki because what the other person said wasn't actually wrong, or rather, it wasn't seriously wrong. Humans and demons see the world differently; their eyes see everything differently, and their thinking is different.

Just like with Rinko, some humans are friends, some are just humans, but for most demons, humans are food—food that is called human, food that can talk, no different from other animals.

But for humans, humans are humans, not food; they are precious lives, more valuable than animals.

At the very least, it shouldn't be killed and eaten casually as food.

And now, this difference is being demonstrated once again.

Ubuyashiki felt that he had many friends.

He felt that his friends would help him.

But actually, no. He does have many friends, but friends aren't necessarily there to help you. Friends can keep you company, chat with you, play together, joke around, and share food, but friends are just friends. They're not the kind of people who will reach out and hold you up, the kind of people who will lend a helping hand when you're in trouble. In the end, the concept of friends is probably quite foreign to ghosts.

Lin Guang thought.

Because apart from him, it seems that other ghosts rarely have such a unique way of getting along. He is a different kind of ghost. Only he can make friends with ghosts and humans, and he will really treat them as friends. So he really no longer considers eating them.

Ghosts wouldn't do that.

So what exactly is a friend?

Rinko suddenly asked herself this question.

What is a friend? What kind of person is a friend?

"What is a friend?"

Rinko tossed the question to the person who asked it. Ubuyashiki was silent for a few seconds, perhaps surprised by the question, or perhaps not; maybe the man was just thinking about how to explain the question to him.

“You know each other, you are familiar with each other, you do a lot of things together, or you don’t, but whether you are by his side or not, you will think of him, you will hope that he is better, and when he encounters difficulties, you will want to help him, and vice versa.”

Rinko became quiet again, thinking, recalling, and then making a judgment.

"I do not have friends."

In the long silence, the boy belatedly realized what was happening, and then spoke up as if he had just understood.

The answer brought a brief silence to the room. Ubuyashiki seemed genuinely surprised this time, or perhaps he wasn't. But Rinko wasn't in the mood to guess; his focus wasn't on that.

"I've just been saying we're friends."

He added on his own.

He continued his contemplation in silence.

Yes, that makes everything sound more reasonable.

He had always regarded other beings as friends, whether ghosts or humans. It was he who spoke, he who made the decision, and he who presumptuously assumed they were friends, so he no longer treated them as food or as threats.

It's like a children's game, and they just didn't refuse.

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This is a very delicate situation. It was within Ubuyashiki's expectations, but not entirely. It seemed to be slightly beyond their expectations, but after a little thought, it seemed to make sense.

From the moment Ubuyashiki first heard about Rinko, she had a subtle intuition that the boy would be a unique existence, not just because of his Upper Moon Zero identity or his special abilities.

It stems more from a call from one's bloodline.

At that time, he felt a little curious about this existence, and as more and more information about the boy came about, this curiosity only increased.

He had actually seen many different kinds of beings. Ghosts themselves are illogical and contrary to common sense. They possess a kind of evil that is unacceptable and intolerable to humans. Beings born from blood and dwelling in darkness seem to be there to demonstrate what evil is.

He had seen far too much that was truly awful.

However, I have also witnessed unique beings like Nezuko, who transformed into a demon but seemed to retain a human heart.

But it's still different.

Nezuko was able to maintain her rationality because of hypnosis and Tanjiro's influence, but of course, this was also related to Nezuko's own will.

But Rinko sounds like a different kind of being.

He is a demon, without a doubt, an Upper Moon demon, a demon who has eaten people.

He has hurt people and eaten people.

No one witnessed it, nor did it need to be witnessed; that status and strength were proof enough in themselves.

But this boy seems to have a different life in the world outside the darkness. When there are no ghosts around, a different image is depicted in the descriptions from his lovely children, and the appearance of an innocent boy is described.

Demons might disguise themselves to eat people, but Rinko's true nature is not to eat people, nor is it entirely a disguise. It seems that, beneath the demons, this is his true nature.

He is a ghost, but he doesn't act like one.

He is not human, but he seems to be trying hard to learn what it means to be human.

Why would there be such a child?

Ubuyashiki once pondered in her spare time why there was such a child, and why, as a demon, he behaved so differently after gaining such great power.

He obtained some clues during his conversation with Tanjiro, and combined with some past experiences, he made a conjecture: when humans become demons, there is a chance that they will lose some memories, but even if their brains no longer remember, their obsessions remain in their hearts and flow in their blood. Even if they forget, they will still be remembered.

This is why ghosts behave differently; different obsessions will cause ghosts to have different abilities.

Those things that are almost called instincts will eventually become their power itself.

So what is Rinko's obsession?

Ubuyashiki asked himself.

The boy didn't have a strong body, no extra arms or legs, no wings, no claws, not even extra eyes or ears; he was just an ordinary child.

Its abilities far surpass those of ordinary ghosts, including healing, concealment, and the ability to shield itself from others' view.

This sounds almost more like a child.

A child playing hide-and-seek.

I want to never be found by anyone for the rest of my life.

What is he running away from, or rather, what was he running away from before?

This was an answer he would never have found on his own, but someone else had given him the answer.

Zhu Shi.

Before Ubuyashiki went to inquire about the other party, Tamayo found him first. Despite her fear, tension, and uncertainty, she still mustered up the courage to find him, not only to kill Muzan, but also because of a hidden selfish motive: for that boy.

Ubuyashiki could understand Tamayo's feelings; the mother had lost her own child, but unexpectedly, almost luckily, she gained another child.

Unfortunately, the ending did not change; her other child was ultimately taken away by the same person and ruthlessly killed.

From then on, neither the child who had died nor the child who was still alive would ever approach her again.

Ubuyashiki doesn't sympathize with demons; demons are creatures that shouldn't exist. But Ubuyashiki pities the unfortunate child before he was turned into a demon.

That sickly child who had been treated, who almost had hope and a new life, died in the dead of night.

Ubuyashiki also received an answer that night.

Rin was indeed hiding. He had been hiding himself, but not to prevent anyone from finding him. It was more like he was running away, escaping danger, escaping everything he could escape. He was the thief who would cover his ears when stealing the bell.

Just as Ubuyashiki said, Rinko is that boy who covers his ears, closes his eyes, and runs blindly in the darkness he created, not looking for the way, nor reaching out to grab anyone.

Or perhaps he tried to reach out, but grasped nothing, and so he never reached out again.

Just as you won't be disappointed if you don't have expectations.

He wouldn't hear the screams if he covered his ears.

As long as he doesn't open his eyes, he won't see that there's no one around him.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

And at that moment, when the boy spoke, he said...

"I do not have friends."

When those words were spoken.

"I've just been saying we're friends."

It's like a closed loop.

Ubuyashiki is no longer curious or confused.

He would not sympathize with ghosts, would not shed tears for man-eating ghosts, and would not grieve for murderous ghosts.

But this moment.

He genuinely felt sorry for the dead boy.

Even though life has passed and the soul no longer remembers anything from its previous life, the body walks numbly through this world, dwelling in darkness, yet still stubbornly and helplessly seeking love.

Searching for a home.

Even if it starts with finding a friend.

But sadly.

A child who has never received love.

I will never understand what love is in my entire life.