Muzan: My daughter can't be that weak!

"Daddy, do you want to play with me?"

Yukina asked a sincere question.

Muzan felt like he had kicked a soft target; the expected grievance or anger did not materialize.

This thwarted his malicious attempt to tease him, and instead made him feel a little embarrassed and angry.

"What exactly do you want from me?"

Yukina sensed this impatience.

She thought to herself that her father must be busy with something important again.

In order not to take up too much of her father's time, she decided to say everything she wanted to say in one go!

So she started quickly organizing her thoughts in her little head, and then threw them all over the place.

"My tooth is missing, and I want to ask Dad if he knows. My new tooth has grown in, but it's pointy and not good. The six-eyed uncle helped me earlier, but I forgot to ask his name. The uncle's knife was so cool. The courtyard is beautiful, with swings and cherry blossoms. Dad, do you want to come and see it...?"

Children's thoughts jump around.

Various pieces of information, mixed with emotions and descriptions, flooded into Muzan's mind in a chaotic manner.

Muzan felt a "buzz" in his head, as if a swarm of noisy flies had suddenly entered and were buzzing and fluttering in his brain.

He closed his eyes, and the veins on his forehead throbbed faintly.

"You, speak, properly!"

Hey, you're speaking properly.

Could it be that it was too fast, and Dad was too slow to react?

Let's speak a little slower then.

After thinking hard, Xue Nai decided to start with the most important things and do them one by one.

"Dad, do you know where my tooth went? It's the one that fell out before."

That was her precious keepsake.

Muzan's thoughts were drawn back to that night a few years ago.

With a casual toss, on the opposite rooftop, a dark handkerchief wrapped around teeth—the memory is too clear to be true.

But he denied it almost without hesitation:

"have no idea."

"Oh……"

A deep sense of disappointment immediately filled Yukina's mind, and her little face fell.

Her first tooth is really gone.

But the child's emotions changed quickly, and the disappointment was soon overshadowed by the new discovery.

She perked up again, sharing, "Daddy, I've grown a new tooth! Right where my old tooth fell out!"

However, her tone quickly turned pitiful, with a hint of complaining.

"But it must be because I didn't throw my old tooth on the roof... The new tooth that grew next to it has become sharp, uneven, and unfriendly! When I touched it, this bad tooth even hurt my hand!"

"Ugh, I hate this nasty tooth!"

Muzan's first reaction was to scoff.

Fool, ghosts' teeth are naturally sharp, it has nothing to do with whether or not you throw them off the roof.

Besides, that old tooth was clearly on the roof.

He almost wanted to correct her absurd idea, telling her sarcastically, "Your broken teeth are on the roof across the street."

and many more.

He calmly considered how the little one would react if he told her the truth.

Shocked? And then...

"Wow! Dad, you're amazing! You threw it up that high off the roof!"

"Dad, you actually threw it away for me! You're so kind! I'm so touched!"

"Dad is truly the most amazing dad in the world!"

Such ideas, filled with childish worship and exaggerated gratitude, completely overwhelmed his consciousness.

Just imagining that noisy scene made Muzan feel like all five of his brains were about to start throbbing in protest.

Too noisy.

She absolutely must not find out.

"Oh, is there anything else?"

Yukina, however, had already grown accustomed to Muzan's indifference and was not discouraged; on the contrary, she was eager to share.

She immediately remembered something else important and continued chattering.

"And another thing! Dad, do you know what that six-eyed uncle's name is? I forgot to ask him! And, the uncle and his knife are so cool, swish, the line just snapped..."

At this point, her thoughts were filled with both frustration and admiration.

Muzan felt a slight displeasure as she turned her attention to Kokushibo and prepared to launch into a long, rambling eulogy.

Noisy.

Who wants to hear her praise people?

……

"I threw your teeth onto the roof."

These words came out of nowhere, and Xue Nai's thoughts, which were trying to organize, came to an abrupt halt.

She was stunned for a moment, then a huge surprise filled her mind.

As Muzan expected, after a brief moment of shock, Yukina's "praise mode" instantly went into full swing:

"Wow—!! Really? Daddy!"

"Dad, you're so amazing! You even threw it up to the top of the roof!"

"Dad, you actually remembered! And you even threw it away for me!"

"Dad, you're so good! I knew Dad was the best!"

"Thank you, Dad! My tooth must be having a great time on the roof!"

Muzan's lips curled up slightly, and the slight displeasure in his heart quietly dissipated.

He steadied himself and replied with composure:

"It's alright."

However, Xue Nai's cheers and praises came to an abrupt end.

"What does 'sufficient' mean?"

The smile that Muzan hadn't even fully curved at the corner of his mouth vanished instantly, returning to a straight line.

He reflexively, with incredulous disdain, asked in return:

"Are you illiterate? How did your teacher... teach you?"

You don't even understand such a basic word?

Yukina's thoughts arrived, filled with self-righteousness:

"Dad, I'm illiterate. I've never been to school."

Muzan: "...?"

This time, he was genuinely taken aback.

He clearly remembered that when Xue Nai was a human child, she was probably five or six years old.

In the aristocracy or families with some means of livelihood in that era, children of this age would have already begun their education and learned to read.

His bloodline, even in human times, should not have been illiterate.

As if sensing his confusion, Xue Nai lowered the voice in her head and added:

"My grandparents said... I'm not in good health, so there's no rush for me to go to school."

Their original words were: "Anyway, she won't live much longer, and she's a girl anyway, so it's a waste to hire a teacher to enlighten her."

So the limited number of words that Xue Nai knew were all taught to her gently by her mother, who held her hand by her bedside.

"This character is '雪' (xuě), the same '雪' (xuě) as in '雪奈' (xuě nài)."

"That's how you write 'Se,' 'Ri,' it's Mom's name."

Those memories that had been dormant for a long time and deliberately forgotten suddenly resurfaced clearly at this moment.

I miss... Mom so much.

The thought surged up, carrying a heavy, bittersweet feeling, filling her chest.

But... Mom...

Her small hands clenched unconsciously, her eyes gazing at the cherry blossoms falling in the courtyard, yet looking through them to a more distant past.

It's been... several hundred years, hasn't it?

Xue Nai doesn't actually have a clear concept of time.

But she knew it must have been a very, very long time.

Long enough for an ordinary human being to experience the complete cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, and then... enter the next cycle of reincarnation.

My mother must have already been reincarnated.

She blinked, trying to suppress the warmth that suddenly welled up in her eyes, and silently spoke to that gentle figure who was no longer there:

I hope that in her next life, my mother will have a healthy child who won't always be sick.

In that case, Mom wouldn't have to worry so much every day, wouldn't have to stay by her bedside all night, and wouldn't have to force a smile in front of her while secretly shedding tears behind her back.

I hope Mom can have an easier and happier life.

Never again... because you watch your child slowly die and are powerless to stop it, and in the end you have to choose...

That final scene was her deepest nightmare before she fell asleep, and a forbidden zone she was unwilling to recall clearly.

It only brushed lightly across my heart, yet it brought a tremor.

She shook her head violently, as if that would shake off the sad image.

Stop thinking about it...

Mom must be somewhere else now, doing very well!

She sniffed hard, suppressing the heavy longing and hidden pain deep in her heart.

The breeze in the courtyard, carrying the scent of cherry blossoms, brushed against her cheeks, cool and refreshing, making her feel a little more awake.

She looked again at the colorful falling petals.

Although she still feels a bit stuffy in her chest, at least now she can run, jump, swing, and her lost teeth will grow back.

Although her father was fierce, he was very good to her, and there were many uncles and sisters around her.

That should be enough, right?

She gently touched the left side of her chest, where a slight dullness still lingered.

Then, she looked up at the cherry blossoms fluttering in the air and murmured something very softly.

It's as if I'm speaking to the wind, and also to the person I'll never see again.

"...Be happy, Mom."