Demon Slayer: My breathing technique went awry after Nezuko pushed me down.

"So, you've been keeping an eye on me all along?"

Makomo pursed her lips but didn't say anything.

Shirakawa Yu took two steps forward and stopped about three to five meters away from Makomo, looking at her with great interest.

"I called you so many times before, but you always ignored me. Why did you finally show up today?"

He tilted his head, a slightly mischievous smile on his face. "Does it mean I have to kill a ghost to be considered a 'pledge of allegiance'?"

Makomo felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, so she lowered her head slightly, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, and a faint blush seemed to rise on her fair cheeks.

“Actually… I’m quite curious about you too,” she whispered, her voice barely audible, “but… Sabito won’t let me… he says you seem… improper…”

"Makomo...you're just selling me out like this...?"

Just as Makomo finished speaking, a slightly deep, boyish voice, tinged with a helpless smile, suddenly rang out from the top of the boulder.

Makomo hadn't expected Sabito to speak up. She let out a soft "Ah!" and lowered her head even further, her ears turning red. "I...I was just telling the truth..."

As the words fell, the air atop the boulder distorted slightly, and another figure slowly materialized.

He was a boy who looked slightly older than Makomo. He had unusual short, flesh-colored hair and wore a scarred, somewhat fierce-looking fox mask.

Even with the mask on, you could still feel his gaze fixed on Makomo, filled with a doting affection that he couldn't control.

A rabbit with a sharpened head.

The current Water Pillar, Yi Yong's white moonlight.

Bai Chuanyu understood, his smile widened, and his gaze shifted between the two.

Seemingly to ease the embarrassment of being caught, and also to change the subject, Makomo looked up at Shirakawa Yu again, and a series of questions popped out like pebbles:

"Um... Shirakawa-kun, I'm really curious! How did you know we existed? Even Master didn't know we could appear like this..."

"And your knife!"

"It looks like a knife, but we can feel... it's empty inside, like there's some kind of space inside. It's very strange."

"Also, what's with that breathing technique of yours? It's pink...it's so weird, but...when you use it, I feel like...I want to get closer to you..."

Her voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible, and her eyes darted away.

Sabito, who was standing to the side, couldn't stand it any longer. "Hey, Makomo! Why are you acting so humble? If we're really talking about it, you're his senior!"

Makomo glanced back and glared at Sabito, then quickly turned back and cautiously looked at Shirakawa Yu's expression.

The moonlight shone on his handsome face, perfectly illuminating the meaningful smile on his lips.

Makomo's heart pounded (if it could), and she lowered her head in a panic once again.

The rabbit behind him rolled its eyes.

I don't know what's wrong with this girl. She's usually a very calm girl, but she panics terribly whenever she sees Bai Chuanyu.

Shirakawa Yuya smiled as he looked at Makomo.

He wasn't sure before, but now he knows for sure.

With the boost from my own Color Breathing, I can control humans, ghosts, and souls!

A complete sweep!

Judging from the way this girl is now, she probably peeked at me a lot while I was whittling stones here a while ago.

Interesting. I was originally thinking about how to lure them out, how to gain Makomo's favor, and how to abduct this little girl to be my sword spirit.

Now it seems things are going much more smoothly than expected.

All I need to do is add fuel to the fire!

Bai Chuanyu spoke slowly, his voice soft and seductive.

"Are you curious?"

Makoto nodded hurriedly, her little head bobbing like a chick pecking at rice.

This time, even Sabito next to him seemed to tilt his head slightly, showing his attention.

After all, Shirakawa Yu is different from Tanjiro, whose future is predictable. He is too mysterious and too strange.

Then, Shirakawa Yu smiled.

It wasn't the playful laugh from before, but a wicked laugh that carried a punitive undertone.

I'm not telling you.

Makomo⊙(?◇?)？: "......Eh?"

She froze, her little mouth slightly open, her light green eyes wide open, her face filled with bewilderment, looking so cute it was almost unfair.

Sabito was also visibly taken aback, his mask seemingly turning towards Shirakawa Yu, exuding an air of speechlessness.

"Want to know?"

Shirakawa Yu drawled out, as if teasing a kitten, "Tomorrow. Wait for me here. I'll tell you then."

"Why...why?" Makomo finally snapped out of her daze and asked timidly, with a hint of grievance.

She had been curious for a year, and finally mustered the courage to show herself...

“Look at me, I’ve been talking to myself for a year.”

Shirakawa Yu paused, then winked at the still bewildered Makomo and the speechless Sabito.

"What? Now it's your turn to be curious, can't you even wait a day?"

After saying that, he didn't linger and turned to walk down the mountain.

The figure quickly disappeared into the shadows of the forest below.

Silence returned to the open space.

Makomo stood there, staring blankly at the direction where Shirakawa Yu had disappeared for several seconds.

Suddenly, her little mouth puffed out, she stomped her little feet twice, and disappeared.

"Hey!"

Sako sighed silently, "I told you... that guy is no good."

The next second, his figure seemed to melt into the moonlight, slowly fading and disappearing without a trace.

......

The next day, at nightfall.

After Tanjiro went back to rest, Shirakawa Yu appeared right on time next to the boulder at the top of the mountain.

He stopped, cleared his throat, and softly called out to the seemingly empty surroundings:

"I'm here!"

No one answered.

"True mushroom? Razorback rabbit?"

Only the chirping of birds returning to their nests could be heard.

"Hey—if you don't come out now, I'm really leaving!" Shirakawa Yu raised his voice.

He waited for ten seconds, then actually turned around, started walking, and headed down the mountain.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Just as he was about to step into the shadows of the forest, his figure almost completely obscured by the trees—

"Hey~!"

A voice, filled with urgency, annoyance, and a touch of softness, called out from behind him.

"No, don't go!"

Bai Chuanyu stopped in his tracks, turned his back to the direction from which the sound came, and couldn't help but smile.

He slowly turned around.

Under the cover of night, that slender figure was pouting slightly, looking at him with a mixture of reproach and expectation.

Chapter 18: Falling in Love and Splitting Giant Rocks~

Shirakawa Yu turned around, his face beaming with an undisguised smug smile that looked particularly...infuriating.

At least that's what Makomo thinks.

Her cheeks puffed out, and her light green eyes widened, like a little squirrel whose pine cone had been stolen.

"You, you did it on purpose!" Makomo stomped her little feet angrily. "Yesterday too! Today too!"

"Hmm~" Shirakawa Yu nodded generously, put his hands in his pockets, and swaggered back to Makomo's side. "What else can I do? I've been calling for a year and no one has paid any attention to me. I have to get some 'revenge'."

"We didn't mean to ignore you..." Makomo's voice trailed off, her fingers twisting the hem of her clothes again. "Sabito said... said it would be better to observe further..."

"What did you observe?" Shirakawa Yu asked with great interest.

"I've figured you're a troublesome guy." A deep voice came from the side.

Sabito's figure slowly emerged, still wearing the same old haori, his fox mask facing Shirakawa Yu.

Although you can't see their expressions, the helplessness in their tone is almost overflowing.

"Wow, Sabito-senpai is here too." Shirakawa Yu wasn't surprised at all, and greeted him with a grin, "Good evening~"

Sabito didn't respond to his question and said directly, "Makomo answered your question yesterday. Now it's your turn to answer."

"Yes, yes!" Makomo was reminded and quickly straightened her small body, trying her best to look more serious.

"Shirakawa-kun, you still haven't told me! How do you know about us? And your breathing technique, and your sword—"

"Wait, wait, wait."

Bai Chuanyu raised a hand, interrupting her barrage of questions, "One question for another, isn't that fair?"

Makomo was stunned: "Huh?"

“You answered my question yesterday, ‘How do you know I killed a ghost?’ Today I can answer one of your questions.”