Taste of Poison Paradise

Chapter 2

Her first search for Yushiro yields nothing particularly useful. It gives a profile of an artist from the mid 1900s, only painting the beautiful Tamayo. Died 1980.

Shinobu feels her heart twist at the memory of Tamayo. She was a truly amazing person—yes, a person. She was as human as any of them. Shinobu had been wary at first, but she and Tamayo—and by extension, Yushiro—had gotten close. Planning to die and take down Kibutsuji had that effect on people.

However, once she scrolls a little farther, she comes across more information. Yamamoto Yushiro apparently had next of kin: one kid per generation, all boys, and all of them carried on his legacy.

Shinobu snorts. You'd think he would come up with a better cover story for his immortality. She spends the rest of the short bus ride making plans to track down Yushiro. They need to talk, urgently.

As soon as she steps off the bus, Midnight ushers her into the staff room. "Alright young lady, explain."

Shinobu faces the staff. Principal Nezu has a neutral look on his face, but concerned nonetheless. Some look at her curiously while others are frowning.

"The Nomu," she begins, "which is the creature I killed, used to be human. I believe it is the result of human experimentation."

Everyone in the room draws in a breath. The air had been sucked out of the room. The staff all look reasonably horrified. "How do you know this?" whispers Powerloader.

She sighs. Looks like she'll be revealing her memories earlier than she ever planned.

"I lived in the Taisho Era, thousands of years ago. At that time, there existed these creatures we called demons. They had superhuman powers, like our quirks, called Blood Demon Arts. They also had enhanced speed, power, and regeneration. They were also cannibalistic, with an insatiable hunger for human flesh."

She looks around the room at the stricken faces of her teachers. Shinobu is sure she had something similar on her face while her parents were killed in front of her and Kanae.

"My comrades and I dedicated and sacrificed our lives to eradicate all of them," she continues,  "which started with killing the progenitor, Kibutsuji Muzan. Finally, we defeated him. Since I myself was killed early in the battle, I have no idea if my comrades survived. Demons have not existed since. The next thing I knew, I woke up 18 years ago."

"How did you kill them?" Present Mic asks.

"Demons had 3 ways to be killed: The sun, wisteria, and being beheaded with a metal called Nichirin, which absorbs sunlight." She gestures to her katana. "I used wisteria poisons of my own creation to destroy these demons, while my comrades used Nichirin blades to behead them. We utilized what we called breathing styles and something called Total Concentration Breathing—it put us on par with demons."

"On par with demons?" Midnight gapes.

"This Nomu sent me into a panic when I briefly saw it on the security cameras," Shinobu continues, ignoring her, "for I believed it might have been a demon. During the battle, I used wisteria poison to test my theory. It was decently effective, but only when the wisteria was combined with normal poison that the Nomu died. Demons were made, not born, as I suspect the Nomu are as well."

Silence follows her speech.

Shinobu decides to barrel on. "I interrogated the one named Kurogiri–the one of mist. It does not seem like Kibutsuji has reincarnated and has been able to recreate demons. However, I will be attempting to remake the drug that weakened Kibutsuji enough for us to kill him. We need to destroy the source before this 'Sensei' person somehow manages to recreate demons."