Seventh Moon

Goal

"Eh! One more story, please?" This little boy sure is full of energy! Still, his adorable face was something I can't say no to. I was just about to give in when Rengoku-san walked in.

"You're still up, Nobu?" At his voice, the little boy instantly straightened up and turned to him with his hands behind his back – as if caught doing something he shouldn't be. Well, he is still awake past his bedtime.

"I was just about to go to sleep! Uh, good night sir." He then ran to me, tackling me into a hug. "Good night, obaachan!" Ah yes, obaachan. I'm a grandmother now. Nobu is Yori's grandson... well, one of his grandchildren. He got married a few years after Yusuke left, and had a lot of children and a lot more grandchildren.

I say a lot, but he only had four children – like us siblings – and then his children had at least two or three each. Yusuke, for someone who didn't want to be found by us, moved to the next town. It was easy to keep tabs on him, all we had to do was pretend we didn't know where he was. He and Keiko-san had two daughters, and they have a ramen shop that seemed to be always busy.

I tried once to talk to him. He reacted pretty much the same way he did when he left. Father and mother, while understandably sad about almost everything that happened to our family, felt amazing joy at becoming grandparents. They passed away decades ago now, three years apart.

Yori inherited almost everything. Yusuke didn't bother with his share, and I received some money that father hoped would help me survive for as long as demons live. I didn't even need to use it since Yori insisted that I stay with him and his family.

Both of us didn't tell his wife and children what I was outright. Just that I had some disease that prevents me from walking out in the sun. But the fact that I haven't aged a day when even his kids are now decades older than I am was clue enough. Still, the word demon was not used at our estate.

Kuwajima-san retired years ago. It was after the first and only attack that Muzan-sama... no, Kibutsuji, ordered. It was a lower rank moon that attacked us – someone I've never met, but Kuwajima-san defeated him easily enough. Then the newly recruited upper rank six came out of nowhere and got Kuwajima-san's leg. It was a difficult fight, something that made me miss Akaza-san's lessons so much.

We didn't defeat him, but we were able to drive him off. I can't say we weren't hurt, as I felt like I could die right then with all the gashes I've received. I reckoned that I'd be more useful as a shield than if I attempted to fight then. And what a glorious meat-shield was I. Kuwajima-san lived, but with the loss of a limb, his career as a demon slayer was over.

This meant a new hashira was assigned to our district. It's been more or less forty years now, and there has been a lot of hashiras that were assigned here. Some of them do drop by our estate, maybe to see the demon that does not kill humans. Some were friendly enough; others stay away completely. The latest one to be assigned here was Rengoku Shinjuro-san.

He always looks like he was on fire due to his wild hair that is as bright as the sun. Maybe it's because he's the flame hashira? "That kid is sure growing up too fast." He said, sitting across from me. "Your son is about Nobu's age, isn't he? I'm excited to meet him." Rengoku-san is only twenty-five but is already a hashira and a father of two. How he managed to do all this at the same time, I have no idea.

"About that, Y/N-san." Ah, Y/N. It's different than what Kibutsuji called me, and also different from my birth name. Yori figured I should change my name every couple of decades, as children can't really stop themselves from talking. Imagine how the neighbors would react if they hear the kids talk about Yukiko who was supposed to be missing years ago. It's just a precaution that Yori wanted us to take.