The sky was pitch-black like spilled ink, stars sparse, the moonlight covered by dark clouds.
On the ground, a gray-green off-road vehicle, under the illumination of two star-level high beams, roared fiercely as the engine growled, speeding all the way forward.
"Ahhh!??" Tanjiro sat in the back seat and let out a startled cry.
Just now, his younger sister Nezuko actually spoke.
Ever since waking up, Nezuko could understand others' instructions, but she had always been unable to speak.
These past few days, Tanjiro had been teaching her, though with little effect. Yet just now, Nezuko actually repeated his words.
He was overjoyed. At this rate, one day, his sister would surely come back.
"Great!" Tanjiro encouraged, "Nezuko, practice with me one more time."
He pointed to himself and slowly said, "Big brother."
Nezuko's bright eyes looked at him, and she stammered, "Bro…ther…"
Tanjiro was nearly moved to tears with joy. This was a good sign. He decided to work even harder to teach Nezuko more things.
"Shinobu big sister."
Nezuko slowly repeated, "Shinobu… big… sister…"
Shinobu, sitting in the front seat, turned and smiled.
"Kamado-kun, even though Nezuko still retains characteristics of a demon and fears sunlight, overall, she is gradually changing for the better. This is truly great."
Tanjiro smiled and nodded, then pointed to Jotaro, who was focusing on driving, "Jotaro-san."
Gazing blankly at the cold face reflected in the glass, Nezuko's little face turned rosy, and suddenly she smiled, "Jo…ta…ro-san, like…"
"No, that's wrong!" Tanjiro puffed his cheeks. "It's Jotaro-san!"
Nezuko blinked, and said in broken speech, "…like… Jo…ta…ro-san."
"Like… like? I didn't teach her that."
Tanjiro was a bit discouraged; Nezuko's intellect still seemed to have some issues.
But thinking again, he had clearly only taught her four words, yet Nezuko said six, and even learned how to change the word order.
This was also a kind of progress.
"Good… sign…" He murmured.
Looking at Nezuko's delicate little side profile, Tanjiro suddenly had an illusion of "a grown daughter can't be kept at home."
'Will my sister really come back?'
"Yare yare…"
Seeing the fuel gauge nearly empty, Jotaro slammed the brakes and pulled the car over.
"Let's rest here for the night."
He took out his TAG Heuer watch and glanced at it. It was already close to midnight. Because they had been on the road non-stop, they hadn't eaten yet.
In Kansai, Jotaro had thoroughly investigated the hospital where Ken Takakura was born. A doctor who had worked there over thirty years ago said he had never heard that name.
But he did have some vague impression of a pregnant woman who died. However, the cause of death was different from what Jotaro knew.
It wasn't that her organs were eaten by someone, but that she died from massive bleeding during childbirth.
There were many suspicious points. Jotaro then went to the local police station to inquire about the detailed situation of that time.
But the officers knew nothing about it.
Left with no choice, he had to stop time and sneak in to look at the records. But because the incident was too long ago, the records related to the case had already been erased.
"The clues are broken again. Jotaro-san, why are we going to Tokyo?" Shinobu gently walked to Jotaro's side and asked.
After topping up the engine oil, Jotaro straightened up and replied, "Such a vile incident but so few people know about it, don't you find that strange?"
"I think someone tampered with this case."
Shinobu pondered for a while, then suddenly thought of something, her face showing a trace of seriousness.
"You suspect the coroner who autopsied the deceased woman back then?"
She suddenly realized and said softly, "Could it be the person you previously tried to investigate?"
Jotaro slightly nodded, "Not long after that incident, he was transferred to Tokyo."
"I see."
Shinobu understood too, Jotaro was trying to follow this person to uncover the truth of the incident. Just when they thought the clues were completely gone, Jotaro had already found a new lead.
Shinobu blinked and once again asked, "Jotaro-san, are you really not considering joining the Demon Slayer Corps?"
Jotaro frowned and didn't respond. This troublesome woman had asked him this question countless times over the past few days. It was impossible not to be annoyed!
"Alright, alright." Shinobu raised both hands with a smile. She had already noticed Jotaro's impatience, if she kept pushing, he would definitely lose his temper again.
"Miss Shinobu, Jotaro-san, um… we're out of rations."
Tanjiro scratched his head and climbed out of the car, speaking somewhat awkwardly. His stomach even growled from hunger.
Shinobu handed over the last pancake from her body with a smile and said, "If you're really hungry, eat this."
Tanjiro understood that they had been busy gathering information, and didn't have time to worry about food.
This pancake was surely one of the few remaining rations on Shinobu's person. How could he be so shameless as to take it?
Seeing through Tanjiro's thoughts, Shinobu softly said, "It's okay. I can hold out until tomorrow morning."
"Kamado-kun, you're still a child. You need to replenish your nutrition. Take it."
"But…" Tanjiro hesitated for a moment, then resolutely shook his head.
"Yare yare, you're not that old yourself. Why are you using that tone to talk to others?" Jotaro closed his eyes and spoke with some helplessness.
Compared to Tanjiro, he felt that Shinobu was the one who needed to replenish nutrition more. That petite body was already on the shorter side even among peers.
However… though small in stature and slender in figure, her upright chest was still relatively full. At least at a glance, one could tell she was a woman.
In the next second, he took out several buckets of cup noodles from his storage space and threw them to the two of them.
With a mind as meticulous as his, how could he ignore the issue of food?
The reason he had focused entirely on gathering intel and ignored the food situation was because his system contained an endless supply of resources, so there was no need for him to waste energy on such trivial matters.
Catching the items Jotaro tossed over, Shinobu and Tanjiro looked confused.
"Jotaro-san, what is this?"
"Cup noodles. There are words on it," Jotaro reminded.
"Noodles?" Shinobu shook the cup noodles in her hand. The sound inside was hard and crunchy, completely different from the soft texture of noodles she remembered.
But she wasn't stupid. After Jotaro's reminder, she immediately started reading the text on the packaging.
"Dehydrated noodles?"
'Can noodles processed this way still taste good?' Shinobu wondered for no reason, but soon shook her head.
Being able to fill the stomach now was already a blessing. Who still had the energy to worry about taste?
"Seems like it needs hot water too."
Opening the cup noodles and looking at the dry noodle brick inside, along with several strange seasoning packets, Shinobu recalled the instructions written on the side.
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