Feeling unprecedented happiness that she'll finally be able to see her family again, Kiyomi imagined the happy faces of her parents and siblings.
And the great thing is that her parents won't need to work so hard anymore! She's earned more than enough money for the entire family to eat three meals a day for five years!
The only thing she lost in her quest for money was the ability to stand under the sun, but that can be solved very soon.
Nearing the village located at the foot of Mt. Kumotori, Kiyomi transformed back into her loli form to prevent anyone from suspecting her of anything.
Stepping onto the usual path when she came up and down the mountain with her dad, Kiyomi inhaled the familiar scent of the air.
As she got closer and closer to her home, she got slightly nervous, and she started to nibble on her fingernails.
'Will dad be okay? Would they still remember me? ...I hope they will still remember me..'
Seeing a house with the lights still illuminating the darkness around it, Kiyomi stopped biting her nails and walked towards it.
"Hello? Mr. Saburo?" She knocked on the door.
A small crack opened and an eye appeared in the crack.
Seeing it was just Kiyomi standing there, Saburo quickly opened the door, took Kiyomi by the arm, and pulled her inside the house.
Indoors, Kiyomi looked curiously at the haggard Saburo who was preparing some food.
Coincidentally, he was cutting up some fish.
Saburo was a villager that lived halfway on the mountain, his house was between her home and the village.
Rumors say that his family disappeared one day, but Kiyomi knows that they had been eaten by demons.
"Kiyomi, you shouldn't stay out after the sun has set, there are man-eating demons that will prowl during the night."
'Well of course I know, I'm a demon myself! You just can't recognize that I am one.'
Still keeping an ignorant smile on her face, Kiyomi only stared at the fish that was being prepared for cooking.
"Where did you go for the past half a year anyway? Your family said you went to Asakusa? Knowing you little mischievous lass, you probably went somewhere else, correct?"
Surprised by the smart Saburo, Kiyomi nodded and talked about her human travels to Yoshiwara.
"Oh, I also got a tattoo on my neck because it was necessary for me to work at the place I worked in."
Filling in some of the unspeakable parts with lies, Kiyomi knew that her lie would not be exposed.
'When you lie, you always keep a straight face, even if they expose your lie. And you have to mix some truths into the lie, even if it hurts you to do so. Otherwise, when your lie gets exposed, you'd have nowhere to go.'
"Yoshiwara ey? Well, it is the best place to find work related to entertainment... And, I don't see any tattoos on you, is it hidden? Don't worry girl, I won't tell your parents. Here's some food."
'Wait, did the slayer mark disappear? Or maybe when I need it, I can stimulate it or something?'
While Kiyomi was thinking, Saburo gave Kiyomi a small tray full of food.
Taking the tray of food from the hands of Saburo eagerly, Kiyomi gawked at the fish on top of the steaming hot rice.
'It's like seeing your favorite food on top of unedible junk...'
Still stuffing the unpalatable rice and side dishes into her mouth, she smiled and blatantly complimented the food made by Saburo.
Holding the cup of tea in her hands, she slipped some of the fish slices she had kept from the tray of food into her tea when Saburo wasn't looking.
"Thank you for the meal!"
Finishing her dinner, Kiyomi got up and bowed to Saburo for the meal.
"No need to thank me, you can stay here for the night."
"Okay!"
The next day.
Kiyomi decided to leave early in the morning when the sun hasn't risen yet so that she will have plenty of time to get back home.
"Thank you for your hospitality! I'm going back home now!"
Waving to Saburo, Kiyomi rushed to get back home before sunrise.
Arriving at the familiar small, wooden house, Kiyomi couldn't help but feel a little sentimental.
Walking into the house without notifying her family, she took off the shoes she has been wearing and set down the box on the ground.
'Counting the time, it should almost be the time that everyone got together for breakfast. Let's give them a surprise.'
Quietly walking to the dining room, Kiyomi heard the chattering of her siblings, a bit less lively than before, but still quite pleasant.
"Hey, guys, what are we eating for breakfast?" Kiyomi acted as if she had just woken up.
Nezkuo replied instinctively.
"Oh, we have some miso soup with some buns today nee-san! Come and eat or else it's.. gonna... get .. cold...?"
Realizing what she just said and the voice that she heard, Nezuko turned around to find Kiyomi standing in the doorway, her teeth shining as she smiled at the family sitting around the table.
"Hello!"
Kiyomi waved her hands.
"Nee-san?!!" Tanjiro, Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, and Shigeru yelled in absolute shock.
Anticipating it, Kiyomi had already stuffed her ears with her fingers to avoid her eardrums rupturing.
"Yeah~! I'm back! Did you all miss me?"
It's actually kind of weird, seeing a table full of kids surrounding another kid and treating her like she was an adult even though she was just a year or two older than them.
After calming the overly excited children, Kie, Tanjuro, and the others listened to Kiyomi's journey with gusto.
"...and guess what I brought for you guys??" Kiyomi smiled mysteriously.
Nezuko, and the others all guessed.
"Is it toys??"
"Is it food?"
"Is it money?"
Each child had different guesses, and all of them were correct! Except for the toys.
"Haha! Let me go get it, you guys wait right~ here."
Grabbing the box, she went back in as soon as possible to avoid touching the sunlight.
"I got you all some candy. And each one of you, a unique gift! Come on, here's yours Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, and Shigeru."
Opening the box to reveal all of the goodies inside, Kiyomi took out the gifts that she saved one by one, leaving her personal stuff inside.
"Wow! I got a new Kimono!"
"That's cool nee-san, I got a hairpin! Look!"
"Eh~!? Where's mine onee-san?" Seeing everyone else getting gifts, Tanjiro felt sad that his sister did not get him one too.
"Hehe.. who said I didn't get you a gift too Tanjiro?" Taking out a wooden sword from out of nowhere, Kiyomi handed it to Tanjiro.
"Oh!! A Katana!! Where did it even come from?!?! But, thank you so much onee-san!" Beaming with excitement, Tanjiro examined the new wooden katana that Kiyomi made during her time at Yoshiwara.
After seeing all the amazing stunts that were done by Kiyomi, Tanjiro only had endless admiration for his big sister.
"If you really want to thank me, always keep it on your waist! Unless you are going to shower or do something like that, keep it on you at all times! I'm going to teach you how to hide it just like me."
"Yes!"
Seeing their kids so happy and lively when Kiyomi came back, Kie and Tanjuro chuckled and smiled.
"How come we don't see them so excited when they are around us?" asked Kie.
"Kiyomi has a lot of secrets... and she is doing a really good job as a sister to the kids," said Tanjuro, sipping on a cup of tea.
"Hm~" replied Kie, humming in contemplation and agreement.
...
At noon, Kiyomi was sitting inside the house, using the magic sewing kit to sew paper umbrellas that were larger than usual.
But first, she has to cut the materials into strings. Lots and lots of string.
"How do you do that?" Asked Kie, with shock and disbelief stated clearly with her tone.
"Kaa-san, someone at Asakusa taught me, he said that this kind of craft is used when used to craft exquisite objects. And I like creating beautiful things!"
"No~ that's not the point- *Sigh*, oh well, as long as you're happy." said Kie as she went back to doing her house chores.
Hanging the mask on the right side of her head, continued working on another part of her "Walking in the sun" Equipment set.
Kiyomi kept the mask on her head because it gave her head protection from the sun, and so that she can talk with Miyu.
"Hey Miyu, what would happen if I wanted two skills on one object at once?"
[The max number of skills allowed on one object is two, and you'd only have to create the same object another ten to one hundred times.]
"So say if this umbrella needs me to create twenty-five to. get one skill, I need to create fifty for two??"
[Yep.]
"Not bad, I was expecting something much worse, like another ten times increase."
"Hey, nee-san!!" Nezuko's voice sounded from outside the house.
"Nee-san!" Slightly panting, Nezuko's face was faintly red due to excessive running.
"Why don't you come out and play with us?"
Looking at Nezuko, Kiyomi couldn't say that she had become a demon and couldn't stand in the sun.
"Nezuko, I'm making something extremely important right now, maybe until I finish? It will be a long time, but I really need to do this." Kiyomi said, sounding extremely determined.
"Aw~ Well, if you want to join us, we would be in the backyard! Oh, right, and Tanjiro is working really hard to learn how to use the katana, maybe you can come and teach him!"
Nezuko went back to playing with Hanako, Takeo, and Shigeru.
Looking at the carving knife in her hands, and then back at the bright outdoors, Kiyomi got up and wanted to take a look at Tanjiro's sword training.
Looking outside, Kiyomi saw Tanjiro swinging the katana as if trying to imitate her sword style.
"Puff! hahaha~! Oh, Tanjiro~ you're so cute. If you want to use the sword, at least start from the basics. My sword style is way too complicated for you right now."
Tanjiro, who was swinging the sword with extreme determination, almost fell to the ground in embarrassment when he heard that.
"Well... where should I start?" Asked Tanjiro, scratching his embarrassed face with one finger.
"Hmm~ Well, I guess it's fine. Using an advanced sword technique without the basics can help you train your physique more. Remember to keep breathing, Tanjiro."
Kiyomi was just about to head back inside to continue working on her project before she felt something pulling her towards the sun.
"Come on nee-san! You're here already, so play with me, Takeo, and Hanako!" Nesuko said as she pulled the bewildered Kiyomi out of the shadows.
"NO~ WAI-" Before she can use her strength to stop Nezuko from pulling her into the sun, Kiyomi was already standing in the sunlight.
*Sizzle*