Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Second Sun after the Nation

"This child is born with a disability. Although it is possible to cure it, you already have a new child. Why are you still so persistent? Your family's life is not that good, is it? Listen to my advice. You two don't need to give up everything for a child like that."

"But Jihua is also my son. I can't be so partial to one over the other. At least as a mother... I can't..."

"Are you really stupid or just pretending to be stupid? Look, isn't Zhuyu alive and well? Besides, if you really didn't dislike Xiaohua, why was Zhuyu born? Although I don't want to get involved in your family's affairs, as a relative, I still want to advise you to give up on him. He doesn't have so many benefits that are worth your training. You are an adult, and you should know these things even if I don't tell you."

"Give me some time to think about it. After all, it would be too cruel to the child. I really don't want to go to such a point. After all, people born with disabilities always have a chance to be cured, right?"

"You've been in society for so long, why haven't your naive habits been erased? Forget it, it's good that they haven't been erased, but I don't know if you can survive the next period of time."

"It's okay, cousin. I believe Xiaohua will get better."

"You... forget it, I won't say anything. You better learn from your mistakes. If you need me, I will do my best to help you, but you must remember not to let anyone find out what you are thinking, especially your crazy husband. He is planning a divorce recently. Do you want to keep Zhu Yu by your side? If you do, prepare for a lawsuit in advance..."

"I understand...cousin, I will pay attention."

"Brother, do you think Mother will succeed?"

"Doesn't it matter to you whether you succeed or not? Anyway, you will be the only one that your parents can't get their hands on... and I'm just a burden that everyone wants to get rid of..."

"But...Brother! I have never considered you a burden..."

In a chaotic residential building, two petite figures hid in the corner of the corridor. They were facing a door that had been opened. Inside, two women were talking. The topic seemed to be a bit serious. Perhaps because of this, no one was sitting down to talk. Of course, it could also be because the messy and dirty environment in the house was not suitable for sitting...

"elder brother……"

I don’t know when my brother started to change. He used to be tenacious and determined to grow. He was one of the people I admired the most, because I knew very well that my father was not a guy worthy of admiration. Compared to a bad person like my father, my brother was more like what I wanted him to be.

But now I feel less like him and more like my father, the father whose all life has turned into sharp blades. Although I know that the vitality of such a brother seems to become stronger and stronger, I really feel pain, not only physically, but also mentally.

"Zhu Yu... Mom is begging you, your brother really needs your blood... Just this once, for the sake of him taking care of you for so long, please help your brother..."

"Why are you asking what a parasitic relationship is? This doesn't seem like the knowledge you should be exposed to... I don't think I should tell you, because if I spoil the story for you, it will probably give your biology teacher a headache during your biology class..."

"I have thought about looking through the books myself, but I can't find the teacher. As for this relationship, I heard someone else mention it by chance. I thought it was interesting, so I wanted to ask..."

"It's true that interest is the best teacher. Well, your biology teacher is not here recently. If you keep leaving this question alone, you will probably lose interest. So I'll take over and explain it to you."

"Parasitic relationships are the most unique of the three relationships. They cannot survive on their own, nor can they provide nutrients to their parasites like symbiosis. They are completely egoistic. After draining all the nutrients from the parasitic one, they will continue to drain others to complete the task of reproduction."

"Are they bad, then?"

"It depends on how you define it, because they can bring certain benefits to the parasites, but these benefits are not important or even useless. For example, the parasite can pass the damage done to a tree to all the trees it parasitizes, letting other trees know that their companions are under attack, but trees cannot grow legs and run away, so this benefit is of no use at all."

"But for humans, it does have a certain effect. Even so, it is still undeniable that it is parasitic. But if trees grow legs one day, their relationship with humans may change from parasitic to symbiotic. After all, when avoiding predators, it is best if only one person gets hurt, rather than a group of people getting hurt."

"Is that so? Teacher, I understand. I'll be leaving now. Class will start soon. Goodbye, teacher."

"Wait, am I having an occupational disease again and telling you too much? Oh, that's enough... I'm not going to become the kind of unsympathetic teacher they say... Really, ever since I started teaching politics, I can't help but talk more and more..."

In the past, I just knew that my brother had changed, why he had changed…what had changed…

But at this moment I think I have the answer. My brother has long lost that kind of upward vitality. In other words, he is no longer the big tree in my heart. Now he is just a parasite on me, an indescribable thing. What should I do...

Ji Zhuyu looked at the needle holes on his arm and the scar that had just healed, and walked quietly in the corridor. The world was particularly quiet not because no one was involved, but because his world seemed to have long since stopped allowing anyone to participate...

"Ji Zhuyu, where did you go after class? Did you go to the infirmary again? I am really impressed. We are all children, why is your physique so strange? Every time you return to school, you are weak, and you get better until the day you go back, and then you become like this again when you come back. I almost suspect that you hurt yourself every day after returning home in order to avoid going to school, but what you show in school is completely certain that you don't hate school, right?

You are like the reincarnation of a caterpillar. You are a human being. Can you take care of yourself like a caterpillar? Even if you don’t consider yourself, please consider me. I really worry about you every day..."

Yes... I am a human being, not a caterpillar. I have never been the one to be ashamed of myself...