It is said that Sun Pillar-sama is the god of fire

As if aware of the change in the mood of the child in his arms, Kamado Tanjirou silently tightened his embrace, hoping to give the child some comfort.

Perhaps because of the large number of believers, he more or less has the ability to cure diseases—but it's just curing some minor ailments like colds and fevers.

The child's situation was far more complicated than he imagined.

Like an extremely vicious gangrene, the stubborn root of the disease is deeply rooted in Yue Yan's body. His ability can barely relieve the symptoms, but it only treats the symptoms but not the root cause.

As long as the child gets a little bit of cold, the old disease will relapse again, and it will never be cured.

As if guessing what Kagami was thinking, the child buried in Tanjirou's arms tightly grasped the god's fine clothes, and pulled the black kimono out of ugly folds.

Even the gods can't let him get rid of the pain, so in the future, can he...

"It's okay." The chest next to him vibrated slightly, and Vulcan's dull voice came from above his head.

"Didn't I say that, I will always protect you and protect you from growing up safely."

This is the most solemn promise of the gods.

He has no way to completely cure Tsukihiko's illness, but if it's just a relief, Kamado Tanjiro still believes that he can reduce the child's illness as much as possible.

He will be by this child's side, and spend this cold winter with him who doesn't know when it will end.

Gently letting go of the child's hand tightly gripping the clothes, Tanjiro turned his head and glanced at the pitch-black sky outside the door, and slowly pushed the child away from his arms without a trace.

"It's very late now, good boy, go to bed early." Squeezing the child's soft cheeks, seeing the child's rather dissatisfied face wrinkled, he couldn't help laughing.

Although according to the usual custom, on the day of the Fire God Festival, there should be a special person guarding the flame next to the altar to ensure that it can burn all night.Every household will also ignite a cluster of flames spontaneously. If the flames can be guaranteed to last all night, they will definitely receive the favor of the Vulcan God in the coming year.

However, for Tsukihiko who is still a child, it is better to rest as soon as possible.

However, Tsukihiko just stubbornly tugged Kamado Tanjirou's sleeve, pursed his lips tightly, and said nothing, his dark eyes kept staring at the figure of the god in front of him, as if he was afraid that the person in front of him would disappear if he blinked.

Kamado Tanjiro had no choice but to squat halfway in front of the child, taking advantage of the child's momentary stupefaction, quickly stretched out his finger, and tapped the child's forehead with incomparable precision.

Vulcan's movements were very gentle, being caught off guard by such a poke, Tsukihiko subconsciously raised his hand to cover his forehead tightly, and even backed away quietly unconsciously, for fear that Tanjiro would do it to him again.

It hurts so much that it doesn't hurt, the key is that this feeling is really weird.

Seeing the child clutching his forehead and looking at him with aggrieved eyes, Kamado Tanjiro couldn't help but chuckle.

Although he looks old-fashioned, he is still a very cute kid.

"Then... will you come tomorrow?" Yue Yan asked in a low voice, knowing that he couldn't leave the god in front of him, and put down his hands covering his forehead.If it weren't for the god's excellent hearing, it would be almost impossible to hear what the child said.

The child clenched his hands tightly, and his teeth left bright red marks on his pale lips.

How could it be possible.

Yue Yan secretly mocked in his heart rather indifferently.

He is just an inconspicuous human being in the eyes of the gods. Strictly speaking, he is not even his believer. Why should the gods agree to his request?

"Ah, that's right." As if he suddenly remembered something, Vulcan gently pulled the wooden door out of a gap, quickly dragged something in from outside the door, and then quickly closed the door, fearing that the cold outside would take the opportunity to enter .

Seeing what Tanjirou Zamon was holding, Tsukihiko suddenly opened his eyes wide, his dark pupils were stained with doubts, as if he didn't quite understand why the gods brought such a thing specially.

It was an exquisitely crafted lantern.

As if trying to make the child happy, Kamado Tanjirou knelt down in front of Tsukihiko, pushing the lantern in his hand towards the child, his eyes full of soft smiles.

Vulcan raised his hand, and unlike the tiny flames floating in the room before, a cluster of gorgeous burning flames suddenly appeared, and the constantly churning flames were clearly reflected in the child's dark eyes.

Kamado Tanjirou slowly put the cluster of flames into the delicate lantern.I don't know what kind of material the lantern is made of. Even if it carried a vigorously burning flame, it was not lit. Instead, the orange-red light penetrated the hazy cellophane and filled the whole room.

"Wow!" The child couldn't help exclaiming, "It's so beautiful!"

He couldn't help leaning in front of the lantern, carefully tracing the shadows cast by the firelight on the ground, and the joyful look fell into the eyes of the gods, making Kamado Tanjirou's eyebrows and eyes softer.

"May I let it stay with you tonight?" Counting the time, he really couldn't wait to disturb the child's rest. Vulcan picked up the child and walked steadily to the bed beside him.

Tsukihiko grabbed the skirt of Kagami's chest tightly in panic due to the panic caused by his body flying suddenly, and he froze in Kamado Tanjirou's embrace, not daring to move at all.

It wasn't until Vulcan put him in the cold quilt, with a lantern emitting warm orange light beside him, that the god bent down and tucked the corners of the quilt for him very intimately, before saying goodbye to him softly.

The child who has never been taken care of so carefully can't say anything, and can only watch helplessly as the door is gradually closed to completely block Vulcan's figure, and the warm and unique crimson can no longer be seen in his eyes , then slowly turned his gaze, staring at the dark roof.

With Vulcan's departure, the flames that had been floating around gradually disappeared. Except for the lantern beside him that was still quietly emitting light, the room was pitch black again.

If it wasn't for the fact that there was such an exquisite lantern beside him, Yue Yan almost wondered if everything just now was just his imagination.

It's not that he didn't think about going too far and letting the gods in front of him accompany him for a while, but would he be rejected by the gods if he was so greedy?

Yue Yan silently turned over, almost curled up in the still cold bed, and slowly closed his eyes.

Probably not.He thought so.

After all, that Vulcan, it seemed, would not refuse his request at all.

However, it is better to take it slowly.

Perhaps it was the cold temperature in the bed that also affected his mood, Yue Yan could be said to think so indifferently.

It was hard for him to get such warmth, even if it was just the flood of sympathy from the gods, he would do everything possible to keep this warmth.

Whether it is sympathy or pity, as long as you can keep the gods by your side, there is nothing that cannot be used.

Yue Yan didn't feel how miserable his life experience was at all, anyway, he never expected anything from that family.

But if he could attract the pity of that overly kind god, he would be a little lucky.

Compared with the attention of the distant family, it is easier to retain the warmth that is so close at hand.

As he thought so, he gradually let his thoughts drift away, and finally sank into the darkness.

****

did not come.

Holding the lantern in his arms whose flames had been extinguished, Tsukihiko sat quietly in the shadow of the corner, the rare sunlight in winter could not penetrate the heavy haze surrounding the house, and the house that had lost all flames was icy cold.

fraud!

The child curled up in the shadows bit his lower lip tightly, an indescribable grievance suddenly appeared in his heart, and his eyes felt a little sour almost instantly.

He clutched the lantern in his arms tightly, and suddenly had the urge to throw the lantern viciously—it was just a lie to him anyway, why keep this thing!

But just as he raised the lantern, he suddenly began to be reluctant again.

What if the gods still come?What if he just had other things to attend to?

God must be very busy, right?

Throwing the lantern in his hand is not a good thing, and it is not good if he does not throw it. In the end, Yue Yan just sighed heavily, and put the lantern in the other corner of the room, faking a state of being out of sight and calm in mind.

Because of yesterday's agreement, he got up very early today, and almost every once in a while, he would quietly open the door and look out carefully, just hoping to see the figure of Vulcan in his eyes at the first time.

He didn't quite understand why he was in such a tangled situation.

Obviously as long as there is no expectation for that god—just like facing parents, there will be no feeling of loss if there is no expectation—it is obviously just a stranger who just met once, how could he...

"Tsukihiko!"

I don't know if it's his auditory hallucinations, but there seems to be a clear and gentle voice that belongs to Vulcan from outside.

The body moved before the brain, and he couldn't remember how he rushed to the door, opened the door, and looked at the crimson figure outside in shock.

I don't know if it was because of the sudden cold outside, he suddenly squatted down/body, and coughed violently, his pale face was also stained with a blush because of the violent cough.

Hearing Tsukihiko's cough, Kamado Tanjiro was shocked and dragged the two children forward in a hurry. The two children on the left and the right were staggered by him and almost fell down.

However, Vulcan, who was so focused on Yueyan, didn't notice the "tragedy" of the two children around him at all, rushed to Yueyan's side in a hurry, and almost shut the two children dragged by him out.

"Tanjiro, who is this?"

When Yue Yan finally stopped coughing, when he raised his head, he met a pair of blue eyes staring at him curiously.

It seemed that two children who were about the same age as him were squatting in front of him, looking at him curiously. The child with a pair of bewitching blue pupils turned his head and asked Vulcan, who seemed to be quite familiar with the god.

"This is Tsukihiko." Kamado Tanjiro knelt beside Tsukihiko, stroking Tsukihiko's soft black hair quite naturally, smiling softly, silently relieving the child's nervousness when he saw a stranger.

"These two are Ye Bu and Tricky Ghost."

Yue Yan quietly looked at the other two children sitting in front of him, without saying a word.

Kamado Tanjiro was not reluctant either.He was afraid that Yueyan would feel lonely if he was alone, so he wanted to bring Ye Bu here, but he didn't expect Ye Bu to drag the slippery ghost with him, so he simply brought both of them together.

"Tanjirou." The blue-eyed kami suddenly approached the black-haired child, looked him up and down carefully for a long time, and then frowned and spoke to the Kagami beside him.

"Tanjirou, it's better not to get closer to this guy?"

Yebu held his chin, racking his brains to find a more suitable adjective, but had to give up because of the lack of knowledge.

"There's something very uncomfortable about this guy."

"If you get too involved with him, Tanjirou, you'll—"

No one noticed that the black-haired child's hands hidden under his sleeves were suddenly clenched.