“Kanae?
Flower Hashira?
Wait, you-”
Shinobu stared at Hajime in surprise.
“How do you know my sister’s name?
And that she’s a Hashira?”
She turned to Kanae.
“Big sis, you haven’t known him that long, why would you tell him something like that?”
Shinobu sensed a massive crisis unfolding.
This was a disaster!
Was this brat going to steal her sister away from her?
Danger!
Shinobu!
Danger!
“Shinobu, I didn’t tell him.
It’s because Hajime is a Demon Slayer Corps swordsman too.”
“Hah?”
Shinobu stared, completely dumbfounded.
Hajime gave a confirming nod.
So this was a case of friendly fire, comrades who didn’t recognize each other in civilian clothes?
‘No!’ Shinobu’s eyes widened.
“You bastard!”
She extended her slender fingers and poked Hajime right in the chest.
“You’re a Demon Slayer Corps swordsman yourself, and you know full well Kanae is a Hashira.
Yet you still dare waste her time?
Don’t you know how busy the Hashira are?”
Hajime didn’t mind the poking.
He simply looked over at Kanae.
“Is Kanae very busy?”
The Flower Hashira smiled brightly.
“It’s really nothing.
I’m just busy taking care of a child.
I should thank you, Hajime, for telling stories to me and Kanao.”
It suddenly felt like the classic scenario of a single man crossing paths with a single mother raising a child.
Furious at the two of them and completely at a loss for words, Shinobu grabbed Kanae and made a desperate run for it.
Hajime and Kanao watched the Kocho sisters go, staring at each other blankly.
A moment later, Shinobu dragged Kanae back, pulled Kanao along with them, and shot Hajime a fierce glare before leaving for good.
In their room at the hot spring hotel, the Kocho sisters all slept in one large bed.
Shinobu complained bitterly to Kanae about what had happened earlier.
Kanae smiled and soothed her younger sister, looking like she was comforting a bristling cat.
“Ara ara, actually, I don’t think Hajime is as bad as you think.”
“Big Sis, you’re a Hashira.
Could you maybe act like one?” Shinobu felt utterly helpless at her older sister’s carefree attitude.
“The other Hashira are full of authority, just one look and people know to keep their distance.
But you, the way you act, it’s easy for people to mistake you for a pushover.”
Kanae didn’t find anything wrong with her behavior.
Instead, she smiled warmly as she spoke.
“So Shinobu cares about me so this much?
Thank you so much.”
Shinobu’s voice rose in frustration.
“Big Sis.”
Kanae quickly placed her hands over Kanao Tsuyuri’s ears, Kanao slept between her and Shinobu, and lowered her voice to a soft whisper.
“Kanao is asleep.
Don’t talk so loud, you’ll wake her up.”
Shinobu immediately clamped a hand tightly over her mouth.
“Alright, I know Shinobu cares about me, and I’m very touched.
But Shinobu, you need to smile more too.
Girls look their absolute cutest when they smile.”
“Big Sis~”
“Alright, alright, go to sleep.
Staying up late is bad for a girl’s skin and beauty, you know.”
Kanae coaxed her gently with a smile.
Shinobu could do nothing about her older sister, and could only obediently lie down.
After the Kocho sisters left, Hajime returned to his own room at the hot spring hotel.
Lying on the soft bed, Hajime pillowed his hands behind his head and stared blankly at the dark ceiling.
He couldn’t sleep.
Kanae’s silhouette filled his mind.
The moment he saw Kanae in the flesh, he fell for her.
That’s right.
He admitted it, he was just lusting after her body.
Especially those flower patterns on her yukata.
Truly large and beautifully white.
He wasn’t a eunuch.
Why shouldn’t he admit it openly?
In the anime, Kanae didn’t have much screen time.
Hajime only vaguely remembered that she fought Upper Rank Two until dawn, ultimately dying tragically in Shinobu’s arms.
Hajime’s hand clenched into a tight fist without him noticing.
Doma…
Since he had transmigrated into this world, he naturally couldn’t let such a wonderful woman be killed by Doma.
His strength was still very weak right now, but there was no need to be discouraged.
There should still be around one or two years before the events of that anime storyline took place.
As long as he seized the time to grow stronger, that would be enough.
The next day.
The Kocho sisters were getting ready to leave.
Hajime planned to leave as well, and the two parties happened to run into each other right at the entrance of the hot spring hotel.
No longer wearing the yukata provided by the hotel but changed back into her Butterfly-Patterned Haori, Kanae waved at the boy.
“Ara, Hajime, are you leaving too?”
“Kanae, are you guys…”
“We plan to take Kanao back to the Butterfly Mansion.
Would you like to come with us, Hajime?”
“I’d better not.”
While Hajime and Kanae talked, Kanao, following beside Kanae, still had that blank look on her face.
It made Hajime really want to pat her head again.
Shinobu, standing defensively off to the side, glared at Hajime and muttered in obvious dissatisfaction.
“Big Sis, why talk to him so much?
We still need to hurry and get on the road.”
Hajime didn’t really mind Shinobu’s attitude toward him.
A siscon, he’d seen them before.
Besides, Shinobu was still young at this time.
A kid throwing a little protective tantrum was completely understandable.
At her sister’s urging, Kanae gave Hajime a helpless look and said her goodbyes.
“Hajime, we part ways here then.
Thank you for the story last night.
Let’s meet again, if fate allows.”
“Yeah.
If fate allows.”
“Hurry up and go, hurry up and go, hurry up and go, ”
Unable to watch any longer, Shinobu pushed Kanae from behind, shoving her away from the hotel.
After parting with the Kocho sisters at the hot spring hotel entrance, Hajime prepared to leave Tokyo Prefecture today.
In the two months he’d spent in Tokyo Prefecture, he’d picked up some highly useful skills, but his base abilities hadn’t dramatically shifted.
To increase his stats, he still needed to slay demons.
Walking through the busy streets of Tokyo Prefecture, Hajime caught sight of two fleeting figures in the crowd, ones that seemed vaguely familiar.
‘Those two people…’
Hajime considered for a moment, then quietly followed them.
It was overcast.
The sun stayed hidden, leaving the city air bone-chillingly cold.
Pedestrians wrapped their clothes tight, heads down as they braved the freezing wind.
Compared to the previous few days, the harsh weather had noticeably thinned the crowds on the street.
Among the people shivering in the cold were a young woman and a youth.
The woman was around thirty, with fair skin and highly attractive features.
Her smooth dark hair was pinned up into an elegant bun.
The youth was only about ten, sticking closely to the woman’s side.
He could pass for her son, or her younger brother.
Their names were Tamayo and Yushiro.
Though their complexions were distinctly pale, their attire looked ordinary.
No one around them realized they were not human, but demons.
Unlike other demons, however, Tamayo and Yushiro had broken free from the control of the demon lord, Muzan Kibutsuji.
They also lacked the terrible craving for human flesh that plagued other demons.
They only needed small amounts of human blood to stay sane and maintain their demonic strength.
Of course, even though they required human blood, they never intended to violently harm humans.
They purchased it from impoverished people who desperately needed money and willingly sold their blood.
Tamayo was a doctor herself, so she exercised extreme caution whenever drawing blood, never extracting enough to harm the seller’s long-term health.
The reason the two were out today was because their stored blood was running perilously low, and they needed money to exchange for the human blood they required.
Just as they had always quietly lived.
Suddenly, Yushiro stiffened.
Noticing the youth’s sudden unease beside her, Tamayo asked softly.
“Yushiro, what’s wrong?”
Yushiro’s frown deepened.
He spoke slowly, voice tight with tension.
“I suddenly have a really bad feeling…
Lady Tamayo, let’s not go.
We should hurry back.”
Yushiro’s intuition never failed him.
Tamayo trusted him completely.
Seeing him speak with such certainty, she nodded.
Yushiro slipped into a narrow alley beside the street, Tamayo tight in tow.
It was a shortcut.
Taking this specific route would bring them quickly to their hidden sanctuary in Tokyo.
For years, using Yushiro’s Blood Demon Art, they had successfully remained hidden there.
As long as they returned to that place, neither the Demon Slayer Corps nor any Demon would find them.
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