Mt.
Fujikasane.
True to its name, the entire mountainside was blanketed in layer upon layer of wisteria.
The flowers were in full bloom, pale purple clusters cascading down like waterfalls, shimmering with a dreamlike glow in the morning light.
A soft breeze swept through, scattering petals like rain, filling the air with a clean, lingering fragrance.
“Wow…” Tanjiro tilted his head back, his reddish eyes filled with purple.
“It’s so beautiful…
are all of these wisteria?”
“Wisteria is something demons hate, and the poison extracted from it can actually kill them.”
Shinsuke walked ahead, the hem of his white haori lifting lightly with each step.
“Surround an entire mountain with wisteria and it becomes a natural demon cage, specifically for trapping demons to use as live training targets for new recruits.”
He said it as casually as if he were talking about the weather, but Tanjiro instinctively reached down and touched the hilt of his blade.
“Using live demons…
as a trial…” he murmured quietly.
“What else would they use?” Shinsuke glanced sideways at him, his usual easy smile in place.
“Better than sending rookies straight out into the world to die.
Most of the demons in there aren’t that strong, but there are plenty of them.
Survive seven days and you pass.”
Tanjiro pressed his lips together and gave a firm nod.
“Understood.”
The two of them continued up the wisteria-lined path.
The further up they went, the more voices they could hear.
Out on a wide open clearing, dozens of boys and girls had already gathered, most of them in their teens, dressed in all manner of different styles, some nervously checking their weapons, some sitting with their eyes closed, others talking in small quiet clusters.
Shinsuke’s gaze drifted lazily across the crowd.
‘Let’s see…
where’s the main cast…’
His eyes quickly landed on a few familiar faces.
First, the most conspicuous one of all, the little blond.
“No, no, no!
I am absolutely going to die!
Is it too late to back out?!”
Zenitsu Agatsuma, dressed in his yellow haori, was clinging for dear life to the trunk of a wisteria tree, face smeared with tears and snot, while the boy standing next to him stared with undisguised contempt.
“So loud…” someone muttered nearby.
Shinsuke raised an eyebrow.
Right, just like in the show, already falling apart at the start.
His gaze moved on.
At the edge of the clearing stood a punk-haired young man in a samurai-style outfit, his expression fierce and his entire presence radiating killing intent, with no one daring to come within five meters of him.
The demon-eater, Genya Shinazugawa.
…Right, the prickly, too-cool-for-you type.
Nothing to worry about from him for now.
Then Shinsuke’s gaze stopped.
On the other side of the clearing, beneath a wisteria tree in particularly lush bloom…
A girl who looked like a living doll stood quietly in the shade.
Her skin was snow-white, her pink kimono immaculate, and her long black hair was tied into a side ponytail with a butterfly ornament, so achingly pretty it was impossible to look away.
She just stood there, her presence utterly unhurried, elegant, and at ease, like someone taking a stroll through a garden rather than waiting to enter a life-and-death trial.
Shinsuke felt something in his chest stir slightly, or rather, something in his Harem Breathing stir slightly.
Even from here, without getting any closer, she just seemed to radiate a wonderful fragrance.
Tanjiro noticed his senior had suddenly stopped and tilted his head.
“Senior?”
“Tanjiro.” Shinsuke spoke up, his voice dropping half a register, with a slight catch to it.
“Wait here for me a second.”
“Huh?
Wait, where are you going, hey!”
Tanjiro didn’t finish his sentence before Shinsuke had already set off in that direction.
His pace was unhurried, his expression still carrying that same lazy smile as always.
But Tanjiro’s sharp nose caught something different in the air, something about his senior’s scent that was…
In heat.
Tanjiro suddenly had a very bad feeling.
His senior wasn’t about to…
Shinsuke straightened his haori as he walked toward the girl standing beneath the wisteria.
The distance between them shrank steadily.
Ten meters, five, three…
Kanao seemed to notice his approach, her pale-purple eyes shifting slightly until they landed on him.
They were pale-purple eyes, clear and still, but veiled behind a thin layer of mist that made it impossible to read what lay beneath.
In those eyes right now there was no wariness, no curiosity, not even real focus, as if she were looking at a wisteria plant that had somehow learned to walk.
Shinsuke stopped two paces in front of her, and the faint floral scent drifting from her made his smile deepen.
“Good morning.”
His voice came out softer than usual.
“Are you here for the selection too?”
Kanao looked at him and said nothing.
After a few seconds, her hand turned over, and a coin appeared between her fingers.
“Flip.”
The copper coin sprang into the air, arced, fell, and was caught.
Tails.
She looked away and went back to standing quietly, as if Shinsuke didn’t exist.
Shinsuke: “…”
‘Ah.
Ignored.’
But he wasn’t the least bit annoyed, he actually found it interesting.
So it really was just like he remembered, she didn’t make her own choices, everything was decided by a coin flip.
He was still thinking about this when, from somewhere deep in his mind, a mechanical voice that had been silent for a long time finally spoke.
[High-potential target detected!]
[Name: Kanao Tsuyuri (Human)]
[Combat Rating: A]
[Potential Rating: Extremely High (capable of triggering Fourth-Level Analysis)]
[Current Analysis Resolution: 0.03%]
Shinsuke’s eyes brightened slightly.
Fourth level…
just as he had expected. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried over the past two years.
On trips down the mountain to buy supplies, he had deliberately engineered “chance encounters” with girls from the village, and had even “accidentally” bumped into one.
The system would register “target detected,” but the analysis ceiling never got past First Level.
Forget the Second-Level Constant Concentration bonus, even the basic First-Level stat boost barely hovered between one and five percent.
The one time he had run into an actual female Demon Slayer Corps member, the system had issued a rating: D-rank, low potential, maximum of Second-Level Analysis.
Which meant that even if he had developed a deep connection with her, the absolute ceiling would have been Constant Concentration, nothing more.
Third-Level techniques were completely locked off.
That was when Shinsuke had understood: his Harem Breathing, or more precisely his system, had extraordinarily high standards.
Ordinary people, even ordinary Corps members, simply didn’t register.
What it wanted were the ones destined to shine in the story.
And right now, standing in front of him, was one of those stars.
A quiet, beautiful star that was difficult to get close to.
Shinsuke’s smile grew a little brighter.
Rather than retreating after being ignored, he stepped half a pace closer, bent slightly at the waist, and brought his gaze level with Kanao’s.
“Are you flipping that coin?” he said, his tone as natural as if he were commenting on the weather.
“Heads means you answer, tails means you ignore people.
Is that right?”
Kanao’s lashes gave a barely-there flutter.
She looked at him again, the pale-purple eyes still carrying no particular emotion, but at least this time…
they actually focused on him.
Then she flipped the coin once more.
Heads.
She gave a small nod, so small it was almost invisible.
Shinsuke smiled.
“Then…
could I stand next to you?
Waiting alone gets a little boring.”
Kanao glanced down at the coin, seeming to debate whether to flip it again.
But in the end, she simply shifted slightly to the side, opening up a small space beneath the tree.
Tacit permission.
“Thanks.” Shinsuke moved into the spot beside her without any fuss, keeping the distance just right.
Close enough for her presence to linger at the edge of his senses, but not so close as to make anyone uncomfortable.
From his mouth and nose, a faint pink current began to drift soundlessly, slow and steady.
[Analysis Resolution: 0.03%…
0.06%…]
Slow as a snail, but it was moving.
Shinsuke was in a great mood, and almost felt like humming a tune.
Just then…
“Hey…
Senior…
what are you doing now…”
A voice dripping with grievance reached his ear.
Tanjiro, radiating what felt like almost tangible resentment, drifted over to Shinsuke’s side like a ghost.
(▼ヘ▼#)