The air inside Shinobu Kocho’s room was saturated with the rich, almost bitter scent of wisteria.
It was the fragrance Shinobu knew better than any other—the same scent that now flowed through her body.
Shinobu sat at her desk, the pestle in her hand suspended above the mortar for quite some time.
Sunlight refracted through the glass medicine bottles by the window, scattering mottled patches of light across the tabletop.
Eventually, she set down the tool and raised her left hand once more.
Only an hour earlier, inside the dojo, she had drawn a blade deeply across that palm with her own hand, leaving it covered in blood.
Yet now, not even a faint red mark remained.
The hand was pale and slender, the lines across its palm clearly visible.
There was no wound and not even the slightest scar.
“How utterly… inexplicable.”
She murmured softly.
Her voice lacked its usual gentle amusement—that signature warmth she wore like a mask.
Instead, it carried a rare mixture of confusion and irritation.
Her fingertips gently brushed across her palm.
She could almost still feel his touch from that moment.
“Why would you go this far?”
“Even if it’s for the sake of killing demons… is this kind of suicidal method truly worth it?”
Kiyohiko’s furious voice echoed through her mind.
Shinobu frowned slightly.
He was a demon—a creature supposedly more ravenous for blood than anything else.
He had smelled the lethal concentration of poison within her blood.
He had sensed the foulness that would make an ordinary demon flee in terror.
Yet his first reaction had not been fear or disgust.
It had been…
Anger?
What had he been angry about?
Was he angry because she…
Didn’t value her own life?
“Heh.
As though that could be true.”
Shinobu released a faint, cold laugh, though she could not tell whether she was mocking the demon or herself for having wavered, even for an instant.
“How could a demon understand such things?
No matter how human a demon may appear, its nature is fundamentally twisted.”
Her gaze drifted toward the small fishbowl at the corner of her desk.
A plump goldfish was foolishly blowing bubbles inside.
Shinobu extended one finger and gently tapped the glass in front of the goldfish’s head.
“Don’t you agree, Puffer?
That man was merely acting.”
“He wants to earn our trust so he can survive in a place filled with Demon Slayers… It’s nothing more than a survival strategy.”
Puffer flicked its tail and swam away, clearly uninterested in its owner’s troubles.
Shinobu sighed and looked at her healed left hand again.
Her reason repeatedly insisted that it had all been a demon’s deception, yet her mind uncontrollably replayed another scene.
When Kiyohiko had activated his Blood Demon Art and transferred her wound onto himself, darkened veins had spread along his arm.
That idiot demon had clearly been grimacing in agony.
Yet he had still stubbornly pretended that he was fine.
“Always meddling in matters that don’t concern him.”
Shinobu withdrew her hand and clenched it tightly.
Her fingernails dug into her palm as she attempted to use that faint pain to recover her composure.
What did a little poison matter if it allowed her to kill the demon who had murdered her sister?
What did a little suffering matter if she could drag that monster down into hell?
She had decided long ago that she would transform her own body into the deadliest poison imaginable.
That was her revenge.
It was the sole purpose keeping her alive.
So why had a single question from that demon lodged itself within her heart like a thorn?
Was it worth it?
“Of course it is.”
She answered the empty room, as though trying to convince herself.
“Anything is worth it if it allows me to kill a demon.”
Shinobu picked up the pestle again and began forcefully grinding the medicinal herbs inside the mortar.
What is that demon doing now?
He had probably returned to his room and fallen fast asleep.
The room’s position was less than ideal.
It was dark and somewhat damp.
She wondered whether he would complain about it.
“Tch…”
Shinobu’s hand stopped.
“Why should I care whether a demon finds his room comfortable?”
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
Shinobu instantly adjusted her expression.
Her signature gentle and flawless smile returned to her face.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Kanao Tsuyuri stepped inside.
“Ah, Kanao.”
Shinobu’s voice was soft and sweet, as though the woman who had been sulking alone moments earlier had never existed.
Kanao nodded and walked toward the desk, but she did not immediately leave.
She quietly watched Shinobu, her violet eyes seemingly searching for something.
“What is it?
Did you need something?”
Shinobu keenly noticed Kanao’s gaze and adjusted her sitting position with slight discomfort.
Kanao raised one hand and pointed toward the corridor.
Then she pointed toward the ceiling.
She bent forward, placed both hands down, and rapidly moved them against the table, mimicking someone crawling on all fours.
Finally, she pointed toward her mouth and pretended to bite down on a plate.
Shinobu froze for a moment before realizing what Kanao was trying to describe. The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
The image was far too vivid.
A demon crawling across the ceiling like a gecko with a stolen plate clenched between his teeth…
Shinobu failed to restrain herself and burst out laughing.
“What in the world was that man doing?
Performing acrobatics?”
She helplessly shook her head.
The absurdity of the image seemed to wash away some of her previous frustration.
Kanao watched Shinobu’s smile.
Her face remained expressionless, but her eyes softened slightly.
Master… hasn’t laughed like that in a long time.
Shinobu quickly realized that she had lost her composure.
She cleared her throat, restrained her smile, and returned to her dignified appearance as the Insect Hashira.
“I understand…”
She paused, then looked through the window toward the room where Kiyohiko was staying, a complicated expression within her eyes.
“As long as he doesn’t cause any trouble… let him do as he pleases.”
Kanao looked at Shinobu, then toward the direction she had just been staring.
She reached into her pocket, removed a coin, and tossed it upward.
The coin spun through the air before landing on the back of her hand.
Heads.
“Master…”
Kanao’s voice was extremely soft.
“Why…?”
Shinobu froze.
Her violet eyes widened slightly.
She apparently had not expected the normally quiet girl to ask such a direct question.
“Why…?”
Shinobu repeated the word.
The smile on her lips gradually faded, becoming calmer and more genuine.
“Are you asking why I allowed a demon to live at the Butterfly Mansion?
Why I have been so tolerant of him?”
Kanao shook her head.
That was not what she wanted to know.
She had seen Tanjiro and the others protect Kiyohiko during Final Selection.
She knew what had happened at the Hashira Meeting, as well as the orders Master Ubuyashiki had issued.
She understood all of that.
She even agreed with the decision.
There was simply one thing she still could not understand.
“That demon… Kiyohiko-kun.”
Kanao looked directly at Shinobu.
“Master…”
“Do you care about him?”
Shinobu: “?!”