Seeing Tetsuya freeze in place, Kanae instantly realized that whoever was standing outside that door was bad news. Her expression grew grave.
Tetsuya mouthed silently, "Upper Rank Three!"
Reading his lips, Kanae's heart sank like a stone. Talk about the worst possible timing. Her mind raced, rapidly assessing the situation.
If Upper Rank Three caught Tetsuya colluding with a Demon Slayer, it would put him in lethal danger. If someone had to die tonight, it only needed to be her.
Without a second thought, Kanae forced her injured body off the bed. In a sudden burst of speed, she lunged at Tetsuya's exposed back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck in a chokehold.
Tetsuya, still frantically trying to formulate a plan to deal with Akaza, was completely caught off guard by the attack. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerous chill.
"I won't let you die!" Kanae whispered, a breathtaking, bittersweet smile blooming across her pale face.
Tetsuya blinked, her intentions instantly clicking into place in his mind. If Akaza caught him conspiring with the enemy, they were both dead meat! Kanae was trying to sacrifice herself so he could survive.
"I'm going to kill you, demon!" Kanae screamed deliberately. Her voice was loud enough to carry clearly through the wooden door, playing her part to absolute perfection.
Tetsuya furrowed his brow, conflicted. What the hell was he supposed to do? Was he really going to just let Kanae sacrifice herself? But even if they teamed up, fighting Akaza head-on was straight-up suicide.
Crash!
Following a brief, agonizing silence from outside, a deafening splintering sound echoed through the room. A heavy axe smashed right through the door's lock.
A petite figure burst through the ruined doorway, her face fraught with panic. "Tetsuya! Are you okay—"
It was Rinka Akiyama.
The three of them froze, staring at each other. A thick, suffocating layer of pure awkwardness descended over the room.
Rinka's voice trailed off into nothingness. Blushing furiously, she quickly covered her eyes with her hands—though she couldn't resist peeking through the gaps between her fingers. 'Wow, they are so bold.' From her perspective, an incredibly gorgeous woman had her arms wrapped tightly around Tetsuya from behind in a highly suggestive, intimate embrace.
Tetsuya, meanwhile, was hyper-aware of the incredible sensation pressing against his back, feeling as though he were adrift in a sea of softness.
"Cough, cough!" A faint blush dusted Kanae's cheeks. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she slowly released her grip and stepped back.
'What a shame,' Tetsuya mused internally before shooting Rinka a vicious, murderous glare. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "If you're going to knock, just knock! What was that crap about the Blue Spider Lily?!"
Hearing those specific words while his nerves were already strung tighter than a piano wire had made him genuinely believe Akaza was standing on the other side of that door. She nearly gave him a heart attack!
Rinka rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I just heard you muttering that name a lot earlier, so I figured I'd use it to get your attention."
"Haa..." Tetsuya exhaled a long, heavy breath to steady himself. Whipping his head around, his eyes scoured the room, furiously searching for a weapon.
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Blinking innocently, Rinka asked, "What are you looking for, Tetsuya? I can help you find it."
Hearing that, Tetsuya's patience officially snapped. He reached right for the heavy axe she had just used to bust down his door.
"Tetsuya, calm down, please," Kanae urged, quickly grabbing his arm to hold him back.
"If I don't smack some sense into her right now, I'm going to explode!" Tetsuya fumed, his temper practically setting his hair on fire.
Just then, Tetsuya noticed Kanae's grip on his arm weakening drastically. Turning his head, he instantly forgot all about teaching Rinka a lesson.
An unnatural, feverish flush had consumed Kanae's face. Her eyes were drooping, her energy plummeting rapidly, and her burning hot breath brushed unsteadily against Tetsuya's cheek.
"I'm sorry... I don't think I can hold on anymore," Kanae whispered, a bitter smile gracing her lips before she collapsed backward.
Tetsuya immediately caught her delicate body in his arms. He frowned deeply. Her body temperature was dangerously high—she felt like a literal furnace against his skin. It was way worse than he had anticipated.
This era didn't have antibiotics yet. Performing invasive surgery practically guaranteed a bacterial infection and severe inflammation.
"Who is this lady?" Rinka asked, her tone shifting to genuine concern.
Forcing a weak, strained voice, Kanae replied, "My name is Kanae Kocho. I'm a friend of Tetsuya's."
Rinka's eyes sparkled. 'She's so strong and resilient! She's exactly the kind of woman I want to be!'
"She's injured and running a severe fever. Go fetch a basin of cold water, now," Tetsuya ordered.
"On it!" Rinka dashed out of the room like a woman on a mission.
Tetsuya gently laid Kanae back onto the bed. Once Rinka returned with the water, he soaked a towel and carefully placed it over Kanae's forehead to help bring down her temperature.
Waving his hand dismissively at Rinka, Tetsuya scoffed. "Alright, your job here is done. Get lost."
"Tch!" Rinka stuck her tongue out playfully. "If you wanted to enjoy some alone time with your girlfriend, you could have just said so," she muttered under her breath.
"You asking for a beating?!" Tetsuya glared, raising his fist threateningly.
Rinka squeaked and bolted for the door. Right before she crossed the threshold, she couldn't resist throwing one last glance over her shoulder. "Good luck, Tetsuya! You don't find catches like Kanae every day!" And with that, she vanished down the hall like a wisp of smoke.
Kanae managed a weak smile. "She reminds me a bit of my younger sister... though Rinka is a little more boisterous."
"She's just a stubborn brat," Tetsuya grumbled.
Kanae chuckled softly, though another wave of sickly pallor quickly washed over her face. "Cough, cough!"
"Human bodies are such a hassle," Tetsuya sighed. He was feeling increasingly grateful that he had acquired a demon's physique. Ordinary human ailments and infections could no longer bother him.
His only real weaknesses now were sunlight, Nichirin Swords, and Wisteria flowers. And thanks to his system, even those fatal flaws could eventually be overcome.
Kanae shook her head gently. "But demons must eat humans to survive. It means sacrificing the lives of others just to sustain your own."
"True enough," Tetsuya agreed. His biological mutation was a freak exception. Other demons had to constantly consume human flesh—not just out of survival, but driven by a gluttonous instinct to grow stronger.
The conversation took a grim turn, and a heavy, somber silence settled over the room.
Looking to lighten the mood, Kanae shifted the subject. "What exactly is the Blue Spider Lily?" she asked curiously. She hadn't missed how fiercely Tetsuya had reacted when Rinka shouted that name earlier.
"It's a mythical flower that all demons are searching for," Tetsuya explained. "Legend says it holds the key to helping demons conquer the sun."
A look of profound realization washed over Kanae's face. Brilliant and sharp as she was, the implications of that single sentence connected a dozen different dots in her mind instantly.
"I can't tell you anything more than that," Tetsuya said, tapping the side of his head meaningfully. If he spilled any more secrets, Muzan Kibutsuji would personally come over to open his heart to him. And knowing Muzan, 'opening his heart' was a very literal, flesh-tearing action verb.
Kanae gave a slow nod. That was more than enough. The Demon Slayer Corps had hunted their kind for a thousand years, operating under the assumption that demons slaughtered purely out of cruel, base instinct. To think their overarching, unified objective was actually the search for a sun-conquering flower...
Thump... Thump... Thump...
Suddenly, a set of slow, distinct footsteps echoed from outside. Each step was as heavy as a sledgehammer, violently pounding against both Tetsuya and Kanae's nerves.
Tetsuya felt a creeping, prickly chill trace its way up his spine. Turning his head stiffly, he stole a glance out the window.
A blood-red moon hung ominously in the night sky. A suffocating, bottomless aura crashed down on the shack, pressing into them like the crushing weight of a collapsing mountain.