"I'm back..."
"Welcome back~"
At night, Kanae, who had been gathering intelligence in the city all day, returned to the apartment looking somewhat tired.
The moment she opened the door, Kanae sensed an somewhat unusual atmosphere in the room.
In the living room, her adorable younger sister Kocho Shinobu was reclining on the sofa with her twisted right leg elevated, eyes narrowed, wearing a silly hehe smile.
"Little Shinobu, your foot..."
"Ah, I just accidentally twisted it at school this morning. It's nothing serious."
"Is that so, that's good then..."
After looking at Shinobu, Kanae turned to look at Kanao not far away.
She saw this child sitting by the desk, holding a pencil, eyes vacant, her face also wearing a silly smile similar to Shinobu's.
Feeling Kanae's gaze, before she could even ask, Kanao quickly returned to her senses and wrote on her notebook with her pencil:
[Sister Kanae, I made a friend at school today.]
"Eh? Really? What kind of person?"
Kanae asked with a smile.
Because of her "mutism," Kanao had always had few friends at school—Kanae had heard Shinobu mention this several times before.
Now seeing this child successfully make a friend, she was naturally happy.
[At first glance he seems like a very bad person, but actually has a very good personality.]
[He doesn't mind at all that I can't speak, and when other classmates bully me, he stands up to protect me. He's a very good person...]
So this new friend is actually a boy...
Feeling surprised at heart, but looking at the happy Kanao, Kanae said nothing, only smiling and nodding.
"Since it's a friend you approve of, you must get along well from now on. You can't casually have conflicts, understand?"
[Mm!]
"Um, Big Sister..."
Just as Kanae finished speaking, she saw Shinobu on the sofa suddenly speak, saying cheerfully:
"I also made a new friend today?"
"Little Shinobu, you're already how old now? Making new friends is something you don't need to specially tell Big Sister about anymore, right?"
Laughing and crying, thinking her younger sister was deliberately acting spoiled, Kanae merely shook her head helplessly and turned to walk toward the bathroom.
"Alright, Big Sister will go wash up and rest first. Tonight in the latter half of the night, I still have to go out searching with other Demon Slayers..."
"Hmph hmph~"
Just at this moment, she heard Shinobu behind her speak in a drawn-out voice:
"But what if I said, this new friend I made is also someone Big Sister knows?"
"...Eh?"
Her footsteps instantly stopped, a certain premonition rising in her heart. Kanae slowly turned back to look at her younger sister, who was beaming with smug satisfaction behind her.
"Someone I know?"
"Hmph hmph hmph hmph~"
Emitting an even happier laugh, under her elder sister's surprised gaze, Shinobu finally spoke, saying that answer which Kanae had already sensed but simultaneously found hard to believe.
"It's Mitsuba~"
Her breath instantly stagnating, standing stunned in place upon hearing this, Kanae's pupils constricted, the smile on her face also stiffening instantly.
It really was Miss Mitsuba?!
Little Shinobu encountered Miss Mitsuba this morning?
When she had rushed to see Miss Mitsuba early in the morning but couldn't find her at all?
Eh, wait, what Shinobu just said was..."Mitsuba"?
This child, she could actually already call Miss Mitsuba by her first name?!
"Big Sister, let me tell you..."
Under Kanae's shock, Shinobu held nothing back, vividly narrating in one breath how she encountered Mitsuba this morning, how she twisted her foot.
Then how Mitsuba helped her apply medicine, and finally how Mitsuba carried her back on her back.
"Big Sister, you really are something, having such a good friend and not introducing her to me sooner!
Let me tell you, Mitsuba is really especially... hmm? Big Sister, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
Seemingly finally noticing the vacant expression on Kanae's face, Shinobu hurriedly asked with concern.
To this, Kanae, who had been struck dumb by what her younger sister just narrated, merely shook her head stiffly, showing that similarly stiff smile, then stiffly said:
"Big Sister is fine, just suddenly... remembered some other matters, got a bit distracted..."
"Really?"
"Really. Little Shinobu, Big Sister will be fine. No matter what happens, no matter what blows she suffers, Big Sister will absolutely be fine, understand?"
Yes, she was completely fine, not bothered at all.
It's just that Miss Mitsuba, whom she had dressed up early to meet, went to Tokyo University one step ahead of her and happily spent the morning with her younger sister.
It's just that her younger sister accidentally twisted her foot and fell into Miss Mitsuba's embrace again and again, and finally let Miss Mitsuba personally apply medicine for her.
It's just that she could call Miss Mitsuba by her first name and have her carry her all the way home while chatting and laughing.
As an elder sister, she truly·completely·does·not·care·about·these·things·at·all·okay?
"I-I see..."
"Alright, Big Sister needs to go wash up and rest first. You all should also rest early, don't stay up too late, understand?"
"Understood..."
Still wearing that stiff smile on her face, Kanae turned around like this, step by step, walking with stiff steps into the bathroom.
Until she closed the door, cutting off the two gazes from the living room behind her.
Only then did she finally let down that forced smile she had been maintaining. Her shoulders drooping, she squatted on the ground covering her face with both hands, letting out a deep sigh from her mouth.
[Ah... as expected... I super care about it...]
Today is Kanae's defeat.
"..."
"Miss Mitsuba, according to the intelligence this subordinate has recently gathered in Tokyo city.
In just these two days alone, at least over thirty Demon Slayers have entered Tokyo. What do you think we should do next?"
On the other side of the night, inside Mitsuba's apartment, Gyokko's twisted and bizarre head popped out from that pot placed on the dining table, actively reporting to Mitsuba.
Without a doubt, this seemingly ordinary pot was precisely an object created from Gyokko's own flesh and blood.