Chapter 47: The Frightened Kochou Shinobu
After Makomo departed, Akira made his way back toward the Butterfly Mansion, his mind already turning over the new sword techniques he planned to research. He had a clear direction for his next form; all that remained was the painstaking process of repeated trials and deductions.
But before he could even reach the small courtyard he used for training, a figure peeked out from the end of the corridor. It was Shinobu, her movements furtive and cautious.
"Hey, uh… Kanzaki Akira. Come here for a moment."
Her voice was a hushed whisper, laced with a strange mix of urgency and a desperate need for silence. Akira felt a flicker of puzzlement. He had never seen Shinobu act so cautiously, with such an intense air of secrecy. Still, he complied, walking toward her.
The moment he was within arm's reach, Shinobu's hand shot out, grabbing his wrist. She pulled him into a nearby room with surprising strength. Curious to see what she was up to, Akira allowed himself to be guided. The room was a storage closet, originally intended for the bedsheets used in the infirmary, but it had yet to be stocked and was currently empty.
Shinobu leaned out, carefully scanning the hallway. Once she was certain no one was around, she softly closed the door and, to Akira's surprise, slid the lock into place.
A sudden, jarring thought made his heart skip a beat.
'Wait a minute. This… this whole situation feels completely wrong.'
Shinobu hadn't even turned thirteen yet. His mind, for a brief, wild moment, had stumbled down a path that absolutely could not be crossed. Surely his favorability rating hadn't skyrocketed into that territory, had it? Were they about to unlock some kind of special event scene?
Though he and Shinobu often teased and bickered in their daily lives, their interactions had always been those of close friends. There had never been any inappropriate physical contact between them. In comparison, his relationship with Kanae was far more intimate.
"Why are you spacing out? I'm asking you something!" Shinobu's sharp, low whisper sliced through his thoughts, pulling him back to reality.
"Ah, what?" Akira blinked, shaking the strange notions from his head. Before him, Shinobu's violet eyes were wide, filled with nothing but raw urgency and worry.
"I said, have you heard about that matter?" she repeated, a hint of frustration coloring her tone.
"What matter?" Akira was almost left speechless by the abrupt, contextless question.
"It's about my sister! She wants to learn a Breathing Technique!"
"Oh… huh?" The words finally registered, and Akira was genuinely startled. "You said Kanae wants to learn a Breathing Technique? When did this happen? How do you know?"
He had assumed that since he had saved the Kocho family, preventing the tragedy that would have forged their deep-seated hatred for demons, the two sisters would never feel the need to become swordsmen for the Demon Slayer Corps. Their original, tragic fate had been averted.
Just as things were now, the Kocho family was alive and well, working as doctors at the Butterfly Mansion and treating injured Corps members. It was a vital contribution to the cause, and a much safer one. Mr. and Mrs. Kocho, Shinobu, and even Kanae herself had all expressed how content they were with their current, peaceful lives.
But now, Kanae—that gentle, kind-hearted girl—actually wanted to learn a Breathing Technique. Her goal could only be one thing: to become a Demon Slayer.
"It was a few days ago," Shinobu explained, her voice tight. "While you were training with Makomo-san, my sister suddenly told me. She said… she said she thinks she has a great talent for it."
"She even secretly showed me the moves she figured out herself, just from watching your training and observing Makomo-san's breathing rhythm. They really did look a lot like the forms Makomo-san uses."
"You know I can't refuse my sister's requests… I thought Dad and Mom would stop her from taking such a risk, but she must have convinced them yesterday."
"Next, she'll definitely come to you. Can you please…" As she spoke, Shinobu's expression crumpled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
Yet, even as she pleaded, she was conflicted. If Kanae truly possessed such a gift, she would be a rare talent for the Demon Slayer Corps. As a Hashira, Akira might be unwilling to dissuade someone with that kind of potential.
But right now, he was the only one who could possibly stop Kanae.
"You want me to persuade her to give up?" Akira understood her unspoken plea and finished the sentence for her.
He was just as surprised as she was desperate. From his memories of his past life, he knew Kanae's talent with the sword was exceptional. After being rescued by Gyoumei Himejima in the original timeline, she created Flower Breathing in a short time and rapidly ascended to the rank of Flower Hashira.
But he never expected that Kanae, merely by observing his and Makomo's training and watching Makomo's breathing patterns at night, could begin to imitate a Breathing Style.
"Yes, yes!" Shinobu nodded frantically, her anxiety causing her to throw her sister completely under the bus. "Ever since that night you saved my sister, she… she always acts a little different whenever she mentions you. If it's you, you can definitely persuade her to give up that dangerous idea!"
Initially, when Shinobu first noticed her sister seemed to harbor special feelings for Akira, she had felt a little uncomfortable. But now, she couldn't care less. Even if it meant playing matchmaker, it was a thousand times better than her sister joining the perilous Demon Slayer Corps.
Over the past few weeks, she had personally seen and treated countless injured Slayers. From their hushed conversations, she knew that the ones who made it here for treatment were the lucky ones; many more died on the battlefield, their bodies never even recovered.
Shinobu naturally admired and was grateful to these people who risked their lives to protect the peace, and she poured her heart into treating them. However, the thought of her own sister becoming one of them was something she absolutely could not accept.
She was terrified that one day, she would see her sister carried back among the wounded. She was even more terrified that her sister wouldn't even get the chance to be carried back at all.
Her sister was too kind. Seeing others risk everything to fight demons, she would feel a sense of unease, a desire to contribute, to join them on the front lines.
But Shinobu was selfish; she just wanted to live a quiet, happy life with her sister and her family.
Saving lives at the Butterfly Mansion was already a contribution to the Demon Slayer Corps, wasn't it?
"Even so, you should at least tell me what she's thinking," Akira said softly. His tone was gentle and steady, and it seemed to calm the frantic beating of Shinobu's heart. "Just wanting to become a swordsman because she discovered a talent for it doesn't sound like something Kanae would do. There must be other reasons."
He wasn't particularly surprised by the budding feelings in Kanae's heart; he had more or less sensed the subtle care from the delicate girl during their recent interactions. For the moment, however, he couldn't respond to it.
"She told me that day," Shinobu recounted, her voice trembling slightly. "'It was fine when I didn't know. But now that I do, now that I know our peaceful life is bought by Demon Slayers risking their lives… and I have the talent to learn Breathing Techniques… I can't rest easy if I don't do something.' She said you told her something similar."
Akira was taken aback. He had only ever mentioned the rhetoric he used to persuade Jigoro Kuwajima to Makomo. He never expected her to relay it to Kanae.
Then again, he thought, given Kanae's selfless personality, she likely would have arrived at the same conclusion even without his "precedent."
"I'll try," Akira finally said, agreeing to her request. But he knew that while Kanae was gentle, she possessed a quiet persistence. He couldn't even convince her to stop calling him "Kanzaki-kun." The outcome of this conversation was far from certain.
With his current status, he could, of course, forcibly keep Kanae at the Butterfly Mansion. But that might not be what was best for her.
"Shinobu," he began, his voice serious. "The final decision still rests with Kanae. This is her life, and she has the right to choose her own path. Neither you, nor I, nor your parents should deprive her of that right in the name of 'care' or 'love,' right?"
"But…"
Hearing his words, Shinobu could already guess the outcome. As her younger sister, she knew better than anyone how stubborn Kanae could be about certain things.
Just as she was about to protest again, the door to the small, empty room was knocked upon.
Knock, knock, knock.
A gentle voice drifted through the wood.
"Kanzaki-kun, are you in there?"
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