North Lodge Station.
Inside an apothecary.
"Man-eating bears?" A mature yet sweet voice rang out.
The apothecary proprietress explained, "We call them cave beasts here. Many mountain hunters have been eaten."
"No wonder the atmosphere at the station is so tense."
"Miss, I'm saying this for your own good. Could you leave immediately?"
"Yes, but it's rare for me to have free time, and asking someone else to buy raw medicine is inconvenient. Besides..." The girl holding a piece of pastry, wearing a butterfly hair ornament and a flower-patterned kimono beneath a butterfly haori, chuckled. "I'm also very interested for work-related reasons."
"If you receive any shipments, please be sure to tell me."
Shinobu Kocho's calm air left the apothecary proprietress speechless.
Just then.
"You went into the mountains alone again, didn't you!"
Shinobu Kocho looked over at the voice and saw a group of hunters arguing about something in the street.
"I wasn't alone! Taro was there too!" the girl holding a hunting dog on a leash retorted.
"Isn't Taro a dog?!"
Seeing the argument grow more heated, Shinobu Kocho asked the proprietress in confusion, "Who is that?"
"Yae? She's the hunter's adopted daughter. After a bear attacked her, her father and companions were..."
"Ever since then, apart from coming down to the village to buy supplies, she's been searching for her enemy in the snowy mountains. I really can't bear to watch..."
Shinobu Kocho's eyes darkened slightly, saddened by the girl's circumstances.
Suddenly, the corner of her mouth twitched.
"That idiot..." Shinobu Kocho sighed.
Seeing Tomioka Giyu's exchange with the hunters grow increasingly dangerous, Shinobu Kocho finally stepped forward.
Just as she was about to leave the shop, a figure wearing a conical hat, with wine-red hair cascading down the back, entered her field of vision and instantly