The eighth day finally arrived.
Kanae tightened her grip on her younger sister's hand. The sisters exchanged a glance, and both smiled with their lips pressed together.
Over the past seven days, they had faced far too many trials: vicious demons lurking in the dark, Shinobu's inability to cut off their heads, memories of their family's slaughter resurfacing whenever they faced a demon... Yet as the dawn glow rose beyond the sea of wisteria, all their exhaustion melted away.
They descended the mountain hand in hand, their haori fluttering in the breeze like a pair of dancing butterflies.
After choosing their respective tamahagane and receiving their Demon Slayer Corps uniforms and Kasugai Crows, Shinobu Kocho copied someone from her memories and gently tapped her crow's head.
"You're a girl... Shall I call you En, then?"
The Kasugai Crow rubbed her head against Shinobu's slender fingertips, then spread her wings and flew into the air.
Shinobu looked up and suddenly spotted a parrot against the azure sky.
The parrot's plumage was beautiful, white all over except for the tips of its tail, which carried a lovely blue tint, as though stained by the sky.
Shinobu rubbed her eyes. Once she confirmed that it really was Haruto's beautiful parrot, she called softly, "Cang Kong?!"
As though it had heard her call, the white-feathered parrot traced a graceful spiral through the sky, then abruptly climbed higher and flew toward the foot of the mountain.
"That's Cang Kong, isn't it?" Shinobu shook her sister's arm excitedly. "Why would it be here?"
"Perhaps it's here on a mission?" Kanae sounded uncertain. She shaded her eyes with a hand, but the parrot was already out of sight. "No, the Demon Slayer Corps sends its missions from headquarters. Perhaps it isn't Cang Kong, just one that looks similar."
"It has to be Cang Kong. Haruto's parrot looks so distinctive, I couldn't mistake it," Shinobu said firmly.
Cang Kong was nearby, but what about Haruto? Was he passing through Mount Fujikasane on a mission?
The sisters descended the mountain together and saw the white-feathered parrot again.
This time, it was perched on a tall boy's finger, chattering away.
The boy, wearing a haori embroidered with green mountains, sat on a large rock beside the mountain path. One leg was folded beneath him, while the other hung down, almost touching the ground.
A breeze swept along the path and stirred the long white hair at his temples, revealing features as exquisite as an ukiyo-e painting painstakingly crafted by a god.
"Oh? Two little butterflies." Seeing them come down the mountain, Haruto turned his head and gave them a brilliant smile. "Congratulations on passing the selection!"
"Haruto!" Delighted surprise filled the Kocho Sisters' eyes as they fluttered over to him like a pair of colorful butterflies.
Kanae was a little older and more composed. Besides, at fifteen, she already understood the distinctions between boys and girls, so she held back her excitement, merely smiling with flushed cheeks. "Were you passing through, sir?"
Twelve-year-old Shinobu was nowhere near as demure.
Having lost her family at such a young age, she had no one in the world besides her sister Kanae and the older boys and girls of Mount Sagiri who would treat her kindly and agree to their unreasonable requests. After a year of training, Shinobu had finally realized just how unreasonable it had been for someone as frail as her to ask to learn swordsmanship and kill demons.
During the year she had spent apart from her sister, Haruto had been her most frequent correspondent after Kanae.
Since Haruto was always away, the letters carried to Mount Sagiri by messenger pigeons did not always receive prompt replies. Still, once he finished his work, he read every letter she sent and replied to them all together.
Sometimes Cang Kong brought the replies, which was why she had recognized the white-feathered parrot at a glance.
She stood before Haruto, her clear, violet-like eyes brimming with a smile. "Did you come especially to pick us up, Haruto?"
Those two different questions captured the sisters' personalities perfectly.
Amused, Haruto reached out and ruffled Shinobu's black hair. When he extended his hand toward Kanae, however, he merely patted her shoulder. Kanae was a young lady now, and he could no longer treat her like a little girl.
"Yes, I came to pick you up."
He nodded. "I wrote to Ms. Toya and Mr. Ishihama, and they told me you were both taking the Final Selection this year.
"As the person who recommended you, and your senior in the Demon Slayer Corps, I've suddenly gained two outstanding juniors. Of course I had to come congratulate you."
Outstanding...
Shinobu looked into Haruto's sparkling eyes and blinked rapidly a few times, feeling awkward.
An outstanding junior... who couldn't even cut off a demon's head?
"Oh, right." Haruto tapped his head as though he had just remembered something, then pulled two velvet-wrapped objects from inside his clothes. "Presents."
"Huh?" Kanae hesitantly accepted the velvet bundle. "We're already grateful that you went to the trouble of coming, sir. And you even brought presents."
"Please stop calling me sir," Haruto said helplessly. "That sort of address is for someone of Oyakata-sama's standing. You can just call me by my name."
Shinobu took the velvet bundle he offered her and asked without hesitation, "Haruto, can I open it?"
"Of course."
Inside each velvet bundle was a beautiful butterfly hair clip. Shinobu's was pale purple, while Kanae's was pink, each matching the color of their eyes.
Haruto scratched his head sheepishly. "The clerk at the gift shop recommended them. They suited your surname, and they had colors to match your eyes, too."
Kanae's trainer, Ms. Toya, might have prepared something girlish like this for her, but Mr. Ishihama probably would not have thought to get anything like it for Shinobu.
Shinobu held her hair clip with a beaming smile. Her purple eyes shifted, and she felt as though she had uncovered a secret.
Could Haruto like... my sister?
Why else would he come all this way and even prepare presents especially for them?
Her twelve-year-old mind began turning. Her gentle, beautiful sister and the dashing Haruto would make quite a lovely couple standing together.
She had long been annoyed by the trainee swordsmen who followed her sister around, trying to win her favor. They had not even mastered all ten Water Breathing forms, yet all they could think about was chasing girls... She really had no idea what they were training for.
Haruto was different. He had already been capable of handling things on his own a year ago, and he was both kind and handsome-although he did eat rather a lot, that was hardly a problem.
Becoming family with Haruto and staying with her sister forever would be the happiest thing in the world!
Watching little Shinobu's eyes dart about, Haruto exchanged a glance with Kanae, and his smile grew a little stiff. "Do you... not like it?" Were girls' thoughts really this hard to fathom?
"Of course we do!" Kanae drew Shinobu close, knowing at a glance that she was plotting something, and tapped her head with a bent forefinger. "Come back to us, Shinobu."
The little girl's head was always full of fanciful ideas. She met Haruto's questioning gaze, then nodded with complete confidence.
Don't worry, Haruto. I know what to do.
Haruto raised an eyebrow suspiciously and looked at Kanae. What's going on with your sister?
Kanae's look answered him: Adolescent children love letting their imaginations run wild.
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