"Big... brother?"
The door to the Butterfly Mansion's treatment room opened a crack, and a boy with short black hair and two deep scars beneath his eyes met Genya's gaze at the entrance.
"Is that Gen-ow!" Someone inside seemed to have kicked him hard. He immediately cut himself off and smiled, his eyes curving into crescents. "Who are you looking for, kid?"
Genya stared wide-eyed, his face expressionless. "Excuse me, is Sanemi Shinazugawa here?"
The boy dodged the question. "This is a restricted area, you know. You'd better run along, kid."
Genya simply stared straight into his evasive eyes. "Excuse me, is Sanemi Shinazugawa here? He's a Kinoe-ranked swordsman in the Demon Slayer Corps."
The boy's brows drooped helplessly, and he ducked back inside. A moment later, he poked his head out again. "Sanemi says he's not here~"
Crescent eyes and triangular eyes stared at each other.
"Masachika Kume!" A beastlike roar rang out from the room. The man with spiky silver hair angrily grabbed his senior by the collar. "Do you even know how to talk?!"
"Big brother!" Genya's brows shot up. "You're hurt again?"
Masachika gently patted Sanemi's arm, his brows still drooping. "You know I can't lie. Let go, Sanemi~"
Sanemi pulled the door open and irritably scratched his disheveled hair. "I'm not... I got these fighting this idiot, Masachika Kume," he said gruffly.
"Would you stop slandering me? It was clearly-mmph!"
Sanemi viciously clamped a hand over his mouth. "Say one more word and I'll smash your head in!"
"Hey, I'm your senior!"
"I'm a Kinoe-ranked swordsman!"
"Big brother!"
Haruto looked away from the lively treatment room. Watching several girls bustle about the courtyard, he turned to Kanae and asked, "Are they all your Tsuguko?"
"Yes." Kanae nodded gently. "No matter where they came from or what their backgrounds were, they're all Tsuguko of the Butterfly Mansion now."
"Still sticking to that idea of 'redeeming demons'?"
"Of course. Everything I do is to make that happen." Kanae's voice was gentle but firm. "Miss Tamayo and Yushiro-doesn't their very existence prove that I'm not alone on this path?"
"Miss Tamayo is a special case, and Yushiro is even more exceptional. He's the only demon in the world who wasn't transformed by Muzan's blood. Only those two have emerged in a thousand years. They're hardly representative." Haruto still didn't believe demons could restrain their own desires. Even Tamayo had eaten people for a time before coming to her senses.
"Shinobu, the children of the Butterfly Mansion, and I are all working toward that goal."
"What if it means offering yourself up to a demon?"
"Even then, I'd have no regrets."
In the sunlight, Kanae's irises bloomed with a pink as beautiful as cherry blossoms.
The conviction in her eyes shone like the morning glow, so dazzling that even Haruto had to look away.
Kagaya, Kyojuro, Kanae...
Haruto laughed and let out a long breath. "Perhaps you're right."
In his mist-blue eyes, the barrage of comments erupted.
[What if it means offering yourself up to a demon? Even then, I'd have no regrets!]
[Even if my body is destroyed, I will slay the demons!]
[There's the theme! There's the theme!]
[Demon slayers really need incredible resolve and wisdom! A loving hug for my husband and my wife~]
[Your husband and wife? So you're the third wheel? You little rascal, you've got some wild tastes...]
[Are you forcing me to ship Starflower?]
[Shinobu reaction meme incoming. Please collect it~]
Haruto raised an eyebrow and looked toward the entrance.
"Huff... huff..."
The faint sound of heavy panting drifted in from outside the Butterfly Mansion. Kanae immediately turned her head. "Is that Shinobu?"
A girl with a single side ponytail and lingering baby fat on her face blankly poked her head inside. "Kanae, please come help."
"Oh, it's Kanao. Where's Shinobu?"
Shinobu... was stubbornly dragging a cherry tree as tall and thick as she was toward the Butterfly Mansion, panting with every step.
Even after two years, the little girl hadn't grown much taller. Haruto reckoned she wouldn't reach even a hundred and sixty centimeters as an adult.
Unlike her height, which had barely changed, her temper had grown increasingly stubborn. Combined with her occasional sly little schemes, she was slipping ever further into the abyss of being a tsundere.
"Oh my, Shinobu, is it heavy?" Kanae moved to help, her heart aching for her.
Shinobu Kocho, whose face had gone deathly pale from exhaustion, was just about to nod when she suddenly saw the white-haired swordsman poke his head out like the Fifth Prince. "Oh my, Shinobu, is it heavy?"
"It's not! It's not heavy at all!"
Shinobu bit her bloodless lower lip and held her head high. "When did you get here, Haruto?"
Amused, Haruto walked over and hoisted the cherry tree onto his shoulder. "All right, go get some water... By the way, why did you buy a cherry tree?"
The Tsuguko named Kanao had already scampered off to fetch some water and held it out to Shinobu without expression.
"Thanks, Kanao."
Shinobu Kocho moistened her lips with the water and gazed enviously at Haruto as he carried the tree without effort. "Ah... my sister said earlier that she wanted to plant one in the courtyard."
"Your sister probably meant..." Haruto formed a circle with his fingers. "A little sapling this size. Instead, you hauled back something this big."
"..." Looking at her sister, who was smiling with her lips pressed together, Shinobu Kocho explained guiltily, "She said we'd name this tree 'Certain Victory' after planting it, and that when its cherry blossoms fluttered through the air, that would be the day we defeated Muzan."
"So by buying a full-grown tree, we can win sooner?" Haruto widened his eyes and gave her an emphatic thumbs-up, praising her sincerely. "Shinobu, you're so clever!"
"Pfft." Kanae finally couldn't hold it in. She turned aside to laugh, her shoulders shaking.
Shinobu Kocho lowered her eyes. "Mr. Takanashi, please let me do it myself."
"Are you angry?"
"No."
"You're calling me Mr. Takanashi. You must be angry."
"I'm not angry."
"I really do think you're clever."
"..."
Haruto exchanged a quick glance with Kanae, who was struggling painfully to suppress her laughter, then thrust his face right in front of Shinobu Kocho's. "Are you angry?!"
"Grind, grind." It was the sound of clenched molars. The girl finally lost her patience, balled her fists, and unleashed a flurry of low punches at Haruto's waist. "Why ask when you already know?!"
Completely unscathed by the barrage of little fists, Haruto cheerfully asked Kanao to bring him a shovel so he could plant the tree.
As for Genya... forget it. That boy was no help. One look at his scar-covered brother and he turned into a nagging mother. He was probably applying medicine to him right now.
Shinobu Kocho rubbed her wrists, looking baffled. How did Haruto's muscles even get like that? Punching them felt harder than hitting iron.
Whoever married him would be getting the short end of the stick, hugging a big lump of iron every night.
Wait, he was eighteen and still hadn't dated anyone. Who knew if he'd ever find a wife?
She huffed at Haruto as he planted the tree, leaving Kanae rather confused.
Before you continue