Water burbled along the winding mountain slopes, its clear notes pleasant to the ear. A tall woman crouched down, cupped a little stream water in her hands, and washed her face.
Beside her stood a girl who looked very much like her, though she was petite rather than tall.
Both had pinkish-purple eyes and wore the standard Demon Slayer Corps uniform. The taller girl, however, also wore a haori patterned with colorful butterflies, something only a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps could wear. Her long hair reached her waist, and she wore emerald-green Butterfly Hairpins edged in pink on either side of her hair.
The petite girl had short hair arranged in a French twist.
Their temperaments were entirely different, too. The taller one looked gentle and always wore a smile, while the petite one appeared stern and serious, rarely smiling. Just standing there, she seemed as sharp as an unsheathed sword.
They were the Flower Hashira, Kanae Kocho, and her younger sister, Shinobu Kocho.
"Big sister, you let that demon die far too easily yesterday. We shouldn't let demons like those die so easily. We should slice away their flesh, one cut at a time, and make them truly feel the pain..."
Shinobu Kocho spoke quietly as she watched her sister wash her face with the stream water.
Perhaps imagining those demons howling in agony, Shinobu Kocho seemed to grow excited, a flush spreading across her pretty face.
Kanae Kocho glanced at her sister, then lowered her head slightly and sighed. "Those demons were human once. After becoming demons, they suffer sorrow and pain, too..."
"Big sister..."
The younger girl suddenly looked up, irritation in her eyes. "They aren't human anymore. They've already become demons. Big sister, you're far too kind. Even to demons."
Kanae Kocho looked at her sister. Rather than argue, she gently took her hand.
Her sister's anger seemed to fade a little under that gentleness, but she still turned her head away in a huff, her cheeks puffed out.
She knew there was nothing she could do about her sister's nature.
Kanae Kocho gathered her sister into her arms with tenderness. Her sister's ferocity did not bother her; it only made her heart ache all the more.
Other girls her sister's age should have been living carefree lives under their parents' loving care. Yet her sister had taken the dangerous path of demon hunting, driven by hatred for demons.
Had she not taken this path, in a few more years she might have been old enough to marry. Then, if she found a man she loved, she could marry him, have children of their own, and live until her face was covered in wrinkles.
Instead, she walked the line between life and death every day, never knowing whether her next demon hunt would be her last.
"If only you would stop hunting demons. Let go of the past, treat it all as though it never happened, and live an ordinary life..."
Kanae Kocho spoke softly. She was already beginning to regret letting her sister embark on this path of no return.
Hearing that, Shinobu Kocho abruptly broke free of her sister's embrace. "Big sister, don't say that again. I will never return to an ordinary life."
As she spoke, the girl clenched her hands tightly, her eyes red. "That night, a demon stole our happiness. I watched Dad and Mom get killed right in front of me. How could I pretend something like that never happened? How could I possibly do it? How could I live like an ordinary person, pretend I've forgotten everything, lie to myself, and start a new life-the supposedly happy life you want for me?"
"I simply can't do any of that."
"Even if I could, how would that make me any different from someone who's dead?"
Pain filled Kanae Kocho's eyes at her sister's words. She could only hold her tightly, just as she had that night when a demon broke into their home and she had clung to her sister, trembling. If she had possessed her current strength when that demon broke in, perhaps they would not have...
"Don't say things like that again, big sister."
Her eyes rimmed with red, Shinobu Kocho repeated firmly, "I don't want to hear it anymore. I only want to kill every demon I see, one after another, until every demon in this world has been wiped out."
The girl's fists were clenched, her gaze resolute, and her voice filled with hatred for demons.
Kanae Kocho parted her lips, intending to say something to her sister, but she looked up as a Kasugai Crow flew toward them on beating wings.
Kanae Kocho extended her hand, and the Kasugai Crow landed lightly on her wrist.
Kanae Kocho removed the metal cylinder from the Kasugai Crow's leg, took out the letter inside, and read it.
"Has something happened, big sister? Have they found information on Upper Rank Three?"
Excitement shone in Shinobu Kocho's eyes. She and her sister had spent the past few days tracking down leads on Upper Rank Three of the Twelve Kizuki. Killing Upper Rank Three of the Twelve Kizuki would deal a tremendous blow to the demons.
Kanae Kocho shook her head, looking somewhat puzzled. "It concerns a town we passed through not long ago. They're asking whether we happened to kill a demon while passing through."
"Why would they ask that? We didn't find any demons in that town."
Shinobu Kocho muttered.
They had only stopped briefly in town and had not encountered any demons. If only they had. She would have personally cut off its head with her Nichirin Blade. Better still, before severing its head, she would have tested her latest poison on it.
Recently, taking advantage of demons' aversion to the scent of wisteria, she had extracted certain special substances from the flowers. She felt those substances should be capable of killing demons, and she needed a demon to test them on.
"A squad tracked a demon into the town, only to find that a demon had been killed."
Kanae Kocho offered an explanation.
"Could a swordsman from another squad have killed it while passing through?"
Shinobu Kocho did not seem particularly concerned.
Kanae Kocho shook her head. "Aside from us passing through, no other swordsmen were carrying out missions nearby."
As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Kanae Kocho had access to more information.
"Then who killed the demon?"
Shinobu Kocho's interest was piqued as well. "Ordinary people have no way to cut
"down a demon. Even powerful samurai from the old days would struggle against demons without a Nichirin Blade, let alone kill one."
As she spoke, a smile appeared on Shinobu Kocho's usually unsmiling, pretty face. "It couldn't have been a demon using a Nichirin Blade to kill it, could it?"
The moment she said it, she found the idea rather amusing. Given how much demons loathed Nichirin Blades, they could hardly get away from them fast enough. In all these years, she had never seen a demon use one.
"No demon could ever use a Nichirin Blade. Those monsters hiding in the darkness would never dare touch a Nichirin Blade imbued with the power of sunlight."
Shinobu Kocho was utterly certain.