The corner of Kirishima Bupai's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
In response to Shinobu Kocho's resistance, the muscles in his arm merely tightened a fraction...
Whoom...
Rock-solid strength instantly suppressed all of Shinobu Kocho's struggles, leaving her unable to move.
Coughing twice, Kirishima Bupai tried to ease the tension, though a hint of helplessness crept into his voice. "Ahem... there's no need, Kocho. You really don't need to do this."
He looked at the furious purple butterfly in his arms, trying to sound sincere. "Trust me, all right? Those siblings... especially that little girl named Nezuko. She really is special."
"Give them some time. They'll make you see them in a new light." As he said this, Kirishima Bupai's gaze was utterly earnest.
Shinobu Kocho stopped struggling at his words, but she lifted her purple eyes, a trace of hurt welling up in their beautiful depths.
Biting her lip, she fixed her gaze on Kirishima Bupai's eyes behind his sunglasses, her look a mixture of mortification, anger, and disbelief.
"You..." Her voice was soft, yet it pierced like an icicle. "...have made me see you in a new light too, Mr. Bupai."
Kirishima Bupai froze at her words, then let out a heavy, helpless sigh, his shoulders slumping. "Ah... I don't have a choice."
His voice dropped, carrying a trace of unquestionable resolve. "If I don't stop you, you'll definitely kill her."
"That little demon... Nezuko. I told you, I'll vouch for her. If anything goes wrong, I'll kill her myself. All right?"
At these words, Shinobu Kocho kept her lips pressed together, her slender body trembling slightly.
"When I said you made me see you differently... what I just said..." Her voice suddenly grew quieter, an indescribable shyness and gritted frustration mingling with her previously angry tone.
As she spoke, she squirmed slightly again, trying to avoid that embarrassing point of contact. "...that wasn't what I meant!"
Almost through clenched teeth, she squeezed out a whisper as faint as a mosquito's hum. "Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Bupai... but could you loosen your grip a little... your arm... is touching my..."
"Hmm?" Kirishima Bupai instinctively looked down, his gaze behind his sunglasses seeming to sweep over where their bodies met in confusion.
The moment he lowered his head in puzzlement, the arm restraining Shinobu Kocho instinctively loosened slightly.
"Ah!"
Shinobu Kocho felt the restraint around her waist loosen, and her body instantly lost its support.
She cried out, but the reflexes of a Hashira-rank fighter let her twist sharply at the waist just before she hit the ground, turning as lightly as a real butterfly and landing steadily a few steps away.
Yet after landing, the blush on Shinobu Kocho's lovely face did not fade; instead, it deepened.
She straightened, unconsciously placing one hand behind her back while the other quickly, and somewhat awkwardly, tidied her slightly disheveled collar and hair.
Only after making sure nothing looked out of place did Shinobu Kocho raise her head and shoot Kirishima Bupai an angry glare with purple eyes still glistening with mortification and anger.
After all that, her desire to pursue Tanjiro and Nezuko had indeed diminished considerably.
Or rather, another, stronger emotion had temporarily suppressed it.
"If you act like this, Mr. Bupai..." Shinobu Kocho took a deep breath, trying to sound calm, though her teeth-gritting mortification and anger remained clearly audible. "...people will dislike you, just like Mr. Giyu!"
She pressed her lips together and tilted her fair chin up slightly, looking somewhat stubborn and uncomfortable.
With both hands behind her back, Shinobu Kocho gave a slightly sulky huff in Kirishima Bupai's direction.
"Hmph! Even if you do this... it won't help! Don't forget, I'm not the only one... who wants to kill that demon."
Looking at the purple butterfly before him, clearly bristling yet pretending to be composed, Kirishima Bupai helplessly scratched at his collar behind his neck, his expression showing a man's complete obliviousness to such matters.
"Try to understand, Kocho!"
"Besides that first... uh... smack to stop you from chasing them," he glossed over it vaguely, seemingly feeling that smack had been somewhat inappropriate himself, "I really didn't mean any of the rest. Besides..."
He paused, his tone suddenly taking on a hint of sly confidence. "...who told you that you're the only one with backup?"
"Hmm?" Shinobu Kocho froze at his words, a flicker of surprise crossing her purple eyes.
She immediately recalled how Kirishima Bupai had carved words into another Bright Red Blade earlier, then hurled it deep into the forest.
"So that's how it is..."
The blush had not entirely faded from Shinobu Kocho's face, but her signature gentle smile returned to her lips.
Only this time, her smile held more probing curiosity. "You know so much about my arrangements, Mr. Bupai. I'm so~ very~ touched~"
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze seeming to pierce the forest's darkness toward the direction Tanjiro and his sister had fled, her voice soft yet edged with sharpness.
"But... I really am curious."
As her gaze returned to Kirishima Bupai's face, her smile deepened. "Those two children, like a pair of frightened puppies... what exactly is so special about them? Enough to make you disregard your standing like this, Mr. Bupai, and even go so far as to..."
Her words paused subtly, as though she were searching for a suitable way to describe the embarrassing situation just now. "Even go so far as to... protect them like this?"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest.
With Nezuko on his back, Tanjiro raced desperately through the dark woodland.
His lungs felt ready to burst, and his legs were as heavy as lead, but he dared not stop.
The Insect Hashira's icy words and killing intent, like a god of slaughter descending upon the world, had chilled him to the core.
"Hold on, Nezuko! We'll... definitely get away!" he panted, not forgetting to reassure his younger sister.
Yet just as he rounded a thick patch of bushes-
A cold, biting killing intent pierced the back of his neck without warning.
Danger! Extreme danger!
Every hair on Tanjiro's body stood on end, his beastlike sense of smell frantically sounding the alarm.
Before he even had time to think, his body followed its instincts and lunged to the side.
Swish!
A slender yet deadly gleam skimmed past, practically grazing his scalp, and several strands of dark red hair drifted down silently.
Tanjiro tumbled clumsily to the ground, immediately clutching the wooden box from his back protectively against his chest, then looked up, still shaken.
Under the moonlight, a girl stood silently on a low branch not far ahead of him.
She wore the Demon Slayer Corps uniform beneath a butterfly-wing-patterned haori, her medium-length black hair falling smoothly over her shoulders.
The girl's face was as exquisite as a doll's, her deep purple eyes crystal clear yet as empty as two ancient, rippleless wells, without the slightest flicker of emotion.
She held a Nichirin Blade similar in design to Shinobu Kocho's, but smaller and more slender. A faint, cold blue glint shimmered at its tip under the moonlight; it was clearly coated in deadly poison.
"It's her...! The girl from the Final Selection..."
This girl was Kanao Tsuyuri!
At that moment, she was looking down from above with those emotionless eyes at Tanjiro on the ground and the wooden box in his arms.
Without a word, without any hesitation.
Whoosh-!
The next instant, Kanao Tsuyuri vanished, appearing above Tanjiro as though she had teleported.
The poisoned blade in her hand thrust with soundless, deathly stillness straight toward the wooden box in Tanjiro's arms, its target clear-the demon inside!
Tanjiro's pupils contracted sharply. Too fast. There was no way to dodge!
All he could do was use every ounce of strength to shield the wooden box beneath him and take the blow with his back.
Crack! Crash-!
At that critical instant!
The bushes beside them suddenly burst apart, and a figure like a raging beast charged out with unstoppable force amid a sky full of broken branches and shredded leaves, roaring wildly.
"Woooooooh-!!!!"
"Boar rush-!!!"
Before you continue