They were the Kocho Sisters' parents. The parents who, in reality, had long since been brutally torn apart by demons, without even their remains left intact.
Shinobu knelt beside her mother, clutching her sleeves with both hands and pointing indignantly at Kanae. "Mother, look at her! We agreed I would cook today, but she insisted on interfering and ruined everything!"
"Oh my, Shinobu, how could you say that?" Kanae put the grilled fish on a plate and came over with a smile, lightly tapping Shinobu's forehead with an ash-stained finger. "I was just worried you'd burn yourself, being so clumsy."
"I'm not clumsy! You're the worst!" Shinobu covered her forehead, her cheeks puffed up like buns.
Seeing her little sister like this, Kanae could not help bursting into laughter. She folded her hands over her knees and sighed with feigned maturity. "Oh dear, if our Shinobu keeps this temper and bristles at every little thing, you might never find a husband."
"Who... who wants to get married?! I'm going to stay with Father, Mother, and you for the rest of my life!" Shinobu's face instantly flushed scarlet. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she sprang to her feet and loudly protested.
Their father laughed heartily beside them, lifted his teacup, and took a sip. "All right, all right, stop arguing, you two. As long as our family can keep living happily together like this, nothing else matters."
Watching this scene, so utterly heartwarming and so beautiful it almost seemed unreal, Rokuya stood quietly in the corner, a trace of complicated emotion flickering in his eyes.
"Is this the home you long for most, deep in your heart... Shinobu?" Rokuya murmured. There were no demons, no separations in life or death, no suffocating hatred, only the purest familial