Afterward, Kanzaki Kumo took Kanao to a nearby town. First, he paid someone to give her a thorough wash, then bought her several sets of well-fitting clothes. Only after seeing the little girl all prettily dressed did he nod in satisfaction.
Then he took her for a good meal in town before bringing her back to the Butterfly Mansion.
The Butterfly Family and Makomo, who had just removed the last of her bandages, all looked at the girl in surprise.
Those big eyes were clearly adorable, yet they were so vacant and hollow. Her entire body could only be described as skin and bones.
"Kanzaki-kun, she's...?" Kanae was the first to recover and asked Kanzaki Kumo where the girl had come from, though her gaze filled with sympathy whenever it fell on Kanao.
"Let's go inside and talk. Kanao isn't quite used to being surrounded by so many people." Kanzaki Kumo could feel the little body in his arms tense slightly as everyone gathered around.
"Aunt Delia, sorry for the trouble, but could you examine her later and put together a nourishing medicinal meal plan? She's still very frail."
"No problem."
Once inside, Kanzaki Kumo briefly described the circumstances in which he had found Kanao, as well as some things he had subsequently learned about that pair of "human-like creatures."
Everyone was filled with righteous indignation.
"But, Kumo, what happened to those... scumbags afterward? You didn't kill them, did you? I'm not being softhearted. It's just that the Demon Slayer Corps explicitly forbids killing ordinary people." Makomo looked at Kanzaki Kumo with some concern, worried that he would be punished over those two utter disgraces to humanity.
"Them? Of course I didn't kill them. I didn't even draw my sword. They demanded money from me, saying I had to pay if I wanted to take Kanao away."
"Of course I gave them what they wanted. After all, keeping Kanao alive to this age was quite a contribution, considering all their hard work." Kanzaki Kumo answered with a perfectly straight face, but disbelief was written all over everyone's eyes.
They knew his temperament. He was no obliging nice guy or saint, or Makomo would never have instinctively assumed that he had already sent those two scumbags to the next world.
Sure enough, Kanzaki Kumo immediately changed tack.
"Unfortunately, when I handed over the money, they apparently lost their footing because the ground was slippery in winter. Both of them 'accidentally' fell and broke all four limbs, along with their spines, and passed out from the pain."
"In the dead of winter like this, I don't know if they might catch a chill. But I was in a hurry to get Kanao properly washed and changed into clean clothes, so I just left the money beside them and went."
"Oh, right. I even thoughtfully locked their courtyard gate when I left, so nobody could sneak in and take the money off the ground before they woke up."
After hearing Kanzaki Kumo's account, everyone else remained silent and simply stared at him.
Everyone: This isn't a question of whether they'll catch a chill anymore. It's a question of them already being stone cold.
"I really didn't kill anyone. Ink Shadow can testify."
With an innocent expression, Kanzaki Kumo turned his gaze toward Ink Shadow, who was warming himself inside. The crow shuddered in fright and hastily nodded.
"Ah, yes, yes, exactly!"
Originally, Ink Shadow had wanted to say something when he saw what Kanzaki Kumo had done, but Kanzaki Kumo had shot him a look that said, "Say another word and I'll stew you," so he could only pretend he had seen nothing.
After all, Kanzaki Kumo wasn't wrong. He really hadn't killed anyone, and hadn't even drawn his sword.
First, whether those two things counted as human was questionable. Second, they had clearly frozen to death, so how could that be Kanzaki Kumo's fault?
Of course, most importantly, given that Kanzaki Kumo could run faster than he could fly, he really was capable of catching him and making soup out of him.
Ink Shadow: Life is hard. A Kasugai Crow sighs.
"Speaking of which, Kanzaki-kun, why did you name her Kanao?" Seemingly unwilling to dwell on such dark matters, Kanae took the initiative to change the subject.
Kanae: If I'd known, I should have sent Shinobu to help Mother examine Kanao. How could I let my little sister be exposed to this sort of thing so early?
"Because her eyes look quite a bit like yours, Kanae." Kanzaki Kumo turned his head slightly to meet Kanae's gaze.
"Huh?" Kanae tilted her head in confusion.
"They really do!" The others looked at Kanae's pinkish-purple eyes, then recalled Kanao's big pinkish-purple eyes, and realized that their eyes really were quite similar.
Only, Kanae's eyes leaned more toward pink and were lighter, while Kanao's leaned more toward purple and were somewhat darker.
But when they first met her, everyone had been drawn to Kanao's hollow, vacant gaze and had failed to notice the similarity in color.
"Well, still... that certainly is your style, Kumo..." Makomo and Kanae exchanged a glance and both sighed somewhat helplessly.
The two sensitive girls, who had similar personalities, had thought Kanzaki Kumo's choice of name carried some deeper meaning. Perhaps the pronunciation of "Kanao" brought "smiling face" to mind, expressing the hope that the little girl would smile more often or something.
(P.S. The pronunciation here refers to the language of a certain neighboring island country.)
"Then, Kanzaki-kun, have you thought of a surname for her?" Rather than continuing to ponder or criticize Kanzaki Kumo's naming sense, Kanae turned her attention to Kanao's surname.
"I haven't decided either. That's why I came to ask for your opinions." Kanzaki Kumo shrugged.
"Fair enough. After all, a certain someone is capable of naming a Kasugai Crow 'Coal Ball.' Coming up with 'Kanao' already counts as a burst of inspiration." Makomo had originally wanted to tease him like that, but remembering that her injuries had only just healed today and she was about to begin Kanzaki Kumo's special rehabilitation training, she immediately suppressed the urge.
Quite some time had already passed since that joke, and Kanzaki Kumo's anger had probably more or less subsided. She couldn't go adding fuel to the fire now.
"My idea is for everyone to come up with a few surnames, no more than three each, and let Kanao choose for herself in the end. What do you think?" Though Kanzaki Kumo caught a flicker of something unusual in Makomo's eyes, he didn't ask, since she hadn't said anything. After a brief pause, he simply shared his idea.
Everyone unanimously agreed to this approach, which let Kanao take part herself, so they each picked up paper and a pen from the table and began thinking.
Makomo was the first to come up with three surnames: "Shiori," "Hanada," and "Kurihara"-one elegant, one natural, and one cute.
Then Makomo began looking over everyone else's ideas. After racking his brains, Butterfly Zemu could ultimately only put down the surname "Butterfly." Kanae wrote "Hongū" and "Kuze." She had originally also included "Butterfly," but apparently saw that her father had already written that surname and changed it to "Tsuyuri."
Beside them, Shinobu Kocho seemed to have perfectly inherited her father's talent for being terrible at naming. The three surnames she wrote were "Sparrow," "Barracuda," and "Flying Fish Roe."
Makomo: You belong at the same table as that guy who named a Kasugai Crow "Coal Ball"!
Finally, Makomo's gaze fell on the sheet of paper in front of Kanzaki Kumo, who seemed to be lost in thought. Unsurprisingly, it contained only one surname: "Kanzaki."
At that moment, Kanzaki Kumo felt rather strange.
If he remembered correctly, "Kanzaki" had also been an option when Kanao chose her surname in the original story. However, at this point in time, the person who had suggested it was probably still training hard in a Breathing Style under some Cultivator-or perhaps was still in some shelter.
Before you continue