Kanroji Mitsuri’s Secrecy
I’M DONE WITH THIS, FINALLY, BANZAI.
Okay, here’s my surprise (and Christmas present) for everyone. This is chapter 3 of the second novel of Kimetsu no Yaiba (Kataha no Chō). Each chapter’s the story of one character, so it’s not like you missed part 1 and 2 of Mitsuri’s story.
I apologize it took double the time I thought it would take me, I honestly thought about giving up many times ohohoho. But hey, here you have it.
This is a mid-quality translation, I do believe it’s readable, but there’re some parts I didn’t give too much thought and left them as short or simple sentences. I tried, okay?
This is a fantranslation, there could be mistranslations. Read at your own risk.
Also, typos, grammatical errors, whatever there is, just leave a relpy and I’ll try to fix it as soon as possible.
Last thing: if you want to put this up on another website or translate it to another language you’re free to do so, BUT LET ME KNOW, OK?
One Winged Butterfly
Chapter 3: Kanroji Mitsuri’s Secrecy
1.-
The first time I met her I thought ‘wow, such a pretty girl’.
Pure white skin and clear violet eyes; stunningly beautiful and delicate; kind and doesn’t discriminate anyone.
But, can create things like poison to kill Demons.
Strong and intelligent, cute, brave… a lovely girl.
I would be very happy if we could be friends. We are both girls, so there should be a lot of things we could talk about…
That’s why, when I heard about it, my head went blank and couldn’t think about anything.
“Kochō-sama’s parents were killed right before her eyes, and on top of that her sister Kanae-sama too… dying in such a way…”
Ah….
I didn’t know.
Shinobu-chan. I didn’t know.
“Well you see, I joined the Demon Slayer Corps to find a gentleman who would marry me for life. For a girl, it’s actually better someone who’s stronger than themselves, no? We want to be protected. Hey, Shinobu-chan, don’t you think so?”
If I’d known, I’d never said that.
Such a frivolous reason.
If I had known Shinobu-chan’s past, I wouldn’t have been able to say it.
Ah, how stupid of me.
When I told her that, how did she feel?
She was a little startled, but then she answered with the smiling face she always has.
‘I see… Who knows. I’m sure Kanroji-san will find someone wonderful’.
It must have been really unpleasant and annoying, right?
Did she think she didn’t want to be together with such a simpleton?
Hey, Shinobu-chan…
I’m.
You see, I…
2.-
“Kanroji-san’s acting weird?”
Kochō Shinobu tilted her head to the side at her coworker who came so suddenly.
They’re currently inside her office at the Butterfly Estate, where she –as the Insect Pillar– lives. This is a place where poison effective against Demons is developed and Slayers are treated or nursed after being wounded in battle. Therefore, most visitors are wounded people.
However, her coworker Iguro Obanai came here without a single scratch and as soon as they met, he started to talk anxiously about the Love Pillar, Kanroji Mitsuri, with a serious face.
“In what way is she acting weird?”
“Everything, she’s weird all around. You haven’t noticed?”
Iguro makes that question and looks at her as if accusing her for something.
As some sort of signal, the snake wrapped around Iguro’s neck sticks out its long tongue. It’s Kaburamaru, the Snake Pillar’s beloved snake.
“Hmm, well…”
Shinobu with the tip of her index finger softly traces around her upper lip. She tries to remember Kanroji’s behavior in the last Pillar meeting, however…
“Nothing in particular”.
“Just where do you have your eyes attached to?” Are those stupidly big eyes of yours blind? Or maybe just decoratives?”
After some nagging, Iguro made a big sigh.
Shinobu stopped herself from speaking her thoughts out loud ‘unlike you, I don’t exchange letters with her frequently’ and just smiled and apologized.
“Oh my, I’m very sorry”.
Even though it’s daytime and Demons can’t move around, each Pillar should be very busy as they shoulder a lot of heavy responsibilities. However, he pushed all of those aside and came here, so he isn’t doing this just for show or on a whim. Despite his appearance, Iguro cares about his colleagues more than others.
“It’s fine if they’re things you saw from your own scope, so could you please tell me what’s so strange about Kanroji-san?”
Once Shinobu asked again, Iguro nodded with an obedient look.
And then…
“Just fifty”.
“Yes?”
“Normally, she would eat a hundred of those dango sticks, but she only had fifty. You hear me? Just fifty. That Kanroji. Her favorite dangos.”
“……”
Being stared fixedly by his bloodshot eyes right in front of her, Shinobu unconsciously stepped back. Contrary to her, Iguro leaned forward.
“Moreover, she replies coldly to my letters. Her letters are awfully plain and seem to be written to a stranger. Why? It’s weird. Anything and everything is weird.”
“Aoi, Iguro-san’s already leaving.”
Shinobu turned her back to Iguro, walked to the room’s door and said “Iguro-san, the exit is over there.”
“It’s not just that”.
Despite Shinobu’s sarcasm, Iguro kept talking.
“In the last Pillar meeting, Kanroji didn’t even try to look at the eyes of any Pillar. And not only the Pillars’, Oyakata-sama’s too.”
Shinobu turned around with a surprised face.
Every Pillar respects and loves dearly Oyakata-sama –Ubuyashiki Kagaya– from the bottom of their hearts. Mitsuri’s not the exception, she also cares about Oyakata-sama. As far as Shinobu knows, Mitsuri has never opposed his will and would even put him above everything else. It was certainly strange for someone like her to avert her eyes from Oyakata-sama .
“And after that, Tokitō picked up a handkerchief she had dropped, but when he tried to talk to her she jumped high enough to reach the roof and ran away.”
“Yes, that seems strange”.
If Mitsuri was herself, her heart would have throbbed and expressed her gratitude honestly by saying ‘thank you, Muichirō-kun’.
“Was it then when you first noticed something strange on her behavior?”
“No, she was already acting weird 12 days before that.”
Shinobu was full of retorts at him answering immediately and with such detail, but that aside, this meant Mitsuri has been like this for nearly half a month.
By all means, this was worrisome.
“There could be something wrong with her health. I’ll try to ask her indirectly, you think about something too. Got that, Kochō?”
After voicing everything he wanted to say and seeing Shinobu nod, he left the Estate. Shinobu, left alone in the examination room, sat down on the chair. There was no need for him to go all the way to visit her, he could’ve just wrote a letter and sent it with a crow. It’s quite charming that Iguro cares about Mitsuri to that extent, but…
“Good grief. When it comes to Kanroji-san, Iguro-san immediately becomes unreliable.”
Relaxing her body, Shinobu let out a short sigh. It came to her mind the cute face of the only other Pillar of her same gender, Kanroji Mitsuri.
“Shinobu-chan, Shinobu-chan.”
She’s older than her, but has an innocent smile and becomes attached to others just like a kitty would. Thinking about the face that had crossed her mind, Shinobu gently narrowed her eyes.
Outside the windows, the wind blew against the cherry blossom trees and shaked its branches, now with only leaves left on them.
3.-
A thin and soft katana ran in a moonless night, almost as if it was alive.
“Breath of Love, First Style: Shivers of First Love!”
A greatly bended sword cuts a huge Demon up to pieces at lightning speed, its head rolled over the ground.
Mitsuri exhaled slightly, for some reason she felt her body heavier than usual and her katana wasn’t cutting as sharp as it should. It was distressing, her head was like in a haze.
“Thank you… thank you very much!”
The couple she had saved was thanking her, the man was bowing his head over and over again while the shivering woman asked her
“Are… are you okay?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well… You’re hurt…”
“Oh, no, I’m not…”
Mitsuri noticed the woman was looking at one of her cheeks and wiped it with the back of her left hand. There was blood on it. Seeing this, she finally understood she’d been injured.
“For our sake… because you protected us…”
“We’re really grateful, thank you so much…”
The woman apologized while crying and the man lowered his head once more. Mitsuri waved both of her hands flustered.
“Ah! Don’t worry about it! This is nothing at all, nothing! I’m sorry for making you frightened. But, I’m happy you’re both okay.”
Mitsuri smiled at them and the man was suddenly moved to tears.
“To tell you the truth, my wife’s actually pregnant.”
“Uh… really? You’re having a baby?”
Surprised, Mitsuri looks at the woman who finally shows a smile. Her cheeks which were wet with tears shyly transformed into a smile.
“Yes, the due date should be in around 3 months.”
Her belly did seem plump.
“I see, congratulations. Take care of your body.”
“We owe you our lives, thank you very much.”
The man says his thanks again and afterwards, the couple cuddled close together and disappeared into the night.
Mitsuri, while watching them until they were out of sight, lifted her hand to her chest.
Thump thump, her heart pounded.
If that Demon’s attack had cut that woman’s belly instead of my cheek…
As soon as she imagined it, she found herself terrified.
That Demon wasn’t weak, but it wasn’t very strong too. If I had been myself, I’d have saved them without getting a single scratch.
(And everything would have ended well, without that pregnant woman making such a face…)
The wet night wind caressed her cheeks. Mitsuri gently ran her fingers over the wound.
There was almost no pain.
But she couldn’t help but feel like something very important was falling and spilling over from that opened wound.
4.-
“Sigh…”
Finishing her night round and exposed to the brilliant sunlight, Mitsuri dragged her heavy body through the city.
She went in her favorite restaurant and ordered some tempura rice bowl, cold soba with dipping sauce, grilled fish with rice and miso soup.
It seemed quite a lot to eat as a breakfast, but for Mitsuri this amount was like a tenth of what she would usually eat.
Shortly thereafter, tea was brought to her and she sipped it absentmindedly.
She gave a sigh again.
Since that time she became eager in disciplining herself and made sure to not have any superficial feelings towards anyone.
In short, she sealed away her love. She’d to give up finding someone who would marry her for life and committed herself to forbid her heart to flutter every day.
However, it seemed like someone was mocking her because things that would make her heart flutter happened one after another.
(I wonder why… it’s only at times like this… )
The timing was so bad that brought Misturi to the verge of tears. The last Pillar meeting was specially the worst.
That day she and the Flame Pillar, Rengoku Kyōjurō, ended up at the same place by looking for a shelter from the rain and he told her “You’re going to catch a cold! Put this on, Kanroji!!”, covering her with his haori. She also saw an unexpected side of the Rock Pillar, Himejima Gyōmei, saying “Namu. Cats are cute…” while carrying in his arms a kitten. Then, she met by accident with the Wind Pillar, Shinazugawa Sanemi, just when he was feeding a stray puppy. On top of that, she spotted the Water Pillar, Tomioka Giyū, taking a nap in the open corridor and waking up with a sudden jerk. Moreover, she tripped but Uzui catched her in his arms before falling to the ground telling her “be careful, don’t go tripping so plainly.” And finally, Iguro inviting her to a newly opened udon shop.
Mitsuri was depressed because she had to suppress her heart from throbbing every time, but she just couldn’t help it.
… In the end,
“Mitsuri, is something troubling you? If you don’t mind, you can talk to me.”
(I even made Oyakata-sama worry… and when I was leaving, Muichirō tried to tell me something but I just ran away.)
This is the worst.
I got too nervous around Shinobu and couldn’t even look at her face.
(What… am I doing?)
And the final blow: she got hurt while fighting an enemy who wasn’t even part of the Twelve Demon Moons.
Mitsuri dropped her shoulders dejected and restlessly ate her tempura rice bowl brought by the waitress.
(Is it really okay to keep on like this?)
Thinking absentmindedly, she dropped the tempura she had picked with her chopsticks into the bowl. Inside of it there was still more than two thirds of rice left. She should be hungry, but she didn’t feel like eating. In fact, everything she tried to eat was tasteless and felt like chewing sand. She hadn’t felt like this since her first marriage interview was broken off.
“Kanroji-san, your body shape is the same as other people, but you’ve eight times more muscles than them. In other words, your muscle density is quite high.”
The one who told her this was none other than Shinobu.
“That’s why, you have to eat a lot. People who have more muscles have a higher basal metabolic rate. So please, do at least eat eight times more than a regular human does.”
“But, for a girl… to eat that much, um… won’t people be disgusted? won’t I be disliked?”
“You don’t have to forcibly stick with someone who would stop you from taking the nourishment you need. You should just do this to that kind of people.”
Saying that and keeping that lovely smile of hers, she made as though she was hitting someone with her fists.
“Right?”
“Geez, Shinobu-chan…”
Mitsuri had no idea how much those words and smile had saved her.
A few days after this exchange with Shinobu, Mitsuri went with Iguro to have some lunch. She timidly ordered what she wanted to eat. Iguro, who ate the least among the pillars, only asked for tea and something small to eat. In spite of Mitsuri’s fears, Iguro did not reproach Mitsuri for her gluttony, on the contrary, he insisted her ‘eat this too’ and ordered more food.
He was also the one who casually gave her those long striped socks without asking for anything in return when she was too embarrassed to use her uniform, which showed too much skin, and wasn’t able to burn it right in front of the tailor like Shinobu had done.
“Kanroji, so you were here after all.”
Mitsuri lifted her head in surprise at the sound of a familiar voice and saw the very face of the one she was thinking about just now.
She was taken aback by this.
“I, Iguro-san!? Why’re you here!?”
“I was looking for you to talk about something.”
As if it was the most natural thing to do, Iguro took the seat in front of Mitsuri and, for some reason, frowned deeply.
“Kanroji, what happened? That…”
“Uh?”, without thinking, she looked down at her rice bowl flustered.
“Did I drop some rice?”
Or was she eating sloppily? Oh no, did she have food on her face?
Mitsuri was getting really nervous, however Iguro had questioned her because of something entirely different.
His next words were colder than ice.
“Why is there a wound on your cheek?”
“Ah! This? This is from yesterday’s night round… I got careless and…”
As soon as she replied in a flurry, Iguro’s eyes became immediately slanted.
Iguro was rather a cool-headed coworker, but seeing him for the first time making such a grim face made her break out in a cold sweat.
(He’s angry. He must be disappointed with me getting injured when I wasn’t even fighting one of the Twelve Moons. What should I do? Is he fed up with me?)
While Mitsuri was earnestly trying to make herself as small as possible, Iguro suddenly jumped to his feet.
“Where is it?”
“Uwaa!”
Mitsuri could only shrug her shoulders as a reflex.
“Where’s that trash.”
“Eh?”
“The trash that ruined your rosy cheeks.”
“Eh…ah, well…”
Mitsuri was about to answer him she had already beaten it, but Iguro interrupted her groaning with deep hatred.
“That trash deserves certain death. I’ll go now and cut him into small pieces.”
Mitsuri stopped him in a hurry as he was already trying to leave the shop.
“W, Wait, Iguro-san! It’s already gone. Umm… You see, I cut its neck that same night… so…”
“…”
Finally coming to his senses, Iguro stopped his bloodlust and went back to sit in front of Mitsuri again. Then, he covered his forehead with a hand and apologized.
“Sorry.”
And muttered a few words very embarrassed.
“Me of all people…losing my mind in anger.”
“…Iguro-san.”
(So, you were not angry with me…)
On the contrary, he was really worried about her.
She felt her heart slowly getting warmer.
Come to think of it, Iguro has been kind to her ever since she joined the Corps, he would help her whenever she was troubled with something. He, who would awkwardly address her
—Kanroji.
“There’s something troubling you, no?”
“Eh?…”
“If you’re okay with me, I’d like you to tell me.”
“Iguro-san…”
“I want to help you, Kanroji.”
“!”
Her chest tightened and her heart made a loud noise at his sincere voice and serious gaze, but at that instant, Shinobu’s face came to her mind.
“…!! I can’t!”
“Kanroji?”
Mitsuri jumped to her feet and Iguro looked up at her dumbfounded. She couldn’t look at him in the eyes.
“I, I just remembered I have some stuff to do! Sorry. I’m leaving, okay?
Coming up somehow with those words, she thrust her money at the shopkeeper and almost tripped rushing out the shop.
(I’m sorry, Iguro-san! I’m so sorry.)
Even though you are worried about me.
Even though you want to help me.
But, that will only make my heart leap for him…
If that happened, instead of getting help, I would just get stuck in an awful situation. I can’t always rely on him.
She left the shop as if she was running away from it.
Several buildings away, she finally calmed down.
(This is something I have to do alone. I can’t rely on Iguro-san forever.)
She slapped her cheeks with both hands with energy.
However, the haze in her head wasn’t cleared in the least.
And then, a few days later—
“Haaaah….”
Mitsuri’s condition, instead of improving, only got worse day by day. It felt like she was extremely suffocated and her body was as heavy as lead. Maybe this was the reason behind not being able to use the Breath of Love properly. It was clear it has weakened.
(I really wonder what’s wrong with me…)
Can I keep on as a Pillar like this?
In the end, I’ve only been feeling miserable and got a message from Shinobu to boot.
Please, come to the Butterfly Estate whenever it suits you.
Mitsuri would normally be happy with this kind of invitation, but this time it only troubled her even more.
(What would Shinobu-chan want from me?)
It’ll be too awkward to see her now… but I can't’ ignore her.
Just when she had started to walk heavily towards the Butterfly Estate, she heard an “ah!” coming from behind her.
“The Demon hunter… sis*?” (nee-chan*)
She turned back at the perplexed voice.
“Yeah, I thought so! It’s sis!”
Some time ago, Mitsuri had saved a boy and his mother from a Demon. Today that boy was standing in front of her, with a smile in his tanned face.
“I’m glad. I’ve been looking you forever, sis.”
“Me?”
Mitsuri blinked her eyes.
“What is it? Some advice? Is something troubling you?”
“…”
Suddenly, the boy’s behaviour changed and became aware of his surroundings. Lowering his voice he told her:
“Actually, the restaurant where my mom works is close by.”
It seems he doesn’t want her mother to know about whatever he wants to tell me.
“Mom will get mad if she hears this.”
A mere child just talked as if he were a grown up man.
“Oh my….”
Holding back a laugh, Mitsuri decided to take him to her favorite teahouse which was some distance away from there.
Sitting right outside the teahouse, the boy happily stuffed his mouth with dangos.
“Have you been well? You’re all grown up! You’re a lot taller now.”
“I’m like 15cm taller since that time.”
“15cm. Boys surely grow up fast.”
Mitsuri smiled with a wide grin. She had a younger brother around the same age as this boy and couldn’t help but see him in this child.
“So? What did you want to talk with me?”
The boy gulped down the dangos and slowly opened his mouth.
“Y’know, I want to be a carpenter.”
“Oh, that’s good. Are you good at making things?”
“Yeah, kind of. My deceased dad was a carpenter.”
“Oh…”
She wasn’t sure how to reply.
However, the boy was attentive to her and kept talking.
“It’s okay, my dad died 3 years ago already.”
He fixed his deep dark eyes on the sky.
“He got swept away by the river and drowned when he was building a bridge. He was a skillful carpenter, but he was a poor swimmer.”
“So that’s what happened…”
Mitsuri lightly bit her lower lip and looked at the boy’s tanned face.
Her mind strongly recalled his mother when she saved both, holding his son with large tears running down her face. Even now she remembered vividly how she kowtowed, bowing her head over and over again.
“Thank you so much for saving my son. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Now that she’d heard what had happened to the father, that memory became a heartrending one.
“Because of that accident my mom won’t let me become a carpenter, it makes her remember about father. She says she wants me to become an apprentice and live in a haberdashery or kimono shop… but, I don’t want to become one of those. I want to be a carpenter.”
The boy tightened his grip of his hand and continued.
“I’m keeping it a secret from mom, I’m planning to become an apprentice of a boss who was an acquaintance of my father’s. Everything’s been arranged.”
“… Why are you telling this to me?”
Mitsuri asked him confused. They boy hesitated at first but then answered brusquely.
“‘Cuz, sis, you were super cool when you saved me and mom.”
“Eh…”
She was extremely puzzled. At that time, she had just joined the Corps and was a lower ranked Slayer who only had her strength to boast, but wasn’t competent at all. She got cut all over and it took her a lot of time to chop off the Demon’s head. Anyways, she had been desperate. She hadn’t been in a state in which she should receive some flattery or even be called cool.
“But, y’know, I was really weak then! Like, I could only reach a lame victory and… I wasn’t cool in the sligh-”
“You were cool!!”
The boy shouted, cutting off her words.
“You fought with everything you got, for us, for complete strangers. Despite being a woman, you went so far as getting all battered… sis, you were cooler than anyone.”
The boy’s honest words pierced her heart.
Maybe because of his excitement, the boy’s earlobes were turning red as the sunset.
“Seeing you like that it made me think. I want to be like that too, doing what I really I want and be of help to others. I don’t want to give up or regret anything. That’s why, it doesn’t matter how much my mom cries for it, I’m going to become a carpenter and show everyone I can make a bridge that surpasses my father’s.”
“…”
“I was looking for you forever because I wanted to tell only sis about this. Okay then, thanks for the dangos.”
Saying that, they boy ran off. There wasn’t even time to call him out.
His back grew smaller and smaller until he dissapeared in the crowd.
“…”
Mitsuri stared in a daze at the spot she last saw him…
5.-
“Kanroji-sama, thank you for visiting us. Shinobu-sama’s waiting for you.”
After arriving at the Butterfly Estate, Kanzaki Aoi guided her to the training area with a troubled face. Mitsuri tilted her head while trembling.
(Why at the training area?)
Just as the name implies, that place is a dojo where injured soldiers go through a training regiment to boost their recovery process and also where Shinobu trains herself and her Tsuguko.
Mitsuri had visited the Butterly Estate before, but this was the first time she was called to the training grounds.
With a worried face, Aoi left her alone and she timidly opened the sliding door to the dojo.
“Umm… Shinobu-chan?”
“Hello, Kanroji-san.”
And there she was, at the center of the vast dojo. She was sitting with two bamboo swords at her side. However, she wasn’t smiling as usual.
With a frosty look, she grabbed both swords, stood up and tossed one of the swords to Mitsuri.
(…Eh?)
She caught it with her hand reflexively.
Shinobu, still stone-faced asked her.
“Could I ask you for a match?”
Despite making a request, it seemed that Shinobu had no intention of listening to her answer as she readied her bamboo sword and pointed it towards Mitsuri.
“Eh?… Wha- Eh? Shinobu-chan?”
While Mitsuri was confused and not able to understand the situation, Shinobu gave her a sidelong glance and rushed in without making a sound. In the blink of an eye, she closed the distance between them and knocked the sword in Mitsuri’s hands off.
The low pitched sound of the sword hitting the floor resounded in the dojo.
“Just now—”
Shinobu glanced sharply at Mitsuri who stood still and dumbfounded.
“You don’t even have half of your strength. If you were yourself, it wouldn’t have mattered how low your guard was, you’d have dodged that easily.”
“…Ah… Um…”
Shinobu’s voice had a strict tone, almost as if she was reproaching her. Mitsuri became flustered.
“It looks like you can’t use the Breath of Love properly.”
“Th- that’s… Um…”
What she said was exactly correct and made Mitsuri more and more dispirited.
Shinobu let out a soundless sigh and lowered her sword. She directed a chilly look to Mitsuri’s body.
“You look pale and your cheeks are hollow. You haven’t been eating enough to keep your muscles healthy, have you?
“!!”
“I’m not strong as a swordswoman, however Kanroji-san’s different. What makes you an excellent swordswoman is your talent to use a longsword as it pleases you without worries, your incredible flexibility, the strength you got by birth and, above everything else, your overwhelming honesty.
Mitsuri fell completely silent.
“Kanroji-san.”
Shinobu addressed her emotionlessly.
“Why are you trying to make yourself weaker?”
Her heart jumped from the shock.
She fearfully looked at Shinobu, who was already looking back at her.
Mitsuri gulped, but the sound of it felt like another person had done it.
If she was going to talk, now was the moment.
But—
(No… I can’t say it…. I just can’t.)
If she said it frankly, it would just hurt Shinobu. She would make her remember unpleasant and sad things—
No, wrong. In truth, she was scared of saying it. Mitsuri was deceiving herself by thinking it was all for Shinobu’s sake, when it actually was for her own. She was too afraid of being hated by her precious friend if she confessed, of destroying their friendship and losing a friend.
Mitsuri casted her eyes downwards to avoid Shinobu’s eyes and squeezed her hands.
(What should I do… Something else, I could tell her another rea-)
At the instant she thought that, a voice sounded in her ears.
— You were cool!!
Ah…
Mitsuri lifted her head energetically.
That boy told her she was cooler than anyone when she was still a novice. She had felt a huge relief and was happy they were alive.
She’d thought she finally found a place where it was fine to stay, aside from her family.
Thank you.
It was actually Mitsuri the one who wanted to say those words.
(I can’t….I mustn’t tell lies.)
If I do it, I won’t be able to stay here anymore.
I won’t be able to face Shinobu ever again.
(I have to tell her properly… my feelings.)
She shut her eyes tightly, then opened them and looked directly at Shinobu’s eyes.
“—Shinobu-chan, I…”
Just by saying those few words, her mouth went dry. She knew she was speaking in a shrill voice.
“I… heard it…. from the Kakushi….about Shinobu-chan.”
“….”
Shinobu’d been watching her, still with a cold expression. Even now, there couldn’t be seen any change in her emotions.
If she really had complete control of her emotions, just how much training did she go through to reach that?
A girl whose parents were slaughtered by Demons right before her eyes and whose beloved sister was snatched away too.
The pain and sorrow almost made Mitsuri’s heart falter, but she eagerly fought them back.
“… I, was embarrassed at my reason to join the Corps… to find someone special and love… I felt sorry for Shinobu-chan. I thought I shouldn’t be like this, I needed to pull myself together… But,”
Sealing away her love made her surprisingly weak. The connection between her heart and the Breath of Love was deeper than she’d thought.
“I finally got it now. I can’t do that. I have to become stronger being myself. If not, I won’t be able to protect anyone.”
She became afraid of being hated by those precious to her and as a result she neglected those she was supposed to protect. She unreasonably weakened the power and strength given to her by birth and tried to live in falsehood. All when she’d supposedly decided to live somewhere where lies were not needed and use this power granted by her parents to save as many people as she could…
“This is me! This is Kanroji Mitsuri!! My heart leaps for many kinds of people, I eat a lot and I’m really strong! … But… I, I—”
“…..”
“Shinobu-chan… I really love you, okay?”
Saying that and before she could close her mouth, Shinobu’s pure white throat started to move slightly.
“Aside from me, there’re a lot of members in the Corps who had their parents snatched away from them by Demons.”
Mitsuri’s heart throbbed in pain at her calm voice.
“Aoi, Sumi, Kiyo and Naho too. Their families were killed by Demons and had nowhere else to go, so they live here with me.
Mitsuri was hanging her head again, but a soft voice reached her hears.
“However, me and those girls would never be jealous of your situation or loath you because of your reasons for joining the Corps. But, well, I was surprised at first when I heard it.”
“Eh?…”
Mitsuri heard a giggle slip out in the last sentence, she lifted her head in surprise and saw Shinobu with a smile playing on her lips. Their eyes met.
With Shinobu’s cold expression gone, Mitsuri was warmly wrapped in with her usual gentle smile.
“Everyone here harbors hatred and grief, and despite licking each other’s wound, we can’t move forward. For us, Kanroji-san’s cheerfulness and smile is what always saves us.”
“Shinobu… chan…”
In Shinobu’s eyes, she could see herself ready to burst into tears.
Her deep violet eyes looked the same as the first time they met, they were the most beautiful thing in the world.
“So, please, don’t do things like lying to yourself. I really like you as you are.”
Unable to endure it, she clinged to Shinobu who was way smaller than herself. Lukewarm tears were shedded one after another.
“Shinobu-chanShinobu-chanShinobu-chan!!!”
“I’m sorry for testing you like that.”
“No, it’s fine! Really fine… I was being stupid.”
Still clinging to her Mitsuri shook her head, tickling Shinobu and making her laugh.
“Please, from now on you have to eat properly, okay?”
“Yeah, I will! I’ll eat a lot. And get stronger!”
“Iguro-san was worried too.”
And added a few more words in a whisper.
‘To the point of being a little overprotective.’
“Yeah, I’ll apologize to him too. And to Muichirō-kun…
Wahhhh.
Mitsuri cried like a child and Shinobu softly patted her back with her small hand, in the same way one would do it to a baby.
Then, she murmured.
“—To tell you the truth, I was always jealous. Jealous of your constitution.”
“Eh?”
“If I too had muscles like you, if I was taller… Then…”
“Shinobu… chan?”
“I said too much, please forget it.”
She muttered in her arms.
What was she going to say after ‘then’?
Mitsuri felt like the words left unsaid were full of feelings strong enough to be heartbreaking, feelings which would rather burn down everything.
The only swordsman who can’t cut off a Demon’s head among all the Pillars.
The body she was holding now felt so fleeting, or rather it was like a child’s, that it made her cry loudly once more.
She promised herself again.
That she’d live without making lies.
That she’d kill as many Demons as possible.
And she’d protect as many smiles and happiness as she could.
So that she can live proudly with her cherished friends in this precious place—.
6.-
“Kanroji-san, why did you join the Demon Slayer Corps?”
“Uh? Me?”
In the corridor of Tecchikawahara’s mansion, Kamado Tanjirō asked her a question.
This boy, who joined the Corps to turn her sister back to a human, had fiery red eyes. They were really pretty.
He was looking at her straight into her eyes, it almost made her shrink back.
“It’s kinda embarrassing… Oh, what should I do. You wanna hear?”
Mitsuri fidgeted.
Nezuko, who through her Demon Blood Arts had shrunk her boy to the size of a child, looked up at her curiously. Mitsuri gently brushed her black hair.
“You see…”
— Kanroji Mitsuri continued her story with a smile in her face.
FIN
TL:SoMeBoDY kILL ME
