Late at night, at the Butterfly Estate.
Warm golden lamplight spilled across the grounds, where late-blooming cherry blossoms still lingered in the courtyard.
Kanae stood at the end of the corridor with a bamboo lantern in hand, the butterfly pattern on her haori lifting softly in the night breeze. Summer nights were no longer as cold as before; the wind that brushed across the skin now carried only a gentle warmth.
The Flower Hashira turned around, her smile softer than the moonlight.
"I didn't expect Shinobu to go out with the Kakushi," she said. "Looks like tonight it's just the two of us."
"Welcome to the Butterfly Estate, Hozuki."
"Thank you for having me."
Hozuki pressed her palms together and stepped inside. The Butterfly Estate was a sprawling complex laid out like a grand courtyard residence, complete with an apothecary, patient wards, and rehabilitation grounds. Those facilities were set apart from Kanae's living quarters, so the corridors and gardens were nothing like what Hozuki had imagined—there were no nurses bustling about, no injured swordsmen recovering within sight.
It was very quiet.
Beneath the lamplight, Kanae served Hozuki dinner.
"I heard you like sweets, so I tried making some," she said as she sat across from her, propping her chin on one hand while watching the woman before her eat in neat, delicate bites. "There are dango and red bean buns."
Hozuki's table manners were impeccable. Compared to the rough-and-tumble image of a Demon Slayer, she looked more like a pampered noblewoman.
For swordsmen, life could be harsh. When hunting demons, there was no room to care about elegance. Wolfing down food was the norm; only by stuffing in nutrients as quickly as possible could they avoid giving demons an opening.
"It's delicious. Thank you, Kanae," Hozuki said with a smile after swallowing the last dumpling.
"So long as that isn't just you trying to be nice."
Kanae cleared away the plates and fetched something from a cabinet. Hozuki caught the rich, earthy scent of medicine in the air.
"It's for a medicinal bath," Kanae explained, sensing her question. "Whether through demon hunting or training, swordsmen end up overusing their bodies and develop all kinds of hidden injuries. A proper medicated bath can ease them—sometimes even cure them completely. It's an indispensable part of the Butterfly Estate's care. Have you really never taken one before?"
Hozuki shook her head.
"I would have thought you took them often."
"Why?"
"Because you smell faintly of medicinal herbs. It's subtle beside the floral scent you usually carry, but I can tell. Are you sure you've never soaked in one? Or taken any kind of medicine?"
"No," Hozuki said.
"Then it must just be your natural scent. I didn't think a girl could really smell like that." Kanae nodded, accepting the conclusion. As the daughter of a family of herbalists, she had no awkwardness when speaking of such things. "Though with your thousand-person-grade rare blood, I suppose all sorts of unusual traits are possible."
She removed her butterfly hairpin and gathered up her hair.
"Would you like to try the Butterfly Estate's medicinal bath?"
Steam curled off the herbal water like gauze in Kanae's eyes.
She had pinned up her hair with a wooden comb, and from behind the bamboo screen came the faint rustle of clothing being shed.
Then the water rippled around the reflection of pale collarbones. Hozuki's hair had spread out across the bath.
Kanae lifted one corner of the bamboo screen.
Freed from the restraint of her hairpin, Hozuki's dark blue-black hair spilled to her waist, as if someone had cut away a strip of night itself and draped it down her back.
Mist curled around her porcelain-white shoulders and neck, tinting her skin with a delicate flush.
Released from the tight lines of her Demon Slayer uniform, her body stretched languidly beneath the herbal water, the curve of her waist breathtakingly beautiful.
For a moment, Kanae forgot herself.
"It's not very nice to peek, Kanae," Hozuki said.
"Is the temperature all right?" Kanae asked, feigning calm as she pushed a prepared herbal pouch gently across the water, carefully keeping her gaze fixed on the medicinal leaves floating on the surface. "I hope your rare blood can help more swordsmen. Even a tiny amount of blood from someone with a thousand-person-grade rare bloodline, properly diluted, could be used as bait to lure demons out. No matter where they hide—or if one of our swordsmen ends up in danger—that blood could help."
Her voice suddenly caught.
She had seen Hozuki lift an arm, scattering droplets through the air, rivulets slipping from her shoulder blades down the dip of her waist.
The fingers that held a sword were long and slender, with not a trace of calluses.
She brushed damp strands of hair from her neck, and the faint red tint at the corners of her eyes deepened under the hot steam, vivid and blood-bright.
Hozuki was still sitting there with her eyes closed, her tone almost teasing.
"Let's talk about work tomorrow. Right now is time to relax. If you want to look, there's no need to sneak around. I can let you look to your heart's content, you know. Consider it repayment for your kindness in preparing this bath for me."
Kanae spun around so fast she knocked over a ceramic bottle of bath medicine beside the tub with the sleeve of her robe.
"Kanae?"
"Ah—sorry, I think I got the proportions wrong! I'll go check the backup ingredients…"
Usually so composed, the Flower Hashira stumbled into the screen, the back of her neck flushing almost as red as Hozuki's crimson haori.
"You don't have much experience being close with girls your own age, do you, Kanae?" Hozuki asked.
Girls their own age. Close contact.
No matter how one put it, neither phrase seemed suited to a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps.
There were hardly any girls Kanae's age in the Corps to begin with, let alone any she might grow close to.
Could it be that Hozuki had many such friends?
"That's your fault, Hozuki," Kanae said, pressing her burning cheek to the cool doorframe while the late cherry blossoms outside fluttered down in urgent little bursts. "This was supposed to be a medicinal bath to soothe hidden injuries, and somehow it's become training for my self-control instead."
She heard Hozuki laugh softly.
"Does seeing me make a fool of myself really amuse you that much?"
Puffing out her cheeks, Kanae picked up the herbal pouch again, straightened her expression, and stepped back into the bath. She convinced herself she was calm now, composed enough that Hozuki wouldn't notice anything strange.
Then she heard Hozuki speak.
"Your heart is beating very fast."
Kanae nearly broke.
She really had no way of dealing with Hozuki at all.
Take a deep breath, Kanae. It's fine. It'll be fine.
When Kanae finally forced herself to look straight at Hozuki, she was at least spared one thing—Hozuki still had her eyes closed, which made everything a little less embarrassing. Just as Hozuki had guessed, Kanae truly had very little experience being close to girls her own age. The only deeply intimate bond she had ever known was with her younger sister, Shinobu.
"All right, all right. I'll stop teasing you," Hozuki said. "Can you come a little closer, Kanae?"
The moment she spoke, some of Kanae's embarrassment eased.
So Hozuki's words really did carry a kind of magic, didn't they?
Kanae moved nearer, and Hozuki placed a hand on her shoulder. A faint numbing sensation ran through her muscles.
"You're far too tense," Hozuki murmured.
"A healer who cannot heal herself, hm? While you're so busy worrying over the bodies of your swordsmen, you ought to take better care of your own."
Hozuki's fingers moved lightly along the lines of Kanae's bones. She used the subtle electric current born of Thunder Breathing to help relax Kanae's tight muscles.
"You've been pushing yourself far harder than the moderation you preach to others. Your waist, your shoulders, your legs… the muscles all over your body are right at the edge of collapse."
"When you're being gentle with other people, remember to be gentle with yourself too."
Kanae froze, then slowly relaxed. A smile rose at the corner of her lips.
"Hozuki," she called softly.
From behind her came a gentle hum. "What is it?"
"Thank you."
Kanae closed her eyes. Listening to Hozuki's quiet humming, she felt as though she had returned to childhood, lying in her mother's arms while stories were read to her.
Thank you.
"Would you like me to sing?" Hozuki asked.
Soon a song drifted across the surface of the herbal bath.
The melody was soft, and Kanae leaned against Hozuki without realizing it.
Hozuki's lullaby mingled with the rising mist, and sleep came over Kanae in a sudden, irresistible wave.
"Sakura, sakura,
In the spring sky of Yayoi,
As far as the eye can see—
Is it mist, or is it cloud?
Fragrance fills the air…"
Hozuki stroked Kanae's hair, and by then Kanae's eyes were already closed, her breathing deep and even.
"Come now, come now,
Let us go and see them."
"Good night, Kanae."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
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