Inori sat before Kanae's dressing table like a mannequin, letting the woman behind her turn her pink hair into any number of elaborate arrangements—a side ponytail, twin tails, a coiled updo, even a braid—each one more inventive than the last.
"Should it be like this... or like this... it's so hard to decide~"
Kanae fixed a hairpin into the finished braid, studied the rose-haired, crimson-eyed beauty in the mirror with a thoughtful tilt of her head, and somehow managed to look thoroughly vexed.
"...Kanae. You were just playing the whole time, weren't you."
Inori had finally had enough. She clutched her own hair protectively and fixed Kanae's reflection with a deeply unimpressed stare.
—She had no interest in helping Inori improve her appearance at all. She'd simply refused to pass up the chance to do whatever she liked with that beautiful pink hair.
"Oh dear, you caught me~"
Kanae giggled behind her hand, every bit the self-satisfied fox. Inori seethed.
"Just tie it back somehow! I've been sitting here so long I'm starving!"
A lie—but a convenient one. Since the Nameless Monster had taken hold, her body seemed to have shed several normal functions. Hunger, for one. Thirst. Any metabolic process at all—internal or otherwise. She'd spent considerable time crossing forest and wilderness, and arrived without a single speck of dust on her.
In the old days, a journey like that would have left her hair caked with grime, and she'd have spent ages washing it all out.
The Nameless Monster seemed to handle her body's upkeep through some alternative process of its own.
Not feeling hunger... Inori wasn't sure whether that was a gain or a loss. She was, by nature, something of a gourmand—good food had always been one of her most reliable sources of contentment.
"All right, all right~"
Kanae unraveled the braids with a laugh, restoring Inori's hair to its original loose state, then began smoothing it out with practiced care. The texture was more silken than any brocade she'd ever touched—a gradient that melted from pale pink near the roots to a deep, vivid rose at the tips, a shade so fine that even an artist's brush would struggle to capture it. What a gift.
Kanae harbored no ulterior feelings—but she genuinely hoped this unusual girl named Inori would join the Demon Slayer Corps. Then she'd have a proper reason to keep her close. Setting aside the formidable combat strength... even just keeping her close—like her own little healing pet—was a comforting thought.
Kanae found a black hair tie and, threading it carefully through the pink-to-rose gradient, settled on a fitting spot before fastening it. Then she took up a comb to smooth the rest, while her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
—Inori was different from Kanao. She was strong enough not to need protecting. But a person like that still had hollow places—gaps Kanae hoped she might fill, to care for her, to live alongside her going forward.
—But how easily said. Once the Master knew about any of this, it would send ripples through the entire Corps. Even with her immunity to sunlight, she was still a monster in their eyes. There would be a reckoning—and knowing Inori's nature and temperament, she'd never quietly submit to one.
—Well. A problem for another day. Go back first; have Shinobu and the others keep this quiet. No word of it should spread.
...
...
The courtyard of the Butterfly Mansion was full of flowers, greenery, and a small pond—but above all else, it was full of butterflies. They drifted in every color imaginable, circling through the air without a hint of wariness, fluttering eagerly toward anyone who approached.
Just like the name of those who lived here. Kanae was dark-haired and straight-fringed, but wore a pair of butterfly hairpins—and the beautiful haori modeled on butterfly wings, which after her death in the original story would be inherited by her sister Shinobu and by Tsuguko Kanao.
Everything connected to Kanae Kocho—her Breathing Style, Flower Breathing; her home—was suffused with a dreamlike, luminous beauty. If she had one shortcoming... it was probably that she was too kind. Inori was certain no other Hashira would have taken her in.
"Big sis! Could you do me a favor—go to the back garden and tell Shinobu-nee and Kanao to come for lunch. One of our people isn't feeling well today, so we're short-handed!"
Passing by the kitchen, Inori was stopped by a small girl who barely reached her waist—about the same age as Jolyne, by the look of her. The child's voice was round and sweet, raising gooseflesh along Inori's arms. There was no refusing it.
Kanae, as Flower Hashira, still had mission reports to file after returning. Inori didn't go looking for her—she wandered on her own through the sprawling estate toward the back, following some faint intuition of where Shinobu might be.
(③)
After passing through a couple of courtyard gates, she first heard the rhythmic sound of a wooden sword cutting the air, then eased her head around the corner—and spotted a small girl with her hair pinned up neatly, swinging that wooden sword over and over with focused intensity.
"Good work, Kanao-chan. Your form is getting a little stiff, though—take a rest."
(③)
Perched on a large stone nearby was a familiar silhouette—Shinobu Kocho, Kanae's younger sister.
They were practicing swordsmanship.
Inori didn't overthink it. She stepped out, raised a hand, and called:
"Shinobu-chan~"
"Onee-san, aren't you still—wait... who are you?"
Shinobu had spun around expecting her sister, and felt a jolt of surprise—only to find a stranger, a pretty young woman she couldn't quite place... wearing what were unmistakably Kanae's old clothes. A vivid red-and-black floral ornament was pinned to the left side of her pink hair—something Kanae had once picked up on a whim at a shop but never worn herself.
"It's me—forgotten already?"
Inori was quietly amused. She struck the same pose she'd used when teasing Shinobu back in the forest—Feather Blade in hand, that unmistakable air.
"You're... Inori?!"
Shinobu went rigid.
—Strange. Wearing Onee-san's kimono like that, there's something... unsettling about her. Like looking at some version of Onee-san who'd dyed her hair pink. When they'd first met in the forest, she'd clocked her immediately as a demon—nothing else.
—And the strangest thing of all... why does her voice sound so much like Onee-san's?
"It's me~"
"Looks like Kanae's quite fond of you."
Shinobu hadn't fully accepted Inori yet, and kept her composure with an effort, voice tipping into something faintly barbed. "She gave you the ornament she'd been saving, and the kimono she used to love."
"Kanae-san is very kind."
Inori smiled—easy, effortless.
"Shinobu-chan should grow up to be just like her. I'm rooting for you."
"You—don't talk to me like you're some kind of elder!" Shinobu bristled visibly. This was her home. Somehow it felt as if this outsider had made herself at ease here long before Shinobu had given her permission. And that casual "Shinobu-chan" as if they'd known each other for years—!
"I'm fourteen, you know! I'm going to become a Hashira just like Onee-san, very soon!"
"I know. You'll definitely become a Hashira people can count on."
"..."
Shinobu opened her mouth and stopped. Something complicated moved across her young features. She hadn't expected Inori to be so direct—so unhesitating. It was just a distant goal of hers. She knew well enough that her current level was still far short of what a Hashira needed to be.
—What is with this woman! She's insufferable!
"I was asked to tell you both—lunch is ready."
Inori read her mood and didn't push. She stated her errand simply.
Then she shifted her gaze to the dark-haired girl standing behind Shinobu, wooden sword still in hand.
"You're Kanao-chan? I'm Inori."
"...Hello."
Her voice was barely audible—a fragile, tentative sound.
The girl had strikingly large eyes—the same deep violet-red as the Kocho sisters. Utterly adorable.
"You're very good with the sword. Do you want to become a Demon Slayer one day?"
"...Mm. Mm."
Kanao was clearly bashful, but she nodded vigorously all the same—two quick, earnest affirmations.
"Hey—Inori!"
Shinobu couldn't stand how Inori kept cozying up to her foster sister. She stepped in front of Kanao at once, expression guarded and sharp.
"Don't get any ideas about Kanao... Onee-san might have decided to trust you, but I haven't!"