Chapter 46: Using the deadliest wisteria poison to turn that demon into ashes
Three days later, at night, at the foot of Mount Kumotori.
"What on earth does that stupid woman think she's doing?"
Sanemi Shinazugawa snapped his head around,
his bloodshot eyes glaring intensely at Kocho Shinobu beside him.
His voice carried an undisguised violence,
and even a trace of heartache that he himself refused to admit.
"As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, hiding on a mountain with a demon!
Has she betrayed the Demon Slayer Corps? Betrayed the convictions of us all,
and fallen so far as to collude with those man-eating monsters?!"
He would never believe in any demon, nor could he tolerate any act of harboring demons within the Demon Slayer Corps.
In his worldview, demons were pure evil,
the culprits who took his mother, his younger siblings, and destroyed everything he had.
He couldn't understand Kanae Kocho, who always wore a gentle smile
and spoke naive words like "I hope we can live in peace with demons,"
actually putting those words into action now.
To him, this wasn't just naivety; it was an outright betrayal!
"Sanemi-san, please take back what you just said."
A cold, calm, yet chilling voice rang in Sanemi Shinazugawa's ear.
Standing beside Sanemi Shinazugawa was Kocho Shinobu, draped in a butterfly-winged patterned Haori.
At this moment, her face was like a frozen lake—cold and calm, yet exuding a heart-pounding sense of oppression.
Within her once-clear purple eyes, extremely complex emotions churned:
there was extreme worry for her sister's safety,
a monstrous killing intent toward the demon that had bewitched her sister,
and anger at Sanemi Shinazugawa's words.
Kocho Shinobu lifted her chin slightly, looking directly into Sanemi Shinazugawa's savage eyes, and said word by word:
"Nee-san would absolutely never betray the Demon Slayer Corps.
No matter what happens, Nee-san will always be that gentle, strong Flower Hashira
who would sacrifice everything to protect others.
Sanemi-san, you are being too impulsive."
The spring breeze brushed past Kocho Shinobu's temples, fluttering the butterfly hair ornament on her head.
Though small in stature, the aura she radiated at this moment was not at all inferior to the Wind Hashira before her.
As an absolute "sister-con,"
Kanae Kocho was the most perfect and sacred existence in Kocho Shinobu's heart,
the source of all light and meaning in her life.
She could tolerate others' criticism of herself,
but she would never allow anyone,
not even a Hashira, to cast the slightest slander upon her most beloved sister.
"If Nee-san truly betrayed the Demon Slayer Corps as you say, and completely sided with the demons..."
Kocho Shinobu's voice paused for a moment.
"Then it would be impossible for us to find her trail through the Kasugai Crow."
"If Nee-san intended to hide, how could an ordinary Kasugai Crow track the movements of a Hashira?"
"This is clearly Nee-san sending us some kind of message,
it's that damned demon using some despicable means to coerce her!"
As Sanemi Shinazugawa listened to Kocho Shinobu's analysis, his brow furrowed deeply into the shape of the character for river.
Though he had a violent temper, he wasn't a brainless fool.
He knew Kocho Shinobu had a point; he was well aware of Kanae's strength.
If she truly wanted to hide her tracks, she would never leave such an obvious opening.
But the rage in his heart still wouldn't subside; just the thought of a demon being by Kanae's side
made his blood boil, wishing he could rush up immediately and tear that demon to shreds.
"So what!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa said through gritted teeth.
"Regardless of whether that woman is being coerced or has lost her mind,"
"the fact is she is with a demon right now!"
"As long as it's a demon, it must be slain!"
"I'm going up the mountain right now to twist that demon's head off and, while I'm at it, beat some sense into that delusional woman!"
With that, Sanemi Shinazugawa prepared to draw his blade and charge up the mountain.
"Wait, Sanemi-san."
Kocho Shinobu suddenly reached out, blocking Sanemi Shinazugawa's path.
Sanemi Shinazugawa stopped abruptly, glaring fiercely at Kocho Shinobu.
"What do you want?"
"Kocho Shinobu, don't tell me even you are going to harbor that demon!"
"Of course not."
Kocho Shinobu looked at Sanemi Shinazugawa, a chilling killing intent suddenly igniting in her purple eyes.
"Sanemi-san,"
Kocho Shinobu looked into Sanemi Shinazugawa's eyes and pleaded word by word,
"when we get up the mountain,"
"if... I mean if, Nee-san has truly been bewitched by that demon"
"and tries to protect it,"
"please, help me hold Nee-san back."
Hearing this, Sanemi Shinazugawa looked at Kocho Shinobu with a face full of shock.
"Hold back Kanae?"
"Was he supposed to let this frail Kocho Shinobu, who couldn't even cut a demon's neck, deal with the demon?"
"I want to kill that demon with my own hands."
Kocho Shinobu's hand slowly moved to the hilt of the nichirin sword at her waist,
her thumb gently stroking the tsuba, her nails sinking deep into her palm from the force.
"Nee-san is flawless; she has spent her whole life fighting to save others."
"I will never allow any stain to remain on her."
"If Nee-san has made a mistake because of that demon,"
"then... as her sister, it is my responsibility and duty to wash away this stain myself.
I will use the deadliest wisteria poison in my scabbard to turn that demon into ashes amidst endless agony."
Sanemi Shinazugawa looked at Kocho Shinobu and was about to refuse.
In his view, the task of slaying demons should be left to him.
With Kocho Shinobu's meager strength, if anything went wrong, she would just be throwing her life away.
"Are you kidding me? Someone like you—"
Sanemi Shinazugawa's words were cut off halfway, stuck in his throat.
Because he saw Kocho Shinobu's eyes.
What kind of eyes were those?
Gone was the gentle smile of the past.
Deep within those dark purple eyes,
Sanemi Shinazugawa saw a resolve as indestructible as a rock,
a madness and determination to protect what was most important to her,
even if it meant being shattered to pieces or falling into hell.
Sanemi Shinazugawa was all too familiar with that look.
He had seen it in the eyes of members who resolutely charged at demons to protect their comrades;
he had felt it in the protective urge that surged deep within him when he looked at his younger brother, Genya;
it was a resolve that was pure to the extreme, and tragic to the extreme.
Sanemi Shinazugawa gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw bulging from the tension.
He stared intently at Kocho Shinobu for a long time.
"Tsk..."
Sanemi Shinazugawa irritably scratched his wild white hair and spat on the ground.
"Suit yourself!"
"But listen up: if you can't kill that demon, I'll cut down both you and the demon together!"
"Thank you, Sanemi-san."
Kocho Shinobu bowed her head slightly, her voice calm, but her grip on the hilt tightened.
"Enough talk! Let's go!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa barked, his legs suddenly exerting force,
as he charged into the pitch-black forest of Mount Kumotori like an arrow from a bow.
Kocho Shinobu followed closely behind, her butterfly-winged Haori tracing a graceful arc in the darkness.
Her lithe figure was like a poisonous butterfly darting through the night, racing toward the summit.
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