Chapter 51: Kanao: I Want to Stay by Big Brother's Side Forever
In the original story, Kanae's Flower Breathing was a derivative of Water Breathing. Now, by having her train under Urokodaki Sakonji, she could solidify her fundamentals. From there, creating her own Flower Breathing should not be an issue.
Things at the Butterfly Mansion were also progressing smoothly. A few days ago, Akira had heard that the two retired physicians had jointly taken in three little girls. They were raising them while teaching them the basics of nursing, with the plan to send them to the Butterfly Mansion once they were old enough.
One could only say that retirement suited them. In the span of a month, the two old men who once trembled just reaching for a medicinal herb now had the energy to raise children.
The three girls' names were Kiyo Terauchi, Sumi Nakahara, and Naho Takada—the very same trio from the Butterfly Mansion in the original timeline. Although they were still very young and wouldn't be ready to work for several more years, it meant the mansion's future staff was one step closer to completion. Akira was quite pleased by this development.
As for the demons, their activity remained at a normal level; they hadn't gone silent, nor had they become unusually aggressive. Akira knew his own strength still had a great deal of room for improvement, and he was a long way from being able to truly challenge the Demon King's forces.
According to his plan, once he perfected a new sword technique by referencing Water Breathing's Seventh Form, it would be time to visit the Rengoku family and learn Flame Breathing.
Akira had already sketched out a prototype for the new sword technique. The inspiration came from a memory of his past life, from a movie where he'd seen Giyuu transform the single-point, piercing thrust of the Seventh Form into a wide-area, high-frequency barrage.
The purpose behind creating this move was singular: to counter overwhelming, wide-scale attacks.
For Akira, who possessed Super Sight, these kinds of attacks were his greatest weakness. Even if he could see every projectile and every slash with perfect clarity, he couldn't possibly dodge them all. He needed a way to carve through a portion of the assault to create a safe zone for himself.
He mentally cataloged the threats he knew of: Kokushibou, Upper Rank One, with his storm of crescent-shaped sword slashes; Akaza, Upper Rank Three, with his dense, large-scale shockwave attacks; and even some of the Demon King Muzan's own techniques fell into this category.
Although Thunder Breathing's Fifth Form, Heat Lightning, offered some defensive capability, it was ultimately insufficient for such overwhelming onslaughts. This new sword technique, however, would work in concert with his eyes, allowing him to precisely strike down incoming attacks and forge a pocket of safety amidst the chaos.
Once that move was fully developed, he would move on to his next project: developing sword techniques that combined Flame Breathing with certain elements of Thunder Breathing. He had one specific target in mind for that—Douma.
But with everything proceeding so smoothly according to his plans, a question nagged at him: what was it he had forgotten?
The answer didn't come to Akira until he returned to the Butterfly Mansion. He completed his regular afternoon training, then went out for his usual patrol as night fell.
It wasn't until the latter half of the night, as Akira was settling into his futon, that the forgotten detail struck him.
Kanao.
Without Kanae here to help Shinobu keep watch, Kanao would almost certainly sneak into his room in the middle of the night.
Although Kanao was still a little girl, if this became a habit, the problem would grow much larger when she was older.
Akira immediately sat bolt upright, his mind racing for a solution. It wasn't that he hadn't tried locking his door at night. But when he did, Kanao would foolishly wait right outside, not daring to knock for fear of disturbing his rest. She would just squat there, shivering in the cold winter wind.
The sight had broken everyone's heart at the Butterfly Mansion, and Akira had even earned a stern scolding from Shinobu for it, leaving him with no way to defend himself.
It was after that incident that the matter of Kanao sneaking into his arms to sleep was temporarily shelved. Everyone simply concluded that she lacked a sense of security and instinctively sought comfort from the person who had rescued her from her suffering. They hoped that by showing her more care in their daily lives and slowly teaching her about the differences between boys and girls, she would naturally stop.
However, after half a month, Kanao's intelligence had become obvious. She had reportedly mastered reading, writing, and basic arithmetic, and only needed to be shown daily tasks or taught common sense once to understand. The only thing she refused to change, come hell or high water, was her habit of sneaking into Akira's futon every night after Shinobu had fallen asleep.
He had originally thought that once Kanae was free, she could watch over Kanao. The little girl knew the Kochou sisters genuinely cared for her and didn't want to disturb their rest. As long as the sisters slept with Kanao between them, it would prevent her from slipping away in the middle of the night.
After Makomo successfully mastered Total Concentration: Constant, Kanae had indeed started sleeping with Shinobu and Kanao again, and the little girl had remained well-behaved for a few days.
But now, Kanae was at Mount Sagiri.
After mulling it over, Akira saw only one option: entrust Kanao to Mr. and Mrs. Takemoto. It might affect the couple's nightlife, but there was no other temporary solution.
Just as he settled on this reluctant plan, Akira noticed something else was off.
Normally, Kanao would have already pushed his door open by now. The silence was unusual, and it surprised him. After days of high-intensity living—training by day and patrolling by night—the sudden relaxation left him feeling too energetic to sleep. Since he was wide awake, he decided to go and see what was happening with Kanao.
With that thought, Akira slipped on a coat and stepped out of his room.
He walked to the bedroom Shinobu and Kanao shared, only to find the light still on inside.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Shinobu, Kanao, may I come in?"
Akira had barely finished speaking when, before Shinobu could even respond, the sound of pattering feet rushed to the door. It slid open, revealing Kanao.
"Big Brother!" she chirped, her voice brimming with surprise and pure attachment.
Perhaps because Akira had rescued her earlier than in the original timeline, Kanao, while still having some emotional deficiencies, had not developed the near-complete lack of autonomous consciousness depicted in the story.
Though she still acted like a 'delicate, life-sized doll' around strangers—silent, barely moving, offering only a polite, distant smile and generally avoiding them—she would readily express her wishes and emotions in front of people she trusted.
When Kanao had learned to speak, her very first word was 'Big Brother.' Her first complete sentence, which had struck a deep chord in Akira's heart, was 'I want to stay by Big Brother's side forever.'
Of course, it had also made Shinobu, who had devoted herself just as fiercely to Kanao's care, extremely jealous. She had given Akira the cold shoulder for several days after that.
Shinobu's logic was simple: Even though Kanao said it, how could Kanao possibly be at fault? It's all Kanzaki Akira's fault!
Akira could only sigh in resignation. Fortunately, Shinobu later completely succumbed to Kanao's constant, sweet calls of 'Older Sister Shinobu' and couldn't be bothered to argue with him anymore.
"The floor is cold in winter. Don't walk around barefoot," Akira said gently as he bent down to scoop Kanao into his arms.
She obediently leaned into his embrace, her eyes narrowing with happiness as she felt the familiar warmth. She instinctively nuzzled against his chest, a contented little sigh escaping her lips. She had run to the door without her shoes partly from the sheer joy of hearing Akira's voice, and partly for this exact moment. Her time with him had already allowed her to understand her brother's gentle nature completely.
Poor Akira had no idea that he had already been thoroughly studied by his little sister. He simply held her, walked into the room, and slid the door shut behind them.
Upon entering, he saw Shinobu sitting at a desk cluttered with various beakers and test tubes, tinkering with something. She merely glanced at Akira as he entered before returning her focus to the task at hand.
"Shinobu?" he asked.
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