"Thank… you, Tanjiro…"
'Ah…' His pupils shrank instantly.
Even Kanae covered her mouth in shock.
Shinobu's smile…
Anyone who knew her and had stayed with her could tell from one glance: this was genuine gratitude and sincerity.
Not one of those fake smiles she wore all day.
Not the eye-closed happy one either.
Right now, she was finally letting her closed-off emotions surface, revealing the vulnerability she had never shown anyone since her sister's death.
By her sweet scent, Tanjiro confirmed she was truly experiencing an emotional outburst.
Her years of practiced mask were finally cracking.
Noticing she was tearing up, Shinobu hurriedly wiped her eyes. "Ah, this is embarrassing. I… I got carried away…"
Puffing her cheeks, she added, "Hmph, it's all because of you. Making Onee-san cry, ha~… did you plan this from the start?"
Upon hearing her say that, he turned his head to the other side with a weird look. '… There she goes again. Hm, she's back to her usual self, so she'll be fine, I guess.'
Above them, a joyful Kanae rested her chin on her palm and spoke with a teasing smile. "Tanjiro~! Really, why are you standing still!? Take her into your arms right now…! Wait, wait a second… Don't tell me… Are you thinking of proposing after defeating Upper Rank Two? Am I right? Tell me, please~"
His eyebrows twitched as a deadpan look appeared on his face.
'… This crazy ghost… She really wants to hook me up with her sister so badly, huh… Both sisters are fucking crazy. All I wanted was a simple reward… even a cheek kiss would have been good enough for me, for Truck-kun's sake!' he thought, feeling slightly disappointed.
Though it lasted less than a second.
His mind and mentality wouldn't be disrupted so easily.
For now, he ignored the ghost and sheathed his sword before facing the purple-eyed girl.
He closed the gap between them in an instant, appearing right in front of her.
Shinobu's eyes flickered as she witnessed once again how unreasonably fast he was.
But she had no time to admire his speed because she realized he was up to something, and she had no power to stop whatever he was about to attempt.
In the span of an instant, Tanjiro's quick hands caught her cheeks, squeezing, stretching, and playing with them as he liked.
Feeling her soft and squishy, almost supple cheeks, he smirked in delight. "Consider this my reward."
"Le-Le—Let go of my cheeks, you!" Shinobu's ears reddened as she playfully raised her sword at him.
'This naughty brat. I must teach him a lesson. He's getting more and more touchy with me these days…' she realized, remembering how close they had been getting without noticing it.
Pulling his body backward out of reflex, Tanjiro curiously looked at her posing stance, which was weird yet funny.
"Were you thinking of poisoning me, hmm?" he joked.
Kanae mumbled, "It's your own fault, hah. No matter how friendly you guys are, she is still foremost a mature girl, you know. Touching her so mindlessly is obviously going to make my sister angry, Tanjiro…"
Putting on a fake smirk, Shinobu gave him a very dangerous stare. "Poisoning, huh… That doesn't sound so bad."
'Hmm?' He sneered. 'Heh, can you really do that though?'
"Oh really?"
Feeling like playing with her, he cleared his mind.
The air around him instantly changed.
Shinobu felt the heaviness without a doubt.
Her eyes were fixed on Tanjiro when he suddenly disappeared as if he had vanished, causing her to freak out.
'Fast as always.' She tried to sense his presence but failed miserably.
Only now did she realize the foolishness of her words. 'Can a human even possess such speed?'
The moment the thought manifested, she felt an intense warmth next to her head on her right shoulder, followed by a gentle and teasing voice. "Shinobu's so slow. Forget about Upper Moon, at this level you cannot even defeat a Lower Moon. Hehe."
His head was resting on her shoulder as he stood behind her with absolutely no presence.
"KYA!" She got so scared that her body stumbled forward.
Though he caught her body just in time.
Seeing that her trick worked, a smiling Shinobu twisted her body quickly and tried to strike him in the abdomen with her elbow.
However, Tanjiro reacted before her attack could hit him.
He disappeared once again, leaving her sulking with puffed cheeks. "Moh!"
Kanae chuckled in the air, enjoying their childish fight. Well, calling it a fight was overstating it. The more accurate term would be playful scuffle.
A second later, Tanjiro appeared ahead on the route. With a taunting smile, he said as if encouraging, "Keep it up, Shinobu. Do your best, I'm rooting for your growth. Umu."
'...'
A tick mark popped up on Shinobu's forehead.
'I'll inject him with constipation formula… Just you wait.' She decided, pissed off.
Next, she rushed toward his location, not accepting her defeat so easily.
Tanjiro clicked his tongue in amusement, and he also began to run in the direction of the Ubuyashiki estate. Kanae followed in the air.
Since it was night already, he knew his mother must be out of the basket, panicking. He was sure she must be worried for him to death.
'She is now familiar with others too, I hope she's alright, not feeling lonely…'
At first, he had planned on spending the night in a nearby town, but upon recalling his mother's state, he chose to rush back home.
He had promised to stay by her side, so there was no way he would compromise the time with his mother over the annoyance of two hours of constant running.
Looking back, he noticed Shinobu trying to catch up but remaining unsuccessful, causing him to laugh mentally. 'Just look at her face, she's totally pissed. I don't even have to smell her scent. Heh. Since she can't defeat me normally, I bet she's planning some trick in her shrewd mind… I should be careful, hah.'
Kanae descended from the sky to his side and said with lingering fear in her voice, "An advice from this stunning Onee-san — don't let her poison you, o-okay?"
'… Hm, she's scared? What the… Just what did Shinobu do to her in the past?!'
As she didn't fill in the details, he understood the gravity of the situation.
"Got it." He replied in understanding.
Half an hour passed quickly.
While they were still running, Tanjiro's nose picked up a familiar nasty scent from nearby. His eyebrows furrowed as he changed direction and dashed toward that scent's location.
"Smell of blood." He spoke out loud.
Kanae and Shinobu nodded, changing course and tagging along.
Shortly after.
They arrived before a beautiful shrine, surrounded by trees that bore white and pink flowers.
Tanjiro rushed through the torii gate and his head jerked toward the wooden house located some distance away from the Haiden, the hall of worship.
'There's no demon's presence… But the smell of blood is strong.'
The shrine was located quite some distance away from the nearest town, isolated. A perfectly set-up place for demons to have meals.
Afterward, he made his way toward the living quarters of the shrine, the sole house where miko were supposed to reside.
The smell of blood became stronger the closer he stepped.
His extrasensory perception detected no living signatures from inside.
Sliding the door open, he braced his mind and heart for whatever was inside.
Creak.
'Shit…!'
His pupils shrank immediately.