"Not at all."
Shuya's mouth twitched. "Do you really hate seeing me happy that much? You're actually cursing me now?"
Shinobu's lips curved into a small smile she didn't even realize she was making.
Then her face went blank again. "After all, this scumbag right in front of me mercilessly stole my first kiss last night."
"Pretty sure the lady named Shinobu Kocho was the one who kissed me first," Shuya countered weakly.
"Eh? Did I? I don't remember that at all."
Shinobu squinted, playing dumb. "Mr. Scumbag, are you confusing something that happened in your dreams with reality? There's no way a beautiful girl would ever kiss a known scumbag on purpose, right?"
Shuya was speechless. "You're really flipping the script here. Does your sister know you do this?"
"Sister?"
Shinobu's expression faltered for a split second before she recovered, her voice turning sweet and venomous. "Well, I am still a girl, you know. If it were Nezuko at my age, you'd probably have already tricked her into having your kids by now."
"After you stole my first kiss and keep picking up girls everywhere, is it really that strange for me to feel a little possessive?"
"Possessive?" Shuya raised an eyebrow.
"Oops, I said too much~"
Shinobu quickly covered her mouth with both hands, pretending to look innocent. "I was actually planning to wait until you killed Muzan. Then I'd drug you, knock you out, and keep you locked up beside me forever so you could only belong to me. I didn't expect you to figure it out so fast. I'm such a clumsy girl~"
She lightly knocked her own head and winked at him.
The cute gesture somehow made her look even more terrifying.
"So you're a yandere? That's actually kind of scary," Shuya muttered, patting his chest like he'd just escaped danger.
"Exactly."
Shinobu leaned forward and rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Half-joking, half-serious, she said, "So please don't ever try anything with Kanao, okay? Because I might actually do it if you do."
Shuya broke into a cold sweat. He had no idea how to respond.
The room fell into an awkward silence.
"Strange…"
Shinobu suddenly murmured against his chest. "Why does this feel a little different from last night?"
Shuya almost rolled his eyes.
Of course it feels different. Last night you were sleeping in your sister's arms, not mine.
"Whatever."
Shinobu sat up and asked, "So? What's this good news and bad news you mentioned?"
Under the bed, Kanae suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
She had a very bad feeling about this.
When she first realized Shuya was sitting there watching her prank, she had panicked and hidden. But now that the conversation had turned so intimate, crawling out felt like the worst possible timing.
Why did I even hide under here in the first place?
Shuya had no idea what Kanae was thinking under the bed. He looked at Shinobu and asked, "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
"Bad news."
Shinobu answered without hesitation. "After all…"
After all, that was just how her life worked.
First her happy family was destroyed by demons. Then, just when she and her sister had finally built a new home together at the Butterfly Mansion, she lost Kanae too. Life always gave her something sweet before ripping it away even more painfully.
So she had learned to hear the bad news first and save the sweet part for later.
"Alright."
Shuya took a breath. "The bad news is… everything I told you yesterday was a lie. I never actually met your sister."
The words hit Shinobu like a thunderbolt.
She slowly raised her head and stared at him, eyes filled with a storm of emotions. Her hands clenched into tight fists on the bed.
"Why?"
She forced her voice to stay steady, but anger burned underneath. "Why didn't you just keep lying?"
"After all, my sister is already gone. No one could've exposed you even if you kept the lie going, right? So why? Why reveal it now? Why couldn't you just keep deceiving me?"
"You didn't seriously think I'd fall for you just because I kissed you once, did you? That I'd happily accept your lies?"
"I actually thought you weren't that bad… for a minute."
Shinobu bit her lip hard, voice trembling with hurt. "Tell me! Why?!"
She had let herself feel something real for the first time. She had even started imagining what it would be like after killing Muzan—living happily at the Butterfly Mansion with this man, carrying the part of her sister's love that Kanae had left behind.
And now he had shattered it all.
Looking at his face, she wanted nothing more than to punch him. But she couldn't. Not when the Demon Slayer Corps still needed him to defeat Muzan.
All the strength drained out of her. She leaned weakly against the headboard.
"Aren't you even going to ask what the good news is?"
Shuya hadn't expected her reaction to be this strong. He quickly reached under the bed and pulled out a very confused Kanae Kocho.
Kanae blinked, then immediately stretched out both arms toward her little sister with a bright smile.
"Ta-da~ It's your big sister~"
"Sister?!!"
Shinobu's eyes flew wide open in pure shock as she stared at the woman who had just been dragged out from under the bed.