Finally, the eighth day arrived.
Kanae tightly grasped her sister's hand, and the two sisters exchanged a glance, both smiling with pursed lips.
Over the past seven days, they had endured too many trials: demons lurking in the shadows, Shinobu's inability to decapitate a demon, and the memories of her family's massacre resurfacing when facing a demon... But with this ray of light rising from behind the wisteria sea, all their exhaustion vanished.
They walked down the mountain hand in hand, their haoris fluttering in the wind like two dancing Butterfly Sisters.
After choosing their respective Nichirin Steel, and receiving their Demon Slayer Corps uniform and Kasugai Crow, Kochou Shinobu gently tapped her Kasugai Crow's head, mimicking someone she remembered.
"It's a girl... Then I'll call you 'En', okay?"
The Kasugai Crow rubbed its head against Shinobu's slender fingertips, then spread its wings and flew into the sky.
Shinobu looked up and suddenly spotted a parrot in the clear blue sky.
This parrot's plumage was very beautiful, with white feathers all over, and its tail tips seemed to be dyed by the sky, carrying some beautiful blue.
Shinobu rubbed her eyes, and after confirming it was indeed Mr. Haruto's beautiful parrot, she called out softly: "Sora?!"
As if hearing Shinobu's call, the white-feathered parrot drew a beautiful swirling afterimage in the sky, then its figure suddenly shot up and flew down the mountain.
"It was Sora, right?" Shinobu excitedly shook her sister's arm: "How could it be here?"
"Perhaps it's for a mission?" Kanae wasn't too sure. She shielded her eyes from the sun but had already lost sight of the parrot: "No, Demon Slayer Corps missions are all issued from headquarters. Perhaps it wasn't Sora, just something similar."
"It must be Sora, Mr. Haruto's parrot has a very unique appearance, I wouldn't mistake it," Shinobu said with certainty.
Sora is nearby, so where is Mr. Haruto? Is he passing by Fujikasane Mountain for a mission?
The sisters walked down the mountain hand in hand and saw the white-feathered parrot again.
At this moment, it was perched on a tall boy's finger, chattering about something.
The young man, wearing a haori embroidered with green mountains, sat on a large rock on the mountain path, one leg crossed, the other dangling, almost touching the ground.
The breeze sweeping through the mountain path stirred his white long hair at the temples, revealing eyebrows and eyes as if exquisitely carved by a deity, like a ukiyo-e painting.
"Oh? It's the two little Kochou Sisters." Seeing them descend the mountain, Haruto turned his face and showed a brilliant smile: "Congratulations on passing the Final Selection!"
"Mr. Haruto!" Surprise welled up in the Kochou Sisters' eyes, and they floated to Haruto's side like two colorful butterflies.
Kanae was a bit older and more composed. Moreover, at 15, she already understood the distinction between men and women, so she didn't appear as excited, just her cheeks flushed and a smile on her lips: "Are you passing through here?"
The 12-year-old Shinobu was not so reserved.
For her, who had lost her family at a young age, in this world, besides her older sister Kanae, only the older brothers and sisters of Mt. Sagiri would be kind to her and grant their unreasonable requests (after a year of training, Shinobu finally understood how unreasonable it was for her frail self to learn swordsmanship to slay demons).
During the year she was separated from her sister, besides corresponding with her, her most frequent correspondent was Mr. Haruto.
Although Mr. Haruto was always out, and letters brought by carrier pigeons to Mt. Sagiri couldn't always get a timely reply, he would read every letter she sent after he was busy, and then reply to them all at once.
Sometimes Sora would bring the letters back, which is why she recognized the white-feathered parrot at a glance.
She stood in front of Haruto, her clear, violet-like eyes full of smiles: "Mr. Haruto, did you come specifically to pick us up?"
The two different questions perfectly illustrated the sisters' personalities.
Haruto chuckled and reached out to ruffle Shinobu's dark hair; but the hand he extended to Kanae merely patted her shoulder gently. Kanae was already a young lady and couldn't be treated like a little girl.
"Yes, I came to pick you up."
He nodded: "I wrote to Ms. Touya and Mr. Ishihama, and they said you both participated in the Final Selection this year. As your introducer and a senior member of the Demon Slayer Corps, suddenly having two excellent juniors, of course, I had to come and congratulate you."
Excellent... Shinobu looked at Haruto's bright eyes, blinking rapidly a few times uncomfortably.
An excellent junior... who couldn't even decapitate a demon?
"Ah, right," Haruto slapped his head as if suddenly remembering, and pulled out two velvet-wrapped items from his embrace: "Gifts."
"Eh?" Kanae hesitantly took the velvet package: "We're already so grateful for your trouble coming all this way, and now there are gifts too."
"Don't say 'you' anymore," Haruto said helplessly: "That's a title reserved for the Master. You can call me by my name directly."
Shinobu took the velvet package handed to her and spoke quickly: "Haruto-ge, can I open it?"
"Of course."
Inside the velvet packages were beautiful butterfly hairpins. Shinobu's was light purple, and Kanae's was pink, both matching their iris colors.
Haruto scratched his head sheepishly: "The gift shop attendant recommended them. They happen to match your surname very well, and also come in corresponding eye colors."
Perhaps Ms. Touya, Kanae's cultivator, would prepare such girlish things for her, but Mr. Ishihama probably wouldn't prepare them for Shinobu.
Shinobu held the hairpin with a beaming smile, her purple eyes flickering, feeling as if she had glimpsed some secret.
Could it be that Mr. Haruto likes... my sister?
Otherwise, why would he specially come all this way and even prepare gifts?
The 12-year-old's mind whirred. Her gentle and beautiful sister and the dashing Mr. Haruto standing together indeed made a very suitable pair.
She had long been dissatisfied with those aspiring swordsmen who followed her sister, trying to curry favor. They hadn't even learned ten forms of Water Breathing, yet all their thoughts were on pursuing girls... She really didn't know what they were training for?
Mr. Haruto was different; he could stand on his own a year ago, had a good personality, and was handsome—although he ate a bit much, that wasn't a problem.
To become family with Mr. Haruto and stay with her sister forever would be the happiest thing in life!
Haruto watched Shinobu's gaze darting around, exchanged a look with Kanae, and his smile became a little stiff: "Don't... you like them?" Are girls' thoughts really that hard to guess?
"Of course not!" Kanae pulled Shinobu, who was clearly up to something, closer and gently tapped her head with her bent index finger: "Snap out of it, Shinobu."
A little girl's mind was always full of whimsical ideas. She met Haruto's questioning gaze, then nodded confidently.
Don't worry, Mr. Haruto, I know what to do.
Haruto raised an eyebrow suspiciously, looking at Kanae: What's wrong with your sister?
Kanae: Adolescents tend to overthink things.