Kanae smiled, stroking their little heads, "Go play. We'll clean up here."
Genya shoveled the last mouthful of rice into his mouth, stacked his bowl on top of his teacher's pile of bowls, and with puffed cheeks, carried the bowls to the water basin.
"I have to help…"
Kanao's eyes always looked a bit vacant, as if the author had forgotten to add highlights to them.
"Go on. If you don't want to play, go to sleep. At your age, you need to sleep a lot to grow taller." Haruto rubbed Genya's head, "Are you going to find your brother?"
Genya's eyes immediately lit up, but then he hesitated, looking at the water basin overflowing with bowls and basins, "I should wash the bowls first…"
"Oh, just go, go."
After sending Genya away, Haruto rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a small stool, and sat down to wash the dishes, his long legs splayed out to the side. "What's the matter with that child?"
Kanae, who was clearing the leftover food, looked up. "Kanao?"
"Yes, she speaks so slowly."
Shinobu rolled up her sleeves and squatted beside him to help wash the dishes, saying softly, "Kanao… her childhood wasn't happy, which might have made her personality a bit dull, but she's a good child."
"Like Genya? Although his appearance often leads to misunderstandings, he's a good child."
Kanae didn't want to discuss that topic too much and steered the conversation elsewhere. "Tamayo is developing a new medicine, attempting to enhance the physical capabilities of Demon Slayers."
Haruto raised an eyebrow.
Tamayo's communication with him had become more frequent recently, and she had indeed mentioned a new medicine in her letters.
However, this medicine wasn't just for enhancing Demon Slayers' physical capabilities; it aimed to use Genya's blood after he became a demon to research a modified drug that would allow rapid healing like a demon while retaining humanity.
In her vision, once this medicine was successfully developed, Demon Slayer Corps members would be able to maintain ample combat power when facing demons, reducing combat losses.
But this was easier said than done. Not only were there numerous difficulties in the drug research, but testing its efficacy alone was extremely challenging.
Clinical trials would require the participation of Demon Slayers or ordinary people, and Kagaya would not allow Tamayo to test it on Demon Slayers.
"This medicine is very dangerous, and ordinary people might not be able to withstand it."
Tamayo's letters were filled with helplessness, yet she had no choice. "The plan can only be shelved for now. Let's focus on developing medicine to fight Muzan."
Because it was dangerous, Haruto didn't want her to target the Demon Slayer Corps' Demon Slayers.
"What, did Tamayo discuss this medicine with you all?" he asked casually.
"No, it only came up when we were discussing the proportion of poison in Shinobu's nichirin blade," Kanae denied. "Although Shinobu might need the finished medicine, even Tamayo acknowledged the risk was too great and wouldn't continue researching it."
At the mention of "poison," Kochou Shinobu, who was helping wash dishes, lowered her head slightly.
Haruto's mind raced, and he knew what she was thinking.
It was nothing more than thoughts like, "Everyone else can easily cut off a demon's head, but I need to rely on poison."
So he pretended not to notice and instead asked Kanae, "How is the Flower Breathing Technique progressing in terms of refinement?"
Kanae had been researching new Breathing Techniques based on Water Breathing and had a breakthrough a year ago, naming it Flower Breathing. Her Pillar title was also designated "Flower Pillar" because of it.
"Currently, there are six forms."
"Have you mastered it completely too?" He was asking Kochou Shinobu.
"More than that." Kanae chuckled, her words full of pride. "Shinobu has not only mastered all the Flower Breathing forms but has even derived Breathing Technique forms more suited to herself."
"Hoh!" Haruto gasped and looked at Kochou Shinobu. "So you're a genius too!"
The purple-eyed girl gently brushed away the stray hairs from her face with her wrist, her expression a little unnatural. "It's just a tiny idea based on Flower Breathing…"
"Quick, get your blade and show me—I'll help you gauge the strength of the Breathing Technique."
Haruto quickly washed all the bowls and poured out the dirty water. Kochou Shinobu then emerged, fidgeting, with her nichirin blade.
Her nichirin blade was personally forged by Tetsuchi Kawara Teijin, the Swordsmith Village chief who specialized in crafting unusually shaped blades. It was uniquely slender and sharp, somewhat resembling a fine barb with a hook. The blade contained a poison compartment, which could inject Wisteria poison into a demon's body during an attack.
Kochou Shinobu stood in the flower garden in the courtyard, gripping her blade. Facing her sister's comforting smile and Haruto's scrutinizing gaze, her tightly constricted heart gradually relaxed.
The girl's aura completely changed the moment she held the blade.
"So… what's the target?" Her lips curved slightly. "A Dance of the Insect without a target can't unleash its full power, you know."
Haruto's tongue flicked across the corner of his mouth as he turned and retrieved his own nichirin blade.
"Let's… make me the target."
Shinobu's eyes snapped open, and in those deep purple pupils, a nimble butterfly seemed to flit by.
"Haruto, be careful." Kochou Shinobu's hand rapidly shimmered with a brilliant flash of blade light. "A butterfly's speed is very fast!"
Before her words finished, she gracefully soared, her slender body leaping through the air. Her haori, similar to Kanae's, resembled a fluttering Great Mormon butterfly.
Kochou Shinobu's speed was incredibly fast; her physical advantage was maximized at this moment.
"Whoosh!"
Haruto caught a faint sound. He quickly turned around but found no butterfly in his sight.
"Insect Breathing · Dance of the Butterfly…"
A light, airy voice reached his ears, and a cluster of fluttering butterflies appeared before his eyes. A diving Kochou Shinobu emerged from the swarm, carrying a blade flash like a streak of snow!
"Playfulness!"
Haruto's hand immediately twisted into an odd arc, his blade held horizontally in front of him. With a "ding," the collision of blade tip and blade edge actually made his tiger's mouth go numb!
So fast!
If not for the sense of crisis he had cultivated in battle, prompting such a quick reaction, he might have embarrassed himself in front of the Butterfly Sisters!
Missing her target, Kochou Shinobu immediately flipped and leaped behind Haruto, her butterfly sleeves fluttering as she quickly thrust out several stabs.
"Dance of the Dragonfly · Compound Eye Hexagon!"
"Eek!"
Haruto's mouth twitched. He turned and gripped the end of his blade hilt in a reverse grip, swinging it in front of him like a blue-purple blade shield, just as he had done against Lower Four last time.
The extremely fast, sharp blade struck the blade shield, and the light in Kochou Shinobu's eyes dimmed. She quickly pulled back and retreated.
The slender, small figure darting through the flower garden made Haruto frown.
Breath of the Stars itself emphasized speed, but he hadn't expected Kochou Shinobu's speed to be even greater. In researching her Breathing Technique, she had pushed her speed advantage to the extreme!
What else was Shinobu good at? Haruto remembered, it was… thrusting?
A flash of lightning-fast thought, and the sharp blade was immediately before his eyes!
"Dance of the Hornet Sting · Trailing Thrust!"
Haruto's heart tightened. He could have twisted his body to dodge with the strength of his muscles, but as he saw the blade tip, he also saw Shinobu's eyes.
In those clear purple eyes, there was a hint of self-doubt, a touch of determination, and her face was taut with it.
Haruto's mind stirred, and he reacted in an instant.
He twisted his body, narrowly dodging the sharp blade.
With the sound of tearing fabric, a long slit appeared on Haruto's haori over his chest, ripped by the blade tip.
Kanae let out a soft "Oh dear," but felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her heart.
Haruto clutched his chest, feigning annoyance, and said, "Why are you so fast? This is my family's heirloom haori; you owe me a new one."
Shinobu landed steadily on her tiptoes, a look of bewilderment on her face.
"Was I… that fast?"