Timeline: Three years before the main story
Location: Butterfly Estate
POV: Split (Kanae / Shinobu / Mitsuri)
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Kanae
Butterfly Estate — Late Afternoon
The garden was quiet.
Butterflies rested on wisteria petals, wings barely moving in the warm breeze.
Kanae poured tea with practiced grace. Across from her, Shinobu sat cross-legged, gaze distant. Mitsuri sat between them, hands folded neatly in her lap.
Kanae smiled first.
"Mitsuri," she said gently, "you've grown very fast."
Mitsuri laughed softly. "Ehehe… I just work hard."
"That's not what I meant," Kanae replied, eyes kind but sharp.
"You move like someone who will one day stand at the front."
Mitsuri blinked. "Y-You mean…?"
"A Hashira," Kanae said calmly.
The word settled heavily.
Shinobu glanced sideways, watching Mitsuri's reaction carefully.
"I… I don't know about that," Mitsuri said, cheeks warm. "There are so many amazing people already."
Kanae's smile deepened.
"That's exactly why you might become one."
---
Shinobu
Observation
Mitsuri didn't deny it.
She deflected.
Just like him.
Shinobu folded her hands together.
"There's another reason," she said lightly, "why you're progressing so steadily."
Mitsuri stiffened almost imperceptibly.
Kanae raised a brow. "Oh?"
Shinobu looked directly at Mitsuri.
"Akira."
Silence.
The name didn't echo — it rested.
Mitsuri's fingers tightened in her lap.
"You lived in the same house," Shinobu continued, tone neutral.
"For three years. Childhood friends. Training habits don't form in isolation."
Kanae hummed thoughtfully. "Ah… so that's where those fundamentals came from."
Mitsuri lowered her gaze. "Please… don't tell him."
Kanae laughed softly. "We already promised."
Shinobu watched Mitsuri closely.
"You don't speak about him like someone from your past," Shinobu said.
"You speak like someone still standing beside you."
Mitsuri didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
---
Kanae
Teasing, Gentle
Kanae leaned back, smiling knowingly.
"Honestly," she said, "I always wondered what kind of person could leave that impression on you."
Mitsuri squeaked. "K-Kanae-san!"
Shinobu sighed. "You're embarrassing her."
"That's part of my duty as an older sister," Kanae replied cheerfully.
Then she softened.
"But jokes aside… Akira is extraordinary," Kanae said.
"And so are the feelings people develop around him."
She glanced knowingly at Shinobu.
---
Shinobu
Truth
Shinobu exhaled.
"Mitsuri," she said quietly, "I should say this plainly."
Mitsuri looked up.
"I have feelings for Akira."
No sharpness.
No challenge.
Just honesty.
Mitsuri's breath caught.
Shinobu continued before silence could grow heavy.
"I don't expect anything from it," she said.
"And I'm not asking you to step aside."
Kanae watched silently, expression gentle.
"I just don't like carrying truths that pretend not to exist," Shinobu finished.
---
Mitsuri
Inner
Her heart didn't race.
It… settled.
Shinobu wasn't threatening her.
She wasn't competing.
She was acknowledging something real.
"I understand," Mitsuri said softly.
She placed a hand over her chest.
"I've known my feelings weren't just friendship," she admitted.
"I just… never said it out loud."
Her voice trembled — not with fear, but clarity.
"He's important to me," Mitsuri continued.
"He always has been."
She met Shinobu's eyes.
"That doesn't disappear just because someone else feels it too."
Shinobu smiled faintly.
"Good," she said. "I'd be disappointed if it did."
---
Kanae
Closing the Moment
Kanae clapped her hands lightly.
"Well," she said warmly, "that was refreshingly mature."
Both girls looked at her.
"What?" Kanae smiled. "No screaming. No rivalry. No poisoned tea."
Shinobu groaned. "Sister."
Mitsuri laughed softly, tension easing.
Kanae's smile turned fond.
"Whatever happens," she said, "the three of you will shape the future in your own ways."
She looked out at the garden.
"Strong bonds don't always compete," Kanae added.
"Sometimes they simply… coexist."
---
Closing
Truth had been spoken — not to wound,
but to breathe.
Mitsuri walked away with her heart lighter,
Shinobu with hers honest,
and Kanae smiling at the quiet strength of both.
And far away,
unaware of the ripples he caused,
the Sun continued its path —
steady, brilliant, and unchanged.
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