Chapter 60: Even If It Means Going to Hell, I Will Drag You Back
Kocho Shinobu walked up to Kanao, reached out her hand, and gently ruffled Kanao's soft hair, just as her sister used to do.
"Kanao, it's okay.
Sister... Sister has gone to carry out a very important, very distant mission.
Those people are just throwing a tantrum because they can't find her.
Don't pay them any mind."
Kanao did not flinch, simply feeling the touch on her head in silence.
She blinked, and although her expression remained vacant, her voice carried a hint of stubbornness she herself hadn't even realized:
"But... I can feel it, Sister Shinobu, you are very sad.
You are... crying."
Having grown up in abuse, she was extremely sensitive to the emotional changes of those around her for the sake of survival.
No matter how well Sister Shinobu disguised it, she could still capture that sorrow and despair radiating from the depths of her soul.
Looking at Kanao's innocent gaze, Kocho Shinobu felt a wave of suffocation.
Her eyes stung, and tears threatened to spill out the next second.
But she held them back desperately; she could not break down in front of Kanao.
Kocho Shinobu curved her eyes into two beautiful crescents, smiling even more brightly.
"Oh my, what silly things are you saying, Kanao?
Look, Sister Shinobu is smiling so happily right now.
Sister isn't sad, not even a little bit."
She crouched down, looking Kanao directly in the eyes:
"Kanao, haven't you always wanted to join the Demon Slayer Corps and fight alongside us?
Go to the backyard and practice the Flower Breathing that Sister taught you.
When Sister Kanae completes her mission and returns, she will be checking your training progress.
If Kanao hasn't improved, Sister Kanae will be angry."
Hearing the words "Sister Kanae will be angry," a tiny ripple finally appeared in Kanao's vacant eyes.
She looked at Kocho Shinobu with some hesitation; her small mind could not yet process overly complex emotional logic, but the long-term habit of absolute obedience to others made her subconsciously follow this instruction.
"Mm..."
Kanao nodded gently.
She gripped the wooden sword hanging at her waist, turned around, and prepared to head to the backyard.
After taking a few steps, Kanao suddenly stopped.
She turned her head, looked at the still-smiling Kocho Shinobu, and said earnestly in her unique, monotone voice:
"Sister Shinobu, I will definitely work hard on my training.
When Sister Kanae returns... she will see."
Having said that, Kanao trotted away towards the backyard.
Kocho Shinobu remained crouching there quietly, watching Kanao's small figure disappear at the end of the corridor.
Only after confirming that Kanao had completely left did the perfect, Kanae-like smile on her face shatter instantly, like a broken mask.
Kocho Shinobu stood up, her eyes turning cold and resolute once again.
She turned and walked through the long, quiet corridor of the Butterfly Mansion.
Sunlight filtered through the carved window lattices, casting alternating patterns of light and shadow onto the wooden floor.
Once, this corridor was always filled with the grateful voices of the wounded, the busy footsteps of the Kakushi members, and her sister's gentle admonitions.
Now, only dead silence remained.
She pushed open a door at the end of the corridor and entered her private laboratory.
The lab was filled with various beakers and test tubes, and the air was permeated with the rich scent of wisteria.
Bookshelves against the walls were stacked with ancient texts on poisons and medicine.
Kocho Shinobu walked to the large wooden laboratory table.
Scattered messily on the table were the poison formulas she had stayed up all night organizing yesterday.
The scene from after their return from Mount Kumotori surfaced in her mind once again.
When she and Sanemi Shinazugawa woke up in that family's house, Sanemi Shinazugawa's expression had been terrifyingly grim.
After learning that her sister and the demon had already left, he had rushed frantically in the direction of the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.
She understood Sanemi Shinazugawa.
That man's hatred for demons was bone-deep; the words "forgiveness" and "compromise" absolutely did not exist in his dictionary.
Sanemi would definitely rush straight to the Master and reveal everything about her sister betraying the Demon Slayer Corps and harboring a demon.
Once the matter was defined, what awaited her sister would be a nationwide manhunt by the entire Demon Slayer Corps.
"I don't have much time left," Kocho Shinobu muttered to herself.
She had to find them before the main force of the Demon Slayer Corps did.
She had to kill that demon named Tatsu with her own hands!
Only by killing that demon could she prove that her sister had been bewitched, clear her sister's name of being a traitor, and bring her back to the Butterfly Mansion.
But that demon was very strong.
With her current weak strength, which couldn't even cut through a demon's neck, even if she applied her specially crafted wisteria poison to her blade, she might not be able to kill that monster.
If conventional poison couldn't kill him, then she would use a more extreme method.
Kocho Shinobu's gaze fell upon an exquisite wooden box in the center of the laboratory table.
She slowly reached out and opened the wooden box.
Inside, a specially made glass syringe lay quietly.
The syringe's tube was filled with a deep purple liquid.
This was highly concentrated wisteria poison that she had purified and condensed countless times.
A single drop of this toxin was enough to instantly dissolve an ordinary demon.
But at the same time, this toxin was extremely harmful to the human body.
It would destroy human cells, cause unimaginable excruciating pain, and even shorten one's lifespan.
Kocho Shinobu picked up the syringe without hesitation.
The cold sensation of the glass tube traveled from her fingertips throughout her entire body.
She rolled up the sleeve of her left arm, revealing her fair, slender arm, and plunged the thick, long needle directly and fiercely into the vein of her left arm!
"Ugh—!"
Kocho Shinobu let out a stifled groan.
As her thumb pressed down hard on the plunger, the deep purple venom was instantly injected into her veins.
Excruciating pain!
Unimaginable, excruciating pain instantly swept through her entire body!
It felt as if molten lava had been injected directly into her veins, flowing with her blood, crazily scorching every inch of her muscles and every single nerve.
Kocho Shinobu's body began to convulse violently.
She fell heavily into her chair, clenching her teeth tightly to keep from screaming.
She clearly saw the veins on her left arm bulge instantly, turning a terrifying shade of dark purple.
Those purple lines, like living creatures, rapidly spread along her arm toward her shoulder and heart.
Her breathing became rapid and heavy, as if her lungs were burning with raging fire.
"Demon..."
Kocho Shinobu stared fixedly at her arm, which was covered in purple venom veins, madness and killing intent flickering in her purple eyes.
"I don't believe you don't eat humans.
I don't believe there is such a thing as a kind demon in this world.
Since I cannot defeat you, and since conventional poison cannot kill you, then I will turn myself into a walking poison."
As long as that demon dared to touch her, as long as that demon dared to take a bite of her flesh, the highly concentrated wisteria poison within her would instantly claim that demon's life.
After a long time, the excruciating pain that felt like it would tear her body apart gradually subsided, turning into a lingering, faint stinging sensation buried deep in her bone marrow.
Kocho Shinobu was drenched in cold sweat.
Panting, she slowly straightened her body.
She turned her head and looked at the blue sky outside the window.
In the sky, a white butterfly was flapping its wings against the wind, struggling yet determined.
"Sister..."
Kocho Shinobu called out silently in her heart.
"You really are an idiot.
You always shoulder all the responsibility yourself, and you always naively think that your kindness can save everyone."
"But I won't let you fall into the abyss alone.
You betrayed the Demon Slayer Corps for that demon, so I will go and kill that demon and drag you back.
If the Demon Slayer Corps won't tolerate you, then I will take you away.
We will go to a place where there are no demons and no Demon Slayer Corps."
Kocho Shinobu turned around, walked out of the laboratory, and headed towards the main gate of the Butterfly Mansion.
"Sister, I won't give up on you.
Even if it means going to hell, I will drag you back."
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