Chapter 79: Kanae, This Is How Little Shinobu Uses It
Night.
Kocho Shinobu's consciousness slowly broke free from the heavy darkness.
"Mmm..." She let out an extremely faint groan, and those purple eyes, as if soaked in the sap of wisteria, finally opened slowly after her dense eyelashes fluttered a few times.
At first, her vision was a bit blurry, with double images swaying in the dim candlelight, but as a swordswoman of the Demon Slayer Corps, even in her just-awakened state, her body's instincts still took over her brain in an instant.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kocho Shinobu's first reaction was to reach for the nichirin sword at her waist. However, the command was issued, but her body did not provide the expected feedback.
"I can't move...?" Kocho Shinobu's heart sank abruptly. She immediately tried to mobilize all the muscles in her body, only to be shocked to discover that her hands and feet were currently, in a helpless posture, firmly tied to the tatami mat beneath her.
She took a deep breath, trying to use leverage to break free. As an expert proficient in pharmacology and human anatomy, she had an understanding of the range of joint motion and the stress points of ropes that far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
But after only a few tentative struggles, her heart sank to the bottom. The rope binding her was not the rough, inferior hemp rope that would dig into her flesh and impede blood circulation, but a rope with an extremely soft texture, even possessing a certain silky touch.
The binding method was even more shocking. The rope perfectly avoided the fragile arteries and nerves at her wrists and ankles, binding her limbs in an extremely "gentle" manner.
This binding method did not cause her any substantial pain or the discomfort of restricted blood flow, but rather acted like an invisible spider web, evenly distributing the stress points to every part of her body. The more she struggled, the more the rope clung to her skin like a festering sore, and she could not find any gap to gain leverage or rub it until it snapped. Perfect, rigorous. This was definitely not something a low-level demon that had lost its reason and only knew to crave flesh and blood could do.
"Finally awake." Just as Kocho Shinobu's brain was racing to analyze her current situation, a calm, low, and even slightly lazy and leisurely male voice fell directly into her ears.
She turned her head abruptly, looking in the direction the voice came from. Beside a low tea table on the inner side of the room, the dim candlelight outlined a slender figure. He was wearing a well-tailored dark kimono and was currently resting his chin on one hand, while the other held an exquisite ceramic teacup.
Steam rose in wisps from the teacup, blurring the look in his eyes, but Kocho Shinobu could still clearly feel that gaze, as if it had substance, piercing through the rising mist and falling quietly upon her with a condescending scrutiny.
Kocho Shinobu's gaze swept quickly over Tatsu's body, then immediately shifted to every corner of the room. Nothing. Not behind the screen, and there wasn't even a trace of that gentle scent she was most familiar with, like the warm sun of spring, left in the air. Sister was not in the room. This realization made the already taut heartstrings of Kocho Shinobu tighten even further.
She knew her sister, Kanae Kocho, too well. If she were safe and sound at this moment, it would be absolutely impossible for her to allow herself to be tied up on the tatami mat like this, and even more impossible to let a demon guard her alone. Could it be... A feeling of fear that almost suffocated her spread from the bottom of her heart; it was the despair she had deeply experienced back when her parents were brutally killed by demons. But the next second, this fear was completely ignited and swallowed by boiling rage and deep hatred.
"Oh my, oh my..." Kocho Shinobu raised her chin slightly, and on that exquisite, petite face, the original anger was instantly covered by a flawless smile. The corners of her mouth curled into an extremely gentle arc, and her purple eyes surged with killing intent like the hellfire. In the dim candlelight, a few veins on her smooth forehead bulged slightly due to extreme restraint, throbbing, forming an extremely bizarre and highly jarring contrast with the spring-breeze-like smile on her face.
"Moshi moshi—" She drew out the tail of her voice, her tone so sweet it seemed like honey could drip from it, but the chill in her voice was enough to freeze the air. "Isn't this the famous Mr. Demon? What a strange way to treat a guest. However, I am a little troubled right now."
Her gaze locked tightly onto Tatsu's calm face, her smile becoming more radiant, but her voice grew softer and softer: "Where is my sister? That Kanae Kocho who always wears a gentle smile and is even stupid enough to want to sympathize with you dirty creatures... What have you done to her?"
At this point, the smile on her face vanished abruptly, and her eyes became as sharp as knives in an instant: "If you dare to harm a single hair on her head, if you... No, even if you just make her shed a single drop of blood, I swear, I will definitely cut you into a thousand pieces, ten thousand pieces! I will use the most painful poison to make you regret existing in this world while you wail and rot!"
Facing Kocho Shinobu's venomous curse, Tatsu's face did not ripple with the slightest emotion. He lowered his eyelids slightly, looking at the clear tea in the cup, and then, under Kocho Shinobu's fiery gaze, he slowly brought the teacup to his lips, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, and then took a shallow sip.
"Good tea." He praised softly. Putting down the teacup, accompanied by the crisp "clack" sound of the ceramic colliding with the wooden tabletop, Tatsu finally raised his eyes and met Kocho Shinobu's purple eyes, which were filled with killing intent.
"Little Shinobu, don't be impatient." He spoke, his tone as calm as an elder soothing a tantrum-throwing little girl, and even in his address, he naturally carried a kind of infuriating intimacy. "Your sister just went out for a while. She went to the nearby town to buy some necessities, and by the way... to calm down."
Tatsu's fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a rhythmic sound. "She is fine, not a single hair is missing. I assure you, she is very safe right now."
These words not only failed to make Kocho Shinobu relax her vigilance but instead made her pupils shrink abruptly. Little Shinobu? He actually called her Little Shinobu? And what was with this tone, as if he had spent a long time with her sister and knew each other well?
"Ara, Mr. Demon's ability to lie is truly as disgusting as your hypocritical face." The veins on Kocho Shinobu's forehead throbbed even more violently. "Do you think I would believe the words of a monster that feeds on human flesh? How could my sister leave me alone and run out by herself? Even if I take a step back, even if she really did go out, how could she let you, a monster, tie me here!"
Her brain was running wildly. If her sister was really fine, then why did this demon in front of her want to tie her up? If her sister had already met with misfortune... No, she couldn't think about that possibility. The urgent priority now was how to escape the predicament, or... how to kill this guy in front of her. Since she couldn't break free with strength, she would have to use that.
Kocho Shinobu looked at Tatsu, a flash of extremely hidden madness and relief flickering deep in her eyes. "What do you want?" She suddenly stopped struggling, and her voice cooled down accordingly. "Tying me here, is it just to admire my sleeping posture? Or..." She paused deliberately, the corners of her mouth curling into a cold, provocative, and mocking smile: "Are you going to eat me?"
The moment she asked this question, Kocho Shinobu had already made the worst, and most resolute, plan. Eat, she thought. This demon probably had no idea what kind of existence he was facing. Ever since she left the Demon Slayer Corps to find her sister, she had been continuously ingesting wisteria poison. Bit by bit, day after day. The process of that poison accumulating in her body was accompanied by unimaginable nausea, dizziness, and excruciating pain as if her internal organs were being burned by fire. But she smiled and endured it all. Now, she was a custom-made, high-yield toxic bomb designed to kill demons. As long as this demon named Tatsu dared to open his dirty mouth, bite her skin, and swallow her flesh, even if it was just a small piece, the ultra-high concentration of wisteria poison, enough to kill an ordinary demon dozens of times, would instantly erupt within him, dissolving his cells into a puddle of mush.
She tilted her fair, slender neck slightly, exposing her most fragile artery to the air, like an exquisite piece of art waiting to be sacrificed. However, the scene of the demon pouncing that she had anticipated did not happen. The room was silent for a full three seconds.
"Pfft..." A light, stifled chuckle broke the suffocating confrontation. Tatsu looked at the "poisonous butterfly" on the tatami mat who seemed to have prepared to perish together with him, and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud. He shook his head, his smile containing only a condescending, all-seeing mockery and ridicule.
"Eat you?" Tatsu stood up from the tatami mat, his slender figure projecting a huge shadow onto Kocho Shinobu under the pull of the candlelight. He walked slowly to Kocho Shinobu's side, looking down at her from above, his eyes full of undisguised mockery. "Do you take me for a fool? Or do you think that little bit of cleverness you are so proud of can really deceive the whole world?"
Tatsu slowly crouched down, his face drawing close to Kocho Shinobu, the distance between them so close that Kocho Shinobu could even feel the breeze brought by his speech. "Eat someone..." Tatsu's voice suddenly lowered, word by word, as if a heavy hammer striking Kocho Shinobu's heart, "who has their body, blood, and internal organs all filled with high-concentration wisteria poison?"
He had already greeted Kanae in advance, and no one would disturb him and Kocho Shinobu for these few hours. Hum—! Kocho Shinobu's brain went blank in an instant. How is it possible? How could this be possible?
AI Model: gemini-3.0-flash
Injecting wisteria poison into her own body was a secret only she knew.
Aside from herself, it was absolutely impossible for a second person in this world to know.
This demon... this demon named Tatsu, how could he possibly know?
Looking at Kocho Shinobu's shocked expression, as if she had seen a ghost,
the mocking look at the corner of Tatsu's mouth grew even stronger.
Kocho Shinobu naturally didn't know that in this world, there existed a supreme realm called the "Transparent World."
Eat her?
He hadn't lived long enough yet; he didn't want to experience the sensation of his entire body's cells being frantically destroyed by toxins.
"Surprised?"
Tatsu straightened up, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at the dazed Kocho Shinobu, who looked as if she had suffered a massive blow.
"Not only that, I also know that your current situation is much worse than being eaten by me."
He turned around and slowly paced back to the coffee table, his back to Kocho Shinobu.
"The current leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, that Kagaya Ubuyashiki, is an admirable and clever man,"
"But the Demon Slayer Corps is, after all, a massive organization that has lasted for hundreds of years."
"For centuries, slaying demons has been an ironclad rule etched into the bones of every member."
Tatsu turned his head, his gaze piercing toward Kocho Shinobu like a sharp sword:
"And your sister, Kanae Kocho, as a 'Hashira' of the Demon Slayer Corps' highest combat power,"
"Not only did she not draw her sword when she encountered a demon like me, but she chose to stay with me instead."
"In the eyes of those Hashira and ordinary members who don't know the inside story, what do you think her behavior counts as?"
Kocho Shinobu's breathing suddenly hitched.
"A traitor."
Tatsu spoke that incredibly heavy word for her.
"Right now, she has probably already been branded as a traitor to humanity by the Demon Slayer Corps."
"Shut up..."
A raspy voice squeezed out of Kocho Shinobu's throat.
"And what about you, Little Shinobu?"
Tatsu ignored her anger completely.
"You didn't receive an order from the Master when you left the Butterfly Mansion this time, did you?"
"To find your missing sister, you left the corps without permission."
"A Flower Hashira suspected of defecting, with her younger sister following suit right after... "
"Guess how much of a storm your sisters' actions will cause at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters right now?"
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!!!"
Kocho Shinobu finally couldn't suppress her inner fury and let out a hysterical roar.
She struggled violently, pulling the ropes at her wrists and ankles to their limit.
They made a tooth-aching "creak" sound.
No matter how soft the rope was, under such intense friction,
startling red marks began to appear on her fair skin.
The gentle smile on her exquisite face had completely shattered,
replaced by a look of ferocity and madness from having her sore spot poked.
Tatsu was right on the mark.
Every word and sentence was like the sharpest poison needle, accurately piercing the most fearful and vulnerable place in her heart.
The rules of the Demon Slayer Corps were extremely strict.
Protecting a demon was an absolute capital offense.
The swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps had shed too much blood for their comrades who died at the hands of demons.
Their hatred for demons was etched into their souls.
If her sister was really judged as a traitor... no, she would never allow such a thing to happen!
"So what!"
Kocho Shinobu stared fixedly at Tatsu, her purple eyes seemingly burning with two flames from the underworld.
Her voice became sharp and trembling due to extreme anger.
"Even if I'm treated as a traitor, even if I'm despised by the whole world, so what?"
"As long as I can kill you, as long as I can bring my sister back, I wouldn't hesitate even if I have to commit seppuku before the Master!"
"You blood-stench-filled monster, you don't understand the resolve of us humans at all!"
Looking at the beautiful butterfly in front of him, whose wings had clearly been broken,
yet who still tried to sting him to death with her poison needle,
Tatsu's gaze darkened slightly.
"Resolve? What a ridiculous and pathetic word."
He walked up to Kocho Shinobu again, and a pressure belonging to a demon was instantly released.
The temperature in the entire room plummeted to freezing point at that moment.
"So, is this the end for you sisters?"
"You can't go back to the Demon Slayer Corps now."
"If you go back, you'll be dealt with as traitors."
"You'll be treated like trash by those former comrades."
"Your sister's foolish dream of 'human-demon coexistence' will be ruthlessly trampled upon."
"You will die by the blades of your own people, rather than dying on the battlefield hunting demons."
"Is this your so-called resolve?"
Kocho Shinobu bit her own lip until it bled, a trail of deep red sliding down the corner of her mouth.
It contrasted with her pale cheeks, creating a heart-stirring, tragic beauty.
She didn't speak, only staring at Tatsu with those murderous eyes,
as if she wanted to carve his image into her soul.
"Don't you understand yet, Kocho Shinobu?"
Tatsu crouched down and extended a finger, provocatively tilting Kocho Shinobu's chin up.
The moment his cold finger touched Kocho Shinobu's warm skin,
it caused the latter to instinctively shudder, but she stubbornly refused to look away.
"Your sister is very obedient to me right now."
Tatsu said each word slowly, every syllable like a knife cutting through Kocho Shinobu's nerves.
"Whether you admit it or not, to protect me—"
"Or rather, for that naive dream of hers—she has already chosen to stand on my side."
"Besides, you can't beat me."
Tatsu released his finger and stood up, looking down at her from above.
"The wisteria poison you're so proud of is useless against me."
"Your physical strength can't even cut a single strand of my hair."
"Right now, you're nothing more than a piece of meat on my chopping block."
He leaned in slightly, the corner of his mouth curling into a cruel arc—the standard expression of a villainous demon.
"As long as I want..."
Tatsu's voice was as soft as a lover's whisper, but in Kocho Shinobu's ears, it sounded like a devil's murmur.
"I can do whatever I want to your sister."
"I can turn her into one of my kind, letting her sink into darkness forever."
"I can make her kill those Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen with her own hands, letting her break down between sanity and madness."
"I can even..."
"DEMON!!!"
An extremely shrill and furious scream interrupted Tatsu's words.
Kocho Shinobu had completely lost it.
She struggled recklessly, even though her wrists and ankles were already chafed and raw.
Even though blood had seeped through the ropes and stained the tatami red, she was completely oblivious.
Her originally smooth black short hair was now a mess.
Her purple eyes were filled with bloodshot veins from extreme anger and despair.
"What on earth do you want?! What do you want!!!"
"Come at me!"
"Kill me! Eat me! Let my sister go!!!"
Her voice was hoarse, and physiological tears even spilled from the corners of her eyes due to her extreme emotional breakdown.
She wasn't afraid of death, she wasn't afraid of pain,
but she absolutely, positively could not tolerate anyone hurting her sister, who was as gentle as the sun.
That was her only emotional pillar in this cruel world after her parents died.
Tatsu's provocation had accurately shattered her last line of rational defense.
Looking at the girl on the tatami who was struggling and roaring like a wounded beast,
and seeing her eyes filled with overwhelming hatred and despair,
the evil and cruelty on Tatsu's face faltered imperceptibly for a moment.
The room fell back into a dead silence, save for Kocho Shinobu's heavy and ragged breathing.
Tatsu watched her quietly.
In the vision of the Transparent World,
he could see Kocho Shinobu's heart beating frantically at an overloaded frequency.
If he continued to stimulate her like this, her bodily functions might suffer irreversible damage.
In his heart, he actually felt a bit helpless.
Truly, very helpless.
If possible, he didn't want to use such despicable means to provoke a girl who bore so many tragic fates.
He knew what Kocho Shinobu had been through, and to some extent,
he even admired this strong girl who didn't hesitate to turn herself into a poisonous person for revenge.
But he had no choice.
Kocho Shinobu's hatred for demons was simply too deep.
This hatred was etched into her DNA, becoming the only motivation for her to live.
If he didn't take this extreme measure, if he didn't completely crush her psychological defense,
and make her clearly realize the desperate gap in strength between them and her current terrible situation,
then once the ropes were untied, this crazed butterfly would definitely pounce without hesitation,
even if she had to use her teeth to tear a piece of flesh from him.
She wouldn't listen to any explanation, nor would she believe any nonsense about "human-demon peace."
In her world, demons must die, without exception.
To protect the two sisters in this complex situation and to preserve his own subsequent plans,
he had to first become the villain who controlled everything.
He had to use the cruelest reality to forcefully hammer back the reason that was blinded by hatred in Kocho Shinobu.
Tatsu took a deep breath, hiding that touch of helplessness and pity deep beneath his cold mask.
He turned around, his back to the cold moonlight coming through the window,
letting his face be completely hidden in the shadows,
leaving only a pair of blood-red eyes staring fixedly at Kocho Shinobu on the tatami.
"I want you to listen to me."
"From now on, put away your ridiculous hatred, put away your useless struggling."
"If you still want to save your sister's life,"
"If you still want to survive in this world that no longer has a place for you..."
He slowly turned his head.
"You must obey me absolutely."
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