Chapter 62: The Truth Session
The three of them returned to the Butterfly Mansion in a single-file line. They ignored the curious glances from the wounded corps members and nursing staff they passed, their silent procession carrying them into a quiet, secluded room.
Kanae and Makomo sat side-by-side on one side of a low table, directly across from Akira.
The look in Makomo's eyes was a turbulent mix of hope and apprehension as she watched him, her gaze fixed on him as if he held the answer to a question she was terrified to ask. Kanae, meanwhile, maintained her usual gentle and serene demeanor, a calm mask over the storm within. Beneath the table, however, her fingers quietly twisted the hem of her uniform, the bunched fabric a small, hidden knot of tension that betrayed her inner turmoil. She kept it hidden, unwilling to add any more pressure to the man sitting before them.
Only after his gaze met both of theirs did Akira finally speak, his voice soft in the still air. "I once said that we're still young, and that it isn't the right time to talk about romance. In a way, saying that was a form of escapism."
He paused, letting the admission settle. "Perhaps at the very beginning, that was truly what I thought. But the more I said it, the more 'age' became an excuse I used to procrastinate."
"Procrastinating until you were willing to accept each other. Procrastinating until you tacitly permitted my greed..." His voice trailed off. "But this delay… it must have made you both feel sad."
Seeing that Akira was circling the heart of the matter without quite landing on it, Makomo couldn't hold back any longer. "So? What are you trying to say now?" she cut in, her voice tight. "Do you want to have both of us? You really are greedy. To confess in a situation like this, and to two people at once..."
She didn't finish the thought, simply staring at him, her eyes demanding a straight answer.
"I'm not making a confession," Akira said, shaking his head slightly. His voice remained steady, but beneath the table, his hands clenched and unclenched. "I'm confessing the truth. I'm coming clean about my thoughts, my greed, and my wish to be with you both in the future. This is a response to the feelings you've shown me."
He took a breath. "And some things are better clarified sooner rather than later. Your thoughts, your feelings, your intentions… and mine."
"As for a formal confession, now is indeed not the right time," he continued, his tone earnest. "Like I said before, we are still young, and the time we've actually spent together isn't that long. That part has always been my honest thought."
"In a few years, when we're older, I will give each of you a formal confession."
This was his plan. He was greedy, unable to bear the thought of choosing one and letting the other go. But at the very least, he wanted to give each of them a unique memory, an experience worth cherishing.
But in his sincere, carefully chosen words, Makomo caught a different phrase.
"'Each of us'?" Her gaze sharpened, turning dangerous. "You don't have someone else in your heart, do you?"
After spending the last few days together, she and Kanae had more or less come to terms with each other's existence. Thanks to Kanae's non-competitive nature and Makomo's own surprisingly soft heart, the two had decided that sharing a future with him wasn't entirely unacceptable.
But now, it seemed Akira was even greedier than they had imagined.
Even Kanae's gentle expression shifted at Makomo's question. In truth, they had both harbored their suspicions. This was their chance to bait him, and his reaction would confirm everything.
"Um..." Akira couldn't quite meet their eyes.
He could lie. He could deny it. After all, the others he held in his heart were still so young. Even Shinobu, who was closest to him in age, likely only had a tiny sprout of affection she hadn't even noticed herself.
But if he didn't admit it now, he would just be delaying the inevitable, facing this exact same confrontation again in the future. He couldn't let go of the people already by his side, especially not those who had grown so close to him. Since he had decided to come clean, he might as well be thorough. At least for now, it shouldn't lead to a… 'Nice Boat' ending. Hopefully.
"Heh."
A dry chuckle escaped Makomo's lips. There was a sliver of comfort in his honesty, but it was buried under a mountain of anger at his greed—an anger laced with a deep sense of helplessness.
"Let me guess," she began, her voice dripping with cold certainty. "Shinobu-chan? She's every bit as beautiful as Kanae or me, and she has a lively personality. You spend every day together here at the Butterfly Mansion. A greedy man like you would never let her go, right?"
Her eyes narrowed. "And speaking of which, Kanao must also be..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Akira interrupted, his voice cracking with alarm. "How old is she?! I really do just think of her as a little sister right now!"
The moment Makomo uttered Kanao's name, Akira's mind flashed with a horrifying montage: the Knights of Favonius, the Cloud-Knights, Public Security Officers, the Midnight Rangers, and even the FBI, all taking turns kicking down his door.
"True, she is still small," Makomo conceded, a wry twist to her lips. "My evaluation of you hasn't quite dropped to the 'pervert' level yet, so you probably don't have any strange thoughts about her right now. But… you're the one who's always going on about being too young. In a few years, she'll be grown up, too."
She leaned forward slightly. "When that time comes, can you honestly say you won't have any thoughts about her? Or better yet, can you really manage to stay calm and not draw your sword if you see her leaning into another man's arms?"
"Besides," she added, her logic unassailable, "she's been so attached to you since she was a child. Is there even any other possibility once she grows up?"
"..." Akira was rendered speechless.
But his silence didn't stop Makomo. If anything, it seemed to fuel her, her words growing more and more outrageous.
"Hmm, and maybe there are more. While there aren't many female members in the Demon Slayer Corps, with your qualities, I'm sure there would be plenty of people willing if you just asked."
"Maybe there are even other unlucky souls like Kanae and me who fell for you because you saved their lives."
Seeing Makomo getting more and more worked up, and feeling the combined weight of their increasingly dangerous gazes, Akira finally had to cut in. "Hey, hey, hey, those last ones really don't exist, okay? How could I possibly..."
Before he could finish, Makomo sliced through his defense.
"How could you possibly accept just anyone, right?" she shot back. "True. After all, you are the esteemed Sound Hashira, a famous genius in the entire Demon Slayer Corps. Naturally, your standards are high. So, you admit to the first two you mentioned, right?"
Akira silently lowered his head.
"Shinobu..."
Now that it involved her own sister, Kanae could no longer sit still. If it were someone else, as long as they weren't too difficult to get along with, she wouldn't have minded too much—even if it would inevitably hurt. Strictly speaking, she was a latecomer herself, and she had never been one to fight for things.
But this was her sister. It was impossible not to care.
"Nothing has developed yet," Akira said, forcing himself to speak as he saw the situation spiraling out of control. "And I will respect their wishes, just as I am being honest with you both now." He was telling the truth. He would never force them. He would just… intentionally cultivate their affection for him.
Since everything was out in the open, he dropped the pretense entirely.
"Tsk. When all is said and done, aren't you just a scumbag?" Makomo scoffed.
"A scumbag is someone who doesn't take responsibility," Akira countered. "I would be considered fickle."
"Responsibility? How will you take responsibility? With a few empty words?" Makomo's composure finally fractured. Her voice rose, sharp and strained, the careful quiet of the room shattering around her words. She no longer cared if anyone outside could hear.
"I will take responsibility with my life."
Akira's voice wasn't loud, but the words landed with the weight of a mountain on the hearts of the two women.
"As long as I am here, nothing will happen to any of you."
"It… it doesn't have to go that far…" Makomo's fire immediately sputtered out, her expression morphing into that of a child who knew they'd said something wrong. "I was just… emotional for a moment, Akira, you..."
"Kanzaki-kun..." Kanae also looked at him, her face a mask of bewilderment.
No matter how much resentment they felt toward his fickleness, when the life of the person they loved was put on the table, everything else suddenly seemed trivial.
"Don't worry, I'm not saying this on impulse," Akira assured them. "You both know I don't have any deep-seated hatred for demons. The things I said about joining the Demon Slayer Corps for my conscience… that was mostly to persuade my master to teach me a Breathing Style."
"In the very beginning, I learned to fight just to gain the power to protect myself. After all, I'm actually quite afraid of dying. Joining the Corps was simply the price for learning. In a world with demons, you have to find a way to get stronger to have any real chance at survival."
"But then," he continued, his gaze softening as he looked at them, "I met my master, who took care of me without reservation. And I met you. The meaning of becoming stronger was no longer just about self-preservation. I want to be stronger not for some grand cause like exterminating all demons or saving the world, but simply to protect the people by my side. The people I care about."
His voice grew quiet, heavy with a past they could only guess at. "I was abandoned by my parents, and then I lost the grandfather who adopted me. Because of that, I crave and cherish the people who can bring me warmth more than anything. This… overly intense emotion has transformed into greed."
"I know it's wrong. But I cannot change it. Nor am I willing to."
"Suddenly saying things like that… it's really a foul play…" Makomo muttered, turning her face away. But her gaze had already softened completely.
Kanae also let out a quiet sigh of relief. Although she was still bothered by the fact that Akira had his sights set on her sister, she didn't say anything more. She simply decided in her heart that she would find an opportunity to talk to Shinobu later and hear her thoughts. As for Kanao… it was just as Makomo said. The girl had always been attached to Akira. Once she grew up, it was unlikely any other outcome would occur.
The explosive confrontation was thus defused. Akira let out a long, slow breath, only then realizing that his back was soaked with sweat.
Today had been a gamble—a gamble on his place in their hearts, and a gamble on the softness he knew lay within them.
The good news was, he had won.
But his sense of debt to them had also deepened.
"So," he asked, his voice low, "knowing my greed, are you willing to give me a chance to stay by your side in the future?"
Meeting his deep, affectionate gaze, which was filled with both apology and a silent plea, neither Makomo nor Kanae knew how to respond.
Finally, Makomo spoke, throwing caution to the wind. "We'll… we'll see how you behave," she said, her cheeks flushed. "Anyway, didn't you say it's still early? And let's get one thing straight: we won't just accept anyone."
"Thank you."
Afterward, the room fell into silence. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts, and for a moment, none of them knew how to end a conversation that hadn't exactly been pleasant.
And none of the three inside the room noticed the petite figure quietly moving away from the door outside.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]