The Butterfly's Dance, Hearts of Comrades — The Light Shinobu Saw - The Butterfly's Hair Ornament and a Genuine Smile

Half a day had passed since the dawn light filtered into the bottom of the gorge. She returned to the Butterfly Mansion just past noon. Thanks to Uzui Tengen arranging the hidden operatives, all three had been transported safely. Safe, though each of them was battered and bruised in their own way. Kochou Shinobu led Tomioka Giyuu into the treatment room. She sat him in a chair and began unwrapping the bandage around his right shoulder. As expected, the wound had opened again. "……You've been reckless again," Giyuu didn't answer. His gaze fixed on a single point on the wall, he sat perfectly still. As Shinobu prepared needle and thread, she glanced at his profile. His black hair, streaked with blue mesh, was slightly disheveled today. It was usually so neat. She began the sutures. With each insertion of the needle, Giyuu's brow twitched slightly. He made no sound. He sat as though it were nothing. But only his eyebrows were honest. Then a cheerful voice came from the hallway. "Shinobu-san, can I use the treatment room next door now?" A bandage-covered face peeked through the gap in the door. Fresh cloth wrapped around the wound on his forehead, his left arm layered thick with bandages. Yet his expression was bright. "I'm treating Giyuu-san right now. Please wait a moment," "Understood!" ……But he couldn't wait. He soon cracked the door open and slipped inside. He stood by the wall, apparently trying to be obedient. But less than three seconds passed before he started talking. "Um, I wonder where Zenitsu is crying right now. He's definitely fighting with Inosuke while we're gone," Shinobu turned around, needle still in hand. "……Wait, what kind of situation is that?" "Well, whenever those two are left together, it always happens. Zenitsu eats something sweet, Inosuke snatches it from the side, Zenitsu cries, Inosuke says 'why do you cry, weakling,' and he cries even more……" Tanjirou began explaining with exaggerated gestures. He swung his right arm wide, reenacting Zenitsu's escape. The bandage on his left arm gradually came loose. "Tanjirou, your arm!" Aoi's voice came from the hallway. "Kamado-san, your bandage came off again. How many times do I have to wrap it?" Kanaki Aoi——Shinobu's right hand, the one who managed medical care and recovery at the Butterfly Mansion——came in with quiet exasperation and grabbed Tanjirou's left arm. She began rewrapping it without a word. Tanjirou cheerfully said "Thank you very much." Shinobu found herself laughing softly. It was funny. When she remembered that night in the gorge, her chest still felt tight. And yet, this sight made her laugh. Giyuu exhaled, barely audibly. Shinobu couldn't tell what kind of sound it was. Exasperation? Relief? But she felt his shoulders, which had been tense, drop just a little. By the time the treatment was finished, the window outside had turned orange. ───── She sat on the veranda without being invited by anyone. She finished writing the survival confirmation report, checked the medicine inventory, gave Aoi instructions for tomorrow. When it was all done, she found herself wanting to sit there. The Butterfly Mansion's garden was bathed in the setting sun. The wisteria flowers in the medicinal herb garden swayed in the evening breeze. Pale purple trembled softly in the orange light. Shinobu placed her hands on her lap and simply watched. Footsteps sounded. She didn't need to turn around to know. These footsteps were slow and quiet. Giyuu sat down beside Shinobu without a word. A fresh bandage on his right shoulder. He offered no explanation. He simply sat. For a while, the two of them watched the same sunset. How much time had passed? When the shadows of the garden trees had grown long and the color of the wisteria flowers had darkened, Shinobu slowly opened her mouth. "……I always thought I was fighting alone," Giyuu didn't move. He was listening. "I decided I would be the one to avenge my sister. That I couldn't show weakness. That I had to keep smiling. I decided it all on my own," A bird's call came from the garden. "But……when everyone came to that mountain," Shinobu paused for a moment. "For the first time, I thought it was okay not to be alone," A long silence flowed. The shadows in the garden stretched further. Giyuu kept his gaze toward the sunset, his sword resting on his knee. His profile was bathed in orange light. It was the usual cold expression that revealed nothing. But tonight——perhaps because of the sunset——it looked a little softer. Shinobu looked at that face for just a moment. "……I'm the same," That was all. There were no more words. But it was enough. ───── Shinobu slowly raised her hand and touched her hair. The butterfly hairpin. Kanae's keepsake. She'd had it with her for four years. She spoke to her heart. Sister. I won't carry everything alone anymore. I have comrades. Once before, while touching the same hairpin, she had whispered: Sister, am I doing this right? That time, she was anxious. She had no confidence in whether she could do it alone. Tonight was different. She wasn't anxious. The sunset completely sank, and the sky turned deep blue. Giyuu quietly stood up. "I'm heading back tonight," "Shall I see you off?" "No need," He answered with just one word and walked away. His back disappeared into the darkened hallway. Shinobu watched him go and realized something. Tonight, Giyuu hadn't smiled once. Not even a smile——he'd barely shown any expression at all. And yet, tonight felt the most reassuring. Because it was a night when they spoke their true feelings, not forced smiles. Shinobu looked up at the sky. A single first star was shining. ───── The next morning, when she stood in the Butterfly Mansion's training grounds, the soldiers noticed immediately. "Shinobu-sama!" Several came running over. Shinobu responded with her usual smile. But today's smile was not a mask. It was the smile of someone who knew she had comrades. The form was the same, but the contents were completely different. Pillar Training——the special training where the Pillars directly trained soldiers, devised by Lord Ubuyashiki Kagaya in preparation for the final battle——she began teaching the basics. She demonstrated the thrust form of the Insect Breathing. The soldiers watched with serious faces. One of them raised his hand. "Um……Shinobu-sama's sword can't sever necks, right?" Shinobu nodded with a smile. "That's right. So I use poison——and I coordinate with my comrades," The second half of that sentence came out naturally. Words that wouldn't have come before. The soldier blinked. "C-coordination……?" "You don't have to do everything alone. I only recently learned that myself," ───── After Pillar Training ended, Shinobu entered the compounding room. The only difference today was one thing——she left the door open. She spread out her notes on the ultra-concentrated wisteria flower poison refinement. One trial needle had been used in last night's battle. It worked on mid-level demons. But whether it would reach Upper Moon Two, Doma, was still unknown. That demon's strength was on a different level. She had to increase the poison's concentration further. As she rewrote the mixing ratios of the poison liquid extracted from wisteria flowers, she sensed someone in the hallway. "Shinobu-san, is there anything I can help with?" Tanjirou stood in the doorway. His bandage had slipped again. It seemed Aoi had scolded him——this time it was wrapped firmly. Shinobu thought for a moment. "……Then, could you return these documents to the shelf? In order, by number from the end," Tanjirou came in looking pleased. This compounding room had once been off-limits to regular soldiers. It had been Shinobu's rule. Now the door was open. Tanjirou stood before the shelf and carefully arranged the documents. Shinobu continued writing in her notebook. For a while, quiet time flowed. After some time, she sensed another presence in the hallway. Giyuu stood outside the door. He didn't enter, just observed the pile of documents from the hallway. Shinobu stopped her hand and turned around. "……With the current trial poison, I can defeat mid-level demons. But it might not reach Upper Moon Two, Doma. I need to increase the concentration of the wisteria flower poison," Giyuu silently came inside. He picked up a sheet of paper with the mixing numbers and read it. Three people stood in the narrow compounding room. Tanjirou arranging documents before the shelf. Giyuu reading the paper with mixing ratios. Shinobu writing in her notebook. This was fighting without being alone. Shinobu's pen moved as she remembered the gorge from last night. The words the demon had screamed just before disappearing. Doma-sama……help me……Doma-sama. That voice still echoed in her mind. Upper Moon Two, Doma——the demon who killed her sister Kanae——was definitely moving. His subordinates had come this far. Next time, an even stronger demon might come. She touched the hairpin with her fingertip. Kanae's butterfly. It had been here for four years. This time, she would definitely make it reach. Outside the compounding room's window, a single crow flew through the night sky, wings spread wide. Toward the Ubuyashiki estate. To deliver tonight's mission report. Pillar Training was moving toward its final stage. Shinobu turned the page and began writing a new mixing formula.

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Episode 7

Name: The Butterfly's Dance, Hearts of Comrades — The Light Shinobu Saw
Author: Novelia

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