The gravel path crunched beneath Tanjiro's feet as he descended from Tengen's estate. Each step carried the weight of revelation and doubt.
The folder pressed against his ribs like evidence of his own suspicion. The words echoed in his mind with relentless precision.
"No records exist of her before six months ago." He spoke the phrase aloud, testing how it sounded in the night air. "The villages she claimed to have saved have no memory of demon attacks."
A weathered shrine emerged from the darkness ahead. Its stone fox guardian had been worn smooth by generations of desperate prayers.
Tanjiro paused, pressing his palm against the cool stone for luck—or perhaps for courage.
"But that doesn't prove anything criminal," he argued with himself. His voice barely rose above a whisper. "Maybe she's just... private about her past. Maybe the villages want to forget trauma."
The wind through pine branches offered no answers. Only the rustle of secrets that might never be spoken.
"Father, if you were here, what would you tell me?" The question carried childhood longing mixed with adult desperation. "Trust but verify? Protect the innocent even from those sworn to protect them?"
His father's voice remained silent. Left only the echo of his own doubts and the weight of impossible choices.
---
Tanjiro resumed walking, arguing with ghosts and suspicion in equal measure. Each footfall brought him closer to headquarters. Closer to the moment when he'd have to face Akira knowing what he knew—or thought he knew.
The compound gates appeared through the mist like judgment itself. Familiar wood and stone transformed by shadow into something foreign and threatening.
As he approached, voices drifted from near the medical building. Too low for normal hearing but perfectly clear to his enhanced senses.
"—can't keep this up much longer." Akira's voice, unmistakable even at a whisper. "He's too perceptive. His nose picks up things others miss."
Tanjiro froze. Every muscle coiled with sudden tension.
A second voice responded, androgynous and cold as winter steel. "Then perhaps it's time to accelerate our timeline."
"No." Akira's tone carried authority that made his skin crawl. "I need more time to document their techniques. To understand their weaknesses."
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴. The phrase hit like ice water in his veins.
Not 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 weaknesses. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 weaknesses.
"The Corps grows suspicious," the stranger continued. "My sources report increased scrutiny of newcomers."
Tanjiro crept closer, pressing himself against the storage building's wooden wall. His heart hammered against his ribs with rhythm that threatened to give away his position.
"Let them investigate," Akira said. He could hear the smile in her voice even without seeing her face. "They'll find exactly what I want them to find. False histories are easier to maintain than true ones."
"And if they discover the truth?"
"Then we move to the next phase earlier than planned."
---
The casual certainty in her voice made his blood run cold. Whatever 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 meant, it involved deception on a scale that made his investigation feel like child's play.
Footsteps approached his hiding spot with deliberate precision. Too quiet for coincidence.
"I know you're there." Akira's voice carried casual certainty that cut through pretense like a blade through silk. "Your scent is distinctive, Tanjiro-kun."
𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯. He stepped into the moonlight. His hand instinctively moved toward his sword hilt. Training took precedence over embarrassment, survival over social awkwardness.
"Akira-san. I was just—"
"Spying on me?" She tilted her head, expression unreadable in the shifting shadows. Moonlight caught the amber in her eyes, making them gleam like a predator's. "How much did you hear?"
"Enough." The admission felt like stepping off a cliff, but pretense had become impossible. "Who were you talking to?"
"A contact. Someone who provides... alternative perspectives on demon behavior." Akira moved closer. Her voice dropped to intimate tones that should have been comforting but felt like manipulation. "You seemed troubled earlier. I was seeking advice on how to help you."
"Help me with what?"
"Your obvious distress. The way you've been watching me, analyzing every word I speak, every mission we complete together." Her observation landed with surgical precision. "Your scent carries anxiety like a banner."
The accuracy of her assessment made him reconsider everything about their partnership. How long had she been reading him like an open book while he'd struggled to interpret her contradictions?
---
Akira studied his face with the intensity of someone reading text. Her enhanced perception cataloged micro-expressions he couldn't control.
"You think I'm lying about something." She said it softly, the words carrying weight that made the night air seem thicker. "What crime do you suspect me of, Tanjiro-kun?"
"I don't suspect you of anything." But even as he spoke the denial, his scent carried deception. Uncertainty warred with loyalty, duty battled with personal attachment.
"Your words say one thing. Your body says another." Akira stepped closer. Close enough to count his heartbeats, close enough to catalog every tell his enhanced senses couldn't hide. "Talk to me. We're partners. We're supposed to trust each other."
"Trust goes both ways."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you haven't exactly been forthcoming about your background. Your training. Your... unique techniques." The accusation hung between them like a blade suspended over their partnership.
Akira smiled. The expression was sharp as polished steel and twice as dangerous. "Would you prefer a full confession? Here? In the middle of the night? That seems rather dramatic, don't you think?"
"I'd prefer honesty."
"How refreshingly naive."
The contempt in those three words cut deeper than any sword. It revealed layers of calculation beneath her carefully maintained warmth. Suggested depths of deception he was only beginning to fathom.
The night air between them seemed to crystallize with tension, pregnant with revelations that would reshape everything they thought they knew about each other. Whatever conversation came next, Tanjiro realized, would mark the end of their comfortable partnership and the beginning of something far more dangerous.