The bright afternoon sunlight poured down over the red lanterns of Asakusa.
Amidst the bustling crowd, Shinobu, holding Akira's arm, was not her usual self as the Insect Hashira.
She was wearing a kimono embroidered with butterfly patterns, and had the face of a woman in love.
"Akira-san, look at that. It's goldfish scooping. I used to do that with my sister."
"Want to try it?"
"No, seeing it is enough. Right now… I prefer being close to you like this."
Shinobu whispered as she leaned her head on Akira's shoulder.
At the mansion, she couldn't monopolize him due to the eyes of other people or Servants, but at this moment, she was making him entirely her own.
The two passed through the crowded shopping district and moved their steps to a quiet, secluded forest path on the outskirts.
The lush green forest blocked the city's noise, and only the sound of leaves rustling in the wind and the chirping of unknown birds could be heard.
"...Coming this far, there's no one around."
Shinobu stopped and looked around.
It was a dreamy space deep in the forest, where sunlight shattered into dots through the leaves.
"Indeed. It's quiet and the air is good."
As Akira took a deep breath, Shinobu blocked his way with a mysterious smile.
"It's so quiet… don't you want to do something reckless?"
She placed her slender hand on Akira's chest and looked up at him with a seductive gaze.
It wasn't her usual playful smile, but a look filled with deep desire.
"What are you talking about, Shinobu?"
"Unlike at home, here… I think we can enjoy to our heart's content, like beasts, without worrying about anyone hearing."
Shinobu smiled as she brought her hand to Akira's chest.
"Outdoor play… how bold. Is it because you're an Insect Breathing user, more in tune with nature?"
"Hehe, do you dislike it? I want to play thrilling games with Master. The thrill that someone might see… it's more exciting, isn't it?"
She slightly loosened the collar of her kimono herself. Her white shoulder line and collarbone were revealed, and the scent of her skin mixed with the fresh grass smell of the forest strongly stimulated Akira's instincts.
"As if I'd refuse. If you want it, I'll fill this forest with your moans."
Akira roughly pulled Shinobu into his arms and pushed her against the trunk of a large old tree.
As her back touched the rough bark, Shinobu let out a short gasp, but soon wrapped her arms around Akira's neck and responded with a hot kiss.
"Haa, Akira-san… more…♡"
In the secluded forest, under the swaying shadows of tree branches, the secret and daring love of the two began.
The rough breathing and the sound of flesh colliding, buried in the sounds of nature, were more primal and sensual than any music.
Meanwhile, in stark contrast to the love-filled forest, the Butterfly Mansion where Kanao was located was hell itself.
"Supplies have arrived!"
Okita Souji and Ushiwakamaru entered the mansion's yard, pulling a large cart.
The cart was piled high with disinfectant containers reeking of alcohol, high-quality gauze, bandages, and various medicines.
"Haa… sorry for being late, Kanao-sama! The headquarters folks were annoying with supply procedures and whatnot, so I just bought everything with cash on hand outside!"
Okita said, wiping sweat.
"Thank you so much. Thanks to you, we can put out the urgent fire."
Kanao let out a sigh of relief. But her expression was still dark.
Although materials were filled, problems due to the lack of systems and knowledge were still exploding like time bombs throughout the mansion.
"Lady Hashira! It's an emergency! The abdominal surgery patient in Room 3 suddenly vomited blood and went into shock!"
When Kanao hurried over, the member who had undergone intestinal rupture surgery yesterday was rolling in pain, clutching his stomach.
Next to the bed was a half-eaten bowl of mochi.
"...Who is it? Who gave this patient mochi? I emphasized that he should fast!"
When Kanao shouted, the silver member in charge of nursing answered tearfully.
"Ah, that… the patient said he was hungry and couldn't hold on… so I brought mochi, thinking he needed food energy…"
"His intestines are stitched up! If sticky, indigestible food like mochi enters, his intestines will rupture! Are you trying to kill him?!"
Kanao screamed.
The members, who had no concept of nutritional management or patient meals, were driving patients to death with one-dimensional folk remedies like eating well to recover.
While making rounds, Kanao was shocked again.
"Wait! Why is this patient here?"
There, next to a trauma patient with a broken leg, lay a patient coughing severely and spitting up bloody phlegm.
"Ah, we put him there because there were no other beds available."
"This patient is suspected of having tuberculosis! Don't you know tuberculosis bacteria spread through the air? The trauma patient next to him has weakened immunity and could die immediately if infected!"
"Tu, tuberculosis is a contagious disease? Isn't it just a coughing sickness?"
Kanao felt dizzy.
Explaining the need for isolation wards to them, who had no concept of bacteria and viruses, was like talking to a wall.
"This patient, when was the painkiller administered? Why is there nothing on the record sheet?"
When Kanao shook the chart and asked, the responsible members just looked at each other.
"Uh… wasn't it given by Member Kamo?"
"No, I thought you were giving it, so I didn't."
"Huh? Then he hasn't taken it yet?"
Since medication records or nursing logs weren't properly kept, incidents where patients were overdosed by being given medicine twice or nearly died from shock due to not being given any were commonplace.
"Records! Keep records! Write down who gave it and at what time! Is human life a joke?!"
Kanao's voice was hoarse.
This wasn't a hospital. It was a murder scene wrapped in goodwill.
No matter how good the medicine and tools were, if the people operating them were ignorant, they all became nothing but weapons, a fact she felt deeply.
Only after the sun had completely set could the exhausted Kanao, Okita, and Ushiwakamaru return to their current residence, Okita's mansion.
In the luxurious and comfortable living room of Okita's mansion.
Kanao plopped down on the soft sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Her haori was stained with dried blood and pus from patients.
"...Haa."
A deep, heavy sigh weighed down the air of the mansion.
"You worked hard, Kanao-sama. Would you like a warm cup of tea? I added some honey."
Okita offered a steaming teacup, but Kanao only shook her head weakly.
"Okita-san, Ushiwakamaru-san. I… really have something serious to think about."
"What is it? Tell us. We'll listen."
Kanao tightly pursed her trembling lips, then opened her mouth with difficulty.
"...Should I continue with the Demon Slayer Corps?"
The words from Kanao's mouth were shocking. As a Hashira, having reached the pinnacle of the Demon Slayer Corps not long ago, she was considering retirement, or rather, withdrawal.
"Today, I felt it to the bone. This organization… has no answer."
With a hollow expression, she continued as if venting her resentment.
"The mansion was made to save people, but in reality, it only does things that kill people. Under the name of discipline, it refuses change, packages ignorance as tradition, and doesn't even think about development. No matter how much I shout to disinfect, record, isolate… nothing improves."
Tears welled up in Kanao's eyes.
"The things that were natural where I lived with Father don't exist here. There's only blind sacrifice and old customs. No matter how hard I try… it's like pouring water into a leaky jar. The fact that more people will die from the lack of systems than the people I save is too terrifying."
She looked down at her own hands. They were stained with blood all day, but the lives she couldn't save flashed through her mind.
The member whose intestines ruptured from eating mochi, the patient burning with fever due to lack of isolation…
"What can I do by staying here? What's the use of the name Hashira? Rather… would it be better to quit everything and return to the trading company to help Father's work? With the Akatsuki Trading Company… at least there wouldn't be such ignorant things."
Okita and Ushiwakamaru remained silent. They couldn't easily refute Kanao's words.
The reality of the Demon Slayer Corps they witnessed today was too miserable and irrational even from an outsider's perspective.
"...It's not an easy problem. But Kanao-sama, you're not wrong."
Ushiwakamaru spoke quietly but firmly.
"A rotten tree cannot bear flowers. No matter how much good fertilizer and water you give, if the roots themselves are diseased and rotten… that tree will eventually fall. It's not that Kanao-sama's efforts are lacking, but the soil is wrong."
Kanao buried her face in her knees and sobbed.
Between her responsibility as a Hashira, compassion for the Demon Slayer Corps children, and disillusionment with the rotten organization, her heart was lost and wandering.
The splendidly completed Butterfly Mansion.
It was not a symbol of hope, but paradoxically, it became a cruel mirror showing Kanao the irredeemable bottom of the Demon Slayer Corps organization.
The scale in her heart was already leaning heavily towards withdrawing from the Demon Slayer Corps.