42 ...To the Hospital

"So you met lower moon 6, the guy who is obsessed with the tsuzumi drums..."

Kiyomi said as she watched Shinobu do her magic on Kanae's wound.

"Yeah! I was fighting against two other demons at the time so when he ambushed me, I was caught off guard and he managed to injure my left arm..."

Looking at Kanae's bloody left arm, Kiyomi opened her mouth several times before finally saying in disbelief:

"And you managed to let him run away after decapitating the two minion demons and cutting off both of his arms?"

Kanae winced in pain as her face turned bright pink, the root of her ears heating up as embarrassment enveloped her.

"mmhm..."

"Stop moving so much sister, although your injury isn't that deep, it still touched your muscles.."

Shinobu frowned as she tried to coat Kanae's wound with a medicine paste that smelled very refreshing, like mints and flowers.

"Yeah... sorry.."

Kanae said shyly, not knowing whether she should apologize for moving so much, or the fact that she allowed lower moon 6 to run away.

"Jeez~ Whatever! Just be careful next time!" Shinobu rejected Kanae's apology like the good tsundere sister she is.

"yea.." said Kanae, her voice so low that it sounded like a mosquito buzzing in your ear.

Staring at the siblings, Kiyomi remembered her family and siblings.

She whispered to herself as she put both of her arms across and on her chest:

"Hm~ Maybe It's time I go and visit Tanjiro. Sabito and Makomo aren't there to help him break that huge rock, so I suppose I'll have to do it...."

She didn't even notice that Kanae's blush got even brighter as she sunk into her own little world thinking about the plot of Demon Slayer.

The two sisters stared at Kiyomi's contemplating appearance, while Kiyomi's eyes turned blank as she immersed herself in her thinking.

Kanae glanced back and forth between the two mountains on Kiyomi's chest and her good sister who is applying the medicine paste on her arm.

Shinobu, seeing her sister concentrating on something else, got curious and took a look at what Kanae was focusing on.

How she wishes she hadn't.

"..." Swiftly turning back her attention on Kanae's wound, a slight pink emerged on Shinobu's ears and face.

Kanae looked into Shinobu's eyes and sympathized with her, patting her sister on the shoulder with her unhurt arm.

No words were exchanged, but the siblings tactically knew what they wanted to express.

'It's okay. We don't need something so big that would obstruct our movement!'

'mmhm! That's right! I'm very already very content!'

Kanae wiped her eyes with a finger, making it seem as if there was a tear under her eye.

Shinobu looked uncomfortable as she continued smearing the medicine paste on Kanae's wound.

...A little too much medicine paste.

*Sniff~ Sniff*

"Wuu~!! Sister! I smell like mints and medicine~!"

Kanae wanted to cry but no tears would come out.

Seeing her sister acting like a baby, Shinobu wasn't moved as she had seen this move more than a few hundred times.

But still, she did feel a little bad for letting out her frustrations on her sister.

Looking down, she suddenly felt an inferiority that she had never felt before.

She tried to imitate Kiyomi, but the gap was really just too big.

Feeling down, Shinobu quickly put her hands on her waist and said:

"I only put a little extra paste on your arm. And plus! It doesn't smell bad! So stop complaining!"

"But~!"

Kiyomi watched the argument between Shinobu and Kanae with relish, wondering why the roles of the eldest and youngest suddenly swapped.

With Shinobu being the one to scold Kanae, and Kanae being the one who is trying to act pitiful to escape.

Chuckling, Kiyomi made up her mind to visit Tanjiro with Sabito and Makomo since they have nothing do to within a year or so anyway.

Before that however....

"Hey Selene~! Take this letter to Kagaya, okay? Thanks, sweetie!"

*Coo~!*

"Jeez! Fine, you'll get your sunflower seeds once you get back! But none before then!"

Flying into the air with contentment, Selene quickly delivered Kanae's letter to Ubuyashiki.

"Hehe, poor Kagaya. He's always freaking out when he sees Selene."

Covering her smile, Kiyomi thought back to the letter she wrote as she took the Katana that was wrapped in a cloth to the Butterfly Manor with her.

"Should be time to let him see some of the benefits of him giving me the identity of a Hashira other than just being an instructor. He might be extremely dissatisfied otherwise." Kiyomi said mischievously.

As she was walking in the direction of Kanae's ward, she met Shinobu.

"Hey Shinobu!" Kiyomi greeted.

"Hello Kiyomi, what's that in your arm?" Shinobu said without any of the embarrassment that happened between her and Kanae.

"This is my nichirin sword! I'm bringing it to Kanae because she said she wanted to see what my sword color would be."

"Oh... well. I have nothing else to do right now... so I suppose I'll also take a look."

And so, the two girls walked together in silence until they reached where Kanae was resting.

Opening the door with a bang, Kiyomi energetically walked in.

Shinobu followed closely behind.

"Kanae~! I'm back!"

Kanae was reading a book with her wounded arm holding the book gently and her other arm flipping the pages.

Closing the book, Kanae smiled.

"Did you bring your sword?"

Taking the cloth and throwing it onto the floor, Kiyomi revealed the very intricately crafted sword scabbard and sword handle.

"Of course! I just finished crafting it a day ago or something like that, so I still haven't seen what color my sword will turn out to be."

Kiyomi stroked the sword as if it were her most treasured possession.

Taking the sword from its scabbard in one swift motion without warning, Kiyomi stared at the blade.

Within a second of the sword leaving its scabbard, it started to turn into an uneven color of dark and creamy purple. Streaks of white lightning occasionally appeared, looking very unlike metal and more like a living piece of art.

The three girls stared at the beautiful phenomenon.

"This is definitely a first." Kanae said without too much surprise.

Knowing Kiyomi, she had already anticipated that something extremely weird and amazing would happen.

Shinobu on the other hand seemed too preoccupied with appreciating the art within the blade that she forgot to comment.

Kiyomi just smiled without saying anything.

But inside her mind, she was just staring into a blank canvas, daydreaming about fish.

After all, she already had a guess on what her sword color will become.

Her clothing, related to the stars.

Her mask, also quite purple and dark.

The umbrella she made a long time ago was light purple.

Her slayer mark was also remarkably a beautiful moving picture of the stars and space.

What else could've her sword color be?

Pink?

Maybe light blue.

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