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Soon after the quaint visit to the Rengoku home, as Hayami was on her way back to the butterfly estate, her Kasugai crow informed her to behead several demons in the area.
"Breath of peace, second form: crimson serenity"
The woods were the most common grounds where demons roamed, especially if secluded homes stood in those forests. Hayami quickly shielded the trembling family from the demon, the girl got a quick glance at its eyes ━ there were no writings engraved into them. It seemed that encounters with any of The Twelve Kizuki were quite rare.
"You just had to get in the way of my dinner, disgusting demon slayer" The demon spoke bitterly.
Hayami gripped her nichirin sword tightly before getting into a stance, "I apologize, but you can find dinner elsewhere" She spoke softly.
"Breath of peace, third form: tranquility volatile"
And with a quick slash of her blade, its head was quickly detached from its nape. Since Hayami had gone through multiple missions, all of which never had any other ranked demon, she was able to perfect her third breathing form. Her slashes became sharper, her logic during attacks had grown stronger, and her precision was as accurate as ever.
The girl clasped both her hands together before muttering her prayers for the creature. As she finished her prayer, Hayami turned back to the family behind her, making sure that each member was untouched. She quickly said her goodbyes to the family before finally heading back to the butterfly estate.
Much to her surprise, Shinobu was inside the dining room along with the rest of the butterfly girls. They seemed to be having dinner together. The sight warmed Hayami's heart, it was rare for Shinobu to be at the butterfly estate during the night since the missions for demon slayers, let alone hashira's, mainly occur at night.
Shinobu made eye contact with the female before smiling, "Good work today, Hayami-san" She spoke with a soft voice. Catching the attention of the younger girls, who also greeted Hayami.
The ginger-brown-haired girl smiled softly before walking towards the table, "Good work today everyone" She replied, seeing a portion of salmon daikon that Aoi had for her. She quickly muttered, "thank you for the meal" before digging in. The wonderful flavors melt into her taste buds.
"What's the occasion, Shinobu-chan?" Hayami questioned, as she set her utensils down.
Shinobu glanced at the elder female before standing up from her seat to take second, "I have just returned from my first mission as a hashira, Aoi had decided to make dinner so I stayed for once to eat together with everyone else" she answered.
The girls ate their food while making small talk, a few laughs were shared here and there. Once everyone had finished, the younger girls started cleaning up the table. There were still some salmon daikon leftovers, so Aoi merely closed the lid to the clay pot it was in.
