キミノカオリ ー Moonlight, Wisteria Petals, and Thunderclap

A Fragment of Happiness, A Strike

That afternoon, everyone gathered in Shinobu's living room and made Ohagi. It was a once-in-a-while holiday for everyone, and it happened so that that day was the first day of Spring. The sky was yet overcast, and the frigid wind whistled between the shade-colored leaves, but the signs of new buds on the ground were not invisible.

"Zenitsu! Here!"

Zenitsu, wearing a green-black hakama, came back from the market, carrying the ingredients for everyone to make Ohagi. Tanjirou gladly waved his hand to signal that everyone was already gathered.

"Kanao, it's your first time doing something like this, no?" Shinobu kindly asked.

"Y—yes, Master! I'll do my best!"

"You don't have to stress over it, it's just for fun." Watching Kanao stiffening her body, Shinobu softly tapped on her shoulder, encouraging her to relax. Kanao smiled.

By the time Zenitsu got to the living room, Shinobu's servants had prepared all the cooking tools. They got on their knees to knead the batter, and they made soft, chewy, sweet Ohagi balls. By the time they started eating, the sun was setting in a brilliant gold and orange; the skyline was now steeped completely in sunset.

"Thanks for today, Shinobu-san." Tanjirou said.

"No, thanks to all of you. This was pretty fun." Shinobu answered, smiling brightly.

It was then that a hot blob of blood splattered across the white leftover of Ohagi batter.

A huge scar running from his chest to the left arm was deeply ingraved in Tanjirou's body.

"Tch, missed his solar plexus...." A menacing female voice whispered in between the autumn leaves, and everyone immediately felt the danger and the bloodlust wafting through the silent air.

"?! Who is that!! Show yourself!" Kanao stood, observing the surroundings.

"Zen..it...su...."

"Tanjirou!!!" Zenitsu held Tanjirou's head, supporting his neck, and grit his teeth before throwing his nichirin blade in a particular direction. There was a huge crashing sound, and the demon showed itself.

"You're not getting away!" Shinobu yelled, transported to the demon's blind spot and thrashed her blade into its arm, inserting a lethal poison into the demon's body. It was not long until the demon coughed blood and died while suffering from the spread of Shinobu's poison.

"Tanjirou! Are you okay?" Kanao exclaimed, coming down to her knees to inspect his wound.

"I'm...okay," Tanjirou whispered. "What's...happened...to...the demon? I'll get up, and—."

When Tanjirou attempted to tie his haori around the wound, it hardly worked because of the depth of his scar. On top of the pain, the blood loss made him extremely dizzy.

"Just rest, Tanjirou."

"Isn't that strange, though? We're all experienced soldiers against demons...why did not one of us notice the demon's approach?"

"I'm sure I was on guard the whole time, too...." Shinobu said.

"Ugghhh...." Zenitsu moaned, pained by his mistake that led Tanjirou to get hurt—he was unable to forgive himself.

"Zenitsu-san, calm down. We can save Tanjirou, it's not a big wound, and this is strange, however we think of it—that a pillar did not notice the demon is surely a big problem. There must've been something out of the ordinary to this attack."

"You think so, Kanao?"

"Yes. I'm quite sure of it. We'll investigate what happened this time, and also report it to Oyakata-sama. It might be that...Muzan Kibutsuji himself was related to this happening."

"Ah...!!" Shinobu covered her lips in shock. Everyone sat quietly for a while, before Kanao flew a crow toward Oyakata-sama's mansion to report this.