"Come on, (Y/N)-san! It shouldn't take this long!" (Y/N) heard the yell from outside the estate. He ticked another day off of the Butterfly Estate's calendar, marking four months since he and Kanao had begun training.

Currently, (Y/N) had gotten a few seconds of respite by volunteering to mark another day on the calendar. Aoi was yelling into the estate from her spot on the engawa, where she was watching the siblings train.

My break: gone, (Y/N) thought sullenly.

Still, the boy returned, and was greeted with the sight of Kanao running through the garden of melting snow and slowly growing flowers.

Standing in the center of Kanao's laps was Kanae, grinning like she was mad. Any other time, the older girl was pure kindness and smiles, but when she was training the Tsuyuri siblings...

(Y/N) didn't let the thought get to him, and was quick to join his sister in laps.

"(Y/N)-kun, welcome back! For today, you only have five laps for the warmup," Kanae said joyfully.

Too joyful... (Y/N) thought to himself.

The laps around the garden were getting easier and easier as the days dragged on, but (Y/N) always felt a sense of nostalgia along with the feeling like he could do better, or that he had gone through tougher training.

The feeling was odd.

(Y/N) still ran his laps, though. Feeling or no feeling, he chose to take the training, so he couldn't tuck out now.

•-•-•

After running his warmup laps, (Y/N) joined Kanao in the next step of training: weights.

Kanae had the siblings pick up weights and carry them from point to point in the garden. (Y/N) really didn't see the point in this, but Kanae had her reasons.

Apparently, the weights were as close to the siblings' actual weight as possible. Kanae did this so that, if one of the siblings got hurt, they would be able to carry the other.

The siblings alternated between running and walking, picking up the weights and dropping them.

Aoi cheered for the siblings from the engawa, shouting inspirational words. Shinobu, confused by the unfamiliar sound of Aoi cheering, stepped outside to watch the siblings train.

Shinobu was perplexed by the training methods, but trusted that her sister's training would be effective. She wasn't close to being a Hashira for nothing, after all.

(Y/N) was also confused by the training, but he trusted Kanae, too. Still, he had questions, and he did ask them.

When (Y/N) had previously asked Kanae why she wasn't giving them the same training as Shinobu, she responded, "I'm training Shinobu to become a better Demon Slayer. I'm training you and Kanao-chan to protect each other and yourselves. There are different values to the teachings."

It made sense, but why couldn't they also train to be Demon Slayers? Kanae had a response to that, too.

"Shinobu and I made up our minds about this years ago, and we can't turn back now. You, however, still have time to make up your minds about this. Being a Demon Slayer comes with responsibilities and risks that I don't want you taking." Kanae was serious now. (Y/N) took this as a sign to back away from the topic, and instead made small talk with the older girl.

Back to the present, (Y/N) was no longer just carrying weights, but Kanao herself. The girl was hanging on for dear life as her brother ran back and forth across the garden, skillfully hopping over roots and carefully tended to flowers.

(Y/N) completed three laps before he was too tired to continue. Kanao prepared to carry her brother, crouching down to allow him to hang on tight. Kanae intervened, though, stopping Kanao from carrying (Y/N).

"(Y/N)-kun, Kanao-chan," she began, "you can stop with the weights. I have something else in mind."

Kanao stood without a word, and looked to (Y/N). She still didn't fully trust everyone in the estate, though she did trust the butterfly girls more than anyone else besides her brother.

"Come on, Kanao. Don't you want to do something other than weights for a bit?" (Y/N) said with a smile.

Kanao froze for a moment. What did she want? Of course, she wanted to be with her brother, but what if he wasn't there?

(Y/N), unaware that he had just given Kanao an existential crisis, followed Kanae out of the garden and to the more used outdoor training grounds.

"Kanao-san," Aoi called, "is something wrong? Aren't you going to go with them?"

Kanao broke out of her stupor, looking to Aoi and nodding, muttering a small "thank you".

She liked Aoi.

Maybe not trusted, but she definitely liked her.

•-•-•

Back with (Y/N), he was waiting in the estate's training ground for Kanae to return. There were wooden training dummies, both scarred and untouched, along with the scattered remains of broken wooden bokkens across the floor.

Kanae soon returned, holding three bokkens. Two figures followed, dressed in black uniforms with masks covering their faces.

Kakushi, (Y/N) noted. Kanae had told him of the Kakushi before, as they frequented the Butterfly Estate, bringing in injured slayers almost every day.

The two Kakushi that followed Kanae were each dragging two wooden dummies behind them. They placed the dummies in a line, then began to step away.

"Thank you for your help." Kanae said gratefully.

The Kakushi stiffened, responding with, "Of course, Kocho-sama!" They were quick to return to whatever it was that they were doing before.

Kanae turned to (Y/N), giving a small smile. "Well, (Y/N)-kun, you can guess what it is that we're doing."

Something other than weights and running? (Y/N) thought to himself. To Kanae, he responded, "Sword... training?" His voice was filled with a mix of surprise, excitement, and another emotion that he himself couldn't identify.

At that moment, Kanao finally caught up with (Y/N) and Kanae, announcing her presence with, "I'm here!"

Kanae shifted her gaze to the young girl, and smiled wider. "Perfect," she began, "I thought that you weren't coming."

Kanao looked sheepish, though her face barely betrayed her feelings.

"Now," Kanae walked to the siblings and handed each a bokken. "I want to see what you know about using a sword."

Both (Y/N) and Kanao looked at each other in confusion. What would the two kids know about sword fighting? Neither of them had held a sword in their lives, at least, as far as they could recall.

(Y/N) took the initiative, walking up to one of the dummies and raising the bokken above his head. With a grunt of effort, he slashed downwards, making a heavy impact.

Off to the side, Kanae stifled the urge to correct (Y/N)'s abysmal form. Outwardly, however, she just nodded.

Following (Y/N)'s example, Kanao also hit the dummy with a downward swing, eliciting a similar grunt of effort.

To any onlooker, it would seem like the Tsuyuris had performed normal slashes on their dummies, but to Kanae's experienced eye, she could point out many imperfections in their attempts. Strangely, however, the siblings' forms held the same mistakes, to the point of them being nearly identical.

Kanae crossed the distance to the siblings in a short few steps, and quickly moved to fix their forms.

"Look, (Y/N)-kun, you need to position your hands like this," Kanae stood behind (Y/N), softly moving his hands into a better position. (Y/N) felt slightly uncomfortable with how much taller Kanae was than him, but he nodded in understanding.

Next, Kanae moved over to Kanao. Surprisingly, the girl had already adjusted her hands. Kanae was shocked, but she didn't let it show on her face. "Say, Kanao-chan," the young girl turned to face her senior. "You're very observant, no? That's how you've been fixing your form, right?" Kanao only gave a small smile in response, joyous that someone else had taken notice of her skill.

Stepping back, Kanae addressed both siblings. "You both have great potential," Kanae started.

"Does that mean that we can become-" (Y/N) began his question, but was quickly cut off.

"But I, in a sane mind, cannot allow you two to become demon slayers, at least not yet."

Kanae's quick rejection caused (Y/N) to pout. "But-"

"No," Kanae was, once again, quick to reject (Y/N)'s proposal. "Neither of you are even close to being able to match the weakest of demons. Along with that, you're still children!"

(Y/N) pouted again, but nodded in understanding.

"Now, let's continue training, shall we?" Kanae's close-eyed smile gave no reassurance to (Y/N), only a chill down his spine...

•-•-•

Nearly 3 hours later, (Y/N) and Kanao lay in the grass of the Butterfly Estate's training yard, utterly exhausted. After a long and strenuous training session, the Tsuyuris were ready to have a long bath and an even longer rest. It seemed like Kanae took (Y/N)'s statement about wanting to be a demon slayer seriously, training the siblings to the bone.

Through his exhaustion, (Y/N) still managed a small smile.

Kanae-san takes us seriously, he thought to himself.

That thought alone was enough to bring joy to (Y/N)'s mind.

Off to the side, Aoi was sitting on the engawa, looking at the siblings with fondness. It had been a total of ten months since (Y/N) and Kanao had arrived at the Butterfly Estate, and they had left a lasting impact on all of the people there, no matter if they were just passing through or if they were permanent residents.

Aoi stood from her seat on the engawa, and went to get the siblings up from their resting positions in the grass. She could tell that her life had become much more interesting than before, but Aoi couldn't tell if that was more of a good thing or a bad thing...

•-•-•

Hello, wonderful people!

I'm, well, back now! I don't really have an excuse for my 3 month absence, but I will try to make up for it with more updates that are actually on schedule.

Also, if this chapter seems rushed, or if the writing style changed slightly halfway through, blame me for that. I kinda picked up the draft at the midway point and ended up rewriting most of the chapter.

Well, feel free to leave any criticisms and thoughts that you have, and I look forward to you seeing the next chapter!

(No Taisho Secrets this time, sorry!)

じゃあね！

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