Chapter 37; The Trio

Chapter 37: The Trio

Kintaro walked calmly through the wooden corridor inside the Butterfly Mansion, his eyes scanning the doors of each room he passed. His expression was serene, yet his thoughts were restless.

'This place feels more like a hospital than a home,' he mused.

He was following Kanzaki, who had taken on the task of guiding him. As she walked ahead, she spoke in a composed tone.

"If you were injured, you would be more than welcome to stay here until fully recovered. However, in your case, you're neither sick nor hurt. Still, I can't exactly ask you to leave now that I know you're a Hashira. If you were just an ordinary Demon Slayer, I would have let you stay for only three days since you're not injured. But your rank demands respect, Kintaro-sama. Your room is at the end of the hall."

She gestured towards a door about five steps ahead. But Kintaro wasn't focused on the door; instead, a small smile formed on his lips as he said, "Please, drop the honorifics. I'd prefer it if you treated me as someone your own age."

Kanzaki glanced at Kintaro out of the corner of her blue eyes, responding dryly, "That's big talk from someone who's a year and a half younger than me. How exactly did you become a Hashira?"

Kintaro responded calmly with a question of his own, "So you were supposed to take the Corps' entrance exam this year. Why didn't you show up?"

Kanzaki stopped walking for a moment, her tone slightly surprised as she answered, "Huh? And who said I wanted to join the Corps?"

Kintaro, now curious, found her response odd. He remarked, "That's a bit strange, considering you seem like someone who's trained in swordsmanship."

"Ha? And how can you tell that?" Kanzaki asked, her voice tinged with suspicion.

"The way your eyes move, your palms, your arms... You can tell a swordsman by their gait," Kintaro explained.

Kanzaki crossed her arms defensively, her body shivering slightly as she responded, "Are you some kind of stalker or what? That's a little creepy, no, it's actually pretty scary."

A faint smile played on Kintaro's lips as he thought, 'I've spent three full years watching people train in swordsmanship, and I've seen the vast difference between them and the Corps members, and the even greater difference between the regular members and the Hashira. You can really tell a person's strength from their eyes. And your eyes tell me you've undergone some training. I wonder why you didn't complete it…'

Kanzaki reached the door at the end of the hallway, snapping him out of his thoughts as she said, "Anyway, you shouldn't concern yourself with someone like me. These are your roommates—"

"Aoi-chan!!! I missed you!!"

Before Kanzaki could finish her sentence, a voice shouted from inside the room, clearly directed at her. Kintaro noticed a hint of irritation on Kanzaki's face as she muttered, "Here we go again…"

Curiosity piqued, Kintaro took a few steps closer to the door, and the scene inside the room caught him off guard. A boy with dark red hair was doing push-ups, while another boy, wearing a boar mask, sat on his back.

"You can do it, Kompachiro! Just a hundred more!" the boy in the mask shouted encouragingly.

The dark red-haired boy was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted from the intense exercise. Meanwhile, another boy with yellow hair approached Kanzaki, attempting to grab her hands and talk to her.

Strangely enough, Kintaro instinctively stepped in between Kanzaki and the yellow-haired boy, effectively blocking his approach. The boy, Zenitsu, who was about the same height as Kintaro, gave him a serious look and said in a cold tone, "What's the deal, purple eyes? Move aside."

Zenitsu didn't seem to recognize Kintaro, but Kintaro clearly remembered Zenitsu from the entrance exam, particularly how Zenitsu had managed to kill demons without even opening his eyes. However, Kintaro responded plainly, "You're invading her personal space. I believe I'm the only one allowed to do that."

Both of them completely ignored Kanzaki's feelings and presence as Zenitsu retorted, "Hah? Are you her boyfriend or something? As long as you're not her husband, we all have the right to approach her."

Kintaro's lips curled into a competitive smile as he replied, "What if I told you I'm going to marry her right here and now?"

Zenitsu smirked mockingly, "I'd enjoy watching you get rejected."

Normally, Kanzaki's personality would have caused her to express her anger and annoyance, but for some reason, she left the room with an embarrassed look on her face. She didn't even know why she felt embarrassed; she just knew that the atmosphere in that room had become stifling. She couldn't bear to hear any more of their conversation.

After noticing that Kanzaki had left, Zenitsu sighed, "See? You ruined the moment I've been waiting for all morning."

Kintaro remained calm, but then Tanjiro and Inosuke appeared on either side of him. They began touching his right and left arms, whispering to each other.

"This is a bit disappointing. He's scrawny," Tanjiro noted.

"Even the yellow-haired guy has a better build than this one. How did you get so strong, really?" Inosuke added, his tone bewildered.

Kintaro felt a bit strange, as he muttered, "What exactly are you two doing…?"

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