Smile

Hiroto was led to his room when he stayed here, he could also leave Nezuko inside of the room to let her rest. Hiroto took the blanket from the bed and covered the window, before being satisfied that absolutely no sunlight would get in.

"I should ask Kanao if I'm allowed to board up the window as extra measures…" Hiroto contemplated in his room, thinking of different strategies to ensure that the infiltration of the sun gets stopped.

"You can board up the window if you want, I don't mind." A girl's voice sounded out from behind Hiroto as he was thinking.

"Ah, then thank you… wait." Hiroto turned and saw the girl who was at the pillar meeting before.

"I don't think I introduced myself properly, I'm Kocho Shinobu, you can just call me Shinobu," Shinobu said, smiling and shaking Hiroto's hand.

"Ah, yes, nice to meet you. You already my name, Kamado Hiroto." Hiroto responded.

"I must say, I was really impressed with how you were able to take down Shinagawa, and not only that, you managed to free yourself from Himejima and Rengoku," Shinobu said, sitting on Hiroto's bed with her legs crossed.

"I caught them by surprise, so they weren't in their full strength," Hiroto said.

"No no, you were quite impressive. Only a Mizunoe but you managed to go toe to toe with 3 Pillars. I also heard from Tomioka that you killed a Twelve Kizuki." Shinobu said, with the same smile on her face.

"It was nothing, Tanjiro had already weakened him before," Hiroto said.

"You don't need to be so humble you know?" Shinobu said, "Also, you did cut Iguro's sword in half, so he is really angry at you right now."

"I know that, but they brought it on themselves when that white-haired guy hurt Nezuko. Nezuko and Tanjiro are all I have left after Muzan killed the rest of my family. As long as I'm alive, no one is going to hurt them. Besides, how can anyone hurt someone as cute as Nezuko." Hiroto said, looking at the box.

Shinobu stayed silent for a moment, looking towards Hiroto's back.

"There's something I want to ask…" Hiroto said, turning around to face Shinobu.

"If you want to know my three sizes that will have to wait until we're closer you know." Shinobu teased.

"No not that, but your eyes… Whenever I see you, you are always putting on a smile, but your eyes can't deceive me. This might be too personal, but you have a look of anger and sadness, similar to mine. The loss of family." Hiroto said gently, knowing this would be a touchy subject.

Hiroto then looked genuinely at Shinobu, before saying, "There are two types of people in this world: those who prefer to be sad amongst others, and those who prefer to be sad alone."

Shinobu's eyes widened for a second before the smile on her face disappeared. Looking at Nezuko's box, she said, "Do you know why I brought you three to the estate?"

"No," Hiroto replied.

"I wanted to entrust my dream to you," Shinobu said.

"Dream?" Hiroto asked curiously.

"A dream to get along with Demons." Shinobu smiled. "After I saw how you protected your sister, despite the odds against you, you never backed down. Despite her being a Demon."

Hiroto stayed silent and looked towards Nezuko's box, sitting on the bed beside her.

"From the moment my beloved big sister got slaughtered by Demons. Every Time I saw the tears of the people whose loved ones were taken away by Demons, every time I heard their shrieks of despair. The anger inside me continued to grow and get larger." Shinobu said, with a hint of sadness and anger in her tone.

"I have repulsive feelings that I can't do anything about in the deepest part of my body. And I'm sure the other pillars are similar." Shinobu said, before adding on. "Well, now they saw a Demon who has never eaten a Person. Nezuko-chan and they remembered her. And I don't think anybody would lay a hand on her since Oyakata-Sama is okay with it."

Hiroto looked to the side of Shinobu's face, as she continued.

"... My sister was a kind person, like your younger brother. She sympathized with Demons and she felt sorry for them even on the verge of her death." Shinobu said, recalling the memories of her sister.

"Tanjiro always had a pure and kind soul, out of all of us in our family. While I may be the pillar of our family, Tanjiro acts as our Sun, to make sure we don't stray from our goal." Hiroto said, looking down at his feet.

"I could never think about things like that." Shinobu said, "Having pity on those who killed people? That's just crazy talk… But, if that was how my sister felt, I have to follow in her footsteps. If there is a way to end all this without slaying these pitiful Demons, I have to continue thinking about it. I will not let the smile which my sister said she loved burn out."

Shinobu then looked down and said with a low tone. "But it's just… a little tiring."

Hiroto looked over to her and saw how lonely her back felt.

"Demons tell nothing but lies to protect themselves. They have no sensibilities, and their bare instinct is to kill people." Shinobu then looked over to Hiroto and said, "Please do your best, Hiroto-Kun, please protect Nezuko-chan to the very end."

Hiroto paused for a moment, before saying. "I may not be the one who can carry out your sister's dream of being a Demon." Shinobu's eyes looked downfallen.

"Tanjiro is more suited for that dream… but…" Hiroto paused, making Shinobu look into his eyes "I can make sure that the smile your sister loved so much never burn out." Hiroto said, smiling at her.

Shinobu's eyes widened in surprise at Hiroto's words. And for the first time, she smiled, not her usual one, but a genuine smile of gratitude.

Hiroto was stunned at her smile.

"I feel much more relieved, knowing what you're willing to do," Shinobu said, before walking to the door to leave.

Hiroto spoke up, "Your sister, speaking from an elder siblings' perspective, would be proud of you following in her footsteps."

Shinobu paused for a second at the door, before muttering a low, "Thank you…" and left the room.

As Shinobu left the room, Hiroto decided that he should get some rest after not having slept for more than a day.

'What will happen from now on? Tanjiro has to rest for a while as he recovers from his wounds. I could use the time here at the butterfly estate to train and learn more about the Demons…' Hiroto's thoughts faded away, as fatigue finally hit him.

[The next day]

As Hiroto woke up, it was early morning, the sun hadn't come up yet. Hiroto felt a weight on top of his body, looking up he saw Nezuko resting her head on his chest, with her sleeping in a kneeling position on the side of Hiroto's bed.

Hiroto shook his head and sat up, trying not to wake her up. Hiroto looked towards the window and saw that, besides the bed sheet covering it, it was boarded up by wooden planks from the inside.

'Shinobu must have gotten someone to board it up for me, I'll have to thank her.' Hiroto thought.

Hiroto then lifted Nezuko off the ground and laid her in his bed. Hiroto looked over her and saw the wound from the previous day having been fully healed.

Although he hated that white-haired person's guts, he had to hold it in and let it go… for now.

Leaving the room, Hiroto had nothing to do and decided to roam around the estate. Hiroto exited the large house and came out into the garden. He looked around and saw that no one was up yet.

Seeing no one around, Hiroto began thinking. 'I should start using Total Concentration Breathing not just in bursts, but all the time. This should allow me to push my limits more and become stronger.'

Hiroto then started the morning trying to keep the Total Concentration Breathing technique going on for as long as possible. He then realized something crucial.

'Is it supposed to be easy? It's as though I'm just breathing normally…' Hiroto thought as he was able to keep the breathing technique going for an hour or so now.

As Hiroto contemplated, the orange glow of the warm sun came over the bamboo wall and descended unto him, highlighting his figure in the garden. The majority of the people in the estate have woken up by now, and have begun their routines, stumbled upon Hiroto standing in the garden.

Hiroto started to do his usual routine of the Dance of the Fire God to practice his breathing technique and to see if he could modify the segments to create new ones.

The girl with the twin tails walked out to the garden and saw Hiroto performing the Dance of the Fire God. As he looked on, she forgot about the passage of time, having been mesmerized by the smooth movements and how serene the scene looks.

Not just her, but it seems that many more people were watching Hiroto's performance of the dance. Kanao also saw Hiroto dancing, and was genuinely curious for once, at what Hiroto was doing, as she watched on stared at his movements, being captivated by it like many others.