Mateusz Nowak beca a mber of 🥇 Shibai - The Divine Reader!
Kaiseth beca a mber of 🥉 Kage - Shadow Master!
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"Master Yoriichi?"
Vaguely hearing Michikatsu's voice conversing in the alley behind her, Ai—who had been waiting for quite so ti—finally couldn't contain her curiosity and stood up to walk over.
"Master Yoriichi, are you in there..."
"Ta-da! It's Tsugikuni Michikatsu's younger sister, Tsugikuni Mitsuba~"
Just as Ai reached the alley entrance and was about to peek inside, a figure suddenly jumped out, nearly startling her.
"Eek! L-little sister! Hello! I'm Ai, I'm Master Yoriichi's... friend..."
This figure wore a kimono and had a beautiful appearance—a lovely young lady who looked extrely similar to Master Yoriichi, with the sa cheerful and outgoing personality.
Anyone could tell at a glance that these two were definitely blood siblings.
"Oh my~ So you're that Miss Ai whom elder brother has been ntioning to so often lately?"
Very quickly getting into character, Mitsuba placed her hands behind her back, leaned her upper body slightly forward, and smiled as she examined the sowhat shy Ai before her, as if truly eting her for the first ti.
"Elder brother has been chatting with about you a lot lately. Elder brother... hmm? What's wrong, elder brother? Why are you still standing there? Co over quickly~"
Under Mitsuba's urging, the real Michikatsu finally erged from the darkness of the alley.
"Master Yoriichi..."
Facing Ai's proactive greeting, Michikatsu—who hadn't engaged in normal human interaction for many years—clearly didn't quite know how to respond for a mont.
"Um, Master Yoriichi?"
And his brief silence also made Ai before him sense sothing slightly off.
[Strange, Master Yoriichi's presence feels different from before...]
"What's wrong, elder brother? Could it be that you're shy in front of your beloved younger sister?
It's fine, I don't mind at all. Hurry up and greet Miss Ai again too?"
Beside them, seeing the sibling pair about to reveal their cover, Mitsuba looked at the silent Michikatsu with a smile and urged once more.
*[Elder brother, if you hesitate any longer, you'll blow our cover, you know?]*
*[Could you really bear to see your poor younger sister being harshly criticized and scolded by Lord Muzan then?]*
Under Ai's puzzled gaze and Mitsuba's repeated urging, Michikatsu let out a deep sigh internally.
Yes, it was rely accompanying Mitsuba in performing a play.
Compared to what Mitsuba had undertaken for him in the past, this was nothing at all.
Repeatedly convincing himself thus in his heart, his gaze returning to Ai before him, Michikatsu—ard with the resolve of "facing death with equanimity"—suddenly cracked open a smile on his face, identical to Mitsuba's.
Then, he spoke that line Mitsuba had designed for him.
"Y-yo! Ai! H-how is it? I told you my sister was c-cute, didn't I! Haha, hahahaha..."
Crack!
Snap!
Shatter!!
The mont these words left his mouth, for so reason, Michikatsu suddenly felt as if sothing deep within his heart had completely shattered...
Although it might sound strange for a man to say this, at this instant, Michikatsu truly seed to feel that he had lost sothing called "innocence"...
[Ah... I suddenly really want to commit seppuku...]
Unlike Michikatsu's despair at this mont, Mitsuba—looking at her elder brother's appearance—was instantly blooming with joy deep inside.
Yes! Perfect!
Just like this! This was exactly what she wanted to see!
Being able to see her eternally stern-faced elder brother making such an expression—even if she had to die right this mont—she felt her life would have been worth it!
Only Ai failed to notice the strangeness between the siblings. Looking at Michikatsu who had returned to his familiar deanor, she lowered her head sowhat embarrassedly and replied:
"Mm, Little Sister Mitsuba is indeed very cute. She really resembles you, Master Yoriichi..."
"Ah, um... thank you."
"Alright! Getting to the main topic!"
Seizing the opportunity to insert herself into the conversation, Mitsuba pushed these two back to sit on the previous steps, smiling as she said:
"Didn't elder brother just say that Miss Ai's family is having difficulties, so you wanted to ask her about it on your behalf?
Quick, quick, quick! Late-night heart-to-heart ti officially begins!"
"..."
Thus, relying on her easily approachable little sister image and that tiny bit of Blood Demon Art inducent, Mitsuba very easily pried open Ai's mouth.
Her current family situation was indeed just as Mitsuba had seen from her causal threads, even sowhat worse.
Because her husband had developed a gambling addiction, both their original parents had directly cut off relations with the couple after multiple failed attempts at persuasion.
And she, who had been forced by her husband to co to the courtesan house to perform for money, not only had to endure her husband's dostic violence but also withstand the contemptuous gossip of neighbors.
Although she had defended herself countless tis, insisting that she truly only sold her art, not her body.
As a married woman who still frequented such pleasure quarters daily, how many people would believe such words?
Rather, compared to believing that she was truly "unsoiled by the mud," human nature always preferred to believe that she had long since willingly fallen into depravity.
Abandonnt by parents, destruction of family, neighbors' gossip...
Undoubtedly, the Ai before her had already nearly reached so kind of limit, both physically and ntally.
Thinking about it this way, her choice to kill her husband several months from now and subsequently develop a preference for killing seed almost inevitable...
"What a terrible man..."
Quietly finishing listening to Ai's account, Mitsuba—crouching on the steps with her chin resting in her hands—said:
"As a man with fully functional limbs, not only failing to care for his family internally, but also relying on his own wife to support him externally—such a person is utterly despicable... What do you think, elder brother?"
"Mm."
Sitting properly beside her, Michikatsu also nodded gently.
"Whether from the perspective of a man or a husband, this person is unqualified."
"Yes, yes~ How could there be such a terrible husband in this world~ If this continues, he'll definitely abandon his wife and children next!
He might even directly sell Ai to a gambling den~ What do you think, elder brother?"
Vaguely realizing that her younger sister seed to be deliberately using this opportunity to point sothing at him, Michikatsu was slightly startled.
His mind suddenly recalled his forr wife and children.
Back then, he had abandoned his wife and children, following Yoriichi alone to join the Demon Slayer Corps.
Looking at it this way, he truly wasn't a qualified husband, a qualified father either...
Seeing Michikatsu fall into contemplation, Mitsuba opportunely spoke again, finally saying that sentence she had long been plotting.
"Elder brother, since you have nothing to do during this ti anyway, why don't you just stay and properly help our Ai?"
Yes!
This was Mitsuba's plan!
She was going to use this young woman with a broken family before her to forcibly drag her elder brother out from that moldy cave.
Then, under the guise of helping, bind her elder brother—whose mind was filled with nothing but swords—beside this young woman.
Using this thod, push her elder brother to properly walk around and see more of this human world.
And based on this, advance step by step, ultimately achieving the goal of completely correcting her elder brother's personality, thoroughly transforming him back into a normal person!
This was—the "Tsugikuni Michikatsu Personality Correction Plan"!
Of course, whether this plan would ultimately succeed or not, Mitsuba herself wasn't certain.
In any case, there was no harm in trying. She had plenty of ti, after all.
And right now, there happened to be this opportunity before her...
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(This ti, everyone gets a different kind of Michikatsu ow~)
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