"My sister's ex-boyfriend?"
Hearing Su Yan's claim, Shinobu Kocho was so shocked that the fake smile she always maintained completely vanished.
She subconsciously scrutinized Su Yan carefully.
Black hair, black eyes, and exceptionally handsome.
At first glance, he seemed ordinary, but upon closer inspection, he gave off an unfathomable aura.
'So this is the type of man my sister liked?'
"I see!"
Tanjiro, standing to the side, said in sudden realization, "No wonder these two lords from the Demon Slayer Corps don't know Mr. Su Yan, but Mr. Su Yan knows them."
"So Mr. Su Yan's ex-girlfriend was actually a member of the Demon Slayer Corps? That explains it."
"Say, Miss Shinobu Kocho, for the sake of your sister Kanae."
Su Yan did not refute him. With a smile on his face, he reached out his hand to Shinobu Kocho and issued his third request for a truce, "Can we call a truce?"
"Heh."
Shinobu sneered.
She quickly realized that she had lived with her sister since childhood, depending on each other for survival.
If her sister really had a boyfriend, there was absolutely no way she wouldn't know about it.
Moreover, she didn't believe her sister would hide such an important matter from her.
Looking at it this way, the guy in front of her was definitely lying.
Shinobu slapped Su Yan's hand away and retorted, "Do you think I'd believe that?"
"Why not?" Su Yan asked softly.
"If what you're saying is true, then fine, let me ask you: why have I never seen you before?"
Shinobu countered, "And where were you the day my sister was killed by a demon?"
He had originally just said it casually to tease the young girl in front of him.
But seeing her take it so seriously, Su Yan couldn't help but feel a surge of amusement.
After a moment of thought, he began to spin a tale that was nine parts fiction and one part truth, "My name is Su Yan. As you can probably guess from my name, I am not from this island nation, but from the great country to the west."
"About two and a half years ago, I came to this country to study abroad and met a girl who was as beautiful as a flower."
"That is, your sister, Kanae Kocho!"
"Even though we only spent a single day together, Kanae's figure was deeply engraved in my heart."
"We talked a lot that day—about demons, the Demon Slayer Corps, and her two younger sisters."
"A reckless and hot-tempered girl, Little Shinobu."
"And another withdrawn girl who didn't know how to communicate with others, Kanao."
"I once told her that I hoped to take her and her sisters away from this country to live the lives of ordinary people."
"But Kanae refused. She said she had made a promise with her sister to stay and kill as many demons as possible, so that the pain they had suffered wouldn't befall anyone else."
"Not long after that day, I returned to my home country."
"It wasn't until I recently came back to this country that I vaguely heard the news of Kanae's passing."
"As for why Kanae never told you about me, I don't know."
"..."
After hearing Su Yan's words, Shinobu couldn't help but suspect that he might be telling the truth.
Her sister had been killed by an Upper Rank demon two years ago.
And her current personality was merely a facade she had adopted on the day her sister died, mimicking her sister's demeanor.
If it weren't someone familiar with her past, they would absolutely never know that she used to be an impulsive person.
As for the promise with her sister, that was a secret strictly between the two of them.
She had never told anyone else about it.
Recalling that her sister had said similar things before she died—urging her to leave the Demon Slayer Corps and live the life of a normal girl...
'Could it be?'
'Is this man standing before me really my brother-in-law?'
"Although you're a bit different from Kanae's description, you must be the younger sister she called Little Shinobu, right?"
Su Yan said in a gentle tone, "If there's a chance, could you take me to the Butterfly Mansion someday?"
"I want to see the place where Kanae once lived."
Su Yan naturally had an ulterior motive for saying this.
In the world of Demon Slayer, the concept of souls actually existed.
It was just that they rarely appeared.
Aside from the time when the Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka's fellow disciples appeared at the former Water Hashira's place to guide Tanjiro in mastering the secrets of Water Breathing...
...other departed souls almost exclusively appeared in the form of flashing memories before the eyes of their closest loved ones.
For example, whenever the protagonist Tanjiro faced mortal danger, a deceased relative would always appear in his flashing memories to wake him up just in time.
Or when Upper Rank Three, Akaza, saw the soul of his lover Koyuki after his head was cut off, recalling his past and decisively choosing to end his own life.
And the soul of her sister, Kanae Kocho, that Shinobu saw right before her own death.
If the essence of Breathing Styles was some alternative method of Nen cultivation...
...then these soul entities were very likely a special conceptual existence similar to Post-Mortem Nen in Hunter x Hunter.
In that case, by relying on the power of contracts...
...there might just be a chance to use the power of Post-Mortem Nen to resurrect, much like the Toilet God of War Hisoka, who had died once before in Hunter x Hunter.
Unfortunately, Su Yan had already used Gyo to look around.
He didn't spot the figure of her sister, Kanae Kocho, anywhere near Shinobu.
Based on this and the known intelligence, Su Yan made a guess.
In the world of Demon Slayer, the souls of certain people who died with lingering attachments might remain forever in the place that held their deepest memories while alive.
For instance, Sabito and Makomo had always lingered near the residence of the former Water Hashira, Sakonji Urokodaki—the very place used to train disciples in Water Breathing.
If Tanjiro hadn't later killed the Hand Demon that murdered them during the Demon Slayer Corps' Final Selection, thus erasing their lingering attachments...
...perhaps they would have only appeared as flashing memories to help Giyu Tomioka when he was on the verge of death?
If his guess was correct, then for Kanae Kocho, the place with the deepest impression would naturally be the Butterfly Mansion, where she had always lived with her sister Shinobu.
Since Su Yan had no intention of joining the Demon Slayer Corps to deal with them, if he wanted to visit the former Water Hashira Urokodaki's residence and the Butterfly Mansion...
...then using the deceased Flower Hashira Kanae as an entry point was undoubtedly a good choice.
After all, dead men tell no tales, right?
By the time she could actually speak, his goals would likely already be achieved.
Of course, this naturally wasn't the only way to achieve his goals.
The reason he chose to do this was mostly out of a petty, mischievous urge to tease Shinobu, the sadistic and scheming girl from the anime.
He was very much looking forward to seeing what kind of expression she would make when this lie was finally exposed.
"..."
Shinobu fell silent.
She looked up at the somewhat forlorn Su Yan, her heart already beginning to believe the identity he had fabricated.
"Sister Kanae and Brother Su Yan are so pitiful. Star-crossed lovers who couldn't end up together."
After hearing Su Yan's story, Nezuko hugged his arm, unable to stop the tears from falling from her eyes.
Su Yan smiled and reached out to pat Nezuko's head. Then, he turned to Shinobu and said, "If possible, let me take care of you from now on, okay? Little Shinobu?"
Hearing the words 'Little Shinobu', Shinobu instantly snapped back to reality.
She glanced at Nezuko, who was hugging Su Yan's arm and shedding tears, and then at Busujima Saeko, who was standing silently to the side with an incredible figure and stunning looks.
Finally, she shifted her gaze back to the gentle-looking Su Yan.
And ultimately came to a single conclusion.
'This guy is absolutely a scumbag!'
'I will absolutely never acknowledge a brother-in-law like this!!'
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]