Chapter 76: Meeting the Parents
A short while later, Mitsuri led Akira into her family home. There, he was introduced to her mother, Kanroji Hina, and her two younger sisters, Kanroji Chinatsu and Kanroji Ai. Mitsuri's father, Kanroji Kaito, had apparently stepped out earlier and had yet to return.
The moment they learned that he was the "Brother Kanzaki" Mitsuri had mentioned from time to time, the entire family greeted him with overwhelming enthusiasm. Akira even thought he caught a strange glint in Mrs. Kanroji's eyes—a look that felt unnervingly familiar. It was the same appraising, slightly mischievous expression Shinobu Kocho would get whenever she caught him and Kanae sharing an intimate moment.
Shaking the thought away, Akira explained the purpose of his visit. Mitsuri then guided him to a relatively empty room where they could begin his instruction.
The early stages of mastering one's own strength, he explained, revolved around two core principles: slowing down and turning one's focus inward.
"The goal is to use slow, deliberate force to achieve fine control over your body," Akira began, his voice calm and steady. "As you train, you must concentrate your attention on the specific muscles or joints being used. Feel the subtle changes as they contract, extend, and bear weight."
The exercises he taught Mitsuri were not complex.
The first was a variation of a plank. "Hold a standard plank," he instructed. "Now, try to shift your center of gravity ever so slightly. Feel how the muscles in your legs, shoulders, waist, and abdomen make micro-adjustments to keep you stable."
Next came the wall sit. "Press your back flat against the wall and lower yourself as if sitting in a chair. Focus on the balanced exertion between the front and back of your thighs. Maintain the angles of your hips and knees."
In addition to these static holds, he introduced dynamic movements.
"Ultra-slow push-ups and squats," he announced. "A normal rep takes one or two seconds. I want you to extend that to ten seconds. By moving slowly enough, you negate the influence of inertia and force yourself to feel your own strength through the entire range of motion."
Finally, he had her stand on one leg with her eyes closed. "This eliminates the aid of your vision, forcing you to rely solely on your body's proprioception to maintain balance. It's excellent for training the muscles around your ankles, knees, and hips, and it will build the foundational sense of balance you'll need for more advanced training."
For the time being, however, that advanced training remained a purely verbal lesson. Akira didn't demonstrate the movements himself. Firstly, the next stage required certain props they didn't have on hand. Secondly, he found the movements themselves somewhat… embarrassing to perform.
The advanced training was, in essence, gymnastics. It was a sport that demanded the absolute peak of bodily flexibility and control.
"To control your strength, you must first control your body," Akira explained, describing several gymnastic routines in detail. "High-level gymnastics requires an incredible degree of command over every muscle. If you apply a fraction too much or too little force in any given movement, the entire sequence fails."
He mentioned the term "gymnastics" to Mitsuri, and from her reaction, it seemed the sport already existed in this world, even if he didn't personally follow it.
After the simple teaching session was complete, he had Mitsuri perform the exercises herself, correcting minor flaws in her form. Soon, it was time for him to leave. He departed under Mitsuri's reluctant, pleading gaze.
"You didn't forget to ask for my address this time," he noted with a small smile.
Mitsuri puffed her cheeks, but her eyes were hopeful. Akira, however, didn't give her the location of the Butterfly Mansion. Instead, he told her of a public post station nearby.
"You aren't a member of the Demon Slayer Corps yet," he explained gently. "I can't reveal the location of the mansion or use the internal Kasugai Crow delivery network. The mail will be much slower this way, but it gives us a way to communicate."
"Brother Kanzaki, when will we meet again?" she asked, her voice small.
"I can't say for sure, but it won't be another half a year. Besides," he added, his tone softening, "we can write letters now, can't we?"
"Mm… It's a promise, then," she said, her expression firming with determination. "At most half a year, and you'll come see me."
"Okay," he agreed.
...
After leaving Mitsuri's home, Akira made his way back to the Butterfly Mansion, resuming his daily routine of training and patrols. But things were different now. Ever since Makomo had been promoted to Water Hashira, they would set out on their night patrols together and return together.
Their assigned territories were adjacent. They would part ways after heading out, and once Akira finished sweeping his own area, he would cross into Makomo's to find her. While their patrol routes were never fixed, he always knew the general direction she was heading. With his crow, Ink Shadow, circling in the sky, finding her in the vast darkness of the night was a simple matter.
Sometimes, on their way back, the two of them would even run into Kanae, whose own mission areas often overlapped with theirs.
The days bled into one another, time passing in a steady rhythm.
In the blink of an eye, a year had passed, and Akira's birthday arrived once more. It was time for him to pay his respects to his grandfather, Kanzaki Keizan.
This time, however, he hadn't planned on going alone.
The night before his departure, Akira and Makomo were walking back together as usual after finishing their patrol.
"Actually, you…" Akira had just begun to speak when Makomo cut him off.
"Alright, alright," she said, her tone light but firm. "You've said it so many times. It doesn't matter to me or Kanae who goes first. Besides, we can't always trouble Senior Himejima and Senior Rengoku with our private matters, can we?"
Akira had originally intended to take both Kanae and Makomo with him to visit his grandfather's grave. It felt right, a way of letting the old man meet his future granddaughters-in-law.
Kanae, however, believed that a matter as significant as meeting family should have an order of precedence. She had insisted that Makomo go first. Makomo, while not agreeing with Kanae's reasoning, also rejected Akira's suggestion of them all going together.
As a Hashira, she had a territory to protect. On the day Akira was away, someone needed to cover his patrol route as well. It was their personal affair, and they couldn't constantly impose on Gyoumei and Shinjuro for favors.
According to Makomo, Kanae's strength was growing so rapidly that she would almost certainly become a Hashira by this time next year. Then, she could stay behind to keep watch while Akira took Makomo to pay their respects again. Eventually, after a private chat between the two women, Kanae had been persuaded.
Only Akira still clung to the idea of taking them both.
They were walking hand-in-hand along the path to the Butterfly Mansion when Akira suddenly stopped.
"Makomo."
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry."
Makomo chuckled softly. She leaned her entire body against his side and gently poked him in the chest.
"You," she murmured, "since you've chosen to hold more than one girl in your heart, you need to let go of some of that conscience. Otherwise, you'll just make everyone uncomfortable."
She tilted her head back, her gaze locking with his. Her voice was soft, yet unshakably firm. "Leave the matters between us sisters to us to solve, okay? As long as we haven't fallen out, there's no need for you to intervene."
Her eyes softened, a hint of fond exasperation in them. "Trying to treat everyone equally… For someone who is usually so mature, why do you have such naive thoughts?"
Akira stared into her clear, knowing eyes, a long silence stretching between them before he slowly, finally, nodded.
"Thank you."
"Ara, ara," she chirped, her bright smile returning as she tugged on his hand. "Let's hurry. Kanae doesn't have a mission tonight. She's probably waiting for us to get back."
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]