I, the spiritual mentor of beautiful girls from all over the world

Her eyes instantly welled up with tears, and huge drops of water rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks, splashing into the bathtub and creating ripples.

She was insecure since childhood because of her unusual hair color, enormous appetite, and terrifying strength, and was ruthlessly humiliated by her blind date.

She joined the Demon Slayer Corps only to find a husband who could accept her and was stronger than her.

She never imagined that her "superhuman strength," which caused her so much trouble, would be called...a talent.

An unprecedented sense of belonging instantly shattered all her defenses.

"Ugh... Shinobu-chan..."

She could no longer utter a complete sentence, only sobbing, like a child who had found someone to lean on.

Butterfly looked at her without saying anything more.

She simply reached out and gently patted Ganlu Temple on the back.

While comforting her friend, her own beliefs also became stronger than ever before.

Yes, talent.

The teacher returned the gift of "anger" to her.

And she will use this talent to complete the assignments given by her teacher.

Then, she returned to his side.

must!.

Chapter 55: Locked In: The Upper Moon of Yoshiwara's Entertainment District

Inside the bathhouse, a warm mist swirled, carrying the fresh scent of cypress.

The laughter, tinged with sobs, echoed through the mist, as if piercing through a long period of gloom, carrying the clarity and fragility of the sky after rain.

Kanroji Mitsuri hastily wiped away the tears and sweat from her face with the back of her hand. Her cherry-pink eyes, washed clean by the misty water vapor, shone with an astonishing brightness, like two gems immersed in a clear spring.

"Shinobu-chan... thank you..." Her voice was thick with emotion, filled with an unprecedented ease and joy.

"I... I feel like that stone that's been stuck in my heart for so long has suddenly been cleared! So... so this strength of mine isn't a monster, it's a 'talent'..."

As she spoke, she was as excited as a little animal that had found its home, instinctively wanting to lean her head in and rub her cheek against the friend who had cleared away the fog for her.

However, the next moment.

Shinobu extended a slender, fair finger and gently and precisely touched her smooth forehead, preventing her from getting any closer.

The gesture carried a hint of indescribable detachment, but the warmth transmitted through the damp skin from the fingertips was comforting, like a small cluster of charcoal fire in winter.

“It’s because you’re strong enough, Mitsuri.” Shinobu Kocho withdrew her hand, her tone returning to its usual calm, but the seemingly innate coldness seemed to melt away slightly in the mist.

She felt gratified as she looked at the renewed light in Miri's eyes.

"I was just relaying what the teacher said."

"What truly helps you find the answer is your own heart that never wants to give up and wants to protect others."

Ganlu Temple paused for a moment, then nodded heavily, tears welling up again, this time tears of joy.

Her smile grew even brighter, like a blooming sunflower.

"Ok!"

She no longer insisted on that affectionate rubbing, but simply sat back down in the warm water, contentedly cupping her cheeks, which were burning from excitement and heat, in her hands.

"Teacher...your teacher must be a very, very gentle and amazing person, right?" She tilted her head, her eyes full of pure curiosity and longing. "Someone who can say such a thing must have the whole world in their heart, right?"

"Hmm." Shinobu Kocho's reply was just one word.

But the weight contained in that voice was more profound than any lengthy discourse.

She didn't say anything more, but simply turned her gaze back to the bright moon outside the window. The moonlight, like water, shone on her profile, outlining her exquisite features.

Ganlu Temple looked at her and suddenly understood.

Shinobu-chan didn't become "distant"; she simply... embarked on a higher, and more solitary path.

At the end of that road may lie scenery unimaginable to ordinary people, but it will also inevitably be accompanied by a burden that ordinary people cannot bear.

What I can do is not to use immature dependence to pull her back to where she was.

Instead, he runs with all his might on his own path, striving to become stronger, until one day he can truly stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

And... I must see for myself what kind of earth-shattering figure this "teacher" she mentioned really is!

Having figured this out, a new, fiery fighting spirit, as intense as magma, surged within Kanroji Mitsuri.

"Okay! I'm going to do my best too!" She suddenly stood up from the water, splashing water everywhere, clenched her fists, and declared energetically, her voice echoing throughout the bathhouse.

"I can no longer feel ashamed or afraid of my power! I want to use this 'talent' to protect more people!"

"To become a great swordsman like Shinobu-chan... no, to fight alongside Shinobu-chan!"

Seeing her rekindled passion, Shinobu Kocho finally managed a clear and genuine smile.

That smile was like a fleeting ephemera blooming quietly in the dark night, brief yet enough to illuminate the entire night sky.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said.

The heat of the bathhouse seemed to have become even warmer because of this renewed friendship.

……

Two more years have passed.

For Shinobu Kocho, these two years were nothing more than a cycle of 730 sunrises and sunsets, an accumulation of countless experiments, analyses, and deductions.

She once thought that as long as she honed the [Breath of Karmic Poison] to its extreme, and as long as she accumulated the wisteria flower toxin in her body to a terrifying concentration that could melt steel, she could find the "door" to return to the "Eternal Garden".

But she was wrong.

Brute force is useless, because it won't even find the enemy.

This was the only cold conclusion she reached after 730 days and nights of countless failed tracking attempts and intelligence blackouts.

For most members of the Demon Slayer Corps, these two years were a rare respite, a period of darkness before dawn.

The number of evil spirits seems to have decreased, and the mission's death rate is declining at a visible rate.

The team members even had some free time to talk about their hopes for the future.

But for everyone at the Butterfly Mansion, those two years were hell.

A precise, efficient, and utterly inhumane hell.

Now, whenever Kanzaki Aoi sees anything shaped like a butterfly wing, her heart races and her palms sweat.

The Butterfly House, once filled with the aroma of medicine, the scent of sunshine, and the laughter of young girls, is gone.

The laboratory filled with poison bottles and anatomical diagrams is also gone.

Instead, there is a huge, cold, precision machine with "efficiency" as its sole deity.

This place is the de facto brain and nerve center of the Demon Slayer Corps.

……

"Kanzaki.(bddd)"

A cold female voice came from the deepest part of the Butterfly Mansion, from a room with heavy curtains that never saw sunlight.

Kanzaki Aoi jolted, immediately straightened her back, and almost reflexively replied, "Yes! Shinobu-sama!"

“Casualty reports from East-7 area are cross-referenced with eyewitness reports from South-3 area.”

"Within half an hour, I need to see a data model based on the 'predator cycle' algorithm, as well as simulations of at least three of the most likely hiding places."

"Yes!"

Kanzaki Aoi dared not delay in the slightest and immediately directed several nurses, who were also pale-faced and had dark circles under their eyes, to move two large stacks of thick files to the huge analysis board.

Inside the room, a dozen pretty young girls were frantically processing intelligence sent from all over the country at a pace comparable to a sweatshop.

Classification, archiving, information screening, record building, cross-validation...

A huge map of Japan hangs on the wall, with a crisscrossing network of different colored threads.

Red represents confirmed ghost strongholds, black represents the locations where team members sacrificed themselves, blue represents suspected areas, and the gold threads represent the movement routes of the "pillars".

Each node is marked with a special thumbtack, with a small label next to it recording key information such as time, casualties, and the characteristics of the ghost.

This information management system, which Shinobu-sama named "Butterfly Network," was something she "learned" from outside three years ago.

No one knows where she learned it from; all that is known is that since this system was implemented, the Demon Slayer Corps' mission success rate has increased by 30%, and the survival rate of its members has increased by 50%.

This is a terrifying achievement worthy of being recorded in history.

After completing their missions, regardless of whether they went smoothly or not, countless team members would bow deeply in the direction of the Butterfly Mansion to express their gratitude to the "Karma Pillar" they had never met, thanking her for the information that allowed them to return alive.

However, the person who created this achievement, "Yezhu," has hardly been on the front line in the past two years.

She went behind the scenes, but her prestige reached an unprecedented level, even making the other "pillars" uneasy.

Kanzaki Aoi secretly glanced at the curtain of that room.

The woman behind the curtain is the true source of the Butterfly Mansion's fear.

She will point out the logical error in the third decimal place in your report in the calmest tone.

She will gaze at you silently with her unfathomable purple eyes until you voluntarily confess every verification step you skipped to be lazy.

She regarded the word "teacher" as an absolute belief.

The devilish rules taught by the "teachers," such as "organizational structure," "information management," and "KPI assessment," have become a Damocles' sword hanging over everyone's head.

Just as Kanzaki Aoi was about to be overwhelmed by the files, a figure appeared silently behind her.

"Kanao..." Kanzaki Aoi was startled and almost cried out.

Kanao Tsukihana, the girl who used to make decisions by flipping a coin, has changed.

She stopped flipping coins; the copper coin her sister had left her was treasured in her bosom and was no longer used for decision-making.

Because Shinobu told her, "My teacher said that handing over decision-making power to probability is irresponsible to yourself and your companions' lives."

……

late at night.

The girls of the Butterfly Mansion had long since fallen asleep from extreme exhaustion, except for the "command room" at the deepest part, where the candlelight still flickered.

Shinobu Kocho sat alone, kneeling before the enormous map.

Before her lay a pile of unsolved case files from all over the country, files that had been piling up for decades.

She searched through a vast sea of ​​information for even the slightest possibility.

—Searching for any clues about the Upper Moon demon.

Her fingertips finally stopped at a place that was incomparably prosperous and alluring, heavily marked with vermilion.

——"Flower Street".

Yoshiwara Flower Street.

The most luxurious den of iniquity in all of Japan, a vortex of desire and extravagance.

The records show that over the past few decades, top courtesans have mysteriously disappeared on the eve of their "redemption."

The modus operandi was clean and efficient, leaving no trace, and it was highly periodic, like a precise, timed apex predator.

In Shinobu's eyes, there was no anger, only cold calculation.

She concluded.

There's a very high probability that a top-down worm is lurking behind this.

But lacking direct evidence, she could not convince her lord and the "pillars" who fought on instinct and passion to mobilize their forces for a high-stakes gamble.

My teacher once said that any action taken without intelligence support is tantamount to suicide.

She could only classify this place as a "highly suspected" target and conduct long-term, peripheral surveillance.

Waiting for a "variable" that can break the deadlock to appear.

at this time.