Several days had passed since the Kocho sisters became members of the Akatsuki Trading Company. But despite the grand name of 'member,' their life for the time being was closer to a grace period for adaptation.
There was no proper training or education yet. Just getting used to life in this mansion. That was the first task Akira had given.
The older sister, Kanae, blended into this place with astonishing speed.
Whether due to her innate kindness and eyes that saw through others' essence, scenes of her drinking tea with Nobbu or helping Tamamo organize ledgers felt as natural as if she had lived here originally.
But the younger sister, Shinobu, was different.
"..."
She was always on high alert. If she happened to pass Shuten Douji in the hallway, she would flinch and step back, and when she felt Kiyohime's snake-like gaze, she would break into a cold sweat.
Though she had declared she would stay here to avenge her parents, the deeply ingrained fear and disgust toward oni could not be erased by will alone.
What tormented her most was the fact that Akira, their savior and future teacher, was also the same race as those things.
Then one evening.
Shinobu, wandering the mansion, accidentally caught a faint scent drifting from the dining area.
Though Tamamo and Kiyohime prepared the highest quality meals for the human sisters, she had never once seen the master, Akira, eating.
'What does Akira-san... eat to live?'
Curiosity, and an impulse to confirm. Holding her breath, Shinobu peered inside through the slightly open sliding door.
There, Akira sat alone. No splendid side dishes, no steaming rice. Just a single plate of red raw meat, blood oozing out, served in a red lacquer bowl.
Akira picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and put it in his mouth. The sound of chewing. The sound of swallowing down his throat.
"...Ah."
A small sigh leaked from Shinobu's mouth. At that sound, Akira's chopsticks stopped, and he slowly turned his head to look toward the door. The moment she met his red-glowing eyes, Shinobu froze.
"...Come in, Shinobu."
She couldn't run away. Shinobu forced her trembling legs to move and entered the dining room.
Seen up close, the meat on the plate was even more distinct. Muscles with a grain too fine for an animal's, and a familiar shape.
"What... is this?"
She asked even though she knew. No, she asked hoping it wasn't true.
Akira was silent for a moment. He could have lied. Said it was venison, or horse meat. But he decided not to lie.
Because these children had chosen to face the truth.
"Human flesh."
"...!"
Shinobu's face turned as white as a blank sheet of paper. Watching her cover her mouth and step back, Akira continued calmly.
"And these are animal meat. It's a bit much to only eat human flesh, so I eat this for taste."
"Y-you really... eat people. Like those monsters that killed our parents... you too..."
"Yes. Because I'm an oni."
Akira put down his chopsticks and stared straight at Shinobu.
"But I don't kill just anyone. The owner of this meat... was a scumbag trying to sell his own daughter to a brothel to pay off gambling debts. A piece of trash who kicked and dragged his daughter away even as she clung to him crying."
"..."
"I saved that daughter and placed her in an orphanage under our trading company. And that father... became my daily sustenance. That's my way of eating."
It sounded like an excuse. But Akira's expression was too dry and firm.
"This is what I am, Shinobu. For survival, to build power, I crave the blood and flesh of evil people. To you, I must seem a disgusting monster."
He rose from his seat and approached Shinobu. Shinobu flinched, but he simply passed by her without putting a hand on her shoulder and stood by the doorway.
"Education hasn't started yet. It's not too late even now. If you absolutely cannot be with me, you can leave with Kanae. The promise to send you to your relatives is still valid. I'll give you until next week. Think carefully."
As soon as Akira left the room, Shinobu exhaled the breath she'd been holding and rushed outside.
"Ugh... Uwek!"
Shinobu, who had slumped down by a flower bed in a corner of the yard, gagged until stomach acid rose. Her mind was a mess.
Even if it was an evil person who sold his daughter, the primal fear and disgust given by the act of eating human flesh itself were too overwhelming for a young girl to handle.
'I have to run away. This is hell. I have to take my sister and leave...'
But where to go? Relatives' house? What if an oni appears there? A mix of helplessness and fear made tears well up.
It was Kanae who brought Shinobu inside after she had been trembling outside for a while.
"Shinobu, you sweated too much. Let's take a bath and calm down."
Kanae didn't ask anything. Just holding her sister's hand with a warm smile, she headed toward the large bath inside the mansion.
Opening the bath door, hot steam and the fragrant scent of cypress wood rushed out. But there was already a guest inside the bath.
"Oh? Little girls. Coming to wash together?"
It was Hokusai (Oei), revealing her voluptuous nude form unlike when wearing a kimono.
"Eek!"
Shinobu reflexively hid behind Kanae's back. She too was one of the 'heteromorphic' beings Akira had summoned.
"Don't be so scared, Shinobu. Hokusai-san won't harm us."
Kanae soothed Shinobu and entered the bath. Shinobu timidly entered the water without letting go of her sister's hand. Though the warm water enveloped her body, her tension didn't ease.
"Tch, the little one's got her spines all raised. Did we try to eat you or something?"
Oei splashed water while grumbling.
"...You do eat people. Akira-san, and you all too."
In a voice barely above a whisper, Shinobu spat out words with bite.
"Shinobu!"
Kanae called out as if scolding, but Oei反而 chuckled.
"Not a wrong statement. Our Master is a cannibalistic demon, that's true. But we Servants don't eat humans. We don't need food, just receiving energy from Master is enough. Well~ we might eat for preference, but we don't have to."
"Isn't that still the same? You're accomplices helping a murderer."
Venom clouded Shinobu's eyes. To her, whose wound from losing her parents hadn't healed, anyone defending oni was an enemy.
Oei paused, flicked water into the air with a brush, then looked at Shinobu with a serious expression.
"Kid. Let me tell you one thing. Do you know whose doing it is that you came here without a single hair harmed, eat delicious food, and sleep under warm blankets?"
"..."
"Master gave all of us an absolute command. 'Treat the Kocho sisters like family, absolutely do not harm them, protect them'. It's the first time he's given us an order like this. Especially someone like Shuten who treats humans as toys—Master forcibly suppressed her nature."
Oei tapped her own head with a finger.
"Master is an oni, but he's not the beast you think he is. He doesn't eat because he wants to. Our lord suffers too. Having a human heart while having to eat humans to survive—he's a man who tortures himself alone every night."
"But... killing people is a bad thing."
"Humans don't do that?"
At Oei's retort, Shinobu's words stuck in her throat.
"Look at the outside world now. With wars and whatnot, humans kill each other all the time. Killing with guns and swords, making people starve to death. In extreme situations, humans even eat each other. That's survival."
Oei stretched and leaned her back against the wall.
"Master's the same. He eats to survive. But he set a standard. He only eats those who deserve to die. That's the last shred of humanity our lord clings to. If you treat him the same as those rabid dog-like oni that killed your parents, wouldn't Master be too pitiful?"
Oei's words were cold but logical. She rose from her seat and shook off the water.
"It'll be hard to accept since you're still young, but open your eyes a bit more. See what kind of man Akira is. At least in my eyes, he's a much more splendid and cleaner man than most humans."
After Oei left the bath, silence flowed through the bathroom.
"...Did you know, sister?"
Shinobu asked. Kanae nodded while stroking Shinobu's head.
"Yes. I told you earlier. Akira-san is sad. He... is someone who wants to be more human than anyone."
Shinobu gazed blankly at the water's surface. Akira's anguish, the restraint he possessed. Her head could understand, but her heart still rejected it.
That night. At bedtime, the sisters were walking through the hallway guided by Tamamo.
"Um, Tamamo sister. Where is Akira-san's room?"
Shinobu asked timidly. She wanted to apologize, feeling she had said something harsh earlier.
"Master's room? That largest room right over there."
Where Tamamo pointed was a huge sliding door at the end of the hallway. But a boisterous sound was coming from inside.
"Huh? Is someone inside?"
"Yes, everyone's there. Kiyohime-san, Shuten-san, Nobbu-san... all of us sleep there."
"...What?"
Shinobu and Kanae's eyes simultaneously went wide.
"Ev-everyone? With Akira-san... together? In one room?"
"Yes! Because we're all the master's wives! Of course, the formal ceremony hasn't been held yet, but it's a de facto polygamous relationship, you could say? Every night deciding who sleeps next to the master first is quite a fierce battle too. Mikon☆"
Tamamo said with a nonchalant smile. Shinobu stood with her mouth agape, unable to close it.
More than being an oni who ate people, the fact that he kept seven women and slept in one room came as a greater shock to the adolescent girl.
"Th-that... shameless! Beast! Lecher! I knew oni couldn't be trusted!"
Shinobu's face turned beet red as she stomped around.
"Sister! Did you hear that? Can we trust a man like that? He's utterly debauched!"
But Kanae, surprisingly, rested her chin on her hand with a composed expression.
"My, Shinobu. In the old days, it was natural for nobles or lords to have multiple wives. Akira-san is exceptionally capable... maybe it's a natural thing."
"Why are you like that too, sister! That's not normal!"
"Hoho, is our Shinobu already jealous?"
"What?! What are you talking about! Absolutely, absolutely not!"
Shinobu huffed and ran into her room. Kanae watched her retreating back with a gentle smile.
Her sister, who until just moments ago had been depressed and terrified, had regained vitality while cursing Akira as a lecher. For that alone, Kanae felt gratitude toward Akira.
'Please, let this child be able to smile again here.'
The night deepened at the Akatsuki Trading Company. In this strange mansion where the smell of blood, fragrant scents, and boisterous clamor coexisted, the wounded butterflies were adapting, very slowly, to a new world.