While Takeru and the others were enjoying the food, Kanao, while playing with a butterfly, unknowingly wandered over.
Then, she noticed Takeru and the others enjoying snacks and juice. Looking at the Rainbow Juice, her small mouth slightly chewed.
"Kanao, come over here." Looking at Kanao, Takeru beckoned to her.
Hearing Takeru's call, Kanao froze in place.
Influenced by her difficult childhood environment, she was not good at self-assertion or independent thinking. Without instructions from a superior, she couldn't make decisions on her own.
Although she wanted to taste the delicious juice again, years of trauma made it difficult for her to overcome that hurdle. So, she thought of flipping a coin to decide.
Takeru, seeing Kanao's actions, knew she was about to flip the coin. Watching the coin fly high, Takeru thought for a moment, then teleported in front of her, catching the coin before it fell.
Seeing Takeru suddenly catch her coin, Kanao looked at him blankly, at a loss.
"Why don't you decide for yourself, Kanao? What does Kanao herself want to do?" Looking at the stunned Kanao, Takeru asked her seriously.
"It doesn't matter. Because everything doesn't matter, that's why I can't decide on my own." After a moment of silence, hearing Takeru's question, Kanao spoke softly.
"No. It's impossible for everything in the world not to matter. This kind of thinking might lead to lifelong regret for you. Of course, sometimes following instructions is also very important." Hearing Kanao's words, Takeru said seriously.
"How about this: let's decide by flipping the coin." Then, Takeru took out the intercepted coin. The coin had the characters for 'heads' and 'tails' on it.
"Decide what?" Seeing Takeru's sudden action, Kanao was caught off guard.
"Whether Kanao will listen to her own heart afterwards and follow her own decisions. How about this: if it's tails, then Kanao will live true to herself by listening to her heart." Looking at Kanao, Takeru used a voice of enchantment, which essentially reinforced the power of his words, making them more trustworthy.
"Okay, let's do it." As he spoke, without giving Kanao time to think, Takeru flicked the coin high into the air. As it fell, he quickly covered it.
Because Takeru had intentionally turned his back, Kanao didn't see whether it was heads or tails. Her mind was now somewhat confused.
She didn't know why she was listening to Takeru. It was just Takeru talking to himself. Yet now, she unconsciously felt a bit nervous.
Takeru noticed Kanao's change. As long as she was nervous, it meant she had taken his words to heart.
"I'm going to reveal it, Kanao." After warning Kanao, Takeru slowly removed his right hand covering the coin. The coin with the 'tails' character was now visible on the back of Takeru's left hand.
"It's tails. So, according to our agreement, from now on, Kanao will follow her own heart." Seeing it was tails, as expected, Takeru smiled, took her hand, and placed the coin back in her palm, but didn't let go immediately.
Hearing Takeru's words, Kanao was at a loss. A question arose in her heart: "Why did it come up tails?"
"Of course, it was by chance. But if it had been heads, I would have kept flipping until it was tails." Hearing this, Takeru said, half-truthfully.
Hearing Takeru's words, Kanao was utterly shocked.
"Alright, Kanao, come enjoy the food together." As he spoke, Takeru led Kanao to the tea table and sat her down.
"Kanao-sama!" Seeing Kanao's arrival, Kiyo and the three greeted her respectfully.
"Hello, Kanao-san." Nezuko also smiled gently and greeted Kanao.
Hearing their greetings, Kanao initially prepared to just smile and brush them off.
But remembering Takeru's words, which were firmly etched in her heart like a mark, after a moment's silence, she spoke again, "Hello."
"Kanao-sama responded to us directly!" Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho were all surprised by Kanao's change.
In all their years here, this was the first time Kanao had actively responded to them without any instruction or coin flip.
As for Nezuko, she didn't know Kanao's background, so she didn't find it too strange. After all, she herself had directly responded to Takeru earlier.
"Alright, let's enjoy the food together." Seeing the three's surprise, Takeru poured a cup of Rainbow Juice for Kanao.
After all, he had noticed Kanao chewing earlier, and her gaze had been completely focused on the juice.
"Let's toast to our meeting." As he spoke, Takeru was the first to raise his cup of juice. The others, slightly confused, tried to imitate Takeru and raised their cups.
Then, Takeru lightly clinked his cup against everyone else's, producing a clear, pleasant sound.
"This is a toast. Alright, you can drink now." Seeing everyone's curious expressions, Takeru explained with a smile.
Hearing this, everyone nodded thoughtfully, then lowered their cups and began drinking the juice...
After a leisurely tasting session, a large group of people soon walked directly towards the Butterfly Mansion.
Sensing their approach, Takeru smiled slightly.
Before long, led by Kagaya, with his two daughters Hinaki and Kuina beside him, and the ten Hashira following neatly behind.
"Greetings, Lords!" Seeing the arrival of Kagaya and the others, Kiyo and the other two quickly bowed respectfully.
Kanao also knelt on one knee upon seeing Kagaya. Only Nezuko looked at a loss.
"It seems you have already made your decision." Gently patting Nezuko's small hand to reassure her, Takeru, sitting in the center of the tea pavilion, showed a confident smile.
"Yes, after our discussion, we are willing to submit to you, Takeru-sama." Hearing Takeru's words, Kagaya was the first to kneel on one knee before him. His two daughters and the ten Hashira behind him also knelt respectfully on one knee.
"Also, I would like to witness your power, Takeru-sama. Although I've seen those images, I want to experience your power firsthand." At this moment, Sanemi, the Wind Hashira behind Kagaya, spoke with a request.
"Test my power? Interesting. It's been a long time since someone said that. Okay, I'll allow it. But there's one condition: all ten of you Hashira can come at me together. It will give me a good measure of your current strength." Hearing Sanemi's words, Takeru showed a playful smile.
"All of us together?" Hearing this, Tengen wondered if Takeru was being a bit too arrogant. After all, the ten of them represented the pinnacle of combat power in this world.
"Takeru, if everyone fights together, this place will be destroyed." Hearing Takeru's words, Kanae spoke nervously.
She didn't want the Butterfly Mansion destroyed by the battle's aftermath, especially since there were many injured patients and non-combatant medical staff here.
"If you're worried about that, we can go outside." As he spoke, Takeru walked out the back door. Looking outside, there was only a path, and beyond that, forest.
Looking at the forest, Takeru directly took out his Holy Sword and swung it casually. A powerful cutting wave violently destroyed the forest in front of him. In an instant, a huge fan-shaped clearing appeared before everyone.
Seeing the terrifying destruction caused by Takeru's casual swing, the Hashira who followed him out were all deeply shaken in their hearts.
'Eh, are we supposed to fight Takeru-sama? Isn't that right? People will die, right?' Looking at the destruction Takeru's casual strike caused, the Love Hashira, Kanroji Mitsuri, thought worriedly.
Sanemi, Kyojuro, Tengen, and the others became even more excited. The prospect of facing such a powerful opponent thrilled them.
After clearing a section of the forest, Takeru quickly released his magic.
His vast mana caused the ground below to rapidly grow. Then, under Takeru's telekinetic control, the rising stone quickly formed a large arena forty meters in diameter.
At the same time, Takeru set up a protective barrier around the arena's edge to prevent their attacks from affecting the outside.