Being stuck in a stuffy place like this fucking sucked. Inosuke thought he was an expert on it by now.

The girls here were scrawny, but mean. If he tried to leave his bed, not that he bothered much, the smallest ones would whack him with weird sticks and laugh. Evil! Two bigger ones messed with him too. They'd make him down gross shit to 'soothe your throat' all the time. The biggest one had the gall to leer at him whenever he choked the stuff down like his suffering amused her. Predators, all of them! Whoever called them butterflies were liars! But, though he could feel the stares of surprise every single time from his minions, he didn't have the energy to fight back.

Inosuke hated it here. The lingering pain only reminded him of his weakness, and not being able to run around hurt more. Nothing helped. He could tell that Kentaro and Ponitsu were worried, but their stupid stories only made him feel more strange. Who was that woman? And why couldn't he fight back properly? Out of everyone, he wondered if that damn mountain would haunt him forever.

Since he didn't have freedom, a lot of his time was spent feeling out the biggest girl's territory as much as he could with his skin alone. She didn't maintain a large radius, but size didn't equal strength. Having the ability to provide for so many people was more important. After a few days, he knew where everyone was. The runts often clustered together, rarely ever by themselves. When she wasn't forcing him and Monitsu to heal, the big girl was usually rushing around to do chores. Booooring. The biggest girl barely moved, sticking to one place for hours at a time, just like him. And the other one? Well, he had no idea who she was.

"Oh, her? She's beautiful." Monitsu gushed. "Girls like her look stunning under the light of the sun and the moon! Her complexion and demeanor are ideal too! I bet she has an equally pretty voice!"

"Who cares about all that? I don't." He grumbled. What the hell was an ideal complexion, and why was he meant to care about it?

The cheese stick bowed his head. "Ah, right… I forgot how blind you are to the world of women. My mistake."

"HAH?!" While he dissolved into a coppery coughing fit seconds later, both of his minions looked cheered by his outrage. Gonpanchirou even clapped a little on his behalf.

"Now, now. Don't tease him, Zenitsu." said the redhead. "I don't know her either, but she's very strong! She knocked me out in the woods when I was trying to flee with Nezuko."

Benitsu waved his dumb little arms around, all excited now. "Is she really that strong?! Do you think she'll marry me?"

Monjirou smiled the way a wolf might. "No."

As the blond began to wail like a baby about unfairness and love, Inosuke tuned them both out. He didn't know jack about beauty, and had no interest in learning more, but strength made sense. If he was so weak, he'd find the next best person to challenge and grow from that alone! Anyone who could beat the headbutting master was someone he wanted to face and win against. Watch out, girlie, because I'll be using you as a stepping stone once I'm out of here!

"Wow! You seem energized today!" The biggest girl lifted up his mask and wiped away the new traces of blood. "How wonderful! Did something good happen, Inosuke?"

Unable to speak, he only managed to gurgle.

"That's nice!" Shinobu replied, none the wiser.


Recovery training started a few days later. He had no idea what it meant or what would happen, but he was ready. They couldn't possibly throw anything at him that he couldn't handle!

"I like your enthusiasm, Inosuke! Now I'm all pumped up too!" Chuuitsu needed more time to stop being sick apparently, so it was just him and Mr. Hardhead.

Not one to be undone, Inosuke scoffed. "So what? I'm more pumped up than you are!" He punched the air, finally free to get all the buzzing out of his body and brain. "Let's go! Coming through!"

"Hey, slow down for a second! We don't even know where they are!"

"Sure we do! I can feel everyone because I'm great!" His entire being itched with the need to present himself as a proper opponent to the mystery girl, so finding her came easy to him. The closer they got, the more excited he felt. By the time he burst in, his energy was at its peak.

The other girls looked the same as ever, but he didn't care about them. He cared about the newbie and her large stare. Inosuke, above all, despised stares; they made him tingle and shake in a very bad way, and he wanted no part in that. But her stare was different. Most animals looked at what they felt like killing. She looked at him like she couldn't be bothered to feel in the first place.

"You!" He declared loudly, pushing aside any fears in order to act. "Right there with the ponytail! Fight me!"

"Don't say that to Kanao-chan! She's taking time out of her busy schedule to help get you boys back into fighting condition, so be more considerate!" Aoi? Hm. Well, that one fumed while she said it.

"As if I need any of your damn input! She's the one who needs to fight me! I demand a challenge, and she's the best person for it!"

Ka… Kan… Kanae didn't react to his pointing. She didn't even blink. For a moment, Inosuke wondered if she was actually dead and no one else wanted to say anything on the subject. Tanjirou tugged insistently on his sleeve while he waited. "Come on, don't do this…"

A glint of light caught their eyes then, willing everyone in the room to be silent. At first, he thought she randomly had a really shiny acorn on her, maybe to eat later, but it was just some weird circle thing. What's she doing?

Instead of throwing it into her mouth, she threw it up into the air. And when things went up, they came down. "Hm." His opponent hummed as she looked at the circle. Call it survival instinct, but Inosuke knew this was the calm before the storm. He didn't need to be roundhouse kicked right after to discover that, though it proved him right.

Her face hovered over his from above. "I win." She told him, speaking unlike anyone else he went around with. Was it a pretty voice? Did she have an ideal demeanor? Someone else could answer those questions.

All Inosuke cared about was that he had found his rival at long last.