"Hmm. Hmm 🎶" Kanae heard a playful humming voice of a man. 

Upon hearing it, she got alerted and quickly grip the sword. 

"!!!" When she finally looked over to where the sound came from, her blood boiled. 

Her guts were churning at the horror she saw.

She saw a young man with a notably pale complexion, possessing unusually pointed nails stained with a pale blue color. 

His hair was silver, and he wore it parted to his left. There was a sun symbol painted on the top of his head with a color night-black and blood-red.

He was holding the severed heads of people she was familiar with.

It was freshly cut, blood was dripping from the base of their necks. 

She knew of these men. They were Ricardo, Sanjoe and Rock.

Ricardo was wearing his trademark red napkin tied on his head. 

Sanjoe had curly brows. 

And Rock was a balled man who usually had a stern face.

But Kanae couldn't see the 'usual' look on his face. No, it was even far from that.

Not just Rock, but all these men had horrified expressions painted on their faces.

The look of horror in their eyes was evident. There were reminiscent of tears that had gone dry. Some snot coming out from each of their noses.

Kanae could guess that these men had experienced bloody torture and died when they were at the height of being frightened to the core.

She gritted her teeth, wounding herself. Blood dripped from her lips. 

But the blood wasn't visible because of the black mask covering half of her face.

Blinded by her anger, she was about to lunge at him but —

"You have come, finally. I was tired of waiting you know? Hmm." The man spoke in a gentle tone. He showed Kanae an innocent smile.

"..." Kanae halted. She felt odd. He spoke with a hint of familiarity towards her.

And now that she had stopped and calmed down a little bit, Kanae could sense that the man was emitting a strong and intimidating pressure contrary to the way he spoke earlier, in a friendly tone. 

Observing the man's features, Kanae noticed something in his eyes.

This gave away the man's identity.

Which made Kanae glad that she held herself back in time before she went and tried slashing her sword directly at his neck.

It would've been reckless of her.

She was facing a demon.

However, the one in front of Kanae was not just an everyday demon but rather someone special. One that was close to the highest in their ranks.

Upon closer look, there was a mark scribed: 'upper' and 'second' on the left and right of his eyeballs, respectively.

His eyes were colored rainbow. 

To describe it, would be mysterious and divine. However, there was no ounce of holiness in his figure, from the way Kanae looked at the man.

At that moment,

"!!!" Kanae's instincts were blaring.

Her danger sense was reacting exaggeratedly. 

Despite the man looking so harmless — the way he appeared so friendly, Kanae knew otherwise that he brings calamity in his wake.

She had encountered an 'Upper Moon' and number two from the top at that.

Kanae wanted to attack the demon and avenge her fallen comrade. 

And that would've been foolish of an act.

History had already set an example, and facing an upper moon without a plan is pure idiocy.

"..." That's why Kanae stayed her ground.

Her eyes were focused on the demon's body, watching every detail of his movement. From that, she observed that he didn't harbor any hostility toward her. 

Instead, he started talking.

"Oh, this?" He raised Rock's severed head. His nails were plunging his skull. While his left hand was brutally holding onto the other heads by pulling on their hair.

The demon had seen Kanae react earlier, and he loved the expression she made at that time. He felt ecstatic.

So he added some salt to her wound.

"Too bad, you weren't present when I played with these pigs. Hmm, Hmm." He shrugged his shoulder and shook his head left and right. 

He then threw the heads away as if it didn't matter to him now. He flicked his hands to remove the blood soaking from them.

"..." Kanae gritted her teeth even more and this time, it produced some obvious stains on her mask. 

She was at the tip of her patience upon seeing the demon's rough treatment of her dead friends.

"Anyways, your name is Kanae Kocho, right?" He took a fan from his waist, raised it to cover his mouth, and asked with a confident tone. 

His eyes were glued into Kanae. He waited for her reaction.

"!!!" Kanae flinched at his question.

'What?!' 

Personal information about demon slayers, especially the pillars is well-guarded for several purposes. 

Here's the thing, it wasn't safe to be known as a part of a demon slayer due to some cases that happened just recently about a slayer being hunted by a demon. 

Investigations find out that some humans were snuffing them out to the demons.

Yes, they work secretly, but there are still some cases of humans finding out about their identity.

To address the problem, the demon slayers had implemented a strong rule of not showing their uniforms to the public.

They even re-designed the uniform into something that covers half of the face.

Demon slayers even went as far as using aliases / faked names to disguise themselves when they mingle in society.

All of these were countermeasures to protect every demon slayer.

And Kanae was confident that she didn't have a time when she had been found out by the public of her identity as a demon slayer. 

She was extra careful.

Which was why she was shocked.

'How did he know that?!' 

The demon smirked when he saw Kanae flinch. 

Seconds later, his expression went back to his usual poker-smiling face. 

He continued,

"The Flower Pillar. At 16 years old, you achieved that title."

"You joined the demon slayer at 10. Thus, making it only as short as 6 years to reach that height."

"Truly remarkable! Hmm, Hmm ~" He nodded his head twice, praising Kanae. 

"..." Kanae stayed silent. 

As she listened to the demon talk, she was cracking up her mind to search for an answer. 

And a moment later, Kanae finally concluded.

'Shit!' She cursed internally.

It was the most unexpected reason there is.

'This is bad…' She exclaimed. Kanae was troubled.

Anyways, whatever the answer was, it doesn't change the fact that this wasn't a good situation for Kanae. 

The demon, for some reason, had information about her. 

After all, in a fight, having a piece of information about your foe would gain you an upper hand. 

Information is vital. It could significantly affect which side would win. And the demon has that.

He may not have stated further, about knowing the way she fought, but Kanae expected the worse.

Now it would lead to a question:

How did he know?

For that, Kanae generated two reasons for it to happen.

First, these men had confessed some information about Kanae when he tortured them.

It's valid. Because if you look at their horrified expression as they died, one could think that they might have submitted through pain.

However, it is not reasonable — at least for Kanae.

Them betraying one of their own, especially Kanae, which was a daughter figure, not just to Bob but all of them would mean it was unlikely to happen. 

Even if they were subjected to the most painful torture, she believed that they won't sing out. She trusted them.

Kanae believed that they were genuine honest men and thought that if there was a situation that could potentially endanger one of their own, they could afford to lie even at the cost of their life.

She was basing it on the good relationship they had shared these past years.

So this only meant one thing and it was —

"..." Kanae opened her eyes widely in realization.

'Among us…' 

' — There is a traitor!'

…

(A/N: Lol. Sus 🤣)