'A traitor.' 

Kanae theorized someone had betrayed the demon slayers. 

A traitor was among them.

Upon suspecting, everything then makes sense for her.

Why was there a report about people — specifically about girls being abducted in the village when there was none? 

She stayed at that place, for about a month but she hadn't found anything according to the villagers about girls being abducted. Not even anyone was missing.

The demon who had been closely observing Kanae had noticed something changed in her.

Outwardly, she looked to be on guard from his presence. 

However, who was he? He was a demon, who had lived for several years. Molded by the experience of time, he had become especially more observant.

Just from that brief change in her breathing pattern, he concluded that Kanae's mind was preoccupied with something. 

He knew what it was. 

After all, he had planned for it to happen. 

He talked to Kanae earlier with a motive in mind. 

The demon was gunning for some sort of psychological attack. 

That's why he purposely acted too familiar with her. 

It was successful. 

And so he took advantage of this opening.

"Heh ~" He raised his fan and divert Kanae's attention to it.

"..." Kanae, who still hadn't recovered from the shocking discovery, moved her eyes, unconsciously following the demon's fan.

'That symbol looks fa —' 

Kanae couldn't continue what she had thought. Something happened:

The fan burst into blinding light.

After the light receded, Kanae was just standing there, unmoving. 

She had her arms raised, shielding her face. The light from her eyes cannot be seen. It was empty.

…

>> Kanae's POV <<

== Fake World == (A/N: Remember when Tanjiro was trapped in a dream from the movie Mugen Train? I based the current setting on that.)

When I removed my hands from shielding my eyes, I found myself standing on the grassy land.

I was in a place, hundreds of meters away from the village.

I look around me and I saw a dead boar from where I was standing. It had just recently died. Blood was still dripping from its body. 

And in front of me were 3 severed heads of cattle.

"Kroo, kroo." 

I heard a sound and looked for where it came from.

I saw a crow flying, a distance away from me.

"Crap!" 

With haste, I moved and followed suit.

I don't want to be left behind by it. 

I was heading for —

"Huh?" 

I stopped.

"Why was I following it again?"

I couldn't remember the reason why I am following this crow.

"Well, there must be something interesting going on, and I might have forgotten it." 

I don't know why but I was compelled to follow after it.

And so I continued running after the crow.

Then suddenly, I heard a voice speak suggestively in my mind.

{'The report…'} 

It suddenly appeared.

(A/N: '{}' == Starting from here, it indicates the thought speech wasn't done naturally. To spoil you, a 'Thought Suggestion' is going on.)

My head was hazy and I felt that something was blocking my thoughts. 

The voice spoke again.

{'There is a traitor.'}

{'Someone had falsely reported about a demon and it was done with some kind of evil intention.'}

The voice seemed familiar.

It continued,

{'It was a report that made it possible for no one except for me to fit for this mission. I had been selected specifically to be in disguise to get favorably closer to the demon and extract information from it.'}

Then I realized, it was my voice.

It was my thoughts all along.

{'As the only woman, one of the strongest that had gained the title of 'Flower Hashira' and someone that was still active on being a demon slayer, I was elected.'}

{'The report stated that the demon was a pervert who likes young women and to get closer so that I could extract information from him, I was the perfect person for the mission.'}

{'A mission to investigate and find out about the demon lurking in the village and then with my womanly nature, I would automatically attract the demon's attention.'}

Yes, I was given a mission to investigate a village. 

And so I did.

But I found nothing in there.

Instead — 

{'As I stayed in the place, I didn't find a trace of a demon but –}

An image of Shin when I first met him in this world flashed in my mind.

I then recalled the feeling of warmth when I was cuddling with him. 

While running, I hugged my body and inhaled deeply.

"Huh?"

*Sniff* *Sniff*

I sniffed my body hoping to find a trace of his smell.

"There's none…"

Weird, I couldn't smell Shin's scent.

I was sure that his scent would be all over me by now.

Because this morning, as I woke up earlier than Shin, I took my uniform and wiped it all over his body.

Yet, not even a single trace of his scent can be smelled.

And at that moment, I suddenly remembered what happened.

"That's right! I was facing a demon just now." 

"He killed my companions."

"And he did that…"

The last thing I saw was him raising his fan and it generated a bright light. When I came into, I couldn't sense his presence anymore.

The same voice spoke in my head again.

No, my thoughts without my volition just started running on their own.

{"There was a traitor who falsely reported that there was a demon in that village."}

Yes, I am aware that it was me speaking in my thoughts. But I now have an idea of what is currently going on; something is guiding my mind in the wrong thought process.

I know that I have discovered a traitor but this suggestion is leasing me astray from the truth. 

It's confusing me. 

I need to do something about it.

So, I stopped following the crow, stood in place, and gathered my thoughts.

I needed to address this because I feel that if these thought suggestions continued to pour on me, I'm afraid I might eventually be brainwashed — I instinctively felt. 

I don't know how to stop it.

But instead of doing nothing, I started to drown these uncontrollable suggestive thoughts with another of my own.

I'm going to think separately and simultaneously about that.

To start, I recalled my previous thoughts. 

And I could see that there were a lot of holes in that particular thought process. 

(A/N: Refer to the sentences with the '{}' indicator.) 

One particular hole was that:

'It's true that the demon would 'automatically' be attracted to me yet in a different sense that would likely endanger my life.'

'What the fuck is even trying to seduce a demon?'

'Yeah, I told Shinobu in the past that a woman's greatest asset is her attractiveness and this could help in the future.'

'However, I know Shinobu knew otherwise — this wasn't true.'

'The goal of getting information from a demon by buttering up with it is not even remotely possible.'

'Like seriously? A demon doesn't even recognize family. How much more if that someone was an unfamiliar person; having no connection whatsoever with the demon.'

'It also adds up to the danger, since the mission stated that I should expect a strong demon; possibly an upper moon.'

'I may be strong but history speaks for itself. Since the 'mission' expected me to find an upper moon then, shouldn't it be logical to pair me up with more pillars as a countermeasure?'

'Going back to the mission that was given to me, thinking about it in a wider sense — it was overall a risky mission. Since there was a record of pillars being killed in history upon encountering upper moons.'

'Why should I be sent alone?'

'Technically, I wasn't alone because I came with other people.'

'I mean, Why not sent two or more pillars to assist me?'

'It was odd that I didn't suspect this mission at all, not even once…'

And then at that moment —

Another memory flashed in my mind and it was of that time when I had been called to be briefed about the mission.

And remembering this piece of information:

'Gasp'

I was shocked. I gasped internally.

In the memory, I remembered a room with a bunch of unfamiliar talismans sticking on the wall.  And I remembered the symbols written on the talismans were identical to the symbol I saw from the demon's fan.

I connected the dots and what I found was:

'Hypnosis…'

I didn't know what that talisman was. It was new to me but I guessed that it might have something to do with 'thought suggestion'. 

Which is what I am currently experiencing.

I knew of the existence of mysteriously working talismans. After all, I was using a specific talisman to change my hair into blonde.

Then at that moment, 

*Snap* 

Something snapped in me.

That 'something' which was hazy before in my inner mind came emerging from my surface thoughts. 

I also stopped hearing uncontrolled thoughts in my mind. 

It all became clear to me.

'I see…'

The traitor wasn't 'someone' who had issued a false report.

No, that thinking is wrong. In the beginning, there was no 'other someone' involved.

'It didn't even come into my mind about the possibility of 'that' man just making up that false report.'

'His actions, setting, about the mission — all of this was suspicious yet it didn't occur in my mind to question any of it.'

I knew why it was.

After all, the traitor was:

'Oyakata-sama…' 

I had a strong trust in Oyakata — No, Kagaya Obuyashiki. He was the leader of the demon slayer. 

My respect for him reached the top. He was a great man, thinking about the survival of humanity. He was an unselfish person. He devoted his life; to do whatever it needs to reach his goal.

He wanted Kibutsuji Muzan dead so badly. To free humans on earth from the danger he brought.

How could I suspect a guy like him?

…