This manga is really good at its characters, I'll say that much
I'm glad the part about Kabane still being afraid of what he might become isn't being dropped and is still a real, manifest threat to himself and compels his character forward
Interesting to note that every single tweet discussing this chapter (that talked about Nobimaru's mention) attributed 二人組 to 雌の狐. like there, some examples: https://fusetter.com/tw/wUjmVvSy#all 飯生さま似の少女二人組 https://twitter.com/sanhachi0_0/status/1312244274272952321 雌の狐二人組
there's more of them.
So i guess I'll have to wait till November to see, if it's one character or two of them.
(Personally, I initially interpreted the phrase in the same way as in the translation, but some of these tweets left me '...huh...?') @ckt p5 while 利口 does indeed mean 'smart', お利口さん is especially used to say things like 'what a good/well-behaved kid you are!' 'what clever boy!' etc. both for children and pets (more onto the 'child' side here)
It's so funny to see this trio handle the "trickster sensei says to hit him once to pass" problem in such a sensible way. They also figure out what's going on with Kabane emotionally in like half a chapter and handle it in the most effective way: showing him up front how strong they are. It's not just "Trust your ~true heart~ and you won't hurt your friends!" it's "Yeah you might lose control but trust us to put you back in your place". It's so refreshing to have smart and emotionally developed main characters?! I tell everyone I know how good this manga is.
Also I love that Inari has dark red hair in the anime preview, it looks so good.