The Butler, Inner Awareness (その執事、内証, Sono Shitsuji, Naishō) is Chapter 202 of the Kuroshitsuji manga.
Summary[]
Finnian, Mabel, Theodore, Artie, and Oliver panic when someone enters the stable, as they believe one of the staff members has discovered them. However, the one who found them turns out to be Snake. Finnian asks him what he is doing here, and Snake tells him that because he was behaving strangely during the day, he ordered his snakes to surveil him. Snake then returns the question, and Finnian informs him that fledged children are not fostered out; in reality, they are brought back to F.O.L. Orphanage, specifically to the stables.
Artie asks Theodore whether they can trust Snake, and Theodore replies they have no choice but to involve him now. When Finnian tells Snake that Ginny disappeared in the stable, Snake offers to help look for her; after all, "they" are experts at searching. Artie wonders what he means by that, and Snake introduces the elder students to his snakes which have all come with him. The children, especially Oliver, are terrified, but Snake assures them that the snakes will not harm them.
Keats sniffs out the lock of Ginny's hair in Theodore's pocket, and Theodore hands it to Snake. Snake explains that, although their sight might be poor, snakes have excellent noses and can also sense subtle temperature changes. He lets his snakes smell Ginny's hair, and the snakes set out to find her. Artie then asks if Snake is a snake charmer. Snake clarifies that he and his snakes are family; his snakes are also footmen at the manor where he and Finnian work—a circumstance which finds Artie very odd.
One of the snakes, Jonathan, finds something, and while the elder students go look, Snake inquires why Finnian did not immediately tell him about the children. Finnian admits that he held back that information because of his closeness to Doll; after all, the orphanage staff seems to be evil, and Doll might be their accomplice. Internally, Finnian also adds that he does not know how Snake would react if he knew that he killed his friends.