"So this is Tokito's house," Tanjirou said, carrying his bundle. The moment he stepped inside, he heard a familiar, long-unheard scream.
"Eeeek!"
The sharp sound reached Tanjirou's ears from the direction of the training ground.
"That's Zenitsu's voice… Oh, Inosuke is here too!" Tanjirou covered his ears, then caught Inosuke's scent. It had been a long time since they last met, not since the Pillar Training began!
It was really great to run into them here.
Tanjirou quickened his pace and pushed open the door to the training room. What greeted his eyes was Tokito Muichiro's incredibly fast swings. Tanjirou could barely make out his movements.
The demon slayer corps members he attacked dropped their wooden swords to the ground, clutching their hands in pain.
On a side note...
Lying on the ground was also a rolling Zenitsu, looking utterly dejected, his face covered in tears and snot.
With blurry vision, he spotted Tanjirou at the doorway. Zenitsu scrambled on all fours, quickly rushing to his feet and hugging Tanjirou's leg, his tears smudging onto his pants.
"Waaah! Tanjirou! Save me!"
"I've had enough! This kind of life."
"I thought that after finally leaving Yoizumi-nii's place, I wouldn't have to suffer like this anymore."
"But there's another stoic-faced one here. The pain of being hit is on par with Yoizumi-nii, and his mouth is a thousand times more venomous than Yoizumi-nii's!"
"Waaah!"
"Zenitsu…" Tanjirou helplessly tried to free his leg, but finding he couldn't, he just let Zenitsu cry and fuss.
"Tanjirou!" Tokito Muichiro's face immediately broke into a smile when he saw Tanjirou, a stark contrast to his previous aloof demeanor.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time. I'll come find you after I deal with this wild boar."
With that, he delivered a blow to the waist and abdomen of the person wearing the wild boar mask in front of him.
Just hearing the sound, Tanjirou could imagine how much it hurt.
But after being trained by Yoizumi-nii for so long, Tanjirou accepted it quite easily.
Inosuke thought so too~
Tanjirou smiled, looking at Inosuke, whose excitement could be felt even through his mask.
"Hey, hey, hey! This much force won't make this great me fall!" His bare upper body was already bruised. He had said before that he wanted to train his bones until they wouldn't break.
This great me's bones are very hard now! That kind of force won't work.
Having been hit by Yosuke so many times, Inosuke felt that this guy named Tokito Muichiro was simply child's play.
"Is that so?" Muichiro replied indifferently, and his speed visibly increased. The sound of the wooden sword striking flesh became more frequent.
"Cough… That's… that's nothing!" Inosuke endured the pain, crossing his wooden swords and swinging them at Muichiro in front of him, but he couldn't even touch a strand of his hair.
Although Inosuke quickly realized Muichiro was above his head, he was still too slow.
"Slam!"
The wooden sword struck directly on the wild boar mask, and Inosuke staggered back a few steps.
"Th-this… this… Hmph."
Inosuke fell.
Inosuke couldn't get up again.
He tried so hard!
Inosuke!
You wild boar!
You're really tough enough.
Tanjirou and Zenitsu, who witnessed the entire process, silently lamented in their hearts.
"Come on, Tanjirou," Muichiro said with a smile.
"Yes!"
"Hoo~" The cool well water washed away some of the training fatigue. Tanjirou sighed; Tokito was really amazing.
If he didn't focus all his attention on him, he would easily be defeated.
Even though he was younger than him.
"Here."
A hand suddenly reached out, offering a towel. Tanjirou looked at the owner of the hand and smiled in thanks.
"Thank you, Tokito."
"Tanjirou is very strong. I believe it won't be long before he can leave here for the next Pillar Training."
"I still have a long way to go."
"By the way, last night I wanted to find Yoizumi-nii to spar with, but I couldn't find him," Muichiro said, putting down the dipper and asking Tanjirou, "Does Yoizumi-nii have his own training?"
Tanjirou thought for a moment before speaking.
"Yoizumi-nii? The letter didn't mention him."
Yoizumi-nii usually stays at the Butterfly Mansion at night, and he wouldn't take too long on missions… "Maybe he just had something to do last night."
Muichiro nodded.
I'll go again tonight.
"Tanjirou, go eat."
"Okay!"
..."Time to eat, time to eat~" Finally, he could rest. Zenitsu now felt that even the air was sweet. He skipped to the dining hall, only to bump into Chuntarou head-on.
He frantically reached out both hands to catch Chuntarou, then poked its head grumpily.
"What are you doing?!"
"Chirp, chirp!" Zenitsu then noticed Chuntarou holding a rolled-up letter in its claws.
"Is that for me?"
He found a tree, sat down on the ground, and with a puzzled expression, opened the letter. After reading its contents, his yellowish-brown eyes widened, and his mouth slightly opened.
"Wha… what…"
"Inosuke, where's Zenitsu?" Tanjirou looked around but didn't see Zenitsu.
Inosuke was eating a rice ball, his cheeks puffed out, and even grains of rice stuck to his face. "Don't know."
"The food will get cold… I'll go look for him." The air was filled with the aroma of food and the scent of other demon slayer corps members, but Tanjirou still caught Zenitsu's scent.
Finding Zenitsu sitting under a tree in a daze, Tanjirou walked over to him and handed him the rice ball he was holding.
"Zenitsu, I brought your food."
"Mmm… thanks," Zenitsu quickly wiped his face with the back of his hand, took the rice ball, and thanked him softly.
Zenitsu had been crying?
Tanjirou thought about it but didn't disturb him, instead sitting down on the other side of the tree, with his back to Zenitsu.
Did something happen?
I'll keep Zenitsu company.
Gnawing on the rice ball with tears streaming down his face, Zenitsu's voice was a bit muffled.
"Tanjirou, the rice ball is so salty."
"Is it? Maybe I accidentally put too much salt."
Zenitsu silently bit into the rice ball.
My senior disciple is dead… Although he didn't like his senior disciple very much.
His senior disciple was always very, very harsh with him.
Even though he hadn't done anything to make his senior disciple dislike him… Grandpa wanted him to learn from his senior disciple.
Although he didn't like his senior disciple's temper, he respected him.
He also wanted to become stronger and hoped that one day he could fight alongside his senior disciple.
He was slowly catching up to his senior disciple's pace… Zenitsu couldn't understand why he would feel so sad when his senior disciple, who was usually so mean to him, died… So this is what it feels like when someone close to you dies… This suffocating feeling in his heart… What about Grandpa?
His excellent disciple died, he must be feeling terrible too, right?
"Zenitsu," Tanjirou's voice suddenly entered his ears.
"Huh?"
"A while ago, Yoizumi-nii sent a letter saying Nezuko had overcome the sun."
"Let's finish the Pillar Training quickly and go back to see her together."
Nezuko… overcame the sun… Zenitsu swallowed the last bite of his rice ball.
Let's train hard.
"Okay."
...Far away in Mount Momo, a small old man leaning on a cane, his hand holding a letter trembled slightly.
After a long silence, his old voice and a sigh echoed in the vast open space.
"Kaigaku…"
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