The early morning sunlight had just crossed the walls of the Butterfly Mansion, and the training ground in the backyard was already filled with screams that would break the heart of anyone who heard them.
"I can't do it! I'm really going to die! I'll die!"
Zenitsu lay sprawled on the muddy ground without any dignity, his hands tightly gripping a wooden post, his face covered in a mess of tears and snot.
His training uniform had long been soaked in sweat, and his legs were shaking.
"This guy isn't human at all! He's a demon wearing human skin! Who makes someone do a horse stance while balancing a large vat full of water on their head? If a single drop spills, you have to run twenty laps around the yard—this is just murder!" Zenitsu wailed at Tanjiro, who was not far away.
Tanjiro was currently balancing a similarly filled large porcelain vat on his head, maintaining an extremely standard horse stance. His face was flushed red, and even the scar on his forehead looked like it was about to bleed, yet he still gritted his teeth and persisted.
"Zenitsu... don't talk. If you talk, your breath will escape. Yamada-san said this is the best way to train core strength and Total Concentration: Constant."
"Boar Rush! This great me doesn't need this kind of soft training!"
On the side, Inosuke didn't believe in such things. He snatched the water vat off his head and, holding his two jagged nichirin blades, charged toward the corridor like a crazed wild boar.
"Take a hit of my Beast Breathing!"
On the corridor.
Yamada was leisurely leaning against a wooden pillar, sitting on the floor with a steaming bowl of miso soup in his hand and a piece of tamagoyaki held in his chopsticks.
Facing the aggressively lunging Inosuke, he didn't even lift an eyelid.
Half a second before Inosuke's blade could strike him, Yamada's left hand held the soup bowl perfectly still, while his right hand, holding the chopsticks, casually reached out and flicked.
Clack!
Two ordinary bamboo chopsticks struck the side of Inosuke's blade at its point of leverage.
A clever force transmitted through the blade. Inosuke felt his hands go numb, and he instantly lost his balance. Tripping over his own feet, he went rolling down the wooden floor of the corridor with a "thud," finally crashing into the large tree in the yard.
"Eighth time."
Yamada slowly stuffed the tamagoyaki into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed before looking at Inosuke hanging from the tree with a look as if he were an idiot.
"You can't even touch the hand I use for chopsticks. You pig, you should go back to the mountains and eat acorns for a few more years."
"Dammit! This great me will try again!" Inosuke roared unwillingly.
"Alright, stop shouting."
A female voice came from the gate of the inner courtyard.
Shinobu walked over carrying a black lacquered wooden tray. Today, she wasn't wearing her uniform. Instead, she had changed into a simple and elegant light purple home kimono.
Her black hair was pinned back with a simple wooden hairpin, with a few strands falling beside her neck, adding a touch of gentle domesticity.
Seeing Shinobu appear, Zenitsu felt as if he had seen a savior. He was about to rush over and hug her legs to complain about Yamada's "atrocity."
However, just as he straightened up, he felt a gaze from the corridor that seemed capable of freezing a person into an ice sculpture.
Zenitsu turned his head stiffly and met Yamada's deep, dark eyes.
Although Yamada said nothing, Zenitsu's radar-like intuition screamed a warning: If you go over there, you'll die! You'll definitely be chopped into pieces!
"Tan... Tanjiro! I think we haven't finished our running quota for today! Let's go!"
Zenitsu's survival instinct instantly exploded. He grabbed Tanjiro's collar, scooped up the still-struggling Inosuke from the tree, and fled the backyard like a whirlwind.
"Those two run faster than rabbits." Shinobu shook her head helplessly as she watched the three flee in panic.
She walked to the edge of the corridor and set down the tray in her hand. On the tray was a bowl of medicinal soup with a bizarre, pitch-black color that emitted a strong, bitter scent.
Shinobu crossed her arms and looked down at Yamada. "Drink this."
Yamada glanced at the bowl of black liquid that looked like poison and raised an eyebrow. "What is this? Are you finally unable to resist murdering your husband?"
"No good words come out of your mouth."
Shinobu gave him a sharp look, but her cheeks unconsciously flushed with a hint of pink.
"This is a tonic I brewed using Coptis, Snake Gall, and several types of strengthening herbs unique to the deep mountains. You made such a huge commotion in your room last night, the whole Butterfly Mansion could feel a strange energy fluctuation. This morning, your face looked a bit paler than usual. Aoi insisted you were weakened and told me to brew some tonic for you."
Hearing this, Yamada almost choked on his own saliva.
Last night, he had spent 50,000 points to upgrade to Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. The massive Yin Chakra washing through his body had indeed caused quite a stir. After the cleansing of his marrow and vessels, his skin had indeed become a bit fairer and more translucent than before.
But in the eyes of these girls, it actually turned into being "weakened"?
"Whether I'm weakened or not, don't you know best?" Yamada set down his miso soup and looked at Shinobu with a half-smile.
"Stop being a rogue with me!"
Shinobu's purple eyes widened like a bristling kitten. "Hurry up and drink! This medicine brewed for three hours. If you dare to pour it out, I'll put Croton Seeds in your dinner today."
Yamada sighed, knowing this tsundere butterfly was worried about him, even if her way of expressing it was a bit unique.
He picked up the bowl of black medicinal soup, tilted his head back, and without even a flinch of his brow, gulped it all down in a few mouthfuls.
"It really tastes terrible." Yamada put the empty bowl back on the tray and curled his lip.