Chapter 107: Kanao is Truly Wonderful
Akira was not a particularly eloquent speaker, nor was he the type of person naturally suited for weaving grand fairy tales for children. However, simply recounting the things he had seen with his own eyes in a calm, straightforward manner was more than enough to completely captivate these siblings who had spent their entire lives nestled deep within the mountains.
With just a few simple descriptions of the outside world, Tanjiro leaned forward, his burgundy eyes lighting up with unconcealed curiosity, wonder, and a deep, quiet hint of yearning.
The younger children were even more enthralled. They sat in a tight circle around Akira, their faces resting in their hands, eyes practically sparkling like stars as they hung onto his every word.
"Big Brother Akira, is everything you said really true?" Takeo asked, his voice breathless. "In the big cities, even the streets at night are as bright as day? And there are giant metal carts that run without horses or oxen pulling them, and huge iron trains that can swallow hundreds of people at once and move them across the country?"
"It is all true," Akira replied, his tone gentle and steady. "If the opportunity arises in the future, I can take all of you to see it for yourselves."
Hearing Akira make such a promise, the younger children instinctively threw their hands in the air and cheered in unison. But Tanjiro quickly snapped out of his momentary daydream. The bright smile on his face faltered just a fraction as the heavy weight of reality settled back onto his shoulders.
Those places must be incredibly far from this mountain, Tanjiro thought, his calloused fingers lightly gripping the fabric of his trousers.
As the eldest son of the Kamado household, he watched his father's health deteriorate with each passing day. He knew he had to take on more responsibility, to chop more wood, to burn more charcoal, and to look after his mother and siblings. Naturally, a boy in his position could not simply abandon his duties to travel to far-off places just to see dreamlike city lights.
As for relying on his own two hands to lead his entire family out of these snowy mountains and settle them in a bustling metropolis, Tanjiro simply did not believe he possessed that kind of power. Currently, the family's survival still heavily depended on his frail father's guidance and efforts. Even when Tanjiro grew older and stronger, he might not be able to change their financial situation drastically. At the very most, he hoped he could scrape together enough money to give his younger siblings a chance to go out and broaden their horizons.
He kept these heavy thoughts locked tightly behind his lips. Seeing his younger brothers and sisters practically vibrating with excitement, he simply could not bring himself to say something so discouraging and ruin their joy.
Akira, with his sharp perception, immediately noticed the subtle dip in Tanjiro's mood. Glancing around the modest, weathered home of the Kamado family, he perfectly understood the root of the boy's silent struggle.
There was an old saying that children of the poor were forced to grow up early. But if not driven by absolute necessity, what child would willingly choose to shoulder the crushing burden of an entire family's survival at an age when their peers were still running freely through the woods?
After a moment of quiet reflection, Akira glanced up and noticed the sun was nearing its peak in the sky. Noon was approaching. He smoothly rose to his feet, ignoring the confused and reluctant groans of the children who wanted to hear more stories, and stepped out of the house.
A short while later, just as Kie was stepping out to begin preparing a modest lunch, Akira strolled back into the courtyard pulling a wooden handcart behind him.
The cart was heavily laden with fresh cuts of meat, large bundles of eggs, crisp vegetables, and various other daily necessities. It was a massive haul, easily enough to keep the entire Kamado family well-fed for many days.
It was not that Akira lacked the funds or the desire to give them even more, but in this early autumn weather, any extra fresh food would spoil quickly unless it was heavily salted and cured., if he abruptly dumped a mountain of expensive supplies on their doorstep, the humble Kamado family would likely refuse to accept it out of sheer pride and guilt.
Aside from the older Tanjiro and Nezuko, the younger children stared at the overflowing cart with wide, unblinking eyes. Their mouths hung open in awe. If Tanjiro and Nezuko had not quickly reached out to hold them back by their collars, the three little ones probably would have rushed straight to the side of the cart to inspect the food.
"Mr. Kanzaki, this is...?"
Kie stood frozen on the porch, staring at the mountain of supplies. She felt a wave of overwhelming hesitation, entirely convinced that her family had done nothing to deserve such a lavish gift. Her mind raced, desperately trying to formulate a polite way to decline the offering.
"Just consider it the price of admission," Akira said, his voice calm and casual. "Payment for allowing me to watch the Dance of the Fire God."
Hearing this, Kie slowly turned her gaze toward her husband, Tanjuro, who had stepped out onto the porch. The Kagura dance was their family's sacred, ancestral ritual. Even if Kie personally felt that a single performance of a dance was nowhere near the value of an entire cartload of expensive meat and eggs, it was not her place to say so directly.
"Performing the Kagura dance a single time is not worth this much," Tanjuro said, his voice raspy but firm. He shook his head slowly, clearly sharing his wife's sentiment.
"The concept of what is worth it and what is not is entirely subjective," Akira replied, shaking his head slightly in return as he faced the couple's refusal. "In my eyes, it is more than worth it. The Kagura dance passed down for centuries within the Kamado family is no simple ritual performance. Mr. Tanjuro, given your physical state, you must have realized this yourself."
To be able to perceive the Transparent World without a single day of formal guidance, and to instinctively correct the movements of Sun Breathing—a technique that had accumulated countless errors over centuries of mere visual inheritance—Tanjuro's innate talent for martial arts was nothing short of monstrous.
During his years of correcting the flawed movements of the Kagura dance to ease the strain on his fragile lungs, Tanjuro had to have realized that the Dance of the Fire God was actually adapted from a supreme, lethal martial art.
"To me, the true value of witnessing the Dance of the Fire God far exceeds a simple cart of supplies," Akira stated firmly.
Seeing that Tanjuro and Kie were still exchanging hesitant glances, Akira let out a soft sigh and gestured to the heavy wooden handles. "Besides, I have already dragged all of this up the mountain. You cannot possibly expect me to push it all the way back down to the town, can you?"
"This... Well, alright then. Thank you, Mr. Kanzaki. We are deeply in your debt." Tanjuro finally relented, bowing his head slightly and gesturing for Akira to bring the cart fully into the courtyard.
With the arrival of the lavish supplies, the Kamado family's attitude toward Akira shifted from polite hospitality to overwhelming warmth. The little ones completely dropped any remaining shyness, happily trailing after him and calling him Big Brother Akira at every opportunity.
Kie and Tanjiro immediately set to work in the kitchen, preparing lunch with the fresh ingredients, while Nezuko took charge of keeping her younger siblings out of the way and entertaining their guest.
During their casual conversation on the porch, Akira learned more about Tanjuro's daily life. Because the man's body was incredibly frail, the family strictly forbade him from participating in any strenuous household chores. His only real physical task was sitting by the kiln and watching over the charcoal burning process.
He was assigned this task because, using his supreme perception, Tanjuro could flawlessly grasp the exact, perfect microsecond the wood was fully carbonized. This absolute precision ensured that the Kamado family's charcoal was produced in high quantities with zero waste, boasting a quality unmatched by anyone else on the mountain.
High quality, high yield, and affordable prices. That was the secret behind why the Kamado family's charcoal was so famous in the surrounding towns.
Akira sat on the porch, sipping a cup of hot tea, and thought about the sheer, ridiculous irony of the situation.
Akaza, the Upper Rank Three demon, had spent over a century shedding blood, breaking bones, and slaughtering thousands in a desperate, maddening pursuit of the pinnacle of martial arts. Yet, despite a hundred years of hellish training, that demon still could not grasp the Transparent World. Meanwhile, Tanjuro Kamado, a frail man who had never fought a battle in his life, was sitting in front of a dirt kiln, casually using that exact legendary state of supreme martial enlightenment to perfectly bake pieces of wood.
It was a cosmic joke that would probably make Akaza vomit blood out of pure frustration.
According to the excited whispers of Shigeru and Hanako, today's lunch was the most sumptuous, extravagant meal their family had ever eaten in their entire lives.
Sitting around the crowded table, Akira looked at the beaming faces of the family. He quietly and deliberately restrained his monstrous, Hashira-level appetite, eating just enough meat and rice to take the edge off his hunger before setting his chopsticks down.
If he actually let himself eat until he was full, the entire table of food meant for the family of seven would have vanished into his stomach alone.
Akira spent the entire afternoon out in the yard, playing with the children.
For the first time in his life, he truly experienced the chaotic, exhausting reality of being an older brother to a pack of energetic kids.
It could not be helped. Although Kanao called him Brother and loved nothing more than being close to him, she was deeply quiet. She had never once run around, screamed, or frolicked with Akira like a normal child.
Akira knew Kanao's personality was a product of her past, and he loved her exactly as she was. He would never force her to act differently. But because of her silent nature, he had never truly felt that exhausting, elder-brother-acting-as-a-father sensation of raising a wild child. Now, spending hours chasing the young Takeo, Shigeru, and Hanako around the Kamado house, dodging flying dirt and lifting them into the air until his arms ached, he finally understood what it felt like.
After truly experiencing what it took to look after normal, hyperactive kids, Akira sat on the porch, wiping a layer of sweat and dust from his forehead. He stared blankly at the sky, only a single, deep thought echoing in his mind.
Kanao is truly wonderful.
Hanako, being a sweet little girl, was relatively easy to manage. But Takeo and Shigeru were right at that specific age where young boys were notoriously, terrifyingly troublesome. They possessed endless stamina and zero sense of self-preservation. Once they started running wild through the trees, keeping them alive and out of trouble was a task far more exhausting than hunting demons.
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