The night was deep as Tanjiro Kamado lulled Nezuko to sleep. Then, he once again tiptoed to the door and left his sister's room.
His movements were very light, clearly worried about disturbing others' rest. However, to certain people with "ulterior motives," these stealthy actions were a sign of a guilty conscience, as if he were afraid of being caught doing something he shouldn't.
Zenitsu Agatsuma, sporting a pair of dead-fish eyes, silently emerged from the room the three of them shared and looked up.
"Inosuke, that guy is definitely hiding something from us, isn't he?"
"That's right! I've been crawling up there watching him since dinner. That Gonpachiro guy kept looking outside several times, obviously waiting for something!"
Inosuke Hashibira jumped down from the ceiling.
During the days the three of them trained with Suzuki Makoto, they were also under observation at the Butterfly Mansion, eating, living, and sleeping together. As a result, even the slightest unusual move from Tanjiro would be noticed by Zenitsu.
"That guy must be out flirting with some other girl! He's always in such a good mood when he comes back!"
"Isn't he going out to train in secret?"
"Why would he need to train in secret?!"
"Of course it's so that guy doesn't see my true strength! The great me is going to completely defeat that two-sword guy. If I let him keep watching me, he'll always know how strong I am, right?"
Inosuke said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Zenitsu felt that bringing Inosuke along to follow Tanjiro was a mistake.
"Anyway! Don't make a sound, we're going to follow Tanjiro!"
The two quietly prepared to follow Tanjiro, only to discover, to their surprise, that he wasn't leaving the Butterfly Mansion. Instead, he was heading towards the cottage where the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho, resided.
"Huh? Could Tanjiro really be going to train with Lady Shinobu?"
Zenitsu muttered softly while staring at Tanjiro's back, and then his eyes widened in disbelief.
The girl who was normally almost completely silent, Kanao Tsuyuri, actually walked up to Tanjiro holding a cup of tea and handed it to him. Tanjiro Kamado skillfully took it, lowered his head to "take a sip," then handed it back to Kanao. After he said something, a look of relief appeared on the girl's face, and then—
"She drank it all in one gulp!! Tanjiro, you bastard—are you playing the indirect kiss game with such a cute girl?!"
Zenitsu's eyes nearly popped out of his head with jealousy, while Inosuke just yawned, bored.
When Tanjiro returned, Zenitsu immediately jumped out and put him in a chokehold.
"Hey, you had a lot of fun just now, didn't you?"
"Zenitsu? Were you waiting for me?"
"Yeah, of course I was waiting for you—for you, you playboy!"
Tanjiro Kamado tilted his head, a series of question marks appearing above it.
"Huh?"
Back in their shared room, Inosuke had already pulled the covers over himself. He'd originally thought Tanjiro was going off to fight Kanao, but now that Zenitsu was talking about some game, he immediately lost interest.
Meanwhile, Tanjiro endured Zenitsu's "interrogation" with a completely clueless expression on his face.
"Hey, Tanjiro, what are girls really like? You've already shared a drink with her, so you must have held hands by now, right? Are you already thinking about how to ask Lady Shinobu for permission to let you protect Kanao-chan?"
"What are you talking about, Zenitsu? Kanao was just helping me with something."
"What kind of help? Bringing you water? You're not planning to have such an adorable girl bring you water at the dojo tomorrow, are you? Just to show off to us, right!"
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, the boy held Zenitsu down.
"That's not it. Mr. Suzuki asked for my help. He told me to notify him if I ever detect the scent of wisteria flowers in Lady Shinobu Kocho's tea."
"Mr. Suzuki? Lady Shinobu? Wisteria flowers?"
"Yeah. Kanao agreed to pour a cup of water from Lady Shinobu's teapot every night for me to smell. Nothing unusual has happened these past few days."
Zenitsu scratched his head. He had mostly just been messing around; if he were truly jealous, he would have jumped out and made a scene while Tanjiro was still with Kanao. As for making up stories involving Suzuki Makoto... he didn't have the guts for that.
"Oh, so that's how it is."
"That's right. We should get some rest. We have more training tomorrow."
The two lay down in their beds and pulled up the covers.
"Tanjiro, how's your practice with those techniques coming along?"
"It's still very difficult. But Mr. Suzuki said he's already reproduced the method for Sun Breathing, and now he's letting me choose whether to learn Sun Breathing or continue with Water Breathing."
"So, which one do you want to learn?"
Tanjiro Kamado fell silent.
He wanted to learn Sun Breathing, because he could clearly feel that his inability to use the Hinokami Kagura consecutively was due to the limitations of his Water Breathing method. If he switched to the version of Sun Breathing that Suzuki Makoto had reconstructed, he would likely make a breakthrough very quickly.
But he had been practicing Water Breathing for so long. The debt he owed to Mr. Urokodaki and Mr. Tomioka was something he could never repay in his lifetime, and they both had such high hopes for him. To actually ask him to give up Water Breathing... it was an incredibly difficult decision to make.
"I don't know."
Zenitsu Agatsuma didn't press the matter further. Lying in bed, he thought about his own past struggles. Tanjiro must be feeling that same kind of conflict now, he figured.
Lost in their thoughts, the two of them drifted off to sleep.
As a result, both of them were still a bit groggy when Inosuke shouted them awake the next morning.
"What the hell! We're going to be late! Don't tell me you two went to train in secret without me!"
Inosuke shouted angrily as the other two hurriedly washed up and dressed, preparing to head to Suzuki Makoto's dojo.
"Put Naho and Aoi down!"
"You're not taking them!"
The three turned towards the voices and saw a powerfully built man with two swords on his back, grabbing Aoi Kanzaki and one of the three young girls from the mansion. He was heading for the exit of the Butterfly Mansion, while Kanao Tsuyuri desperately pulled on the two captives, trying with all her might to free them.
"Let them go!"
Tanjiro Kamado was the first to charge forward. He didn't draw his sword, opting for a headbutt instead.
After all, he recognized the rude, disrespectful man as someone who had been at the previous Hashira meeting. He was definitely a Hashira—which meant drawing his sword was out of the question.
Inosuke and Zenitsu followed close behind. Even though they didn't know what was going on, they obviously couldn't just stand by and watch this happen.
But the man instantly dodged Tanjiro's attack, landing gracefully on the veranda while still holding the two captives.
"What the hell—weren't the orders already sent to the Butterfly Mansion?! Hey, you're the Butterfly's Tsuguko, aren't you! Say something!"
the man yelled at Kanao Tsuyuri. But Kanao's face flushed red as she struggled, unable to utter a single word, continuing to express her opposition only through her actions and expression.
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