The soft morning sun shone down, illuminating the master and disciple sitting side by side.
"So that's what's bothering you! It's simple! Demons disguised as humans usually want to lure humans into the dark to eat them! Therefore, you don't need any elaborate plans; as long as the demon doesn't realize you're a Demon Slayer, it'll be easy to lead them away!"
After hearing Musashi's question, Kyojuro answered him loudly.
"That's true."
After hearing Kyojuro's words, Musashi felt enlightened and immediately stopped worrying about the problem.
In the future, if he found a demon disguised as a human in a crowd, he would directly tell the demon that he wanted to go to a quiet place to spend some time together, and he believed those demons would agree because they wanted to eat him.
Muzan should be the same, probably…
"Thank you, Teacher, for clearing my confusion," Musashi said with a smile to Kyojuro.
"Hmm, as long as it's useful to you, that's good. Now, I should go," Kyojuro said, standing up. His Kasugai Crow was perched on a fence not far away.
Musashi also stood up and asked him, "Do you have a new mission?"
Kyojuro nodded and said, "Yes, I just received new information about a demon at a train station called Infinity Train. The Demon Slayers sent there seem to have all been killed, and it's starting to cause casualties among ordinary citizens. We can't ignore it."
"Is that so? If possible, I'd like to go on a mission with you, Teacher," Musashi said to Kyojuro upon hearing this.
Kyojuro shook his head at Musashi and then said to him, "If you hadn't become a Hashira, it might have been possible, but now we are both Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, and we both have areas we need to guard. If we go on a mission together, people in other places would be in danger.
Kanroji hasn't gone on missions with me since she became a Hashira."
Musashi also knew that the Demon Slayer Corps couldn't send two Hashira-level combatants to one place, but he felt a little regretful that he hadn't been able to go on a mission with Kyojuro.
"Alright then, I wish you a triumphant return, Teacher," Musashi said.
"Don't worry! I will slay the demons and protect everyone!" Kyojuro declared loudly and with great vigor, then turned and walked away, his robes billowing as he turned and then slowly settling.
His back, illuminated by the morning sun, was incredibly reassuring…
After watching Kyojuro leave, Musashi began his daily training. He hadn't been assigned any missions yet.
Who knew that the very next afternoon, he received news from his Kasugai Crow about a demon in his assigned patrol area.
"It seems I should depart as well."
Sheathing his Nichirin Sword, Musashi muttered to himself, then set off for the location given by the Kasugai Crow.
…
Three weeks later
Musashi's mission was successfully completed. The demon he encountered this time was just an ordinary one, not requiring a second strike at all, but in Musashi's opinion, it was no different from Lower Moon Five.
Teacher still hasn't returned…
He glanced at Kyojuro's residence at the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters; the gate was still tightly shut, just as it was when he left.
"Musashi, you're back. Was the mission smooth?"
A familiar female voice came from behind. Musashi turned around and saw Kochou Shinobu, with two Kakushis carrying baskets on their backs behind her. The Hidden members' baskets were all filled with wisteria flowers.
"Yes, because it was discovered in time, there were no casualties this time," Musashi replied with a smile.
Then, looking at the baskets on the backs of the two Kakushis, Musashi asked, "Shinobu-nee-san, are you making so many wisteria flowers to develop poison against demons?"
"Something like that…" Kochou Shinobu replied with a smile, her purple eyes seemingly hiding something.
Actually, some of these wisteria flowers were for developing poison against demons, while Kochou Shinobu intended to extract the wisteria flower toxins and ingest them herself.
She had been continuing this behavior for a year and was still persisting. Now, her body contained the equivalent of seven hundred times the lethal dose of wisteria poison.
"Oh, by the way, Tanjirou and Zenitsu's bodies are fine now.
During the final check-up, Tanjirou asked me if I knew what "Hinokami Kagura" or "Breath of Fire" was, and told me that he had used techniques from his family's ancestral Kagura dance in his previous battle with Lower Moon Two, and he also used the Breathing Technique his father taught him.
I thought these two sounded like they might have some connection to your and Rengoku-san's Breathing Techniques, so I told him he could ask you two for guidance, but at the time, you and Rengoku-san were both on missions.
Now that you're back, Musashi, do you know what Hinokami Kagura and Breath of Fire are?" Kochou Shinobu changed the subject and asked Musashi.
During the time she treated Tanjirou and the others and while they underwent physical recovery training, Kochou Shinobu had a good impression of Tanjirou. Now that she met Musashi, she took the opportunity to ask him on Tanjirou's behalf.
Musashi was also confused when he heard these two names. He had never heard of Hinokami Kagura or Breath of Fire, nor had he ever heard Kyojuro mention them.
"I have never heard of either of these. Shinobu-nee-san also knows that I only realized the ability I had been using was a Breathing Technique after joining the Demon Slayer Corps. I named my Sun Breathing based on my own name and the manifestation of my Breathing Technique," Musashi replied to Kochou Shinobu.
"However, you can't tell much just from two names. Since I just finished my mission and don't have anything else to do for now, why don't I go find him and ask for more details?" Musashi added.
Tanjirou had previously told him some information about Muzan, so naturally, Musashi was very willing when Tanjirou had a question for him.
"That's true. Then let's go to the Butterfly Mansion together. Those three children have also been training very hard during this time."
Kochou Shinobu said with a smile upon hearing this.
Then the two went to the Butterfly Mansion together.
As soon as they entered the Butterfly Mansion, Musashi saw Tanjirou and the others. At that moment, Tanjirou was training with Kanao. The two were sitting face to face with a table between them, on which many teacups were placed.
They saw the two's hands moving quickly above the teacups, trying to pick up a teacup while also preventing the other person from getting one.
Zenitsu and Inosuke stood by, watching their movements in astonishment.
"Are they training their reaction speed?" Musashi saw their training and didn't disturb them, asking Kochou Shinobu next to him.
"Yes, they started training as soon as they could move freely. Among the three, Tanjirou has made the fastest progress," Kochou Shinobu nodded and said.
As they were talking, the two had already decided the winner; Kanao had picked up the teacup.
"That's enough!"