"Mitsuri, this situation is very normal."
Collecting herself, Shinobu Kocho smiled as she looked at the dejected Mitsuri Kanroji beside her and said:
"After all, our current situation is so difficult, and Master spoke so clearly—everyone must have some thoughts in their hearts..."
"But, I feel like everyone wasn't like this before..."
Still wearing that face full of worry, completely unconsolable, Mitsuri Kanroji sighed:
"Before, everyone would say whatever was on their minds. Unlike now, where everyone keeps everything bottled up inside, each thinking their own thoughts..."
For Mitsuri Kanroji, she had actually always loved the atmosphere of the Demon Slayer Corps in the past.
Back then, although there would be some small conflicts between everyone, overall it was still very harmonious and bright. Staying here felt like coming home.
But she didn't know when it started—this reassuring atmosphere gradually disappeared.
Now, the Demon Slayer Corps was slowly becoming like a pressure cooker about to explode. Everyone was emanating that suppressed aura.
When did this change begin?
Was it from Mr. Rengoku and Mr. Iguro's sacrifices?
No, perhaps even earlier than that...
It started from when that Upper Rank One appeared on Mount Fujikasane.
This strongest demon among the Twelve Kizuki, with that terrifying power beyond imagination, had shown the Demon Slayer Corps for the first time just how formidable the Upper Ranks truly were.
Perhaps it was from this moment that a thought was vaguely born deep in everyone's hearts—
They would eventually die at the hands of these demons.
This might sound somewhat illogical at first. After all, as demon slayers, being killed by demons in battle is perfectly normal, isn't it? Shouldn't this be something everyone had anticipated?
The truth was indeed so.
The problem was that demon slayers were also human.
Breathing Techniques could train the external body, but they could not train the brain.
As long as everyone possessed normal human brains, they would definitely have the thoughts that normal humans should have.
Before the Upper Ranks truly appeared, the Hashira of the modern Demon Slayer Corps had not suffered casualties for several years.
Gyomei Himejima, Kanae, Tengen Uzui, Obanai Iguro...
Many of the current Hashira had become Hashira many years ago and had survived in this position without injury until today.
In the Demon Slayer Corps of the past, this would have been an unimaginable miracle!
And now, this miracle had truly occurred.
Although everyone bathed in this miracle said nothing aloud, more or less the same thought would form in each of their hearts—
They might be a special generation.
Their generation, like the generation from the Sengoku era, carried some kind of special responsibility upon their shoulders.
Perhaps they could even do better than that generation from the Sengoku era!
And it was precisely under the encouragement of this tacitly accepted mindset that in the past, everyone had been very confident in their hearts, their wills incomparably firm.
No matter what kind of demon they faced, they always firmly believed they could ultimately defeat it.
After all, they were the generation of miracles.
But now, as the Upper Ranks appeared one after another, this miracle that everyone had once firmly believed in was being shattered bit by bit.
The strength of the Upper Ranks was powerful beyond everyone's imagination.
Akaza, Doma, Tsugikuni Mitsuba... these three demons at the forefront of the Upper Ranks were like three great mountains pressing down upon the Demon Slayer Corps, making even breathing so difficult for them.
The current generation might indeed be the generation of miracles, but the demons' strength now was no longer something that a mere miracle could defeat.
And even more despairingly, the Demon Slayer Corps, which had not suffered Hashira casualties for many years, had already lost three Hashira in just these few short months of contact with the Upper Ranks.
This feeling of having one less familiar companion beside them every time they held a meeting undoubtedly pierced deeply into everyone's hearts.
The former firm confidence continuously dissipated amid the successive deaths of companions. An atmosphere of despair was slowly enveloping the Demon Slayer Corps.
Mitsuri Kanroji believed that during the meeting just now, it wasn't just her—there must have been other companions who shared the same thoughts.
Everyone simply hadn't spoken them aloud.
"Mitsuri, why did you want to join the Demon Slayer Corps back then?"
Shinobu suddenly asked.
"Me?"
Although unclear why she suddenly asked this, Mitsuri Kanroji still answered honestly:
"Actually, it was just a coincidence at first. But later I felt the atmosphere among everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps was quite nice, so I decided to stay. Finally, before I knew it, I became a Hashira..."
Due to her appetite far exceeding normal people and her terrifying eight-fold density muscles containing immense power, Mitsuri Kanroji's life had always been somewhat difficult since childhood.
This difficulty lay in the fact that—she didn't seem like a girl.
Or rather, she didn't seem like the kind of girl that this country had traditionally admired since ancient times.
Her appetite was enormous, so she needed to eat far more food than normal people every day.
Therefore, she simply couldn't eat slowly and elegantly like those gentle, cute young ladies.
Even less could she eat just a tiny bit each day and then adorably say, "I can't eat anymore~"
Her strength was immense, so she would always unintentionally break things around her, and she lacked the graceful bearing of traditional girls.
Coupled with the fact that when she was shy, her body would secrete large amounts of sweat, and various other "unladylike" flaws...
Ultimately, this led to Mitsuri Kanroji's social situation being extremely terrible. She had almost reached the point where no boys wanted her, having even failed matchmaking several times.
In the past, Mitsuri Kanroji had once thought about suppressing her true nature and trying to become the kind of girl that boys liked.
But ultimately, she discovered that she simply couldn't do it.
Thus, she later encountered a demon slayer by chance. Following his advice, she bid farewell to her family and joined the organization called the Demon Slayer Corps.
It was from this day that Mitsuri Kanroji felt she had returned to her second "home."
In the past, only her family didn't care about those abnormalities on her body and always loved her.
But in the Demon Slayer Corps, no one cared about these flaws of hers. As long as she was powerful, wherever she went she would be respected and liked by everyone.
She even felt that perhaps someday in the future, she could find a husband she truly loved within the Demon Slayer Corps...