With that, Hajime said no more and turned to leave.
Moonlight flowed over the Peach Forest like water, and a thin blue mist drifted among the trees.
Walking along the mountain path, Hajime sensed a shift in the air.
He turned around and saw a figure following far behind him.
Noticing Hajime’s gaze, Kaigaku instinctively wanted to dodge, but forced himself to stop.
“Since you followed me, hurry up.
Why sneak around?”
Kaigaku hesitated, but Hajime had no patience to waste time.
“If you keep dawdling, the sun will be up.”
That remark steeled Kaigaku’s resolve.
He jogged over.
“Will you really help me?”
“You followed me all this way and still don’t believe me?
Let me be blunt: I can only get you to the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.
Whether those Hashira take a liking to you is your own business.
Understand?”
Kaigaku gave a short nod and bent slightly at the waist toward Hajime, a reluctant show of gratitude.
Hajime didn’t seem to care.
He waved his hand.
“Alright.
Let’s go before master wakes up, or he might not let you leave.”
Hearing Hajime mention Jigoro, a flash of venomous jealousy crossed Kaigaku’s face, but the expression vanished in an instant.
Hajime pretended not to see it.
He looked up at the sky.
In the dim night, a small, snow-white figure drifted faintly on its wings.
That was the “Liaison” issued to him by the Demon Slayer Corps.
Hajime clicked his tongue.
The Kasugai Crow issued by the Demon Slayer Corps served not only for communication but also for surveillance, preventing swordsmen from committing forbidden acts.
What Hajime planned to do next could not be seen by the pigeon, let alone transmitted back.
He had to find a way to deal with this bird properly.
Leaving Mt.
Momoyama behind, Hajime and Kaigaku made their way along the dirt path cutting through the fields.
The path was muddy, with damp farmland stretching on either side.
In the distance, villages sat dark against the night sky, not a single lantern lit anywhere to pierce the gloom.
Hajime walked in front, Kaigaku a step behind, following his pace.
Neither spoke.
They pressed on in silence.
By the time they reached the town more than a dozen miles from Mt.
Momoyama, the eastern sky had begun to pale with the first hints of dawn.
Daylight had arrived.
Hajime stopped before the town.
He pulled out two pieces of cloth and tossed one to Kaigaku.
Kaigaku caught the fabric, confusion clouding his face.
“Kid, times have changed.
You can’t just strap a sword to your waist and walk around anymore.
Wrap it up.” Hajime gestured with the cloth.
“I’d rather not eat katsudon in a police station.”
Kaigaku’s expression hardened.
He hated being at Hajime’s mercy, it made him feel incredibly small.
But he caught the cloth and wound it tightly around the sword at his hip anyway.
He needed Hajime’s help for now.
Pride could wait.
Hajime wrapped his own Nichirin blade.
Only when Kaigaku finished did they step into the town limits.
Even though dawn had barely broken, the townspeople were already up and moving, preparing for the day’s labor.
The town was small.
A single izakaya served the whole place.
Hajime pushed through the entrance curtain and called out, “Manager, warm some sake and bring a few side dishes.”
Manager had just opened for business and was still wiping down tables.
He noticed the two men carried cloth-wrapped objects.
He suspected what they were, but quickly looked away, minding his own affairs.
He was just an ordinary man running a small shop to feed his family.
Carrying a sword in public violated the Haitorei Edict, but that was strictly none of his concern.
(The Haitorei Edict (Sword Abolishment Edict) was a law issued by the Meiji government of Japan on March 28, 1876, which prohibited ordinary citizens from carrying swords in public.
It was a critical step in modernizing Japan and eliminating the traditional privileges of the samurai class)
He showed them to seats and headed straight to the kitchen.
Seated on the tatami, Kaigaku looked around the modest room.
He rubbed his stomach, the all-night journey had left him exhausted and starving.
Pride kept him from admitting he owed Hajime anything, but he stiffened his neck and asked anyway.
“What did we come to a place like this for?”
“Kaigaku, I know you’re ambitious.
Dying to fly straight to Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.” Hajime leaned back against the wall.
“But food is fuel.
Skip a meal and you’ll starve.
Eating well matters as much as training.
I’d hate to die with money in the bank while my wife sleeps in another man’s bed.”
Kaigaku scoffed, but said nothing more.
He took it as agreement.
Soon, Manager brought out the steaming food.
Curry rice, croquettes, and a hot pot of sake.
(Croquettes, curry rice, and deep-fried katsudon were known as the Three Major Western-Style Foods at that time.)
Hajime also asked for a large serving bowl.
Manager was puzzled, but followed the customer’s odd request.
Hajime grabbed the croquettes first, eating them immediately.
A few croquettes weren’t nearly enough to fill his stomach.
Once they were gone, he picked up a spoon and attacked the curry rice.
He swept the plate clean.
Finally, a slight sense of fullness settled in.
He opened the sake and poured it into the large bowl.
*Coo coo coo.*
A snow-white pigeon fluttered in from outside and landed gently on the table.
The contact from the Demon Slayer Corps.
Hajime extended a finger and scratched the pigeon’s white belly.
The bird closed its eyes, looking thoroughly content with the sudden affection.
Kaigaku had nearly finished his breakfast.
Watching Hajime play with a bird while he still needed him, impatience burned in his chest.
But the thought of needing Hajime’s help later stopped him from lashing out.
He swallowed his bitter irritation.
Hajime’s fingers worked like magic, the pigeon nearly losing its balance from pure bliss.
In one fluid motion, he snatched the bird and shoved it headfirst into the bowl filled to the brim with sake.
The startled pigeon flapped desperately, but Hajime activated Total Concentration Breathing, flooding his body with oxygen.
His physique surged, his grip on the bird turning to iron.
The struggle ended quickly.
Once he’d force-fed the pigeon enough sake, it passed out completely drunk.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Kaigaku recoiled at the sudden violence.
He’d been playing with the bird moments ago, why the sudden hostility?
Hajime ignored him, having absolutely no intention of explaining himself.
He carried the unconscious pigeon to the bewildered shopkeeper and placed it firmly in the man’s hands.
“Keep this here for me.
I’ll retrieve it later.
And I mean it, no steaming or braising.
It stays alive.”
Hajime paid for the meal, grabbed Kaigaku, and walked out of the izakaya, leaving the town behind.
He’d done this for a specific reason.
Every Demon Slayer received a Kasugai Crow from headquarters, a communication tool.
But those crows also served another purpose: surveillance.
Slayers were forbidden from drawing swords on each other or harming ordinary people, and the corps monitored compliance closely through these birds.
Hajime grasped the system, yet he still didn’t understand why everyone else got a crow while he received a pigeon.
Still, he didn’t dwell on it.
A communication tool was a communication tool.
Crow or pigeon, it made no real difference.
The true reason he’d gotten the pigeon drunk was simpler: he didn’t want the bird seeing what came next, much less carrying a report back to headquarters.
With the monitoring handled, he could finally do what he’d planned.
They left the town and walked until they reached a remote stretch of wilderness.
No one would stumble upon them out here.
Hajime stopped and looked up at the clear blue sky, scanning the quiet surrounding area.
“Beautiful place.
Lush mountains, clear water, plenty of sun.
Kaigaku, being buried here would suit someone like you perfectly.”
Even Kaigaku failed to react immediately.
He never imagined Hajime would go to such elaborate lengths solely to orchestrate his death.
The cold realization settled heavily in his stomach.
“What do you mean?”
“Kaigaku, are you deaf?
I said this is the graveyard I specially picked out for your horse.” Hajime added, as if just remembering a minor detail, “Sorry, I forgot you don’t have a horse.”
Kaigaku grasped the implication and exploded.
“So, taking me to the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, introducing me to the Hashira…
all of that was a lie?
Everything was a lie?”
Facing the furious youth, Hajime admitted it without a shred of hesitation.
“Yes!”
A real man stands tall and owns his actions without hiding behind excuses.
If he did it, he did it, there was nothing to deny.
“Why?
Why did you lie to me?”
“How else would you follow me away from Mt.
Momoyama?
If I hadn’t feared Master interfering, I would have slaughtered you right on the mountain.
Why do you think I put up with you for so long?
Kaigaku, you are one of the few things in this world that genuinely make me sick!”
Do you like it?