The moon was bright and the stars sparse, and a dark figure stumbled back through the moonlight to the small cabin on Mt.
Sagiri.
“Hah…
hah…
I, I’m back…
Nezuko!”
Tanjiro appeared in the doorway, gripping the door frame, gasping like a winded ox.
“Shinsuke, you didn’t do anything to my sister, did you?!”
His face and body were covered in mud and sweat, clearly having survived a brutal ordeal, but his eyes remained sharp, directed specifically at Shinsuke.
Then he took in the scene inside the cabin.
His sister Nezuko was sleeping quietly in the corner.
Shinsuke was crouched in the middle of the room cooking dinner.
And Urokodaki-san, that seemingly imposing and dignified Cultivator, was lying flat on the floor wearing his tengu mask, as serene as a peaceful corpse.
Tanjiro: “???”
A giant question mark slowly materialized above his head.
“Sh, Shinsuke…” Tanjiro’s voice had a slight tremor.
“What did you do to Urokodaki-san?”
Could it be that this guy had made a move on his sister, and Urokodaki-san had caught him in the act, only to be violently silenced?!
Shinsuke looked up and flashed the most sunny, innocent smile imaginable.
“Oh, junior brother-in-law, you’re back?
Did you pass the test?
Congratulations, congratulations!”
“Let me cook you some dinner too!”
Shinsuke tilted his chin toward the pot of bubbling broth over the fire, then looked at Urokodaki on the floor with an expression of profound sincerity.
“As for Master…
don’t worry, I didn’t do anything to him, he practices Water Breathing, he’s probably lying on the ground absorbing moisture from the soil.”
(￣︶￣)↗
Moisture from the soil?!
Absorbing moisture?!
Do you even hear yourself?!
Tanjiro went straight over to check on Urokodaki without another word.
But before his hand even touched the tengu mask, Urokodaki impatiently swatted it away.
“Don’t bother me.”
Tanjiro: 〒▽〒
He looked at Shinsuke, who gave a shrug.
“See?
It’s not that I won’t take care of him, it’s that he won’t let me.”
The gentle-hearted Tanjiro still wasn’t satisfied and asked softly, “Urokodaki-san?
Are you alright?”
Urokodaki didn’t move.
The tengu mask stared up at the ceiling as though contemplating the void, reflecting on the meaning of life, or perhaps considering whether to cut all ties with his disciples entirely.
Tanjiro grew anxious, lifted his head, and glared at Shinsuke.
“What did you actually…”
“Enough, stop making noise…”
A faint groan came from beneath the mask, as though the noise had finally gotten on his nerves.
Tanjiro immediately leaned in closer.
“Urokodaki-san!”
Urokodaki didn’t answer.
Then, just as Tanjiro was starting to think everything was fine, Urokodaki suddenly began murmuring in a voice that sounded as though his soul had already left his body.
“…lifelong reputation, gone…”
“…honor, in ruins…”
“…that wretch Jigoro is definitely going to write a letter…
filled edge to edge with ‘hahaha’…”
“…why am I still running a training program…”
“…might as well change my name and go grow sweet potatoes…”
Tanjiro: “???”
Wait, I haven’t learned anything yet, and you’re already switching careers?
He couldn’t understand a word of what Urokodaki was saying, but the impact was profound.
He turned to look at Shinsuke, his gaze a wordless accusation: what inhumane thing did you do to this venerable senior?
Shinsuke blinked, leaned over, crouched on the other side of Urokodaki, and spoke in a tone overflowing with “concern.”
“Master, you really shouldn’t be lying on the floor, it’s cold.
Come on, let me help you up, have some hot soup?”
“Get away from me.”
Urokodaki rejected both the assistance and the person offering it, making his contempt for the source of this disaster very clear.
He pushed himself off the floor with his own hands and sat up, movements slightly stiff.
The tengu mask turned toward Shinsuke, and even without being able to see his expression, the weight of utter despair radiating from that gaze was palpable.
“You…” Urokodaki’s voice squeezed out through his teeth.
“Your Breathing Style…
what exactly is going on with it?”
Shinsuke put on his most obedient expression.
“Master, haven’t you already figured it out?
It’s just that…
being around girls makes things flow better?”
“‘Flow better’?!” Urokodaki’s volume spiked sharply, startling Tanjiro beside him.
“That’s called, called…
called…”
He was too furious to find the right word and simmered for a long moment.
“Called indecent!”
“Master, that’s a bit harsh.” Shinsuke scratched his head.
“Look, the results are good, aren’t they?
I can kill demons now, and I even invented my own technique.
The process and method…
don’t really matter, as long as the outcome is righteous!”
“Righteous my foot!” Urokodaki nearly leapt to his feet.
“Slaying demons is serious work!
It is a battle wagered with your life!
It is not…
not some trivial game you can solve by spinning around girls!”
Tanjiro hadn’t fully followed their argument, but this hopeless sister-obsessive immediately locked onto the key phrase.
“Spinning around girls?”
He turned suspicious at once.
“Shinsuke!
You’re scheming after my sister again, aren’t you!”
“How can you call it scheming?” Shinsuke turned to Tanjiro with a perfectly straight face.
“I’m doing it to protect Nezuko too, so I can bring out more of my strength and slay more demons!”
“Master just confirmed it himself: when I’m near Nezuko, my Breathing flows more smoothly and my techniques are more powerful!”
It tells you Nezuko and I are a perfect match!
We bring out the best in each other!”
“Perfect match my head!” Tanjiro’s brow erupted with veins.
“My sister does not need you to ‘bring out her best’!
Staying away from her is the greatest protection you could offer her!”
“Now that’s a narrow way of thinking, Tanjiro.” Shinsuke wagged a finger.
“We’re teammates now, we look out for each other.
My strength needs Nezuko to bring it out, and the strength Nezuko helps me bring out can in turn protect her.
That’s a win-win!
It’s a match made by heaven!”
“Who agreed to a match made by heaven with you!
Don’t use that kind of language about my sister!”
Tanjiro was so furious his hair was nearly standing on end, and he shot to his feet and positioned himself in front of Nezuko with both arms spread wide, like a mother hen shielding her chick.
“I’ll say it one more time!
Stay away from my sister!”
“No.” Shinsuke stood up as well, and his height advantage let him look down at Tanjiro from above.
“I’m doing this for the sake of maximizing our team’s combat power.
Master, you’d agree, right?
As a Cultivator, boosting a disciple’s strength has to come first, doesn’t it?”
He kicked the ball to Urokodaki.
Urokodaki was still sitting on the floor, listening to the two of them argue, and felt his head buzzing.
He looked at Shinsuke’s “I’m just thinking of the team” expression, then at Tanjiro practically steaming with fury, then at the small figure on the sleeping mat who had set the entire dispute in motion, this little “femme fatale”…
“Both of you, shut your mouths!” Urokodaki finally snapped and let out a low roar.
Both of them went silent instantly and looked over at him.
Urokodaki pressed his hands to his knees and slowly stood, dusted himself off, walked to the center of the room, and addressed Tanjiro.
“Tanjiro, you have passed the preliminary test.
Beginning tomorrow, you will train under me.”
Tanjiro jolted to attention and bowed immediately.
“Yes!
Thank you, Urokodaki-san!”
Urokodaki turned toward Shinsuke, the mask facing him, and held a silence of several seconds.
That silence contained far too many complicated emotions, and in the end they all compressed into one sentence, laden with deep exhaustion.
“You…
your training, I will arrange separately.”
“Yes, Master!”
Shinsuke agreed without hesitation, then felt his way toward the next question.
“Then…
as for the ‘combined training’ between me and Nezuko…?”
“There is no such training!” Urokodaki and Tanjiro said it at exactly the same moment.
Tanjiro added, “Don’t even think about it!”
Shinsuke pursed his lips, feeling as though he was being ganged up on.
Not that it really mattered.
After all, everyone was sleeping in the same cabin tonight.
He had all the time he needed to keep running Total Concentration Breathing Constant.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story?
Read reach 120 ahead!