--A desperate act of Giyu!
The day after the hot spring incident,
At this moment, in the restaurant of the villa.
A small square dining table, three people, three worlds.
Giyu Tomioka sat ramrod straight.
His gaze was fixed intently on the ordinary bowl of white rice in front of him.
With a mechanical precision, his right hand picked up a small pinch of pickled vegetables, put them in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
The entire process was conducted without making a single unnecessary sound.
He dared not look to the left, much less to the right.
The memories of last night played on a cursed revolving lantern in his mind.
That soft, surprisingly elastic touch...
That alluring whisper that echoed in my ear~
And then there's that shameful, completely uncontrollable, honest reaction of my own body...
Disgrace! Utter disgrace!!
He, Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, actually fled in disarray before a defenseless woman!
Calm down! You must calm down!!
Giyu Tomioka roared at himself in his heart.
He's the man who created Nagi!
His heart should be like a mirror with absolute zero, completely still!
However, the more he thought about it, the clearer that beautiful, fox-like face with its sly smile became in his mind.
"Click."
He accidentally bit into the pickled radish in his mouth, making a loud, earth-shattering sound.
Shinobu Kocho, sitting opposite him, was startled by the sharp sound and nearly dropped her chopsticks.
Her condition today is not much better than that of Giyu Tomioka.
Her whole body was like a pink bun just taken out of a steamer, with an unnatural, alluring blush spreading from her cheeks to the base of her neck.
With her head down, she used the tip of her chopsticks to poke small holes in her rice again and again.
Just thinking about the outrageous things her sister said to her last night made her feel like her CPU was about to burn out again.
"Shinobu, from today onwards, we're allies!"
At that time, after soaking in the hot spring and returning to the room, her sister, while drying her long, wet hair, spoke to her in a tone as if announcing a major strategic decision.
"An... ally?" She was still in a semi-crazy state at the time.
"Yes! Sister Alliance!"
Kanae tossed the towel aside, leaned closer to her, and her beautiful pink eyes gleamed with excitement and calculation.
"Our common goal is to completely breach that wooden fortress called Giyu Tomioka!"
"This... this won't do... this is too shameless..." Shinobu Kocho's voice was barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz.
"What's so shameful about that?"
Kanae stood with her hands on her hips, completely unconcerned.
"Pursuing one's own happiness is a matter of course! Besides, we are defending our shared assets, preventing them from being snatched away by some outsider vixen!"
Common... assets?
Shinobu Kocho felt like her worldview was about to be shattered by her older sister.
"Then... then... what should we do?" she asked, confused, a question she later regretted not asking.
"Good question!"
Kanae clapped her hands vigorously, like a little teacher, and began to impart her dragon-slaying essentials.
"First! We must take the initiative! Look at me tonight, I only got a little closer, and that blockhead was thrown into complete disarray!"
"This proves he does have feelings for us! He just hasn't realized it yet!"
"Secondly! Learn to use your strengths! You're so cute, Shinobu, just a little bit of sweet talk and he'll surrender on the spot!"
"Third, and most importantly! We need to coordinate! I'll take the lead in the attack, and you'll handle the flank harassment and the final cleanup! A two-pronged attack will make him impossible to defend against!"
Listening to her sister's bizarre strategy, riddled with flaws and full of holes, and describing Giyu- san as some kind of final boss in a dungeon, Shinobu Kocho's brain completely gave up trying to think.
She felt as if her life was hurtling headlong in a very strange, exciting, yet somewhat anticipated direction.
At this moment, sitting at the dining table, looking at the man across from her who was wrestling with his rice with his eyes, and then looking at the sister beside her who was laughing like a cat that had stolen cream.
Shinobu Kocho felt that this so-called alliance had a bleak future.
"Oh, Mr. Giyu,"
Just as this awkward silence was about to solidify, the sole culprit, who was thoroughly enjoying it, finally spoke.
Kanae Kocho elegantly sipped her miso soup, and with a gentle, sweet voice, smiled and said:
"Did you sleep well last night? You seemed to have gone to bed quite early."
"Puff-!"
Giyu Tomioka almost spat out the tea he had just drunk.
Shinobu Kocho almost buried her head in her rice bowl.
Sister! Please stop talking!!
Which eye of yours saw that he went to bed early?!?!
He had been standing in the cold wind in the corridor for half the night, and he was trying to calm his unruly body by physically cooling down!
"... good."
Giyu Tomioka squeezed out two words through gritted teeth.
He swore he'd never been so eager to receive a mission in his entire life.
Even if he were to fight Upper Rank One alone, it would be a hundred times better than staying here and enduring this public execution!
"Hehe,"
Kanae's smile deepened.
"That's good. After all, we need to maintain sufficient energy to better protect ourselves."
She deliberately pronounced the words "protect us" softly and lightly, making them carry a special meaning.
Giyu Tomioka felt his ears start burning uncontrollably again.
He decided that he had to end this damn breakfast before he suffered complete social death.
He picked up his rice bowl, ready to finish the rest of the food as quickly as possible.
Just then, a loud and energetic voice, accompanied by the creaking sound of the door being pushed open, came in.
"Haha! Good morning, my three distinguished guests! I hope I haven't disturbed your cozy breakfast time?"
The village chief of the Swordsmith Village, Tecchin Tecchikawahara, a short old man who was less than 1.4 meters tall but as energetic as a monkey, walked in with his hands behind his back and a cheerful smile.
Giyu Tomioka saw him, it was like seeing Guanyin Bodhisattva who saves people from suffering.
A savior! Finally, a normal person has arrived who can break this eerie atmosphere!!
However, he was too quick to celebrate.
Tecchin Tecchikawahara's small eyes darted around the three of them, finally settling on the unnaturally red faces of Giyu Tomioka and Shinobu Kocho, where he gave a knowing, lewd smile.
"Oh my, young people are so hot-blooded! Looks like the hot springs last night had a pretty good effect! Haha!"
"Puff-"
This time, Shinobu Kocho really couldn't hold back. She choked on a mouthful of miso soup, which went straight into her trachea, causing her to cough violently.
Giyu Tomioka's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Village chief! You're a good person! But please, please stop talking!!
"Cough... cough... Mr. Village Chief... is there... is there anything I can help you with?"
Shinobu Kocho finally recovered and asked, her face flushed.
"Oh! It's important! It's important!"
Tecchin Tecchikawahara slapped his forehead and, as if by magic, produced two unsharpened sword blanks wrapped in coarse cloth from behind him.
"The two young ladies' knives have been initially forged!"
"I brought this especially so you could feel its texture and weight. If there's anything you're not satisfied with, you can adjust it now!"
Kanae and Shinobu's attention were immediately drawn to it.
They took the blade blank, drew it, and the gleaming blade shimmered with a cold light in the morning sun.
Even in a semi-finished product, one can see the blacksmith's superb skill.
"A fine knife!"
Kanae exclaimed sincerely.
"Yes, next, it needs to be ground with special ore for seven days and seven nights to make the blade more tough and sharp."
Tecchin Tecchikawahara stroked his goatee with a smug look.
He looked at the two sisters who were carefully examining the blade, then glanced at Giyu Tomioka next to them, who wished he could turn himself invisible, and laughed even harder.
"However, I believe that whether this knife can unleash its full power depends not only on the skills of us blacksmiths, but also on the mindset of the person wielding it!"
"When you're in a good mood and full of energy, the sword you wield will strike with full force!"
He winked meaningfully at Giyu Tomioka.
"Giyu young man, you'd better cherish the people around you!"
"With two such beautiful women by my side, if I were to always have a long face, I'd be cursed by the heavens! Haha!"
It's over.
Giyu Tomioka closed his eyes, expressionless.
There is nowhere left for him in this world.
Destroy it.
Hurry up.
Just as he was losing all will to live and preparing to have his soul leave his body...
A hoarse, piercing scream, as if the person was about to die, descended from the sky!
"Gah! Gah! Emergency order! Emergency order!"
Giyu Tomioka's famous, senile Kasugai Crow), Kanzaburo, flew in, wobbling and staggering, like a fighter jet about to crash.
He lost his footing and landed face-first on the tatami mat, sliding a full two meters before crashing precisely into Giyu Tomioka's feet.
"Cough cough... cough..."
Kanzaburo shook its dizzy head, flapped its wings, and with its last bit of strength, roared:
"Relay... relay the Master's order!"
"Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka! Member Kanae Kocho! Member Shinobu Kocho! Immediately!"
"Head to Mount Sagiri immediately! To discuss... discuss important matters with Miss Tamayo!"
"Gah! The mission... the mission is over... I want to... I want to sleep for a while..."
After saying that, the unreliable bird tilted its head to the side and fainted on the spot.
The entire restaurant fell into a brief silence.
Kanae and Shinobu's expressions instantly turned serious.
However, amidst this solemn atmosphere, one person's eyes shone with an unprecedented brilliance!
It was a kind of ecstasy, like being granted a pardon, like ascending from the Eighteen Levels of Hell to heaven!
Giyu Tomioka jumped up from his seat with such speed that he even created a gust of wind.
His face, which had been tense and as black as the bottom of a pot, seemed to soften a bit at this moment.
He issued the order decisively, in a firm yet urgent tone.
"There's no time to lose."
"Let's set off immediately!"