The last rays of the setting sun disappeared below the horizon.
Giyu Tomioka and Kanae Kocho walked side by side to the entrance of the Butterfly Mansion.
Throughout the journey, Kanae held tightly to Giyu's arm until they saw the wooden door engraved with Wisteria flower patterns, at which point she reluctantly let go.
Blood began to flow in the veins of the right arm again.
Giyu's expressionless face remained completely blank; he simply twitched his fingers silently.
After several hours of close companionship, his entire right arm was actually in a state of partial paralysis.
"Oh dear, look who's back!"
Before Giyu could fully move his paralyzed arm, a clear voice drifted out from the courtyard.
Shinobu Kocho stood smiling in the center of the courtyard, holding a bamboo tray filled with herbs.
Her purple eyes swept back and forth between Giyu and Kanae, her gaze as sharp as if she were giving a patient a full physical examination.
"From Mr. Rengoku's mansion to the Butterfly Mansion, at a normal adult walking pace, it should take at most half an hour."
Ren deliberately dragged out his words, a playful smile curving his lips.
"But the two of them walked for almost two hours."
"Could it be that Mr. Giyu not only has a blocky personality, but also a sense of direction that has degenerated to the point of being a lost paramecium?"
Faced with this oncoming barrage of sharp words, Kanae simply covered her mouth and smiled gently, two lingering blushes on her cheeks.
She showed no intention of refuting, instead looking at her younger sister with a "guess whatever you want" expression, displaying a "what the hell doesn't matter" attitude.
Giyu Tomioka stood still, his deep blue eyes quietly watching Shinobu Kocho.
"I didn't get lost."
Giyu paused for a moment,
"It's because Kanae said she wanted to walk slowly."
"..."
Shinobu Kocho's smile froze instantly.
This straightforward answer practically forced this cloyingly sweet dog food into her mouth!
"Mr. Tomioka is so honest, it's almost unbelievable."
Ren rolled her eyes, picked up the bamboo tray, turned around and walked towards the Medicine Room, even her back view exuding a sense of disdain.
Kanae watched her sister's angry retreating figure, then turned to look at Giyu, her eyes filled with tenderness.
She reached out and naturally Giyu the slightly wrinkled, oddly colored haori for Giyu.
"Go back to your room and get some rest. You've really had a long day."
Kanae's voice was as soft as a cotton candy, and her pink eyes held a captivating warmth.
Giyu glanced down at her, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.
"Um."
He managed to utter just that one word before turning and walking toward his private room.
Returning to his room, which was simply furnished to the point of being shabby,
Giyu pulled the paper door shut, completely shutting out all the noise and tenderness outside.
He sat upright cross-legged on the tatami mat, placing the deep blue Nichirin Blade horizontally on his knees.
The room was quiet.
Giyu lowered his head, and he could still seem to smell the faint Wisteria lingering on his clothes.
That was the scent Kanae left behind when she leaned on his shoulder in the sunset.
He raised his right hand and gently pressed it against his heart.
When Kanae brushed the fallen petals from his shoulder in the afterglow of the setting sun, his heart, which had been encased in ice, unexpectedly felt a kind of emotion called "longing".
He wanted to live.
In order to respond to that tenderness without any burden under a sky free of evil spirits.
Giyu's eyes gradually sharpened from confusion.
He slowly removed his hand from his heart, his slender fingers tracing the cold scabbard of the Nichirin Blade inch by inch.
To survive, we must cross the highest mountain that stands in the way of all humankind.
The ultimate nightmare that has lived for a thousand years— Muzan Kibutsuji.
Giyu closed his eyes, and the earth-shattering confrontation at Mount Sagiri uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.
It was a night when even the air seemed frozen.
Five brains!
Seven hearts!
Twelve deadly organs throbbed wildly within the monster's body in a way that completely defied biological norms, radiating a life force that instilled despair.
Water Breathing can't kill that monster!!
Water is characterized by its flexibility and continuity, and it excels at neutralizing attacks and finding weaknesses.
However, when faced with Muzan's twelve organs that could regenerate infinitely as long as they weren't destroyed simultaneously, the gentleness of water became its greatest fatal flaw.
Miss Tamayo once told him:
"Mr. Tomioka, ordinary Breathing Style are ineffective against that man."
"More than four hundred years ago, the only power that could drive Muzan Kibutsuji to the brink of despair, causing his cells to feel fear and stop regenerating, was that Origin Breathing that was like the arrival of a blazing sun—[Sun Breathing]."
Sun Breathing!
A bright glint ignited in Giyu's eyes.
A thin, frail figure instantly flashed into his mind.
That was on the snow-covered Mount Kumotori, where the man, whose life seemed destined to be taken away by illness at any moment, Tanjuro Kamado.
The man's breathing was heavy and labored, yet when he swung his rusty axe, the ice and snow on the entire mountaintop melted in that instant.
It was a blazing, pure, golden-red sun!
During the fierce battle at Mount Sagiri, Giyu, in his most critical moment, frantically replayed Tanjuro's stunning slashing trajectory in his mind.
With his extraordinary, almost Heaven-Defying Comprehension, Giyu managed to mimic that essence in actual combat!
That "Dance" imbued with the warmth of the sun,
Although it was just a trick or two that he had stolen, it instantly burned the Upper Rank demon to ashes, and even made Muzan, who was hundreds of meters away, feel the fear etched into his DNA, so frightened that he ran away on the spot.
"Half a move isn't enough!!"
Giyu took a deep breath, his eyes becoming extremely clear.
That one or two moves were more than enough to deal with the Upper Rank, but against Muzan, who possessed five brains and seven hearts, he had to master the full version of his power!
He must completely refine this light blue Nichirin Blade into a golden-red Red Nichirin Blade that can cleave through the night!
Without any hesitation, Giyu stood up from the tatami mat.
Time waits for no one!!
Muzan could regain his sanity from fear at Muzan moment, and the Demon Slayer Corps' remaining peaceful days are practically counting down.
He must go to Mount Kumotori immediately!
He walked to the simple wooden cabinet in the corner of the room, opened the cabinet door, and took out a clean, dark-colored cloth.
A spare Demon Slayer Corps uniform, several rolls of clean bandages for stopping bleeding, a water bottle, and a small packet of flint and steel.
A swordsman's baggage is always the most minimal.
Giyu placed the few simple items on the wrapping cloth and was just about to tie it when a very light footstep suddenly came from outside the paper door.
Thump, thump.
Two soft knocks sounded on the door, as if afraid of disturbing the tranquility inside.
"Mr. Giyu, are you asleep?"
It's Kanae's voice.
The voice had lost some of the daytime cunning and teasing, and gained a touch of the delicacy and gentleness of the night.
Giyu paused slightly in packing his bundle.
He turned his head and looked at the paper door that let in the dim light of the corridor.
"I'm not asleep. The door isn't locked."
Giyu's voice was perfectly calm and even.
The paper door was slowly pulled open.
Kanae changed into a light pink yukata, her long hair casually draped over her shoulders.
She was carrying a small wooden tray—salmon and carrots!
The aroma of the food instantly filled the entire room.
Kanae entered the room, and her gaze immediately fell on the untied bundle in front of Giyu.
She carried the tray to the low table and gently placed the steaming radish and salmon dish on it.
"There weren't many ingredients left in the kitchen, so I borrowed Shinobu's stove and secretly made a little something."
Kanae knelt beside the low table, her hands folded on her knees, and tilted her head slightly to look at him.
A gentle smile graced her exquisitely beautiful face, a smile that brought immense peace of mind.
"I was thinking, if that always serious Water Hashira Lord doesn't even get to eat his favorite dinner, he'll be so hungry at night he won't be able to sleep soundly."