The snowfall on Mount Kumotori was exceptionally long.
Tanjuro Kamado's funeral was simple and quiet.
In this farewell filled with tears and sorrow, Giyu Tomioka, as the only "outsider," brought his "ruthless and taciturn" action-oriented style to its extreme.
While Tanjiro was still immersed in grief,
Giyu was already standing expressionlessly on the open space behind the hill, holding a shovel.
"Shuashua--"
In less than half an incense stick's time,
A deep pit with smooth, even walls appeared before everyone.
Takeo, who was carrying firewood, was so shocked by the sight of the tomb, which resembled a small military fortification, that even his grief faltered for a moment.
"Face... face paralysis guy."
Takeo sniffed his nose, which was red from the cold, and with tears still glistening in the corners of his eyes, he couldn't help but complain.
"Did you used to build houses for people? It's just digging a hole, why did you make the edges so straight!"
Giyu patted the dirt off his shovel, his deep blue eyes objectively sweeping over Takeo.
"Prevent slope collapse."
He uttered three words succinctly.
"The foundation is stable, effectively preventing mudslides during spring snowmelt and protecting against the digging of large mountain animals. This is the most scientifically sound structure."
Takeo was so speechless after hearing this hardcore civil engineering theory.
At a time like this, shouldn't we be saying something like "Please accept my condolences" or similar polite phrases?
However, it cannot be denied that because of Giyu's extremely inappropriate and masculine actions, the suffocatingly sad atmosphere that was originally suppressed in the Kamado Family was miraculously diluted.
After the funeral, the cabin was empty.
With red-rimmed eyes, Kie was busy in the kitchen, while Tanjiro held young Rokuta in his arms, softly humming an unknown lullaby.
Giyu was not inside the house.
He carried the iron axe and went to the woodpile in the backyard.
"Snap! Snap!"
The efficient sound of chopping wood echoed across the mountainside of Mount Kumotori for an entire afternoon.
As the sun set, Tanjiro stepped out of the house, completely stunned.
The once empty backyard was now piled high with firewood, a mountain even taller than the roof of the wooden house.
All the firewood was chopped into perfectly uniform shapes and neatly stacked together, enough to last the Kamado Family for three whole winters.
Meanwhile, Giyu Tomioka was sitting on a wooden stool to the side, wiping his dulled iron axe with a rag, without breaking a sweat.
Tanjiro's nose twitched twice in the cold air.
This expressionless swordsman exuded an almost clumsy "gentleness."
He didn't know how to comfort a weeping widow, nor how to embrace a child who had lost his father.
He could only use his best skills to remove all possible obstacles to survival for this family that had lost its breadwinner.
Tanjiro's eyes reddened again, and he bowed deeply to Giyu's broad back.
In the stillness of the night, the small wooden cabin on Mount Kumotori fell into slumber.
Tanjiro and his younger siblings, exhausted and saddened by the passing days, fell into a deep sleep early.
Giyu Tomioka sat alone in the dimly lit outer room.
He knew it was time for him to leave.
Tanjuro had shown him all the forms of "Hinokami Kagura" without reservation.
Thanks to his Heaven-Defying Comprehension, those movements were already etched into his muscle memory.
His target is that ultimate monster that has lived for a thousand years.
He couldn't stay in that warm, lively wooden house any longer.
Giyu slowly stood up and hung the dark blue Nichirin Blade at his waist.
Before leaving, his calm eyes glanced towards the inner room.
Giyu could easily imagine how difficult it would be for a family that had lost a male able-bodied adult to survive in the deep mountains during winter.
Tanjiro may have a hard head, capable of smashing a salted vegetable stone with his headbutt, but he is still just a twelve-year-old child.
If they continue to carry hundreds of kilograms of charcoal down the mountain to sell in the snow and wind, what if they encounter a blind bear or an avalanche on the way...?
"Since selling charcoal is too dangerous, then let them stop selling charcoal."
What is the most direct way to resolve a survival crisis?
It's money!!
Giyu Tomioka reached into his robes.
As one of the current Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps, his salary is ridiculously high.
Moreover, he has always been a man of few desires; apart from occasionally indulging in a few bowls of radish and salmon, he is practically an emotionless money-saving machine.
Over the years, he has accumulated a vast amount of top-grade silver notes from the Wisteria Trading Company, enough to buy an entire bustling commercial street in Tokyo.
Giyu had absolutely no concept of money.
He simply felt that if he was going to give, he should give it all.
Anyway, he's going to kill ghosts in the deep mountains and forests, so keeping these colorful papers won't increase his fighting power at all.
Giyu moved with lightning speed, like a weightless ghost, and silently entered Kie Kamado's room.
Kie was probably exhausted, and was sleeping soundly with young Rokuta at the moment.
Giyu walked to the bedside table.
He untied his dark-colored bundle and poured out the thick stacks of silver notes inside.
"Splash..."
There's too much money; the small bedside table simply can't hold it all.
Giyu frowned.
He simply picked up a stack of silver notes and very honestly stuffed them under Kie's pillow.
The amount of money was so outrageous that the blanket covering the Kie was bulged up into a small bulge by the wealth.
Finally, he took out a charcoal pencil from his pocket and wrote a few words neatly on the back of a blank banknote.
After that, Giyu did not linger.
He turned around, and the heterochromatic haori behind him drew a clean arc in mid-air.
Pushing open the wooden door, and facing the deepest darkness before dawn, Giyu Tomioka stepped into the snowstorm.
He stepped on the snow without making a sound, and didn't even leave any footprints.
Returning to simplicity and authenticity, Selfless State.
On this quiet winter night, his heart was completely at peace.
When the first ray of sunlight pierced through the mist of Mount Kumotori and shone on the window of the cabin.
Tanjiro rubbed his eyes, yawned, and walked out of the inner room.
"Good morning, Giyu. I'd like to ask for your guidance again today..."
Tanjiro habitually waved towards the long corridor outside the house, but his words caught in his throat halfway through.
The corridor was empty; neither the familiar, expressionless figure nor the gleaming Nichirin Blade was there.
Tanjiro's nose twitched twice in the air.
He can't smell it anymore.
That clean, refreshing scent, like that of a clear spring, has completely disappeared from this wooden house.
Instead, there was a lingering sense of relief and a resolute determination in the air.
"Giyu -san... is gone."
Tanjiro stood there, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes, but he quickly clenched his fists, realizing that the swordsman must have gone to carry out a more dangerous and greater mission.
Just then...
"Ah--!"
A scream of disbelief came from Mother Kie's room.
Tanjiro was startled, thinking a wild beast had broken in. He quickly grabbed the wood-chopping axe by the door and rushed into Kie's room like a cannonball.
"Mother! What happened!"
Immediately afterwards, Takeo, Nezuko, and Delia, who had been awakened, also scrambled in.
Then, the five members of the Kamado Family were collectively transformed into five rigid stone sculptures.
Kie was sitting slumped on the bed, covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide open.
Scattered everywhere on her pillow, in the quilt, and even on her bedside table were large, high-denomination banknotes.
"This... this... this..."
Takeo trembled as he pointed to the enormous sum of money—enough to buy the entire Mount Kumotori —his tongue practically tied in knots.
"That expressionless guy... he wasn't actually a swordsman, was he? He probably went down the mountain in the middle of the night and robbed the town's bank, right?!"
"Takeo! Don't talk nonsense!"
Kie blushed and scolded him, but her own hands were trembling.
Tanjiro stepped forward and spotted a note hidden under the gold nugget.
The note contained only two extremely brief sentences:
[No need to sell charcoal.]
[Don't starve to death. -- Tomioka]
Tanjiro's tears instantly streamed down his face.
That incredibly sharp nose clearly detected an extremely strong scent of "protection" and "care" on the note.
"Giyu -san... he left all his money to us..."
Tanjiro clutched the note tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, his mind automatically conjuring up a divinely filtered version of reality.
"Giyu- san must be using this method to toughen us up against money!"
"He didn't want us to lose the strength to swing our swords because of the cold! He was protecting us in this harsh way!"
Kie covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
At the same time.
At the foot of Mount Kumotori, on the mountain road leading to the town below.
Having completely entered the "Selfless State," Giyu Tomioka maintained an air of absolute superiority, striding confidently against the cold wind.
His steps were mysterious and light, as if he could ride the wind and return at any moment.
"Gurgle--"
Suddenly, a loud sound came from the abdomen of Water Hashira.
Giyu paused slightly in his steps.
He expressionlessly reached out and touched the inside pocket of his everyday clothes.
Shriveled.
It was completely empty.
They don't even have a penny to buy coarse tea!!
He left too gracefully, and he left behind too much money.
He, the current Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, is a man capable of defeating an Upper Rank demon with a single strike.
At this moment, I am penniless!!
This means that on the long journey of over a hundred miles before returning to the Butterfly Mansion, he couldn't afford to eat the radish and salmon he longed for, or even a grilled rice ball from a roadside stall.
A clear crack finally appeared on Giyu's usually impassive, icy face.
A cold wind blew past the hem of his thin clothes, making him look somewhat desolate.
He silently withdrew his hand from his pocket, took a deep breath of the crisp morning air, and tried to suppress his stomach's protests with "Total Concentration Breathing."
Then, without saying a word, Lord Water Hashira quickened his pace, running down the mountain at twice the speed of his previous escape.