Resolve!

Mount Sagiri was shrouded in morning mist as usual. Birds sang with startling clarity in the woods, and the air smelled of dew.

In the clearing before the cabin, two figures were sparring.

Sabito gripped his Nichirin Blade, its edge cutting through the air with a low rush of wind.

His movements were more refined than usual, and his bearing had grown considerably calmer. Only the scar on his forehead remained as conspicuous as ever.

His yellow-orange haori, patterned with tortoiseshells, fluttered gently in the morning breeze.

Facing him was Sakonji Urokodaki, wearing a Tengu Mask.

He held nothing more than an ordinary bamboo sword, yet he always struck after Sabito and landed first, precisely targeting the weak points in Sabito's attacks.

"Keep your breathing steady, Sabito."

"Recovering your breath after a kill is just as important as the slash itself."

Urokodaki's voice was low and steady.

"Yes, teacher!!!"

Sabito answered in a deep voice, his gaze intensely focused.

He had just returned from a demon-slaying mission and was working hard to incorporate "Water Breathing: Total Concentration" into his daily life.

He knew the gap between himself and Giyu seemed to have widened, and it made him even less willing to slack off in the slightest.

Just then—

"Caw—!!! Great victory! Great victory!!!"

"Mizunoto Rank swordsman Giyu Tomioka! In Blue Stone Town! Defeated Lower Rank One—successfully!!!"

"Caw—!!!"

The crow's cry, loud enough to be almost piercing, tore through the mist and rang out across the quiet mountain forest.

Sabito's sword froze in mid-swing. The focused expression on his face stiffened, then gave way to a look of utter disbelief and bewilderment.

He whipped his head toward the sky where the voice had come from, though the trees blocked his view and he couldn't see a thing.

"Wh...what?"

Sabito muttered, his voice dry.

He wondered if he had misheard.

"Giyu? Lower Rank... One? He killed him alone?"

Those words together were almost too much to take in.

Lower Rank One?

That was one of the Twelve Kizuki!

A terrifying being who could make even a Hashira stay on the highest alert!

Giyu... that slightly slow junior of his, the one who always needed his reminders, had killed a Lower Rank demon all by himself?

And it was No. 1, no less?!

Surprise?

No, his first reaction was utter shock and bewilderment.

How was that possible?! (⊙_⊙)

How long had it even been since the Final Selection ended?

Had Giyu's progress... already become this rapid?

Immediately afterward, a complicated feeling he couldn't quite describe welled up in his heart.

Lower Rank One... how brutal must that battle have been?

Had Giyu... been hurt?

And there was also the faintest trace of disappointment and urgency.

As his senior, he had to get faster and stronger!!

Sakonji Urokodaki's hand, gripping the bamboo sword, paused ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.

A storm of emotion swept through his pale gray eyes, which had seen through the ways of the world.

Giyu... had slain Lower Rank One.

The news shook him ten thousand times more than hearing that Giyu had passed the Final Selection or completed a Kinoto Rank mission.

The child he had taught with his own hands and watched grow up had actually come this far.

Giyu, who had once occasionally lost his rhythm even while swinging a sword, sensitive at heart yet always cloaking himself in silence, had grown into a powerhouse capable of killing a Lower Rank demon alone.

Was he gratified? Of course.

Was he proud? Obviously.

But stronger than either was a sense of relief that bordered on sorrow, along with a weighty expectation.

Where would this talent and the responsibility that came with it take that child?

Urokodaki slowly lowered his bamboo sword and looked up at the misty sky, as though he could see through the clouds to his disciple in distant Blue Stone Town, who had just come through a life-and-death struggle.

Even the scars on his face seemed to soften for a moment.

"Teacher..."

Sabito's voice broke Urokodaki's train of thought, still trembling with excitement and urgency.

"Did you hear that? It's Giyu!!"

"He... he really did it!!! But Lower Rank One..."

Urokodaki lowered his gaze to Sabito and saw the shock, joy, concern, and the even more fiercely burning fighting spirit in his pupil's eyes.

He slowly nodded. His voice was deeper than usual, but it carried a strength as steady as stone:

"Yes, I heard."

He paused, as though digesting the explosive news, or perhaps gathering his words.

"Sabito,"

Urokodaki looked at his eldest pupil, his gaze profound.

"Giyu has found his own path, a path... perhaps none of us ever imagined."

"That's a good thing."

Then his tone changed, becoming stern and firm:

"But that doesn't mean you can relax, or that he can stop."

"On the contrary, it means what you'll have to face will be even more terrifying."

"The Twelve Kizuki won't stand by and watch a genius capable of threatening them grow stronger."

"And Giyu... needs companions he can entrust his back to, people who can walk beside him and understand his path."

Sabito's whole body shook. The bewilderment and complicated emotions in his eyes quickly settled, replaced by determination like tempered steel.

He tightened his grip on his new sword, its sky-blue blade reflecting his solemn face.

"I understand, teacher."

Sabito's voice was resolute, full of determination.

"I'll keep growing stronger, even stronger!!!"

"Strong enough to fight beside Giyu, strong enough to protect everything I want to protect!"

"I won't... fall behind again!!!"

He looked into the distance, as though he could see his ever-silent junior, and said silently to himself:

Wait for me, Giyu. Next time, we'll fight side by side.

Urokodaki nodded slightly and said no more.

"Continue practicing. Turn both your shock and your joy into strength for your sword."

"Yes!!!"

The clash of bamboo sword against Nichirin Blade rang out in the forest clearing once more, steadier and more forceful than before.

Sunlight poured over the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters as if it cost nothing, making everything bright and hot.

Under the veranda outside the medical department's courtyard,

Two figures, one sitting and one standing, waited quietly.

The man sitting in the shade of the veranda was Kagaya Ubuyashiki.

He wore a simple dark haori, his hands resting quietly together on his knees, his posture serene.

Only his slightly pursed lips and the pale gray eyes fixed on the tightly shut door betrayed a trace of concentration and concern he couldn't conceal.

Standing beside him, like a restless, flickering flame, was the Flame Hashira—Shinjuro Rengoku.

His tall frame blocked some of the sunlight, and his flame-patterned haori fluttered slightly in the hot breeze.

His usually energetic, highly expressive face was now creased with worry. His golden-red eyes glanced from time to time at the closed wooden door, then turned with concern to the Master beside him.

The silence lasted nearly two hours.

Apart from the faint chirping of cicadas in the distance and the clunk of the bamboo water fountain in the courtyard, there was only the sound of the two men breathing softly.

At last, Shinjuro couldn't hold back any longer. (＃｀д´)ﾉ

He turned to Ubuyashiki and deliberately lowered his voice, making no attempt to hide his concern:

"Master!! Your health... waiting here like this is too much of a strain on you!!"

He paused and thumped his chest, trying to make himself look more dependable.

"Why don't you go rest inside?"

"I'll keep watch here, and the moment there's news, I'll report it to you! I won't delay a single second!"

Kagaya Ubuyashiki turned his head slightly.

A somewhat tired but extraordinarily gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Shinjuro, I appreciate your kindness."

His voice was as gentle and pleasant as ever, yet it carried a quiet strength that left no room for argument.

"But my swordsmen spill their blood in unseen corners of darkness to slay demons, sacrificing their health and even their lives."

"They have never shrunk back because of pain or danger."

"Now, a young swordsman with a boundless future has fought a Lower Rank demon to the death for our shared wish and suffered grievous injuries."

"With this broken body of mine, though I cannot wield a sword to cut down demons, if, at a time like this, I lack even the patience to wait and pray for his safety,"

"How could I sit at ease in my room and call myself the one who leads them?"

He paused, his pale gray eyes seeming to see through the wooden door. His voice took on a deeper note of expectation and weight:

"Besides... Giyu Tomioka... he is more than a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. He is also one of the futures... we have been hoping for."

Ubuyashiki spoke softly, but his words struck Shinjuro's heart like a sledgehammer.

He could feel the sense of responsibility in the Master's words, one that transcended his personal suffering, as well as the extraordinary importance he placed on Giyu.

Shinjuro scratched his fiery hair and let out an irritated breath, his voice dropping.

"But, Master... I'm not questioning what you say, but... that boy Giyu Tomioka, I saw it with my own eyes. His injuries... were too severe!!!"

"So severe I don't even know how he held on until the end!"

"The nurses in the medical department are highly skilled, but... with injuries like those, even in the best case, saving his life... would probably be the limit!"

He remembered carrying Giyu, that weightless body in which he could barely feel any vitality, and the blood that had soaked through his haori and seemed never to stop flowing.

"Whether he'll even be able to pick up a sword again..."

Shinjuro could hardly bring himself to finish.

For a genius who had only just shone so brilliantly to die or be crippled like this would be too cruel to the Demon Slayer Corps, to the Master's hopes, and to Giyu himself.

Kagaya Ubuyashiki listened quietly. The gentle smile on his face did not fade; instead, it deepened slightly.

He did not directly refute Shinjuro's pessimism. He merely spoke softly, as though stating a fact he had long since accepted:

"Is that so... But I have a great deal of confidence in him."

His tone was so calm, so matter-of-fact, that for a moment Shinjuro didn't know how to respond.