Then,
He immediately looked up, his pleading gaze fixed on Giyu Tomioka sitting opposite him!
Blink! Blink!
Tanjiro's large, wine-red eyes seemed to have been fitted with motors, and began blinking wildly at an extremely exaggerated frequency!
"Mr. Giyu! Please! Please, please don't let anything slip!"
"My secret of being a dangerous demon is known only to a few of us! In my mother's eyes, I'm just a good little baby who has just recovered from a serious illness!"
"Please, please don't reveal the earth-shattering things that happened at the Hashira Meeting!!"
"Please, Mr. Giyu!"
Tanjiro's eyelids were twitching from blinking so much that tears were being squeezed out.
Faced with that pleading gaze, as intense as a laser beam.
Giyu Tomioka paused slightly.
He slowly raised his head from the nearly empty, enormous rice bowl.
Those dead fish eyes silently met Tanjiro's twitching gaze.
Their eyes met for a second in mid-air.
Tanjiro was filled with anticipation, thinking that Giyu would give him a knowing look that said, "Don't worry, I understand."
Result!
Giyu Tomioka simply stared at him expressionlessly for about a second.
Then, very coldly and indifferently... he looked away.
That indifferent profile seemed to be conveying a message to Tanjiro:
"You're responsible for your own mess."
"Don't look at me with that ridiculous look, it'll ruin my appetite."
"And look at me again. Believe me or not, I'll tell your mother right now every single thing about how arrogant you were in the Ubuyashiki courtyard, and how I kicked you around like a football."
"..."
Upon understanding the coldness in that gaze, Tanjiro instantly deflated like a punctured balloon, so dejected he felt like he wanted to shrink into the hearth.
o(╥╥)o.
"Mr. Giyu... he's a complete devil!"
Tanjiro bit his handkerchief, feeling like crying but unable to shed a tear.
Fortunately, although Giyu cunning, he is ultimately a man who keeps his promises.
He did not expose Tanjiro's fragile facade.
In the time that followed, the atmosphere inside the cabin was completely filled with a long-lost warmth and sweetness.
"Brother! Brother! Eat this piece of fish! I specially picked it from the belly; it's the tenderest part!"
Nezuko knelt obediently beside Tanjiro like a sweet little cotton-padded jacket.
She picked up a piece of plump, boneless fish with her chopsticks and placed it into Tanjiro's bowl with a look of tenderness in her eyes. Her voice was so soft and sweet that it could melt anyone's heart.
"Thank you Nezuko!"
Tanjiro swallowed the fish meat in one gulp, moved to tears.
"Hmph! You idiot brother! Now that you're better, get up early tomorrow and go chop firewood on the mountain!"
"My hands are practically calloused from all the work of starting a fire these past few days!"
Although Takeo's words were as arrogant as a rooster with its feathers standing on end, his actions betrayed his true intentions, pushing a steaming bowl of wild vegetable soup toward Tanjiro.
"That's right! With my brother gone, the firewood that Brother Takeo chopped was all crooked and useless!"
Delia stood by and mercilessly undermined her second brother.
"Delia, don't talk nonsense! I clearly chopped it perfectly!" Takeo's face instantly turned red.
"Brother! I found a wild boar's den in the back mountain yesterday! Let's go catch some wild boars together when you're fully recovered!"
Mao excitedly waved his little fists, his eyes sparkling with boundless admiration for his older brother.
Looking at my younger siblings, chattering excitedly and full of life, surrounding me.
I could hear my mother's gentle laughter beside me.
Tanjiro held the bowl of hot soup, his eyes welling up with tears once again.
He took a deep breath of the air in the wooden cabin, which was filled with the aroma of food and the smell of charcoal.
"Very good..."
Tanjiro silently made a vow to himself.
Even if I'm still a monster at heart, even if I have to face hellish training tomorrow.
"As long as we can protect this warm smile, as long as we can continue to live happily together like this."
No matter how many difficulties lie ahead, I will absolutely, absolutely not back down!
The incredibly cozy dinner finally came to an end after Giyu Tomioka devoured three whole pots of rice.
After eating and drinking to our hearts' content.
The starlight illuminated the snow-covered clearing of Mount Sagiri as if it were daytime.
Kie Kamado and her younger siblings were cleaning up the dishes inside the house.
Tanjiro, on the other hand, had already changed into a neat training uniform and stood on the snow outside the wooden house, full of energy, like a warrior about to go into battle.
The biting wind blew through his dark red short hair, but it couldn't extinguish the burning fighting spirit in his eyes.
"Tap, tap, tap."
Accompanied by steady footsteps.
Wearing a Tengu Mask, Sakonji Urokodaki and Giyu Tomioka, whose hands were still habitually tucked into the sleeves of his casual clothes, walked out of the wooden house one after the other.
"Call--"
Seeing these two top Cultivator and Pillar-level swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Tanjiro took a deep breath of the cold air, filling his chest.
The next second.
"Thump!!"
Without any hesitation!
Without any warning!
Tanjiro bent his knees and performed a sincere dogeza (a deep, prostration-like gesture) directly onto the thick snow!
His forehead slammed heavily against the snow, so hard that it even created a small dent in the snow!
"Grandpa Urokodaki!"
Tanjiro suddenly raised his head, his wine-red eyes seeming to burn with two blazing torches.
He dug his hands into the snow with all his might, the sound echoing like a booming bell throughout the silent Mount Sagiri:
"Please accept me as your apprentice!!"
"I want to become stronger! I want the power to slay evil spirits and protect my family!"
"No matter how arduous or torturous the training ahead may be, I, Tanjiro Kamado, will never utter a single complaint of being tired!"
"I will train with all my might! Please teach me the swordsmanship of Water Breathing!"
This passionate declaration of apprenticeship, brimming with the typical aura of a hot-blooded anime male protagonist, is truly epic.
If paired with rousing background music, it would definitely get countless people's blood pumping.
However--,
Reality is always colder and more ruthless than ice and snow.
Faced with Tanjiro's tearful request to become his apprentice...
Sakonji Urokodaki, wearing a red Tengu Mask, simply stood quietly in place.
He crossed his arms, and through the holes in his mask, his sharp eyes glanced indifferently at Tanjiro kneeling on the ground.
Then,
The former Water Hashira, who had trained countless outstanding swordsmen, spoke in a completely flat and unwavering tone, uttering a few words with utmost decisiveness:
"No."
"I refuse."
Gaa--!
It was as if a flock of crows flew over Tanjiro's head, leaving behind a series of awkward cries.
Tanjiro's face, which was full of passion and anticipation, froze instantly.
"Why?"
Tanjiro stared wide-eyed, utterly unable to believe his ears.
Σ( ° △ °|||)