Gyomei Himejima!

Giyu Tomioka leaned against a rock at the edge of the pool, resting with his eyes closed. His breathing was steady, and he seemed almost to melt into the hot mist around him.

It was surprisingly quiet.

But in that silence, a sense that something was amiss suddenly set Giyu's nerves on edge.

His ice-blue eyes snapped toward the source of that feeling.

Not far away, someone was sitting in another, smaller natural pool.

The man was extraordinarily large. Even sitting down, his frame was visibly much bigger than an ordinary person's. His muscles bulged all over, but he didn't look bulky. Instead, he radiated power.

His eyes were closed, and a white towel rested on his forehead. He too was soaking in the pool bare-chested. The rippling water reflected the old scars crisscrossing his body.

What caught Giyu's attention was that, although the man's eyes were clearly closed, his instincts told him plainly that the man was looking at him.

There was no malice in it, only a quiet, somewhat appraising gaze.

Giyu spoke up directly, his voice flat and especially clear through the steam:

"Can I help you?"

The towering figure moved, turning his head precisely toward Giyu.

His eyes were still closed, but it felt as though he could see where Giyu was.

"May I ask who you are?"

The man's voice was deep and resonant. In complete contrast to his imposing build, it sounded especially calm and gentle.

He seemed to find it a little strange too. To his senses, the other man's presence was so thoroughly restrained that it blended with the surrounding hot spring, rocks, and steam, making it hard to grasp.

"Giyu Tomioka."

"So you're the Water Hashira," the man said, recognition appearing on his face when he heard the name. He lowered his head slightly and said with great sincerity, "Forgive my rudeness. I am Gyomei Himejima, an A-Rank swordsman."

He paused, then added, "I came to pick up my newly made weapon and take the opportunity to relax in the hot spring."

"Mm."

Giyu nodded.

His gaze fell on Gyomei's tightly closed eyes, and he couldn't quite say what he felt.

The man before him looked a few years older than he was, and neither his build nor his bearing was ordinary. Giyu felt sure he had many stories to tell.

The pool water was pleasantly warm. After their conversation, the atmosphere grew quiet, but not at all awkward.

Giyu looked at Gyomei and asked directly:

"Why did you join the Demon Slayer Corps?"

The question was rather sudden, and Gyomei Himejima was visibly taken aback.

He said nothing. His massive chest slowly rose and fell, and at last he let out a soft sigh.

"I..."

He began, his voice still deep, but seemingly weighed down by the past.

"I used to care for a group of children with no parents at a temple. Life was hard, but peaceful enough."

"Though I couldn't see and wasn't as strong as I am now, I always thought that if I could protect them like that for the rest of my life, it would be thanks to the Buddha's blessing."

His tone was even. His huge hand idly stirred the hot spring water beside him, sending ripples spreading outward.

After a brief pause, he continued, an indescribable strain entering his voice. "One night, one of the children came back late and encountered a demon on the way."

Gyomei's closed eyelids seemed to tremble slightly.

"Children's minds can be innocent, but sometimes... very selfish too. To save his own life, he made a deal with the demon."

Giyu watched him intently with his ice-blue eyes, without interrupting.

"He slipped back into the temple under cover of darkness and put out the wisteria incense burning in front of the hall to ward off demons."

Gyomei's voice grew heavy, as though a great boulder weighed upon it.

"The demon... followed the scent of living people and broke in."

His tone grew heavier still as he went on, yet it retained a strange, narrative restraint:

"The other seven children... none of them survived. The youngest girl was called Sayo. She had always been the most obedient, and that night she listened too, without running off."

"To protect her, I fought the demon... With nothing but brute strength and these fists, I smashed its head to pieces and kept beating it until dawn."

Steam rose from the hot spring, blurring the sharp contours of Gyomei's face.

Two streams of clear tears flowed without warning from his tightly closed eyes, falling into the pool and vanishing without a trace.

"I thought..."

His throat caught before he continued, a trace of almost self-mocking bewilderment in his voice.

"At least I would hear a word of thanks from Sayo."

"Even if it was only, 'Thank you, Brother Gyomei'... But in the end, there was nothing."

He paused for even longer, as though gathering the strength to say the final words:

"She told the people who came running... 'That man is a monster. He... killed everyone.'"

"Then I was thrown in prison as the murderer. If the Master hadn't uncovered the truth and personally gone into danger to find evidence and save me... I would have been wrongly condemned and beheaded long ago."

That was the end of his story.

Only the sounds of flowing water and the waterfall remained around the hot spring, making it seem quieter still.

Gyomei sat silently in the pool. His tears had stopped, but his enormous body seemed to bear an invisible burden.

Giyu listened, not saying a word throughout.

He didn't like talking, but he was a very good listener.

Gyomei's willingness to tell someone he had just met about something so painful and private, his candor, deepened Giyu's respect for him.

After a long while, Gyomei raised a hand and wiped the tear tracks from his face with his thick knuckles.

His voice regained its earlier composure, but carried more resolve:

"The demons destroyed everything in my past, and left me... still not knowing how to interact with children, even now."

"That's why I joined the Demon Slayer Corps."

"Killing demons rids the people of a scourge, and it is also... atonement for my failure to protect those children."

Giyu frowned slightly.

He was thinking, trying to understand the circumstances of everyone involved in that tragedy.

After a while, he spoke:

"I think that girl, Sayo... might simply have been too frightened at the time."

As Giyu understood it, when people were terrified beyond their limits, their reactions often couldn't be explained by common sense.

Gyomei shook his head gently, his expression calm.

"I don't blame her. Children are easily frightened. It's just..."

He paused.

"There's a knot in my heart that I can't undo."

Giyu nodded in understanding.

He remembered another key figure in Gyomei's story and asked:

"The child who made the deal with the demon... did he escape? What was his name?"

At the question, a muscle twitched almost imperceptibly in Gyomei's calm face.

His lips moved, and he finally closed his eyes slowly, as though pressing the surging emotions back down into his heart.

His voice was as low as a whisper:

"...He should still be alive, I suppose."

After a pause, he spoke the name clearly:

"Inadama Kaigaku."

It was a name he would never forget, one that stood for that night of betrayal and bloodshed.

Steam from the hot spring still drifted through the air.

They had soaked for some time, and Giyu was the first to stand, water splashing around him.

Gyomei seemed to notice his movement and slowly stood up as well.

They each dried themselves with towels and changed into clean clothes.

Giyu put on his white haori patterned with mountains and water. His wet black hair hung loose, and he casually brushed it aside.

Gyomei wore a simple dark outfit in the style of a monk's robe, with a sleeveless haori over it and a string of enormous prayer beads around his neck.

They naturally walked together onto the bluestone path leading back to the village.

The mountain air was much cooler than it had been by the hot spring, carrying the scent of vegetation and earth.

"Stone Breathing."

Gyomei suddenly spoke, breaking the silence as they walked.

"Because of those things in the past, my body became much stronger than an ordinary person's."

"Stone Breathing emphasizes protection and great strength. It suits my circumstances... reasonably well."

"Water Breathing."

Giyu gave a brief answer in turn.

He offered no further explanation, but Gyomei seemed to understand.

"I heard that you slew Lower Rank One by yourself, Giyu."

Gyomei "looked" ahead, a note of emotion in his voice.

"To possess such strength and accomplishments at so young an age is truly admirable."

"...Luck played a part."

Giyu's answer was much the same as always.

Gyomei listened quietly. Rather than growing angry as Shinjuro had, he heard in that simple answer the danger it implied, as well as Giyu's emphasis on "luck." It made him feel that this young Water Hashira was somewhat unusual in his simplicity.

"The Master gave me a new life."

Gyomei's voice grew solemn.

"So naturally, I must devote this life to fighting to kill every demon in the world and protect that glimmer of light. It is also... my promise to the children who passed away."

Giyu walked beside him, listening to his words.

He wasn't good at eloquent speeches, so he simply nodded and murmured:

"Mm."

He too was loyal to the Master, and he too swung his blade while carrying his longing for the dead.

Though he couldn't put his feelings of kinship with Gyomei's resolve into words, he deeply agreed with him.

They walked on, talking off and on along the way.

Gyomei did most of the talking, while Giyu occasionally replied.

Their topics ranged from insights into Breathing Styles to rumors of demons in certain places. Sometimes they simply commented on the surroundings of the Swordsmith Village.

Gyomei sensed in the young man beside him a composure beyond his years, as well as the gentleness and purity hidden beneath his difficulty with words.

Though he couldn't see, he could "hear" the directness and frankness in Giyu's words.

Giyu, in turn, sensed a mountain-like steadiness in the monk swordsman who had suffered such tragedy.

It was the strength of a heart that had transformed immense pain into the power to protect with unwavering resolve.

Gyomei was going elsewhere in the village to collect his new weapons:

A specially made broad axe and flail suited to his size and strength.

Giyu, meanwhile, was returning to the lodgings temporarily arranged for him.

At a fork in the road, the two stopped.

"Well then, Giyu, I'll take my leave here."

Gyomei pressed his palms together and bowed slightly.

"Mm."

Giyu nodded too, looking at Gyomei.

"Until we meet again, Mr. Himejima."

A gentle smile appeared on Gyomei's face. He turned and walked steadily toward the weapons workshop.

The enormous prayer beads swayed gently with his steps, knocking together with a low, rhythmic sound.

Giyu stood where he was, watching the tall yet reassuring figure disappear around a corner in the village.

The mountain breeze stirred his half-dry hair and white haori.

It suddenly seemed to him that having a senior like this in the Demon Slayer Corps was a good thing.