"It's still a little short."
Giyu flipped his wrist and sheathed his Nichirin Blade.
Looking at Kanae was leaning on a knife, bent over, and breathing heavily, he shook his head:
"Just now, in that instant, you had already touched the threshold of Transparent World, but because your subconscious knew I wouldn't really kill you, you lacked that final moment of enlightenment."
"Ten-minute break, then we'll try again!"
"Huff... huff... again?!"
Kanae looked up at her husband, who became utterly ruthless once he got into character, wiped the sweat from her face with a wry smile, and immediately turned to her younger sister under the parasol, casting a pleading look for help.
"Shinobu! You're still sitting there leisurely drinking your plum juice! Hurry up and help your sister fight!"
"Mr. Giyu isn't giving any swordsmanship pointers at all; he just wants to exhaust me so much before dinner that I'm collapsed in the yard and carried back to my room! We're sisters; you can't just stand by and watch me die!"
I heard my older sister calling out.
Shinobu Kocho, sitting in the wicker chair, didn't stand up. Instead, she pulled her little feet back into the chair, hugged the plum juice in her hands, and shook her head vigorously like a rattle drum.
"Tameyo~ I don't want to go down there and get beaten up!"
Shinobu stuck out her tongue and refused with a righteous indignation:
"I already experienced Mr. Giyu's power firsthand last night, and my back is still so sore I can't straighten up!"
"It's only fair that you take on all the training today, sister!"
"Besides, Mr. Giyu was only doing it for your own good, sister~"
"After all, unlike me, you can't hide in the shadows and ambush people. You're a frontal assault type of Flower Hashira!"
"If you don't quickly comprehend the 'Transparent World,' and then go to the battlefield and hold Giyu. Giyu back, what if he thinks you're a weakling and won't choose you for the night anymore?"
"You heartless Shinobu!"
Kanae puffed out her cheeks in anger, pointed at her younger sister, and laughed as she scolded:
"Who was it that grabbed my sleeve and said we'd share the good times and the bad?"
"But as soon as night falls, you rush out faster than anyone else, and once you get to the training ground, you slip and slide like a rabbit!"
"Mr. Giyu! Look at her arrogant attitude! I suggest you give her a good beating for a few hours!"
Standing in the center of the field, Giyu Tomioka actually turned his head after hearing his first wife's suggestion, and looked the petite Shinobu Kocho up and down with his lifeless, expressionless eyes.
A full two seconds passed.
"Just endure it, no need to practice."
"She's too short, and her muscle fibers are naturally weak; she doesn't even have the strength to cut off Lower Rank demon's neck!"
"Letting her practice 'Transparent World' is a complete waste of her energy and my time."
"If she just eats more and practices her escape skills, and can run back to me for help immediately if she encounters a ghost she can't defeat, she'll already be doing a great job."
Click!
Under the parasol, Shinobu Kocho, who had been watching the show with her legs Shinobu Kocho, suddenly bit the bamboo straw in her hand flat!
Too short?!
Boom--!
Shinobu instantly flew into a rage, her sweet and gentle wifely smile instantly transforming into a vicious, almost manipulative, expression:
"... Huh?! Giyu Tomioka! Try repeating that sentence again?!"
Who do you think you are?!
"If your dinner tonight doesn't have ten pounds of laxatives, I'll write my name Shinobu Kocho, backwards!!"
At the same time,
On the wisteria tree above their heads.
Another fierce battle belonging to the world of hairy animals is also in full swing!
On a tree branch, two enormous crows stood facing each other.
The one on the left, with its glossy black feathers and a delicate pinkish-green bow around its neck, is none other than Flower Hashira Kanae Kocho's personal Kasugai Crow, Xiao Cui.
The one on the right... well, the art style is a bit abstract!
That was an old crow, quite old, with even a slight receding hairline on its head— Kasugai Crow, the companion Kanzaburo of Giyu Tomioka!
In the past, Kanzaburo, due to his advanced age and failing eyesight, would often fly in the wrong direction when relaying orders, or forget the lines his Master had given him halfway through his flight. He was often disliked by Giyu Tomioka, and would spend his days huddled on a tree branch, trembling with fear, afraid that one day his master would catch him and stew him with radishes.
But today!
This old man has truly experienced a second spring in his life!
"Hahaha! Xiao Cui! Did you see that?!"
Kanzaburo stretched out his wings and pointed at Giyu Tomioka, who was displaying great prowess in the training ground below, boasting:
"Back when Giyu first joined the Demon Slayer Corps, he was just a clueless greenhorn!"
"It's all thanks to me, the old man, who guided him day and night and gave him ideological and political education, that he's been molded into the invincible figure he is today!"
"What do I call this? This is what they call 'a great teacher produces a great student'!"
The mother crow, Xiao Cui, across from them, twitched her eyes in disdain and fanned the air in front of her.
"Hey! You shameless old codger, Kanzaburo! Stop patting yourself on the back in Kanzaburo daylight!"
"Who in the entire Crow Realm doesn't know your background?"
"You're just an old, senile crow who can't even tell east from west, and who keeps crashing into trees while delivering messages!"
"Lord Water Hashira's swordsmanship is unparalleled, but what does that have to do with you?!"
Having his secret exposed, Kanzaburo blushed deeply and fluttered about on the tree branch.
"Nonsense! Slander! This is blatant jealousy!"
"That's called feigning ignorance! It was to test Giyu's survival skills in the wild! And Xiao Cui, what do you know!"
Kanzaburo tilted his head back, revealing his extremely inflated, nouveau riche ego:
"As the saying goes, 'The master is noble, the crow is glorious!'"
"According to the rules of human society, my son Giyu is now the head of the Butterfly Mansion, and as Giyu's Kasugai Crow, I am now the boss of the crow world!"
"Come, come, Xiao Cui, don't be so polite with me, quickly call out to the heavens!"
"If you can make this old man happy, I'll go to the vegetable garden in the backyard tonight and dig up two of the fattest earthworms for you as a midnight snack!"
"I'll eat you, you big-headed devil! You shameless old crow! I'll peck the last three feathers off your head!!"
"Gahhh! A gentleman uses words, not fists! Why are you getting so angry?!"
Two crows perched on a treetop, talking back and forth, then suddenly they were locked in a fierce fight, pecking at each other and sending feathers flying, their cawing echoing throughout half the courtyard.