When Geniuses Speak of Their Ordinariness

Humans, when adored, tread carefully to maintain their character.

They are unwilling to let those who admire them see their flaws.

After a long silence, Kokushibo spoke indifferently, "What is there about someone like me that is worth entrusting anything to?"

Yuko lowered her head to look at him and asked a question unrelated to the topic, "I know you hate Yoriichi, Older Brother, don't you?"

Hearing this, Kokushibo's eyes narrowed slightly, and he instinctively averted his gaze from Yuko's.

It was as if he had been stripped naked in front of Yuko, with no secrets whatsoever.

Yuko didn't seem to mind, and said in a gentle tone, "I'm actually very envious... no, I should say I'm so envious it's jealousy, jealous of Yoriichi's talent."

"That innate talent, no matter how hard others try to catch up, they can only gaze at it from afar."

Kokushibo's lips parted slightly, revealing a look of surprise on his face in front of Yuko for the first time.

This was Yuko's method of healing.

Step one: Help Kokushibo build self-esteem.

Step two: Let Kokushibo know that someone shared his feelings; they were both ordinary people bullied by the genius Yoriichi.

Some things are hard to bear alone, but if you can share them with someone, they won't feel as bad, especially if that person can empathize with you.

This is also why those you get along with well are often your classmates or colleagues.

Because you are on the same side.

It was only today that Kokushibo saw such a gentle side to his sister.

It was indeed because...

He gazed at Yuko for a moment, noticing the fine beads of cold sweat on her forehead.

Indeed... Yuko had been suppressing her pain throughout their fight.

Kokushibo felt an uncharacteristic pang of guilt.

Yuko took out the wooden flute she wore around her neck from her chest.

Kokushibo was momentarily stunned. She still carried it?

Yuko had never worn it around her neck before; she had always kept it in her bag.

This time, she had deliberately brought it to manipulate Kokushibo.

Yuko held the wooden flute and said with a smile, "Older Brother, please carry Yuko's dream with you and strive to catch up to Yoriichi."

"Cough cough... I'll cheer you on, Older Brother."

Then...

After I turn twenty-five, let's leave this world together.

Having lived another life, she was truly content.

Three more years passed after that.

Yoriichi felt that his Older Brother seemed to have changed.

Even though Older Brother still trained as hard as before, and nothing had changed from the past.

Yoriichi just felt that way for some inexplicable reason.

"I lost," Kokushibo sheathed his Nichirin Blade, calmly accepting his defeat.

Yoriichi said gently, "Older Brother's skills have improved again."

Seeing that they had finished sparring, Yuko waved at them. "Older Brother, come have some tea."

She poured the tea and distributed it to both of them.

Yoriichi took a sip and praised, "Yuko's tea-making has also improved."

Yuko rolled her eyes at him. "Brother Yoriichi, can't you say anything else?"

"It's always the same phrase."

Yoriichi smiled. "Are you feeling alright? The doctor told me to keep an eye on you and not let you run around wildly."

Yuko's forehead creased. "What kind of personality do I have in other people's eyes?"

Kokushibo drank his tea and said indifferently, "A monkey."

"???" Yuko looked at him with an expression of disbelief.

Kokushibo ignored her.

Watching the two playfully bicker, Yoriichi first smiled, then unconsciously saw the condition of Yuko's lungs through the Clear World. He couldn't help but lower his eyelids, filled with apology.

"I'm sorry, Yuko. I wish I had been there with you at that time."

Yuko blinked, then realized what he was talking about and smiled, shaking her head.

"That was my mission, I was just too careless."

"It's fine, I just feel the urge to cough sometimes. It doesn't affect my normal life."

After that, Yuko, who had difficulty using breathing techniques, retreated from the front lines of the Demon Slayer Corps and was responsible for logistical maintenance.

Occasionally guiding new recruits in swordsmanship also gave her a taste of being a teacher.

Hearing Yuko say this, Yoriichi felt a little more at ease.

Kokushibo, however, was unwilling to dwell on Yuko's illness and changed the subject, "More and more swordsmen are awakening the Markings, and the Demon Slayer Corps' strength is growing daily."

"Perhaps the war between humans and demons will end in our generation."

Yoriichi nodded, "Yes, the traces of demons have become much rarer recently."

Undoubtedly, the birth of breathing techniques and the awakening of the Markings had made the Demon Slayer Corps stronger than ever before, curbing the growth of demons.

The brothers maintained an optimistic outlook, but only Yuko fell silent upon hearing this.

More and more people in the Demon Slayer Corps awakened the Markings, and all the original Hashira were now marked.

Kokushibo, after awakening the Markings, quickly mastered the Scarlet Blade and the Clear World, becoming the second person after Yoriichi to master all three abilities.

Yuko, on the other hand, could only occasionally enter that transparent world, and it was unstable.

As for the Scarlet Blade, which stimulated the sun's energy in the Nichirin Blade through grip strength, even with the awakening of the Markings and Yuko's improved physical fitness, her grip strength was still insufficient to change the color of the Nichirin Blade.

She had completely fallen behind her two older brothers.

The brothers led the entire Demon Slayer Corps by a vast margin.

At that time, the three siblings stood on the back mountain, gazing into the distance.

"No one's strength can match ours. The inheritance of breathing techniques is simply despair-inducing."

"If this continues, the ultimate techniques forged through countless trials will be lost."

Unlike Kokushibo's worry, Yoriichi's expression remained calm. He smiled and said, "Brother, you think too highly of us."

"You and I are merely two passersby in the long history of humanity."

"An infant with far greater talent than you or I might be being born somewhere in the world right now."

"I'm sure they will eventually reach the same realm as you and I."

"There's no need to worry. We just need to let nature take its course and wait for the day when our lives fade."

After hearing these words, Kokushibo's heart, which had finally changed slightly because of Yuko, sank back into the mire.

Yoriichi, every time you smile, I feel incredibly disgusted.

When discussing the heavy topic of breathing techniques being on the verge of extinction, you smile with that bizarre optimism...

Yuko looked at her two brothers and opened her mouth, but ultimately couldn't say anything.

In fact, she had realized it long ago.

Yoriichi completely disregarded his brother's inner thoughts about him. Wasn't this a form of "indifference" that geniuses naturally possessed towards ordinary people?

When a genius spoke of his own ordinariness, how could those who chased after him remain calm?

This year, Yuko was twenty-three years old, and her two brothers were twenty-four.

A swordsman who awakened the Markings had died.

At first, everyone thought it was sudden death caused by overtraining.

But before long, another marked swordsman died suddenly, the day after his twenty-sixth birthday.

It wasn't until some of the original Hashira, who had awakened the Markings, also died from this cause that the Demon Slayer Corps took notice. They realized that only swordsmen who had awakened the Markings had died suddenly.

And they all had one thing in common.

They were over twenty-five years old.

The Markings were a way to borrow lifespan from heaven, an ability that advanced life. Those who activated the Markings would not live past twenty-five.

Words began to spread within the Demon Slayer Corps.