Giyu Tomioka Arrives-The Brothers Are Finally Reunited

A month for a staff, a year for a knife, a lifetime for a spear... Apart from long weapons which require lifelong practice, the knife, as the "commander of all weapons," also requires years to master.

Night fell, Giyu Tomioka, dressed in a red and yellow-green striped haori, rushed out into the Nichirin Sword, one hand gripping his Nichirin Blade tightly, recalling the letter his master Urokodaki Sakonji, had written to their Master.

The anticipation and trepidation in my heart grew stronger as I approached Mount Sagiri.

Unfortunately, as Master mentioned in his letter, his new junior disciple hadn't yet begun learning the Breathing Style, otherwise...

Giyu Tomioka felt that this "test" would give him a good chance to get his hands dirty.

"Hiss... Huff..." Inhaling and exhaling... Giyu Tomioka had been driving home in "Total Concentration Focus" mode. After nearly two more hours, he passed through the town and saw Mount Sagiri in the distance.

In the Yamanaka Clan, there is a wooden house where he has people he cares about; deep in the forest, there are several families in formal attire, where his fellow disciples live.

He exhaled a puff of white breath. As he drew closer, he adjusted his breathing, slowed his pace, and, with a complex and indescribable excitement, began his ascent up the mountain. By the moonlight, he could see a Small Wooden Cabin standing quietly in a clearing in the distance.

A single lamp flickered dimly in the wooden cabin, casting a yellowish glow.

Through the paper window, one could vaguely see an old figure, leaning against the shore, writing something, or perhaps waiting for someone.

Giyu Tomioka took a deep breath, quieted his footsteps, and slowly walked over. A gust of cold wind blew in, lifting a corner of the paper window, and then... a kind smile appeared on his face...

"Master, Brother Giyu is back!" Makomo wrote a line of small characters on the wooden table with her brush. Without her prompting, Urokodaki Sakonji Sakonji's keen sense of smell had already caught the scent of Giyu Tomioka through the mountain breeze. The old man looked at his beloved disciple through the corner of the window. The former smiled kindly, while the latter nodded slightly, his eyes shimmering with light.

"Shh... Eiichiro is still sleeping." Urokodaki Sakonji quietly opened the door and let Giyu Tomioka in.

In early spring, the snow had not yet melted completely, so the kang (a heated brick bed) was still burning indoors.

Old Water Hashira seemed to have anticipated that Giyu Tomioka would arrive that night, as he had already set up the kotatsu, warmed a pot of tea, poured a cup, and handed it over...

Giyu Tomioka took a sip, and it tasted familiar. Most of the fatigue from his journey disappeared. He then looked up at a corner of the heated floor, where a Sun-Earring Boy was lying quietly.

He rested his hands flat on his lower abdomen, his breathing steady, his sleeping face peaceful. His fiery red hair shone brightly under the lamplight, like flames, even more so than Kyojuro's "fire" hair. For some inexplicable reason... Giyu Tomioka had a bizarre thought... perhaps the Sun-Earring Boy was more suited to practicing "Flame Breathing" than the Rengoku Family...

And once this thought appeared, it seemed to take root in Giyu's mind, refusing to leave.

"You see him?" Urokodaki Sakonji noticed Giyu Tomioka's gaze, and glanced at Roy with a smile, saying, "That's Eiichiro."

"Your junior brother."

Giyu Tomioka remained silent.

Urokodaki Sakonji knew he was a cool and aloof person. He took a quilt from a wooden cabinet and spread it out. It was the same set that Sakonji had slept in years ago. He bent down and smoothed out the wrinkles, saying, "Karasu came back late. I didn't know you were coming back, so I didn't have time to air it out. You'll have to make do for now. Tomorrow at noon, when the sun is stronger, I'll take it out to air it out."

"As for Sabito's set, it was already given to Eiichiro a while ago."

Giyu Tomioka sniffed, then silently stood up and said, "I'll go pay my respects to my senior brothers and sisters first."

Just as he set off, before he even reached the door, Urokodaki Sakonji softly called out to him, "No need."

The old man made the bed, looked around, and said kindly, "They're all here; there's no need to go far away."

Giyu Tomioka paused, "?"

Turning around abruptly, he met his master's approving gaze. Just then, the paper window slammed shut, and gusts of eerie wind swept through the small wooden house. One of the gusts seemed to have used too much force and was caught and beaten up by another gust of wind.

"Fukuda, what are you trying to do?"

"I told you to keep your voice down, don't disturb Eiichiro!"

"I was just so excited to see Brother Giyu..."

"Who wouldn't be excited? It's ridiculous of you to be making such a racket!"

"Yes, yes, yes... it's all my fault... I'm sorry, okay?"

Shinsuke lowered the wind speed and circled around Giyu Tomioka... Giyu frowned, then felt a weight on his shoulder—it was his master.

"Come here." Urokodaki Sakonji patted Giyu Tomioka on the shoulder and led him to the table.

Surprisingly... the brush flew up automatically, picked up the brush, and wrote on the paper that had been laid out on the table beforehand, "Brother Giyu, welcome home, I am Makomo."

Then... "Brother Giyu, you're finally back! It's me, Shinsuke."

Then... "I am Fukuda... I am Shimizu... I am Watanabe... I am... Yagiku..."

Lines of small print, names both familiar and unfamiliar, flooded his vision, Giyu Tomioka's body trembled!

He gripped the edge of the table with both hands, buried his head, took a deep breath, and then looked up, his eyes red and trembling, and asked, "Senior Brother Sabito, are you here too?"

With a "whoosh," a corner of the paper was lifted, revealing a sentence in the blank space. "I'm here."

"Welcome home, Giyu."

Seito smiled as she looked at the Sun-Earring Boy. A year had passed, and the Sun-Earring Boy had grown taller... He was also a bit darker and more tired. Knowing his nature, she figured he must have traveled through the night, enduring wind and rain without a care. Finally, she added a sentence to the paper, "You've worked hard."

For some reason, tears welled up in his eyes on their own. Giyu Tomioka covered his mouth, tilted his head back, and noticed two tear tracks creeping onto his cool cheeks. He wiped them away, they wet again, wet again, he wiped them away again—a cycle that seemed endless...

Seito jokingly wrote on the table, "Still like a little crybaby when you were a child."

Finally, he stopped crying and started to smile.

There was a time when Giyu Tomioka always thought that his master must be very lonely all these years... Now it seems that with his fellow disciples by his side... even if he dies in battle in the future, he won't have to worry anymore.

very nice...

Sun-Earring Boy's emotions come and go quickly.

Under the oil lamp, Giyu Tomioka wanted to seize this precious opportunity to talk more with Seito Makomo, Shinsuke Fukuda, and the others, and catch up with them.

My head sank, and when I lifted my chin, I saw...

Just like when he was a child, Urokodaki Sakonji patted his head and looked at him kindly, saying, "You've been traveling for days, go to sleep now."

"Tomorrow morning, I'll have Eiichiro introduce you to your fellow disciples."

Giyu Tomioka was taken aback:

Can you still see it?