"What are you doing?"
"Hugging a tree."
"What for?"
"Hugging a tree."
A thick vein bulged on Illumi's smooth forehead. He simply closed his eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.
It was midday. The sun was harsh, but one Zoldyck brother had a tree to shade him, while the other had a parasol to keep him cool. They weren't hot... though the sight was still rather strange.
"Milluki, Young Master, slow down."
Just then, a chubby little boy came toddling after a butterfly on his short legs, with a panting butler close behind him.
The three- or four-year-old scrambled around as if he had boundless energy. Maybe it was because he'd eaten a butterfly once before and found it pretty tasty... Milluki crept up carefully, then launched into a splendid "Mount Tai Press"...
He dove forward, crushing the butterfly beneath him, grabbed it, and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Chew... chew..."
Green juice trickled from the corners of his mouth.
Milluki raised his head with satisfaction, only to discover... there was someone stuck to the tree, and someone else buried in a hole. Both looked a little familiar...
The terms "big brother" and "second brother" clearly didn't exist in the Zoldyck family.
The chubby boy got up from the ground, crouched beside the hole to peer at Illumi, then circled around to the tree to take a look at Roy... He pulled down his pants, exposed his little bird, and started peeing...
Roy furrowed his brow and glared down at him. Milluki looked up and met his gaze without fear. He thrust his hips forward, nearly spraying Roy...
Illumi saw this and his lips twitched violently, as if he were taking pleasure in Roy's misfortune...
But then Milluki heard a noise and turned around curiously... His steaming little-boy pee poured right over Illumi's head.
This time, he didn't even have to thrust his hips. Milluki let out a contented little moan.
Unfortunately, the very next second, before he could pull up his pants, someone grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.
His little bird dangled helplessly in the open air...
It turned out Illumi had climbed out of the hole.
"You're three now. You can start training. Why not begin with electric shocks?"
Illumi stalked away with Milluki dangling from his hand like a fat cat, his face dark with anger... Roy didn't even need to look to know what he was planning.
He promptly abandoned the cypress and went to hug a willow instead.
The result of a child eating random things was foul-smelling pee and a fiery temper, just like Illumi's right now, his anger flaring higher by the second.
"Calm your mind..."
"Don't ask about things that aren't your business..."
"Control your breathing..."
He repeated to himself...
"I am a tree... I am a tree..."
Dazed and half-asleep, Roy soon drifted off again with his cheek against the trunk...
"Nii-san... Nii-san..." This time, he thought he heard someone calling him.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the familiar Snow Country.
He shivered from the cold on the spot.
"Out of the fiery prison and straight into an ice cellar"—that was about the size of it.
Tanjiro held a pot of hot tea and gave him a sip, then said with concern, "Nii-san... it's already dark. We should head back."
The warmth flowed into his stomach, and Roy finally began to feel warmer. He glanced at the sky. Night had fallen, and without the snow reflecting the light, he might not have been able to see his own hand in front of him.
It seemed he really had hugged that tree and slept for a full two or three hours.
It hadn't done much good, except... he'd nearly frozen into an ice sculpture.
"Let's go."
They trudged through the snow, one step sinking deeper than the last.
Roy didn't insist on staying. He led Tanjiro toward Urokodaki Sakonji's cabin.
In the forest behind them, a few scattered figures followed. Now and then, eerie howls mingled with the cold wind...
"The difficult part of a Breathing Style lies in those two words: 'breathing.'"
"His master had Roy hug a tree right off the bat instead of practicing with a sword. That shows how much he values his potential."
"You don't say. If you'd passed the test without taking half an hour back then, the master would've valued you too."
Shu and Fukuda had started bickering again.
When they were alive, they'd been close fellow disciples. Now that they were dead, they had nothing else to do but pass the time this way.
On a tall birch behind them, Sabito sat with Makomo, silently watching...
After this night, the Kamado brothers were destined to part.
"Father's in poor health... the family needs someone to shoulder the burden... The money from selling the charcoal, the clothes, the candy—all of it needs to be brought home..."
Tanjiro followed behind Roy with the teapot in his hands. He knew all too well that he had to leave first thing tomorrow morning.
He was a sensible boy who had learned to read people's faces from a young age. He understood that after Roy became Urokodaki Sakonji's disciple, he had no plans to leave Mount Sagiri anytime soon, so he hadn't stubbornly clung to him or insisted on staying.
"Our family needs you, and it needs me too. I'll come back and visit from time to time."
The cabin up ahead already had its lights on.
As if he'd seen through Tanjiro's thoughts, Roy stopped and turned to him with a smile. "I'll put together a training plan tonight for you to take home and practice."
"I'll come back every week to check your progress."
"If you slack off, don't blame me for beating your backside black and blue."
"I promise I'll get it done!" Tanjiro declared firmly...
Roy patted him on the shoulder. "Tell Father I haven't forgotten my promise. Ask him and Mother to take good care of their health."
"I understand." Tanjiro's eyes grew hot. He drew a breath. "Our family needs me, and the world needs you."
Roy was taken aback. "Who told you that?"
He didn't think Tanjiro could have come up with something like that himself.
"Father did."
"He said Nii-san has big ambitions, so you shouldn't stay in the mountains. You should go out into the wide world and make your way, see what's out there."
"He also said he's held you back, held the family back, and that you shouldn't feel tied down. You should go and follow your own path."
A gust of cold wind swept by, stirring the boy's bangs...
Roy touched his sun earrings and gazed toward home, standing there in silence for a long time.
There were so many things he wanted to say, and yet he couldn't think of a thing. In the end, all that came out was, "I will..." The next morning, he watched Tanjiro leave.
"Are you in such a hurry?" Urokodaki Sakonji came to Roy's side. From a distance, he watched Tanjiro, carrying a basket on his back, look back every few steps and wave at them. He said calmly, "A person has twelve shichen in a day. Take away the time spent eating, drinking, relieving yourself, and sleeping, and you have less than eight hours to train."
"No matter how eager you are, you can't escape that rule."
Urokodaki Sakonji was right. People weren't machines. They needed rest, and "sleeping" made up a large part of that rest.
But... he didn't know that—
Roy's day could be twenty-four hours long... By day, he could train at home; at night, he could enter deep sleep and come to Mount Sagiri to hug a tree...
So...
"Even the rules can be wrong sometimes, Master..."
"Maybe I'll grasp the secrets of breathing even faster than you."
Tanjiro's figure disappeared from view...
Roy turned to Urokodaki Sakonji with a smile, then walked into the mist-shrouded forest...
Urokodaki Sakonji's face was hidden behind his Tengu Mask. He watched Roy leave in silence for a long while, then let out a chuckle. "Then I'll be waiting to see."
Before you continue