A pot of tea sat warming on the stove, its steam curling gently upward and lending the small wooden cabin a touch of homeliness...
Urokodaki Sakonji sat quietly on his knees and opened the "family letter," reading it carefully. The familiar "chicken-scratch" handwriting greeted him...
Giyu had always been sentimental, cold on the outside but warm within. He had a real talent for sword training; it was just that his handwriting left much to be desired...
"Master Urokodaki, I hope you're well."
"It's the year-end season, and my missions have kept me too busy to return home. Please visit Sabito, Makomo, and the rest of our senior and junior disciples on my behalf..."
"Tell them Giyu has never stopped improving. I've now slain 137 demons, so they can rest easy in the afterlife..."
In just a hundred or two hundred simple words, he had conveyed everything that had happened... Urokodaki Sakonji read to the end...
"Please take good care of yourself as well. I hope you continue to hone your skills... I must end this letter in haste, before I've said all I wish to. Giyu Tomioka..."
He closed the letter and sat in silence for a long while.
Shinsuke, Fukuda, and the others had followed Roy deep into Mount Sagiri. Sabito and Makomo stayed behind, watching the crow and quietly keeping the old man company.
"Giyu's done well. He's lived up to the title of Water Hashira." Sabito read the letter, having watched that... crybaby little turnip grow, step by step, into a pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps. He was filled with emotion.
"One hundred and thirty-seven demons, and one hundred and thirty-seven letters. Giyu misses Master so much..." Makomo nodded in agreement, then suddenly said, "Hey, do you think Master will tell Giyu about Eiichiro?"
The little