A moment later, a spark of clarity finally appeared in his bleary eyes.
That was right. Why care whether things were true or false? Why care whether they were real or illusory?
When the false is taken for true, the true becomes false; when nothing is taken as something, something becomes nothing.
"The me from my previous life is real, Zoldyck Roy is real, and Kamado Eiichiro in the Cognitive World is real too..."
"And all I need to do is focus on what's in front of me and cherish the people around me."
Roy's lips curled into that faint smile again. He got up and started dressing.
It was almost four. He couldn't skip his daily morning run. He'd treat it as a warm-up for practicing Sun Breathing.
That was right. The moment he woke from his dream, Roy had been delighted to find the name "Sun Breathing" on his panel.
It was just grayed out, with a note... He needed to bear "the weight of the sun" to activate it.
And yet, "the weight of the sun..."
Roy pulled on a tank top and shorts and gazed toward the horizon. The pale light of dawn seemed poised to tear through the darkness.
The scorching power it held would undoubtedly test his resolve.
He wasn't sure if he could endure it. He'd just have to try...
The Sun-Earring Boy took a deep breath, opened the door, and ran out.
Meanwhile, an old man was still sound asleep in a rocking chair, listening to a cartoon...
In a bedroom tucked into the darkness at the end of a corridor, a deathly pale face suddenly opened its eyes...
At the same time, in the master bedroom on the second floor... a man was roughly pinning a woman against the floor-to-ceiling window...
Everyone was busy exerting themselves, just as Roy never let up for even a moment.
From the top of the mountain to the bottom, then back up again, he quickly finished his daily five kilometers.
When he returned to his bedroom and looked into the distance, the brilliant dawn clouds accompanied the red sun as it rose above the horizon, carrying the ancient wildness of the world and boundless vitality...
Roy felt a stirring in his heart. He closed his eyes and began to practice Sun Breathing.
Unlike Tanjuro, this time he used Nen. Using Sun Breathing as his guide, he began to move his aura through his body.
Then, he felt a burning sensation!
It grew stronger and stronger. As he performed one movement after another—Waltz, Clear Blue Sky, Burning Sun Mirror— it swelled into a ball of fire, instantly setting Roy ablaze from head to toe.
It hurt... It hurt so much... The pain was like being roasted alive over a fire. Roy nearly passed out from it.
He barely managed to lean against the door, keeping himself from collapsing.
That was enough to show just how remarkable it was that, from the Warring States period to the Edo period, only one Tanjiro had appeared in a thousand years!
"I want this rotting era reduced to ashes..."
"I want sunlight to shine down and expose every sordid scheme..."
"I want to borrow the sun's true fire, burn away all darkness, and slay every demon..."
Somewhere in the haze, Roy, who was in so much pain that he was close to losing consciousness, seemed to hear someone murmuring in a dream. At some point, a figure had appeared in his pupils...
It was a swordsman carrying a flute.
His hair was deep red, and flame-like markings spread across his forehead... He stood quietly at the end of time, looking at Roy warmly. He smiled and said something that sounded like...
"Those who follow the Way to its end will arrive at the same destination by different paths."
"Brother, I told you not to worry about Breathing Styles being lost. You can see that now, can't you?"
Tsugikuni Yoriichi... That figure... He really looked like him...
Roy vaguely recognized him. Then his body tilted, and he slid down along the doorframe...
The unbearable heat faded away with it... Roy was finally free of it. He gasped for breath, utterly drained.
Thankfully, none of that suffering had been in vain.
The prompt on his panel offered him timely comfort.
[Prompt: Sun Breathing has been activated...] [Current Progress: Beginner (1/100)]
"So it finally... worked..."
Roy smiled. The red sun shone down, and the morning glow fell across his face. He couldn't help spreading his arms wide.
He savored the moment.
It was five in the morning. As the ancient clock in the corner chimed, the butler, Gotoh, pushed in a breakfast cart as usual to bring Roy his meal.
He habitually knocked on the door, but when he saw it was open, he found Roy sitting carelessly beside it.
Gotoh froze, then walked over and reached out to help him up.
At that moment, Roy opened his eyes. In an instant—
Gotoh felt a sharp pain in his eyes, as if he were looking at the sun or someone had pressed a laser pointer close to his face and shone it straight into his eyes. His vision blurred...
"Ah—"
A scream rang out...
After that, Roy's butler was changed from Gotoh to the muscular Tsubone.
"Is he all right?"
"The doctor said he's only temporarily blind. He'll recover in a few days."
"That's good."
Gotoh was eventually carried away for treatment...
After his morning training session, Roy ate lunch while listening to Tsubone report on his condition.
He speared a piece of steak and frowned. "Tell them to double his salary this month."
"There's no such precedent." The old butler crossed her hands in front of her and said expressionlessly, "He's a Zoldyck family dog. As long as he gets fed, that's enough."
"But, Young Master..."
Tsubone leaned over and stared at Roy. Her body, as huge as a gorilla's, completely engulfed him. She asked sternly, "The master told me to ask how Gotoh was injured."
The doctor's diagnosis was that his eyeballs had suffered an intense stimulus, causing a stress response that led to temporary blindness.
So what had caused it?
Silva wanted to know, and so did Tsubone, but... since Gotoh hadn't given him up, Roy had to respect his choice and show him respect.
So he slowly pulled out a napkin and wiped his mouth...
"I don't think I have any obligation, as his master, to explain myself to a dog..."
"You say Gotoh is a dog. Doesn't that make you one too?"
Tsubone nodded in agreement. "Of course I am too."
Then she changed tack. "But the master isn't."
"Then he can come ask me himself."
Roy pushed back his chair and stood up.
There was no point talking to someone who wouldn't listen. Roy had always respected butlers willing to die for the Zoldyck family, but he couldn't agree with the way they refused to treat people as people and insisted on seeing them as dogs.
He walked straight past Tsubone...
And also passed a demon whose eyes were hollow and lifeless...
Illumi seemed to have just returned from killing someone. A thick stench of blood still clung to him...
He walked toward Roy with his hands in his pockets, heading in the opposite direction, and was about to pass him too. But just as they brushed shoulders... Illumi suddenly stopped and glanced sideways at him. "A dog is a dog, and a person is a dog too."
"Killing a person is as easy as killing a dog."
"Is that so?" Roy gave a cold laugh, leaving Illumi with a figure that was not especially broad but still painfully conspicuous:
"Then congratulations, my dog of a little brother. You certainly know yourself well."
Illumi: "..."
With a swish—
He flashed his hand blade.
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