The next morning, at dawn.
Kujo Tachibana got up early and started jogging.
But every time he ran for a while, he had to stop and rest, panting heavily.
After more than ten years of training and strengthening his body with Total Concentration, Kujo Tachibana wasn't physically tired.
The problem was that his damaged lungs—specifically, his right lung—had almost completely stopped working.
As a result, even the slightest exertion left him short of oxygen.
His hands and feet gradually grew weak, and his head began to spin...
If his body remained in this "oxygen-deprived" state for too long, it would slowly deteriorate until he died.
"Why did it have to be my lungs?!"
"Why couldn't I have lost an arm or a leg instead?!"
Kujo Tachibana braced his hands on his knees and panted heavily, letting out a series of ragged "huff... gasp..." sounds that made anyone who heard them go pale.
They sounded so much like the gasps of a dying man.
The warnings his body sent him forced him to stop.
But when Kujo Tachibana thought of how his actions might drag humanity into an abyss of eternal darkness, he couldn't bring himself to stop.
He had to reclaim his strength!
He had to grow stronger!
Until he killed Muzan and Kokushibo!
"Breathe... in... out..."
Kujo Tachibana forced himself to regulate his breathing and used Thunder Breathing, a technique he had once mastered.
The next moment, a tearing pain surged through his right lung. His vision went black, and he collapsed.
"Master!"
Maekawa Hirosuke rushed to the door of Ubuyashiki Kagaya's room and shouted in a panic.
"Master, the Rumble Hashira is in critical condition!"
"Miss Tamayo is trying to save him right now!"
"What!" Ubuyashiki Kagaya hurried out of the room.
He looked at Maekawa Hirosuke and asked urgently, "What happened?"
Maekawa Hirosuke lowered his head and said sorrowfully, "A Corps member found the Rumble Hashira exercising by the roadside this morning."
"Not long afterward, the Rumble Hashira collapsed..."
Ubuyashiki Kagaya's gaze sharpened. He had a feeling Tachibana knew everything!
"Alas!" Ubuyashiki Kagaya sighed. He had known he couldn't keep this from Tachibana, but he hadn't expected him to find out so soon.
Kujo Tachibana slowly opened his eyes. The sight of the room full of people was strangely familiar. Once again, he found himself looking at a scene like the one he'd seen before.
He gave a wry smile. It was the same room, the same bed. He, Kujo Tachibana, had ended up back here again.
Seeing that Kujo Tachibana had awakened, Tamayo let out a sigh of relief and chided him, "Mr. Kujo, you really are reckless."
"Did you take everything I said as a doctor and throw it out the window?"
"Mr. Kujo, let me remind you again: you absolutely must not force yourself to use Breathing Styles."
"Your lungs are barely managing the exertion of your daily activities as it is."
"If you hadn't collapsed so close to my home, I'd be preparing your funeral right now."
Hearing Dr. Tamayo's words, Kujo Tachibana closed his eyes, his expression pained.
How could he not know all this?
But if he couldn't use a Breathing Style, what else could he rely on to make up for the mistakes he'd made?
"Tachibana, do you already know?" Ubuyashiki Kagaya asked, looking at the white-haired boy on the bed with sympathy.
Kujo Tachibana didn't dare open his eyes to look at them. He simply nodded.
Ubuyashiki Kagaya smiled gently and said, "Tachibana, do you think that even if we don't say it aloud, we secretly blame you?"
"Blame you for failing to kill Kokushibo and instead bringing a new Demon King into the world?"
"And now that you have no way to solve this problem, have you chosen to escape through an act that's practically suicide?"
"Tachibana, if that's what you think, then you're underestimating the Demon Slayer Corps! And you're underestimating me, Ubuyashiki Kagaya!"
"Most importantly, you're underestimating yourself!"
"You couldn't be more wrong!"
By this point, Ubuyashiki Kagaya's voice had grown unusually stern.
"What do you think the Demon Slayer Corps is? What do you think the Ubuyashiki Family is?"
"For a thousand years, we've fought demons with nothing but our mortal bodies!"
"We've never relied on a moment's courage alone. Even if our generation can't destroy the demons,"
"we'll pass our will on to the next generation, and the one after that. In the end, they'll achieve the goal we've shared for a thousand years."
"Since the Demon Slayer Corps was founded a thousand years ago, we've hit rock bottom countless times. At our lowest, we didn't have a single Hashira-level member left."
"But did the swordsmen who remained give up?"
"If they'd been like you, the Demon Slayer Corps would have vanished into the pages of history long ago!"
"Then we might as well have handed the world over to the demons!"
Kujo Tachibana opened his eyes and looked at Ubuyashiki Kagaya, his expression conflicted.
He had to admit, Ubuyashiki Kagaya's words were inspiring.
But his situation wasn't quite the same...
Tachibana knew how this world was supposed to unfold in the future. His generation could have achieved the Demon Slayer Corps' goal, shared for a thousand years.
But because he had interfered, this world had changed completely.
Could they still achieve that goal in the future?
Even if they could, would that future still be the one he remembered?
Or would it be a much more distant future?
How many more innocent people and swordsmen would have to die along the way?
Every hardship and obstacle that arose, every innocent soul lost along the way—all of it should be borne by him, Kujo Tachibana!
Could he bear that burden?
Such crushing guilt was enough to break anyone.
At that moment, Kujo Tachibana's state of mind was much like Yoriichi Tsugikuni's after he let Muzan escape.
Seeing Kujo Tachibana's expression darken again, Ubuyashiki Kagaya furrowed his brow. After thinking for a moment, he slowly asked, "Tachibana, do you know when Breathing Styles were created?"
"It was during the Sengoku period, more than three hundred years ago!"
"Before that, when Breathing Styles didn't exist, did the members of the Demon Slayer Corps simply stop hunting demons?"
"Tachibana, I'm not denying the importance of Breathing Styles. But you have to understand that it's people themselves who are powerful—not some Breathing Style."
"Just look at the man who created the Breathing Styles: Yoriichi Tsugikuni!"
"If he could create Breathing Styles from nothing, why can't you find your own path?"
"Find a power that truly belongs to you!"
Ubuyashiki Kagaya's words were like a heavy hammer, pounding against Kujo Tachibana's heart.
That was right!
It was people themselves who were powerful—not Breathing Styles!
And Kujo Tachibana was the only person in this world—
a person who carried the knowledge and culture of two worlds.
With the wisdom of both worlds, was it really impossible to find a way to overcome the problem he faced?
No! It had to be possible!
He had to find a power that truly belonged to him!
Before you continue