Moving to Mount Sagiri

Several days later, in the Swordsmith Village, Haruto stood calmly before a wooden training dummy, holding his newly forged Nichirin Blade.

Gyomei Himejima stood behind him. Though blind, he could perceive everything before him through his awareness.

"What pure power."

He pressed his palms together and took a deep breath. "It feels as though I'm surrounded by a vast sea of stars."

Before the dummy, Haruto held his blade and said softly, "There are no stars during the day."

Without stars during the day, he couldn't unleash his full strength.

"Demons come out at night," Himejima replied.

That was right. It didn't matter that there were no stars during the day, because demons only came out at night!

Haruto calmed his mind and took a deep breath.

"Star Breathing, First Form: Bright Tears."

Like a star that suddenly flickered between light and darkness, he vanished from where he stood and instantly appeared before the dummy.

His blue-violet blade, shimmering like an aurora and trailing specks of starlight, slashed forward-

The dummy's head flew high into the air. A few seconds later, it burst apart from within with an explosive crack.

The pale wooden head fell to the ground, leaving Gyomei Himejima momentarily stunned. What a powerful technique!

Combined with that eerily flickering footwork, the average demon wouldn't stand a chance against such a strike!

Haruto didn't stop. He planted a foot on the damaged dummy, twisted around, and slashed toward another one.

"Star Breathing, Second Form: Starlight Prairie Fire!"

His keen Nichirin Blade swept rapidly across the dummy. Starlight erupted from its limbs, then a gentle glow appeared over its chest. Boom!

Behind that seemingly gentle starlight lay damage the training dummy couldn't withstand. Its entire chest exploded, burning a gaping hole from its chest to its neck, and its head tumbled to the ground.

The last dummy...

Haruto turned his blade, gripping the hilt with both hands before his chest. Specks of starlight appeared behind him, and even the sky seemed to darken.

A hazy full moon appeared before him. Facing that beautiful nighttime scene, he lowered his voice and murmured:

"Star Breathing, Ninth Form: Moon-Banishment!"

A flash of steel crossed the bright moon. The dummy's head, which represented that moon, split gently apart, and a brilliant star appeared in its place.

A hundred stars would no longer pale before a single moon. The stars would no longer gather to exalt it. I would leave nothing between heaven and earth but stars!

Haruto's toes touched lightly down, and he sheathed his blade. His breathing hadn't even faltered-a vast improvement over when he used Flame Breathing.

Himejima seemed lost in thought.

"Mr. Stone Hashira?" Haruto scratched his white hair. "How strong is this Breathing Style?"

Himejima let out a long sigh. "Stronger than I ever expected, Haruto.

"Without a suitable Breathing Style, even the strongest swordsman is like a pearl covered in dust.

"Oh, right..."

He suddenly remembered something. "Ninth Form? Have you already mastered nine techniques?"

He truly was a genius swordsman. Not only had he grasped an entirely new Breathing Style overnight, he had even...

"No."

Haruto's eyes widened. "I might be a genius, but I'm not a freak!"

He simply thought Moon-Banishment was so powerful that giving it an early number wouldn't do it justice.

Including Third Form: Star-Counting and Dipper-Worship, which heightened his perception and accelerated his recovery, roughly putting together four techniques in one night was already an impressive feat.

Gyomei Himejima gave him a long, deep "look." "Perhaps one day... there really will be a Star Hashira among the nine Hashira."

Haruto chuckled softly.

Become a Hashira?

Would becoming a Hashira... keep that Ubuyashiki fellow from dying?

Would becoming a Hashira let ordinary people walk freely through the night?

Becoming a Hashira... was hardly the end of the road.

His goal had always been to end the dark era Muzan Kibutsuji had brought upon the world.

Only now, his chances had gone from utterly impossible to infinitesimally small.

Since he had to accept demon-slaying missions and frequently travel in and out of the Swordsmith Village, Haruto didn't want to keep troubling the Kakushi. He decided to find a place outside the village to use as a base.

"Take your pick of the Ubuyashiki Family's many houses. I'll charge you a reasonable rent."

That was what Kagaya Ubuyashiki had written in his letter. Just like when they were children, that fellow looked innocent on the surface but was scheming underneath.

Haruto curled his lip and drew a big turtle on his reply.

"The Rengoku Family has a spare room!"

Kyojuro was certainly enthusiastic, but Haruto worried he might upset Shinjuro again, so he politely declined.

That left only...

"Come over. We'll help you build a house. It won't take long."

Holding the letter, Haruto could almost see Sabito's gentle, flowing smile before him.

Mount Sagiri... aside from the thinner air, there didn't seem to be any drawbacks.

After helping him pack, Godogawa fell silent for a moment, then said, "That girl called Makomo..."

"Master-she's still a little girl!"

"You can get engaged first! There's nothing wrong with waiting until you're old enough to marry!"

"You haven't even met her!"

"I'm not some old-fashioned patriarch. As long as you like her, you don't need my approval!"

With a carrying basket on his back, Haruto plugged his ears. Even after a Kakushi had carried him some distance away, he could still hear Godogawa shouting in the distance, "Make sure you start a family soon!"

Makomo... I'd really only spoken to her a few times!

Mount Sagiri was fairly large. Rather than build right beside Urokodaki's home, Haruto put his little house somewhere neither too close nor too far away.

After all, the people in Urokodaki's household weren't his actual family. He didn't feel right getting too close and disturbing them.

He only wanted to ask Mr. Urokodaki to guide his training now and then. The man was a professional trainer, after all.

But things seemed to turn out a little differently from what Haruto had expected.

On the first night after his house was finished, Haruto fell silent as he looked at Sabito and Giyu, who had arrived carrying their bedding.

What was this supposed to mean?

So we'd built a boys' dormitory?

I hadn't come to join this family (scratch that). They'd come to join mine?

Sabito recalled what his teacher had told him earlier. "Three people together are safer. At least no one will have a demon tear open his belly and eat him in his sleep."

He shook his head, smiled, and spread his bedding on the floor.

"Mr. Urokodaki said that since you want him to teach you, we'll need to keep the same schedule."

"We go up the mountain to train at six every morning and have to get back to Urokodaki's house before twelve. Otherwise, we don't get lunch."

Giyu remained as expressionless as ever, but he couldn't quite suppress the excitement in his voice.

"We gave our room to Makomo. She got such a big room for nothing, so why did she still seem a little unhappy?"

"Stupid Sabito!"

The girl with long, dark green hair gazed toward the little wooden house in the distance, her face scrunched up and her lips pushed into a pronounced pout.

Having picked up Makomo's emotions through his sense of smell, Sakonji Urokodaki was puzzled too.

Yes, she'd gotten such a big room for nothing. Why did she still seem a little unhappy?