A string of shouted chants rang out over Mount Sagiri in the early morning.
Haruto pushed open the door, cracked one eye open in irritation, and groggily squatted beside the stream to brush his teeth.
A whole line of bare-chested swordsmen thundered off on their mountain run. They did this every morning, apparently a lingering side effect of Tengen Uzui's time here.
Haruto found it annoying. They wouldn't even let him sleep first thing in the morning.
Especially when he had just come off a "night shift," he wanted to kick every last one of these people, who were more punctual than an alarm clock, into the stream.
He squatted by the stream for a while with his toothbrush in his mouth. Sabito patted his shoulder and squatted beside him. "Did you fall asleep?"
"...No."
"You're practically drooling."
Haruto felt his chin, only to get a handful of toothpaste foam.
Beside him, Giyu silently yawned, his eyelids drooping.
Each of the three Hashira looked more exhausted than the last, a stark contrast to the swordsmen whose chants shook the mountain.
"So we ended up having to trouble Mr. Urokodaki for help after all." Haruto smiled sheepishly.
The old man wearing a Hantengu mask had been standing in the yard since early morning. He had also set up the simple traps on the mountain.
"Haaah." Sabito opened his mouth in a yawn too. "Well, it's hardly the first time Master Urokodaki has cleaned up our messes... How's Mr. Goto doing?"
"He sprained his ankle, but it's almost healed now."
Who would have imagined that a swordsmith in the Swordsmith Village could survive an encounter with an Upper Rank and escape with something as minor as a sprained ankle?
When Cang Kong had told him that Master Goto was injured, Haruto had