Watching from the woods

"Bear my children, then become my widow? Raise them all alone, only to lose them at this same age?"

Haruto shook his head. "Master, I couldn't do that to someone."

Godogawa was left speechless.

"Haruto, what did you and Mr. Godo talk about? Why does he look so angry?"

As they prepared to leave the Swordsmith Village, Shinobu leaned close to Haruto's ear and asked softly.

Haruto glanced at the silent, stern-faced Godogawa and shrugged. "Master isn't angry."

Godogawa was simply ashamed-ashamed that, at his age, he still couldn't see things as clearly as a seventeen-year-old boy.

The night before, Haruto had gone into the room and bowed before Goto Ryoji's ashes for the first time, both as Godogawa's apprentice and as a junior member of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Yet his grandfather Sōma and his father Yūsei had left behind no ashes. For fear of retaliation from demons, they didn't even have memorial tablets.

Learning about his family from Godogawa had left Haruto melancholy. The comments scrolling through his vision at the time had made it clear that the demon who had devoured his forebears was Daki, Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Kizuki, and that she was still active in Tokyo Prefecture.

After leaving the Swordsmith Village, he had spent so long roaming Tokyo Prefecture and its surroundings. Not being discovered and eaten had been a stroke of luck.

"Where are you planning to stay?" Haruto turned to ask the Kocho Sisters.

"We'll find somewhere in Tokyo Prefecture for now. The Demon Slayer Corps has provided us with a house nearby." Kanae stroked Shinobu's head. "I spent far too little time with Shinobu this past year, so I've decided not to leave her again. I'll take good care of her as she grows up."

"Sis~ I'm already a demon slayer. I don't need looking after~"

"Yes, yes, a twelve-year-old demon slayer. Our Shinobu really is a genius~"

"Big sis! Stop talking to me like you're humoring a little kid!"

Watching the sisters tease each other, Haruto's lips curved into a smile.

"About the wisteria poison, I've contacted a friend in Asakusa."

Haruto had sent Tamayo a letter, and her reply had been unequivocal: she was interested in taking part in anything that offered a chance to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.

"Is your friend a pharmacist too?"

"Yes, an exceptionally skilled pharmacist."

There was no need for Haruto to explain that Tamayo was a demon. They would find out naturally when they met her.

He wasn't worried about Kanae and Shinobu drawing their swords on Tamayo. After all, Kanae had learned swordsmanship with the hope of "redeeming demons." She would probably be happier than anyone to meet a demon who had suppressed her desire to eat people.

At the foot of Mount Sagiri, Genya was doing his physical training for the day alongside Sabito.

Giyu had injured his leg on his last mission, so all he could do now was sit on the wicker bed Haruto had once occupied and stare into space.

"Tighten your abdomen. Tense every muscle in your body as much as you can."

"Hah, hah..."

Genya gasped for breath, sweat pouring from practically every pore. Even the mohawk on his head was soaked.

His toes dug hard into the ground, and the log he held aloft wobbled precariously as his body trembled.

"Keep it up, Genya!" Sabito watched him with a cheerful smile. "Once the little bird on that branch goes home to find food, you can put it down~"

"The bird... hah... on the branch..." Genya's eyes bulged as he forced the words out of his throat like a man drawing his last breath. "Didn't you... hah... glue it to the tree this morning..."

"Aha, you noticed?" Sabito looked at the little bird Makomo had knitted from yarn, his smile deepening. "Then hold it up for another half hour!"

"Or, if you really can't keep going, put the log down. Don't push yourself too hard."

Giyu's words might be kind, but with that poker face and those dead-fish eyes... how could they sound like anything but mockery?

Genya, who had been ready to give up, clenched his aching jaws and held on for dear life. No matter what, he would last another half hour!

Giyu Tomioka turned an innocent look toward Sabito.

I really was telling him to take care of himself. Why is he training even harder now?

I'm going to die... I'm going to die...

Every muscle is screaming in pain, and my heart feels like it's going to leap out of my throat...

Genya blinked rapidly. His life had already begun flashing before his eyes.

Mom, my brother...

The people important to him flashed past his eyes, finally settling on his teacher's handsome, finely sculpted face.

"Hah... hah..." He wheezed harshly like a broken bellows.

"Hah... hah..." His teacher panted along with him, though with far more dignity.

Huh? Isn't this my life flashing before my eyes?

Haruto watched in amusement as Genya's vacant gaze slowly filled with shock. Then he reached up, gently lifted the not particularly heavy log, and tossed it onto the ground. "Hey, aren't you taking this too far? He's still so young!"

With the weight removed, his unceasing sweat soaked all his clothes like a stream, then pooled beneath his feet.

Genya gasped violently, his hands shaking so badly that he couldn't even hold the cup of water his teacher offered him.

So Haruto tipped the cup up and helped him drink. "Small sips. Swallow a little at a time, or it'll be bad for you."

After a few sips, Genya took the cup. Haruto put one hand on his hip and went over to tickle Sabito's belly as he continued training.

"Stop it! Stop it!"

Sabito hastily sprinted away with a much larger log on his shoulders, the white-haired boy chasing after him.

"I told you to look after my little apprentice! This is how you look after him?!"

Haruto jabbed Sabito's backside again and again with the sheath of his Nichirin Blade. "You nearly trained the poor kid senseless!"

"It was Giyu! We agreed to play good cop and bad cop-but he kept that stern face and made Genya feel like he couldn't back down!"

Giyu pressed his lips together, looking utterly innocent. "I really was speaking nicely."

Even that sentence sounded so flat. No wonder Genya had misunderstood.

As the boys horsed around, Haruto suddenly furrowed his brows and shot a glance up the mountain.

"What is it?" Giyu, who had been watching him, straightened and followed his gaze.

"It feels like something..." was watching them from the shadows.

Haruto tucked his Nichirin Blade back into his belt. "I'll go take a look."

"I'll come too." Sabito dropped his load and picked up the sword he had left to one side.

"One of them is exhausted, and the other has an injured leg. Stay here and look after them."

Haruto shook his head in refusal. Without another word, he set off running toward the direction from which he had sensed that watching presence.

Ever since so many swordsmen had settled on Mount Sagiri, no demon had been foolish enough to come near them.

And the watching presence he had just sensed... held no obvious malice. Rather than someone secretly plotting harm, it felt more like someone watching out of concern.

Haruto frowned.

Who could it be?