A sigh

Kanae smiled as she picked up the haori and went to find a needle and thread to mend it. Shinobu sheathed her blade, sat below the hall, and sighed as she gazed at the flowers. "Haruto..."

She hesitated, a trace of worry settling between her youthful brows. "If I use poison... won't it make me seem underhanded?"

"That's what you're worrying about?" Haruto raised his eyebrows and looked at her in puzzlement. "Underhanded? What's underhanded about using it to kill demons? Their bodies can keep regenerating. Isn't that underhanded?"

"I mean, compared to other swordsmen's techniques, I can only win through poison and speed..."

Haruto sat down beside her and rubbed his nose. "Do you know what things were like for me before?"

Shinobu turned toward him and shook her head.

"I started out learning Flame Breathing. I practiced from a book for two and a half years before I barely managed to pass the trial on Mount Fujikasane..."

Haruto told her about his past, right up to the moment he grasped Star Breathing. "The Stone Hashira, Mr. Himejima, said something back then. He said that even the strongest swordsman was like a pearl covered in dust if he hadn't found a Breathing Style and swordsmanship suited to him. What suits you is what makes you strongest. Breathing Styles used to fight demons aren't inherently superior or inferior."

"Haruto, what if you hadn't grasped Star Breathing back then?" Shinobu rubbed her eyes and propped up her chin. "Would you still have kept working as a demon slayer?"

"Maybe the Kakushi would've been a good place for me. You have no idea-every time someone carried me back to a village, it was either a young girl or some skinny guy, huffing and puffing the whole way... I was terrified they'd trip halfway there and send me flying." Haruto gestured at his own build. "I'd be different. I could carry anyone and still walk like the wind."

His joking helped ease the slight furrow in Shinobu's brow. She had been perceptive since childhood and knew that everything Haruto said was meant to reassure her, so she gave him a faint smile.

Before she could say anything, two figures swept across the sky.

The composed En and the snow-white Cang Kong landed one after the other on the newly planted cherry tree.

En glanced at Cang Kong. Seeing no intention of speaking, En opened with, "Mount..."

"Lower Rank Four, Nekomata, has been slain on Mount Kumotori! The demon's slayer was Giyu Tomioka, a Kinoe Slayer of the Demon Slayer Corps!" Cang Kong immediately cut in with a ringing cry.

"Giyu?" A smile had just risen to Haruto's face when something struck him as wrong. "Nekomata?"

Wasn't Lower Rank Four a plant manipulator who liked spraying blood sprouts?

"The assisting slayer was Sabito Urokodaki, a Kinoe Slayer of the Demon Slayer Corps! Sabito Urokodaki is at death's door and is being transported to the Butterfly Mansion! Please prepare to receive him!"

Cang Kong's next words instantly wiped the smile from Haruto's face. He looked stiffly at Shinobu Kocho, who immediately sprang up and went to prepare medicine with Kanae, who had rushed out.

"Hah... hah..."

Giyu Tomioka's chest heaved. His lungs had expanded to their limit, drawing in oxygen that his blood then carried to every bone and muscle in his body. Constant Total Concentration kept him sharply focused even as his whole body trembled.

Everything before him was blood-red. Blood running from the wound on his forehead stained his vision, making it difficult to see.

Had that monster before him, its back arched like a giant black cat, really once been human?

Or had Muzan caught some cat spirit somewhere and fed it blood to turn it into a demon?

"Giyu! Don't space out!"

Sabito's voice rang out to his left. Giyu jolted and rolled awkwardly to the right. A cat's tail grazed his cheek, leaving a burning sting.

Pull yourself together, Giyu Tomioka.

This wasn't an ordinary foul demon like the ones they usually encountered. It was a genuine member of the Twelve Kizuki!

He shot a quick glance to his left. Sabito was hardly in better shape. The Fox Mask he had worn had long since fallen off, and blood from the cuts the cat's tails had left on his face mingled with sweat, leaving him looking battered.

"Hah... hah..."

It was supposed to be the simplest patrol mission. How had it turned into this?

Giyu tightened his grip on his Nichirin Blade and repelled another incoming tail.

Strange... this Lower Rank Four was strange beyond belief!

It seemed utterly uninterested in the fight, as though it had no desire to stay tangled up with them. It wanted to leave, or perhaps confirm some piece of information here.

Fear? No, it hadn't shown the slightest hint of cowardice.

Only tension, urgency, and irritation.

It seemed desperate to leave, as if it had some mission to report on.

Giyu and Sabito exchanged a glance, each understanding what the other was thinking.

They couldn't let it get away!

A sharp gleam flashed through Sabito's eyes. He slipped his left hand behind his back and signaled to Giyu, then raised his blade and lunged at Nekomata.

Giyu's figure flickered and vanished without a trace, like a drop of water falling into the sea.

One feint, one true strike. One in the open, one in the shadows.

It was the very tactic Haruto and Sabito had used together to kill the Hand Demon!

Only today, the pair working together were fellow disciples with an even deeper understanding of each other, and Sabito had moved from the shadows into the open!

He clenched his back teeth, his eyes gleaming as azure ripples danced in his hands.

Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust!

The blade in his hands moved like ripples across water, thrusting swiftly at Nekomata's head from an angle. As the fastest technique in Water Breathing, it brought the blade within reach of Nekomata's neck in almost the blink of an eye!

The giant black cat let out a purring roar and stood upright, its body nearly two meters long.

It twisted at the waist, evading the fatal strike, then immediately stretched out its body and raked its sharp demonic claws across Sabito's chest. They not only tore through his orange-and-yellow tricolored haori, but also left claw wounds deep enough to expose bone!

The two thick tails behind Nekomata lashed out, swinging like iron clubs and slamming hard into Sabito's chest. Thud!

Crack... Sabito's chest caved in beneath the blow, and he crashed heavily to the ground.

"Water Breathing..."

Giyu's technique was ready, and Nekomata's unguarded neck lay right before him.

At that moment of certain death, every movement seemed to slow to a crawl.

His gaze swept over Sabito's caved-in chest, and he suddenly remembered a conversation they had shared.

"Haruto became a Hashira," Sabito said softly, watching the Kasugai Crow circling overhead.

"Yeah." Giyu nodded.

"Are you working toward fifty demons?"

Giyu paused, then gave another firm nod. "Yeah."

Sabito's smile was as gentle as ever. He reached out and patted Giyu's shoulder. "Keep it up."

"You can take it from me." The black-haired boy looked straight into his silver eyes. "You're the only one who can take it from me."

Anyone else would have bristled at such an arrogant statement.

But Sabito merely smiled. "There's only one Water Hashira position. If I take it, there won't be one left for you, you know."

"Being a Hashira isn't that important to me." Giyu rubbed his thumb over the cold tsuba. "Don't make me feel like I just picked the Water Hashira title up off the ground."

"Then... you'd better work hard." Sabito's eyes curved into a smile. "I'm not far off now."

Giyu's eyes locked onto Nekomata's neck, yet he found himself hesitating.

Did... he deserve this?

If he swung this blade, the position of Water Hashira would fall to him. But... did he deserve it?

Sabito had risked his life to draw the foul demon's attention, while he was like a thief, effortlessly snatching away the victory that belonged to Sabito...

Giyu Tomioka... could you really do that?

Giyu silently raised his head, his fingers turning white from the force of his grip.

"Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux."

The twisting water dragon severed Nekomata's head.

Giyu landed lightly beside Sabito, lowered his head, and let out a sigh.