A special body

Inside the wooden cabin at the foot of the mountain, Nezuko lay off to one side, sleeping soundly. Urokodaki and Chinatsu sat facing each other, the atmosphere a little awkward.

"Girl, could you take your clothes off?"

"Huh?"

Even though Chinatsu had prepared herself, those words still made her heart lurch, and the corner of her mouth twitched.

Old man Urokodaki, I mean... but... what are you...

"Do you want to look at my wounds? This should be enough, right?" Naturally, Chinatsu did not think Urokodaki was leering at her or planning to make a move on her. She pulled down one corner of her clothing slightly, baring one shoulder and revealing a conspicuous wound that extended beneath the fabric.

Behind his mask, Urokodaki's eyes trembled slightly. Although he had roughly guessed how badly the girl before him was injured, this wound was far too severe.

An ordinary person with an injury like this probably would not even have been able to get out of bed. They should have seemed much weaker, too.

Urokodaki continued examining the wound. To his surprise, he felt that it already showed faint signs of healing on its own.

"Incredible. Incredible. Girl, your wound seems to be healing itself already. Before long, it should heal completely. It might not even leave a scar... This kind of regenerative ability is absolutely beyond what a human can achieve."

"So?"

"I suspect that, like your younger sister Nezuko, your body may have undergone some unusual change. You don't fear sunlight. If you don't have an overwhelming craving for blood or humans, then this change is simply too..."

Urokodaki did not continue, because he felt he was on the verge of losing his composure.

But he could hardly be blamed. After all, a situation like this was truly rare. Demons gained powerful abilities beyond those of humans, but the price was an unbearable thirst for blood and being reduced to ashes in sunlight.

Yet the girl before him possessed greater regenerative abilities than a human without fearing sunlight. She did not seem to have a demon's thirst for blood, either. This change could practically be called "evolution."

Humans had fought demons for a thousand years, and demons had always held the advantage. That was because the wounds demons inflicted on humans were severe or even fatal, while the damage humans inflicted on demons healed rapidly. Even after defeating a demon, a gravely wounded member of the Demon Slayer Corps might well have to retire, or even die.

If this truly was evolution, and it could be extended to the entire Demon Slayer Corps, perhaps it could reverse the disadvantage they had faced against demons for the past several centuries.

Of course, if this evolution was brought about through demon blood, many members of the Demon Slayer Corps would surely reject it. It still required careful consideration...

Although Urokodaki wore a mask, Chinatsu could imagine what expression he probably had beneath it.

Her body really was strange. Her wounds were healing themselves, the pain was barely noticeable, she did not fear sunlight, and she had no thirst for blood whatsoever. Although she still found it difficult to move as freely as an ordinary person, Chinatsu had a peculiar feeling that this seemingly frail body might conceal "power" beyond anything she could imagine.

A few hours later.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Footsteps sounded outside the cabin. The door slid open, and Tanjiro came in, gasping for breath. Drops of blood ran down the hardheaded boy's forehead.

"I... I'm back..."

After speaking, Tanjiro weakly collapsed onto the cabin floor. Urokodaki turned to look at him, then glanced out the window to judge the time.

What a surprise. I never expected him to pass the test so quickly.

A boy with powerful convictions, a girl who had become a demon yet restrained her thirst for blood, and another inscrutable girl who seemed to have undergone an evolution.

These three...

Interesting.

"Then we'll begin training tomorrow."

The next day.

Tanjiro got out of bed early, and Urokodaki began teaching him about demons and humans.

Tanjiro listened attentively, occasionally looking surprised. Whenever he encountered something difficult to understand, he wrote it down in his notes.

Chinatsu sat nearby and listened as well. Although she already knew everything Urokodaki was teaching, keeping up appearances was still necessary.

Once the theoretical lessons were finished, physical training followed. Urokodaki kept setting traps on the mountain for Tanjiro to navigate as quickly as possible. Once Tanjiro met the target, he had him carry a sword to simulate fighting with one in the future.

Chinatsu could only watch these exercises, because her body had not yet fully recovered. Still, she was healing remarkably fast-or rather, her rate of recovery was increasing day by day.

In just one week, Chinatsu's wounds had healed without leaving so much as a scar. She felt she should be able to free herself from the wheelchair now.

After Tanjiro successfully completed his training with the mountain traps, he formally began learning how to use a sword.

That day, Chinatsu rose from her wheelchair and walked toward Urokodaki and Tanjiro, one step at a time.

"Can I join you?"

Hearing Chinatsu's voice, Tanjiro abruptly turned toward her. He was so startled that he nearly lost his grip on his sword. "Sis! How are you standing up? Your wheelchair... wheel-!" he blurted out in a panic.

Bam!

Before Tanjiro could finish, a loving fist slammed into the iron-hard head that even demons complained about. His words cut off at once, and he stumbled back two steps, clutching his forehead with both hands.

"Could you stop going on about the wheelchair all day? It's been a week. I'm not going to stay in a wheelchair forever, you know?" Chinatsu said calmly.

Tanjiro blinked blankly. Was it normal for someone with injuries that severe to recover enough in a week that they no longer needed a wheelchair?

Urokodaki watched Chinatsu standing out of her wheelchair, his eyes gleaming beneath his mask.

There was nothing about Chinatsu now to suggest that she had been gravely injured only a short while ago. Her complexion was rosy, and her hair was redder than Tanjiro's and Nezuko's brown hair. In terms of looks, she was a great beauty of a different kind from Nezuko.

Of course, beauty had nothing to do with becoming a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. After all, the Insect Hashira and Love Hashira were beauties as well. The Demon Slayer Corps did not judge people by appearance or gender. Its only criteria were "strength" and "resolve."

"Then you can train alongside Tanjiro."

He had just given Tanjiro a sword, and still had another blade in his hands for demonstrating sword techniques. He could let Chinatsu use it later.

Now that his students were ready, Urokodaki wasted no more time.

Before teaching the two of them Water Breathing, Urokodaki needed to teach them basic swordsmanship to lay the foundation for their later sword techniques.

Urokodaki estimated that he would need around two years to teach them, but once the lessons actually began, the time it took him to reach the point where he had nothing left to teach was far beyond his expectations...