Dropping by the Butterfly Mansion

Not long after the Hashira Meeting ended, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke-the trio bound together by fate-were undergoing repairs to body and mind under the Butterfly Mansion's "gentle" care.

The air mingled the scent of wisteria, the bitterness of medicinal herbs, and the boys' overlapping cries of agony...

And what was our esteemed Sapphire Star, that guiding light, doing?

She was still fucking stuffing her face!

After the Hashira Meeting, Nezuko and her brother had been taken away by the Kakushi, while the Hashira had returned to their respective districts to carry out their duties, almost as if they had teleported.

Only our Sapphire Star had nowhere to go, so she could only stay at headquarters.

In a corner of the dining hall sat a small mountain of rice balls, grilled fish, and stewed vegetables.

Several swordsmen passing by were so intimidated by the spectacle that they couldn't help taking a detour.

After a while, the Sapphire Star suddenly lifted her head, her cheeks bulging with food, and asked the young swordsman eating at the next table in a muffled voice:

"Bro, bruh-munch, munch, munch-what're Tanjuro and those three li'l guys up to-munch, munch, munch? Haven't seen 'em since, and they haven't come here to chow down. Y'know..." The Sapphire Star swallowed a huge mouthful of stew.

"That boar guy, the blond screaming chicken, and the redhead-munch, munch, munch."

The swordsman flinched when she addressed him. "Huh? Oh! You... you mean Tanjiro and the others? They're... recovering at the Butterfly Mansion! At the Insect Hashira's place!"

With that, he picked up his meal and hurried away as though fleeing for his life.

"Bro, why're you running, bro? I don't eat people-munch, munch, munch. Butterfly Mansion? Munch, munch, munch. Recovering? What kinda weird thing's that?" The Sapphire Star gulped down her mouthful of food.

"I was wondering why those three brats vanished after the Hashira Meeting. Thought that white-haired hedgehog might've eaten 'em alive."

Meanwhile, unlike the blissful headquarters dining hall, the Butterfly Mansion's courtyard had become a miniature arena filled with wailing.

Whoosh-bang!

"Uwaaaaaah! It hurts, it hurts! My bones! My bones are gonna crack! Miss Aoi, have mercyyyyy!"

"Too slow, too slow! That's not even enough to scratch an itch! Hahahahaha! Wryyyy!!" (Zenitsu: "Inosuke, don't copy the Hand Demon's roar! It's terrifyingggg!")

"Mr. Inosuke! Please stay focused! Pay attention to your breathing rhythm!"

The whole place was a complete madhouse...

At the center of the courtyard, however, a different scene was unfolding.

Tanjiro Kamado had his eyes tightly shut, sweat dripping from his temples as his body rose and fell at an extremely faint yet precise frequency.

Kiyo, Sumi, and Suho, three young but exceptionally strict nursing girls, surrounded him in a triangle. Each held a specially made little wooden mallet, watching his every breath and movement without blinking.

"Mr. Tanjiro! Your shoulders are too tense!" "Breathe! Maintain that rhythm!"

Tap! The little wooden mallet delivered a crisp reminder.

Tanjiro clenched his teeth. His body trembled slightly from fatigue and the constant demand for precise control, but he still forced himself to maintain that subtle rhythm of life.

So what was our Sapphire Star doing after eating and drinking her fill?

Someone landed soundlessly on the Butterfly Mansion's wall like an oversized Paolumu, convinced that her stealth skills rivaled a Chameleos's.

"Well, well, this place... is pretty lively. Way more interesting than Astera's training grounds." While she was enthusiastically "observing the local ecology," a girl with a neatly trimmed bob and eyes as sharp as a miniature instructor cat's immediately spotted her.

"Hey! You on the wall!" Aoi Kanzaki promptly set down her clipboard, planted her hands on her hips, and looked up, her clear voice carrying an unmistakable air of authority.

"You carrying that... uh, giant ice pop! Who are you? This is the Butterfly Mansion, a facility for injured patients to rest and undergo rehabilitation. Please don't barge in!"

The Sapphire Star looked down at Aoi Kanzaki and thought, Oh no, I got caught peeping. My sterling reputation as the Sapphire Star is ruined...

She jumped straight down from the wall with a crash, making the ground tremble.

"Ahem!" The Sapphire Star dusted off nonexistent dirt as some peaceful background music began to play.

"My name is Sapphire Star. I'm XX years old. I live in the villa district northeast of headquarters, and I'm unmarried. I volunteer for the Demon Slayer Corps. I work overtime every day and don't get home until eight in the evening. I don't smo-king, and I only drink a little. I go to bed at eleven and make sure I get eight hours of sleep every day. Before bed, I always drink a glass of warm milk and do twenty minutes of stretches. Once I'm in bed, I fall asleep immediately. I sleep until morning and never carry fatigue or stress into the next day. The medical board says I'm perfectly normal." As she spoke, her golden eyes swept over the wary Aoi Kanzaki.

Aoi Kanzaki: "Huh????"

"And while I'm here, I figured I'd see whether these kids are still alive." She casually raised a hand and pointed to them one by one.

"Look, look, look! Isn't this the Kamado kid? The one with the forehead like steel! Why's he got another bump on his head?" She eyed the red mark the little mallet had left on Tanjiro's forehead.

"Hm? L-Lady Sapphire Star! Hello!" Hearing their conversation, Tanjiro barely managed to divert some attention from his intense concentration and offered a weak but polite greeting.

Immediately, Kiyo landed another precise tap on his back. "Mr. Tanjiro! Keep it up!"

"And then there's that pig over there ^(*￣(oo)￣)^~" The Sapphire Star pointed toward Inosuke. ☞

"The one bouncing all over the place in the Boar Headgear... Hashi-something Pig? Oh, right, Hashi-mouthy Snort-pig!"

"Roar! Who're you calling a pig, you bastard?! Get down here and fight me!" Inosuke had barely finished dusting himself off before he exploded, hopping up to charge at her.

"As for that blond Saiyan..."

"Uwaaaaaah! Who are you?! Don't look at me! I'm really strong! When I get mad, I even beat myself up! Stay away! Heeeelp!" Zenitsu shrieked at maximum volume while frantically dodging the iron-sand balls at a speed that broke his limits, his voice twisting out of shape.

"...Abso-fucking-lutely incredible... Keep screaming like that. You'd make a pretty useful monster alarm." The Sapphire Star scratched her head.

"So you're Miss Sapphire Star, the visitor from another country everyone's been talking about?" Aoi Kanzaki stared-

"Hehe (*╹▽╹*), you recognized me! Yep, that's me~" The Sapphire Star winked.

"You're welcome to visit Tanjiro and the others anytime. You don't need to act like... well... someone peeking over the wall. We don't have that custom in our country." Aoi Kanzaki invited the Sapphire Star into the Butterfly Mansion, and the Sapphire Star scratched her head sheepishly as she followed.

The first thing she did inside was have tea and snacks.

A long while passed.

In the center of the courtyard, Tanjiro finally reached his physical limit after days of intense mental strain and exhaustion. While attempting an even more delicate transition in his breathing, his vision suddenly went black! His body swayed, then abruptly went limp and toppled backward!

"Mr. Tanjiro!"

"Tanjiro!"

"Tanjiro, are you okay? Waaaaah... Don't die! What'll Nezuko do if you die?! I can't lose my brother-in-law!"

"Gonpachiro!"

Cries rang out all at once!

The Sapphire Star, who was drinking tea and demolishing snacks, raised an eyebrow. Instinctively, her hand flashed toward the powerful healing Lifepowder at her waist that could restore someone to full health in an instant.

Just as Tanjiro's body was about to hit the ground!

Even before landing, he unconsciously adjusted his posture, making a faint roll to soften the impact before lying silently on the ground. His chest continued to rise and fall, but now it followed an unprecedentedly long, steady rhythm!

"Whoa, hey?! This guy's got moves." The Sapphire Star stopped her hand halfway to the Lifepowder.

She could clearly sense that, unconscious, Tanjiro's breathing was more restrained and sustained than when he had deliberately maintained it.

"So this is the legendary protagonist cheat, huh? I only just got here and caught it in action..." The Sapphire Star grinned and put away her precious medicine.

"Saved me a whole jar of the good stuff!"

Aoi Kanzaki and the others had already anxiously gathered around to check on him.

"Don't worry, this kid-munch, munch, munch-isn't gonna die. Bet you his strength'll shoot straight up once he wakes. Burp." The Sapphire Star swallowed a few more snacks and let out a satisfied belch.

"Waaah! You're lying! Tanjiro obviously trained until he passed out!!!" Zenitsu struck the pose from the famous painting The Scream, writhing like a Wiggler, and Aoi Kanzaki very naturally whacked him with a wooden mallet.

"You're too loud! Help us get Tanjiro into bed first!" Worry crossed Aoi Kanzaki's small face, and she promptly had people bring a stretcher and carry Tanjiro away.

"The hell! When have I... ahem, when have I ever lied?" The Sapphire Star nearly let her usual hunter's foul mouth slip out. Her gaze shifted and locked onto Zenitsu, who was shaking like a leaf, and Inosuke, who was still grumbling nearby.

"But you two..."

"You said Tanjiro trained until he passed out, right? Then why do you two still look so lively and full of energy? Had a great time dodging those balls, didn't you?"

The Sapphire Star rolled her shoulders. "How about... I give you another round? A little special training?"

"I'll make sure you learn what passing out really means!! You idiots!!!"

Zenitsu: "!!!" (His eyes rolled back, and he turned to stone on the spot, a hair's breadth away from fainting outright.)

Inosuke: "Hah?! Bring it on! I'll show you what real breathing looks like! Roar!"

Zenitsu: "Inosuke, you're sick in the head toooooo!!!"

Aoi Kanzaki: "...Impressive."

By nightfall at the Butterfly Mansion, the air no longer carried the whistle of iron-sand balls and the boys' screams. In their place were the aroma of food and... two exceedingly bizarre heads.

Zenitsu and Inosuke sat side by side at the dinner table, both faces comically covered with thick, ice-cold towels giving off a frosty mist.

The corners of Zenitsu's eyes were swollen as though a Congalala had punched him. Inosuke's nose was red and a size larger, and his lips seemed a little swollen too. Their heads bobbed slightly as they chewed, making the towels quiver like two mushrooms that had just been battered by a storm.

"Slurp... Ow, ow, ow..." Zenitsu cautiously sipped his miso soup, baring his teeth in pain whenever he moved a little too much.

"Tch! Blond coward! What's a little pain?!" Although Inosuke was also hissing through his teeth, he was clearly livelier than Zenitsu. The boar nostrils sticking out above his towel puffed hot air.

"The more I get hit, the better I feel! My body... my body feels more nimble!" He tried swinging an arm, only to tug at a bruise on his shoulder and let out another "Ow!"

The Sapphire Star nearly choked when she heard that. Is this boar guy a masochist or something...?

Aoi Kanzaki stood beside them, serving more rice, and spoke with a rare hint of sympathy:

"Lady Sapphire Star's training... really is different from traditional methods. Those Miniature Barrel Bombs that appeared out of nowhere, those successive devices that required last-second dodge rolls, that thing Lady Sapphire Star called a 'charging rush'... She nearly demolished the training grounds."

(During training, the Sapphire Star had laughed uproariously: "If a wyvern can charge, it's strong! If charging is all it can do, it's invincible! Hahahahahahaha!!!")

Although she complained aloud, Aoi had to admit that in less than half a day, these two had significantly improved their instinctive evasions and instantaneous bursts of power.

Of course, the price of that improvement was their current appearance-as well as the shocking sight of the Fatalis Demolisher nearly embedding itself in the ground at the end of training.

Not to mention that devilish trick:

Whenever they were about to collapse for good, the Sapphire Star would casually scatter a handful of powerful healing Lifepowder. The effect was immediate: full health restored, then back to training... It was every bit as infuriating as those monsters that became impossible to kill after being enraged, fighting harder the longer the battle went on!

Tanjiro Kamado, who had only recently awakened, sat nearby with a healthy appetite, sweeping through his food. His face was still a little pale, but his eyes were exceptionally bright, and his breathing maintained a steady, deep rhythm, as though it were simply his body's most natural state.

"Mmph... Lady Sapphire Star's training really is amazing..." Tanjiro remarked indistinctly, his cheeks stuffed with food, never forgetting to maintain his smooth breathing.

"And Lady Sapphire Star eats so much!" His gaze drifted toward the rice bowl in front of her.

The dishes before the Sapphire Star amounted to a small mountain of food. She was eating at a rate of half a grilled fish per bite. Hearing Tanjiro, she stopped chewing and swallowed hard.

"The great ancient sage Wozki once said! If you don't eagerly chow down, there's something wrong with your brain!" She casually picked up an enormous roasted bird leg and took a hearty bite. "What, curious about how much your ol'... ahem, big sister can eat?"

"Yes!" Tanjiro nodded vigorously, his eyes sparkling. "Because your strength feels different from ours, Lady Sapphire Star... It's incredible! Your past missions must have required a lot of stamina too, right?"

"You bet!" The Sapphire Star wiped her mouth with her greasy hand and set the enormous bird leg aside for the moment.

"My hometown's over in that Old World I told you about. When I was little, this dumbass called Blaze from neighboring Kamura Village and I promised we'd become hunters together!" A hint of nostalgia entered her eyes.

"Back home, any random Deviljho could chew up this whole courtyard as a snack! And there are flying wyverns taller than trees..." She gestured as she spoke, excitement creeping into her voice.

Everyone else at the table, including Aoi Kanzaki and the three little nursing girls who had been quietly eating, unconsciously stopped using their chopsticks, drawn in by the fantastic world she described.

"There's always some big brute wandering around a village or running wild in a city. How's anyone supposed to live? That's where us hunters come in! Beat 'em down and drive 'em off! Send 'em back where they belong! That's called... uh... right! A 'dynamic balance' between people and nature!"

"I've been all over the Old World." She counted on her fingers.

"Pokke Village was freezing as hell. Yukumo Village? Hey, gorgeous scenery! But nothing to eat, only drinks. I also visited those old eggheads at the Wycademy. Nearly fell to my death riding that lousy ship..."

"Later, I made a bit of a name for myself, and they recommended me for the New World! Whoa! Now that was a whole new frontier! Huge pits, the Rotten Vale, Hoarfrost Reach..." She spoke with animated delight. Though her language was rough, the splendor and danger of that unfamiliar continent, and her blood-pumping life as a hunter, seemed to rush right at them.

To these boys and girls, who lived in a world plagued by demons and whose combat experience was limited to humanoid or humanlike monsters, her experiences were legends from another dimension.

"And then!" The Sapphire Star suddenly slapped her thigh, making the dishes on the table clatter.

"Those bastards insisted on nominating me to lead the Fifth Fleet of the Research Commission! What a joke! No way was I doing that!" Her face filled with disgust.

"Managing this and that all day, sitting in a tent listening to reports? Worse than having a Congalala throw pee at me! So..." She chuckled. "I ran away!"

She paused, picked up a delicate little pastry that had just arrived, and tossed it into her mouth. "Who knew the ship I escaped on... ahem, ran into a bit of trouble along the way? And hey! That's how I ended up here with you!"

Tanjiro was so absorbed that he forgot to chew, his face full of admiration and his eyes sparkling. "Wow... That's amazing! You've been to so many places and fought so many terrifying monsters, Lady Sapphire Star! To protect everyone... and nature..."

Even with the icy towel on his head, Zenitsu's eyes brightened a little. He secretly studied this rough, terrifying woman from behind his soup bowl and muttered, "So she ran away... No wonder she's like a monster with no regard for rules..."

Even Inosuke temporarily forgot his battered face. The eyes showing through his Boar Headgear burned with interest. "A new... continent?! And lots of... strong 'Mountain Lords'?!" The word "monster" seemed to have kindled a longing inside him.

Even the ever-serious Aoi Kanzaki listened in a slight daze. Those strange monsters, unfamiliar place names, and scenes the Sapphire Star described opened a fascinating new window onto her narrow world.

The Sapphire Star

Buried herself in the next round of her "food mountain," still remembering to offer a muffled conclusion:

"Eat, fight, stay alive! Isn't it the same everywhere? It's all for... hmm... protecting what you wanna protect!" She swallowed a large mouthful and glanced at Tanjiro.

"So wherever you are, give it your all! Once you've mastered your Breathing Style, you've still gotta eat more! Got it?"

"Yes, Miss Sapphire Star!" Tanjiro perked up and immediately lifted his rice bowl, continuing to put into practice the principle of growing stronger to protect everyone while also eating more.

"Once you've eaten and drunk your fill, I'll take you three out for another round of training tonight. Where I'm from, we head straight out on missions after eating."

"Noooooo! Help me, Tanjiro! Waaaaah o(╥﹏╥)o!!"...