"So you're the backup, Xia Xi..."
Relief at having survived a brush with death seeped into Takitsuki Kazetoriin's voice, and his tense shoulders relaxed.
To him, this junior, younger even than his own little brother,
was the person in the Demon Slayer Corps who made him feel safest.
With Xia Xi here, he felt reassured.
After all, this guy could even repel Upper Rank Three. Surely he would do no worse against the fourth strongest standing before them?
Besides, unlike Igarashi, who had been badly wounded and could only hold him back back then,
he still had most of his fighting strength. Working together, surely they could last until dawn.
Perhaps even...
Perhaps they could really find these demons' weakness.
And completely slay an Upper Rank Demon for the first time in centuries!
At the thought of that possibility, a glimmer of excitement returned to Kazetoriin's face, which had been filled with resolve just moments earlier.
As for Shinobu beside him,
her expression shifted from astonishment to relief, before finally blossoming into a happy smile.
But then, as though something had suddenly occurred to her, she pouted. "Big Radish! Do you know how much I... my sister and I missed you?!"
Disappearing was one thing.
But he had only sent back a letter or two!
Honestly, he was awful!
"I've been busy lately, haven't I? Oh? Your energy level has gone up quite a bit..."
Uttering terms the others could not quite understand, Xia Xi strolled toward the two of them.
"Look, Lazy Sister. You're the only one still stuck in place."
Shinobu's energy level had nearly doubled since before.
Kazetoriin's, meanwhile, had only barely risen from around 380 to a little over four hundred.
Kazetoriin: ...
How was that the same?
He could roughly guess that the "energy level"