You actually knew my father?

"I will."

After receiving an affirmative answer, he took one last glance at Zenitsu and Genya, who were still standing there with differing expressions.

There really was nothing he needed to tell them.

Kirishima Bupai merely waved a casual hand, then turned decisively and strode toward the path down the mountain.

Tanjiro clenched his fists tightly, watching that aloof, powerful figure disappear into the shadows of the mountain path.

"I need to work harder too!" he promised himself in a low voice, quiet but utterly resolute.

Taking a deep breath, Tanjiro turned determinedly and set off in the exact opposite direction from Kirishima Bupai.

He needed to return to Mount Sagiri, to his master Sakonji Urokodaki, and, more importantly, to visit his sleeping younger sister, Nezuko.

Meanwhile, Zenitsu was still standing there agonizing over his sparrow and the marriage prospects he might have missed...

Genya gave a cold snort and left alone, hostility radiating from him.

Their lives in the Demon Slayer Corps had now begun...

And Zenitsu was probably already occupied with figuring out how to beg the first woman of marriageable age he encountered on the road to marry him...

Following the Kakushi member guiding him, Kirishima Bupai crossed one precipitous mountain after another.

After a long trek along winding mountain trails, in the quietest, most secluded depths of overlapping peaks and towering ancient trees...

The Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, the Wisteria House protected by the blood and resolve of generations of Hashira and swordsmen, finally revealed itself.

The estate was not a lavish palace, but an enormous complex of Japanese-style buildings cleverly constructed along the mountain slopes.

It seemed to merge with the verdant mountains behind it, encircled and guarded by a vast, dreamlike purple sea.

Countless vigorous wisteria trees wound along the slopes, their gnarled branches trailing dense cascades of purple blossoms.

It was flowering season, and hundreds of millions of wisteria blossoms were in full bloom.

The path to the main building was paved with weathered bluestone slabs, soft moss growing in their cracks and deepening the secluded tranquility.

Yet beneath this seemingly peaceful, harmonious surface...

Kirishima Bupai could sense an omnipresent, restrained vigilance and strength.

It was the intangible presence left by the countless swordsmen who had honed themselves here.

The council hall stood at the heart of this sea of wisteria and its solemn courtyards.

It was the pinnacle where the Demon Slayer Corps' will and strength converged.

Inside the council hall, the air, already heavy from the gathering of Hashira-level fighters, seemed to freeze in that instant.

When Kirishima Bupai stepped across the threshold of this sanctum symbolizing humanity's greatest fighting strength against demons.

His highly distinctive Corps uniform immediately became the focus of every gaze.

His attire created an intensely striking contrast with the relatively traditional, plain uniforms of the Hashira around him.

Several gazes, belonging to those at the pinnacle of human fighting prowess, instantly converged on him like tangible blades tempered a thousand times...

They carried scrutiny, puzzlement, disdain, and a cold eagerness for battle.

Tengen Uzui had been leaning lazily against a thick pillar...

His long fingers were idly twining around his signature hair ornament, studded with magnificent jewels.

The instant he saw Kirishima Bupai, his elaborately made-up eyes widened, and his slender eyebrows rose high.

A trace of undisguised astonishment first crossed his eyes; clearly, this excessively flamboyant entrance had startled him.

But that astonishment was immediately replaced by even stronger, equally undisguised mockery.

Tengen Uzui deliberately cleared his throat, speaking in a tone so flamboyant it bordered on theatrical, making sure his voice carried clearly to every corner of the council hall:

"So this is the legendary new Lord Hashira who rose to the top in a single bound?"

He looked Kirishima Bupai up and down with exaggerated movements, smacking his lips and clicking his tongue.

"That outfit, that bearing! Compared with us travel-worn, uncouth swordsmen who know nothing but cutting down demons..."

"How flamboyant! How dazzling! So flamboyant you're practically blinding me! Truly, far too flamboyant!"

He repeated and emphasized the word "flamboyant"; it was his sole standard for judging everything in the world.

That was why Tengen Uzui had earned the nickname "Mr. Flamboyant"! Whatever he saw, he liked to call it flamboyant.

"I just wonder... are the bones wrapped in that flamboyant costume tough enough? Flamboyant enough?" Suddenly, his tone shifted, the provocation and icy doubt in his words unmistakable.

Amid this strange atmosphere, Kagaya Ubuyashiki maintained his usual easygoing smile.

The head of the Demon Slayer Corps, plagued by a curse and frail in body yet always exuding gracious wisdom, showed no intention of reproaching him.

He merely raised his pale but steady hand.

"..."

It was a simple gesture, yet it carried a strange power, forcibly stopping the further mockery about to pour from Tengen Uzui's mouth.

Even through the mask concealing his sickly appearance, everyone could sense the gentleness and all-seeing tolerance in his gaze.

That gaze settled precisely on Kirishima Bupai, and his voice held the smiling warmth of an elder regarding an outstanding junior:

"Kirishima, welcome to headquarters. Please make yourself at ease."

He paused, his tone carrying a touch of conversational warmth. "Speaking of which, I met your father, the head of the Kirishima Family, on a few occasions."

At this, Kirishima Bupai's eyes shifted almost imperceptibly. This guy knew my father?

Clearly, this connection... was completely unexpected.

"About ten years ago..."

Ubuyashiki's voice was like a tranquil stream in a secluded mountain valley as he slowly recounted a long-buried story.

"An important trading caravan belonging to your father happened upon a Lower Rank demon on the hunt while passing through a bustling town somewhere along the Tokaido..."

"The situation was dire. The caravan's guards suffered heavy casualties, and your father's own life hung by a thread."

At this point, his tone carried recollection of the past and a hint of relief.

"Fortunately, the Stone Hashira, Lord Gyomei Himejima, happened to be carrying out a mission nearby at the time.

Gyomei arrived just in time and drove back the demon with mountain-shaking strength, preserving your father's life and the Kirishima Family's important business holdings.

His tone shifted slightly, taking on a nostalgic smile.

"Before that brush with death, your father was fiercely opposed to your determination to join the Demon Slayer Corps, something you had been set on since childhood..."

"He even once offered this rather blunt assessment of our organization: 'The Demon Slayer Corps? Nothing but a pyramid scheme gathering a bunch of lunatics to pursue a revenge doomed to be hopeless.'"

As soon as he finished, a few subdued huffs laden with complicated emotions inevitably sounded through the council hall.

Even the eyes of the habitually taciturn Giyu Tomioka, normally as still as an ancient well and devoid of obvious emotion, flickered almost imperceptibly.

The tight line of his lips seemed to loosen for an instant, and his eyebrows lifted ever so slightly.