Dawn broke.
An utterly exhausted Kasugai Crow mustered its last shred of strength and cut across the dawn sky, tumbling like a black stone into the courtyard of the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.
"Urgent report! Urgent report!"
Its voice was hoarse and hurried, carrying a tremor of having narrowly escaped death.
A member of the Kakushi assigned to guard duty immediately stepped forward and untied the bamboo message tube, one corner soaked in blood, from its leg.
He opened the letter, and a single glance left him rooted to the spot as though struck by lightning. His pupils widened in extreme shock, and the letter in his hand seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
A few minutes later, the battle report was delivered to Kagaya Ubuyashiki's sickbed.
His wife, Lady Amane, slowly read out its contents in a steady yet slightly trembling voice.
"...During the Mugen Train mission, encountered Upper Rank Three, Akaza..."
At those words, the air in the room seemed to freeze. No expression changed on Kagaya Ubuyashiki's disease-ravaged face, but his breathing stopped for an instant.
Lady Amane continued:
"...Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku and the newly appointed Thunder Hashira Uesugi Sasuke joined forces to fight him."
"...After a fierce battle, Upper Rank Three...fled after losing his arms..."
"...Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku was gravely wounded, but...survived. Thunder Hashira Uesugi Sasuke fell unconscious from excessive expenditure of his ocular power. All two hundred passengers survived."
"Plip."
A clear tear slipped from Kagaya Ubuyashiki's eyes, which had already lost their focus, and fell onto his bedding.
Then came a second, a third...
At that moment, the frail flame of his life, which seemed liable to go out at any moment, rekindled with a brilliance it had never possessed before.
"...Thank goodness..."
He struggled to rise from his sickbed in excitement,