The days passed one by one amid a rare stretch of peaceful daily life.
This day marked another of Tanjuro's regular physical examinations.
"Big Brother Yun, Shinobu-neesan, Kanao, welcome!"
The Kamado family also knew the date of Tanjuro's examination. Tanjiro and his sister had waited outside early, greeting the three as they arrived.
Shinobu Kocho was responsible for the examination, while Kanzaki Kumo had come to discuss his experiences practicing Sun Breathing with Tanjuro. As for Kanao, she wanted both to spend more time with Kanzaki Kumo and to play with Nezuko.
The two girls, who were around the same age, had developed a fairly good friendship through their frequent time together over the past few months.
"Tanjiro, Nezuko, you don't need to wait outside especially for us every time."
Faced with Kanzaki Kumo's customary attempt to persuade them, the siblings both firmly refused.
As far as they were concerned, Kanzaki Kumo and the others had already helped their family so very much. This welcoming ceremony was already quite simple, and they could not possibly dispense with it.
After they entered, Kanao took the initiative to pull Nezuko aside to play, while Tanjiro led Kanzaki Kumo and Shinobu Kocho to Tanjuro's room. Kie was keeping watch there with the other children.
Back when they still lived on Mount Kumotori, because of the occasional spying from the shadows, Tanjuro had relied on his Breathing Style to keep himself going despite his extremely frail body, further draining his life in exchange for the strength to move independently.
It had all been to protect his family.
After the family moved into this safe house, he had kept it up for a while longer. Only after confirming that he sensed no danger nearby had he finally followed medical advice and stopped using his Breathing