The plan began

Kanzaki Kumo's movements were slow at first, merely imitating what Sakonji Urokodaki had just done. Still, that round of slow movements allowed Makomo and the other two watching to learn a thing or two.

Next, Kanzaki Kumo began matching his movements to his breathing rhythm. His hands moved faster and faster, and his figure gradually began to blur, with what faintly resembled blue streams of water swirling around him.

Soon, during his third cycle, Kanzaki Kumo successfully reproduced the first through tenth forms of Water Breathing.

After completing a cycle, Kanzaki Kumo slowly exhaled and turned toward Sakonji Urokodaki, only to find three pairs of beady eyes.

"He... he only watched once... just once..." The three apart from Giyu all unconsciously muttered to themselves. Only Giyu maintained his lifeless look; even the surprise in his eyes failed to disturb that pool of stagnant water.

"Are you all okay?" Kanzaki Kumo walked over and waved an arm in front of the three of them.

"We're fine..." Sakonji Urokodaki was the first to recover. His wealth of life experience allowed him to quickly adjust his mindset, though amazement still lingered in his voice.

"Not even remotely." Makomo rolled her eyes, having more or less adjusted her mindset as well.

Makomo: Why should an ordinary person like me try to compete with a monster?

Sabito was the last to recover. He said nothing, but his eyes were full of firm, burning fighting spirit as he looked at Kanzaki Kumo.

"All right, I'll explain the essentials of Water Breathing and the spirit it embodies. You three should listen too. Reviewing it more will help you gain something as well."

"Water Breathing's characteristics are just like water..."

The morning passed with Sakonji Urokodaki's explanations. Makomo and the others had long since memorized the essentials of Water Breathing, and Kanzaki Kumo also remembered those key points after this lesson.

After lunch, Makomo, the other two, and Kanzaki Kumo each found somewhere to practice their sword techniques.

Watching Sabito and Giyu practicing together, Kanzaki Kumo began looking for an opportunity to put his plan into action.

After all, if possible, the sooner he helped Giyu come out of his shell, the better. No one wanted to face a lifeless expression every day.

At any rate, Kanzaki Kumo himself could not stand that sort of thing.

With a rough plan in mind, Kanzaki Kumo walked toward the two youngsters.

"Sabito, want to exchange a few moves?"

"Hm?" Sabito looked at Kanzaki Kumo in confusion. Their abilities were not on the same level to begin with, and he could not think of a reason for him to come over for a spar.

"No Breathing Styles, just pure swordsmanship, and we'll only use Water Breathing moves. What do you say? Do you dare?"

"Why wouldn't I? Bring it on!"

Sabito, who had still been somewhat hesitant, immediately agreed upon hearing "Do you dare?" He was at his most hot-blooded age; how could he stand that kind of provocation?

In truth, this sort of sparring held little meaning for Kanzaki Kumo.

His vision was too powerful. Even against an opponent whose abilities were similar to his in every respect, he could find openings in their moves. The only difference was that opponents as strong as him or stronger could adapt in time or even counterattack, rather than collapse at the first exchange.

But Sabito had been learning Breathing Styles for too short a time. Even with his exceptional talent, there was still a large gap between his current abilities and Kanzaki Kumo's.

As a result, every time Sabito attacked, Kanzaki Kumo had at least three or four opportunities to knock the Wooden Sword out of his hands.

However, Kanzaki Kumo's purpose had never been simply to spar. He was merely using his vision to point out some of Sabito's openings while looking for an opportunity to draw Giyu into the game.

Thus, even though he could defeat his opponent in one move, Kanzaki Kumo continued trading blows with Sabito.

Because of his visual acuity, Giyu could not see what was really happening. Makomo only felt that something was strange about their sparring, without being able to say exactly what. Only the seasoned Sakonji Urokodaki and Sabito himself recognized Kanzaki Kumo's one-sided dominance.

Every one of Kanzaki Kumo's attacks landed precisely on an opening in Sabito's defenses, but the strength he deliberately held back kept Sabito from losing immediately, giving him a chance to reflect and attack again.

Once Sabito realized Kanzaki Kumo was guiding him, gratitude entered his gaze, but his fighting spirit burned even stronger. They were the same age-he was even a few months older-so there should not have been such a vast gap between them.

Makomo: *?*

After they exchanged blows for a while, when Sabito's movements began to slow from exhaustion, Kanzaki Kumo neatly knocked the Wooden Sword from his hands and ended the spar. After all, he still needed Sabito to act later, so he could not let him get too tired.

"Thank you." Sabito thanked him sincerely without saying anything like "I'll definitely catch up to you." After all, the gap between them was currently so vast that he felt a little embarrassed to say such things.

Still, his determination to catch up to Kanzaki Kumo and even surpass him had not changed.

Kanzaki Kumo also knew what Sabito was thinking, and could only pray inwardly that he would not suffer too great a blow in the future.

Kanzaki Kumo knew better than anyone just how game-breaking a gift his eyes were in this world dominated by close combat. Unless his opponent outclassed him by an overwhelming margin, he could at least remain undefeated until his stamina ran out, and in most cases, his chances of winning were not low either.

It was only because this world still had the Demon King Muzan and several Upper Ranks who could indeed overwhelm him through a sheer gulf in raw stats that Kanzaki Kumo could not simply stop working to improve his strength.

"Giyu, want to practice too?" Kanzaki Kumo began turning his attention to his real target.

Giyu glanced at Kanzaki Kumo without responding.

"Hey, you're a swordsman, and you don't even dare to spar?" Kanzaki Kumo looked a little angry.

Watching Kanzaki Kumo from nearby, Makomo kept feeling that something was strange. Although they had not known each other for long, the Kanzaki Kumo she knew should not have been so easily angered.

Or rather, before this, she had never even seen Kanzaki Kumo angry.

With his gift for sensing other people's general emotions, Sakonji Urokodaki could tell at a glance that Kanzaki Kumo was acting. This made him a little curious about what Kanzaki Kumo intended to do.

Seeing Kanzaki Kumo approach so aggressively, Giyu finally stopped practicing his swings. After staring at Kanzaki Kumo for a while, he attacked without so much as a warning.

Smack!

With a crisp sound, the Wooden Sword in Giyu's hands was easily knocked to the ground by Kanzaki Kumo, despite Giyu having attacked first.

"Again." Kanzaki Kumo's voice was low, his gaze carrying a measure of pressure.

Still without a word, Giyu picked up the Wooden Sword and attacked again.

The result was entirely unsurprising. Even though Giyu made slight adjustments to his movements this time, he still could not escape having his Wooden Sword knocked away by Kanzaki Kumo in a single blow.

Watching from the side, Sabito looked thoughtful.

As someone who had always trained alongside Giyu, he knew very well that although Giyu's psychological issues made his training less effective than his own, his current abilities should not have lagged too far behind. Being defeated so easily by Kanzaki Kumo now could only mean that the latter's purpose was not to help him practice, but something else.

While Sabito was thinking, Giyu had already been defeated twice more. Faced with Kanzaki Kumo's still-icy command of "Again," a trace of another emotion began to appear in his lifeless eyes. That emotion was anger.