Half a year in the blink of an eye

For nearly half a year afterward, Kanzaki Kumo lived a simple, unremarkable life.

Every day, he practiced his Breathing Style, worked on new Sword Forms, and went on missions to kill demons, repeating the same cycle.

During this time, he occasionally visited Mount Sagiri to chat with Urokodaki and his students. Along with strengthening their bonds, they exchanged insights into practicing Water Breathing, which also provided some help with Kanzaki Kumo's research into new Sword Forms.

He had once written to Kagaya Ubuyashiki to complain that his missions were assigned too frequently, and that his speed meant his assignments were spread over a very wide area. Thanks to that, Kagaya sent a generous reply that said a great deal, but in Kanzaki Kumo's eyes, it came down to two words-pay raise.

All Kanzaki Kumo could say to that was that Kagaya's wholehearted sincerity had won him over.

As a result, he added quite a few things to Kuwajima's little courtyard, and whenever he visited Mount Sagiri, he brought each of them a small, carefully chosen gift. Makomo now always wore a blue flower hair clip he had given her.

Kanzaki Kumo had bought that hair clip because its design looked very similar to the flower pattern on Makomo's mask, and the girl was clearly very pleased with the gift.

Aside from that, the correspondence naturally never stopped. Besides Kagaya Ubuyashiki and Gyomei Himejima, he also wrote to Urokodaki and his students.

One curious discovery was that Giyu Tomioka, who was "so good at communicating," actually was very good at communicating through letters. His phrasing was elegant without being flowery, and his wording was very appropriate. Judging purely by his letter-writing skills, he could even give Kagaya Ubuyashiki a run for his money.

A few weeks ago, however, another little fellow had entered Kanzaki Kumo's life-Zenitsu Agatsuma.

Though he called him a little fellow, he was not actually that much younger than Kanzaki Kumo, being nearly ten years old at the time.

It was hard to imagine that when Kanzaki Kumo first found this child, he was clinging to a girl's leg in the street, begging her not to abandon him.

All he could say was that, in certain respects, this child was far too precocious.

Fortunately, Kanzaki Kumo had found him early enough that, although some bad girls had swindled him out of all his money, he had not yet fallen into debt. That saved some money, at least.

As for how he had tricked this unfortunate child into going to Mount Momiji without paying off Zenitsu's debts?

After Kanzaki Kumo pulled him somewhere deserted and demonstrated some flashy Thunder Breathing moves, he agreed on the spot.

Of course, what actually happened was that, while Kanzaki Kumo was taking him away from the busy streets, Zenitsu spotted the Nichirin Blade he carried. Words of refusal hovered on his lips for ages, but he never dared voice them.

Kanzaki Kumo: "Touched?"

Zenitsu Agatsuma: "N-no... I wouldn't dare..."

Afterward, Kanzaki Kumo demonstrated some flashy Thunder Breathing moves, which made Zenitsu less afraid. Under Kanzaki Kumo's guidance, he instead became filled with a longing to learn Thunder Breathing.

"Zenitsu, look. With moves this cool, wouldn't finding a girlfriend be a piece of cake once you mastered them?"

"By the way, there are quite a few girls in the Demon Slayer Corps, and they're all pretty good-looking."

"Big Brother Kanzaki, I'll join! Please teach me!"

Just like that, Zenitsu, an unfortunate child who was excessively mature in certain respects yet frighteningly innocent in others, was taken up Mount Momiji by Kanzaki Kumo to keep Jigoro Kuwajima company.

As for teaching him a Breathing Style, he was still too young. That could wait a few years.

Kanzaki Kumo: Let Zenitsu enjoy his last few years of leisure.

With Kanzaki Kumo's shining example before him, what would Kuwajima be like when he began teaching Zenitsu a Breathing Style? Kanzaki Kumo was very much looking forward to it.

As time passed, Kanzaki Kumo's fourteenth birthday drew near. That also meant it was time for him to pay his respects to Kanzaki Keizan again.

"Old man, Zenitsu, I'm heading out."

"Stay safe, Big Brother Kanzaki!"

With Jigoro Kuwajima and Zenitsu Agatsuma watching him go, Kanzaki Kumo walked down Mount Momiji toward the morning sun.

This time, Kanzaki Kumo did not intend to rent a carriage.

As his Breathing Style improved, he had become able to run long distances at speeds considerably faster than a carriage without tiring.

All he could say was that Breathing Styles were wonderful.

In just one day, Kanzaki Kumo reached that familiar little town.

After he bought the offerings, night happened to fall. Kanzaki Kumo went to Kanzaki Keizan's grave and began their customary grandfather-grandson heart-to-heart.

"Your grandson became a Kinoto Swordsman in just half a year. That promotion speed broke the Demon Slayer Corps' record..."

Indeed, in half a year, Kanzaki Kumo had advanced from a Mizunoto Swordsman to Kinoto, and he was not far from Kinoe.

It was hard to say whether Kanzaki Kumo's luck was too good or too bad. On his missions, he encountered even more demons capable of using Blood Demon Arts than Gyomei had back then, resulting in his promotions coming a little faster than Gyomei's.

Kanzaki Kumo had also considered going to Spider Mountain to take out Lower Rank Five, but after asking around, it seemed that the demon who liked playing house had not settled on Spider Mountain yet. There was no telling where it was now, searching for demons willing to become its "family."

Aside from that, he had also searched for a physician with the surname "Butterfly," the location of Mount Kumotori, and information about the Eternal Paradise Cult.

Unfortunately, apart from easily finding Mount Kumotori's exact location, he had found nothing on the others so far.

Of course, Kanzaki Kumo had not tried asking Kagaya for help. After all, the Ubuyashiki intelligence network served the purpose of killing demons, and those two matters had no connection to killing demons at present.

Besides, in terms of timing, there was no need to hurry yet.

That was especially true of the Eternal Paradise Cult, which housed a super boss capable of wiping out the entire current Demon Slayer Corps. Yet the current Corps knew nothing of how terrifying that enemy was. What if Kagaya uncovered something and sent a group of people to their deaths?

Even the current Gyomei could only barely ensure his own survival if he encountered Upper Rank Two, Doma. There was no need to mention anyone else, Kanzaki Kumo included. Facing it head-on would be serving themselves up on a platter.

As for Mount Kumotori, he could not go there for now either. A place very likely under the Demon King's personal watch was even more troublesome than the Eternal Paradise Cult. Kanzaki Kumo had sought out its location for his future plans.

The Kamado Family was a small family that had lived deep in the mountains and forests for generations, supporting themselves by selling charcoal and hunting. Yet several centuries ago, a chance encounter had brought them into contact with Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and they had received the legacy of Sun Breathing.

Although later generations, limited by their talent and knowledge, had adapted Sun Breathing's sword moves into a ritual dance, and quite a few errors and omissions had crept into its transmission, this generation had produced Tanjuro Kamado, a man known as "Yoriichi Tsugikuni mini."

He was someone who seemed to have been born with a Demon Slayer Mark, and later comprehended the Transparent World on his own, managing to correct the Sun Breathing that had accumulated so many errors and omissions over centuries of transmission.

Perhaps it was precisely his existence that had drawn the Demon King's attention to this small family.

Imagine it: one day, Muzan Kibutsuji was wandering around in search of the Blue Spider Lily, only to pass some remote mountain corner and see a man wearing the Sun Earrings passed down from Yoriichi Tsugikuni, with what looked like a Demon Slayer Mark on his forehead, performing Sun Breathing moves in a clearing with a specially made walking stick.

Muzan's PTSD probably flared up at that very instant.

After Yoriichi Tsugikuni's death, Muzan had joined forces with Michikatsu Tsugikuni, who had already become a demon, to kill almost everyone who knew about Sun Breathing. Yet they had missed this one small family deep in the mountains.

That was also why, just after Tanjuro died of illness, the Demon King Muzan personally went to slaughter the family.

From this alone, however, it was clear that the only chance to prevent the tragedy of the Kamado Family's slaughter was to act before Tanjuro died of illness.

Moreover, it would require enough strength to hold out against an Upper Rank for an entire night.

After all, Muzan most likely would not act personally out of wariness toward Tanjuro, but once he discovered that the family was about to flee, he would certainly have his subordinates act.

Since Sun Breathing was involved, the one sent would most likely not be one of the three weaker Upper Ranks, either. Among the top three, Muzan probably would not order Upper Rank One, formerly Michikatsu Tsugikuni and now Kokushibo, to do it.

After all, Muzan mostly relied on a mental link to issue orders to his subordinates on short notice. That was a privilege higher demons held over lower demons, but Kokushibo's head was full of Yoriichi Tsugikuni. If Muzan linked to its consciousness, it really would be a case of "one more look and I'll explode."

As for Doma, its disposition was too casual, and it treated missions like games. Muzan actually disliked this demon and only kept it around because it was strong enough.

Thus, there was also a very good chance that such an important mission would not be entrusted to it.

That made the most likely enemy quite clear: Upper Rank Three, Akaza, Muzan's number-one worker.

As Kanzaki Kumo planned for the future, he leaned against the gravestone and talked to himself. When the moon rose high into the sky, Ink Shadow flew over from afar.

"South-southeast, south-southeast! Demon spotted, demon spotted!"

"Tch. Wait a moment, Grandpa. I'll go kill that fool first."