Master Blacksmith in Demon Slayer

"Then... take care."

"Mm."

Silence fell again, with only the wind lingering. In the courtyard, petals danced in spirals.

In the wind, the girl spoke: "Can I have this painting?"

"Mm." Tetsu no Sosuke nodded, his mind elsewhere.

"Thank you. I really like it."

Like... it?

Tetsu no Sosuke suddenly looked at Kochou Kanae. An inexplicable impulse surged up, unstoppable—and he had no desire to rein it in.

"What about me? Do you... like me?"

He stared at her, his voice trembling slightly.

The girl seemed to freeze for a moment, her lips parting slightly, her eyes filled with an indescribable complexity.

Tetsu no Sosuke didn't know where he'd found the courage. Once the words left his mouth, he fixed his gaze on her.

He said nothing, waiting in silence—quiet yet fierce, like a beast that had locked onto its prey, its unyielding eyes giving the other no chance to slip away.

A faint smile crept onto Kochou Kanae's lips, then spread.

A glint of mischief flickered in her eyes.

She looked at Tetsu no Sosuke: "Next time we meet, I'll tell you."

"Next time..."

Tetsu no Sosuke was stunned, but saw the girl had already stood up.

She turned and smiled at him: "I'll be waiting... for the Nichirin Blade you send me."

Before noon, the garden lay in scattered ruin. The girl, like a butterfly, carried the painting Tetsu no Sosuke had given her and seemed to vanish into the wind.

Only Tetsu no Sosuke stood there, dumbfounded.

"So... does she like me or not? Why can't she say it now? Why does it have to be next time? Hey... I haven't even made the rice balls I promised."

Chapter 12: A New Use for Breath of the Sun

The forest wind, tinged with the fragrance of grass and trees, echoed through the forging shed.

The young man, bare-chested, stared intently at the red-hot iron block. The Forging Hammer in his right hand struck repeatedly, and in his ears rang the prompt of [Impurity -1].

This was the second day since Kochou Kanae had left.

In one day, Tetsu no Sosuke had fully conceptualized the Nichirin Blade he would forge for her.

And the day before—the day Kochou Kanae left—Kotetsu had delivered the materials he needed.

Along with them came a drop of blood that Kochou Kanae had forgotten to hand over before her departure.

The blood was stored in a small vial. Tetsu no Sosuke treated it with great care, processing it to prevent it from drying or clotting, then stored it safely.

After that, he began working on the materials—smelting them in the furnace, removing impurities.

He didn't know when Kochou Kanae would encounter Doma, so he didn't let himself dwell on whether his confession had succeeded or failed.

Nor did he indulge in the pain of parting. He gathered all his emotions and, starting last night, raced against time to begin forging the Nichirin Blade.

But now, he faced a puzzling problem.

"Why can't I enter that frenzied state anymore?"

Since last night, he had tried repeatedly, but found himself unable to sink into that strange trance.

At first, he thought it was because his heart was too turbulent to focus.

Yet as the hammer struck again and again, his mind gradually purified like the iron in his hands, impurities being hammered away.

But that subtle state never returned.

Its absence baffled him, but it didn't hinder his actions.

Forging a weapon was tempering the heart!

At some point, Tetsu no Sosuke had come to realize this.

At the same time, another thought kept rising in his mind.

"What if I try... applying Breath of the Sun to hammering the iron?"

As his mind calmed, this idea surfaced quietly.

Breath of the Sun was meant to drive sword techniques, but Tetsu no Sosuke knew nothing of swordplay!

He was utterly clueless about such arts.

Though he had watched Kochou Kanae train for three days and understood the basic movements of the Flower Pillar's sword techniques, without practice, merely observing could only teach him the motions and the blade's role—nothing deeper.

After all, one couldn't become a swordsman through sight alone!

But he was a swordsmith.

He can forge iron!

Thinking more carefully, the Breath of the Sun must be able to enhance his strength and speed. If he applied these to forging iron, would it produce some wondrous effect?

Once this thought surfaced in his mind, he couldn't quite control it.

In the end...

The boy's breathing rhythm changed. All his focus converged. In an instant, it seemed as if hot air seeped from the corners of Tetsu no Sosuke's mouth, leaking out from the edges of his mask.

The next second, his gaze shifted.

The Forging Hammer in his hand danced like a wild storm!

The original rhythm of hammering iron had been clang! clang! clang!

But now it became clangclangclangclangclang!

Without pause, in a single instant, the former calm and steady transformed into crashing waves and raging tides.