If there had been any complications at all, they had come entirely from Shinobu Kocho.
Even after Tetsu no Sosuke set out, she refused to give up and tried to follow him. But when someone like Tetsu no Sosuke decided to act alone, very few people could secretly trail him without being noticed.
After he used a few simple tricks to throw Shinobu Kocho off twice, she finally gave up. She stayed behind at the mine with a dark expression and let Tetsu no Sosuke go on alone.
Throughout the journey, Tetsu no Sosuke pondered Shinobu Kocho's various actions, but he still could not figure out what was going on with her.
In the end, he could only put it all down to one thing: The kid's grown up. She finally knows how to care about someone!
That left him with the sort of comfort an aging father might feel.
Still, his insistence on leaving her behind this time certainly would not have put Shinobu Kocho in a particularly good mood.
He would have to soothe her when he returned.
"Buy her some candy?"
He considered it for a moment, but that seemed a little difficult... she did not seem particularly fond of candy.
The forest was deep and silent. Tetsu no Sosuke was heading toward Urokodaki Sakonji when he suddenly heard the repeated clash of blades.
After turning it over briefly in his mind, he headed toward the sound.
Before long, the view abruptly opened up. A boy's somewhat long hair flew wildly through the air as he swung his blade, locked in fierce combat with an Automaton Puppet.
Tetsu no Sosuke stopped to watch for a while and soon noticed a few things.
The boy was, of course, Tanjiro!
There was something unusual about his condition... his eyes