The Demon Slayer Corps pressed forward—for the future, to put an end to sorrow!
The Demon Hunters pressed forward too, whatever their reasons might have been!
And Tetsu no Sosuke had to press forward as well. His goal was still simple and beautiful, but if he stopped now, everything he hoped for would remain nothing more than a reflection in water, a flower in a mirror!
So... onward! Faster!
Tetsu no Sosuke rushed the entire way back. In just two days, he reached the mine.
Even with his constitution, he felt a little worn out.
But when he saw that everything at the mine was as it had been, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Nothing had happened...
And yet a faint unease stirred in his heart.
Why hadn't anything happened?
Could Kibutsuji Muzan already be dead?
The round trip had taken another week. Added to the time before that, more than a month had passed. Why was there still no movement from that side?
As he approached the mine, the sun was high overhead. The people working nearby spotted him and hurriedly bowed in greeting.
Tetsu no Sosuke nodded to them and asked how the others were doing.
The Serpent Pillar and the Love Pillar had taken shifts last night and were now resting in their respective tents.
Shinobu Kocho was conducting experiments by the mine. As for Tamayo and Yushiro... their circumstances were unusual. They never came out of the mine except at night.
Tetsu no Sosuke went straight inside and came face-to-face with someone barely five feet tall.
She was carrying something in her hands. At the sight of Tetsu no Sosuke, she seemed to falter for an instant, her body stiffening slightly. But the next moment, she acted as though nothing had happened,