Kanao was the one who took them back... They had been staying at the Hammer Pillar's place and had even planned to help out, but Kanae wanted none of it. She had Kanao take them all back to the Butterfly Estate.
Tetsu no Sosuke found it a little funny when he heard. Kanae was probably taking her frustration out on them.
But he couldn't blame her. She was pregnant, her emotions were all over the place, and he kept getting hurt. Even someone as gentle as Kanae was bound to have a bad day when this kept happening.
And now the little ones wanted to intrude on their time alone together. Kanae clearly wasn't going to allow that.
"All right, I know everything I need to know. You may leave."
Tetsu no Sosuke waved a hand, wearing an insufferably smug expression.
Shinobu Kocho snorted and stood to leave.
Tetsu no Sosuke opened his mouth as if to say something, but held back in the end. He stared silently at the ceiling for a long while. As sleepiness gradually came over him, he sank into his mind, slipped into the Inner Spring, and revisited his battle with Akaza.
He had been replaying that fight a lot lately. After all, there wasn't much else he could do right now.
He kept analyzing how his moves might have changed, searching for a way past his own limits.
But he made little progress. He had already reached True Extreme Flow Intent. Without some other opportunity, breaking past that limit again anytime soon would be difficult.
After fighting Akaza several times in his mind, he switched opponents to Kibutsuji Muzan.
Unfortunately, the Kibutsuji Muzan in his mind was incomplete.
A single encounter that day gave him nowhere near enough to fully recreate Kibutsuji Muzan's strength.