Tetsu no Sosuke nodded, though he wondered why the other, sleeping sword god hadn't appeared.
Perhaps he'd convulsed himself out cold a little too thoroughly this time?
He laid Zenitsu Agatsuma beside Tanjiro. When Shinobu Kocho came over to ask what had happened, Tetsu no Sosuke explained the whole story.
"I reckon the fact that I killed his senior fellow disciple has left him traumatized. He already had absolutely no confidence in himself and was always afraid he would die. Now, even though he's passed the trial, I imagine the world looks even more dangerous to him."
That was what Tetsu no Sosuke said.
Shinobu Kocho shook her head. "If he has so little confidence, why become a Demon Hunter?"
"Not everyone becomes a Demon Hunter willingly. Plenty of people end up here for all sorts of reasons."
Shinobu Kocho looked thoughtful. She and Kanae had volunteered because they had a blood debt to settle.
Back then, they had no one to turn to, so becoming Demon Hunters had seemed only natural.
Zenitsu Agatsuma's circumstances were probably quite different from hers.
She waved a hand. "All right, since it was just a misunderstanding, I'll be going. I was looking through medical books with my older sister for a remedy when the noise here interrupted us, so I came to see what was happening. Stop scaring the poor boy all the time. He's already so timid that someone might beat him to death at any moment once he goes out on missions. He doesn't have many days left anyway, so be a little nicer to him."
She had seen more than her share of life and death, and she felt there was something seriously wrong with Zenitsu Agatsuma's mindset.
With an attitude like that, even several lives wouldn't be enough when