"What Breathing Style is that?"
Teiichi glanced at the Tentacle Demon, hopped lightly down from the wall, and answered calmly:
"Wind Breathing."
"Wind Breathing can send out sword energy?"
Teiichi offered no further explanation. He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the Tentacle Demon, his voice full of provocation:
"Aren't you going to attack? If you don't, you won't get another chance once I come at you!"
The Tentacle Demon gave a vicious grin. He had only been a little curious to begin with, so since Teiichi did not want to explain, he stopped asking. The four tentacles behind his waist pointed straight at Teiichi.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-
With a series of whooshes, the four tentacles shot toward Teiichi in rapid succession, less than a second apart.
Teiichi stood where he was, his eyes fixed on the tentacles hurtling toward him.
The instant the first tentacle was about to strike his head, he tilted his head slightly, letting it skim past his hair.
Next, he leaned his upper body slightly back and to the left, dodging the second tentacle.
Then he tipped his head back and turned his body slightly, evading the third tentacle as well.
Finally, he stepped left with his left foot, his right foot quickly following. His body moved with his steps, avoiding the fourth tentacle.
He raised the Nichirin Blade in his right hand to guard his body.
With a clang, a tentacle that had missed Teiichi swept sideways and struck the Nichirin Blade.
Teiichi did not resist the force. He lightly leaped backward, and by the time he landed again, he had deftly dissipated all of it.
Watching the tentacles retract, Teiichi gave a small smile.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Keep going."
Veins bulged on the Tentacle Demon's forehead at those words, and the tentacles behind him shot madly toward Teiichi again.
Yet no matter how the Tentacle Demon attacked, Teiichi easily dodged or blocked. Sometimes he turned his head, sometimes he twisted aside, evading the incoming tentacles one after another. Whenever he could not dodge, he used his Nichirin Blade to knock them aside or cut them off.
Seeing how relaxed and unhurried Teiichi looked, the Tentacle Demon grew increasingly agitated, firing the tentacles behind his waist with even greater force.
Thuds and clangs rang out across the battlefield from time to time.
"Damn it! This Demon Slayer is using me for training!!"
Watching Teiichi's relaxed, unhurried movements, the Tentacle Demon suddenly realized that Teiichi might be using him for training. That realization made the fear in his heart grow heavier and heavier.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the man sitting in the distance, watching the fight.
One tentacle suddenly shot toward the man.
This sudden change caught Teiichi's attention.
The moment he noticed the tentacle heading for the man, he darted toward him. Just as the tentacle was about to hit the man-
Swish-
A blade flashed, and Teiichi severed the tentacle.
Teiichi looked toward the Tentacle Demon, only to see him leaping over the wall nearest to him.
"I'll go after that demon. Get some rest."
Turning to leave those words with the man, Teiichi set off after the Tentacle Demon before the man could reply.
In the woods.
The Tentacle Demon ran frantically, using all eight legs. Even the four tentacles behind his waist served as tools to propel him faster.
Wind howled in his ears, and the powerful wind rushing against his face blew his skin almost beyond his control, but none of the obstacles in the mountain woods seemed able to halt his advance.
Despite this, the Tentacle Demon's heart was filled with anxiety. He felt as though he were trapped in boundless darkness, able only to keep quickening his pace in the hope of escaping the Demon Slayer drawing ever closer behind him.
Yet even with all his strength, he could not shake off the terror that followed him like a shadow. He looked back and saw the Demon Slayer pursuing him at an unhurried pace. Despair welled up in the Tentacle Demon's heart. He could only curse the fact that he had not grown four more tentacles to let him flee this terrifying forest faster.
After he had run a little longer, the voice of the Demon Slayer behind him reached his ears first. He instinctively tried to dodge, but it was already too late.
"First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter."
With Teiichi's low shout, the Tentacle Demon felt a part of his body severed by a powerful force.
Under the moonlight, a round object flew from his body and fell to the ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop.
"Good kill! Good kill!"
White Feather's cheerful cries came from the sky.
It had slept a little too much during the day and could not sleep that night, so it had followed Teiichi out in search of demons. It had not expected their luck to be so good tonight, running into a demon just like that. It had been watching from the sky all night.
White Feather flew down and perched in a tree, looking at Teiichi as it asked, "I'm off to report the mission! Are you going straight home?"
Teiichi lowered his head and thought for a moment, the image of that short-haired girl coughing up blood surfacing in his mind. He shook his head and said, "I'll make another trip to Aomori City. Oh, and go tell that mother and son who ran away that they can come back."
White Feather nodded, spread its wings, and flew into the distant sky.
The following afternoon, sunlight spilled over the earth through sparse clouds.
Teiichi arrived at the door of Rena's house. He reached out and knocked lightly, then waited a while, but no sound came from inside.
Teiichi frowned and knocked harder, but the house remained silent. There was no response.
Teiichi could not help feeling a little worried and murmured to himself:
"Nobody home? Did she go to work? But I don't seem to hear her father inside either?"
He considered breaking down the door for a while, but ultimately felt that doing so would be somewhat inappropriate and abandoned the idea.
I'll go ask Manager Yamamoto first.
With that thought, Teiichi turned and walked toward the flowing somen shop. He remembered that Rena had helped out at Manager Yamamoto's shop before serving as his guide. Perhaps she had gone there to help with work again.
He made his way to the shop and pushed open the door. Inside, it was as clean and tidy as ever, with the faint aroma of somen lingering in the air.
"Welcome!"
Hearing the door open, Manager Yamamoto offered a practiced greeting. When he looked up and saw Teiichi, surprise appeared on his face.
"Oh... Mr. Teiichi, you haven't left yet? I thought you'd left Aomori City long ago."
Aomori City was a nice place, but even visiting one spot a day, he should have seen everything by now. Besides, he had not seen Teiichi for some time, so he had assumed Teiichi had left long ago.
Teiichi smiled and explained, "I left quite a while ago to investigate something near Aomori City. A while back, after Rena finished being my guide, she fell rather seriously ill. Now that the investigation is over, I thought I'd stop by and visit her."
At that, Teiichi looked around the shop. Seeing no sign of Rena, he continued:
"By the way, why isn't Rena here in the shop? Has she gone somewhere else to work again?"
At the mention of Rena, Manager Yamamoto's expression immediately fell. He sighed and said slowly:
"Rena... she... she died!"