A long time ago

"Hey, hey, hey! I really can't stand you saying that!" Sanemi stood up.

"Amitabha... Sanemi, you must calm your mind!" Gyomei Himejima said slowly.

Sanemi looked at Gyomei, his lips twitching slightly, but he ignored him and continued to look at Giyu, saying:

"You've been saying this ever since I joined the team, haven't you? Explain yourself! What do you mean by 'you're different from us'? Huh?"

"No... we can't argue, calm down, Mr. Shinazugawa!" Mitsuri tried to stop the irritable Sanemi.

"What's wrong, Kanroji? This guy looks down on us. Aren't you angry?" Sanemi asked, looking at Mitsuri.

"Eh? This..." Mitsuri had only intended to persuade them to stop the fight, but she hadn't expected to find herself in the situation. After hesitating for a moment, she could only say, "Mr. Tomioka doesn't look down on us, does he? Isn't he always like this?"

"That's right! He's always been like this, so he's always looked down on us!" Sanemi said, annoyed.

"Huh? Is that so?" Mitsuri was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and asked with some confusion.

"Of course, you can ask other people if you don't believe me!" Sanemi said matter-of-factly.

After saying that, he turned to look at Gyomei Himejima, who was at the very front of his row.

"Amitabha..." Gyomei Himejima his hands together and softly uttered a Buddhist chant.

Seeing this, Sanemi's lips twitched slightly. He gave up on asking further questions and looked at the next person, Kyojuro Rengoku.

"I think Tomioka just doesn't know how to express himself!" Kyojuro crossed his arms and continued, "He's still too introverted. Maybe he should come study with me, just like you did with Shinazugawa when you went to Himejima for further training. I'll definitely give you a completely new Tomioka then!!"

Sanemi's lips twitched again as he looked at the person beside him, Obanai Iguro.

Obanai lowered her head slightly, a hint of coldness flashing in her heterochromatic eyes.

"I agree with Shinazugawa; I also think Tomioka looks down on us a bit! The only person he might respect is probably Mr. Kato!"

Next up is the next person, Tengen Uzui.

"I feel the same way! But who cares! Why bother about what other people think? Just live your own life, right?" Tengen Uzui said, putting his hands behind his head.

Seeing that both of them supported his idea, Sanemi's lips curled up slightly as he looked at the first person opposite him, Muichiro Tokito.

"Well, I don't know, whatever, it doesn't matter!" Muichiro said listlessly, his eyes unfocused.

Sanemi frowned slightly and looked at the next person, Mitsuri Kanroji.

This is the question that Kanroji asked; we can skip her. Next up, Shinobu Kocho.

Shinobu Kocho frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said:

"I didn't feel that Tomioka looked down on us, but his attitude was indeed very bad; he wouldn't explain anything clearly!"

Next up is Kanae Kocho.

Kanae said softly, "Mr. Tomioka must have some unknown past, which is why he has become like this, but he probably doesn't mean to look down on us!"

"Damn it!" Seeing that only three people clearly indicated that they felt Tomioka looked down on them, Sanemi frowned and looked at the last person.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Teiichi, but instead of answering the question, he looked at Giyu was still standing at the door, and said:

"Although I know you didn't mean what Shinazugawa said, you've seen it yourself. Many people think you look down on them, and even those who don't understand what you really mean, so..."

Teiichi paused slightly before continuing, "If you don't mind, I think you'd better tell everyone about your past and explain what you just said."

After thinking for Teiichi added.

"Hmm... it's mainly that sentence: You're different from them!"

"He's different from us!" Sanemi corrected.

"No!" Teiichi retorted, "I'm truly different from you!"

"Huh?" Sanemi looked incredulous.

He hadn't expected that before one problem could be solved, another would appear.

"Have you forgotten? You are all pillars, but I am not!" Teiichi.

"So, are you going to look down on us like him?" Sanemi said, displeased.

Teiichi glanced at Sanemi, pondering whether or not to explain.

Even if they don't explain, the only person who would think they are looking down on them is Sanemi.

Didn't you see everyone else sitting there calmly and peacefully?

After thinking about it, Teiichi felt it would be better to explain, so he spoke again:

"No, my 'different' simply means that our identities are different; it doesn't mean anything else!"

"That's for the best!" Sanemi said impatiently.

"Amitabha... Sanemi, you must calm your mind!" Gyomei Himejima spoke again.

Gyomei Himejima's words made Sanemi's lips twitch a few more times.

Gyomei Himejima turned to face Teiichi and said:

"If you're willing, Kato, then we can speak with our Master and have you rejoin the Demon Slayer Corps!"

"No, no need. It's just a title. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate Muzan Kibutsuji!" Teiichi replied calmly.

Gyomei Himejima nodded and said nothing more.

He also knew that Teiichi wouldn't care about this; otherwise, given Teiichi's current achievements, even if the Master were to re-establish a position above the pillar, it wouldn't be a problem at all.

But since Teiichi had just brought that up, as someone who was practically the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, he had to say something even though he knew the other party didn't care.

"Heh..." Sanemi sneered, "How ironic. It's not that the Pillars are acting like they're at home here; it's that they're like guests, rushing off as soon as they're done!"

Teiichi glanced at Sanemi a few times.

Well, given his emotional intelligence, he probably didn't realize that his words had also targeted himself.

Thinking of this, Teiichi looked at Giyu again and said:

"See? They have a lot of complaints about you. You'd better explain yourself to them. Of course, I'm not forcing you, but I know that's not what you meant! However..."

Teiichi looked at Giyu and said seriously:

My personal suggestion is that you explain why this happened!

After he finished speaking, the room fell silent for a long time.

After a long while, just as Sanemi was about to lose his temper, Giyu finally turned slowly to the side and walked back to sit in the seat he had just been in.

"It all started a long time ago..."

Hey! Stop using "a long time ago" all the time!