"I want to learn forging techniques from you." Yoizumi found Kagane Techin and made his request.
"I see, why do you want to learn?" Kagane Techin slowly said, raising his mask to reveal the lower half of his face and taking a sip of hot tea.
"I want to make a gift for Shinobu." Yoizumi declined the tea offered by the Swordsmith and answered honestly, without reservation.
"Shinobu? Oh~ that little girl." As the forger of Shinobu's nichirin blade, he naturally knew Shinobu.
"What is your relationship?"
"Lovers."
"Oh my, I understand! Then I'll teach you!"
"Thank you." Yoizumi bowed his head slightly in gratitude.
"Forging emphasizes tempering a thousand times; you must learn to listen to the iron's voice. Come, what do you think of this sound?" Kagane Techin tapped a nichirin blade, producing a clear hum.
"Hmm... very... loud?" As soon as he finished speaking, Kagane struck Yoizumi's head with a wooden stick.
"This is an immature sound! The blade must be remade!" The Swordsmith, ashamed, clutched the nichirin blade and rushed out the door.
"Never mind, you try forging."
Yoizumi raised a hammer and, with great force, struck the glowing hot iron, flattening it into an iron cake.
"These young people nowadays are truly amazing." Kagane nodded in satisfaction, this child has talent.
"By the way, what do you want to make?"
"A butterfly... a butterfly necklace." Yoizumi put down the hammer in his hand and answered honestly.
"A necklace... do you even need to learn forging for something like that?!"
"Go learn carving!"
"Because I want to give her the best." If he made it himself, then everything from the raw material to the finished product had to be done by him, at least that's what Yoizumi believed.
Therefore, Yoizumi planned to learn everything from melting the iron ore to refining, forging, and finally carving.
"You... are quite dull-witted," Kagane said helplessly. He had heard it when he tapped his head earlier.
However!
He really liked it!
..."Tanjirou, are you alright?" Yoizumi asked, concerned, seeing his younger brother looking utterly exhausted.
"I... I'm fine..." Tanjirou weakly lay on the table and softly recounted what had happened that day.
He was currently training with the Yoriichi Type Zero automaton. That mechanism had six arms, and Tokito Muichiro had broken one, yet he still couldn't keep up with its movements. He had been badly beaten the entire afternoon. If he hadn't been trained by Yoizumi-nii before, improving his durability, he might have already collapsed.
"Is that so? Then why aren't you eating?" Yoizumi looked at Tanjirou's untouched meal, worried that after such training, he wouldn't be able to sustain himself without food.
"It's fine, I promised Kotetsu that I wouldn't eat until I defeated the Yoriichi Type Zero!" Tanjirou seriously clenched his fists, though his stomach continually rumbled.
"Alright."
Three days later... "It's finished..." Yoizumi put down his carving knife. A silver butterfly necklace lay in his hand. From selecting the silver ore to smelting, and finally carving and polishing, everything was completed by Yoizumi alone.
The Swordsmith assigned by Kagane Techin to guide him breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally send him away. This guy hadn't rested for three days!
He had also dragged him along for three days. God knows what he had been through.
"Thank you." Yoizumi bowed slightly to the Swordsmith.
"It's nothing, Snow Pillar." The Swordsmith's heavy dark circles under his mask showed he was so sleepy his eyes could barely stay open.
Glancing at the sky outside, it was deep night. Yoizumi returned to his room, found that Tanjirou hadn't come back yet, and went out to look for him.
After sensing his exact location, he found Tanjirou sleeping on the grass deep in the woods. Nezuko nearby had covered Tanjirou's body with many leaves to prevent her brother from catching a cold.
Seeing Yoizumi, Nezuko ran to his side with a "da da da" sound. He bent down, stroked his sister's head, and softly said, "Let's go back."
"Mmm~"
Yoizumi's steps suddenly halted. Nezuko, who was following behind her brother, bumped into his thigh. She looked up in confusion, only to find her brother's hand trembling. Nezuko, at a loss, took Yoizumi's hand, looking at him worriedly.
Yoizumi didn't understand what was happening to him. The moment he saw that automaton, a huge fear engulfed him, and his entire body screamed with the urge to flee.
Was he afraid?
He had never seen this automaton before, so why did he feel this way...? Scattered images appeared in his throbbing mind.
"What's so interesting?"
"What's so funny?"
"What... do you take life for?"
He raised his hand to cover his continuously aching head.
It wasn't his memory... it was...
Kibutsuji Muzan's memory!
This man, did he make Muzan so afraid that even his cells trembled?
It was like a shadow that had merged into his bones and blood, impossible to shake off.
After calming down, Yoizumi shook his head at Nezuko, indicating he was fine. He squatted down, carried Tanjirou on his back, and at the same time, hugged Nezuko with his other arm and grabbed the wooden box, taking them back.
"Yoizumi-nii brought me back..." Tanjirou stretched his stiff muscles. It had been four days, and besides the rainwater he drank on rainy days, he hadn't eaten anything. His body was about to reach its limit.
But he could indeed keep up with the movements of the Yoriichi Type Zero!
He had to defeat him, otherwise he would truly starve to death!
Tanjirou also successfully accomplished this.
Under Kotetsu's witness, he successfully defeated the Yoriichi Type Zero. A three-hundred-year-old nichirin blade appeared before them, exciting them immensely.
Haganezuka Hotaru suddenly appeared and, without a word, was about to take the blade away. After Kanaemori's explanation, Tanjirou learned the reason for Haganezuka-san's disappearance.
Because Yoizumi's blade broke when he faced an Upper Rank, he felt guilty, and his stubborn personality wouldn't let him back down, so he went alone to train deep in the mountains.
Tanjirou was deeply moved, seeing Haganezuka Hotaru's body which was more than twice as strong as before.
Finally, Tanjirou received the nichirin blade that Haganezuka Hotaru had newly forged for Yoizumi. The three-hundred-year-old nichirin blade was taken by him for polishing.
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