A month later, the peach blossoms of Momoyama had all fallen.
Jigoro sat atop a tree, watching the two figures below dart back and forth across the clearing.
No—more precisely, Kaigaku was the one launching slash after slash from every possible angle, while the girl at the center stood perfectly still. No matter how he attacked, no matter what stance he took, every strike was casually parried. And each time Sui countered, she used only a single cut.
No matter how hard Kaigaku pushed himself, he could not break through that one blade.
Steel clashed. Thunder boomed.
His attacks kept failing, and frustration began to creep in. The gap between them was even wider than he had imagined. He was using Thunder Breathing with everything he had, yet all the assaults he thought were powerful were being blocked one-handed by that woman—who was not even using Breathing techniques.
"Thunder Breathing, Third Form: Thunder Swarm!"
Kaigaku drew a deep breath. His body vanished into the thick trees, while Sui remained standing beneath the sunlight.
Thunder Swarm was a technique that revolved at high speed around a single target, leaving waves of lightning in its wake. It was especially suited to dealing with a stationary opponent like Sui.
Kaigaku kicked off the ground and shot upward. In the next instant, he appeared behind Sui, ripples of lightning spreading across the earth.
He swung for her chest.
Clang.
Sui merely turned her head and raised her blade, blocking the strike with effortless ease.
But the technique had not ended yet.
Kaigaku kept moving at high speed, slashing again and again. Lightning trailed through the air behind his blade, forming something like a cage around her. But on closer inspection, not a single blow had landed. Every time Sui moved her sword, she only borrowed the momentum left behind by Kaigaku's previous strike. She was not even exerting strength, while Kaigaku was already being worn down beyond endurance.
"An opening," Sui said softly.
Her blade shifted trajectories in an instant, and then the hilt slammed into Kaigaku's abdomen.
"Ghk—!"
All the strength fled from his body at once. He dropped to his knees, retching bitter stomach acid in pain.
Sui helped the boy back to his feet. "Do you want to continue?"
"Again!" Kaigaku wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth.
"That is enough. No need to continue."
Jigoro spoke as he jumped down from the tree.
"Kaigaku, this kind of sparring won't help you much. There's no need to obsess over catching up to your senior sister, and you shouldn't take victory and defeat so seriously. That's enough for today. I'm planning to head down the mountain later to buy some daily necessities. Want to come?"
Kaigaku's expression darkened. He shook his head.
"No, Master. I'll keep training."
"There has to be a balance between effort and rest!" Jigoro scolded.
Kaigaku picked up his sword from the ground and bowed to Jigoro. After a brief pause, he bowed to Sui as well, then left.
"That boy!" Jigoro gripped his cane angrily.
"He has a knot in his heart. He longs for power too much. Children like that can easily go astray, old man. You need to keep an eye on him," Sui said.
"He won't. The boy simply saw demons hurting people. It's perfectly normal for him to seek the strength to defeat them. Besides, he was brought here by Gyomei. I trust that he can overcome his own inner demons," Jigoro declared.
"I hope so," Sui replied flatly.
"You girl, you're kind to just about everyone, so why is it that you can't stand that boy in particular?" Jigoro asked, baffled.
"I don't know," Sui said. "Think of it as a woman's intuition."
Sui knew that once she framed it that way, Jigoro would have no answer.
In truth, there was no such thing as intuition. It was simply that the heightened perception granted by her Mystic Eyes had allowed her, in a certain instant, to glimpse Kaigaku's heart.
But she would not condemn the boy because of that feeling alone. She would give him time and allow him to grow. If one day Kaigaku truly strayed from the path, then Sui would be the one to clean house.
"You're going down the mountain? That's rare," Sui said as she watched the old man shut the courtyard gate.
"It's already been a month, and your Nichirin Blade still hasn't arrived. Looks like that swordsmith is putting in some real work," Jigoro said. "I'm going to buy food and bedding. You've already graduated, and once your Nichirin Blade arrives, you won't be staying here with me anymore. As the cultivator of Thunder Breathing, this old man still has to take in new students!"
"Ah, how sad. I'm going to have to leave you, old man." Sui covered her mouth and exaggerated the words dramatically.
Jigoro immediately panicked. "It's fine, it's fine! I'll keep your bedding and your dressing table in good order! There's no need to worry— You brat!"
There was not the slightest trace of sorrow on Sui's face. She was suppressing a laugh, then turned her head away—apparently because she simply could not hold it in anymore.
"You rotten girl!" Jigoro thundered.
"I really do like you, Mr. Jigoro," Sui said suddenly.
The old man's face flushed red, but he quickly caught himself. "You're making fun of me again, aren't you? This old man won't fall for it twice!"
"Old man," Sui said.
"What?"
"Take care of yourself. Live long enough to watch me kill Muzan and end the Demon Slayer Corps' fate."
"You…"
Jigoro smiled faintly. He tried to reach out and pat Sui on the head, but he was too short now, and Sui had grown taller. His hand fell short.
And yet it did not miss.
Sui bent down slightly, letting him reach her hair.
"Good child. You're all good children." Countless emotions welled up in the old man's eyes, only to settle at last into a smile.
In a town twenty li from Momoyama, Sui noticed that the old man's gaze drifted not only toward rice and flour, but occasionally toward shops selling women's accessories.
His pockets seemed bottomless. Considering Demon Slayer Corps salaries, money was probably just a number to a retired former Thunder Hashira like him.
Sui's appearance drew attention wherever she went. While the old man was shopping, passerby after passerby came over to strike up conversations. That in itself was not surprising to him.
What was surprising was that women came to chat her up too.
"Hm?" Sui lifted her head.
The old man reacted even faster than she did. Both of them had heard the shouting coming from farther down the street.
"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die—!"
A black-haired boy came running from the end of the street.
"I really don't have any money left!"
His straw sandals had long since worn through. Behind him, the curses of his creditors struck his ears like poisoned arrows.
Branches had snagged his hair into disarray. Mud and tear tracks covered his face. The men chasing him roared through the street in savage voices.
"Catch that brat!"
"No, please!" the boy wailed.
But he had not run far before they caught him.
One burly man slammed him to the ground, and several others closed in around him.
"You sure can run, you little bastard!" the man snarled, clenching his fist until his knuckles cracked.
"You owe a full five thousand, and you thought you could just vanish? Huh?"
The thug yanked the boy by the ear. Once the passersby heard the amount, none of them were willing to step in anymore. A debt was a debt; whatever abuse followed, they felt it was not their place to interfere.
"How could a child that young owe five thousand? What a pity," one shopkeeper muttered.
"What's there to pity? Anyone who can rack up that kind of debt is probably a gambling addict," someone else said.
"My money was stolen! I really don't have any left!" the boy cried.
Sui could tell he was telling the truth.
"Like a fledgling sparrow soaked through in the rain," she heard the old man sigh beside her.
Jigoro stepped forward.
The daylight seemed to split around his white whiskers as the one-legged old man planted his wooden cane before the group of large men. He was short enough that he barely reached their chests, yet not one of them dared speak to him rudely.
The setting sun stretched his shadow long and thin, like the rusted remains of a broken blade.
"I'll take this child," the old man said.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 150)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 110)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter100)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 60
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 50
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 50
The Way the Umamusume Look at 31
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 26
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 26
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