Zenitsu Agatsuma chased after Sui all the way until the next morning.
But very soon, he changed his mind.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! I'm really gonna die!"
Thunderous crashes rang through the forest as the great wooden hammers swung. The boy lost focus for one instant, was sent flying, and then dropped straight into a trap pit. Under those circumstances, Zenitsu's mind went completely blank. Being swindled out of money by his first love? A seductive senior sister? None of that existed anymore. All he could see were the swinging wooden hammers.
From a high vantage point, Sui looked down at him coldly. Every time Zenitsu was on the verge of being pounded into paste, she stepped in, lightning surging around her, making him experience that razor-thin line between life and death again and again.
Back in the courtyard, Jigoro sipped freshly brewed tea and enjoyed the mild warmth of the spring sunlight.
Ever since Sui arrived, the old man did not even need to personally supervise the training of those two boys anymore.
Listening to the racket coming from the back mountain, he closed his eyes in contentment.
"Best of luck, kid."
Kaigaku was in the courtyard practicing his swings. Hearing the tremendous crashes from the back mountain, he could not help but secretly rejoice. At last, he was no longer the only one being tormented by that damned woman.
A month later.
"Six hundred ninety-eight swings! Six hundred ninety-nine! Aaah! No way! How am I supposed to swing nine hundred and ninety-nine times?!"
Zenitsu collapsed helplessly to the ground, his bamboo sword slipping from his fingers.
"I knew it... I really can't do it..."
Then a sharp sting exploded across his backside.
"Ah! That hurts!"
Zenitsu whipped around.
Behind him, the smiling girl with her eyes closed looked exactly like one of those smiling Ebisu statues you saw at festivals—if Ebisu wore a crimson haori and liked hitting people in the ass with tree branches.
"No slacking," Sui said, pausing for effect. "If you slack off... shall we have you bathe with that sow again, Zenitsu-kun?"
In an instant, Zenitsu's mind was flooded with the nightmare memory of being chased by the female boar in Mount Momoyama, which kept trying to chew his hair off. He scrambled desperately toward his bamboo sword.
"I'll work hard, I'll work hard! Senior Sister, please spare me!"
The forging of a Hashira-class Nichirin Blade truly took a long time. It had already been two months since Sui returned to Momoyama, and a full month since Zenitsu arrived as well. The season had now entered early summer, and the weather was beginning to grow hot.
Looking at Sui's stunningly beautiful face now, Zenitsu no longer felt even the slightest trace of romantic fantasy.
She was a demon.
In the span of just one month, poor Zenitsu had gone through all of the following, and more—
"Why do I have to be timed even when I'm drinking water?"
Holding a bamboo flask, Zenitsu asked the question in confusion.
Sui stood there with a pocket watch, smiling sweetly.
"Because demons won't wait for you to finish your tea before attacking. However many seconds you take, I'll swing my blade for that many seconds afterward. Block every strike, and only then can you eat."
And then there was—
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! Why are there piranhas in the waterfall?!"
Zenitsu leapt out of the pool clutching his bitten, swollen backside.
Standing on the shore, Sui said calmly, "A true inheritor of Thunder Breathing can effortlessly spear fish through rushing water. In fact, one might even cook them on the spot."
"I haven't even learned your breathing techniques yet!" Zenitsu screamed.
Watching from the side, Jigoro sank into thought. So that was the truth behind the grilled fish Sui had once cooked for them. No wonder their mouths had gone slightly numb after eating it.
And there was also—
"Senior Sister! Is this something a human being would do?!"
Zenitsu dangled upside down in a trap net, swaying pitifully. Above him, perched on a tree branch, the girl nibbled on a biscuit and answered in a muffled voice:
"The last child who got caught here stayed hanging for three whole days... ah, my snack's about to fall."
Zenitsu watched as the biscuit dropped, bounced off his forehead, and landed on the ground. He had not eaten in quite a while. This was torture, pure and simple.
"The child you're talking about was Kaigaku-senpai, wasn't it?! No wonder he grits his teeth every time he talks about you! You're a demon woman! A demon!"
"Senior Sister is absolutely a demon wearing the skin of a beautiful girl!"
Crying all the while, Zenitsu scribbled furiously into his notebook with the intensity of someone writing his final will.
"This morning she flicked my fried egg breakfast away with a bamboo sword, at noon she made me race monkeys up a tree, and tonight she put ice into the bath barrel!"
"Mr. Jigoro, the ice-bath method really is good for muscle recovery, right? Senior Sister wasn't lying to me, right?"
Sniffling miserably, Zenitsu looked to the old man.
Jigoro stared at the boy, who had practically been frozen into an ice sculpture. After a long silence, he slowly nodded.
"Boom—!"
A sudden crash of thunder shook the whole house.
Sui walked in carrying a thoroughly scorched Kaigaku and smiled at Zenitsu.
"It's time for the next round of training, little junior brother. You need to grasp the mysteries of Thunder Breathing as soon as possible. Otherwise, after I'm gone, you'll find the old man's training even harder to bear."
"I'm leaving him in your care, old man."
She dropped Kaigaku, picked Zenitsu up, turned, and walked off.
Looking at Kaigaku, who seemed to be alive by only a single breath, then at Sui's retreating back, Jigoro sighed.
"Her forged Nichirin Blade is already on its way."
"R-Really?"
Kaigaku's eyes flew wide open. His voice came out hoarse as his charred hand seized Jigoro's sleeve.
"It should arrive tomorrow," the old man replied.
"Ah... that's great. Hurry up and go already, you woman..."
Kaigaku spread his arms and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"The way she trains you two... in truth, she's tempering you like Tsuguko," the old man suddenly said.
"What? Tsuguko?"
Kaigaku clung to that last thread of life again and asked, "How could she be a Tsuguko? Master, you're the Hashira."
"An ordinary Nichirin Blade usually only takes ten to fifteen days to make. The reason hers has taken so long is that the swordsmith was ordered to forge it to Hashira standards. The Master who gave that order believes that before long, Sui will become the new Thunder Hashira."
The old man looked toward the door.
"She killed every demon in the Final Selection, after all."
Outside, thunder rumbled again.
Zenitsu trudged silently behind Sui. That crimson haori had practically become part of his nightmares by now.
"Haaah—!"
He heard the sound of exhalation. Dark violet lightning crackled into existence around them, and before he could react, a tremendous shockwave slammed into him.
Lightning surged like an arrow shooting through the forest.
Boom!
When the thunder died away, Zenitsu landed hard on his rear. He looked at Sui, completely at a loss for what new trick his demonic senior sister was playing today.
Still, he had to admit that although Senior Sister was brutally strict when training them, when they were injured she would carefully and gently apply medicine with such tenderness that it felt as though she had become a completely different person.
The problem was that the gentle version of Senior Sister never lasted long. The demonic version dominated most of the time.
"This is the summit of Momoyama," Sui said.
Zenitsu looked around.
Night wrapped the mountain in silence. Mist cloaked the slopes, and the whole scene resembled an ink painting. Usually he was too busy being tormented by training to notice, but Mount Momoyama itself was actually a rather beautiful place.
Sui stood very quietly, gazing into the distance, her eyes deep and unreadable.
"Ah! Senior Sister, you're not blind?!"
Zenitsu was so shocked by the fact that Sui had opened her eyes that he nearly shouted himself hoarse.
"Quiet."
Sui tapped him on the head with the wooden sword.
"I sensed a certain power within you. That is the reason the old man accepted you as his disciple."
She reached out and stroked Zenitsu's hair, her voice gentler than he had ever heard before.
"You've worked hard these past days, little Zenitsu. I was trying, on the old man's behalf, to draw out the potential inside you. But it seems I can't do it. I'll have to leave the rest to him."
Zenitsu wanted to say something, but swallowed the words back down.
"I'll be leaving Momoyama tomorrow," Sui said.
"Ah? Why?"
Zenitsu was stunned.
"I... I still really like you, Senior Sister. You're strict, but you care about us. You patiently demonstrate every move and every stance for us over and over... Don't go. None of us hate you."
"What are you thinking?"
Sui narrowed her eyes.
"My swordsmith is coming tomorrow to deliver my blade. Who do you think that Demon Slayer Corps uniform in my room belongs to?"
"W-What?! That Demon Slayer Corps uniform is yours?"
Zenitsu flushed crimson, then suddenly stiffened and looked away.
"W-What uniform? I don't know anything about that."
"Thank you for the flowers," Sui said.
At one point, Zenitsu had secretly snuck into Sui's room and left a bouquet of tulips in the vase on her dressing table. Sometimes Zenitsu could be astonishingly straightforward, and at other times not straightforward at all.
For example, Sui knew very well that Zenitsu worked hard in secret. Even though he was always saying he couldn't do it, he was in fact pushing himself with everything he had to meet her expectations.
"The forging of my Nichirin Blade took a long time, but a letter arrived from the crow. Mr. Haganezuka will reach Momoyama tomorrow with my sword."
Sui smiled, and Zenitsu found himself staring blankly.
"B-But wait."
Zenitsu said, "Didn't Mr. Jigoro say you only came to Momoyama in early spring? You were already an official member of the Corps by then?"
On the back of Sui's right hand, the character Kanoe appeared.
"Yes. I'm already a Kanoe-ranked swordsman."
Zenitsu went numb.
"Thunder Breathing is the fiercest of the Breathing Styles, and the hardest to learn," Sui said. "Naturally, it demands training far beyond what ordinary people can endure. The old man's methods will be even more terrifying than mine, little Zenitsu. You should prepare yourself mentally."
"I..."
Zenitsu met Sui's eyes. The gentleness in them nearly melted him from the inside out. For once, the words he always used to throw tantrums and protest would not come out.
"I'll work twice as hard!"
"Good."
Sui smiled.
"Then let's begin training."
"Whaaaaat?!!!!"
Inside the house, Jigoro's tea sloshed out of his cup from the force of the thunder. The old man shook his head.
"I just hope the boy survives."
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 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
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?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
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