The trials drew closer with each passing day. At every corner you could find a person or two training, swinging at the air or at each other. Even now it amazed me, the sheer number of people driven by the desire to become a demon slayer.
With the free time I had, I spent most of it keeping close to Nana. She had worked hard to push almost everyone away, but I had the patience and the will to follow through regardless.
Today, like almost every other day, she arrived at the training ground behind the quarters. It was a shared space, but she had quietly claimed it as her own. Her recent mood had become its own kind of repellent.
Except she wasn't there when I arrived. That was odd. By this hour she was usually already deep into it, breaking sweat and breathing hard. I had thought I was the one running late. I took shelter beneath a bare cherry blossom tree, its leaves long since fallen, and waited.
Nearly an hour passed. I was beginning to think she wasn't coming at all. It wasn't impossible. Maybe she had found another spot, maybe I had pushed too hard and she decided a change of location was necessary.
Just as the thought was taking shape, she came into view, walking out of the quarters with a wooden katana in her right hand. Her face was burning with something that looked like hatred but carried the weight of resolve. She stepped into the training area without so much as a glance in my direction, as if I were nothing more than a shift in the wind.
"Good morning, Nana!" I called out from the side. She said nothing, as expected.
She took her stance, feet spread, hands firm on the katana with the tip level with her face. She raised it and brought it down in a clean, fast slash, the kind that carried enough force to bring a man down. She followed with side slashes and combinations, each strike deliberate and hard.
I watched in silence as usual, but I hadn't come just to watch. I needed to reach her before the trials began.
"That won't do, Nana. You're sacrificing strength for speed."
She didn't stop. Didn't flinch. Didn't glance my way. She kept swinging until her breath grew heavy and sweat darkened the back of her collar. Then she slowed and took a brief rest.
"Demons don't take breaks. They'll keep coming until they get what they want."
No words, but she pushed herself up and resumed, her swings harder now, her fury rising to the surface. I was fairly certain I was the one feeding it.
"There you go again. It's not all about strength. You need to find the balance, so that each strike carries its own intent. Strength, speed and technique, all three working together, that's how you land a blow that means something." I dropped my gaze to the ground, one hand on my hip, the other pressed to my forehead in quiet disappointment. "How are you even a demon slay—"
A sharp killing intent swept across the training ground and landed on me like a cold hand. I opened my eyes. A wooden katana was cutting through the air toward my face. I stepped aside and caught it mid-flight.
I turned it over in my hand. Nana's. Her face had gone red, brows drawn tight toward the center.
"What are you doing here?!" she snapped.
"Watching you train."
"I don't need anyone around me right now. Please leave."
"No. I can't do that."
"Tatsuya." Her voice flattened. "I need to train alone, and in silence. So I'm asking you to leave."
"I can't, Nana."
She bit her lower lip, hands balling into small fists. "Don't you have something more important to do?"
"Nothing at all."
"You have trials coming. You should be preparing." She closed the distance between us. "Now give me my stick and leave me alone."
"The trials are there for people like you. I don't need them."
"Why you—!" The anger and embarrassment ran together across her face. She lunged forward to snatch the blade back, but I stepped aside cleanly.
"Alright. What do you want?" She stopped.
"Finally. I want you to talk to me."
She paused. "I have nothing to say to you. Give me my stick."
"I'll ask the questions, you do the answering." She exhaled hard and stood still, arms crossed over her waist. "Good. This isn't a question, but I need you to settle things with Mui."
"There's nothing to settle." She says "She needs to understand that I am a demon slayer. I've done my trials, I've passed, I've killed demons. Tell her to stop treating me like a child."
"Understood—"
"I have a question for you." She came at me
"Go ahead." I said
"Why did you run away."
"Why does everyone ask me that? I didn't run, I—"
"There you are!!" A voice rang out from behind me. I turned. Hachiro was crossing toward us, something at his side that looked like a katana wrapped entirely in silk.
"Hachiro?" Nana said.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, then his eyes found me and the wooden blade in my hand. "Tatsuya?" He looked between us. "You two are training? For the trials?"
"No—"
"Yes—"
"..."
"..."
Nana shot me a sour, withering glare. But I kept going. "I came seeking guidance."
Hachiro raised his brows. "You? Seeking guidance. That is new."
"It shouldn't be. There's no limit to learning. You can pick something up from someone far weaker than you." I glanced at Nana. The intent was clear. The bait was working.
"Give me my stick," she said, voice flat and steady.
I handed it back without a word. She gripped it and looked me over. "Go find yourself a weapon then."
"I don't need one. As long as I can remember, every duel between us has ended the same way, and I haven't had to hurt you once."
She clicked her tongue, her face drawn tight. She shifted into her stance, blade angled to the side. Hachiro stepped back to watch, taking on the quiet role of both spectator and referee.
"Ready? Fight!"
She came at me hard, swinging left to right. Watching her drill was one thing. Facing her was another. Up close it was clear how raw her attacks were. She missed a right slash, spun in a full circle and came back with a left. I stepped away from it.
Every strike aimed for my head. She fought as though the only purpose of picking up the blade was to land the final blow.
"Strength, speed and technique. All three, together." I bounced back on my toes and surged forward. The tip of my index finger caught her blade in the air and everything seemed to stop. "It doesn't just apply to the blade. It applies to everything." In the next instant, there was a crack, and the wooden katana shattered into small pieces.
She stumbled back, and in the stillness that followed I was looking down at her.
"You have a long way to go, Nana."
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