Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Time passed.
The clear sunlight passed through the gaps between the dense tree branches, forming beams of light, gently sprinkled on the ground.
"It's over... it's over..."
Yuichiro lifelessly followed behind his dad with a weak and unsteady gait. He looked like he lost his soul.
Muichiro walked beside and supported him. His face was also etched with worry.
The group finally arrived at an open small clearing, where a wooden house peeked out from the mountain wall.
All around the wooden house, there are tree stumps that have been cut down everywhere as well as deep marks made by swords on the tree stumps.
A thin figure was seen squatting by the stream in front of the house, holding a small basin in her hands and peeling something.
"Kaoru!"
Soichiro waved at his wife and shouted her name with a smile.
Kaoru heard her husband call and turned her head. She reached out her hand to wipe her sweat from her forehead.
Seeing that her husband and her two sons returned safe and sound, she smiled happily and stood up, waving back. "Danna!" (Husband ❤)
"Look!" She walked toward them as she held up the wooden basin, showing what was inside. "I picked this many chestnuts today!" Her tone was cheerful.
"Amazing, right!?"
There were many green hairballs in the basin, freshly cleaned. Soichiro took the basin from his wife with a faint smile on his lips. "You can't eat too much at once."
"Yes, yes." Kaoru nodded with her hand on her waist, rolling her eyes at Soichiro's warning. "Of course I know that."
While the boys were training their swordsmanship, Kaoru's body gradually recovered and was even healthier than before.
She curiously poked her head out from beside her husband and looked at the three people following Soichiro. "Who are these three?"
"Our guests." Soichiro said, then he leaned in to her ear. "You see..."
Soichiro quickly explained a shortened version of their intention to meet with Michikatsu.
"So that's how it is!" Kaoru had a sudden look of realization, but then she became puzzled again. "But Tsugikuni-san was already—"
Soichiro held his hand up to cut her off, understanding what his wife was about to say.
"Come in, everyone; please be at ease in my home." Soichiro said to the group.
Yuichiro and Muichiro moved first as they stood beside the front door of the house, nervously staring at the door as if it were guilty of something.
Shinjuro and Gyomei followed suit as they stood behind the Tokito brothers.
While Tanjuro left himself behind the group, observing everything. His radar was already confirming his suspicions.
Kokushibo... had already left this house at the same time as the Tokito boys went to the Swordsmith village, under Kokushibo's urging too, most likely.
That's why he was so blatantly showing his presence to Tanjuro. So the Demon Slayer Corps investigates this place.
There was no physical sign of Kokushibo anywhere in the house, but if Tanjuro had a nose like his son, he would have smelled the man's scent all over the house.
Tanjuro's eyes slowly moved to Yuichiro and Muichiro's figures as well as Soichiro, who was breaking chestnuts with a wooden stick not far away.
Squeak.
Shinjuro reached out and gently pulled open the entrance of the house.
The sunlight poured into the dim room through the opened door, and a cool breeze swooped in.
"No one here."
Shinjuro looked around the room and frowned.
"Namu..." Gyomei brought his hands together and his prayer beads. His weapon rested on his waist, and the chain clinked as he silently chanted Buddhist mantras. His emotions did not fluctuate too much.
"Did he get away..."
Soichiro heard the confusion by Shinjuro. He breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time he was puzzled.
"Isn't it daytime now?"
He looked up into the sun and felt the warm sunlight of early spring.
"Where did he go?"
"Excuse me." Kaoru called out from inside the living room. She held three small cloth bags wrapped in a wisteria-patterned blanket in her hands.
She looked at Shinjuro and Gyomei as she took in their appearance and their weapons at their waists.
"Are you Tsugikuni-san's friends?"
Yuichiro and Muichiro walked in through the opened door. Yuichiro heard his mother's question and couldn't help but pause.
His gaze rested on the flail and meteor axe that Gyomei was hiding in his monk's robe. 'No one would bring something like that to see a friend, would they?' He thought.
Kaoru looked down as she carefully distinguished the wrapped bags in her hand that had a piece of paper with a name written on it.
"Um..." She hesitated for a moment, then raised her head and asked the two swordsmen at her door. "Which one of you is Gonpachiro-san?"
Gyomei and Shinjuro looked at each other in confusion. They didn't know who that was, so they kept silent.
"...It's me." Tanjuro finally walked in from behind the two Hashira. His earrings swayed slightly in the spring breeze.
Shinjuro looked at Tanjuro in bewilderment. He opened his mouth to say something about it, but the words choked in his throat.
In the end, he decided to keep his silence.
"Ah, this."
Kaoru smiled as she held up the package and handed it to Tanjuro. "Michikatsu-san told me when my husband brings some guests later, I should give this package to a man named Gonpachiro."
"Please accept it."
Tanjuro took the cloth bag and stripped the piece of paper strapped to it with his made-up name written on it.
Then, Kaoru turned to her sons and called out to them.
"Yuichiro, Muichiro, come here."
"This is your gift."
The remaining package was handed over to the two brothers.
"We have a share?"
Yuichiro took the bag and weighed it in his hands.
Kaoru straightened up and put her hands together while tilting her head. She looked at her sons expectantly.
"Don't you want to open it and take a look?"
"Tsugikuni-san left it for you two."
The two brothers looked at each other blankly.
Together, they slowly pulled open the drawstring of the bag.
When the cloth was opened, what was wrapped inside was—
—A roughly made wooden flute.
The holes are crooked, and the texture is harsh.
But you can tell the great care it was given by its creator. Many traces of modifications were visible on it.
"What is this?"
Yuichiro asked in confusion as he reached out and picked up the flute. He looked at it left and right; he doesn't understand why that uncle would leave this thing to him.
Muichiro also reached and pointed at the folding paper beneath the flute. "Brother! There's a note here."
He picked up the paper and smoothed it out with his fingers. He saw the beautiful handwriting on it with some old kanji here and there.
Yuichiro read the contents before he repeated it out loud.
"Those who have exhausted their path will return to the same place."
After reading it, he frowned with a look of boredom.
He had heard Uncle Michikatsu say it several times during their training.
"Brother, there's more below."
Indeed, below the phrase, there was some short information about the Demon Slayer Corps and an inquiry that said, 'Choose for yourself.'
...
Tanjuro looked at the Tokito brothers' expressive faces before he turned his attention back to his own package.
He opened the cloth to find several thick papers that had been folded several times.
When he opened one of them, his eyes widened with shock as Tanjuro was stunned by the contents of the paper.
Both Shinjuro and Gyomei gathered around Tanjuro.
"What is that?" Shinjuro asked as he peeked over Tanjuro's shoulder to see the paper in his hands.
"A map?"
The several papers were then spread out on the tatami. What they saw were drawings of a building's appearance and even some symbols that signified direction of movements.
Tanjuro didn't say anything as his gaze swept over the entire map and finally stopped at the top middle of the paper, where characters of kanji told him which map this drawing represented.
[Ikūkan Mugen-jō] – The Infinity Castle.