Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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"Himejima?" The kakushi in charge of recording stopped his writing and looked up at the twelve-year-old Sayo.
He remembered that the Stone Hashira's surname is also Himejima.
But...
"Um..."
Seeing her senior contemplating, Sayo became more nervous. She pursed her lips and put her hands behind her back and kept her body straight.
She was extremely flustered and regretted what she said without thinking.
'Himejima-sama... doesn't seem to be thin, though...'
The senior rubbed his chin with the pencil in his hand. He decided to comfort the girl first.
"Himejima is your family name, right?"
"If there is an opportunity, I will submit a request."
As he spoke, he handed her the identity paper along with a block of wood to write her name.
"Don't get your hopes up too high." He looked her in the eyes.
Sayo stared blankly at the identity paper and the wood. She pursed her lips and took a deep breath.
Before bowing to her senior excitedly. "Thank you!"
Her bow generated a strong wind that blew the black cloth off the senior's face, and some ruffled papers scattered on the ground. Then, she turned around and left to be assigned her duties.
The senior looked around and felt his eyebrow twitching.
"Troublesome..."
---
---
-Location: Second Floor Butterfly Mansion-
Back to our heroes.
"Namu Amidha Butsu..."
Tanjuro was standing in front of Gyomei, who was still chanting the Buddha scriptures, with his hands clasped together.
Tanjuro observed Gyomei's heart beating violently through his transparent world. He remembered that Kaigaku was here accompanying his master and Zenitsu.
"Did you meet Kaigaku?"
In the original timeline, Gyomei had not yet joined the Demon Slayer Corps.
Kaigaku led the demon into the temple to save his own skin and directly caused the death of all the orphans under the care of Gyomei. Except for a 4-year-old girl named Sayo.
Gyomei desperately protected Sayo by beating the demon with his own bare fist. From nightfall until the crack of dawn, when the demon died under the sun.
Since demons turned to ashes when they died, there was no evidence to prove who killed the children at the temple.
In the end, Gyomei was wrongly accused of killing seven children and was imprisoned, awaiting the death penalty.
If Kagaya hadn't stepped in and rescued Gyomei, he wouldn't be sitting here in the mansion right now.
The culprit behind all this, Kaigaku, was sure to trigger a reaction from Gyomei.
Tanjuro let go of Nezuko and Tanjiro's hands, telling Tanjiro to keep an eye on Zenitsu.
He approached Gyomei, who finally snapped out of his praying and "looked" in his direction.
Tanjuro stopped in his tracks. His eyes looked at Gyomei in surprise.
Before, Gyomei's aura was like a thick earth and steady rock.
Now, Gyomei's aura is getting closer and closer to Tanjuro and Kokushibo.
There is only one explanation for such sudden improvement.
Tanjuro moved his hand and pointed his index finger on his chest, right on the position of his heart.
"Can you see it?" Tanjuro asked Gyomei, pointing at his heart that was constantly beating in his chest with the Transparent World active.
"Yes." Gyomei nodded.
In his mind, everything around him has become transparent.
Tanjuro in front of him was seen through, from the dense blood vessels, red muscles, skeleton, and internal organs.
Gyomei came here to ask his questions.
But before he could, Tanjuro reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "It's very surprising, isn't it?" He said with a smile.
He tells Gyomei to follow him into another room to sit down. "Everything you perceived becomes transparent; even the flow and the direction of blood in the vessels is crystal clear."
"This is the 'Transparent World' that can only be achieved after exhausting all efforts to train."
---
The discussion was brief but detailed. Tanjuro and Gyomei were sitting on chairs in the room.
Until at last, Gyomei decided to bring up the main reason why he wanted this meeting.
"...teaching it among the members of the Corps?"
"Yes. This special perception ability allows even me, a blind person, to see things in my mind." Gyomei nodded his head while adding, "It also enhanced your effectiveness in combat. If we can teach it to every member...
...The fighting power of the Demon Slayer Corps will increase exponentially!"
The issue with the quality of swordsmen in the Corps has always been a problem that every generation of Hashira has mulled over.
Unless you're extremely talented, the ranked members usually move in a team of three to work together and eliminate demons.
If someone had awakened the Transparent World ability, they would have documented it and reported their findings to Oyakata-sama long ago. So, everyone is aware and strives to reach such a state in their training.
Gyomei himself has only recently activated it; thus, he was an amateur in the technique. The only person who had mastered this skill was Tanjuro.
And thus, he asked the man to teach it to the members on learning it and then on how to master it.
'Such a thing... would be very difficult.' Gyomei thought.
"It would probably take a long time for an ordinary swordsman to master it."
Tanjuro rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
"However,"
Before Gyomei lost his enthusiasm by Tanjuro's admittance, Tanjuro smiled at Gyomei.
"If it's a Hashira, maybe they can reach this state in a short time through targeted training."
"The Hashira..." Gyomei murmured softly, lost in his thought.
---
Shinobu came out of her laboratory, holding a bottle of medicine in her hand. When she looked around the corridor, she noticed Tanjiro's figure standing in a daze. "Tanjiro-kun?"
Tanjiro turned around when he heard his name called. He was holding his sister's hand, Nezuko, still staring blankly.
"What are you doing here?" Shinobu asked.
"Kocho-san," Tanjiro replied, looking at the confused Nezuko beside him.
Tanjiro answered in a confused tone too. "Father said something like... he's leaving Nezuko to me, and to keep an eye on that yellow-haired guy in the ward."
He scratched his head, trying to sort out his thoughts. "...I don't know either."
Shinobu also remembered the loud scream coming from the ward and nodded in realization.
"I see... then, Tanjiro-kun."
"Have you seen Tomioka-san?" She asked another question.
"Giyu-Nii, he..." It was Nezuko who answered her. She is finally coming to her senses again.
"It seems that he was called for a new task and left in a hurry."
Shinobu's face fell from her smiling one, and a helpless expression replaced it. The hand holding the potion unconsciously clenched tight.
"I told him to stay put..." She sighed.
It was a small movement.
But that was enough for Tanjiro to notice Shinobu's exposed forearm that wasn't wrapped in bandages.
There were several faint purple needle holes on her skin.