Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
---
"...let me teach the Hashiras?"
Tanjuro raised his eyebrow and pointed at himself.
"Yes." Gyomei nodded.
Before reaching Transparent World, Gyomei had already trained his "mind's eye" that could see through people's hearts.
For example, when Giyu and Shinobu chat with each other, both of them seem to be happier.
Sanemi would become awkward when talking to Kanae when she was still alive.
Recently, Obanai has also been giving excuses to get close with Kyojuro's disciple.
The other Hashiras were unaware of such circumstances.
Gyomei also discovered many hidden characteristics from his "mind's eye" about the other Hashira.
And Tanjuro-san...
From their previous mission together and now, Gyomei understands one thing.
That the man seemed to be the silent type and deliberately avoided showing off his strength.
At the Hashira meeting, if it wasn't for Sanemi's brash action, Tanjuro probably would not have even bothered to prove his strength.
Mostly because he has nothing to prove by doing so.
So if Gyomei wants him to teach the Hashiras the Transparent World.
He had to take the initiative and ask him directly.
---
At the location where the recent dojo massacre occurred, Giyu and his team recently arrived at the town.
Their kasugai crow circled the sky.
The people of the town noticed the birds and looked at them with wariness. They deliberately took the path where the crows didn't fly. Superstitions guiding their action.
"Sob sob..."
Mizuki was weeping as she cornered herself on the side of the street, holding her box camera. Her bloody appearance had already been washed away.
But everything she saw that night left a lasting impression on her psyche and her heart.
The people in the town also thought that the culprit was related to her because everyone was dead, yet she alone survived.
Some hysterical people even shouted their accusation loudly, proclaiming her as the murderer.
After that, her photo studio company heard about her current predicament and was unwilling to let her keep working as their apprentice.
She was given the box camera as compensation.
If Mizuki didn't have a strong heart that withstood all that trauma, she would have chosen to drown herself in the river long ago.
And now...
She was being accosted by the man who claimed to be from the Demon Slayer Corps, and he said that he could help her solve her problems. He introduces himself as Tomioka Giyu.
Giyu was currently looking at a blurry black and white photo in his hand. His expression was as stoic as ever.
After checking several from every angle, he finally asked Mizuki some questions.
"Is this all?"
Mizuki perked up and stopped her crying.
She put down her hand after she wiped off her tears and looked at Giyu's eyes in disbelief.
"Wha... What do you mean?" She replied with her lips trembling.
"I almost died!"
Seeing Mizuki's surprised look,
Giyu's mind flashed back to what Tanjuro had said to him before.
"You're often hated, aren't you?"
He didn't know why, but he must have said the wrong thing.
So.
Giyu went back to checking the photo in his hand. He squinted his eyes to carefully see what was captured by the camera.
In the photo, the figure was blurred.
It seems that the camera was not set up properly when the photo was taken, resulting in this extremely blurred photo.
Even the angle is tilted.
He could barely see that it was taken at night. There was a full moon and a human figure with an obvious tattoo on his arm. There was also a Buddhist bead circle around his ankles.
Apart from that, Giyu couldn't discern any other clues from it.
The confirmed appearance of a demon was not all that useful for the Corps.
As a member of the Corps, their mission is not just to kill demons.
Sometimes, they also have to do detective work to track down the slightest trace of a demon.
It is necessary to talk to all kinds of people, search for clues, and even breach people's privacy.
Tomioka Giyu is not a sociable guy.
In his last mission, if Shinobu wasn't there, he would have been stuck in awkward conversations and would have probably waited it out until the demon hunt again and then killed it.
Mizuki looked at Giyu confusedly. A thought in her heart took root about this man: that he was really unreliable.
She lowered her eyes as despair showed on her face. The feeling in her heart cannot be suppressed anymore.
"I knew I should have given up. Even the police can't find the murderer..."
As she murmured, she reached out and pinched the photo away from Giyu.
But Giyu didn't let go.
"Huh?" Mizuki raised her head and looked at Giyu in surprise.
Giyu stood there contemplatively and took the photo from Mizuki's fingers. He put the clue in his clothes.
"I think I know what happened." He said.
He raised his arm and let his kasugai crow land on his arm. "Please come with me." He nodded to Mizuki and turned around to walk.
From what he understands, the demon didn't kill Mizuki because it wants to return and finish the job.
So Giyu took it upon himself to protect the girl while trying to see if he could draw the demon out.
He believes this is the best course of action with the available information that he has.
Mizuki stared blankly at Giyu's back as he walked further and further away. Her hand outstretched while holding air.
Then, she realized that her photo had been stolen by this weirdo. "Hey!" She shouted and chased after him. "Wait for me!"
'Why do I have to go through all this!!' Her heart cried out in frustration.
The wind fluttered her clothes and the papers on the wall she had leaned on. The word "reward" and the like could be seen scarcely.
---
Night quickly fell.
Thump.
On one of the roofs of the houses in the middle of the town, soft tiptoeing could be heard by those with acute hearing.
A silent figure standing in the darkness overlooking the city.
The man squatted down, bent over on the roof, and put his ear to the tiles, trying to listen to the sounds inside the house.
He took out some papers clipped to his waist and spread them out. He scanned the portrait and the various information written on it.
A wanted poster rolled out in his hands.
He wore a thick iron plate on his forehead that reflected the pale moonlight under the night. His plum-red eyes were devoid of any emotion.
Judging from his appearance, he was about 18 years old.
He nodded a little as he lowered his head to the tiles, but now he noticed the tiles had been marked.
He put the papers away and took out a sharp kunai from his pouch.
He quietly pried open the roof.
Under the tiles, the light from the moon shines through the gap.
The young man is a member of a ninja clan that survived and continued to exist to this day, when almost all of the ninja clans disappeared during the Edo period.
His name is [Zinan Uzui.]
He is the younger brother of the current Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui.