"You can do it! You've got this!" +3 At the Butterfly Mansion, the three little triplet girls were clapping and cheering for Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke.
The three of them had pushed their Breathing Style training to the limit and had now reached a point where they could subconsciously maintain it from morning till night. And being able to maintain their Breathing Style for twenty-four hours a day was something only Hashira could achieve... In other words, only those who could reach this stage had the potential to enter the realm of the Hashira.
Now, they faced their final test: to burst a large wooden gourd by blowing into it. From their initial training in speed and agility, to mastering their Breathing Styles, they were now cultivating powerful lung capacity. To put it bluntly, their breathing had to be strong enough to make a half-man-sized gourd explode with air. If they could do that, their internal organs would also become incredibly strong. And training the body, strengthening the internal organs, was precisely the essence of Breathing Styles.
"Ah... Hooo~" +3 The three youngsters took a deep breath, their faces turning red from the effort, and finally, with a loud BANG, the gourds exploded.
"Yeah~ We did it! Hahaha~" "Haha, as expected, Lord Inosuke is the strongest~" "Haha, now we can go find Uchiha Nagi-nii~" "If you guys can't bear to part with me, I can stay for your sakes..."
Shinobu watched the three fledgling youths with a faint smile, seemingly reminded of her own past.
Just the day before, Tanjiro had specifically sought her out to ask about Fire Breathing. He had used his family's ancestral Kagura dance in battle. However, Shinobu had definitively told him that there was only Flame Breathing; she had never heard of Fire Breathing. But she suggested he could ask the Flame Hashira, as he, also using a fire-attribute Breathing Style, might know something. Then, she reported it to Kagaya Ubuyashiki and applied for them to go on a mission to support the Flame Hashira. Upon hearing this, Kagaya Ubuyashiki smiled faintly, further convinced of his premonition: Tanjiro was connected to Sun Breathing. Only Sun Breathing was what Muzan feared most, which was why he was so intent on sending people to hunt them down. Thus, to allow the youngsters to train and grow, he had them go together to support the Flame Hashira and participate in the investigation of the disappearances on the Infinite Train.
"Get out of my way! Let me handle this monster! Watch me cut it down with one blow!" Inosuke roared, drawing his swords and preparing to attack the locomotive.
"Don't embarrass us! This is a train~" Zenitsu, mortified, grabbed onto him. If he didn't stop him, Inosuke was actually going to attack the train. Raised by wild boars and having grown up deep in the mountains, Inosuke had never seen a train before and thought it was a monster...
"Let me rip open this monster's belly!" Thunk~ Inosuke forcefully slammed his head against the train carriage...
"So embarrassing..." +2
The three of them boarded the train. Shortly after it began to move, they started searching the carriages for the Flame Hashira. "Waahaha, this monster runs so fast~" Inosuke stuck his head out the window, yelling excitedly. "Stop being embarrassing and let's go already~" Zenitsu, his face flushed, pulled him along, apologizing to the nearby passengers, "Sorry, sorry."
The three of them passed through carriage after carriage. Because Tanjiro had seen him once at the Hashira meeting, they were looking for someone with flame-colored hair.
"Do you think the Flame Hashira will be hard to talk to, Tanjiro~" Zenitsu asked worriedly. "Uh, Miss Shinobu said that although he sometimes says things that don't quite make sense, he's a warm and cheerful big brother figure~" Tanjiro replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "And Tomioka-san said that he's always trying to talk to him... Anyway, he should be a relatively easy person to get along with, right?"
Finally, upon opening the door to one carriage, they heard a deafening, deep, and hearty voice: "DELICIOUS—" "DELICIOUS—" "MMMM~ DELICIOUS—"
Uchiha Nagi looked speechlessly at the towering stack of bento boxes on the table. He knew that people who trained in taijutsu could eat a lot—his own appetite had increased considerably recently—but someone who could eat this much was almost comparable to Hinata. On the table, more than a dozen bento boxes were already stacked high, with another dozen unopened ones placed to the side. Big Brother Flame Hashira, Rengoku Kyojuro, was eating with gusto, his mouth glistening with oil~ He ate while shouting "Delicious!" but his eyes weren't quite right, always staring unfocused straight ahead. Uchiha Nagi was clearly sitting by the window opposite him, yet Rengoku stared fixedly forward...
"Ah, found them! Uchiha Nagi-nii, Rengoku Kyojuro-san!" Tanjiro exclaimed with delight. Uchiha Nagi looked up. It was indeed the protagonist trio. "Oh, it's you three. Haven't seen you in half a month. Hope you're all well. Tanjiro, it looks like you've mastered maintaining your Breathing Style all day. Very impressive," Uchiha Nagi said with a smile.
"Not at all, Nagi-nii. You're already a Hashira; you're the impressive one..." Tanjiro said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Aooh aooh, two Hashira! One of you fight me! I want to challenge you— Mmph mmph....." Before Inosuke could finish, Zenitsu clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him aside.
"This is Tanjiro," Uchiha Nagi introduced. "Those two are Inosuke and Zenitsu. These three are potential future Hashira..."
"DELICIOUS— Mmph mmmph," Rengoku Kyojuro said heartily while eating. "I can tell. You three should train with me!" "Hmm, by the way, why have you three come here?" Rengoku Kyojuro asked.
"It's like this: a crow brought orders saying that the number of victims on the Infinite Train has increased, and we were told to rendezvous with you. And coincidentally, I also have some things I'd like to ask Rengoku Kyojuro-san," Tanjiro said.
"Oh, what is it~" Rengoku Kyojuro had already finished all the bento boxes and let out a comfortable burp. Inosuke, beside them, had long forgotten his earlier clamor to challenge the two Hashira. Half his body was now hanging out of the train window. Inosuke waved his hands excitedly outside the window. "Hahaha, this iron monster runs so fast! Don't stop me, I want to go down and race it to see who's faster~" Zenitsu, holding onto his legs from behind, was about to lose it. "Stop it right now! How can anyone be this idiotic!!" Uchiha Nagi watched with amusement. This little boar was truly a bundle of joy, unintentionally hilarious.
Tanjiro spoke, "It's about my father. He was frail and sickly from birth, but even so, he could dance the Kagura in the bone-chilling snow." Rengoku Kyojuro said loudly, "That's wonderful~" Tanjiro shouted, "Excuse me~" Rengoku Kyojuro shouted even louder, "Speak!"
Uchiha Nagi looked at the two of them speechlessly. Are all protagonists this over-the-top in their personalities? Their conversation was just... something else.
"Hinokami Kagura: Dance. I used it subconsciously. It's all from the dances my father taught me when I was little. So I wanted to ask, Rengoku-san, have you ever heard of the Hinokami Kagura?" "Hmm, never heard of it—"
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