The sliding doors creaked open gently.
Kenta stepped in, his posture straight but solemn, eyes carrying a burden older than most in the room could understand. The Hashira, along with Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Amane, and Kagaya himself, all sat in attentive silence.
Kenta bowed low. "Thank you… for hearing me."
Kagaya nodded. "Speak freely, Kenta. The truth behind Sahiru must be known to those who fight beside him."
Kenta's voice was calm, but beneath it trembled years of repressed memory.
"Sahiru Orasawa… is not just a swordsman. He is a man who has lost everything, and yet walks forward only so others do not suffer as he did."
He took a breath.
"He was once a simple boy from a village, But he was gifted… too gifted. And cursed by it."
Everyone listened intently as Kenta continued.
"Suzune Azuri was his light. His closest friend… and eventually the one he loved. She kept him human."
Zenitsu leaned forward. "So… she was the one?"
Kenta nodded. "Yes. And then… came the Osaka incident."
The air shifted. Even Sanemi narrowed his eyes now.
Kenta looked toward the floor. "Osaka was where Muzan unleashed the Eclipse Moons… a new breed of demons stronger than most of the Upper Ranks. Sahiru and Suzune were there, sent without proper reinforcements. Muzan wanted everyone dead."
Kagaya's fingers tensed slightly.
"Sahiru survived. Suzune… didn't. She died before his eyes. That was the moment something inside him shattered."
Everyone remained still. Inosuke, for once, was quiet.
"He blamed himself," Kenta said, voice nearly cracking. "And in the flames of Osaka, he unleashed power we'd never seen before. Facade Breathing wasn't born to fight demons… it was born to bury grief."
Tanjiro looked down, his fists clenched.
"So when he fights," Tanjiro whispered, "he carries all of that inside him."
"He always has," Kenta confirmed. "He doesn't fight to win. He fights so no one has to lose like he did."
Kagaya looked over them all. "Now you understand. He is not simply strong. He is forged from pain."
The weight of Sahiru's story settled into each of them. The man they had seen walk alone… had carried an entire battlefield within his heart.