The paper earrings were clearly a pair. The siblings each wore one—one on the right ear, the other on the left.
The pattern was painfully familiar.
Centuries ago, his mother had mistaken Yoriichi's silence for deafness. She had gone to a temple to pray and obtained a pair of earrings just like these, asking the gods to grant her child the ability to hear.
Recalling Muichiro's mention of a friend whose family member had turned into a demon—and that this person was Yoriichi's disciple—Kokushibo found it difficult not to connect the siblings before him with Yoriichi.
So that's why Yoriichi wasn't wearing them before… He gave them to his disciple? Does that mean he had already taken on a disciple back then?
While Kokushibo stood in stunned contemplation, the conversation inside became increasingly clear.
Most prominent was Yuichiro's scolding.
"Are you stupid? You knew that demon was going to drag you down with it when it died. Why didn't you run?"
"Hehe… I was slow because I was trying to save someone. And with an explosion that wide, maybe running would've gotten me hurt even worse."
Yuichiro narrowed his eyes.
"You're talking back now?"
"It's true! I just got pinned under a wall. Kanae said it's only minor fractures in my ribs and leg bones. The swordsman who came with me had burns all over his body," Muichiro muttered. "And besides, you should be proud of me. I killed one of the Twelve Kizuki."
"Yes, Muichiro will become a Hashira soon. That's amazing."
The girl's voice was gentle and warm.
"Actually, Yuichiro always tells me that the 'Mu' in Muichiro means 'infinite.' But since Muichiro tends to get carried away when praised, he never dares compliment you directly."
"Eh—really?"
Muichiro sprang upright in bed.
"Brother, did you really say that to Nezuko?"
"Lie back down."
Yuichiro folded his arms, face cold.
"You're injured. Rest properly."
"Hehe~ Then Brother, you should hurry up and kill a Lower Moon too. Otherwise, at the next Hashira Meeting, you'll be the only one who can't attend. Though honestly, Lower Moons aren't that strong."
"You're injured like this and still talking?" Yuichiro sighed. "You know that was a Lower Moon, not an Upper Moon… Lie down. Don't move. You're trouble from morning to night."
"Haha, Yuichiro is such a serious older brother."
"It's just that your family's rules are too gentle, Nezuko. And Takeo and the others are well-behaved to begin with."
Yuichiro let out another sigh.
"Speaking of which, how's Tanjiro doing? Yoriichi and the others haven't returned since the last Hashira Meeting."
"Brother sent another letter recently," Nezuko replied softly, a faint smile in her voice. "He said he's remembered quite a few more things. He even brought up how Takeo insisted on going to chop wood when he was little, but couldn't lift the axe and cried no matter how much we tried to comfort him."
"Sister, please don't bring that up…"
The boy beside her looked mortified.
"That's embarrassing!"
Nezuko laughed lightly, but her expression soon grew troubled.
"But I still worry. Brother never writes about bad things in his letters. So sometimes I wonder… is everything really going as smoothly as it appears?"
"With Yoriichi there, it'll be fine."
Muichiro tried to reach out and pat his friend reassuringly, only to obediently lie back down under Yuichiro's glare. He changed the subject, pointing to his ear.
"By the way, what are those? Did you make earrings like Tanjiro's? Why split one pair instead of making two pairs?"
"They're not newly made. Brother sent them with his letter this time."
Takeo touched the earring on his left ear and smiled.
"He said he couldn't be by our side during the exam, so he gave these to us instead. He hopes they can protect us in his place… Thinking about it makes me excited. Soon we'll be together with Brother."
"Come to think of it, the exam isn't far off."
Yuichiro looked at Takeo.
"I'm not worried about Nezuko. Flower Breathing doesn't demand too much stamina, and her footwork is agile. But Takeo, you still lack some understanding when it comes to Wind Breathing."
"I can't help it. I don't have much talent."
Takeo scratched the back of his head.
"Yukinashi-sensei took me to visit the masters of the Five Major Breathing Styles and their derivatives. Yoriichi even tried teaching me Sun Breathing, but I only adapt well to Wind Breathing.
"Actually, I adapt fairly well to Thunder Breathing too. But if I trained in Thunder Breathing, my stamina wouldn't keep up, and I'd have to miss this year's test."
Muichiro nodded.
"That's true. I heard Thunder Breathing and Stone Breathing both require insane stamina. I met the Stone Hashira on a mission once. He was as big as a black bear! And his weapon was a flail. If it hit a demon, it ended the fight instantly. It was so cool!"
"That kind of weapon demands tremendous stamina," Yuichiro replied, arms still crossed. "You can't wield it with brute strength alone.
"But choosing the most suitable Breathing Style can only happen after you join the Demon Slayer Corps. Before that, you can't obtain your own Nichirin Blade. Without knowing its color, you can't determine the most compatible style.
"For now, what you need most is stamina training. Wind Breathing's sword forms are extremely taxing."
"Yeah… I never imagined stamina training would be this hard. I did plenty of work at home," Takeo sighed, looking confused. "I'm only one year younger than you two. We both chop and haul wood. There's no reason our stamina should differ this much."
"Probably because we make more trips," Yuichiro replied calmly.
"Muichiro and I cut over twenty trees a day on average. They're not especially thick, but you know how heavy wood is. Even a tree twenty centimeters thick weighs nearly ten kilograms per meter. And sometimes we're asked to cut thicker timber for building houses. Those logs are heavier, can't be split, and buyers won't come up the mountain to fetch them themselves."
"And compared to us, your family probably doesn't need that many trees for charcoal, right?"
"True…"
So they've fallen to the point of becoming woodcutters?
Outside the house, Kokushibo frowned.
Among the Lower Moons… are there even any truly powerful demons left?
The former Lower Moon One, Ubume, had possessed some ability—but that was merely due to her Blood Demon Art. In the end, she still died at the hands of the Demon Slayer Corps.
And that child called Rui. Decent strength, yet no ambition. He remained at the bottom of the ranks.
Aside from those two, no Lower Moon had even survived twenty years.
And yet my own descendants were injured like this dealing with a mere Lower Moon?
Have the current Demon Slayer swordsmen lost even basic battlefield judgment and decision-making?
In my era, there were dedicated instructional courses for such matters.
Though… perhaps it is understandable.
After all, this generation of the Demon Slayer Corps cannot even distinguish between human and demon.
Hmph.
The Demon Slayer Corps truly declines with each passing generation.