"A cry of anguish…?"
At the boy's words, Shinobu's smile stiffened. A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes as she hesitated. "Tanjiro… what do you mean by that?"
"That girl just now—she's using a Breathing Style, isn't she?"
Yoriichi's gaze stayed fixed on the girl in the training ground. His voice was calm, but certain. "To pursue an extreme level of dynamic vision, she's unconsciously regulating her breathing—keeping the blood vessels around her eyes under long-term high pressure."
He raised a hand and pointed to his own eyes.
"It lets her read an enemy's movements. But she's spending the light of her future to do it. If she continues like this… in less than ten years, her world will sink into complete darkness."
Shinobu froze. Her beautiful eyes widened as she snapped her head up toward him. "You're saying… she'll go blind?!"
As the Hashira most versed in medicine and pharmacology, she understood immediately what he meant.
She had always believed Kanao's talent was simply inborn sharpness of sight—never once imagining the child was sustaining that intensity through something close to self-harm.
"…"
Yoriichi didn't answer right away. He only knit his brow slightly and stepped forward into the courtyard.
In the training ground, Kanao noticed someone approaching.
Normally, she would have continued her practice—or offered a formal greeting.
But the presence of this red-haired boy was too strange—he was right there in front of her, yet she couldn't sense him at all. Natural as wind, as if he were simply part of the air.
The unknown made her mind seize up.
What should she do? Keep going? Stop?
By habit, her hand went to the pouch at her waist. Smooth, practiced—she pinched a copper coin between her fingers.
Heads: greet him. Tails: ignore him.
However—
The instant she was about to flick the coin into the air—
"Why did you suddenly stop?"
A calm voice sounded right beside her ear.
Kanao's pupils tightened.
Somehow, the boy was already at her side.
Her movement was cut off mid-action.
Yoriichi lowered his gaze to the coin held delicately between her fingertips. A trace of puzzlement passed through those deep, dark-red eyes.
"This is… money?"
He looked up at Kanao's stunned face, genuinely confused. "Your swordsmanship still has flaws, but your flow just now was continuous. Why did you suddenly take out a copper coin?"
Kanao parted her lips, but no words came.
"That's this child's bad habit."
Shinobu's voice came from behind them.
With a weary softness, she explained, "If I don't give Kanao instructions, she can't decide anything on her own. So when she doesn't know what to do… she tosses a coin to choose for her."
"Toss a coin… to decide?"
Yoriichi repeated the phrase, as though turning it over to understand the logic.
A moment later, he looked at the cold coin in the girl's hand… then at Kanao's empty, unfocused eyes. Something clicked.
The confusion in his gaze slowly softened into a quiet, enveloping gentleness.
"I see."
"Because you can't hear your own voice… you listen to the sound of metal striking the ground instead."
He reached out, took the coin, and weighed it lightly in his palm. Then he shook his head.
"But this coin is too light. It can't carry the weight of a life."
"If you draw your blade to slay demons—to protect others—then that resolve shouldn't be left to luck."
"...Not left to luck?"
Kanao stared at him, dazed. In her pale violet eyes was a bewilderment she had never known before.
"Close your eyes."
Yoriichi's voice came again—steady, grounding. "Your eyes have grown exhausted from chasing every flicker of light and shadow. So for now… cut off your vision."
Kanao hesitated. The sudden turn left her flustered. She lifted her head, seeking the shadowed corridor where Shinobu stood.
But this time, the girl who always smiled and decided everything for her gave no response at all.
Shinobu only stood there quietly, arms folded, wearing her usual gentle smile—yet offering not a single instruction.
…No command.
A helplessness Kanao had never experienced rose inside her.
No coin. No direction. What was she supposed to do?
With nowhere else to turn, she looked back at the red-haired boy in front of her.
What met her was a pair of dark-red eyes.
There was no impatience in them—only a depth like a still lake, and a boundless, accepting calm.
As if pulled by something she couldn't name… Kanao slowly closed her eyes.
The world fell into darkness.
Anxiety surged up instantly—but in the next breath, Yoriichi's voice seemed to pierce straight through the black, reaching her mind.
"Don't panic. Listen… listen to the wind. Listen to the sound of your muscles stretching. Listen to your heartbeat."
"The world is actually very loud."
Under his guidance, something strange—and wondrous—happened.
The pitch-black world gradually gained shape within Kanao's awareness, becoming three-dimensional.
She could "see" the sound of leaves stirring under the wind… and she could "see" the warmth and vastness of the boy's presence before her, like the sun itself.
It was more real than sight—clearer, truer.
"Now—draw your sword."
Yoriichi gave the instruction.
No hesitation. No coin toss.
Kanao yielded to the instinct that flared in that instant. Her Nichirin Blade flashed from its sheath.
Slash!
A streak of steel.
A falling cherry blossom petal, caught midair, split cleanly into two.
"..."
When Kanao opened her eyes again and saw the petal halves on the ground, she stared at her own hands in disbelief.
She hadn't used her eyes to track it…
Yet the strike had been cleaner. Easier. More precise than ever.
"Well done."
Yoriichi stepped forward, gently took her hand, and placed the coin back into her palm.
"I'm returning this coin to you. But the next time you want to toss it… try asking this heart first."
He tapped lightly at her chest—where her heart beat.
"The sound of it, and the instincts in your body… will be far more honest than the sound of a coin hitting the ground."
With that, Yoriichi lifted the wooden box holding Nezuko onto his back again. He turned toward Shinobu—who had watched in silence—and dipped his head politely.
"Sorry. I spoke to your Tsuguko as if I had the right to. It's late—I'll go rest now."
Shinobu didn't speak for a long time as she watched him leave.
Only when his figure disappeared at the far end of the corridor did she turn back to Kanao, still standing motionless where she was.
Kanao clenched the coin tightly. Her expression remained blank, but in those eyes—eyes that had never held ripples—something faint seemed to stir.
"…I lost completely," Shinobu murmured.
She withdrew her gaze, letting out a quiet sigh, and looked up at the bright, immaculate moon.
Softly, as if speaking to someone far away, she whispered:
"Big sister… it seems the Demon Slayer Corps has truly gained someone extraordinary."
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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