Kagaya Ubuyashiki looked at Tanjiro Kamado.
"Unfortunately, Tanjiro's family was apparently attacked by Muzan. Except for his sister, who was turned into a demon by Muzan, only Tanjiro survived because he was out selling charcoal and didn't make it home in time due to the heavy snow."
"After discussions between Hardy and Giyu, Tanjiro is willing to teach us the dance—the Hinokami Kagura—that evolved from the original Breathing Style, but on the condition that we turn Nezuko back into a human, or at the very least, guarantee her safety."
Sanemi Shinazugawa was exasperated.
"What kind of nonsense is this? How can a demon possibly turn back into a human? And why should we protect a man-eating demon? Listen, kid, even without this founder's Breathing Style or whatever, I can still kill demons just fine!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa snarled at Tanjiro.
Among the Demon Slayer Corps, his hatred for demons was the strongest.
"Nezuko is not a man-eating demon! She's never eaten anyone and never will!"
Tanjiro Kamado argued back.
Sanemi sneered viciously.
"Nonsense! I've never seen a demon that doesn't eat people!"
"His sister is special—she truly doesn't eat humans and even goes out of her way to protect Tanjiro. If nothing else, we can place her somewhere secure, like Mount Sagiri, and have the former Water Hashira, Urokodaki, watch over her. That way, we won't lose any of our current fighting strength, and we can ensure Nezuko won't hurt anyone."
Hardy spoke up at this moment.
"She's a demon, so it's still better to kill her."
Sanemi Shinazugawa said discontentedly.
"I support Hardy's proposal."
Giyu Tomioka raised his hand.
"Well, this is quite the flashy dilemma you've given me, but since the demon won't cause any harm, I'll agree for now. Besides, I'm quite curious about this so-called founder's Breathing Style."
Tengen Uzui said.
After that, the other Hashira began to express their own opinions as well.
Obanai Iguro supported killing Nezuko, Gyomei Himejima agreed with Hardy, and Shinobu Kocho...
Abstained.
At this point, only one person was left to represent the Flame Hashira, Shinjuro Rengoku—Kyojuro's father.
"If it can be guaranteed that Nezuko won't harm anyone, I'm willing to trust Hardy-kun and the Kamado boy," Kyojuro Rengoku declared, his voice full and resonant.
Tanjiro let out a sigh of relief.
With one abstention, four votes in favor, and two against, Nezuko was saved.
Meanwhile, Hardy remained perfectly calm.
He was certain that even if only a minority of the Hashira supported sparing Nezuko, Kagaya Ubuyashiki would definitely choose to protect her as well.
Everyone understood the value of the original Breathing Technique, and as the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, Kagaya Ubuyashiki would always make decisions based on the bigger picture.
If anyone could master the original Breathing Technique, it would undoubtedly greatly enhance the Corps' combat strength.
So far, this was the only thing known—other than sunlight—that could threaten Muzan Kibutsuji.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki was a competent, even outstanding, leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. He would not make any other choice.
"From now on, Nezuko will be looked after by the former Water Hashira, Sakonji Urokodaki, and I, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, will vouch for her. As long as Nezuko does not harm anyone, we will not do anything to hurt her either. Tanjiro, now, would you be willing to teach us the original Breathing Technique?" Kagaya Ubuyashiki said gently.
Hardy and several of the Hashira turned their attention to Tanjiro Kamado.
Regardless of their previous stances, everyone was deeply curious about this so-called most powerful original Breathing Technique.
"Uh… Actually, I don't really understand much about the original Breathing Technique. But Senior Hardy said that the Hinokami Kagura, passed down in my family for generations, is the original Breathing Technique. My father taught me all the forms, but it's a difficult dance. I can only barely perform the first few moves," Tanjiro said, scratching his head.
"Then just demonstrate what you can, Tanjiro. For the parts you can't show, you can draw the movements on paper and explain them to us. We'll try to reconstruct them ourselves," Hardy reminded him.
He had deliberately set things up this way to quickly extract the Hinokami Kagura from Tanjiro.
"All right, then."
Under everyone's gaze, Tanjiro stood a bit awkwardly in the center.
"Use this for your demonstration," Hardy said, handing Tanjiro a Nichirin Blade with its sheath still on.
"Okay, I'm starting now!"
Tanjiro took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and recalled the dance his father had taught him. Standing tall, he raised the hand holding the Nichirin Blade.
A dance with a mysterious rhythm began as Tanjiro moved. Hardy watched intently, simultaneously transmitting the memory to both his main body and his avatar in the DC world.
Although they were all him, his main body and DC avatar had surpassed his Demon Slayer world self in mastery of Wind and Thunder Breathing, so perhaps they could gain even deeper insights.
"This move looks a lot like Lateral Water Wheel," Giyu Tomioka finally spoke for the first time since entering the Ubuyashiki estate.
"This part is similar to the first forms of Wind and Thunder Breathing. Tanjiro's movements aren't very precise, nor is he fast enough, and he doesn't know how to grip a sword properly. Otherwise, combined with the breathing technique, this should be a rapid forward thrust," Hardy speculated, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"That's exactly what I thought! In Flame Breathing, there's a move called 'Unknown Fire' that's very similar to this!" Rengoku added.
The Hashira began comparing Tanjiro's movements to the breathing techniques they had learned.
They discovered that almost every move Tanjiro made could be matched to something from the five basic Breathing Techniques.
At that moment, everyone was convinced that this boy truly possessed the long-lost original Breathing Technique.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, Tanjiro fell to the ground, clutching his foot.
"His physical strength and flexibility aren't sufficient. He forced himself to do a move beyond his ability and twisted his ankle," Tengen Uzui said, walking over to Tanjiro. He grabbed Tanjiro's ankle and twisted it with both hands.
*Crack!*
"AAAAAAHHH!!"
Tanjiro let out an even more anguished scream.
"Uzui has already set your bone back in place. In a while, come with me and I'll prepare some herbal medicine for you. You'll be recovered by tomorrow," Shinobu Kocho said cheerfully, following after them.
"Th-thank you very much!" Tanjiro gasped, speaking loudly.
The next day, after Tanjiro's foot had healed, he didn't continue the demonstration. Instead, he drew all the moves passed down to him by his father on paper and handed them over to the Hashira for discussion.