"Master, where are we going now?"
"Hmph, where else? Back to headquarters. We can't go to the Swordsmith Village anymore." Shinichi replied irritably to Yuichiro, but seeing the boy's innocent expression, he couldn't bring himself to stay upset with his disciple.
Since the Nichirin Blade had already been delivered to headquarters by the swordsmith Tetsu shinren, Shinichi had no choice but to change plans and take Yuichiro back first.
Still, this worked out quite fine—it would allow Yuichiro to participate in the Final Selection alongside Muichiro.
Along the way, Masahiko Arai and several other Demon Slayer Corps members received an urgent mission, so they bid Shinichi farewell and left midway.
On the narrow mountain path, Shinichi held a sizable piece of wood in one hand and a Nichirin short sword in the other, steadily carving and shaping it.
Yuichiro's wooden sword had shattered during their battle with the Earth Demon, so Shinichi decided to make a new one for his disciple himself.
As the master and disciple walked, the bushes by the roadside suddenly rustled.
Both Shinichi and Yuichiro, with their keen senses, immediately turned their attention towards the disturbance.
"Yuichiro, step back!" Shinichi ordered coldly.
His disciple was unarmed and Shinichi wasn't about to let him take risks.
He tossed the half-finished wooden sword to Yuichiro and stepped forward, gripping his Nichirin short sword.
"Not a Demon… This presence—why does it feel both human and beastly?" Shinichi frowned as he assessed the aura emanating from the bushes.
Before he could reach the thicket, the figure inside lost patience.
A dark shadow lunged out with a furious snarl.
"RAAH!"
The shadow pounced straight at Shinichi.
Thud!
A dull impact.
Shinichi felt only a slight numbness in his hand before looking down in surprise at the figure he had effortlessly caught mid-air—now thrashing wildly in his grip.
Well… it was a boy.
One about Yuichiro's age, though his clothes were filthy, seemingly made from animal hide.
His face, though handsome, was smeared with dirt.
But the most striking thing was the feral, inhuman wildness in his expression.
His black eyes burned with hostility, sharp canine teeth bared in a snarl and his throat rumbled with continuous growls.
His claw-like nails scratched relentlessly at Shinichi's hand.
"Let go! Let go!" the boy snarled, struggling violently.
His savage demeanor reminded Shinichi of a wolf.
What's wrong with this kid?
Since he wasn't a Demon, Shinichi had no reason to harm him.
He released his grip and the feral boy immediately scrambled away on all fours, vanishing into the distance under Yuichiro's stunned gaze.
After running about a hundred meters, he turned back, baring his teeth at Shinichi and Yuichiro with a final, vicious snarl.
Then, in a flash, he disappeared.
The master and disciple exchanged bewildered glances.
"Master… was that guy… mentally unstable?" Yuichiro asked blankly.
Shinichi: "Uh… yeah, I guess he might've had some issues…"
A filthy, aggressive kid appearing out of nowhere in the middle of nowhere—what was that about
However, this was merely a minor episode on their journey and did not hinder Shinichi and Yuichiro from pressing onward.
The only issue in the mountain forests was the long stretches of uninhabited wilderness.
For Shinichi, it wasn't a problem—since he is a demon he wouldn't starve even if he went without food for a year, let alone a few days.
But Yuichiro was different.
A teenager in his early teens, coupled with daily high-intensity training, had unknowingly devoured all the provisions stored in Shinichi's silver mirror pouch.
In the desolate mountains, even money couldn't buy food and Yuichiro's stomach growled loudly in protest.
When Shinichi glanced at him, Yuichiro's face flushed slightly.
"Hungry? Let's rest here for a bit. I'll go find you something to eat."
Shinichi handed his Nichirin short sword to Yuichiro for self-defense and prepared to venture deeper into the forest.
Since there was nowhere to buy food, he'd have to borrow some from nature's.
"Master! Wait for me—I'll go with you!" Yuichiro quickly stood up.
But Shinichi scolded him, "Sit down. First rule of respecting your master: never disobey his words!"
With that, Shinichi's figure flickered and vanished into the depths of the forest.
Yuichiro's mouth hung open, his handsome face showing disappointment.
Still, he obediently sat back down on a roadside rock, hugging the Nichirin short sword with his legs together, looking every bit like a well-behaved kindergarten child.
The reason Shinichi didn't want Yuichiro following him was to save time.
Once hidden in the dark depths of the forest, he immediately activated his demon transformation.
Elongated fangs, a crimson right eye, a slightly ferocious expression and an intimidating demonic aura instantly startled the small creatures in the woods—exactly the reaction Shinichi wanted to flush out prey.
Moments later.
Squelch!
A sharp black claw withdrew from the neck of a dying wild boar, dripping with blood.
Under Shinichi's gaze, the claw slowly reverted to its original form.
The crimson in his right eye gradually faded, returning to a soft peach hue, and his sharp fangs retracted.
Looking at the massive boar lying in a pool of blood, Shinichi figured it would be enough.
He then dragged the two-to-three-hundred-pound beast back towards Yuichiro with one hand.
However, when Shinichi returned with the boar, he froze.
Standing beside Yuichiro was another figure.
A boy around Yuichiro's age, with dark red hair and what seemed to be a scar on his forehead.
His appearance was bright and lively, with sun-shaped earrings dangling from his ears and spirited red eyes.
He wore a green-checkered haori and carried a large bamboo basket on his back.
From the looks of it, he and Yuichiro were getting along quite well.
"Today's really strange. Why are there kids popping up everywhere in the middle of nowhere?" Shinichi muttered in bewilderment.
At the same time, Yuichiro who had been chatting happily with the red-haired boy, suddenly brightened and quickly scrambled up from the rock, waving at Shinichi.
"Master! Master! Over here!"
When Shinichi dragged the wild boar over to the two of them, Yuichiro eagerly introduced the boy beside him to Shinichi.
"Master, this is Tanjirou! He lives in the mountains not far from here!"
The boy named Tanjirou politely bowed to Shinichi and said loudly.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Kamado Tanjirou."
Hearing this name, Shinichi felt slightly dazed.
"Kamado Tanjirou? Why does this name feel strangely familiar?"
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