As Kanzaki Aoi's voice faded, Kanao and Tanjirou both stopped.
"Kanao is really fast, as expected," a panting Tanjirou said with a smile to Kanao.
Kanao still remained silent.
"It's already 10 wins to 9 losses now," Kanzaki Aoi said.
"This is still far from enough..."
Tanjirou rubbed his shoulder and turned around, just about to go for another run, when he saw Chiba Yo and Kochou Shinobu standing at the doorway.
"Yo!" Tanjirou exclaimed in surprise.
Zenitsu and Inosuke turned their heads upon hearing Tanjirou's shout and only then realized two people had entered; they had been so engrossed in watching Tanjirou and Kanao's competition that they hadn't noticed their surroundings.
"Are your injuries all right?" Chiba Yo walked towards them with a smile.
"I'm perfectly fine now," Tanjirou replied with a smile.
"Yo!!" Zenitsu directly pounced on Chiba Yo.
"I feel completely recovered! But they still make me drink that incredibly nasty medicine for another seven days! It's truly, truly awful, the kind that makes you lose your appetite!"
Zenitsu immediately complained to Chiba Yo after seeing him.
"Yo, I heard you're a Pillar now too. Can you talk to them and tell them to stop making me drink that medicine?"
Zenitsu's eyes were full of pleading as he looked at Chiba Yo.
"Of course not! Mr. Zenitsu's condition was very serious at the time. Although there are no symptoms now, there's a chance of leaving behind sequelae if you don't finish the medicine properly!" Kanzaki Aoi said angrily, hands on her hips, after hearing Zenitsu's words.
"So scary!"
Zenitsu was scolded by Kanzaki Aoi and, frightened, hid behind Chiba Yo.
During his hospitalization and physical rehabilitation training, he had been scolded by Kanzaki Aoi quite a lot, and now he had developed a fear of her, completely losing the composure he had shown during their tea-pouring training when he first participated in physical rehabilitation.
"Miss Kanzaki is right. Since you're sick, you should listen to the doctor. Medicine is bound to taste bad, but it's to help you get better quickly," Chiba Yo said earnestly to Zenitsu, turning his head.
"You're saying the same thing as Tanjirou. But I really don't want to drink that medicine..."
Seeing that Chiba Yo wasn't going to help him either, Zenitsu had no choice but to accept that he had to continue drinking the medicine.
Inosuke, standing next to Zenitsu, pointed at Chiba Yo after hearing Zenitsu's words and said, "Hey! Are you a Pillar too? So does that mean your strength is as great as that Half-and-Half Haori guy? Then if I defeat you, I can prove I'm stronger than that Half-and-Half Haori guy. Hahahaha, I'm so smart! Let's have a duel quickly!"
Inosuke immediately wanted to duel Chiba Yo after hearing Zenitsu say Chiba Yo was a Pillar, and the Half-and-Half Haori he referred to was Giyuu.
Giyuu's strength had left a deep impression on Inosuke back on Mount Natagumo, causing him to be dejected for a while. Now, after this period of training, Inosuke felt he had become much stronger, so he wanted to prove it.
"You're Inosuke, right? Fighting among Corps members is forbidden by Corps rules," Chiba Yo said to him, turning his head, after hearing Inosuke's words.
Chiba Yo had learned about Inosuke from Zenitsu's words back on Mount Natagumo, guessing that he was a companion Zenitsu and Tanjirou had met during a mission.
Now seeing him again, he felt he was a rather interesting person.
"Hahahaha, of course I know that. There's no way an idiot wouldn't even know that Corps rule," Inosuke said, hands on his hips, laughing loudly.
Tanjirou and Zenitsu, standing nearby, both looked at him after hearing Inosuke say this, Zenitsu's eyes filled with exasperation.
This guy's brain really isn't normal. You were the first one to violate this Corps rule, weren't you!
Zenitsu thought to himself.
However, Inosuke completely ignored the looks from his two companions and continued to say to Chiba Yo, "The duel I'm talking about is for you to chase me. If you touch me, you win. How about it?"
What Inosuke was referring to was the speed training in their functional recovery training; he had made good progress in this area recently.
"Let's talk about that later. I have other things to do right now."
Chiba Yo did not agree. He didn't know when the next mission would start, so if he had free time now, he would naturally prioritize important matters.
Then he turned to Tanjirou and said, "I heard you previously asked about 'Hinokami Kagura' and 'Breath of Fire'. Although I haven't heard of either of these, two names alone provide too little information.
If you can demonstrate them, I should be able to give you some clues or suggestions."
Chiba Yo guessed that the Hinokami Kagura and Breath of FireTanjirou mentioned might just be Flame Breathing, but with a different name, so he wanted to see Tanjirou use them to compare.
"Okay, then let's go outside," Tanjirou nodded and said upon hearing this.
He had intended to ask Chiba Yo about this after seeing him return, but he didn't expect the other party to bring it up first.
"If we're waiting for next time, then you have to tell me your name first," Inosuke said to Chiba Yo after hearing his answer and waiting for him and Tanjirou to finish talking.
"My name is Chiba Yo," Chiba Yo replied to Inosuke.
"So it's Chiba Sho, huh? I'm Inosuke, King of the Mountains. Nice to meet you."
Inosuke said proudly to Chiba Yo, hands on his hips.
Chiba Yo heard his pronunciation and turned to correct him, "It's Chiba Yo, not Chiba Sho."
"Chi-a Wolf!"
This time, Inosuke got it even more wrong.
"It's Chiba Yo."
"Sticky Leaf Yo!"
"Chi! Ba! Yo!"
"Fried Cut Yellow!"
"..."
Chiba Yo corrected him several times to no avail; Inosuke only got it more and more wrong. Tanjirou stood by, looking at Chiba Yo sympathetically, completely understanding his current feelings.
Even now, Inosuke still always got his name wrong. Fishcake Gonpachiro, Forehead Taro, Monjiro, Pig Taro were all names Inosuke called him.
Zenitsu was also always called Monitsu by him.
Kochou Shinobu stood by, watching the scene unfold, and couldn't help but laugh.
"Forget it, call me whatever you want."
In the end, Chiba Yo gave up, holding his forehead and waving his hand at Inosuke, no longer correcting him. He felt that if he corrected him any longer, Inosuke might turn his name into a four-character one.
Inosuke, at this moment, still didn't understand why the others were reacting this way.
Subsequently, Chiba Yo and Tanjirou left the Butterfly Mansion and arrived at the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters training ground.
"Just perform the moves directly. I will observe your lung movements and blood flow to determine if your Hinokami Kagura and Breath of Fire are related to Rengoku-sensei's and my Breathing Technique," Chiba Yo said to Tanjirou.
"Okay...?!!" Tanjirou instinctively said okay, then immediately realized something was off in Chiba Yo's words.
"Observe my lung movements and blood flow?" Tanjirou looked at Chiba Yo, confused and shocked.