"Since receiving the letter, Takeshi's appetite has been a little poor these past few days. He attributes this to missing Nezuko too much, missing her so much that his food doesn't taste good."
"On this day, Mr. Urokodaki puts his hands behind his back, hesitates again and again, and takes a sword off the wall, placing it in Takeshi's hand."
"'The siblings will be here soon. Go down the mountain to meet them, in case they are attacked by demons. Can you do it?' Mr. Urokodaki asks, but he's actually not worried."
"Joy overflows from his expression. Takeshi's face breaks into a flower-like smile."
"'Of course! It's a small matter. I'll bring Nezuko back right away!'"
"'And Kamado Tanjiro!' Mr. Urokodaki adds."
"Takeshi's mind is spinning rapidly. He's thinking, what should he say politely when he sees Nezuko?"
"'Hi, Nezuko, my wife! I'm your husband. Nice to meet you!'"
"No, no, this is a little too hasty. I shouldn't scare Nezuko. It's better to be more subtle."
"'Nezuko, hello! I'm your man.'"
"Haha, I shouldn't think about this too much. The more I think about it, the more excited I get, and I can't control it."
Looking at Aoyama, who was holding a sword and giggling to himself, Mr. Urokodaki started to worry. He waved his hand in front of Aoyama's face and said, "What's wrong? Why are you so happy?"
Takeshi snapped out of his imagination, smiled, waved his hand, and walked towards the door. As he walked, he said, "You wouldn't understand my happiness. I'm going down the mountain to pick up Nezuko."
He hung the sword on his waist and quickly ran down the road.
Urokodaki Sakonji realized something wasn't right. He rushed out of the house and shouted at Aoyama's back, "And Kamado Tanjiro! And... don't forget to test him for me, to see if he's suitable to be a demon slayer!"
He finished shouting, but Aoyama's figure had already disappeared from his sight. Whether he heard him or not was another matter.
Takeshi stopped halfway. He shouldn't be rushing down the mountain right now. He should go to that dilapidated temple. That's where he'll meet Nezuko and Tanjiro.
The former made him excited, while the latter, well, that was another story.
On the other side, Tanjiro, in order to get to Mt. Sagiri as quickly as possible, carried his sister in a bamboo basket during the day. At night, Nezuko would come out of the basket, and the two of them would walk side by side.
The sky was completely dark.
Taking advantage of the night, Tanjiro held Nezuko's hand. His keen sense of smell allowed him to smell blood. He started running quickly. Something must have happened at the temple with the lights up ahead!
"Are you alright!"
The door of the temple was pushed open, revealing a scene of corpses lying scattered all over the place, and the crunching sound of chewing. A demon was squatting in front of the corpses, eating with relish.
This is... a man-eating demon!
"What is this! This is my territory. Oh, it's a person."
The man-eating demon turned his head, speaking with his lipless mouth full of sharp teeth. As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped up and lunged directly at Tanjiro, who was standing in the doorway.
A dark shadow landed on the opposite tree with a "swoosh". It was Takeshi, who had come to pick them up. Seeing this scene, he didn't intend to help. Instead, his eyes were fixed on Nezuko.
His Nezuko had finally arrived. He'd soon be able to touch her and hold her little hand.
Tanjiro quickly swung his axe, cutting the man-eating demon's neck. Blood spurted out of the wound.
The man-eating demon touched his injured neck and sneered, "An axe, huh? Pretty good! But a wound like this will heal quickly."
"See, it's already healed."
As he spoke, the bleeding stopped, and the wound healed.
Takeshi yawned on the tree, feeling a little bored. If he hadn't listened to the old man and promised to test Tanjiro, he would have already gone down there, cut off the man-eating demon's head, happily held Nezuko's little hand, and cheerfully gone up the mountain.
Tanjiro hesitated and was pinned to the ground by the man-eating demon. Takeshi, on the tree, didn't help, but shook his head.
Nezuko turned around and quickly moved to the ground, kicking the man-eating demon's head off with one foot.
"Wife! That's Awesome!"
Takeshi couldn't help but shout from the tree, also revealing his presence. He had no choice but to jump down from the tree and stand in front of Tanjiro with a serious expression.
"Why did you hesitate? When facing demons, if you hesitate, you're the one who's going to die!"
"I... I... I..."
Before Tanjiro could say anything, the other half of the man-eating demon's body lunged towards Nezuko.
Wanting to sneak attack Nezuko, Takeshi kicked the body away without saying a word. At that moment, two more arms grew out of the man-eating demon's head.
Takeshi glanced at it, thinking it was really never-ending. He drew the sword from his waist and, as the head pounced over, pierced through it with one strike.
"N-N-Nichirin blade..."
The man-eating demon's head slowly began to turn to ashes, and the body that had been kicked away also slowly disappeared.
Takeshi put away his sword and breathed a sigh of relief. The system's notification sounded in his mind.
"Ding! The host has slain a man-eating demon. The system rewards you with +5 to your body's strength."
This time, there was no random extra reward. Takeshi didn't care for the moment. Anyway, the Nezuko he had been longing for was right in front of him. Holding her little hand was the most important thing right now.