Let's see… Punctured achilles tendon, broken wrist, bruised shoulder. Yeah, you won't be cleared to fight again for at least a month." A Kakushi, holding a notepad said pitifully to Giyu. Giyu, as per usual, said nothing in response.
Instead, he tried to sleep to drown out the chatter of the other Demon Slayers around him. It had been only a few hours since the battle against the flute demon, and Giyu was in no mood to hold a conversation, not that he really ever was. He reached his arm up and drew a curtain as far as he could reach, meaning to separate himself from the other injured and give himself some peace.
"Why am I here?…" he thought tiredly. He recalled specifically telling Shinobu that he had found a new doctor to take care of him, surely she could not have forgotten this so quickly. He shut his eyes, trying to take his mind off of this. "She said she would teach me… but this is too much…" Giyu drifted into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, his right fist was clenched and his eyes were watering. "...What are you doing?" he asked Aoi, who was holding his foot.
"I'm administering a disinfectant and an anesthetic." she said angrily, seeming to be snappy with him. To Giyu, it seemed like Koucho had really gone out of her way to make the Butterfly Estate unwelcoming and hostile to him. Aoi was holding Giyu's foot in the air, keeping it suspended while she sprayed the medicine into the puncture wound. The sensation made Giyu's heart race quicken, but he calmed himself down by matching his breathing to it, gradually slowing it down. Before he knew it, the pain was hardly noticeable.
After a little while, Shinobu drew Giyu's curtain back. "Tomioka-san." she began in a singsong voice. "Are you ready to begin your lessons?" Giyu was taken aback a little, since she seemed to be completely unconcerned with his injuries, but he, of course, did not show his surprise. "I'll take your silence as confirmation. Your first lesson is called, 'Giving proper responses.'"
Giyu's face remained unchanged, and this frustrated Koucho. She said, "You know, Tomioka-san, it is very unlikeable of you to not give any indication whether you can hear me. If I were blind, I would just assume that you're deaf or asleep." She pulled a seat next to Tomioka's bed and sat down. "Please, answer these questions. Can you even manage that, Tomioka-san?"
Giyu waited for a moment, then decided to talk. "...Yes." he said calmly, a hint of resignation almost present in his voice.
"Well done, Tomioka-san, you can actually speak." Shinobu said sarcastically. "I was beginning to believe that maybe that demon tore your larynx. Alright, now, let's pick up the pace. Which wrist is broken?"
Again, Giyu paused before talking. "...Left." he said.
"Again, I am impressed that you can actually speak. But you should not have to wait so long before answering, Tomioka-san." Shinobu said this as her patience wore thin. "You should know some things better than anyone else, and therefore should not hesitate to answer when asked about them. Alright, then which heel has been punctured?"
Giyu was a little irritated at her sarcasm, but he decided to follow her advice, since she was going out of her way to help him. "Right…" he replied, no hesitation in his answer.
Koucho clapped and smiled. "Very good, Tomioka-san. Now, let's see if you can respond in full sentences, unless that's too difficult for you." she said, tauntingly, trying to goad him into having some sort of reaction.
"It's not too difficult…" he said, rising to Koucho's provocation. He was beginning to become irritated by this conversation, he was making progress. After a lot more provocation and irritation, she managed to get full sentences out of him consistently. The whole time, the other demon slayers and Butterfly Estate residents in the room seemed to be getting a kick out of these interactions, something that confused and irritated Giyu.
"Alright, Tomioka-san." Shinobu started. "To conclude tonight's lesson, I want you to ask me a question. I know that it might be challenging to come up with a thought all by yourself, but you've shown me that you may have cognitive function, so I believe in you." She clapped her hands together and awaited a response.
Giyu's eyes widened a little. He wasn't sure what to ask her. He thought about it for a moment, but his face did not indicate any thought whatsoever. Koucho's veins began to pop out of her forehead. "Tomioka-san, I was just congratulating you on your ability to respond at the speed of a normal human being, but here you are proving that I should have saved my compliments. Additionally, when your face remains the same all the time, it frustrates people who are trying to hold a conversation with you; it makes them feel like you are putting zero effort into comprehending their words and requests."
Surprisingly for Shinobu, Giyu had an exasperated look on his face. "I'm sorry. I do have a question. Why did you tell your assistants to speak to me with little reverence?" Clearly, the nature of the question was so stupid that it pained Giyu to bother asking it. However, it was something that had been on his mind since Aoi told him about it.Shinobu laughed at the question, something that just exasperated Giyu even more. "Well, Tomioka-san, that's because of another annoying thing you do. You simply call me 'Koucho,' which holds even less respect than 'Koucho-san,' which you should be calling me."
Giyu's eyes widened, and his mouth was slightly agape. "How did I not realize that?" he thought. He stopped his mouth from hanging open. "I'm sorry, Koucho-san." he said, hiding his embarrassment with his expressionless face.
Shinobu clapped, congratulating him for his progress. "You have already become more likeable, Tomioka-san. I hope you are ready for another lesson tomorrow. Good night, Tomioka-san." she said as she walked out of the infirmary.
"Thank you, Koucho-san." Giyu said, surprising both himself and Shinobu. However, hypocritically, Shinobu did not respond or react to Giyu's thanks. Instead, she just went to her room and went to sleep.
The next few days were spent the same way; Giyu would be administered medicine, his progress would be checked by the girls, and Shinobu would come to tutor him on how to be more likeable. By the end of the week, Giyu almost felt like he and Shinobu were friends. Regardless of whether this was true, he no longer saw her as just a pest.
A little past noon, Shinobu received a summons for a mission, via crow. She was instructed to go to a village where farmers had been disappearing, where bands of hunters were being slaughtered, and where a large group of Demon Slayers were all slaughtered. Upon hearing the nature of the mission, Giyu was a little worried. He recalled the danger of the flute demon he faced, and he wondered how Koucho would have reacted to his Blood Demon Art. He wondered if this mission would be similar in nature. His face, ever so slightly, yet ever so perceptively, softened.
"Tomioka-san? There is nothing to worry about. I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable at slaying demons." she said, irritated that he seemed worried, yet a little touched at the same time.
"I know. The demon I faced wasn't of the Twelve Moons, but it still had powerful abilities and was able to reduce me to my current state. Yet, I have faith in you, Koucho-san." he said calmly. "Good luck."
Shinobu stared at him for a second. "I will return. Please, practice talking with my girls, or others in the infirmary. It feels like you've become particularly attached to me, and only me…" she said as she exited the infirmary. She did not show it, but she was a little flustered. Of all the pillars, she least expected Giyu Tomioka to say something so kind and reverent. On top of this, she felt that he was becoming too comfortable with her…
Giyu stared at her as she walked away. "Attatched?..." he thought, his face completely blank. A few minutes passed before she actually left, as she was speaking with her assistants. However, he was stuck doing nothing, so he didn't notice the time passing. He did not even notice when Aoi walked into the infirmary. "Tomioka-sama, are you prepared to begin your walking rehabilitation?" Giyu's face was completely blank. "...Huh?" he thought. "Did she just..."
The village that Shinobu was assigned to was around five hours away on foot, so she wasted no time and began to run. For a normal human, running for five hours is impossible, but for a pillar, it's entirely possible. However, conveniently for Shinobu, there was a train in a town that was on the way that would cut the travel time by an hour, according to her calculations. Additionally, assuming this demon was powerful, she will not have wasted too much energy by the time she arrived.
She made it to a large city, inconspicuously hid her katana, and boarded the train. She went ahead and ate some breakfast while on the train, and she made sure to stretch her limbs quite a lot. Once she got to her stop, it was just a thirty minute run from here to the village, at pillar speed, and she left immediately.
Once she got to the village, she decided to ask around for information on the disappearances. The village was sparse, each building being 10 meters away from the other at least, and a kilometer away at most. Shinobu made her way to the more concentrated part of the town, where people were more likely to be. She considered how gathering information would go down if Tomioka were with her, as he often was. She snickered to herself. The thought played out like this, in her head: Tomioka goes up to someone to ask about the disappearances; they turn him away because of his terrible communication skills; he stands, unsure what to do; he is arrested for disturbing the peace and holding a katana.
Shinobu paused and considered how he has improved significantly at speaking. Then, another scene popped into her head, this time one that wasn't theoretical. She was unsure whether he knew she was there, but either way, she was listening to an interaction through the curtains. "Tomioka-san, please try and point the index finger on your left hand," Shinobu heard Aoi say to him. Shinobu eagerly awaited him to acknowledge her request with a response, just as Shinobu had taught him how to, but she heard nothing. "Very good, now please gyrate your right foot." Shinobu was a little disheartened. "So he's able to talk to me without any issue, but he's still as unsociable as ever with anyone else…" she thought as she walked out.Now, however, was Shinobu's time to talk to people. She would have to suspend her concern for Tomioka's lack of social skills for the time being. She made her way to a restaurant, where she saw some haggard-looking people. She decided that they were likely the best to ask about the attacks and disappearances. She ended up being correct. These were all people who were drinking their sadness away, since some of their loved ones were slain during their attempts to hunt whatever it was that killed the farmers. They were not certain what the beast was, but they knew that it was residing in the farmer's house, since that's where all the hunters had entered before they were supposedly slain. Rumors across town said that the beast was a particularly strong horse that had gone mad from overwork, since the farmer was known to have a powerful steed.
It was almost nightfall by the time Koucho arrived at the village, and after acquiring a solid amount of information, the moon was high in the sky. Despite the villagers' warnings, she made her way down to the farmhouse, walking instead of running, being sure to take note of all of her surroundings. Once she arrived at the farmhouse, she saw how run-down it looked. There were multiple bullet holes in the wall of the house, and the front door was missing completely. Just looking inside, she could see bloodstains, and even one corpse. "It looks like it was smashed against the wall…" she thought as she steeled her nerves and drew her katana from its sheath.
She took a step forward. She opened her eyes wider in shock. Before she had taken the step, she was around 4 meters away from the doorway. After she had taken the step, she was a meter inside the house. She remained in place, trying to understand what just happened. Suddenly, she heard some footsteps coming from the top of the stairs.
"Human… you've made a grave error stepping into this house." the demon said as it lazily walked downstairs. The demon looked like a skinny, tall, bald man. Its skin was gray, and it had stripes running up and down its arms, similar to a tiger's. It was wearing the lower half of a kimono, which appeared to be taken from the farmer after he was slain. "Though, I suppose I can just wait and watch things unfold…"
"So you mean to say you have no reason to attack me? Could it be that you're a peaceable demon?" Shinobu asked, masking fury with curiosity. "It would be wonderful if we get along."
"...Well, I am peaceable, yes. And I don't usually kill. But I have eaten many humans, umm…" it scratched its bald head, leaving deep gashes in it. "I think I've eaten around 120."
Shinobu immediately realized what was going on. This was a demon that somehow controlled the environment around it so that people just happened to die, instead of needing to actually kill the people itself. She looked around, seeing some corpses. "They all look like they were smashed against the wall…" she thought. She suddenly had an idea. She reached over for a fountain pen, which had been knocked over to the entrance through some struggle. "Hmm?" the demon asked lazily. "You gonna write your will? I won't try and stop you."
Shinobu looked at the demon and gave a fake smile. "Now, just send it in the right direction…" she thought as she lined it up like a dart, aiming it at the demon, who seemed to be totally unconcerned while watching. She then lightly threw it. In any other location on the land, with the strength she put into the throw, it would have traveled even less than a meter before hitting the ground. However, here…
The fountain pen cracked the demon's skull, lodging itself in its brain. Moving things covered more distance in the same amount of time, in this house. "How predictable…" Shinobu thought. "Breath of Insect, 2nd form: Dance of Bee Sting: True Flutter." She lunged forward, clearing the room in an instant, stabbing a hole through the demon's neck and filling it with poison. The demon died without so much as scratching her. She picked the fountain pen back up and lightly tossed it. It fell only a meter or so away from where she threw it from. With that, she exited the farmhouse to make her way back to the village.
She could immediately tell something was amiss in the village. A lantern was smashed in the street, and no houses had lights in them. She heard a piercing shriek from a woman, and she dashed to its source.
"What the hell? Another?" Shinobu thought as she noticed her movements becoming sluggish. She felt like she was wading through honey. She took a deep inhale. "Breath of Insect, 4th form: Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag." She began to move in a zigzag pattern. Normally, the speed of this breath form would be blinding, but it was more akin to a tall person's walking pace. With all of her effort, she floated from one foot to the other, making her way to the door where the scream came from.
"What? You're actively walking into this trap, stupid-ass human." a demon said. Its arms were stained with blood, and its face had stripes all over, like a tiger's; but other than this, it looked identical to the other demon that she encountered. It squinted its bright red eyes at her. "Huh? You're the one who killed Taida? Well sorry. I'm not like my other self. I can't exactly wait around for my prey to die, so, unlike him, I've gotta actually put some damn work in and kill." The demon stood up from the bloody heap it had been eating from and slowly walked towards her.
Shinobu opened her mouth, but the words she spoke did not reach anywhere. Shinobu felt a chill down her spine. "This is a nasty predicament…" she thought as she tightened her grip on her sword and began to breathe harder. She could not taunt the demon and goad it into actually touching her blade (which she had done once before), and she could not stab at the demon. Suddenly, the demon lunged at her, and her instincts took over.
She leapt vertically, high enough for her head to brush the ceiling, which was just over two meters above the ground. She had fully prepared to struggle with her jump, but it appeared to be no issue evading the demon at all. The demon stumbled and fell down right outside the house. "What the fuck?" it said, beginning to get furious. She could not see the demon yet, but she could tell its veins were probably protruding. "How could you move like that? Only I can move like that!"
Shinobu deepened her breathing and, with effort, turned her body around fast enough to see and react to the demon. Again, it slashed at her, but she leapt out of reach, planting her foot hard onto its face. Clearly, the demon was not used to combat. It merely relied on its prey being immobile in order to kill it. However, Shinobu was not only vastly more lethal than an average morsel, she was vastly more intelligent. "My jaw could open… I could jump… I could kick downwards…" she thought. Once again, the pieces to her survival fell into place at the right time for her. She realized that the effects of this demon could only affect horizontal motion, not vertical motion. So if she were to attack from above…Bitch! How can you move?!" the demon, now more cautious, asked from a safe distance. "I was just gonna snap your neck, but now I've actually gotta put some work in…"
Shinobu urged her heart to beat faster. "Breath of Insect, 4th form: Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag." She again moved in the zigzag formation, not fast enough to really be a threat, but evidently far faster than this demon had seen from any of its past prey. Because it felt threatened, it lunged once more at Shinobu. Shinobu, who was preparing to jump, saw movement from the demon and decided to wait momentarily. The demon had anticipated a jump from Shinobu, and in its lunge, leapt high in the air.
"This sluggishness actually saved me…" she thought as she waited for the demon to reach the zenith of its leap. Shinobu looked up at the demon. She felt the blood vessels in her legs swell as she prepared her own body for a powerful leap. "You complained about your other self being lazy, but you're no different." she said while looking up.
The demon blinked. "Hhhhh?…" it hissed. Its eyes widened. "What happened…" it thought as it began to disintegrate. Shinobu had won. She used her sluggishness to postpone her jump, waiting for the demon to be right overhead. She leapt with all her might, holding her katana perpendicular to the ground and stabbing the demon, the sword entering at the top of its throat and exiting from the top of its skull.
Shinobu gracefully landed back on the ground. She moved around to test if it had worked. "Everything seems normal, but my legs are killing me now…" she muttered out loud, glad to be able to talk (without looking directly upwards or downwards) once more. At that, she went to check on the rest of the villagers. Apparently, other than the ones who went into the farmhouse, there had been only two deaths, and they were what the slowing-demon was eating when Shinobu arrived on scene.
She could finally go back home. She made her way to a nearby Wisteria House and rested up, then got back home in the morning.
She let out a huge yawn before walking back into the main building of the Butterfly Estate. "I wonder what type of progress Tomioka-san's made since yesterday…" she thought as she walked back in. She was greeted by Aoi, followed by Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho, who all ran up and hugged her. "Waaah, Koucho-sama! Tomioka-san- I mean, Tomioka-sama- is just as mute as ever!" Kiyo complained, and the other girls voiced similar complaints.
"Koucho-san. I'm very relieved you're alright." a voice said. Shinobu looked from her girls to see Giyu standing up, supported with a crutch. He must not have spoken since he last saw Shinobu, since all of the girls who were surrounding her shared the same awed expression, as if they did not know Giyu could really speak.
"Tomioka-san, my assistants tell me that you've been very difficult with them. I'm sure you know that is very rude of you." Shinobu said. "Wait, what?..." she thought. She realized that she was not too angry with him. In fact, she was actually glad to hear this. Subconsciously, she was glad that she was the only one he could easily talk to.
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me." he said, and he astonished everyone (except Shinobu) in the room.
"He doesn't just say that he's sorry… he looks sorry too!" the ladies surrounding Shinobu whispered among themselves.
"Koucho-san, you look happy. Did you enjoy completing your mission?" Giyu asked, seeing a genuine smile on Shinobu's face.
"Perhaps I did…" she said ambiguously. "However, I have work that I must attend to. Please, make an effort to talk to these girls during your rehabilitation. Consider it your lesson for the next few days, and if that does not motivate you, at least do it for my sake." At this, she turned and walked into a different room.
"...Very well, Koucho-san…" Giyu said as she left the room. He turned to see Aoi, Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo staring up at him expectantly. Unsure of what to do to initiate a conversation, Giyu said, with a blank face, "...My name is Giyu Tomioka…"
They all shared his expression, or a lack thereof. Without knowing it to be in unison, they all thought, "This guy's a dumbass…"