Giyu Tomioka's mission to travel to the east of Natagumo Mountain was urgent. Somehow, he was the only pillar available for this mission, or he was at least the closest available one to the destination. He expected to arrive at the mountain by nightfall, and he would have to act immediately. All of the people who lived on the mountain had already been slaughtered, but if he did not act fast, the people who lived in the village at the base of the mountain would suffer the same fate. "I wonder where the real pillars are right now…" Giyu thought as he sprinted to a train station, where he would expedite his arrival.
On the train, Giyu ordered salmon daikon. He took his fist bite and smiled, making the people around him visibly uncomfortable. Unlike Shinobu, he did not do any stretches while on the train. He just stored up energy in preparation for the inevitable battle. He recalled what Shinobu asked of him during the morning. "'Please remember everything you've learned from our lessons…'" he remembered her saying. He pondered over it for a moment. "Does she expect me to make conversation with anyone, even the people on this train?" he thought. He figured that this would be impossible. Not only was he only actually comfortable talking to the residents of the Butterfly Estate, but he would intentionally avoid talking to strangers in a public setting filled with them. He almost made small talk with the person across the aisle from him, but he stopped short. "Why would I even go out of my way to do that?..."
He made it to the train stop closest to the mountain. Unfortunately, even though it was closest, it was not particularly close. He still had around five hours of traveling on foot. The whole distance, he would be running. Around three hours into his journey on foot, he passed a Wisteria House. "I may have to use that later…" he thought. He didn't want to make anyone worry, but he knew that he would likely need to rest after eight or nine hours of intense running and/or fighting. He considered writing to the Butterfly Estate while at the Wisteria House to let everyone know. He looked up to his crow, who was mostly gliding instead of flapping his wings due to its old age. "Maybe I should reconsider…" he thought, remembering how unreliable his crow had been in the past.
After another two hours or so of running, Giyu made it to the village at the foot of the mountain. He should try to collect information about the killings here, but he wasn't sure whether anyone would know about them or not. The village had not experienced any murders or lost any of its residents, so Giyu considered whether he was wasting his time or not. He decided to check the house closest to the treeline. He remembered some of the things Shinobu told him. "'Tomioka-san, during missions you should hide your katana, or else you'll get arrested like you did earlier this year.'" he recalled. He was embarrassed from the anecdote she brought up, but she was ultimately right. So, he conspicuously wrapped his katana in cloth and tied it shut. People nearby pointed and stared at him while he did this, so he hadn't really achieved his goal of avoiding the public's attention.
Giyu was expecting to be restrained again, or at least have the police called on him, but nothing of the sort happened. He listened for what the watchers were saying. "...in front of that house. He's probably just arresting that psychopath…" one said, pointing from Giyu to the house. Giyu looked at the house. He noticed that it looked like it had a makeshift barricade over the frontmost window. "Maybe the lunatic hired him as a bodyguard…" another said. Giyu just decided to ignore the spectators and investigate the house.
Giyu knocked on the front door. "Excuse me…" he called into the home. Because of the barricades, he didn't expect anyone to respond. However, very soon after he knocked, someone walked over to the door. It took several seconds, noisy with the sound of bolts being unlocked, but the door swung open.
"You dumbasses finally-" an old man's voice started saying, but it stopped short once it saw Giyu standing there. "...You here to hide out? I can make yah a warm meal, if yah want." The old man looked scared, like a disaster was coming. However, his voice was friendly and benevolent.
Giyu struggled to come up with something. Some of Shinobu's words echoed in his mind. "'Remember, Tomioka-san. You will have to actually listen to other people during conversations. If you don't, then you'll likely be turned away.'" they said. He paused and considered the old man's proposition. "...I am not here to hide out. But I would like to come in and ask you a few things." he said, trying his best to talk the same way he would to a resident of the Butterfly Estate. "...If that's alright with you."
The old man led Giyu inside, and went to prepare some tea. The old man brought it to a table, where the two sat across from each other. "You ain't from 'round here, are you?" the old man said, downcast. "If you were, yah'd probably not get anywhere close'ta this house."
Giyu took a sip of tea to buy some time to think. "...You are right, I am not from around here. However, this is the only house I will stop at in this village." he said, then he took another sip. "...You asked if I were here 'to hide out.' I would like to know why."
The old man looked a little touched that Giyu only came to this house. Then, a darker expression took over his face. "Well… truth is, I been hearin' lots of strange things come from the mountain down yonder. Figgered it was just some country folk gettin' into fights with eachother or with some animals…" the old man said and shuddered. "...Is he not country folk also?" Giyu thought, considering his accent, as he expressionlessly stared at the old man. "Nothin' really felt wrong 'till I was walkin' by my tree last night, an' I saw someone come out the forest. They was covered in blood, and didn't get far before somethin' small n' fierce snatched them back up. I tried tellin' everyone but they didn't believe me. Think I'm some sort of crazy person."
Giyu had figured that this would be why the old man had been barricading himself in. "Did you at least see what this 'small thing' looked like?" he asked, not hesitating.
The old man was taken aback. "Well, no, I didn't." he started, hesitantly. "But I saw it was small- small like a teenager. I don't know what it was, but I ain't ever seen nobody get snatched up like that, 'specially not by something smaller than them. I get the feelin' nobody in this town is safe, 'specially since I ain't heard the sound of gunfire from them hunters since that night."
Giyu stood up. "I see. Thank you for the tea." he said as he made his way to the door. He quickly tore the cloth off of his katana scabbard.
The old man saw Giyu do this and looked shocked. "Don't tell me you're gonna try to hunt that thing!" he said sadly, not wanting to see someone walk to their deaths. "Them hunters with rifles all went quiet, there ain't nothin' that sword's gonna do!"
Giyu didn't turn around. "...You were right to barricade your home. But after tonight, you won't need that." he said as he opened the front door and walked outside. "...You, me, everyone in this village is fortunate that I arrived tonight. It's a shame that the other villagers will never know you were right… Andone last thing. I don't need your concern." He shut the front door behind him making his way to the forest nearby. The old man was left baffled at his behavior, but he ignored his confusion and went to lock all of the locks on his door. As Giyu walked, he imagined Koucho talking to him. "'Tomioka-san, you were too rude. People don't like it when you speak cruelly like that, you must apologize.'" imaginary Koucho said, her blood vessels popping out of her forehead from irritation. "I'll make it up to him, to you, by saving everyone…" Giyu thought, steeling his nerves.At the treeline, Giyu saw evidence of a struggle. Grass was torn out in clumps, like someone was being dragged for a meter or two, and they were trying to stop it. He also saw dried blood on the floor. He noticed that the blood left a trail into the woods. Giyu's sense of smell was nowhere near as impressive as Tanjiro's, but he could pick up what his vision could not detect with his smell. So, as soon as the trail appeared to have ended, he was still able to follow it.
"Hmm… above average height, has a sword, seemingly here to hunt, likely athletic…" Kamakiri thought, listing off all of the noticeable attributes of her prey. "Uggh… a head full of hair… looks like I won't be able to eat it…" Kamakiri was a demon, perched near the top of a tree, out of Giyu's sight. However, as she noticed, Giyu was following a blood trail, so he would probably discover her soon anyways. "...Above average powers of observation…" She was a little put off by this.
Suddenly, something slammed into the ground in front of Giyu. It was a decapitated body, though the cut was not clean. Giyu could tell it was eaten off. "This smell…" he thought. He noticed that it had the same smell as the blood from the trail. He stared at where the body came from. He could sense an intense bloodlust from the high branches of a tree, but he could not actually see anything up there.
Giyu was, however, able to sense where this bloodlust was coming from, since it reeked of the same blood from the body in front of him more in one spot than in any other. "He's staring right at me… can he actually see me?" Kamakiri thought, reevaluating her prey's worth. She decided that he was a threat, and should be handled with caution. "Huh?" Giyu was leaping onto tree branches on a nearby tree. He was moving further away from the spot Kamakiri sat in. She felt a rumble in her stomach. "I can't let him get away!" she thought as she leapt from her branch.
"It took the bait." Giyu thought as he squatted low on the branch he landed on, then extended his legs as hard and fast as he could, leaping back to the location of the demon. As he was turned around, he was able to see the demon, who had been invisible beforehand. This demon seemed to be a fourteen year old girl, with exceptionally large, compound eyes that looked very similar to Shinobu's. Her hair was dark green, and she had thin horns protruding from the top of her head. She was wearing a hunter's attire, so Giyu figured she was just a hunter who was unfortunate enough to become a demon. Her sleeves were torn, showing large blades from protruding from her arms. Most importantly, she had wings. "A praying mantis?..." Giyu thought to himself as he swung his sword.
Kamakiri was not hurt by Giyu's sword, as she blocked it with her own blades. However, she was not unfazed by their midair clash, especially since he was unfazed by it. She pushed him back, forcing him to land on a branch, while she flapped her wings. She shot backwards and landed on a branch of her own. Her wings spread, and she seemed to disappear. "Foolish." Giyu thought as he leapt from branch to branch, making his way to the branch she landed on. As soon as he landed on it, the branch crumbled from underneath him. As he fell, he felt an intense bloodlust coming from a branch underneath. Kamakiri was lying in wait, but as she tried to snatch Giyu out of the air with her arm blades, she was met with a volley of slashes, the speed of which she could hardly keep up with.
Giyu expected that to be the finishing blow, but she was surprisingly fast. At least, she was decently fast with either of her arms. If he could cut one arm off, the other would not be fast enough to save her from being decapitated. However, there was no easy way for Giyu to manage this, given the fact that she kept turning invisible. "You are truly premier prey! I'll actually feel like I worked for my meal once I eat you!" Giyu heard the demon girl shout from far away. "What? How did she…" Giyu thought. Kamakiri was less than a meter away from him a few seconds ago. "Well, 'premier prey,' it's been fun! But I'm a little hungry, so I'm going to finish this up now! Blood Demon Art: Forest Trap!"
Suddenly, tree branches grew from every tree, launching towards Giyu unyieldingly. They were not impossible to dodge since they shot straight, but the sheer number of them made this difficult to manage. "I need to get to stable ground." Giyu thought, but every time he tried to, he had to dodge a branch. The already dense forest was growing thicker, trying to suffocate him. While the forest was trying to suffocate him, Kamakiri was trying to do something else.
Giyu had yet to land on one of the branches that shot out of the trees just a moment ago, but he was running out of options, since he could barely walk on ground level without being stabbed or hitting his head on a branch. Finally, the branches stopped shooting out. Giyu jumped to make his way out of the wooden cage he was put in, and landed on a branch. As soon as he did, Kamakiri's arm blades shot out, trying to pinch him. He launched back, barely avoiding being caught. "So they react to touch…" Giyu thought. Unfortunately, he was on course for landing on another one, as there was still a labyrinth of branches underneath and above him. Everywhere he landed, the demon's arms shot out, trying to grip a leg or foot between the scythe-like blades.
Giyu leapt from branch to branch at top speed, buying himself time to think. Suddenly, he got an idea. Giyu lightly cut his own hand with his blade. When he landed on a tree branch, he splashed the demon's arms with his blood. He probably wouldn't be able to locate the blood on the arms, but he would definitely smell it. To test that the arms were the same no matter what, he tried to smell his own blood next time he landed on a tree branch. "I got it." he thought, distinctly smelling his blood on the demon's arms. "Now for the hard part…"Giyu kept making small cuts on himself, letting it bleed onto the demon's arms, then using breathing to stop his bleeding. This way, the demon would smell strongly of his blood. "I'm going to have to thank Tanjiro later…" Giyu thought, since Tanjiro's ability was Giyu's inspiration for this method.
After a few minutes of leaping all over the area, Giyu was able to pinpoint a location where he smelled his blood constantly. He could get the faint scent of his blood every time he passed this one tree. So, after he began to leap from one branch to another, generating plenty of momentum. "Breath of Water, 1st form: Water Surface Slash." Giyu whispered to himself, launching off of a branch, landing on the ground in front of the tree, and slashing it, around neck level. The cut was flawless; the tree was felled immediately, and many of the demon-made branches snapped off of it as it fell diagonally. After the dust settled, the demon-made branches started to disintegrate. Giyu looked at the cut he made. Standing was a headless demon, with its arms planted in the stump of the tree that was just felled. Giyu looked down into the grass nearby, where he saw its head starting to disappear.
"Am I really dying?..." Kamakiri asked as her head and body slowly disintegrated. Giyu did not justify her question with a response. He felt a little uncomfortable looking at the demon, since it reminded him slightly of Koucho. It looked as if a younger version of her had turned into a demon, especially since their eyes were nearly identical. Giyu pondered for a moment. "...Praying mantis, huh?…" he mumbled as he compared the likeness of the demon and Koucho.
Giyu planned on going back to the Wisteria House immediately, but he felt nagged. "'Tomioka-san'" Giyu imagined Shinobu saying, pestering him. "'That old man is still under the impression that he is unsafe.'" Giyu sighed and walked back towards the village. "Holy shit!" he heard the old man shout. He was standing outside with a baffled expression. That goddamn tree fell! What happened?"
Giyu was irked at how loud the old man was being, but he didn't show it. "...I killed the demon." he replied, wanting to keep this conversation brief. The old man started questioning him, wondering what he meant by "demon," but Giyu did not want to bother explaining. "...It's too late for the people who lived on the mountain. But you, and everyone in this village, are safe now." The old man started questioning Giyu even more, but he just tuned the old man out. Now, with a more clear conscience, Giyu began running to the Wisteria House.
After two hours of running, Giyu arrived at the Wisteria House. He was tired, sweaty, and hungry, but he would have all of these problems fixed at the house. His host was a kind old man. He cooked for Giyu, prepared a bath for him, and laid down a futon for him. He did not bother asking any questions about Giyu's travel, something he was thankful for. Giyu was not given any real reason to talk to this old man at all, but he felt conflicted. Before, he felt nagged by some sort of obligation to talk; but now, the desire to say something to this old man came up without compulsion. "...Thank you." Giyu said after bathing.
"It is the duty of the host of a Wisteria House to accommodate all Demon Slayers. There is no need to thank me." the old man said, genuinely seeming to not want any thanks.
Giyu pondered for a moment. "What do you want to say to him?" he thought, asking this to himself. He sat in silence for a moment. If it were Shinobu in front of him, she would get angry at his slow response speed. If it were anyone else, they would be confused and probably repeat themselves, fearing that Giyu had just not heard them. However, the old man did not seem to expect a reply from Giyu. He suddenly realized what it is he actually wanted to say. "...Duty or not, it is a favor I do not receive often, and a privilege I am glad to have. Once more, thank you." he said as he stood up and went to the other room, where his futon had been laid out. He did not want or expect a reply, and he finally did not feel nagged by Shinobu after finishing a conversation so abruptly.
"Koucho-san, that's right…" Giyu thought. He remembered the way the demon fought, and thought that he may be able to repay Shinobu's kindness as of late by giving her an idea. He looked at his crow, who was perched on a table. "I will need you to deliver a letter for me." he said. His crow was old, and sometimes unreliable, but he had gone to the Butterfly Estate enough to remember it by heart. At least, Giyu was pretty sure this was the case. He began to write his letter.
A few hours later, Shinobu heard a rapping on her bedroom window. "A crow?" she thought as she got up to open it. "Message from Giyu Tomioka…" the old bird said, exhausted. "Also, may I stay at the Estate for tonight?"
"Certainly." Shinobu said as she took the message from it.
Dear Koucho-san,
I have slain the demon successfully. I have also remembered some of the things you taught me, so thank you. If possible, I would like to come to the Butterfly Estate before going home. The demon I slayed tonight made me think of you.
-Giyu Tomioka.
She gripped the paper with all of her might, tearing it just from the tension at the middle. Her veins were about to burst from her head. "I remind you of a demon, do I, Tomioka-san?" she thought. A few tears welled up in her eyes, from both anger and sadness. "Then it would seem that I've made no progress at all…"
Giyu laid with his eyes shut, trying to sleep. He thought about the letter he was writing earlier. "I think I was able to communicate everything… I hope so…" he thought, blissfully ignorant of his blunder.
The next day, a confused Giyu had to spend almost an hour explaining his letter as well as apologizing to Shinobu.