"Caw!"
The cry of the kasugai crow rang out from the roof of the veranda, breaking the silent atmosphere that had descended in the courtyard.
Murata's shivering form had already hidden himself behind Giyu.
'Tanjuro-san... wasn't a Hashira...?'
He carefully poked his head out and took in the sight.
All of them were looking at Sanemi's fallen form on the ground and Tanjuro, who was sitting in the same spot and slowly retracting his arm.
Gyomei put his hands together. As a blind man, his perception ability was the strongest among the six Hashira.
Thus, he noticed the fluctuation of Tanjuro's weak life force into a strong and nourished aura just for a moment.
"Unbelievable..." Gyomei pressed the prayer beads in his hands, his heart moved by the display of strength.
Obanai stared quietly at the side, his snake companion coiled around his neck, spitting out its crimson tongue.
"Hahahaha!!" Tengen unleashed a bellyful of laughter at Sanemi's embarrassing moments.
Tanjuro himself only looked at the sky, as if what he'd done were nothing spectacular. The man exhaled; white steam escaped from the corner of his mouth.
"Hiss..."
Tanjuro loosened his hold.
He had completely relied on his years of combat intuition and Sanemi's underestimation to easily subdue his opponent.
He had wanted to use the Transparent World to counterattack, but that would have broken Sanemi's leg.
Tanjuro did not dare to confront him head-on either, as his body was still too weak to withstand such an attack.
If the fight continues, he would be the first one to be exhausted and die.
And not the temporary kind of death.
"..."
Sanemi's eyes gradually refocus, though his mind is in a daze.
...He was seen through.
As the Wind Hashira with a lot of battle experiences, his mind had realized what happened in the brief exchange between two warriors, yet his heart refused to accept the fact.
'My attack was foreseen from the start.'
It was a complete defeat, and the loss was instantaneous; it was funny.
He looked up just in time to see the white steam from the corner of Tanjuro's mouth.
'A breathing technique!' Sanemi's pupils contracted. He forces his arms to support his body and exerts force through them to stand up.
Many questions arose in his mind.
"I'm very sorry, Kamado-san."
Kagaya's clear voice rang out as he apologized. "Sanemi is always a little impatient."
Then, he looked at Sanemi, who resumed his kneeling position, and smiled.
"Sanemi."
Sanemi heard the order even though Kagaya didn't speak it. He calmed himself down as he bowed his head in Tanjuro's direction.
"Please forgive me; I was too rash."
As he spoke, Sanemi took a glance at Tanjuro's face. He gritted his teeth and smacked his tongue.
"Tch!"
'I'm still not convinced.'
But the humiliation of being defeated so swiftly remained, making him frown.
His hand unconsciously clenches the dirt and pebbles on the ground.
"Awesome!"
The noisy exclamation interrupted Sanemi's thought.
Kyojuro looked at Tanjuro's extremely thin and haggard appearance. Having seen the fight up close and personal, he couldn't help exclaiming from the bottom of his heart.
"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't be able to dodge that kick. I would be rag-dolled across the yard!"
His voice was clear and optimistic, even at the expense of his own would-be fate.
Tanjuro rubbed his wrist as he stood up and patted the dust off his clothes. He nodded at Kagaya.
"It's fine."
His eyes wander around the Hashira, especially Sanemi, before settling on Kyojuro.
"The sooner we go, the better."
"To Tokyo."
As for his family, it is not the time for him to go there now.
'It is best to deal with this affair first, then save up enough energy for one resurrection before I go check on Kie and the children.'
"Umu!" Kyojuro slapped Tanjuro on the shoulder. "Let's go and kill the demon together, Kamado-san."
"Just call me Tanjuro."
"Okay, Tanjuro-san."
Kyojuro didn't forget to bow to Oyakata-sama and went on his way.
Kagaya watched the two of them leave, his one seeing eye reflecting the sunlight in a purple color.
He saw Kyojuro's figure overlap with that of his father.
"...I believe in you, Kyojuro." Kagaya murmured softly. Sending prayers and good luck for Kyojuro's success.
Then, his attention was stolen away by the hanafuda earrings on Tanjuro's ears.
The reason why he chose to believe in Tanjuro's strength was because of these earrings too.
---
"Tanjuro-san!" Kyojuro begins their conversation after they leave the white wall of the Ubuyashiki's residence.
He would walk in front of Tanjuro and occasionally look back to converse about something in an excited tone.
"This mission is very important! In Tokyo, where the population density is very high, we need to be extremely careful!"
"Um." Tanjuro nodded absentmindedly.
Before they left, Tanjuro was given a Nichirin blade borrowed from the treasury of Ubuyaashiki. Thus, he had two katanas hanging from his waist.
One of them is Kusabimaru, since Kusabimaru couldn't kill demons.
"Tanjuro-san! Are you listening!?"
"Yes, I am."
And so, the two of them "discussed" plans back and forth as they slowly moved away from the Ubuyashiki's mansion.
---
---
---
—Location: Tokyo—
—Time: An hour before the stroke of Midnight—
A breeze swept through the bustling and brightly lit semi-modern streets of Tokyo. The city was packed with three-story and four-story buildings in various Western styles.
People walking in the crowded streets.
The light from the electric lamps seemed to brighten the sky, blurring the night and the stars.
Wooden telephone poles are everywhere.
Tap, tap.
Several officers in police uniforms walked on the asphalt road, carrying guns and wooden sticks on their waists and fatigue written all over their faces.
"Captain, if this goes on... I'm afraid it won't work."
"I'm worried about our jobs' future." Said one of the younger officers, sighing deeply as he removes his cap to swipe the sweat on his forehead.
"That so-called 'Midnight Bomber' has been running rampant near Tokyo for quite some time but has yet to be caught."
"I heard from the next town over that the bomber is already in Tokyo!"
"Last night, he blew up a house!" the youngest officer said exaggeratedly.
Snap.
The captain stopped. He turned around and looked at his squad members with a serious expression, then took a deep breath.
"Shinjiro! Don't just believe in rumor!" He shouted, uncaring of the looks he got from passersby.
"If you can't fact-check that rumor, then don't gossip at all!"
"Do you understand!?"
However, not far from the police patrols.
Inside a three-story western-style building.
Tick! Tick!
A stopwatch with a growing flesh and lit fuse kept ticking.
Below it were bundles upon bundles of dynamite.