Pushing open the door to the ward, Musashi saw Zenitsu, Tanjirou, and the boy wearing a wild boar head mask inside. Zenitsu was already asleep, and Tanjirou was lying on the bed, smiling slightly as he looked at the other two.
"Musashi..."
Upon seeing Musashi, Tanjirou called out in surprise.
Musashi gestured for him to be quiet, then pointed to Zenitsu. Tanjirou understood, nodded, and remained silent.
"Is your sister alright?"
Walking over to Tanjirou, Musashi asked him quietly.
"She's fine. She's asleep now. She always recovers from injuries by sleeping," Tanjirou replied with a smile.
Kanzaki Aoi, seeing Musashi and them talking, quietly walked out and closed the door.
"That's good."
Musashi said, then paused for a moment before saying to Tanjirou, "You shouldn't resent the Hashiras' attitude. The fact that demons eat humans and must be slain has been deeply ingrained in their hearts.
All they have ever seen are demons harming humans, and they have witnessed countless tragedies caused by demons, which is why they have this attitude towards you and your sister.
After all, besides your sister, they have never seen a demon that doesn't eat humans.
They themselves are people who sacrifice everything to slay demons and protect humanity. Countless lives have been saved under their protection, which is why they are so respected.
The man who speaks very loudly and seems very bright and passionate is my teacher and also the Flame Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps. After my village was attacked by a demon, he took me in as his successor, teaching me everything he knew without reservation, and he takes great care of me and everyone else.
He wanted to execute you and your sister simply because he didn't believe what you said. Now, he is willing to temporarily acknowledge you and your sister."
Musashi spoke at length. The reason he told Tanjirou all this was that he didn't want him to misunderstand the other Hashiras because of this incident. In his eyes, these Hashiras were all very respectable.
Tanjirou did not interrupt Musashi, listening quietly. After Musashi finished, he said with a smile, "Of course I won't resent them. After all, Nezuko's situation is indeed very special, and it's normal for them to react that way when they don't know the full story."
After listening to Tanjirou, Musashi smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Tanjirou then added, "But that guy covered in scars stabbed Nezuko so many times, and that still makes me very angry. While I won't resent him, I really want to give him two headbutts!
By the way, headbutting shouldn't violate Corps rules, right?"
Tanjirou recalled the scene at the time, showing an angry expression, pursing his lips, puffing out his cheeks, and fuming, very similar to Nezuko's expression at that time.
"Pfft..."
Seeing Tanjirou's appearance, Musashi couldn't help but let out a laugh, then said to Tanjirou, "It's normal for you to think that, but Sanemi is quite a bit stronger than you. Even if the Corps rules allowed it, you probably wouldn't be able to give him two headbutts.
And... Sanemi is also a very pitiful person..."
Musashi did not continue speaking. After all, it involved matters between Genya and Sanemi, and he didn't intend to tell others without Genya's permission.
He also wondered how Genya was doing now, whether he had successfully become Gyoumei's disciple. At that time, Sanemi was nearby, so I didn't dare to ask...
Musashi thought, his mind wandering.
After a period of random thoughts, Musashi asked Tanjirou, "Master said you encountered Kibutsuji Muzan. Can you tell me about him?"
This was another important reason he came to visit Tanjirou and Zenitsu this time. Muzan was the person he hated the most now, and after learning that Tanjirou had encountered him, Musashi naturally wanted to understand the details.
Tanjirou heard this, organized his thoughts, and then replied to Musashi, "I met him at the market. He was disguised as a human, living among humans, holding a human girl, and the person next to him, who called him husband, was also human."
As he said this, Tanjirou still felt his heart pounding when he recalled the situation at the time.
"He himself looked completely like a young human man, tall and slender, with pale skin and plum-red eyes. Although I don't want to say it, he was indeed handsome, exactly like a human.
If it weren't for his scent, I probably wouldn't have recognized him as a demon.
After I found him, I immediately wanted to kill him to avenge my family, but when I saw him living completely with humans, my body froze in disbelief. At that moment, he quickly attacked a human next to him, turning them into a demon.
I had no choice but to protect the surrounding humans first, and Muzan took advantage of the chaos to leave."
After listening to Tanjirou's narration, Musashi gained some understanding of Muzan. For him, the most useful information was that Muzan disguised himself as a human to live.
On the other hand, after hearing Tanjirou's description of the situation at the time, Musashi also felt his heart pounding and thought Tanjirou's actions were a bit reckless.
With humans all around, if Muzan had erupted, very few of them would likely have survived. The situation Tanjirou encountered could be said to be very fortunate.
"You were a bit reckless, Tanjirou." Although he knew that saying it directly would definitely make Tanjirou feel uncomfortable, Musashi still intended to clearly state his opinion to Tanjirou.
Otherwise, if he handled a similar situation improperly next time, not only might many humans die, but Tanjirou himself would probably be left with serious emotional scars.
Tanjirou lowered his head upon hearing this. He himself had actually realized his recklessness after that incident. He also felt some self-reproach after that human turned into a demon, but fortunately, he later met Tamayo who saved that person.
"Yes, I understand now. I will act cautiously if I encounter such a situation again," Tanjirou said.
"Then I won't say any more. Thank you for telling me all this."
Seeing that Tanjirou had understood, Musashi said no more, smiling as he thanked him.
"If you need any help later, you can come find me. When I don't have missions, I can also give you some guidance. However, these things will have to wait until your injuries heal. For now, just focus on recovering," Musashi said to Tanjirou.
"Okay," Tanjirou replied with a smile.
After bidding each other farewell, Musashi left the ward. At this time, Zenitsu was still not awake, and Musashi did not disturb him.
On his way back to his residence (allocated by the Demon Slayer Corps for Hashiras), Musashi also wondered how he should handle Tanjirou's situation if he encountered it himself, in order to slay the demon without affecting the surrounding humans.
In the end, he came up with only two methods: either instantly kill the demon while avoiding humans, or find a way to lure the demon to an uninhabited place before fighting it.
Musashi felt the second method was more secure. The first method would not only cause a huge commotion, but if the demon couldn't be killed in one blow, the surrounding humans would still likely not survive.
So, how to lure the demon to an uninhabited place...
After thinking for a while, Musashi couldn't come up with any suitable method.
My demon hunting experience is still a bit lacking. I'll ask my teacher tomorrow...