Supported by Naho's arm, Vincent Fox was helped back into the building.
"Sir, please wait here for a moment. I'll go inform Lady Hashira."
After settling him down, Naho trotted out on her short little legs.
Before long, a very cute girl followed Naho back into the room.
Vincent recognized her at a glance. One of the Nine Hashira, the Insect Hashira herself.
"Mr. Fox, it has been a while. How has your recovery been these days?"
Shinobu Kocho's face bloomed with a gentle smile as she looked at him with concern.
"It's mostly fine now."
Vincent nodded, then stood and walked a few steps to prove his leg was no longer an issue.
Shinobu took this in and felt a flicker of surprise.
In her memory, when this man had been carried in, his condition had been terrible.
His lower leg had taken a direct hit from a demon. The bone had been snapped into three pieces.
Even with her medical expertise, she had not been able to immediately heal that kind of injury. She had only been able to inject him with a poison that stimulated his regenerative ability, then immobilize him in a plaster cast.
After that, it was all down to a long recovery.
"Being able to walk like this means there probably is not much problem left, but just to be safe, we should still run a full checkup."
Shinobu smiled, her beautiful eyes curving into thin crescents.
"Then I'll trouble you, Lady Hashira."
Vincent did not refuse and sat down in front of her.
Before long, Shinobu put away her medical instruments and let out a quiet breath of relief.
"Mr. Fox, your recovery speed is remarkable. With my current level, I cannot pick out any issues at all."
"That is good. I guess it will not be long before I can go back out on missions again."
Vincent smiled lightly.
As expected, the moment he said that, Shinobu's expression grew hesitant, as if she was wrestling with something.
"Mr. Fox, there is something I have to tell you. The Demon Slayer Corps members who were on the last mission with you have already… gone missing."
"We sent a large number of people to search, but it was as if they vanished into thin air. We could not find any trace. As you know, people who are gravely injured by demons may be turned into demons themselves, so…"
At that point, Shinobu's meaning was already very clear.
She slowly fell silent, then said softly, "Mr. Fox, please accept my condolences. Only by doing so can you recover more quickly and carry out every mission entrusted by the Master of the Corps."
"Yes. I understand."
Vincent sighed and stared blankly at the tabletop in front of him.
Even though he knew the story of the Demon Slayer world, actually hearing the news in person from Shinobu still stirred up a hard to describe sadness in his chest.
Of course.
The war between the Demon Slayer Corps and demons had always been a battle of the weak against the strong.
Every time they went out on a mission, Demon Slayers were walking a tightrope.
One misstep, and they would tumble into an abyss with no way back.
But this was their mission.
It was what they had chosen.
For a moment, a quiet, lonely air filled the room. The silence felt almost oppressive.
Just as Vincent was wondering how to break that heaviness, a voice burst in.
"Miss Shinobu, can I not train anymore, please? That is not training for humans. I can stop, right?!"
Vincent looked up at the blond boy who stumbled into the room.
The teary, snotty expression on his face instantly shattered the suffocating mood in the room.
"Zenitsu, what is the matter?"
Shinobu turned around to look at Zenitsu Agatsuma kneeling behind her, her smile still as gentle and lovely as ever.
"T hey… they threw that stinky medicine soup on me again, and I still cannot even touch the tea cup once…"
"And that is not even the worst part, there is also…"
Zenitsu choked up as he poured out every bit of misery he had suffered.
Vincent listened from the side, wanting Zenitsu to stop and also really not wanting him to stop.
Holding in laughter was hard work.
Finally, Zenitsu finished venting and collapsed on the floor in tears.
"At this rate, I am going to die of exhaustion in the Butterfly Mansion before any demon ever kills me…"
Shinobu, trained in dealing with children and hysterical patients, kept the same warm smile on her face.
She gently patted Zenitsu's bright yellow hair.
"But this is training that every Demon Slayer must endure if they want to be a full member of the Corps, Zenitsu. You are not going to say you cannot do it, are you?"
The moment she finished that line, Zenitsu, who had been enjoying the head pats, shuddered violently.
Then he flipped up from the floor like a carp, standing ramrod straight.
"Please rest assured, Miss Shinobu, I was just relaying Tanjiro and Inosuke's complaints. I have no resentment toward the training at the Butterfly Mansion. None at all."
His expression was deadly serious.
If Vincent had not already known Zenitsu's character inside and out, he might actually have believed him.
Shinobu did not seem to mind either way. Her smile stayed warm enough to melt snow as she clasped Zenitsu's hands.
"If it is you, Zenitsu, this level of training should be no problem at all."
A shrill scream exploded out of Zenitsu like a kettle suddenly boiling.
Vincent scratched his cheek and looked around with curiosity.
Did the water just hit a rolling boil?
Zenitsu's face flushed scarlet, his hair stood straight up, and faint white steam started rising from his head like a little steam engine.
"Please relax, Miss Shinobu. This degree of training is nothing to me at all. I will not even break a sweat. I am off now. Once I finish this course of training, I will come back to see you again."
He snapped to attention, then shot out of the room like a gust of wind.
From the sound of it, he had gone straight back to training.
A short while later, another pained howl floated in from the training yard.
Vincent could not help laughing.
"Lady Hashira, your style of teaching really is… tailored to the student."
Shinobu did not mind his teasing at all. She simply chuckled softly.
"Do not call me Lady Hashira. With your ability, it will not be long before you become one of the new Hashira yourself."
"Just call me Shinobu. Or, if you insist, you can call me Sister Shinobu like Zenitsu does. I am probably a bit older than you anyway."
Vincent nodded. "Then I will call you Shinobu."
Shinobu nodded back and rose to her feet.
"Mr. Fox, I am going to check on their training in the yard. Would you like to come along?"
Vincent stood as well and fell into step beside her.
"I will come too. I can follow along with some of the drills. Think of it as rehab."
"That makes me very happy."
Seeing how proactive he was, Shinobu's smile brightened.
A few steps later, the two of them arrived in the courtyard.
Several people in black uniforms with the kanji for "Kakushi" on their headbands were cleaning the grounds.
Most eye catching of all were the three boys in patient clothes who were in the middle of their training.
The most focused one was the boy with the flame-shaped scar on his forehead and the Hanafuda earrings with the sun motif.
Even though the drills were just as hard for him, he still managed to grind his way through each one.
The other two were clearly not doing as well.
Inosuke Hashibira, wearing his boar mask, was roaring nonstop as he lifted and slammed down a huge boulder over and over, using so much force it looked like he wanted to smash it to pieces.
Zenitsu, who Vincent had just seen, was already rolling around on the ground again, crying and wailing as if his life were ending.
"Ahem."
Vincent cleared his throat, straightened his expression, and looked over at Shinobu.
"Their training methods really are… unique."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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