At the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, Kagaya Ubuyashiki sat in the front room, silently watching the heavy snow falling outside.
Amane walked out from the inner room and placed a brass warming pot into his hands.
"Are the children asleep?" Kagaya held the brass pot, and it took a while for his cold fingertips to feel the warmth.
"Yes. What are you looking at, Kagaya?"
"I'm waiting for Haruto; he said he would come today."
Amane's mind conjured the image of the white-haired young man who ate a lot of food, and she also remembered her husband's long-absent smile.
"In such heavy snow?"
"Yes... so he was delayed a bit."
No sooner had he spoken than a guard from the front yard came to report.
"Mr. Takanashi has arrived."
"Please, let him in."
Haruto entered the courtyard, stood in the hall, and took off his straw cape, which was covered in snow.
The brazier inside the house burned brightly. Haruto stood for a while, greeted Amane, and only sat beside Kagaya Ubuyashiki after the chill had left his body.
This Ubuyashiki boy's health was getting worse and worse; the scars on his face seemed to be spreading.
"No need for that; my body isn't that weak yet."
Kagaya looked at him in surprise: "I almost thought we hadn't seen each other in three or four years, but it's only been a little over a year. You've grown so fast."
Already in a growth spurt, eating well, and diligently training, coupled with the use of Constant Concentration, Haruto had shot up significantly, and his body looked more robust than before.
Sitting beside Kagaya, he made Kagaya seem like a younger brother by a year.
"You, on the other hand, haven't changed; you're still..." The rest of the sentence was swallowed by Haruto. He remembered that he should be calling the young man in front of him "Sir" now.
So he reached into his chest, pulled out a bag, and handed it to Amane: "These are gifts for the two children."
Amane glanced at her husband, then took the cloth bag and thanked him gently.
"Have the children been named?"
"The older sister is Hinaki, and the younger sister is Nichika." Kagaya stretched: "You're quite late; I heard your injuries healed a long time ago."
"I went to Swordsmith Village first." Haruto shot him a glance.
He wasn't some workaholic; how could he immediately report to his boss at the company right after getting out of a sickbed?
"Ah~ How is old Mr. Godou's health?"
"He's doing very well; he can still forge nichirin blades."
He was just as insistent on marriage as ever, and he threw quite a fit when he heard that Makomo and Sabito were childhood sweethearts.
"Even going to Swordsmith Village shouldn't take that long, should it?" Kagaya frowned, calculating: "At least three days..."
"I also went to the Rengoku Family."
He went to visit Mr. Shinjuro, originally thinking that Rengoku Shinjuro's spirit should be better than before, but it was quite the opposite.
The tall man was disheveled, with a full beard and a strong smell of alcohol on him.
After a year, the Flame Pillar, who had never touched alcohol, had started drinking heavily.
After learning that Haruto had discovered a new Breathing Technique and slain Lower Moon Three, he didn't say any more disheartening words like "useless person."
Although he still looked impatient and was entirely hosted by the Rengoku Family's second son.
"Where's your brother?"
The bright, big owl, Kyoujurou, was nowhere to be seen in the house. Haruto quietly asked the little owl, Senjuro, beside him.
"Brother went to the mountains to train." Senjuro was a bit reserved, but it was clear he was a very sensible child: "He took three volumes of Father's Flame Breathing notes and was scolded terribly by Father..."
Later, he found Kyoujurou with his nichirin blade on the mountain. Fortunately, the flame in the heart of the passionate, sun-like young man had not extinguished.
Moreover, the young man's talent was remarkably high; he could master all the forms of Flame Breathing just by reading the Flame Breathing notes, much smarter than a certain fellow who had only mastered the first five forms after two and a half years... "Ah, that's right."
Kagaya's words pulled him back from his memories to reality: "Mr. Shinjuro's resignation letter is still on my desk; I really can't accept it."
The Demon Slayer Corps is already in a period of transition; this generation of Pillars is rapidly aging, and who knows when the next generation will emerge.
So, Haruto, you and Mr. Himejima appeared very timely."
"I merely killed a Lower Moon in an abnormal state." Haruto lightly furrowed his brow: "Kagaya, don't make me say such embarrassing words as 'I am not worthy of being a Pillar.'"
Kagaya Ubuyashiki was silent for a moment, then stood up: "Would you like to come with me to the back mountain?"
"Kagaya, it's snowing outside." Amane's eyes held worry.
"Get a cloak and an umbrella." Kagaya shook his head, indicating it was fine. Amane couldn't do anything about him and could only rush to find a thick, fur-lined cloak.
"I'll hold the umbrella."
Haruto took the umbrella, using its surface to completely block the wind and snow.
What was in the back mountain of the Demon Slayer Corps?
Amidst the wisteria flowers, still blooming and swaying in the mountain wind and snow, stood tombstones of fallen Demon Slayer Swordsmen.
There were so many tombstones that Haruto couldn't even tell whether the wisteria flowers enveloped the tombstones or the tombstones surrounded the wisteria flowers.
"So many..." Haruto was somewhat speechless.
"Yes, the true number is even greater. Since I was four years old, almost every so often, several swordsmen would die. Those whose bodies were fortunately recovered would be taken home by their families, and their clothes would be sent here to erect a cenotaph."
Kagaya brushed away the accumulated snow from a tombstone with his sleeve; an unfamiliar name was written on it.
Kagaya became the head of the Demon Slayer Corps at four years old. Over these past decades, the number of swordsmen he had sent off and bodies he had welcomed back was countless.
"If Demon Slayer Swordsmen are like this, how many tens of thousands more ordinary humans have died over a thousand years?"
Haruto's eyes darkened; he didn't know what he was thinking in his misty blue gaze.
"You should know, Haruto, the curse of the Ubuyashiki Family." Kagaya pointed to the scars on his face, forcing a light smile: "Unless we marry into a priestess family, our descendants will die young. But even if we marry, no one has ever lived past thirty."
He let out a long sigh, as if something was blocking his chest.
"Before we married, I asked Amane if she was willing to marry me, someone who wouldn't live long. If she wasn't, I would break off this engagement with the priestess family—for any reason."
Haruto turned his head; Kagaya's eyes seemed to well up with mist, and his usually comforting voice became hoarse.
"But Amane said that because of my words, she was no longer afraid. Haruto, look... what a wonderful wife I have."
Kagaya's words carried a hint of pride, but Haruto's frown deepened.
After they paid their respects, they walked back together, Kagaya's steps somewhat unsteady.
He stood still, clenching his fists: "It's all because of that damned Kibutsuji Muzan!"
His fists trembled, but his voice was even lower.
"I have a kind and beautiful wife, a pair of lovely daughters, and swordsmen who respect me..."
Kagaya Ubuyashiki's jaw was clenched tight, but he couldn't utter another word.
The Ubuyashiki's destiny told him not to be afraid.
The tombstones behind him told him not to be afraid.
But Haruto still understood the meaning in his eyes.
Kagaya wasn't afraid; he was just unwilling.
No one wants to die at thirty years old.