Rising Sun | Kimetsu no Yaiba x OC

「mist」

The warm feeling which their friend Inosuke could only describe as "weird and bubbly, maybe it's a stomach bug?!" enveloped them. "Thank you so much," Tanjirou felt thankful from the bottom of his heart. "But I still have a ways to go. I will work harder than ever so I can beat Kibutsuji Muzan!"

"Same goes for me," Akiho replied.

"Ahhh, you two!!" Mitsuri looked both admiring and happy about their declarations and she scooted closer to the two. "I'm so glad to have you both as my juniors. Train hard, but don't overwork yourself!!"

"Speaking of training, I came across this earlier today," Akiho piped as she pulled out something that was carefully wrapped. Everyone blinked at the beautiful blue flower against the white cloth with wonder. "I picked it because it felt special somehow. Do you know what kind of flower this is, Kanroji-san?"

"It looks like a spider lily, but I've never seen one this color before," the pillar mused with her cheeks blushing. "Sorry Akiho-chan, I can't tell you exactly what it is... But I'm sure if you ask Shinobu-chan about it she can give you an answer."

The Insect Pillar was extremely knowledgeable with flowers since she dealt with a lot of them to concoct poisons against demons and medicine for the slayers. But there was no telling when the girl would be able to see the pillar next even if she stopped by the Butterfly Estate as soon as she could. The flower would wilt by then.

"It's really a pretty flower... I know a way to preserve it at least, so you can still take it to Shinobu-chan later," Mitsuri brightened up the mood. "If you press the flower between the pages of a book, it'll preserve the color and shape of it!"

As the slayers learned with fascination about the art of flower pressing, it was slowly getting later into the night. Soon, it was finally time for the pillar to part ways.

"I don't really know if we'll be able to see each other alive next time, but let's just do what we can," Mitsuri said honestly. Right before the pillar left, she leaned in towards the marked slayer's ear, "Tanjirou-kun, I heard there's a secret weapon in the village that makes you stronger. It might be related to this 'Dance of the Fire God' that you asked Shinobu-chan about before. Go look for it, okay?"

⚔

For the next several days, Akiho and Tanjirou split up while they trained in the forest as they had different objectives. Genya was also on his own as he trained and waited for his order, though both of the slayers would try to get him to eat dinner with them. After the second day though, Tanjirou stayed out and didn't return until the tenth night, looking haggard from intense training and... Starved.

"...So that happened yesterday. After finding the rusted sword from Kotetsu-kun's battle doll Haganezuka-san took it for repair. I heard it will take three days and three nights to finish. The polishing will end the day after tomorrow. He said his methods are so severe people have died from it."

Akiho was listening carefully while the slayer stuffed his mouth with rice balls and preserved vegetables and spoke of his training. If she had thought Mochitake was serious about his craft, then Tanjirou's swordsmith was on a whole another level of intensity. She wouldn't recommend checking on the guy if it were her.

"I'm kinda worried, but he told me not to check on him. Ever. But should I?"

"I DON'T CARE! GET OUT, DAMMIT! DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE I'M YOUR FRIEND!" Genya growled while his eyes twitched irritably. He was the other slayer in the room—his room—and he didn't appreciate the water breath user just barging in like they were close.