He broke quite a few ropes…
After hearing Kuwajima Jigorō's words, Chiba Yo looked at Zenitsu, thinking it truly wasn't easy for him to have survived until now.
Zenitsu also recalled that period of his life; no matter how he tried to escape, he would always be found, then caught in traps, tripped, or dragged away by ropes.
"Grandpa…" Zenitsu glanced at Kuwajima Jigorō.
"Ahem, let's not talk about that anymore. It's time for dinner now, I'll go cook. You two stay and eat before heading back," Kuwajima Jigorō said, standing up and walking towards the kitchen. Then he remembered something, turned back, and said to them:
"Oh, the peaches in the peach orchard behind the mountain are ripe now. You can go pick some. Take some back to the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters when you leave for the other swordsmen to try.
Zenitsu, take our guest there."
"Okay," Zenitsu nodded in response.
"Yo, let's go. The peaches here are really delicious," Zenitsu said to Chiba Yo.
"Mhm," Chiba Yo nodded and followed Zenitsu out of the house.
Upon their first meeting, Kuwajima Jigorō left Chiba Yo with the impression of being a warm, strict, yet somewhat endearing person. The strictness was mainly gleaned from his descriptions of Zenitsu's training.
Beyond that, Chiba Yo could also sense that he truly cherished and cared for his disciple. When Chiba Yo praised Zenitsu, he was genuinely happy and proud, feeling as if his own child had achieved good results and was being praised in front of him.
It was just that his methods might have been a bit heavy-handed.
Arriving at the back mountain, a large peach orchard appeared before Chiba Yo, and all the peaches on the trees were exceptionally large.
"Grandpa, he really… I came back so happily to visit him and even brought him a gift, but I ended up getting hit with a cane for nothing. My face is still swollen," Zenitsu complained, rubbing his face. His left cheek was swollen, looking very similar to the peaches here.
Chiba Yo didn't look at Zenitsu; he was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold back his laughter if he did.
Originally, he didn't find it funny, but after arriving at this peach orchard, he found it increasingly hard to suppress his laughter.
"Senior Kuwajima didn't do it on purpose, after all," Chiba Yo said, holding back his laughter.
"Sigh, I didn't expect that in Grandpa's eyes, I'm actually someone who likes to run away," Zenitsu sighed and said.
He had only run away a few hundred times in a year, yet he was labeled like this. It was truly unfair!
"I need to clear my name! I can endure any hardship! I'll make Grandpa change his mind about me!" Zenitsu said with his right hand clenched in excitement, his fighting spirit seemingly ignited.
"Good! Since you have that fighting spirit, I'll arrange extra training for you when we get back. It will definitely make you stronger quickly!" Chiba Yo's fighting spirit was also ignited when he heard Zenitsu's words, and he spoke to him.
Zenitsu stood silently for a moment upon hearing this. Thinking of the training Chiba Yo had arranged for him before, the fighting spirit that had just ignited within him rapidly cooled down.
"Forget it, let's go pick peaches," Zenitsu said, turning his head and walking forward.
Huh?
Chiba Yo was somewhat puzzled by Zenitsu's 180-degree turn, but he still followed Zenitsu into the peach orchard.
These peaches really grew well.
Chiba Yo thought, looking at the large peaches on the trees, then picked them and put them into the basket on his back, which they had taken from Kuwajima Jigorō's house when they arrived.
"Yo! Look, this peach is so big! This must be the biggest peach in the orchard! I've never seen such a big peach when I was here before!"
Just as Chiba Yo was slowly picking peaches, Zenitsu suddenly called out to him with a slight excitement.
Chiba Yo turned his head and saw Zenitsu holding a very large peach, raising it for him to see, and the position he raised it to was right next to his face.
This peach was indeed very large, almost the same size as Zenitsu's face.
"Pfft… Hahahahahahaha!"
Chiba Yo could no longer hold back his laughter. He already thought Zenitsu's face looked very much like the peaches here, and now that he held this large peach next to his face, it made Chiba Yo feel it was even more similar.
Hearing Chiba Yo's laughter, Zenitsu felt a bit confused and asked, "Yo, what are you laughing at?"
"Haha… Ha…" Chiba Yo held his stomach and recovered for a moment, then, suppressing his laughter, he said to Zenitsu, "Zenitsu, your face right now is exactly like this peach."
After hearing Chiba Yo's explanation, Zenitsu understood what he was laughing at. Then he looked at the peach in his hand and touched his swollen face; the texture also seemed similar.
Zenitsu immediately became somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, shouting loudly at Chiba Yo, "You're not allowed to laugh anymore!"
"Hahahahaha…" The more Zenitsu spoke, the more Chiba Yo couldn't help it, laughing even more happily.
"Ah!!!" Seeing this, Zenitsu had no other choice. He let out an annoyed cry, then put the largest peach in his hand into the basket and turned to go pick peaches further ahead.
He planned to save this largest peach for Nezuko, if she could eat it.
If Nezuko couldn't eat it, he wanted to give it to his senior disciple.
Kuwajima Jigorō had once taught him and Kaigaku, hoping that the two of them, as fellow disciples, would help each other. Although Kaigaku always looked down on him, for Kuwajima Jigorō's sake, he had always tried to foster a good relationship with his senior disciple, hoping that one day they could fight side by side, and together pass down and promote Thunder Breathing.
After a while, both Chiba Yo's and Zenitsu's baskets were full. The two walked down the mountain together; Chiba Yo had already apologized to Zenitsu for what happened earlier.
At this moment, Kuwajima Jigorō had just finished preparing lunch and walked out of the house. Seeing the two descending from the mountain, he waved at them and shouted, "Zenitsu—Yo—Lunch is ready—!"
The two also smiled and waved back at Kuwajima Jigorō. In that moment, the three of them looked like a family…
"Here, Yo, this is yours."
Back inside, the three sat at the table. Zenitsu held a bowl, filled with rice, and handed it to Chiba Yo.
"Thank you," Chiba Yo said, taking the bowl.
Zenitsu had already served Kuwajima Jigorō's portion, and then he served himself a bowl.
"Let's eat!"
After the three clasped their hands together and said a phrase, they began to eat lunch.
Picking up his chopsticks and looking at the food in front of him, Chiba Yo felt a sense of homey warmth here…
"Grandpa, has my senior disciple sent any letters recently?"
The food in front of them had been eaten, and the three of them each held a cup of tea and started chatting. After some pleasantries, Zenitsu asked Kuwajima Jigorō.
Kuwajima Jigorō heard this, lowered his head, and took a sip of the tea in his cup, then replied, "Kaigaku must be quite busy. He hasn't sent any letters back since he left…"