A kettle of tea was heating on the brazier, the tea's smoke curling upwards, adding a touch of warmth to the small wooden hut...
Urokodaki Sakonji sat quietly in a kneeling position, opening the "family letter" and reading it carefully; it was in familiar "chicken scratch handwriting"...
Giyu is a nostalgic child, outwardly cold but warm inside, with considerable talent in blade training, although his handwriting is quite hard to look at...
"Is Master Urokodaki well?"
"During the year-end season, the tasks are heavy, making it inconvenient to return home. Please pay respects to Sabito, Makomo, and all the other senior and junior disciples on my behalf..."
"Inform them that Giyu has never stopped improving, having now slain one hundred and thirty-seven demons to comfort the spirits in heaven..."
In just a couple of hundred simple characters, it summed up the recent events... Urokodaki Sakonji read to the end...
"Please also take care of yourself, and may you keep refining your skills... Hastily written, Tomioka Giyu..."
He closed the family letter and sat in silence for a while.
Shinsuke Fukuda and others followed Roy deep into Sagiri yama, leaving Sabito and Makomo watching the raven silently accompanying the old man.
"Giyu is an exemplary child, worthy of the name 'Water Hashira.'" Sabito read the letter, step by step watching that... crybaby grow into a mainstay of the Demon Slayer Corps, feeling endless emotion.
"One hundred and thirty-seven demons, one hundred and thirty-seven letters, Senior Giyu, really misses Master...." Makomo agreed with a nod and suddenly said: "Hey~ do you think Master will tell Senior Giyu about Eiichiro Oda?"
The young girl looked at Sabito with sparkling eyes, excitedly saying: "I really want to see if he will be shocked when he knows about Eiichiro Oda's matters."
Performing "Ten Thousand Basic Swings" three times a day, that guy Eiichiro Oda is completely not human...
Sabito knew what Makomo was thinking, nothing more than wanting to see Giyu lose his composure, but at the thought of Giyu's cool nature, even if he knew, he would probably still put on a cold, indifferent face as if knowing nothing.
"He won't."
"At most, glance at it twice."
"Besides..." Sabito noticed Urokodaki Sakonji dazed while looking at the letter, sorrowfully saying: "Master won't tell Giyu."
"The Demon Slayer Corps walks on a razor's edge, a careless mistake may cost lives... Master doesn't want Giyu under pressure..."
As expected, Urokodaki Sakonji, as usual, said nothing even more did not reply but cautiously put the letter in the wooden box beside the pillow for safekeeping... The wooden box revealed a crack, vaguely showing an already thick stack inside....
"Whimper..." The cold wind howled, taking a flurry of snowflakes away.
After closing the wooden box, Urokodaki Sakonji's waist seemed more stooped. He stood in place for quite some time, then pushed the door open and went out.
"Eiichiro Oda, come with me."
At around four o'clock in the afternoon, having completed the three daily rounds of "Ten Thousand Basic Swings," Roy was about to go for another two thousand swings. When heard Urokodaki Sakonji calling him, he sheathed his sword and followed, traversing the dense forest, arriving at an open space.
The eyes beheld a dozen small mounded graves covered with thick snow... Urokodaki Sakonji stood before the mounds, lit the oil lamp in the shrine, and prayed with his back to him: "As the year approaches, come over and pay your respects to your senior brothers and sisters."
The departed are no more, only a small mound of yellow earth, making the sky their blanket and the earth their bed, is another form of freedom, isn't it?
But...
Looking at the various large and small figures, including Sabito and Makomo, silently standing behind Urokodaki Sakonji, Roy was silent for a moment, smiled, and said: "I'll pass on the respects,"
The young boy holding a short weapon tilted his hand, performing an elegant sword flourish...
"I will celebrate when I have avenged my senior brothers and sisters, then I'll buy a jar of wine, and drink in front of the grave. I suppose... they certainly wouldn't blame me..."
"Whirl~" As the ominous wind swirled... a dozen ghostly figures stared uniformly, Shinsuke, Fukuda somehow, their eyes warmed, shedding two streaks of hot tears....
"Eiichiro Oda, you guy..."
Who would blame you? Who dares to blame you?
Makomo sniffled, clutching Sabito's clothing.
The boy behind the fox mask deeply gazed at the younger one, his eyes passing over his shoulder toward the sky, silent for a while... Amidst the entire snowy expanse, only the old man and the disciple remained facing one another, nodding silently.
"It's settled then, there're still two thousand swings left..."
With a raise of his hand, Roy shouldered the sword, treading through many gazes and snow, returning to the depths of the forest.
Soon,
With one swing, he cut a more than four meters long slash, instantly splitting the woodpile in front of him in two.
[Swordsmanship+30.....]
The day's "Ten Thousand Basic Swings" accomplished.
"Phew..." He exhaled a breath of turbid air, condensing into an icy mist...
Back in the wooden hut, he had dinner, took off his shoes, and climbed onto the heated bed... Apart from Makomo, a few more ghostly figures joined in the room to sleep with him today.
Roy took note of it, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, closing his eyes, and slept till daybreak.
That familiar sense of falling hit again...
An exclamation of "young master" broke the dream, pulling him back to reality.
Leaving Snow Country, without the clock's reminder, Roy groggily opened his eyes, Wutong had already prepared breakfast and placed it on the nearby table.
"It's not like home here, there're scarce fresh ingredients, young master please make do with it."
Wutong seemed quite dissatisfied with the food at the Heavens Arena,
No problem to wrong himself, but to wrong the young master, when picking up the meal in the morning, he almost didn't slash the chef's neck.
"What time is it?"
"Five-thirty in the morning."
'I actually slept this long?' Roy frowned, getting up from bed, putting on his workout clothes to start jogging.
The meal was left there, it wouldn't get lost or run away, if cooled then warmed up in the microwave, in short, the morning run couldn't be skipped.
He took the elevator directly downstairs, running laps around the Heavens Arena, a few shadowy figures appeared above, eyes following him, with various expressions.
A certain small ghost with a pale face and empty eyes, residing in room number 1981, sleeping in a tub, suddenly opened its eyes clasping the tub's edge....
Across from him, room number 1989, a long-haired boy with gray-white tresses cascading naturally to his waist, leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at him, his pupils were ignited with twin "Divine Fire," gathering combat intent....
On the two-hundredth floor, the Nen users' "abode," Wing was doing handstand push-ups with one hand, trying to gather [Ren] in his palm, attempting to lift off, on the nearby sofa sat a twin-tailed little girl with a bust in her youth indulging in a massage....
In this city not fully awake, some had long begun their busy endeavors... Roy did not employ "Dark Step," finishing a ten-kilometer run at a normal pace, went upstairs for breakfast, and received several duel invitations.
"Young master, just received from the arena, Haseki Dorou has sent you an invitation.... "
Wutong attended to Roy's eating, summarizing and reporting the gathered information: "Besides him, also the 'Meat Grinder' Harrison, 'Divine Spear' Guy, 'Ninja' Kikuta Masaki... It seems they're all waiting to intercept you..."
"No Wing?"
"No."
"Then accept them all, pick the ones most evil for execution..."