Chapter 2: Shintaiyo? Do You Mean Yoriichi?
• More than 3150 words, please encourage me with power stones to continue!
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Warmth... that was the first thing I felt.
I expected to open my eyes and find myself at the bottom of hell being slowly roasted as punishment for my sins, or at least wake up in a hospital surrounded by machines after that crazy truck crushed me. But instead, there was a strange warmth surrounding me, and the smell of firewood burning quietly filled my nose.
I tried to move my hand to feel what was around me, but my limbs were very heavy and did not respond properly. I opened my eyes with difficulty, and the scene was blurry. Did I lose my sight? Am I paralyzed? Panic began to creep into me, and I tried to scream, but all that came out of my throat was a thin sound, closer to the cry of a small baby.
"Oh, did you wake up, my little one?"
A soft and warm female voice broke the silence of the room. The fog covering my vision gradually faded, revealing the features of a very gentle face. A young woman with warm eyes and black hair was looking at me with a smile full of tenderness.
She extended her hand and gently stroked my head. Even though inside I was an adult man who had just died in a horrible way, her touch sent a wave of calm through my small body. I stopped crying immediately and looked at her. She was speaking to me with words I could not fully understand at first, but her tone was enough to make me feel a safety I had never felt before. I closed my eyes and surrendered to sleep again.
When I woke up the next time, my mind was clearer. I started connecting the pieces. I am a newborn baby. I have been reborn. The traditional clothes, the simple wooden room, and the absence of any modern devices... I am in Japan in an ancient era.
I could tell that easily from the language my "mother" spoke to me. How could an anime expert fail to recognize the Japanese language?
I heard the room door open, and a thin man entered. His hair had a reddish tint and he had a faint scar on his forehead. He looked at me and smiled, then looked at the woman and said, "How is Shintaiyo today, Kie?"
Wait a moment... Kie? This man... all these faces are familiar. Am I in the world of Demon Slayer? Am I... Kamado Tanjiro?! I almost jumped with joy, even though I was a baby who could not even lift his head. The protagonist of the story! I will have the protagonist's plot armor and I will not die easily!
Since I was reborn in the world of Demon Slayer, it would be good to obtain the protagonist's plot armor to survive.
But my dreams quickly shattered when the man continued speaking: "Shintaiyo... our new sun. This name suits him."
Shintaiyo? I am not Tanjiro?
I later realized that this man was my father, Tanjuro, and he had given me the name "Shintaiyo" (New Sun), inspired by the ritual of Hinokami Kagura, the dance of the Sun Ruler that the family performs every year.
He hoped that I would be the sun of this family, a new sun rising for them. So I am the older brother... the one who was not mentioned in the original story, or perhaps I am a new addition to this world.
Two years passed quickly. I had begun walking and speaking fluently, astonishing my parents, even though I tried to act like a normal child as much as possible to avoid suspicion. On a cold winter day, my younger brother was born—the child who would become the hero of this story: Kamado Tanjiro.
I was sitting beside my father Tanjuro, watching the baby Tanjiro sleeping peacefully. I asked my father with genuine curiosity, even though I knew some things: "Father, why are our names different? Tanjiro's name does not carry the meaning of the sun like mine."
My father looked at me with a deep gaze, a gaze not usually directed at a two-year-old child. He coughed lightly, and his face looked pale. He placed his large warm hand on my head and said in a calm hoarse voice, "Because you, Shintaiyo, are the sun of this family. You are the new and strong sun that the rest of the family will rely on in the future... when the warmth disappears."
I remained silent. I did not say a word. I knew exactly what he was hinting at. His weak body, his constant coughing—this man knows that his time in this world is not long, and he is preparing me to carry the burden after him. At that moment, I made a decision; I will not allow the tragedy to happen.
After another year, my younger sister Nezuko was born. I was three years old, but I behaved with calmness and maturity that did not suit my age. I sat beside my mother, helping her fold clothes or entertaining Tanjiro who had begun to walk and stumble. My siblings were incredibly attached to me; wherever I went, Tanjiro followed me like my shadow, and Nezuko smiled whenever I carried her.
During that time, my grandmother was still living with us. She was a kind old woman who always sat near the fireplace at night and gathered us around her. She told us many stories, but the most important were the frightening ones about creatures that eat humans and live in the darkness, called "demons," and about brave men who carry swords to destroy them.
Tanjiro would hide behind my back in fear while I listened with intense focus. I knew her stories were not myths, but the reality we would face.
However, life does not give without taking something in return. In the winter of that year, my grandmother became very ill, and within a few days, she passed away.
Her funeral was simple and silent. Snow was falling, my mother was crying quietly while my father comforted her while coughing heavily. Tanjiro cried because he could no longer see his grandmother, and Nezuko understood nothing. I stood in front of her small grave and felt a real lump in my throat. This world is not just an anime I watch behind a screen. Death here is real, and loss is very painful. My family is fragile, and I must protect them.
One ordinary day, while I was looking at my hand trying to remember how to perform breathing technique training like I saw in my previous life, something terrifying and amazing happened at the same time.
Suddenly, my vision changed completely. The skin disappeared, and the outer layer of my hand vanished. I could see the muscles, veins, blood flow, and even the movement of the joints from the inside. I stepped back in shock and blinked hard, and my vision returned to normal. I focused again, and the strange sight returned.
"The Transparent World..." I whispered to myself in astonishment.
I had awakened this rare talent! I did not waste a single second. I was extremely excited. I immediately began using this vision to study my body from the inside. I watched how my lungs moved, how blood flowed, and how muscles contracted. With this vision, I began teaching myself the "Breathing" techniques. I observed how oxygen flowed and tried to control it to amplify my physical power.
Although I know what breathing techniques are and how to train with them because I watched the anime, this is different when trying to apply it in reality.
By the age of five, when my brother Takeo had just been born, I had reached an advanced level. I used "Total Concentration Breathing" all the time, even while sleeping. My small body became much stronger and faster than any child my age.
I thought that I was truly a genius. Perhaps my "cheat ability" as a dimension traveler was a talent at the same level as Yoriichi.
Maybe I should really change my name to Yoriichi, especially since I somewhat resemble Yoriichi, particularly the eye color. It would be fun to meet the Upper Moon One and when he asks my name, I say "Yoriichi" while using Sun Breathing.
Anyway...
On one unfortunate day, I was playing with Tanjiro in the kitchen while my mother was boiling a large pot of hot water. Tanjiro stumbled while running and hit the stand holding the pot. The heavy pot filled with boiling water began falling directly toward baby Takeo, who was crawling on the floor.
Tanjiro shouted and jumped trying to protect his brother, but he was not fast enough. Thanks to Total Concentration Breathing, my reaction was faster. I rushed forward like an arrow, pushed Tanjiro and Takeo away, and took the hit myself.
The boiling water spilled over me. I did not scream, but I clenched my teeth so hard they nearly broke. I suffered a severe burn stretching from the left side of my neck down to the lower part of my chest. My mother cried hysterically that day, and Tanjiro cried while apologizing, but I simply patted his head and said, "I'm fine. The important thing is that you are all safe."
Thinking about that incident, I discovered that I possess an abnormal physical constitution. My reaction speed might be twenty or twenty-five times faster than a normal human, in addition to physical strength that does not suit a mere child.
Several months later, the burn healed, but something strange happened. The dark red birthmark on my forehead, which resembled Yoriichi's mark by the way, began expanding. At the same time, the burn scar on my neck and chest transformed into the same pattern, as if blazing flames were carved into my skin.
One day, we went down to the village to buy some necessities. An elderly villager saw me, and his eyes widened in horror. He pointed at me with a trembling hand and shouted, "He is cursed! This child bears the cursed mark! He will bring misfortune to our village!"
People gathered, and Tanjiro became frightened and held my hand. I remained silent, but Tanjiro, full of justice, immediately ran and told my father when we returned.
My father called me to his room. He was sitting calmly. He looked at my mark, then revealed his own forehead to show me a similar mark, though slightly faint.
He said with confidence, "Do not listen to the ignorant, Shintaiyo. This is not a cursed mark. It is an inheritance. Previous generations of our family possessed this mark, and it is proof of hidden power, not a curse."
I felt confused. My father has the mark? In the original story, did he have it? And did he die young because of it, as the legend says that those with the mark die before the age of twenty-five? Or perhaps...
I used the Transparent World to examine my father's body. What I saw made my heart sink. His lungs were hardened and filled with dark spots, and his blood flow was very slow. He had a severe respiratory illness, a disease that should have killed him when he was nineteen years old!
At that moment, I realized the truth. The mark did not kill him. The mark and breathing were what kept him alive until now. They strengthened his body to resist this deadly disease. At that moment, I decided that I would not stand idly by. I will create a medicine for him.
Although creating a medicine for a disease that even the village doctor could not identify sounds like a childish idea, for someone like me who was born with the Transparent World technique and great talent, it was easy.
For years, I used the Transparent World to examine every plant and herb in the mountain. I could see their internal structure and reactions. I combined this with what I read in ancient medical books that I found in the village.
At the age of ten, I finally succeeded.
I created a precise mixture of rare mountain ginseng roots, specific pine leaves that I boiled and extracted oil from, along with cranberries containing powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It was a medicine that expanded arteries and dissolved the stiffness in the lungs.
I gave the medicine to my father. He drank it daily with a smile of trust toward me. After only one month of daily use, I could see through the Transparent World how the dark spots in his lungs began disappearing. Color returned to his face, and his annoying coughing stopped. I cured his illness and broke fate; my father will not die early.
One cold night, I was lying on my bed looking at the wooden ceiling in silence. I was thinking about my training during all these years. I had mastered breathing perfectly. Although I could not master the original Sun Breathing due to its absolute difficulty and complexity, I created my own style.
It was a breathing style with terrifying potential. Each form did not focus on a sword strike but focused on a specific "action." A form for maximum speed, a form for absolute defense, a form for the finishing blow. It was closer to a deadly dance, combining the fundamentals of all other breathing styles. I had not named it yet, and I did not have a real sword to test it, but I was ready.
Early in the morning, while Tanjiro, Nezuko, and the other children were playing in the snow outside, I was sitting on the wooden porch with my father. He was drinking warm tea, his expression calm and relaxed after recovering his health.
I began speaking and told him about something we had never talked about.
"Father... do you remember that night years ago?"
He looked at me silently, so I continued.
"I woke up in the middle of the night. I felt something strange... a disgusting and repulsive feeling. The air was heavy, as if a monster was breathing near us. You asked me then if I felt something, and I nodded. You stood up quietly, took the woodcutter's axe, and took me with you."
My father took a sip of tea and did not interrupt me.
"We walked in the dark forest until we reached that slope. And there... I saw it."
My eyes sank as I remembered. Thanks to the Transparent World, my sharp senses, and a thinking speed many times faster than a normal human, I saw that demon.
Just seeing it from the inside spread terror. Its body was dead and alive at the same time, and its blood boiled unnaturally. Thanks to my thinking speed and the Transparent World, and instinctively, I could read the thoughts and feelings of others—and that demon as well. There was nothing except animal hunger and the desire to kill.
At that moment, every cell in my body, every instinct, screamed one command: "Kill this creature!" But my small body froze from the shock.
"At that moment, Father..." I looked at him with admiration, "I saw you. You avoided its fast attack with terrifying calmness as if you were dancing. In just seconds, with an ordinary woodcutter's axe, you cut off its limbs and pinned its severed head to a tree trunk. You did not turn to calm me, and you did not shout. We sat there silently watching the head scream until the sun rose and turned it into ash. And we never talked about that night again."
My father placed the cup on the ground and said calmly, "I wanted you to see the real world, Shintaiyo. I wanted you to know what exists outside this mountain."
I smiled slightly with sadness and said the words I had been preparing for some time.
"I know, Father. That is why... I will leave the house."
Silence filled the air for a few seconds. My father did not ask me "Why?" and did not ask "Where are you going?" He knew that the sun of this family must shine to drive away the darkness for others as well.
It is embarrassing when I think of it that way, but I wanted a way to ease my mind so I could leave my family without hesitation.
He only smiled weakly, placed his hand on my shoulder, and said one sentence: "Do not forget to return home."
I stood up and hugged him tightly. This was the first time I hugged him as a farewell.
I entered the house and gathered my few belongings into a small bundle. My mother was very worried and started crying, but my father entered and placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her, whispering a few words to her. My younger siblings gathered around me. Tanjiro tried to hold back his tears like a proud older brother, and Nezuko clung to my clothes while crying sincerely.
Looking at all the sad faces of my family, I felt heaviness in my heart, and hesitation filled my thoughts, playing with my determination.
I sighed and knelt on one knee so I could be at their eye level. I wiped Nezuko's tears, patted Tanjiro's head, then smiled warmly and said, "I will return. Take care of Mother and Father until I come back, okay?"
"Tanjiro, act like a proud older brother until I return... you have younger siblings, so never let them be sad."
Even though I said that to Tanjiro, I felt ashamed saying it while leaving my family, knowing they would be worried and sad. My younger siblings might not even remember me when I return... or it should be said, "if I return."
"Do not forget to return home." I remembered my father's words at that moment, and my heart filled with determination again.
No! I must return!
I walked out of the front door and waved them one last farewell before starting to descend the mountain.
After walking for some time, when the house disappeared from my sight, I stopped. I raised my head to look at the clear blue sky. The air was cold and pure. I took a deep breath using Total Concentration Breathing and felt power flowing through my veins.
I smiled with confidence and whispered to myself:
"Alright... it is time to search for the Demon Slayer Corps."
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This chapter is somewhat like a summary of the events, but in the future we will mention Shintaiyo's life and past gradually. I only tried to speed up the events so you would not get bored.
If you find any mistakes in the chapter, please tell me.