The sun was shining brightly in the sky, roasting much of the moisture in the soil.
Elegantly sipping a cup of tea face to face with Urokodaki, Kiyomi was discussing very cheerfully with the elder in front of her about her brother's training results.
Sabito was on the side, clearly abandoned by his master.
And he was chewing slowly on some steamed cabbages with sadness in his eyes.
'Now I understand what Tomioka is feeling, this sense of loneliness.. It's so heartbreaking!'
"So you're Tanjiro's elder sister? I always feel like I have seen you before.. But as Tanjiro's trainer, I have to ask this, did you train his before he came to me?"
Urokodaki still has his mask on, not touching any of the tea and food on the table.
Smiling, Kiyomi took a sip of the green tea from the cup in her hands and licked her lips, moisturizing her mouth and throat.
"Yes, my name is Kamado Kiyomi, and I am Tanjiro's elder sister! We have met before, but it was a long time ago, so you may not remember me. And for your last question, my father and I started to train him since I was a child."
Urokodaki visibly seemed a little shocked, even with his mask on.
"A child can train another, does that mean you were proficient enough in something such a minority of people knew to be able to start teaching as a child? What exactly is your family from?"
Kiyomi just smiled.
"Our family works with fire, as coal sellers. Nothing deeper than that, Urokodaki-san."
Urokodaki recalled his memories as he tried to soothe out the weird atmosphere.
"Hm... Alright, I won't delve any further into that. But were you the one to help me convince that stubborn boy sulking over there to continue his training for just a year longer? I remember that he was talking about how he was telling me how beautiful you were and how he wanted to m-"
Sabito reacted only after Urokodaki finished saying "Beautiful", blushed and immediately yelled as he banged his fist on the table he was eating his food on:
"Shut up old man! You promised me that you'd never bring this up in front of anyone!"
Urokodaki shrugged and held up his hands while scolding Sabito in his mind.
'You ungrateful disciple! You don't cherish the opportunity I created for you but instead, you scold me? Watch how I'll deal with you later!'
Chuckling, Kiyomi started to think about how to reject the boy without breaking his heart.
'Romance is good and all, but it really depends on fate. Look~ even the boar head got married in the end and had children, and his personality is so rude and barbaric that it was a miracle that anybody would even be his girlfriend.'
"Well, I didn't hear anything~ How about you go up the mountain and meet up with my brother, Tanjiro? I'm sure he will need some directions."
Sabito rushed out of the wooden shack, his face red and his ears letting out steams of embarrassment.
"I'm going to go meet your brother right now!"
Kiyomi finished her cup of tea.
"Well, I'm also be going up the mountain to see them, are you coming, Urokodaki-san?"
Shaking his head, Urokodaki refused.
"No, I won't be staying here until after Tanjiro finishes his training. I have something important to do at the headquarters. I have just finished teaching him the basics, the rest is up to him."
Kiyomi stood up and straightened her wrinkled kimono.
"Alright then. Until we meet again."
Once out of the wooden shack, Kiyomi followed Sabito's footprints and walked leisurely up the mountain.
As the door closed, Urokodaki took off his mask and picked up the chopsticks in front of him.
"What a mysterious new hashira you found, Ubuyashiki."
After he patted the pocket on his haori as if to make sure something was still there, he picked up a bowl of rice and started eating.
After a few minutes, she came across a huge waterfall, with a cliff sticking out from the side.
This was the place where Tanjiro was kicked into the flowing river to learn water breathing in the animation.
Pausing for a moment, she appreciated the view.
Taking out a bamboo shoot that she changed to be able to hold and contain liquid, she plunged the modified bamboo water bottle into the water to fill it up.
She continued following Sabito's tracks afterward.
...
Since it had only been around a month since Tanjiro started slicing away at the boulder, he had not yet given up hope, but he still felt very frustrated.
Tanjiro was banging his head on the boulder, regretting his life choices and giving himself motivation.
"If I had known that the breathing training that nee-san put me through can help me break this boulder, I would've definitely trained harder! Keep working, Tanjiro! You can do this! If you can't even break this boulder, what qualifications do you have to find a cure for your sister?!"
Kiyomi watched as Sabito put his mask on his face and Tanjiro talking to himself without them noticing her presence.
'Wah... Scary~ My head would definitely be bleeding.'
She touched her forehead.
She had managed to hide from Muzan, not to mention a kid who had just started training, and a Hashira who was weaker than Muzan.
Perhaps Tanjiro was too busy banging his head on the boulder that Sabito managed to get on top of the boulder in two swift jumps before starting his act.
"Shut up," Sabito said with a slightly annoyed accent in his tone of voice.
Kiyomi watched the excitement while thinking in her head:
'It's like Sabito changes his personality when he is with me, doesn't he know that sometimes, acting like himself is the best way to get girls to like you? It's a wonder how Sabito and Tomioka are emotional newbies, but Tanjiro is not. After all, they were all Urokodaki-san's students.'
Tanjiro was startled and stepped back from the boulder a few feet away and looked at Sabito in shock.
'When did he show up?!'
Tanjiro, whose hair was slightly longer than it had formerly been, asked with his guards down.
Parts of his face were covered in dust, but his eyes still shined as brightly as it originally was.
The huge rock boulder in front of him barely had any scratches on it, signifying what little time he had spent with it.
Sabito had already put on his mask, a wooden sword in hand, and his Nichirin sword was left behind him, hidden behind a tree from Tanjiro's vision on the branches.
Sabito ignored Tanjiro's exlamation.
"As a man, it's unseemly for you to be talking like that. Even your sister is stronger than you in this aspect. At least she keeps her sufferings and bears it silently, so follow her example and bear yours as well!"
Sabito jumped off the boulder and lunged towards Tanjiro without further explanation.
Kiyomi had question marks atop her head.
'When did I ever suffer from anything? If you count the fact that I became a demon and was depressed for a while, then... sure?'