Tanjiro picked up the chopsticks that were put in front of him while Nezuko went to help Kiyomi continue to set up the table.
"Nii-san! How come your always the first one at the table?!"
Hanako said with a tint of helplessness as she quickly muttered a word of thanks to Kiyomi shyly for doing the cooking.
Before Tanjiro could think anything, Kiyomi's spirited voice reached their ears.
"This guy over here has the nose of a canine. He can even smell emotions, not be mention my food!"
Kiyomi said jokingly, obviously proud of her cooking.
She knew that Tanjiro actually really could smell emotions, but she didn't care enough to explain it to Hanako and the rest of her family whose eyes could be seen clinging onto the dishes.
Takeo and Shigeru sat next to each other, already battle-ready to compete for the heaven delicacy in front of them.
Tanjuro, who usually appeared sickly, also straightened his back widened his eyes, and looked much more energetic and imposing.
This is the only time when he looked as if he wasn't ill, but a strong young adult who was in his prime.
The children joked with each other as, Nezuko, finished putting the last dish on the table.
Tanjuro also occasionally interjected with a few sentences, and even though their family was still quite poor, they were happy.
Kie said nothing as she watched the spirited and lively family talking with each other about their day and joking around while taking her seat next to Tanjuro.
As she finished setting up the table with Nezuko and Kie, Kiyomi finally sat down in her spot at the dinner table.
"Thank you for the food!" x6
Everyone was laughing and then started to devour the dishes in front of them without further ado.
...
While Tanjiro was competing with his family for food in his dream, Sabito was wolfing down bowls after bowls of rice, meat, and vegetables.
"Jeez~ Slow down! You're going to die of suffocation sooner or later if you keep eating like... that."
Kiyomi held the bamboo chopsticks in her hand as she watched Sabito while reprimanding his behavior.
Sabito took a second to gulp down all of the food stuffed into his mouth.
"But it's UMAI!"
He continued wolfing down the food on the table like there was no tomorrow.
Kiyomi didn't care about him anymore and also started to fill her stomach.
Ten minutes into their meal, Kiyomi suddenly felt weird that Tanjiro still hadn't woken up yet.
'That kid's nose is so sensitive that it's almost no joke to say he can smell my cooking from a mile away.'
She decided to ask Sabito about the matter just as she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief elegantly.
"Sabito?"
"Yes?"
Kiyomi looked into Sabito's eyes glaringly, as if to see through his soul.
The dim light shining into her eyes made it mystifying, her expression solemn.
"You won't happen to know why Tanjiro still hadn't woken up yet, right?"
Somehow managing to keep a calm face, Sabito laughed wildly as if he didn't see the glare of death hovering in front of him.
"Well! How should I know about that kid? Maybe I did go a little too hard on him though. Should I go check on him?"
Kiyomi didn't see any flaw in Sabito's expression and her eyes returned back to normal.
"Oh.. well, maybe I'll go check on him, I've finished eating anyway."
She was about to stand up and leave to find her brother before Sabito calmly stood up before her.
"Nah~ Its cool. I can go, I've just about finished eating," said Sabito as he patted his still flat stomach.
It's as if Sabito had a black hole in his stomach when meeting Kiyomi's food.
Kiyomi slumped back onto the tatami mat as she watched Sabito walk out the door.
"..."
"I suppose he just wanted to escape washing the dishes? ...Hmph!"
Kiyomi pouted and glared hatefully at the disappearing back of Sabito.
Just as she turned around and started gathering the dishes, Sabito stumbled and had a broken smile on his face.
'Uhk! I heard that.... but I'm just going to pretend I didn't...'
He wiped his cold sweat off his face that just precipitated through his skin.
'Good thing she won't know that I tied her brother up. I'll have to convince the boy to not tell her. Tsk...'
He clucked his tongue at the thought.
...
"...Wake up."
Tanjiro felt something pat on his face as he heard a small ghost like whisper beside his ear.
"Eh?"
Still in his dream, he looked around alarmed.
"What was that?"
After a few seconds, he regained his calm and scratched his head.
"...I said... WAKE UP!"
Shocked by the loud voice, Tanjiro suddenly found himself lying on the ground.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
He felt his entire body aching in pain, especially his wrists and ankles for some reason.
He rolled a bit and looked up.
"It's you!"
He yelled in shock.
"Yes, it's me. My name is Sabito. Now get up kid!!"
Tanjiro staggeringly stood up, but still much firmer than when he was fighting with Sabito.
Tanjiro was extremely excited as was about to fire a barrage of questions like a curious baby.
Luckily, Sabito caught that hint in Tanjiro's eyes and stopped it before it even happened by walking away.
"We're going back."
"Wait for me!"
Tanjiro hurried to follow, but his injuries slowed him down significantly.
After catching up, Tanjiro still couldn't help but fire questions about the volume of an AK47 magazine.
"Who are you? Do you know my sister? How did you do that move when you knocked me down like that? What did you mean by breathing? Can you teach me? Wha-"
"Yes, I can teach you! Now shut up!! You ask way too many questions! As I said, my name is Sabito! And for your information, I'm going to be teaching you until you break that boulder! After all, we're both Urokodaki-san's students."
"...Teacher? Wait... you're also Urokodaki-san's student? Did you also break that boulder?!?! That fricking huge boulder?!?!"