At the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, after two days, the pillar conference had finished, and Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke had also begun rehabilitation training in the butterfly mansion.
Days passed by, and the "three little pillars", under the training of Tsuyuri Kanao, visibly improved their capabilities, a week or two later, Tanjiro keenly sensed that within the butterfly mansion, there was suddenly a kind of restlessness.
"Tsuyuri, has something happened?"
Putting down the gourd used to practice breathing technique, Tanjiro curiously asked the young lady sitting on the eaves, about the commotion coming from beyond the walls.
Even Zenitsu and Inosuke, who were competing with each other, also stopped their training and showed interest in the answer.
"…it's the soul pillar, lord Feng had returned from completing his mission."
Kanao blinked her purple eyes and replied softly.
"Ai?! It's a 'pillar'!"
Inosuke was the first to shout excitedly, the first to climb onto the wall of the courtyard, and look around.
"Where is he?"
However, Tanjiro confusedly tilted his head.
"' Soul pillar'? I, it seemed, from the 'pillars' I have met…"
But quickly, Tanjiro recalled the young stranger he met on Mount Natagumo and quickly realised.
"Oh, right! If it was him, then everything would make sense, I never thought that he was a 'pillar'! How strong!"
"Of course, lord Feng only needed two months to become a new 'pillar'! Rumours are saying that he had even killed a lower-ranked demon alone!"
Hearining Tanjiro's praise, Zenitsu immediately raised his "small tail", that look of adoration was very pure.
"Ai?! Quickly come and take a look, is that person Feng?"
Inosuke's yell was heard from the top of the wall, it momentarily took away the two young men's focus.
"Go away boar head! You should call him lord Feng! You rude idiot!"
While scolding angrily at the rude "Wild man", Zenitsu also quickly climbed to the top of the wall and excitedly looked around for the familiar figure in his mind.
"Where is he? Quickly point it out for me!"
"Is it over there? Aiya! He has moved around the corner, and I can't see him anymore…"
"Aaaa! Damn! Just a bit more!"
At the last moment, the "three little pillars" could only see a flash of A fluttering Haori, and could not help but let out a sigh of regret.
"Idiot boar head! Couldn't you speak earlier!"
"What?! You little tweeter dare to falsely accuse me? It was your eyes that were not good enough!"
"Huh?! Tweeting? Why don't you repeat that? Do you believe that I will make you lie on your bed for three days and three nights?!"
"Hey, stop fighting, your wounds have not healed completely!"
"…?"
Looking at the "battle" that was about to happen on top of the wall, Kanao just tilted her head without saying anything, obviously a little overwhelmed.
Fortunately, Kanzaki, who was already very angry, came to the courtyard and heard the commotion.
"The three of you! Come down here right now! Otherwise, you can forget tonight's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast!"
"Hontou ni sumimasen!!!" (We're Truly Sorry!!!)
…
Maple, who was walking along the corridor of Butterfly Mansion, did not realize that somewhere there were "three little pillars", who received Kanzaki's rebuke because of him.
"Lord Feng, you have returned."
"Lord Feng, it's been a while."
…
While walking towards the pharmaceutical room, Maple did not forget to nod his head at the greeting made by every corps member who greeted him. Not long after, he arrived in front of the familiar room.
"Shinobu, are you inside?"
Maple's voice reached inside the room, seemingly causing the person inside to be stunned, then followed by Shinobu's gentle and happy voice.
"Eh?! Is it Feng?"
Before Feng had even replied, the sound of the wooden door opening was heard. That beautiful figure once again stood in front of Maple, the purple eyes were full of happiness that was difficult to hide.
"Ara, quickly come inside, Feng. I never thought that you would be able to return so quickly, I have not even had the time to tidy up the room."
Shinobu moved her body to the side to let Maple in while raising her hands toward the various tools on the table.
"Ne, you previously said that you are going to look for "blue spider lily", have you found them on this trip?"
"I found it, take a look."
Hearing Shinobu's question, Maple relaxedly smiled, took out a jade box from his body, and placed it in front of Shinobu, hinting her to open it.
"Unfortunately, I failed to fully catch the blossoming period, and only managed to obtain four to five flowers, but it's okay, once we have made the concoction, we can just give it to those who need them the most."
Seeing the several flowers in the box that was picked by Maple and kept using the specialised method to maintain the freshness of the blue spider lily, Shinobu, as a great pharmacist, was still unable to prevent herself from poking the fragile flowers, unable to withstand the attraction of this rare material.
"How wonderful! This way, the curse suffered by oyakata-sama may be cured, but that was under the assumption we can obtain Muzan's demon blood…"
Thinking of this extremely difficult goal, even the tenacious Shinobu could not but become solemn.
But quickly, Shinobu's gaze was attracted by the three vials of blood inside the jade box.
"Feng, what is this?"
Shinobu, who was a little surprised, looked at Maple, who was sitting beside her, not knowing why he extracted these three vials of demon blood.
"I met Doma, and the blood I extracted…"
Maple's voice was mild, but immediately stuck halfway when he saw Shinobu's reaction.
Without the slightest hesitation, Shinobu suddenly hugged Maple tightly, as if the young man in front of her would suddenly disappear.
"Shinobu?"
The young woman's hug surprised Maple so much that both his arms froze in the air for a while, but still gradually put it down, and gently hugged the sobbing Shinobu in his embrace.
[Fear]
This was the most prominent emotion Maple felt from Shinobu, other than this, he also felt a kind of burning emotion buried deep within the young woman's heart. The kind that seemingly wanted to burn the soul together, which truly surprised the newly birthed emotion within Maple.
Is that [love]?
Even though Maple had never felt that kind of heat before, his experience and his emotional resonance had silently confirmed his guess.
But afterward, what came about was the feeling of panic which he never had before.
[What should I do?]
Maple who only had [despair], from the very beginning, had always felt that his soul was cold as ice.
Maple would never have guessed what kind of terrifying spiritual power could be produced by this kind of fiery soul, this was an answer that cold rationality would never be able to obtain.
However, instinctively, he hugged back Shinobu tightly, as if a person, who had been travelling in a blizzard for a long time, had finally found a warm bonfire.
And Maple's extremely immature emotion within his mind also gave out a simple, very powerful "need" …
Never, never let this [fire] be destroyed by [despair].
At this moment, the burning [fire] was being carefully entangled by [death] and [despair], but it had also unknowingly become the strongest barrier for the [fire] to resist the [cold].
"Shinobu…"
Maple softly murmured Kocho Shinobu's name and smelled the scent of wisteria flowers from her body, but what was seen by Maple who had changed his vision was the most beautiful and dreamy soul fire.
"Feng."
"I'm here."
"I'm very afraid, Feng, I'm terrified."
Shinobu's voice was slightly hoarse due to crying, and her head was buried within Maple's chest, which prevented him from seeing her weak and "immature" face.
When she heard that Maple met Doma, and had a battle, Shinobu was truly frightened. At that moment, she seemed to return to that early morning when her sister died in front of her.
Before she hugged Maple, she was even worried that the young man before her would disappear like an illusion.
"It's okay, Shinobu, everything is alright, am I not alright? You should understand my capabilities the most, right? If not for that Muzan, I would have slayed Doma."
Maple lightly stroked Shinobu's black smooth hair while comforting her with a smile.
However, if it was known that there were some truths in Maple's words, Shinobu would have vented by pinching the young man's waist…
Even if it was truly as said by Feng, she also understood the true capability of Doma! This kind of battle was always extremely dangerous!
What if Feng's attack missed Doma? What if Doma had some help?
The worried Shinobu's mind was a mess and did not notice that the strength of her grip had increased to the point where Maple's lips twitched.
"Next time, you cannot be so reckless…"
Shinobu said softly like a mosquito, but she knew that Maple who was hugging her would hear it.
"Shinobu."
"En?"
Hearing Maple's gentle voice, Shinobu finally raised her head and met Maple's gaze, she knew without thinking how red her face was.
"Answer me this, do not look for death."
"…ok."
Shinobu's eyelids dropped down slightly, recalling the consideration that she had previously mentioned to Maple, both her cheeks blushed even more.
"In a certain sense, this life of mine was saved by you."
Thinking of this, Shinobu dazedly stared at Maple's handsome face.
The newly researched poison made a breakthrough in the insect breathing, now that she had Doma's demon blood, unwittingly, even if not mentioned by the young man, she had owed many "favours".
"Ara, sister, how do you think I should "return" the favour…"
Shinobu softly said to herself, but the burning passion in her eyes had already informed her of her answer.
However, at this moment, some "pillar head" was looking for both "pillars" to answer some of his questions.
"Lord Kocho! Are you free right now? I wish to ask you some questions!"
Tanjiro's clear voice was heard from outside the door, Tanjiro immediately heard the sound of equipment hitting each other from the pharmaceutical room as well as lord "insect pillar's" slightly angry gentle voice, as if complaining about her gaffe.
But without waiting for Tanjiro's question, a mature male voice was heard from inside the room.
"Is it Tanjiro? It's alright, come in, me and Shinobu just finished preparing the materials, so we are free right now."
"Eh?! Is Lord Feng also inside? How wonderful!"
Realising that he had met the Mr. "Soul pillar" that he missed just now, Tanjiro became extremely excited and hurriedly opened the door.
"Eh?"
When the situation in the room was seen by Tanjiro, he unwittingly released a voice, although it seemed that nothing was wrong with lord Kocho and lord Feng, Tanjiro's keen senses smelled a certain "fiery" "smell".
"How strange."
Tanjiro muttered in his heart.
But Maple's eyes focused and quickly recalled that Tanjiro, in front of him, had an extraordinary "smell", and immediately changed the topic of conversation.
"Tanjiro, you are looking for Shinobu, is there a problem with your training?"
"Ah! Right, please excuse me, I was in a little daze just now."
Maple's reminder immediately Tanjiro remembered the problem he wanted to ask and hurriedly shook his head while smilingly apologising.
"I wanted to ask lord Kocho and lord Feng, have you ever heard of a kind of breathing called 'fire breathing'?"
Seeing the silent Maple and the confused look from Kocho Shinobu, Tanjiro hurriedly gestured and explained.
"It may not be called that name. Because in my family, there is something called the 'dance of the fire god', a dance that was inherited by my family. During my last battle, I realized that this dance also seemed to be a kind of breathing, and the released attack looked like flames, so I want to know whether 'pillars' know about the information for this breathing…"
"Fire breathing?"
Kocho Shinobu blinked her eyes and helplessly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Tanjiro, I know of flame breathing which is one of the five big basic breathing, but it has a different concept with fire breathing."
While saying this conclusion, Shinobu noticed Maple, who was sitting beside her, looked down.
"Ne, Feng, do you have an impression?"
Seeing Tanjiro also move his expectant eyes toward himself, Maple thought to himself and decided.
To let Tanjiro learn the complete sun breathing earlier, to reduce the chance for this "Son of Destiny" from wasting time, and also to allow Maple himself to have a longer time researching the "collision" between soul breathing and the origin breathing.
Maple had always been curious about whether the continuous discussion between his own seven sword arts and the complete sun-breathing 13 sword arts can help him from the 8th sword art [last melody].
If it was possible, then Maple could confirm that if he met Muzan, there would only be one ending for the demon king, death.
"Tanjiro, the dance of the fire god you mentioned, should be the technique you used when you battled the lower-ranked demon, right?"
"So, lord Feng still remembers. Yes! That was the one I said!"
Seeing the curious look from Kocho Shinobu beside him, Maple chuckled and pointed out the original form of the "dance of the fire god".
"According to my research on breathing technique, Tanjiro, you used the word 'fire' to call it, but it may be more suitable to use the word 'sun'."
"' Sun'?! Feng, do you mean, sun breathing?"
Shinobu lightly exclaimed in surprise and sent an unbelieving look at Tanjiro, who was still confused.
~~~
need Ghostwriter for this series!