The White Serpent Shrine on Shakra Mountain had finally been restored after nearly half a year of repairs.
In the end, only the mural of the Serpent God had been left intact. The enshrined deity itself had been replaced with Inari—fox statues now sat upon the altar in place of the old image.
The shrine had also been given a new name:
Senko Myojin Shrine.
Naming a shrine, it turned out, involved all sorts of customs and complications. Hozuki only half understood that side of things, so in the end it was Lady Amane who settled on the final name. It had already been formally registered with Osaka Prefecture, though because it stood so far from the city proper, hardly anyone paid it much attention.
The snake-shaped stone carvings lining the mountain path had all been thoughtfully replaced by fox statues, fitting the "Thousand Foxes" name far better.
By now it was December.
Summer and autumn had slipped past Hozuki's sight before she even realized it.
While waiting for the shrine to be restored, she had thoroughly purged the demons lurking around Osaka. Her range had even stretched as far as Nara. In those regions, demons no longer dared approach Osaka, and stories had begun to circulate among the locals—urban legends of a blade-bearing yokai who hunted demons with closed eyes.
Beneath the vermilion torii, Hozuki was sweeping the ground.
Osaka in December was bitterly cold, and in the deep mountains the chill bit straight to the bone. She wore pure white shrine robes and a white veil. Hidden beneath the veil was a special frame that made the shape rise slightly at the top, so that from afar it resembled a pair of upright fox ears.
It was nothing like the familiar red-and-white miko garb people imagined.
If anything, it looked closer to a traditional white bridal kimono.
Hozuki exhaled a plume of white breath and suddenly noticed a small head poking up from beneath the torii.
Then it came rushing closer.
Yajima Hina had returned.
"Lady Hozuki!"
The moment the girl saw her, she broke into a radiant smile. She wore a specially made Demon Slayer uniform a size too small, though it still hung loosely on her thin frame.
"It's the Sound Hashira! It's the Sound Hashira!" cried the Kasugai crow circling above her. "Tanri sends her greetings!"
The bird swooped down, landed on the girl's narrow shoulder, and bowed respectfully toward Hozuki.
In the end, Hina had not turned out unable to hold a sword.
Quite the opposite.
After only five months of training with a blade, Yajima Hina had taken part in Final Selection, returned alive, and become an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
And not just a corps member—
she had become the Sound Hashira's tsuguko.
"Welcome back," Hozuki said with a smile.
The next instant, the girl threw herself into her arms.
The Corps' food was substantial, and after half a year of proper care, Hina's health had improved dramatically. Her once dry, yellowed hair was now glossy black, her skin pale and soft, her body finally beginning to look like that of a girl her age.
Hozuki gently stroked her hair.
"Were you hurt anywhere?"
"No," Hina said, lifting her head with obvious pride. "The demons there were all weak. They were no match for me at all. Now I have a Kasugai crow, and I have a blade. Those pathetic little demons don't need you to deal with them anymore, Lady Hozuki!"
"Yes, you did very well, Hina," Hozuki said. "But are you really not planning to let go? You've been holding onto me for quite a while."
"No."
The girl rubbed her face against Hozuki's chest and clung even tighter.
Hozuki let out a soft sigh, but otherwise simply let her.
Meanwhile, Hina's crow had already sidled up beside Chihana. Covering its beak with one wing, Tanri said, "Hello, elder sister. So what's it like, serving the Sound Hashira? When the news came back, the whole family was jealous. Father's been following the same swordsman for years, and that man's only a Kinoe."
"Hmph, he can keep being jealous," Chihana said, raising her head proudly. "You'll have to work much harder."
"Work harder at what?" Tanri replied. "You just got lucky, didn't you? I heard that among the swordsmen who took Final Selection with the Sound Hashira, the most talented one is already Kinoe now. That's an absurd promotion speed for a normal swordsman. But Kinoe is still a long, long way from Hashira. Your swordswoman became a Hashira just half a year after joining—wasn't that just pure dumb luck?"
"This place is magnificent," a deep voice suddenly said. "More beautiful than the shrines in the city."
"Well, naturally. This is Lady Hozuki's residence—wait, who are you?" Chihana turned toward a crow that had somehow appeared beside them.
Tanri stuck her head out in surprise. "Huh? Is that Sorai?"
"The great Sorai himself, yes!" the crow cawed.
On the mountain path below the torii, a scarred white-haired man was striding up toward the shrine with a savage grin on his face.
"Hey, woman! I've come to challenge you!"
The Kinoe-ranked swordsman Tanri had mentioned—
Shinazugawa Sanemi—
had come to challenge her.
"What an infuriating man," Hina muttered from beneath the eaves, propping her chin on both hands as she stared at the two figures facing off in the courtyard.
Sorai perched atop her head, while a crow sat on each shoulder.
Oddly enough, not a single crow remained on the white-haired man's side.
"Go, Sound Hashira! Teach that overconfident brat a lesson!" Sorai shouted at the top of his lungs.
"You," Hina said coldly, "you're that Shinazugawa crow, aren't you? Why are you cheering for Lady Hozuki? What exactly are you cheering for? She doesn't need it at all. Shut your mouth."
The daughter of hunters, a ruthless demon slayer who had once hunted alone in the mountains—there was no way such a girl would be gentle by nature.
Her meekness existed only for Hozuki.
Toward everyone else, Yajima Hina was cold and fierce.
Her instincts loathed Shinazugawa. He carried the scent of the same kind of beast she knew too well. His arrival felt like another predator intruding into her territory. And when she saw Lady Hozuki smile at him, a vein throbbed at her temple.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
In the end, it all came back to the same thing.
She simply wasn't strong enough yet.
If she had been stronger, she could have driven this man off herself. Lady Hozuki would never have needed to lift a hand.
"What do you mean, female Shinazugawa?!" Sorai cried, suddenly sensing danger.
"My name is Yajima Hina, you idiot!" the girl snarled through clenched teeth. "If you say that bastard's name one more time, I'll pluck every feather from your body. Understood? You hear me? Idiot!"
Out in the courtyard, Hozuki held a wooden sword and circled slowly with Shinazugawa.
This open space stretched from the torii to the worship hall, leveled with packed sand and stone. Hozuki used it for sword drills and for training Hina. It was effectively the shrine's dojo.
"It's been a while, Shinazugawa-kun. Have you been well?" Hozuki asked softly. She had not even changed out of her shrine garments.
"I've been fantastic," Shinazugawa said, swinging his wooden sword and resting it on his shoulder. "I've killed a lot of demons, and I've gotten wind of one of the Twelve Kizuki. I'm going to cut that bastard down and become a Hashira soon enough."
His gaze flicked toward Hina beneath the eaves.
"What's with that brat? Since when did you start taking in useless strays?"
The moment he had stepped through the torii, the girl had spun around and launched herself at him from Hozuki's arms. He had subdued her one-handed without effort.
"She's my tsuguko," Hozuki replied.
"Oh? Your tsuguko?" Shinazugawa said hoarsely. "Her? The tsuguko of the Sound Hashira is a weak little scrap like that? What a joke. Woman, I seriously question your judgment."
"Then would you like to become my tsuguko, Shinazugawa-kun?" Hozuki asked.
"What the hell are you saying? Is your brain fried?" he snapped.
"You're very strong," Hozuki said with a smile. "If you were my tsuguko, then no one would ever question my judgment again."
"Well, that's true—"
He stopped himself.
"No, wait! Damn it, woman, what kind of twisted logic is that?!"
"Twisted?" Hozuki tapped her cheek with one finger and tilted her head. "But you were the one who said it. I'm only extending an invitation. Any swordsman who hasn't yet become a Hashira can be chosen as a tsuguko. Even if you use Wind Breathing, I'm willing to make an exception for you."
Shinazugawa lowered himself into stance.
He said nothing more.
He knew full well that exchanging words with this woman would only throw off his focus.
If it was a duel between swordsmen, then the swords should do the talking.
His feet slid soundlessly across the ground. The opening posture of Wind Breathing unfolded from him as smoothly as running water, from his legs through his torso, until his whole body seemed to merge with the wind itself.
Then—
a fierce mountain gust roared to life.
Shinazugawa's pupils narrowed to slits.
"Wind Breathing, Second Form: Claws, Claws—Koto Gale!"
He drove his wooden blade forward.
The mountain wind that had risen became instantly savage, and Shinazugawa himself disappeared into that violent gale. His sword cut across Hozuki's front like the claws of a beast tearing at prey.
Hozuki stepped back.
The raging wind came again and again as Shinazugawa pressed forward without pause, refusing to give her even a moment to breathe.
Inside that dense web of wind claws, Hozuki countered with astonishing speed. Her wooden sword formed a wall no wind could break and no claw could pierce.
Crack.
She lifted her weapon just as expected.
Shinazugawa appeared above her and brought his own blade crashing down.
The two wooden swords collided, and splinters broke from the point of impact.
Hozuki spun with the force, retreating in a motion as graceful as a dance. Her blade leveled before her chest, her fingers brushing along the wood as her breathing changed.
Shinazugawa heard her voice then—soft, light, almost tender.
"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning."
It was a technique meant to release high-heat lightning-like slashes in a crushing blow, a form defined by its sheer weight and destructive power.
But in her hands, it was as light as a willow leaf settling upon water.
Hozuki plunged straight into the wind.
A thrust.
Dark violet lightning surged around the wooden blade. With one motion, she split Shinazugawa's raging gale apart, then extended her sword lightly forward—
and the tip came to rest against his throat.
In that instant—
the wind fell silent.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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