As Kanzaki Aoi's voice fell, both Kanao and Tanjiro stopped.
"As expected, Kanao's really fast," Tanjiro said with a breathless smile, panting as he looked at her.
Kanao, as usual, said nothing.
"It's ten wins to nine losses now," Aoi announced.
"That's still far from enough…"
Tanjiro rubbed his shoulder and turned around, about to go for another run—only to see Kazuki and Shinobu standing at the entrance.
"Yō!" Tanjiro exclaimed happily.
Hearing Tanjiro's voice, Zenitsu and Inosuke turned around as well. They finally noticed the two newcomers—having been too absorbed in watching Tanjiro and Kanao's match to pay attention to anything else.
"Are your injuries all right now?" Kazuki asked with a smile as he walked over.
"I'm basically fine already," Tanjiro replied, smiling back.
"Yō!!!"
Zenitsu suddenly threw himself at Kazuki.
"I feel totally healed! But they still want me to drink that super disgusting medicine for another seven days! It's really, really awful—so bad I can't even eat afterward!"
Seeing Kazuki, Zenitsu immediately started complaining.
"Yō, I heard you're a Hashira now. Can you tell them to stop making me drink that stuff?"
He looked at Kazuki with eyes full of pleading.
"Absolutely not!" Kanzaki Aoi snapped, hands on her hips.
"Zenitsu, your condition back then was extremely serious! Even though the symptoms are gone now, if you don't finish the medicine properly, you could be left with lasting aftereffects!"
"So scary!"
After being scolded, Zenitsu shrank back behind Kazuki in fear.
During his hospitalization and rehabilitation training, he'd been yelled at by Aoi countless times. By now, he was genuinely afraid of her—nothing like how calm he'd been back during the water-splashing training.
"She's right," Kazuki said, turning around and speaking earnestly to Zenitsu.
"If you're sick, you have to listen to the doctors. Medicine is supposed to taste bad—that's how it helps you recover faster."
"You too, Yō… You're saying the same thing as Tanjiro…"
Zenitsu slumped. "But I really don't want to drink that stuff…"
Seeing that even Kazuki wouldn't help him, Zenitsu could only accept his fate.
Standing beside him, Inosuke suddenly pointed at Kazuki.
"Hey! You're a Hashira too, right? Then that means you're as strong as that half-and-half haori guy!"
He laughed loudly.
"If I beat you, that proves I'm stronger than that half-and-half haori! Hahaha! I'm a genius! Come on, let's duel!"
The "half-and-half haori" he was talking about was Giyu Tomioka.
Inosuke had been deeply impressed by Giyu's overwhelming strength on Natagumo Mountain and had been depressed for a while because of it. Now, after this period of training, he felt much stronger and wanted to prove himself.
"You're Inosuke, right?" Kazuki said, turning toward him.
"Fighting between Demon Slayer Corps members is against the rules."
Kazuki had already heard about Inosuke from Zenitsu back on Natagumo Mountain. He guessed that Inosuke was a companion Tanjiro and Zenitsu had met on missions.
Meeting him again now, he found him… interesting.
"Hahahaha! Of course I know that!" Inosuke laughed, hands on his hips.
"Who would be stupid enough not to know that rule?"
Tanjiro and Zenitsu both stared at him at the same time.
Zenitsu's eyes were filled with disbelief.
You're literally the first person to break that rule…
But Inosuke paid no attention to their looks and continued.
"I don't mean a real duel. I mean you chase me—if you catch me, you win. How about it?"
He was referring to the speed training from their rehabilitation exercises, an area where he'd improved a lot recently.
"Let's leave that for another time," Kazuki said.
"I've got something else to take care of right now."
Who knew when the next mission would come? Since he had time now, it made more sense to handle the important matters first.
He then turned to Tanjiro.
"I heard you asked about 'Hinokami Kagura' and 'Breath of Flame.' I haven't heard of either, but just names alone aren't enough information.
"If you can demonstrate it, I might be able to give you some clues or advice."
Kazuki suspected that what Tanjiro was talking about might actually be Flame Breathing under a different name, so he wanted to see it for himself.
"Okay, let's go outside," Tanjiro nodded.
He'd planned to ask Kazuki about this as soon as he saw him—he hadn't expected Yō to bring it up first.
"If we're doing it later, then at least tell me your name first," Inosuke said, speaking up again.
"My name is Kazuki," Kazuki replied.
"Oh, so it's Kazuki Shō! I'm Mountain King Inosuke! Nice to meet you!"
Inosuke declared proudly.
Kazuki corrected him immediately.
"It's Kazuki, not Kazuki Shō."
"Kazuki Ya-Wolf!"
"That's even worse…"
"It's Chi–ba–Yō."
"Sticky-Leaf Sun!"
"..."
After several failed attempts—each one somehow more wrong than the last—Tanjiro looked on with deep sympathy. He understood this pain all too well.
Even now, Inosuke still butchered his name constantly: things like Fishcake Gonpachirō, Forehead Tarō, Monjirō, Boar Tarō…
Zenitsu, too, was regularly called "Stripe-itsu."
Shinobu, watching from the side, couldn't help but laugh.
"Forget it," Kazuki finally surrendered, pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Call me whatever you want."
If this kept going, he was convinced Inosuke would eventually invent a four-character name.
Inosuke, meanwhile, had no idea why everyone was reacting like this.
Soon after, Kazuki and Tanjiro left the Butterfly Mansion and headed to the Demon Slayer headquarters' training grounds.
"Just show me the technique directly," Kazuki said.
"I'll observe your lung movement and blood flow to judge whether Hinokami Kagura or Breath of Flame is related to Rengoku-sensei's breathing—or mine."
"Okay…?"
Tanjiro answered instinctively—then immediately realized something was very wrong.
"Wait—observe my lung movement and blood flow?"
He stared at Kazuki in shock and confusion.
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