Tanjiro didn't stop. After completing Enbu, he immediately twisted his body and swung upward from below, releasing a circular slash wreathed in flames.
"Hinokami Kagura: Blue Sky!"
The same refined swordsmanship made Kazuki sigh in admiration.
What a pity… Tanjiro's body is still too weak.
He can't fully bring out the true power of these techniques yet. His breathing method is extremely close to my Sun Breathing, but his lungs aren't strong enough. That lowers the output, and it must be quite taxing for him to use.
Kazuki carefully observed Tanjiro's internal condition, continuously analyzing through the Transparent World.
"Hinokami Kagura: Burning Crimson Mirror!"
Tanjiro followed with a horizontal slash, a deep crimson arc cutting across the air.
"Hinokami Kagura: Illusory Solar Rainbow!"
A form specialized for evasive movement—using rapid twisting and rotation to move at high speed.
This is… an afterimage?
In Kazuki's vision, several afterimages appeared around Tanjiro. However, within the Transparent World, he could easily distinguish the real body from the illusions, so the technique held no meaning for him.
Even so, it was still astonishing.
Kazuki possessed exceptionally sharp dynamic vision—he could easily track even a mosquito flying through the air.
By all logic, a technique like this shouldn't produce afterimages for him.
But Illusory Solar Rainbow was specifically designed to counter opponents with keen dynamic vision. The higher one's visual acuity, the more easily they would be drawn into perceiving the afterimages.
That said, the technique clearly consumed a great deal of stamina. Fine beads of sweat were already forming on Tanjiro's face.
"Hinokami Kagura: Fire Wheel!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Scorching Bone, Blazing Sun!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Solar Thrust!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Flying Wheel, Solar Flame!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Setting Sun Transformation!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Radiant Beneficence!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Sun Halo Dragon—Head Dance!"
"Hinokami Kagura: Flame Dance!"
After completing the entire Kagura sequence, Tanjiro stood in place, breathing heavily.
Kazuki, meanwhile, was still savoring the sword forms he had just witnessed.
In his view, this set of techniques was even more refined than the sword forms he had developed himself. These twelve forms alone were enough to handle nearly every situation in battle.
Moreover, during his observation, Kazuki noticed something else—
The twelve forms could be seamlessly linked together.
The first and final forms were both forward-arcing slashes, and the twelfth form was effectively a double execution of the first. After finishing the twelfth, it was easy to flow straight back into the first and begin the cycle anew.
"This is the Kagura dance my father passed down to me," Tanjiro said after catching his breath, walking over to Kazuki.
"It's still pretty exhausting for me to perform it all at once. Did you notice anything just now?"
Kazuki pulled himself out of his thoughts and nodded.
"Yes. By observing your body while you were performing the techniques, I noticed a few things.
"At first, I thought Hinokami Kagura might simply be another name for Flame Breathing. I even guessed that one of your ancestors might have been a Demon Slayer who passed down Flame Breathing through your family."
Tanjiro immediately shook his head.
"Our family has been charcoal sellers for generations. Our family records are very clear—there's absolutely no way any of our ancestors joined the Demon Slayer Corps."
"I ruled that out as soon as I finished watching your demonstration," Kazuki replied.
"The breathing you used isn't Flame Breathing. I've trained in Flame Breathing with my teacher, and there are significant differences.
"On the contrary… your breathing is almost identical to the Sun Breathing I use."
This left Kazuki deeply puzzled.
According to his teacher, no one had ever been seen using his breathing style before—it was considered something entirely new.
And yet Tanjiro was now using the same breathing, passed down through generations.
"Really? Then where did you learn your breathing style, Yō?" Tanjiro asked excitedly, feeling he was finally getting closer to the truth behind Hinokami Kagura.
Kazuki's next words, however, plunged him back into confusion.
"I figured it out on my own. I didn't learn it from anyone. I only found out after joining the Demon Slayer Corps that what I was using was called a Breathing Technique.
"I named mine Sun Breathing…"
As he spoke, Kazuki suddenly froze.
"…The Origin Breathing is also called Sun Breathing."
Recalling what the Master had said during the Hashira meeting, Kazuki's eyes widened.
"That's it! The Master once told us that the Origin Breathing is also known as Sun Breathing.
"And your breathing and sword forms are passed down through generations—could it be that your Hinokami Kagura is connected to the Origin Breathing he mentioned?"
Then another realization struck him.
"If that's the case… and the breathing style I figured out on my own is nearly identical to your inherited one… could mine also be related to the Origin Breathing?"
The more Kazuki thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. It sounded like an unbelievable coincidence—but not an impossible one.
"Come on!" Kazuki said suddenly, grabbing Tanjiro by the hand.
"Let's go ask the Master about the Origin Breathing right now!"
Tanjiro hadn't even fully processed what Kazuki had been saying before he was already being dragged along.
At this point, Kazuki was completely caught up in the thrill of uncovering the truth—and couldn't stop himself.
Soon, the two arrived at the Master's residence.
However, they didn't find him there.
"I'm very sorry," Hinaki said politely as she stepped outside.
"Father and Mother have gone together to the Demon Slayer Corps' cemetery to pay respects to the fallen. They likely won't return until this afternoon."
"It's alright. We'll come back later," Kazuki replied quickly, waving his hand.
After a moment, curiosity got the better of him.
"Does the Master often go to the cemetery?" he asked.
He remembered that the last time he came to report about the Crimson Blade, the Master had also just returned from there.
Hinaki nodded.
"Yes. Father goes to the cemetery every day. He says he doesn't want the children who died fighting demons to feel lonely, so he wants to talk with them as often as he can.
"He also says that while he can still walk, he wants to visit them as much as possible—because once he's confined to bed, he won't be able to go and keep them company anymore."
Her calm words carried a quiet weight.
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