Priceless Smile 2

Chapter 8: Kotetsu

     Tanjiro and Kotetsu's chattering suddenly got interrupted when they heard something breaking. As they look up front, they saw the other armor of the doll got broken and deattached from its body. Seeing this made Kotetsu sad as he ran away into the forest ignoring Tanjiro who called him.

"Kotetsu-kun! I'll find you! I have a good sense of smell! Kotetsu-kun!" Tanjiro called as he look for him.
"Kote—" He suddenly got cut off as he look up to find Kotetsu sitting on a tree branch up a huge tall tree.
"You're really good at climbing! I'll help you with the doll in anyway I can! Don't give up! You still have a future. You have to work hard so you can be better ten, twenty years later on. One day, you'll be able to do the things you can't do right now."

"No, I can't. I know I'm just a pathetic guy. Everything is gonna end at my generation and it's all my fault." Kotetsu replied as he sob.

Tanjiro then appeared in front of him holding onto a tree branch as he flick his mouth.

"Don't be too reckless. Please, don't talk about yourself that way...." Tanjiro said.

'Not even a sound, he really is a swordsman.'
Kotetsu thought holding his lips.

"If you can't do it yourslef, then someone else will do it. But you have to put in effort so you can pass it on to the next generation. So even if you can't do it, then your kids and grandkids might be able to, right? I wanna beat Kibutsuji Muzan myself. And I want to save my sister who got turned into a demon. But I might die without fully achieving that. But I believe someone will finish the deed for sure." Tanjiro said still holding onto the tree branch.
"So let's work hard together!"

"I don't wanna see the doll break, but now I've made up my mind. His training session should last through the night. That's why I'll make sure.... to be mentally ready." Kotetsu replied still sobbing.

After Tanjiro's words of comfort and encouragement to him, the both of them finally got down the tree. As they walk back to where Muichiro and the doll is, they have a little talk.

"Oh! So you're ten!"

"Yeah."

"Want me to tell you something interesting?"

"What is it?"

"I know someone just two years ahead of you! And she's already a Pillar!"

Kotetsu got so shocked. As he's about to speak, Muichiro passed by them holding another sword aside from his.

"Huh?! You're done?!" Tanjiro exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was a great training." Muichiro answered.
"I broke my blade so I'll be taking this one." He added as he show them one of the doll's arms holding a sword.

"Kotetsu-kun!" Tanjiro called as Kotetsu ran towards the doll.

"Dispose of this one for me." Muichiro said as he threw his blade at Tanjiro's arms.

'I don't sense any maliciousness. So he's probably not doing it on purpose.... but still....'
Tanjiro thought as he watch Muichiro walk away.
'That crow is definitely malicious though.... she's really looking down on me.'
He thought again as he look at the crow on Muichiro's shoulder.

He then started to walk away to look for Kotetsu. By the time he saw him, he's looking down at the doll that's lying on the ground. The skies then slowly went dark as the rain started pouring down on them.

"Kotetsu-kun. Let's just make sure. It might still be able to move." Tanjiro comforted him.

The both of them helped each other to make the doll stand up. As it stands, it remained still.

"Not moving.... so I guess it's—" Kotetsu got cut off as they suddenly heard some clicking sounds.

Shortly, the doll moved and posed a stance with its remaining arms.

"Yes! It's moving, Kotetsu-kun! Good for...." Tanjiro rejoiced as he look at Kotetsu who stayed silent.

"It is Tanjiro-san. Now train. Please become stronger than that shitty indifferent jerk! I'll help you with all I've got!" Kotetsu exclaimed as veins popped on his neck in anger.
"Tanjiro-san, please become stronger and say this to him. 'Is that all you gou got, you piece of crap? Your hair's too long. Cut it kelp head. Runt. Clumsy peglegs. Slice your belly open shameless punk.'"

"Uhh.... Kotetsu-kun? That's a little too—"

"Is it better to slice his head off and hang it from the prison gate?"

"No, it's not! I can't say that!"

"Say it!"

"No!"

'I don't really have to say it. Tokito-kun was awesome and he's smaller and younger than me too. I can't lose to him. I have to become stronger!'
Tanjiro thought as the image of Muichiro appeared in his mind.
'And also Kazumi-sama! She was so young when she started to fight demons. I have to become stronger and keep up with them. Although it feels like I could never be as strong as her.'
He added as he remember how Kazumi fought against her enemies after Aiko's death.

And with that, Tanjiro took his haori off and put his box down. He jumped into training as the doll started to move and in just the first move, he nearly died as he roll away on the ground.

"Tanjiro-san!" Kotetsu called running towards him.

"I'm gonna die! Six arms is pretty tough!" Tanjiro exclaimed.

"It has five now! That shitty brat broke one off! So it's capability of fighting has decreased!" Kotetsu exclaimed back pulling him up by his uniform.
"If you die from this, you'll be nothing more than crap! Do your best! I'll say it one more time! So lift your head up! You're moving by habit. You're not making decisions after watching your opponent's movements. That's why nothing's working for you. Get it? Point is, you have no foundation. I'm surprised you've managed to stay alive as a hunter for so long. I bet you've been on thin ice this whole time. I'll make sure to run through every weak point you have, so you won't be getting any food until you can do what I say!" He added pointing out Tanjiro's mistakes.

"Okay." Tanjiro simply replied.

Kotetsu is naturally a foul-mouthed child. His foul tongue became somewhat quiter because he was sulking over his father's death. But it made a complete comeback after what Muichiro did to him. Kotetsu also is very good at analyzing. But because of that, when he found out about his lack of technical skill, he fell into despair. He ignored the fact that he was only ten and he has his whole life ahead of him.

"I didn't tell the shitty brat about this, but there are other ways to change the doll's movements aside from just turning the key behind its neck." Kotetsu said as he brought out a wooden puzzle box.
"Do you know about wooden puzzle boxes?"

"Yeah I do! My younger sister Hanako had one!" Tanjiro answered.

"You have to move everything in the right order or it won't open. Same principle here. You can change the doll's movements depending on how many times you rotate its fingers." He explained rotating the doll's fingers.
"We swordsmiths establish the weaknesses of the swordsmen, then we make them fight the doll after matching its movements to those weaknesses. If we don't do this, then there's really no point to having a training session."

'So basically, dolls work in tandem with their Masters. As a result, Tokito-kun just wasted his time.'
Tanjiro thought.

Right after that, Kotetsu gathered some training sticks in exchange of real swords for Tanjiro to train 'cause if not, he'll definitely die in no time and would have his body sliced into pieces.