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contains manga spoilers!
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To say that she felt tired was an understatement. Hayami had been training her swordsman skills ━ and she knew despite the hard-burn-inducing labor, it will all pay off once she is strong enough to be able to protect the people around her and earn the spot within the other hashira's.
It has been a while since her first mission, a few months have passed. And a few weeks ago Hayami had just turned seventeen. Another year added since she started living here at the butterfly estate. She had gone through many missions since her first and had slain about sixteen demons so far. But since her unfortunate meeting with her father, Hayami hasn't encountered another ranked demon. Neither had she encountered the demon based on her father's description that had consumed her mother.
Although she wouldn't admit it, Hayami was quite fast at mastering her techniques. Her mentor, the stone hashira, had complimented her multiple times on it. She worked on each of her forms one by one, making sure to perfect each one. Hayami felt bad for the demons she had to kill, knowing that they were once humans. But the demon slayer code was something that couldn't be broken ━ not by anyone. At least, for now, it couldn't. Supposedly by some miracle, one day it could change.
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The full moon had risen, the skies were clear, and the stars were awake. Hayami had just finished another mission, one of which she has been going on a lot lately. The girl wouldn't say she was tired in the slightest, the major injuries she received from each of her missions grew less and less.
She still got a few cuts and bruises, but open wounds that took weeks to heal were now rarely present after a mission. This was a victory for her as she is able to do other things besides getting a long period of bed rest. The thrill of going on missions low-key excited her, there was something about gripping her nichirin sword that felt, so right.
She felt hypocritical as she recalled several times before she became a demon slayer that she had stated that wielding a weapon like that wouldn't suit her. And much to her surprise, Aoi has been training to pass the final selection. Which was quite amusing as the young girl had stated that demons scare her. Aoi had only trained recently; Urokodaki Sakonji, a formerly retired water hashira, had referred her to a water-breathing user to train with.
Although the butterfly estate grew quiet with Aoi rarely around, Kanao was there in her place, along with Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho. Kanao was not much of a talker, which reminded Hayami of herself before she had become a demon slayer. Although, despite Kanao now taking Aoi's place, during the period when Hayami comes home, she'd rarely see Kanao. It was as if the child sneaks out at night.
As Hayami was walking back to her room she passed by the main patio of the butterfly estate. From what she could tell, there were two shadow figures sitting side by side. Judging from the two butterfly hairpins one had and the other having rather spiky hair; It was Kanae and Sanemi.
