𝙂𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙀𝘿 - KIMETSU NO YAIBA

.01

Family

"YOUR SWORDSMANSHIP STILL NEEDS SOME WORK!" Rengoku exclaimed.

Homura's muscles were all tired from the constant sword swings, but he did not say anything, just continuing to throw swings at him, trying to find an opening— a gap in his movements. Their swords kept coming into contact, not a move hitting either of them. Homura deflected Rengoku's attacks, stepping back and swinging his sword in a different angle to hit the latter's back. It was deflected, but Homura twisted his sword and spun it around to hit his opponent's neck. Rengoku's hand gripped the wooden blade and pushed it off with ease.

As this happened, Homura allowed himself to kick him downwards. His strength was not enough, but it caught him off guard for a second. Using this second wisely, Homura grabbed his arm holding the wooden sword and slammed his sword onto his chest.

Sweat trickled down Homura's face quickly, as his breathing quickened to catch up. Exhausted, he let himself fall backwards onto his back, on the ground.

"Great improvement! You landed a hit on me!" he grinned, looking at Homura with satisfaction.

"Here, I made you some snacks," Senjuro held a plate of food, including sweet potatoes, bringing it over to Rengoku and Homura. It was a nice break after he collided blades with Rengoku for more than five hours after doing a run around the Flame Estate for a hundred rounds.

"Your stamina and endurance is quite immense!" he remarked, eating his potatoes.

"Yeah..." Should I tell him?

...

Nah.

"We'll stop training for today! Tomorrow, you are going to do push-ups! You have a lot to improve on!" he said excitedly as crow approached them. Rengoku noticed this. "Oh! Looks like I have another mission! Bye Homura! See you tomorrow!" he took off, giving Homura a goodbye wave as he headed to his mission.

"Good luck Rengoku-san!" I said as I waved back. I helped to clean up the training ground, putting the wooden swords back on their stand.

"It's fine... I can do it. You need rest. You should stay. You really don't need to—"

"No! I'm helping you out. And no, I'm not going to stay. Rengoku-san is already nice enough to train me!" Homura protested, sweeping the floors some more. Senjuro gave Homura some puppy-eyes, and he could not help but give in to his request.

"I take it back. I'll stay today. Maybe tomorrow, but I haven't told my father yet. Let me send him a letter first," Homura proceeded to call his crow and write a letter to Hotaru.

Dear Father,
As you know, I have been training under Rengoku at the Flame Estate. Senjuro invited me to stay and I could not say no. Please allow me to stay there for training. PLEASE. I promise to visit you once in a while. I'll send you more letters about my training later. Please reply before you sleep.
Yours sincerely,
Homura

"Send it to Haganezuka in the Swordsmith Village. Thank you," I instructed the crow, who took off with the rolled-up letter in its two claws. "Say, Senjuro-san... What do we do now?" Homura asked Senjuro.

"Uh... We can play games...?" Senjuro suggested, nervous.

"Oh yeah! Do you have a kendama? Or we can play Onigokko!" Homura responded, enthusiastic. Senjuro's face softened with happiness, which was more evident given his bright smile.

"Let's play Onigokko then!" Senjuro said. The two of them stared at each other before one spoke up.

"Okay Senjuro! You can catch me first! Don't hold back!" Homura said, quickly getting to his feet to escape Senjuro, the latter following suit. The pursuit ended when Homura tripped on a stray rock and landed on the ground, giving Senjuro the opportunity to touch him, thus making Homura the catcher. Senjuro immediately fled from Homura, who was quick to catch up. The cycle repeated multiple times for three hours until the crow came back— a response from Hotaru. The two were exhausted when the time came, well, not so much for Homura.