The Flower and the Butterfly

The Worst Moment - Part 1

In the end, a week had passed, and Hayashi's training continued. By that point, Mitsuri and I had already seen the entire village, visited squares, hot springs, shops; we had seen practically everything. We were already planning our return. Today would be the last day we stayed. Even though Hayashi insisted that he wanted to continue training with Tanjiro, Mitsuri refused... Well, I admit it was because of me. The way people look at us... it irritates me... Anyway, "tomorrow... all this will be over..."

-"Damn... I have to leave so soon. We only stayed for a week!... We hardly had time to enjoy it." Hayashi complained loudly, unable to contain himself. That would be the last night he'd train his aim in the forest. The boy had developed a whole routine for his training.

-"But it's okay... Since they want it so much, right..." He walked to the usual spot while reflecting. "...Come to think of it, in just one week, so many things happened. Time really flies, huh... I developed an enhancement to my breathing... And Tanjiro broke the training dummy... It's fine, I defeated him in the second fight with it." Hayashi chuckled at the thought. "To think my nichirin sword was ready so quickly and Tanjiro's only started being forged today... How convenient." After a few more steps, he finally arrived at the spot, and after a sigh and a little stretch, he took a few firecrackers from his pouch... bag... whatever.

-"I think this was the best idea I ever had..." My training was always something simple. I would take scattered targets (twigs, trash, or even stuck leaves) and throw the firecrackers at them from a long distance. Now, I have eight small firecrackers and two "booms," as I like to call them, which are the stronger ones. Of course, for training, I use the weaker ones, which contain less gunpowder.

Some time passed, and "...How strange... The forest is quieter than usual today... What could it be?" I didn't even have time to finish my thought. Some sort of fish or something appeared behind me. It was huge, had teeth, and could move using arms. I quickly dodged the attack with a jump forward, purely on instinct. "What?! An attack from behind... What the fuck is that!" I stared at it. "Maybe a demon? No, the anatomy is completely different... Focus, Toji!" The fish lunged forward. Then, I began to breathe...

-"Nobori Enten!" I split the fish in two, but...

-"What the fuck..." Two more appeared. But thanks to that, I noticed... They were connected to some sort of... jar? "Maybe... If I break it!" The two were already moving in to attack, but with a jump...

-"Kien Banjo!" I broke the jar in a descending strike. Then, I saw the jars shattering. Finally, I heard a distant sound... A scream. So, I started running toward the sound. "Could there be more of them?! What's going on? This isn't a test!? It doesn't make sense... They attacked to kill me, and that's not something a human would do!" Lost in thought, night fell. The second most difficult fight Hayashi had faced so far... was about to happen.

Thanks to his breathing, Hayashi quickly arrived. He could see that Tokito was also there (Mitsuri had mentioned Tokito's name to Hayashi). It looked like he had already taken care of the problem. Koketsu was thanking the Hashira, but Tokito didn't seem to care.

-"What's going on!?" I approached them, still tense, asking.

-"It seems... there's an attack on the village... We don't have time to talk." Tokito said, already starting to move away. He was heading toward the village.

-"Wait!! Kanamori-san is also being attacked! Haganezuka-san has been working nonstop on the sword... So please, help too! If we're even a second late, it could be too late. So, please...!!" The boy was pleading for Tokito's help. I understood. Whoever did this was probably strong... Very strong... I couldn't handle it alone.

-"No, I... won't..." Tokito fell silent before finishing his sentence. He stood still, thinking, perhaps. Then, he took Kotetsu by the shoulder and started running. Not wanting to stand still, I started running after them.