Chapter 36: Off to meet the Water Pillar
Notes: Part 5 of the Pillar Training Arc.
Tanjirou spent a couple more days at Himejima-san's training, making sure he could push a rock one cho with relative ease.
He would be going to the last Pillar training session, which was with his father – Tomioka-san despite joining didn't have a particular set of exercises, so Tanjirou would stop by to spar with him first.
"I'll be leaving in the afternoon." Tanjirou said, "My training in complete."
"We'll miss your cooking, Tanjirou-san." Nagakura said.
"It was nice training with Gyoumei-san." Tanjirou smiled softly.
"Himejima-san is a pretty good person in his own right. Despite the fact he said he won't make me his Tsuguko because of having no talents, he figured out I was eating demons, so he made me his disciple. He introduced me to Kochou-san and had her check on my condition." Genya said.
"Oh, really now!" Tanjirou looked pleasantly surprised to learn that.
"But every time I see her, she puts on this disgusted face and scolds me." Genya was saying, eating the rise Tanjirou had cooked, "You seem pretty stubborn too, so she must have also told you off, I think. But you never grumbled about it."
"Well, if I wasn't able to use breaths, she might've treated me the same way. She almost does because I used to overuse my breaths, actually. I've made her worry so many times, too… Are you okay, though?" he asked, worried, "I'm sure, Shinobu is worried about your health too, Genya."
"Maybe?"
"Of course!" he smiled, "I'm gonna go see Giyuu-san once I'm done eating this, before going to train with my father. Wanna come too, Genya?"
"No, no. I haven't moved the boulder one cho yet."
"I'm really close to it!" Inosuke yelled suddenly.
"Well, I can't use breaths."
"Ha, ha! You can't use breaths!? You wuss! Shrimp!" Inosuke made fun of Genya.
They two started fighting.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stop that!" Tanjirou called out, worried. He separated them and sat on top of Inosuke, looking up at Genya, "There was something I just wanted to talk to you about on the way if we went together."
"About what?" Genya asked, frowning at Inosuke, who was struggling from under Tanjirou.
"Get offa me!" Inosuke was shouting from underneath Tanjirou.
"About the Wind Pillar… About your older brother. About that guy."
Genya stared. Then he looked away.
"Maybe some other time." he said, softly.
"Okay." Tanjirou said, "But… There's something I need to tell you. Will you listen?"
"Okay."
"I know the Wind Pillar is your big brother and all, but about him, Genya. He got really mad about you joining the demon hunters, but I didn't smell a tinge of hatred in him for you. So you don't need to be afraid of him. If you want to say something, go ahead. It should be fine. Because Sanemi-san has loved you all this time, Genya." he smiled warmly at his friend, who had frozen upon hearing those words.
Then Genya sat beside him, as Tanjirou noticed Inosuke had fallen asleep and laid him to the side.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"How did you become so strong? I am still weak, despite all the training I've done."
"Genya, the weakest people…are the ones who have the most potential. That's how it was when I fought Upper Moon Six. It was because I was weak that I was able to change my circumstances. Your enemy can only be weary of so many of us. And that means, your enemy has to make a choice. How are they going to allocate that? An enemy is going to be weary of someone strong, and they'll have thick walls around them. But if a person is considered weak, those walls are a lot thinner. That weakling can do something unexpected, and blast right through them. The tides can turn in an instant. And a path to victory opens up." Tanjirou explained, giving him a warm, supporting smile.
Then, he finished his meal, stood up and picked his things. He took some food.
"I'd better go see Zenitsu, too. He hasn't talked much in the past few days." he said, "See you later! And good luck with your training."
And with that, he went out.
He didn't have to look long.
"Oh, Zenitsu! You're here!" he called, seeing his blonde friend sitting on the boulder, "Did you move the boulder?"
"No. Not yet."
"Oh, okay… I'm going to the next training…" Tanjirou said softly, "Are you gonna be okay? You haven't…talked for a while, Zenitsu… And I'm worried…" he said. Lately he had picked a weird scent from his friend; a mixture of sadness and determination.
"Oh. Okay. That's good. Good luck." he said, "I…have come to terms with what I should do. No, what I have to do."
"Did something happen? If there is anything I can do, I'll…" he let him know he was there if needed.
"Tanjirou, you just do what you need to do."
"But… But…I'm worried."
"You're a really nice guy. Thanks, but…this is something I really, absolutely have to do." Zenitsu said after a moment of silence, glancing over to Tanjirou.
His forehead was bleeding and he looked determined to do something.
Tanjirou was worried, but not that he'd hurt himself. He just wanted to help. But he also knew Zenitsu was set on this.
So he left the food down.
"Very well. Eat this before it gets cold or Inosuke tracks it. And remember, you can always count on me." he said seriously.
"Thank you."
Tanjirou turned and left.
His heart was heavy with worry for his friend.
'Is Zenitsu okay? What happened? I wish I could help him somehow. And I haven't heard from my family in a while, too.'
Tanjirou was making his way towards Tomioka-san's training area, looking forward to a spar with the Water Pillar before he went to see his father for the last part of Pillar training.
'Huh? Uhh…This is it. I'm here, so… Giyuu-san's place should be around here, right?' he wondered, checking his map at the Thousand-year Bamboo forest marker and then his surroundings, 'Ah! There's a building!'
Once he reached it, he watched Sanemi-san and Giyuu-san spar.
'So fast!' he thought in awe, 'But I can see them! I can follow their movements!' he realised.
"See! See! What's wrong?! You're no different from the rest of us, are you?!" Sanemi-san shouted.
'Oh… But… Well, that's not what he meant…' Tanjirou deadpanned in his head, as he watched them spar, attacking, defending, deflecting and dodging until they broke their wooden swords.
"Too slow!" the Wind Pillar shouted at his last attack, "Okay, time to pummel each other to death with our bare fists." he said, cracking his fists.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Tanjirou called out, bursting in the training area, "Wait a minute! You can't go killing each other!"
"What do you want, pipsqueak? Where you spying in on us?"
"Nope. I came to spar with Tomioka-san before going to the last Pillar training session. And please stop calling me that. How about I make us some ohagi or something? I'll make enough of them to fill us, so…"
"Making fun of me now, huh…?!" Sanemin-san was giving off killing intent.
"What? No, no, I'm serious. You like ohagi, don't you, Sanemi-san? When I was training at your place, I smelled the slight fragrance of mochi flour and red bean paste the whole time. And every time I came back, I smelled the pleasant aroma of matcha and ohagi, so…I just figured…" Tanjirou floundered, trying to calm the Wind Pillar.
"Shinazugawa…you like ohagi…?" Giyuu-san asked.
"Ohagi's delicious, right?!" he turned away from them, "Do you like crushed, coarse or fine red beans? I loved my grandma's ohagi, and…" he froze.
He quickly turned to punch Tanjirou, but the Sun Pillar dodged it.
"Ah! Sanemi-san!" he exclaimed, falling backwards on the ground.
Sanemi-san stormed off, pissed.
"Oh, there he goes again, storming off in rage." Tanjirou mumbled softly, sadly, "Sorry I interrupted your sparring session, Tomioka-san."
"No, it's fine." Tomioka-san said, sitting down beside him, "I couldn't express myself well and he was mad the whole time. But I'm glad I figured out what food he likes. Next time, I'll sneak some ohagi into a bag in my pocket and give it to Shinazugawa when I see him. I think we can get along for sure if I do that." he smiled.
"Ah! That's a great idea." Tanjirou smiled, "I'll do that too!"
"How about we had a spar before you head out?" Tomioka-san said, passing Tanjirou another wooden sword, picking a new one for himself.
"Ah! I would like that very much!" Tanjirou beamed, getting to his feet, "By the way, Tomioka-san?"
"Hm?"
"Could you teach that move you used on Rui? It's not one Urakodaki-san taught me."
"…It's mine."
"Your very own move? That's amazing, Tomioka-san! Can I learn it, too?"
"…Very well. Get ready."
Tanjirou smiled.