Chapter 35: The Rock Pillar
Notes: Part 4 of the Pillar Training Arc. For this fic's purposes, Himejima-san joined the Corps at the age of thirteen instead of eighteen. Three updates back-to-back!
The next morning, Zenitsu and Tanjirou set off towards the Rock Pillar's training grounds in the mountains.
"Tanjirou…?"
"This wasn't how I wanted to do things… I didn't mean for this to happen." he sighed, "And the mark isn't showing. Maybe the training isn't working." he said softly. Genya had left the night before, ahead of them, and the training for those who had manifested the mark was to help them use it for a longer period of time.
"Oh, it's working alright. You actually landed a hit on the Wind dude. That's badass." Zenitsu said, "Really now. And seriously, we're still in the mountains!? Where the hell is the Rock Pillar's home!? Why is the Stone Pillar's house out here, so deep in the mountains?!"
"Maybe we're almost there?" Tanjirou suggested, happy his friend was with him, "A waterfall!" he called, noticing, "And there's people there…!" he started, then stopped surprised.
The two saw Inosuke along with other Slayers, under the waterfall, praying.
'WAAAAAAGGHHHH!'
"If you…erase your heart and mind…" Gyoumei-san's voice came from behind them, making them turn around, "even fires will become cold…" he said, two tied logs together to four boulders resting on his shoulders, as he squatted in a fire pit, "Welcome…to my training ground…"
'WAAAAAAGGHHHH!'
Zenitsu was foaming at the mouth beside Tanjirou. He was more shocked with Gyoumei's strength and the expectation of reaching a level close to his, rather than with what the training would be like.
"The most important thing is the body's core…the limbs. Stabilizing the body with strong limbs will lead to accurate attacks and indefatigable defense. First, you will train by having the waterfall beat you… Then you will carry three logs on your shoulders… Finally, you must push this rock for one cho…" Himejima-san said, "My training is simple. It's just these three things… The training involving flames coming from below you was too dangerous… So I removed them."
"I'm sorry. Zenitsu has passed out." Tanjirou said, holding his friend up by the waist.
"Dump him in the river." Himejima-san deadpanned.
Tanjirou looked at his friend.
"Sorry, Zenitsu." he said, taking his friend's top of the uniform off and literally dumping him in the river.
He saw Himejima-san hide a smile.
Zenitsu woke up screaming.
"WGYAAAAAAAAGH! THAT'S SOOOO C-COLD! THE RIVER IS EVEN WORSE THAN IN MID-WINTER, BUT I'M DYIIIING! OH MY GOD, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WATER IN THIS MOUNTAIN RIVER! IT'S ABNORMAL! I'M DYING! GONNA HURL!"
"Zenitsu…" Tanjirou tried to calm his friend down. His voice fell on deaf ears. Which was ironic, considering.
"LAND…L-LAAAND! WAAAAH! I FELL…LIKE MY INNARDS ARE ROTTING! THEY'RE SCREAMING!" he kept screaming, "HYA…HYAAAAH! OH, OH SHIT, IT'S NOT USE! EVEN WHEN I'M OUT OF THE WATER…IT'S TOO LATE! I'M FREEZIG TO DEATH!"
Tanjirou watched on.
"Hug…the rock… It's warm…" said a familiar voice.
'Isn't that Murata-san?' he wondered, relieved to see him well after all this time.
"WAAAAAHHH! MOMMY!" Zenitsu latched onto the rock.
Tanjirou turned towards the waterfall.
'Ghhh, it's cold. This is hard. Waterfall training is harsh. Inosuke is working hard though… I should too… Hm? I can't hear his chants anymore.' he thought as he went to take his place under the waterfall.
"Uh…Inosuke?" he called out his friend's name, in trepidation, "Ino…Agh! Oh no, oh god!" he ran to his friend, realising he had passed out, "Inosukeeee!"
He pulled him to the shore and did first aid –thanking Shinobu's lessons all those years ago– reviving Inosuke and leaving him on a rock to warm him up.
Then, he started waterfall training.
He quickly realised the chants had a double usefulness to them; they helped with focus and let the others know he was still conscious.
Early noon, Tanjirou was clinging on a rock himself, having spent hours under the waterfall.
"Man, just the waterfall training alone was really hard." he said, teeth chattering, body shivering, hugging a rock, "Water falling from high places is really heavy…has a lot of force… If I let my body relax, if I didn't tense up, my neck might had snapped."
"M-Man… You and that boar are amazing." Murata-san said, "It took me until evening to finish the waterfall on the first day. I just couldn't get used to the water. Anyway, ever since I started getting used to the waterfall for one koku, I've been stuck on log training…"
"Th-That's impressive, Murata-san…" Tanjirou praised the other Slayer.
"W-Well I've been here t-ten days of this…"
Once they warmed up enough, Tanjirou caught fish, while Murata-san built a fire.
Then Tanjirou cooked the fish.
"That guy's incredible. The ball-ball, rosary-rattling old guy." Inosuke said at some point, tearing into his second fish.
"You mean the Rock Pillar, Himejima-san. Don't give him weird nicknames." Tanjirou smiled.
"He gave me chills ever since I first met him. No doubt about it." Inosuke said, eating the bones.
"You're eating the bones too, Inosuke?!" one of the Slayers said, shocked and worried.
"This guy is the strongest demon hunter." Inosuke continued.
"Ahh. Yeah, he is." Tanjirou said, "Himejima-san's the only one with a different smell. Did his mark show up already?"
"Wouldn't be surprised if it did." Inosuke said, starting on his tenth fish.
"I don't believe it. I'm sure that old man can't move that rock for one cho. He's just having fun picking on the younger guys." Zenitsu grumbled.
"No, no. Himejima-san can push rocks bigger than that." Tanjirou stated, "That one's like a pebble to him."
"You think I'll believe what you say right away? You're trying to trick me." Zenitsu deadpanned.
"No, no…" Tanjirou denied softly, "You have good ears Zenitsu. You can tell whether I'm lying or not, right?" he asked kindly, "Ah, there he goes." he said, turning to the sound of something being pushed behind him.
Himejima-san was pushing a huge rock.
"Himejima-san's amazing." Tanjirou said, "Maybe I can be like that, too?" he wondered, starry-eyed.
"THE HELL YOU CAN!" Zenitsu exploded, hitting him over the head,"YOU MORON! WHAT'S WITH THE HAPPY FACE?! IS YOUR HEAD ALL RIGHT?! THAT MAN IS INSANE! AND HE'S AS BIG AS A BEAR!"
"Ow, ow, ow! No, but…" Tanjirou started only for Zenitsu to close his mouth.
"SHUT IT! THERE'S A DIFFERENCE AT BIRTH BETWEEN PEOPLE WHO ARE BORN GIANTS AND DWARVES! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT?!" he screamed.
"I'm full. So I'm gonna push rocks and carry logs." Inosuke said, getting to his feet and putting the boar head back on.
"WAAAAHHHH! YOU DUMB POSITIVE GUY! I HAVE NO PLACE HERE!" Zenitsu turned to Inosuke letting go of Tanjirou.
"Oh dear." the young Pillar chuckled, "Calm down…"
And so in the next four days, Tanjirou had completed both the waterfall and the log carrying training.
And he was now facing the rock.
'Ok. This is the last step. You can do it, Tanjirou!' he thought, placing his hands against the rock and starting pushing with all his might, the straps from his zouri snapped, 'My legs keep going backwards! Guaahh I can't push it away! It's like it's pushing me back!'
In the next five days, a lot of the Slayers that had come to the Rock Pillar's training, left. Himejima-san's training wasn't compulsory, so if they wanted they could give up and leave, by going down the mountain.
"I kinda realised from the training why there are so few Pillars now." Murata-san said on the evening of the fifth day since Tanjirou started trying to push the rock, "And why most of the Pillars don't have Tsugukos."
"Why is that?" the Sun Pillar wondered.
"I kinda know why, too." Yoshioka said.
"It's so hard that everyone runs away." Nagakura added.
"Yeah…" Shimamoto agreed, looking tired.
"Yeah, and just like the blonde dude, getting beaten down by the difference between us and the Pillars breaks our hearts." Noguchi explained.
"And they just keep doing it as if it was natural… Pillars are amazing."
"Yeah… I've only just risen to the rank, so I'm not really on their level yet."
There was a moment of shocked silence.
"That explains a lot, actually." Murata-san deadpanned.
Tanjirou chuckled sheepishly.
"Actually, you're really good at cooking rice, huh?" Murata-san changed the subject.
"Yeah." Nagakura agreed, "This is delicious."
"Yes, it is. And you're good at grilling fish." Murata-san added.
"I'm the son of a coal burner. Cooking is like heat checking." he smiled.
"Oh, I see." Murata-san nodded, then blinked, "The Sun Pillar is a coal burner?"
"The Kamados are a long line of coal burners." Tanjirou said proudly.
During the Rock Pillar's training, Tanjirou had taken to cook for everyone, so a lot of the rest Slayers started calling him 'mom'. When Inosuke asked why, the others looked at each other.
"He takes such good care of us, that he reminds us of our mothers." one of them had explained.
"But I don't have a mother!"
"Everyone has a mother."
"Then I'm an abandoned child. My mother didn't need me."
"There must have been unavoidable circumstances. If you're really an abandoned child they don't put your name on you baby clothes – like what happened to me!" Zenitsu cut in, angrily.
"Hmph! I don't remember my mother. Not remembering is the same as not having one!"
"That's wrong, moron!" Zenitsu replied.
"Don't talk like that…Inosuke." Tanjirou said softly, "I bet your mother loved you very much."
On the night of the sixth day, and with the rock still not budging, Tanjirou started feeling depressed.
'Nothing happened today either… What should I do now? We don't know how long the demons will stay quiet. So I gotta hurry… Maybe I just lack simple muscle strength. Or maybe there's a way with my breaths? But despite all my training, the mark just doesn't show up…' he thought.
"Hey, did the mark on your forehead get darker?" Genya's voice came suddenly from over him.
"AH! Genya! Are you okay? I haven't heard from you since then, so I was worried."
"I held myself back and got scolded by Himejima-san. And that was after I was told not to get near my big brother ever again." Genya said, squatting down beside Tanjirou, "Sorry for getting you involved. …Thank you for protecting me."
"Oh no, it was nothing…" Tanjirou waved the thanks off.
"But more importantly, your mark."
"Oh, the mark got thicker?"
"Yeah."
"Nobody told me about that."
"Well, they see your face everyday, so nobody could tell." Genya guessed, "Don't you have a mirror?"
"Nope."
"I'll lend you mine, later." he sighed.
'Did it really get darker?' he wondered, patting it, 'Yay, I'm happy.' he smiled.
"So you're on the rock training. Me too." Genya said, smiling.
"Well, it's not budging at all. Can you move it, Genya?"
"I can, some."
"Eh?! Really?"
"Don't you guys know about 'repetitive actions'?" Genya asked.
"Eh?" Tanjirou blinked.
"Seems like you don't… That's because Himejima-san sucks at teaching, so you have to watch him closely to pick up his skills or you'll fail. He's actually doing a set of predetermined movements in order to maximize his concentration. In my case, I chant the nembutsu."
"So Himemija-san's does it too!" Tanjirou realised.
"Yep. Right. That 'namu-namu' thing he says." Genya agreed.
"So how do these repetitive actions work?"
"It's a technique that quickly opens all five senses. Since I can't use breaths, I had to attain total concentration another way." Genya explained, "Me and Himejima-san, we focus on our anger and painful memories, raising our heart rate and temperature."
"That sounds a lot like how we get the marks to appear." Tanjirou frowned, thoughtful.
"But we don't have the marks." Genya stated.
They both sat in confused thoughtful silence.
The next morning, Tanjirou resumed trying to push the boulder.
'By doing those 'repetitive actions', I can raise my focus at any given moment. It would be nice if I could learn to maintain my darkened mark forever.' Tanjirou thought, as he prepared to push the rock, the next morning, 'What I have to do is find my 'repetitive actions'. Genya and Himejima-san think of their anger and painful memories. Anger…Shinobu-san.'
"But…you love Nobu-chan." Hanako's voice ringed in his head.
'I have to thank Hanako later.' he smiled, 'Why do I fight demons? Anger is hard to come for me. I fight to protect others.' he thought, remembering his training with Sanemi-san, 'Dad, mom, Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, Rokuta, Shinobu… It'll first involve remembering the faces of all my loved ones, of my family and friends.' he decided, 'That is my first repetitive action. My second should be something encouraging or inspiring. To be sure I will be able to do it.' he drew in a deep breath.
'Recalling Rengoku-san's words.' he concluded, 'The faces of my loved ones and Rengoku-san's words.'
"Set your heart ablaze!"
'And with that process I raised my concentration to it's maximum limit.'
With that, Tanjirou drew another deep breath and pushed. It didn't move at first, but was able to exert all the strength he had by repeatedly doing these repetitive actions, raising his focus to the maximum, and after a number of times, as he did them over and over again, Tanjirou's body begun to remember the way to bring out that power out through these actions.
He moved the rock.
"HE DID IT! TANJIROU BLUCKING DID IT! THAT MONSTER!"
"SHIT, HE BEAT US! I LOST…!"
He could hear Zenitsu and Inosuke shouting behind him, surprised he was moving the rock.
'N…Not enough! If I ease up for a moment, I'll lose strength and stop pushing it. K-Keep going! Keep pushing! Don't just use the arms! Legs! Use your legs! The lower body has more muscles than the upper body.' he thought.
Tanjirou crashed, panting, after a few hours.
'I moved it one cho! Now Himejima-san's training is over.' he thought, too tired to do anything other than list to the side and crash, 'Hm?… Huh?… Wha?… Oh… I…I'm dehydrated!' Tanjirou realised, listening to his extremely labored breath, 'Because I…sweated out an entire waterfall without drinking anything… Z…Zenitsu, Inosuke…! Murata-san…! I might die here! S…Someone…help!'
Suddenly someone stood beside him and water was poured over the general area of his mouth.
'Ah… Himejima-san saved me…' he realised, relieved, drinking the water. Until he heard the man pray, 'Uh, did I die…?!' he wondered for a moment, before realising he could sit up again, 'Oh, I'm alive.'
"Th…Thank you very much." he said weakly.
Himejima-san continued pouring water.
'He's still giving me more water, huh?' he thought. He leaned his head down and let it fall over him, like a gentle waterfall.
"The Rock Pillar training is complete." the Rock Pillar said, "I also wanted to congratulate you on becoming a Pillar and thank you about what you did at the village."
"The village?" he looked up, forgetting Himejima-san was still pouring water, "Water…okay that's enough water now…" he said gently, "Oh, no. I had a lot of help. I was just lucky to be the one closest to the demon. And I was lucky I trained with former and current Pillars when I was younger. And I got hurt real bad, too. It took me a month to recover, so I was late to start the Pillar training. I still have a long ways to go." the Sun Pillar said, "I really always want to go down the right path all the time, without making any mistakes. But I don't know what will happen next." he shook his head, "Someone always comes to help me, so I end up making the right choice and everyone comes out okay, as a result. And I know I am not strong enough. Not just yet. But thank you for the water and for your training today. I learned a lot." he bowed.
Himejima-san stared at him.
"You are very a humble and noble child, Kamado-san. And I've known you a long time to know you are honest." he said, sitting across from Tanjirou, "Children are pure and innocent, but also weak, quick to lie, casually cruel and selfish little things. Long ago, I raised some kids who had no family in a temple. Our affinity in having no blood connection helped us bond together very well. They had no families, but they helped each other…and lived harmoniously like a family. I wanted to continue living like that. But then one night, a kid who disobeyed the temple rules and didn't come back after the sun set, encountered a demon. In order to save himself, he told the demon to eat me and the eight children at the temple."
Tanjirou was shocked by that.
"In the area I lived in the threat of demons was very well-known and the fear of them ran deep. And so, I always lit a wisteria flower incense burner at night. That kid extinguished the burner and invited the demon into the temple. Four kids were killed immediately. I tried my best to protect the other four, but three of them didn't listen to my words. Back then, we didn't have much food, so I was skinny and weak. And my voice was soft so I couldn't shout loudly On top of that, a blind person like myself wouldn't be of use to anyone. That was what those kids were probably thinking The only one who listened to me was the youngest child, Sayo. She was the only one who staid behind me. And the other three didn't stay by my side and ran off… They all had their throats ripped out in the darkness by the demon, and they died. I fought, because I thought I had to protect Sayo no matter what. The feeling of punching a living being felt like hell to me. It felt so disgusting that I never will forget it for the rest of my life. For the first time in my life, I used my fists with all my might, and I had a frightening amount of power even to me. If I had never got attacked by that demon, I would have lived my entire life not knowing that I was strong. I continued punching the demon's head in again and again until the sun came up. I lost a mountain of things that night. I was wounded, …and had risked my life, but I had managed to protect Sayo. Then when the people came to help, Sayo told them; 'That man's a monster. Everyone… he killed them. He killed everyone.'"
"Was she looking or did she cover her eyes like all scared little children do? Did she see you protect her, or did she assume you were also dead?" Tanjirou asked softly, understanding what had happened.
"It was a terrifying situation, so she was probably confused by the horror. She was only four after all. Which is understandable. Nothing to be done… That's how kids are. But in my case, I at least wanted Sayo to be thankful because I protected her. I wanted her to say thank you for fighting on her behalf. If she had said that one thing, I would have been saved. But kids have their hands full with only thinking of themselves. The demon's body turned to dust and disappeared in the morning, so only the children's bodies remained. I was imprisoned and charged with their murder. If Oyakata-sama had not intervened, I would have been executed. If it weren't for your parents, I would be deeply doubtful and suspicious of everyone."
"My parents…?"
Gyoumei-san smiled kindly, tears running down his face.
"Kie-san insisted I staid with them for a little while, even though she was expecting you."
"Ah!"
"No matter how virtuous a person is, once cornered, their true nature will come out. And I've watched you. You never ran away. You never turned away. You've staid honest and never lied. You were straightforward and resolute. It's something so simple, but so few people are able to do it in every situation they face. You are a special child. I say this having seen many people with my heart's eye. So if I say this, it it true. This is absolute. Every person has an uncertain future. But I will help you from now on, so that you don't take the wrong path in life…and won't have to face leading us on your own."
Tanjirou teared up.
"…I will do my best…" he sniffed, "Thank you very much…" he cried.
Gyoumei-san reached for him and patted his head. Tanjirou smiled brightly, chuckling softly. He felt warm. He had always been surprised by how kind Gyoumei-san was, for some reason. Maybe his size belied that kind heart.
"My training is complete… You have done very well seeing it through…" the Rock Pillar smiled.