Days later, Tomioka and his fellow students are training again on Mount Sagiri. Tomioka practices his technique and forms, determined to improve. 'Even with my knowledge… My body doesn't have the muscle memory. Just like I thought, I'll have to start everything from the beginning again!' He strikes the target dummy harder as he tries his best to hold on to total concentration as long as he can.
Nearby, his fellow students are watching over him, pausing their own training. "Woah… he's like a completely different person. Look, he doesn't suck." Sabito points at him.
Makomo hits his arm. "Don't say that! Isn't he supposed to be your friend?"
"OW?!" Sabito rubs his arm. "I was complimenting him!"
Makomo crosses her arms. "Well, it didn't sound like a compliment to me."
"All I'm saying is a few days ago, he couldn't even do a single one of the breathing techniques, but now he's got the first two down!" Sabito explains.
"He's just a slow learner! He'll be fine by the time of final selection! Just watch!" As Makomo finishes this sentence, Tomioka falls down coughing from holding total concentration too long, causing Makomo to laugh nervously. "Just give him more time…"
Sabito smirks. "You don't sound as sure of yourself as you were before."
"Shut up!" Makomo sighs before walking over to Tomioka, kneeling down patting his back. "Are you okay?"
"Fine…" He coughs a few more times. 'Not even 30 seconds. Still much better than back then…' He stands up. "Do you think we'll be doing the traps on the forest again?"
"No. Urokodaki wants to take a break from them… You know, because of your injury." Makomo explains as she helps him to his feet.
"I see…" Tomioka says.
"Speaking of which. You still having memory problems?" Sabito asks.
"Yea-" Tomioka starts to answer as Sabito brings his wooden sword down on his head.
"How about now?" Sabito asks.
"WHY?!" Makomo starts about to check on Tomioka.
Tomioka grabs Sabito's shirt, a vein on his forehead. "Why would that help?!"
"I swear I read about it!" Sabito grabs Tomioka's as the boys start arguing.
"You read about it?! In what a book made for kids?!" Tomioka shakes his friend.
"What if it was?!"
"What if you only made me lose more memories?!"
"Then we keep whacking you!"
"I'm gonna whack you!"
Makomo sighs as the boys argue. 'We'll clearly it didn't hurt that much.' She walks over back to target dummy. She starts practicing as the boys keep arguing. 'I'm glad he's at least acting more like himself now. He's been acting more uh quiet? It's not just that. He's not as…' She frowns to herself. 'Weak… I feel so bad just thinking about that! But it's the only thing coming to mind. He's not as panicky and naive as before, and it's-.'
"Makomo!" Sabito practically yells in her ear.
"AHHHH?! What?!" She covers her ears, dropping her sword.
"It's time for a break! C'mon, we've been at it for a few hours now." Sabito pats her shoulder.
"Hours?" Makomo looks up, seeing the sun setting. 'When did that happen?!'
Tomioka leans against the wall catching his breath, a bit frustrated he couldn't get the fourth form down. 'I blame Sabito. It's cause he gave me a headache…' He rubs his head gently where he was hit. 'Still… I shouldn't have gotten dragged into an argument like that. I should be more mature than that. But I guess maybe part of me is reverting to this age. Or mentally? I guess it's not a big deal as long as I stay focused on changing the future.'
"So what should we do?" Sabito looks over to Giyuu.
"It doesn't really matter to me.." Tomioka answers calmly.
"Maybe we should go hunting?" Sabito offers.
"Hunting?" Makomo questions.
"Yeah! C'mon! It's like a mix of break and training!" Sabito points out.
"Sounds fine to me… And it'd be a nice way to pay back Urokodaki. I imagine feeding and training us isn't cheap. So whatever we catch, we can bring it to him to cook." Tomioka agrees.
"Uhh.." Makomo smiles. "Looks like you're finally maturing!" Makomo messes with his hair.
"Are you saying I wasn't before?!" Tomioka lets her mess his hair up.
"Sure am! You and Sabito just argue all the time. I'm used to having the responsible one!" Makomo grins.
"Wha? I'm mature!" Sabito says, annoyed.
"Maybe once a week if you're lucky!" Makomo sticks out her tongue.
"Now, who's immature!" Sabito points at her tongue.
Makomo pulls her tongue back in. "Still, you two!"
'How come I'm included in that? Tomioka pouts quietly.
"Whatever! So are we doing it or not?" Sabito asks, annoyed at Makomo's antics.
"Sure! I don't have a problem with that!" Makomo answers. "Oh, but are we doing it with swords?"
"Well, I can't use a bow. Can you Giyuu?"
Tomioka shakes his head. "Nope, not at all... It's probably better if we use swords then. We don't want it to suffer, right?"
"Right!" They agree.
Tomioka smiles. "So what are we hunting?"
A while later, they split up, determined to make it a competition. Seeing who can bring back the most in either size or weight. Now alone on the snowy mountain. Tomioka hides, listening for the slightest shift in the area. 'It's been so long since I've been on this mountain. What animals are here again? Deer, boars, and… What else?..' Tomioka frowns, slightly disappointed he can't recall all of the local wildlife.
He shifts ever so slightly in place. 'I should write down all that I know about the future so I don't forget about certain events I can change. It's a good thing I remember when I was too late to save some individuals. I won't be this time.'
The sound of a twig snapping catches Tomioka's attention, his eyes darting to the direction the sound came from his hand already at his sword. 'A wolf?..' As the bushes nearby rumble. A colossal stag appears, looking around as if knowing Tomioka is nearby.
'Can it still smell me? I thought I did a good job of hiding it.' Tomioka thinks, doing his best not to move prematurely. 'It's huge… If I can take it in one hit, I'll win.'
The stag lowers its head, sniffing, and walks further out. 'Just a little closer…' Tomioka inches closer, readying his blade and unsheathing it. 'Almost…' As the Stag steps closer, Tomioka shoots out using total concentration. The stag tries to react, but it's far too as Tomioka pierces its heart with a thrust. The stag lets out a small sigh before collapsing. Tomoka steps back, barely avoiding being pierced by its antlers. He watches it for a moment, keeping his distance.
'I remember one of the boys from the village telling me how their dad got injured getting too close to a deer they thought was dead..' He looks at his sword still in the stag's chest, wondering if he should reach for it. 'Maybe just a few more seconds…'
Tomioka watches, waiting. Eventually, once he's sure it's dead, he reaches for his sword, pulls it out quickly, and wipes it clean before sheathing it. 'Easy to forget to clean a blade after hunting only demons for so long. This blood doesn't burn or melt away..' He sighs with relief. 'I'm glad I was able to give it a quick death. I was worried I'd miss or have to decapitate it.' Tomioka claps his hands together, giving a quick prayer for the animal.
Later, he drags the stag to Urokodaki's hut using total concentration in bursts. "I really wish I had constant again!' He gives one last tug as he falls right outside the hut. "I'm back…" He calls out, exhausted.
As he's looking up at the sky, a familiar tengu mask hovers over him. "You've finally returned. I was beginning to think you hit your head again.' Urokodaki says. "But I can see that it was for a good reason that you were delayed."
Sabito and Makomo come out of the hutt stopping as they see the stag's body. "You brought that?!" Sabito looks in disbelief.
"Guess that means you lose Sabito~" She teases.
"Don't talk like you did better! You only got a serow! At least I got a boar!" Sabito defends himself.
"I was back first. Does that count for anything?" Makomo asks.
"No! Why would it?"
"It feels like it should."
"All that matters… is I won." Tomioka smiles, still breathing heavily.
"You three… competition or not. All that matters is that you brought food. to feed others. Now come. I'll show you how to prepare and cook it. It's important that you have this knowledge in case you ever have to live off the land on your missions." Urokodaki helps Tomioka to his feet and starts walking into the hut.
The kids look at each other before nodding and following their master. "Right!"
Their master shows them how to skin and cook the animals over a campfire outside the hut. While the meat cooks, he then shows them how to assemble tents and sound traps in case demons attack them before sunrise.
Urokodaki watches over them proudly as they follow his instructions. 'I hope I can send them all together if it comes down to it. No matter what I do. It seems I can't deter them from this life. So I'll prepare them as best I can. I was worried I'd have to hold Tomioka back or risk sending him unprepared with the others. But he's improved so much. He's almost caught up to the others. I can only pray it's enough. I don't want to lose any more children…'
Tomioka and the others try to compare their tents as Urokodaki smiles under his mask. 'I'm glad they can still be children, but…' He clears his throat. "Don't forget to check on the meat! And stay aware of your surroundings!"
The kids grumble, annoyed at their fun being cut short. Urokodaki sighs quietly. 'I should know better than to get attached to them. Perhaps I'm still too kind…' He smiles to himself, content to have this be his flaw.
Much later, the children are gathered around the campfire, eating the different animals. They keep sharing, taking a bite of each one.
"Can we change the condition of who won?" Makomo asks as she wipes her face.
"It's way too late for that. But why?" Sabito asks as he grabs another helping.
"Because my animal tastes better than the others!" She says triumphantly.
"...Can't argue with that." Tomioka agrees. 'Is it because of how I killed it or how Urokodaki cooked it?'
"Well, that doesn't matter because we agreed on weight earlier!" Sabito grabs a boar leg.
"Why not?" She pouts.
"Because you can't just change the rules, so that you win!"
"Sure we can! Right, Giyuu?" She looks over to him.
"No, then I wouldn't win. So let's keep the rules the way they are." Tomioka gets up, grabbing his plate. "I need to talk to Urokodaki. Do you want me to take your plates?"
"Nope! I'm still hungry." Sabito says as he grabs another plate.
"I'm not quite done yet. But don't worry. I can clean up after Sabito and myself." Makomo waves him off politely.
Tomioka nods before walking off toward Urokodaki's hut. After cleaning his plate and putting it away, he looks around for his master. A familiar scent catches his attention. 'Incense?..' He follows the smell to his master's room, knocking on the door.
Tomioka waits a few moments, not wanting to interrupt but still wanting his master's opinion. "Come in," Urokodaki's voice calls out.
Tomioka opens the door stepping in. "Sorry for disturbing you, Master.." Tomioka says as he looks around the room, seeing a wall with a bunch of smaller warding masks. Much too small to be worn by even a baby. 'So many… Could these be replicas of the masks he made for his other students?.. The ones that never returned." Tomioka's question is answered by the incense burning in front of them.
"What is it, Tomioka?" Urokodaki asks, his hands still in a prayer gesture.
"I had a question. If you don't mind, maybe a few of them, actually," he says sheepishly, feeling bad for having walked in at such a time.
"Go on then," Urokodaki answers, his back still to Tomioka.
"Well, I was wondering. If you had the opportunity to change the past, would you? Even if it could lead to a future that could be worse?"
"..." Urokodaki stands up, looking at all of the smaller warding masks. "I'd like to say no, that I would not mess with something as important as time. But I'm human. If it allowed me to save those precious to me, it's selfish, I know. But I would." He turns around, looking at Tomioka, his expression hidden behind his tengu mask.
"Though, this is a curious question for a boy like yourself to be asking, " he says, putting his hands behind his back.
Tomioka nods, agreeing with his master. "Yes, I just wanted to know if it was a childish thought. But do you really think the future could be changed?" Tomioka asks, looking up at his mentor from his old life and now his new life.
"I'd like to believe nothing is set in stone. That's why I'll prepare you for anything. Think of the people the demon slayers have saved. Due to their intervention, their very lives, their futures were saved." Urokodaki explains.
" I see." Tomioka puts his hand on his chin. "Then, I should train even more so I can save everyone!" Tomioka smiles at his mentor.
Urokodak smiles under his mask. "A noble reason. Now go join the others. You don't want them to leave you behind."
"Right! Thank you!" Tomioka bows and runs back out to Sabito and Makomo, feeling a bit more at ease with his plans. While they sleep outside their tents, Tomioka writes down all the events that he was told about or that he remembered from his past life.