'Light' Sparring

Tanjiro's eyes widened, and he barely reacted to Sabito's lunge, blocking with the handle of his katana.

"Who are you!? Why are you attacking me?!"

Sabito pushed against Tanjiro's katana with even more force while Tanjiro tried his best while gritting his teeth to resist being pushed down.

"Hehe...hahaha! ...Show me what you've got, little boy. Show me that you are worthy of being that person's brother!"

Sabito's voice instantly changed from a laughing tone into a low, magnetic sound as he jumped up breaking the stalemate between himself and Tanjiro.

Flipping many times in the air, Sabito stabilized himself on a tree trunk and used the momentum he gained in the air by pushing himself off the trunk and towards Tanjiro.

Kiyomi watched as Sabito and Tanjiro fight back and forth while resting her head on a tree.

The shades of the tree were barely able to cover her entire body as she reviewed the improvements of Tanjiro while he fought with Sabito.

Due to Tanjiro learning the basics of breathing techniques before Tanjuro died, he was able to last longer against Sabito than in the anime.

"Pretty massive improvements, but if you still can't control the total concentration breathing state, then you have not truly entered the door of demon slayer. Even if you have... your breathing is still too stiff.."

That's right, Tanjiro was still entirely relying on his instincts and facts that were ingrained in his mind and body, but he could not grasp the switch that allows him to control his instincts.

While Tanjiro can instinctively use the total concentration breathing technique, the rigidity of Tanjiro's breathing cannot let him fully realize the potential of the breath of water.

Which meant that he still couldn't use the breath of water fluently, or worse, he couldn't use the breath of water at all.

Sure enough, Tanjiro soon made a mistake in his footwork on the second step he took when he tried using the third form of water breathing - Flowing Dance, with the mentality of desperately trying.

When he staggered, Sabito took this chance and immediately strikes out with his wooden katana.

"Guhk!!"

Tanjiro clutched his stomach, still somehow holding onto his sword without scratching his clothes.

Unlike Kiyomi, Sabito applied much more strength than what Tanjiro could bear, and he was forced to lie on the ground.

Sabito looked on as Tanjiro struggled to get back up.

"You've learned nothing. No...You haven't mastered a single thing! Especially the breathing technique that both your sister and Urokodaki-san taught you. However, I applaud you for being able to fight me who had used thirty percent of my power."

Tanjiro was shocked and amazed, and as the numbness in his body slowly dissipated, he tried standing up.

As soon as Tanjiro stood back up staggeringly, Sabito immediately started to attack once again.

And he did not give Tanjiro any chance to talk, every attack had no wasted movement, and it was especially pleasing to the eye.

"Come on! Fight back! I'll slam the knowledge you were taught straight into your bone marrow!!"

However, it seems that this time, Sabito stopped wasting time with Tanjiro and started using more of his power after finding the strength Tanjiro had.

The battle ended in a flash, and Tanjiro laid on the floor, unconscious.

Kiyomi saw this and walked out of the tree's shade unhurriedly, clapping lightly.

"Great teaching methods!"

Sabito was a little startled when he heard the sound of clapping behind him, but he calmed down once he heard Kiyomi's voice.

And then he started panicking again while sweating a little.

'She won't dislike me for what I did to her brother right?!'

Sabito took a step back as Kiyomi walked past him.

Kiyomi reached Tanjiro and started checking for any deep injuries while talking to Sabito casually.

"You know, I also personally prefer the slightly more ruthless kinds of training. The gentler training methods work as well, but I like to see my students suffer before kicking them out to fight demons."

Sabito screamed in his mind: '...Don't say that so casually as if it's something normal!!'

Kiyomi saw the discomfort in Sabito's eyes, but she continued anyway.

"Otherwise, if you send the students who have never suffered into battle, they won't be ready to face the horror of the demons."

After finding no significant injuries except some light purple bruises on Tanjiro, Kiyomi took out an ointment she carried with her that was given to her by Shinobu.

"Compared to the suffering I gave them, they would be glad to be still alive after eating the gifts the demons have prepared for them."

Taking the lid off and gently dipping two of her fingers in the ointment, she spread it on the severely bruised part of Tanjiro's body before moving onto the lighter injures.

Sabito was more relieved after Kiyomi's explanation.

"That was very cool just now."

"What?"

"Your very passionate 'lecture' with my brother. That was very excellent. Keep up the work when you spar with him tomorrow, kay~?"

"And when he wakes up, bring him back to Urokodaki-san's house okay? I'm going back to prepare some dinner."

It took a while for Sabito to process what he had just heard, but Kiyomi was already walking back to Urokodaki's small wooden house when he finally did.

He was very happy to be complimented, and even more so when he heard that Kiyomi was going to be the one to make dinner.

Sabito moved his mask to the side of his head and smiled very excitedly at Tanjiro, showing his pure white teeth.

He squatted down and used his index finger to push down on Tanjiro's forehead.

"Tanjiro! Your sister is going to be making dinner~"

Tanjiro's tense facial expression relaxed as his nose started to twitch as if he had smelled something very delicious.

*Sigh!*

Sabito patted Tanjiro's shoulder with a sorrowful expression.

"You are so lucky to have a sister like that... getting to eat Kiyomi's seafood delicacies every single day is something that almost every one of her apprentices dreams of!"

"She only hosted one dinner party celebrating her promotion in becoming a hashira and already managed to capture everyone who was invited with her cooking. And we never ate her food ever since..."

He instantly changed his face as if he were wearing a human skin mask as his sunny once again took over.

"That's why... you should skip today's dinner and leave them for me, am I right? As a man, you should learn to bear the pain! So! Leave it all to me! I'll finish your part of dinner for you!"

Sabito took out a bundle of thick ropes and smiled evilly.

=============================

Inside Tanjiro's mind -

"The sun feels so warm~"

Tanjiro sat down on the dirt ground crisscrossed and closed his eyes as he waited for dinner to be finished cooking.

And Tanjuro was sitting beside him.

Soon, his nose twitched and he slowly got up from his sitting position and pretended to stretch.

"Dinner's ready!"

As soon as he heard the familiar sound, Tanjiro and Tanjuro immediately raced to the kitchen.

But Tanjiro had a significant lead.

In the end, the father and son got to the table at the same time.

Kie and Kiyomi brought the dishes and put them on the table while Rokuta, Nezuko, and the others also slowly gathered, each with big and happy smiles on their faces.

Tanjiro smiled at the warm scene.