Airhead

Back at the village, the sound of smithing and hammering could be heard from various buildings as the swordsmith in the village were busy with their work.

Looking around, Hiroto went to find a secluded spot and called out to Tamayo's cat.

"Meow" Appearing from thin air, the cat jumped down from a tree above him and onto his shoulder, rubbing its face against Hiroto's.

"I need you to bring this letter to Tamayo, can you do that?" Hiroto said, lifting a letter that he had written.

The cat hopped down to the ground and Hiroto put the letter in its bag. Petting its neck, Hiroto took out a needle that was filled with Nezuko's blood. , he said, "Alright, go and give this to Tamayo now. And here."

"Meow." The cat ran off and disappeared once more.

'Well, that's taken care of. Hopefully, Tamayo can answer some questions about Nezuko's blood, and how it was able to cure the poison that was in me. Now that I think back, during my mission with Rengoku on that train, didn't Nezuko also help get the others out of that dream-like state?' Hiroto thought, completely engrossed in his thoughts and not realizing someone was standing right behind him.

"Hey, how did that cat disappear?" Muichiro's emotionless voice came from behind.

"Ah! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Hiroto jumped back startled. "Wait, you saw the cat?"

Nodding his head, Muichiro said, "Yes. But it disappeared. Hmm, I wonder what having a pet cat would be like…"

The crow on his shoulder felt it's position being threatened and shouted, "No! No pets! You're not allowed to have one!! CAW!"

"Whatever. It doesn't matter." Muichiro said.

'Hmm, it seems like his crow would probably get jealous if he got a pet.' Hiroto thought. "Anyway, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Hm…" Muichiro thought, looking at the sky. He then looked Hiroto straight in his eyes and said, "... I forgot."

*smack* Hiroto facepalmed himself. He looked at Muichiro tiredly and said, "Well, I guess it doesn't matter now. I'm guessing you're going to leave the village soon since you got a sword from Kotetsu's doll?"

Muichiro looked at a passing bird and said, "No. Not leaving yet. The sword isn't good enough." He then took the sword out of its sheath and showed how it had multiple cracks within it.

Hiroto looked at the sword and said incredulously, "What did you do to it? No wait, you probably went and hit a bunch of stuff with it didn't you?"

Muichiro's eyes widen and said, "How did you know?"

'Whoa, this is like an advanced form of Giyu. Compared to Giyu's airhead levels, Tokita seems to have reached a higher realm.' Hiroto thought, thinking back to Giyu.

----

"Achoo! Sniff." Giyu sneezed, causing the rice bowl he was holding to spill over.

"...Can I get another free refill? I dropped this one." Giyu asked a waitress as she walked by.

The waitress gave him a bright smile and said.

"No."

----

"It's getting late anyway, dinner is probably going to be ready soon," Hiroto said, looking at the setting sun going behind the treetops.

Muichiro nodded and followed Hiroto who started to walk away. Hiroto kept walking, and looked back at Muichiro, thinking 'Wait… does he not know the way? Hmm, let's test it out.'

Hiroto then began to take wrong turns intentionally and went down paths that took them further from their destination. All the while, Muichiro didn't say anything and just followed him.

'Yup, he totally doesn't know.' Hiroto thought and then went down the correct path. Arriving at the building, they entered and could already smell the fragrance of the food.

"Did it always take that long to get here?" Muichiro said.

Hiroto had a really bad poker face on, as he said. "What are you talking about. Of course, it was."

"I see," Muichiro commented, and went into the dining room to eat. Hiroto sighed and followed suit.

Tanjiro never came back from the forest yet. Hiroto assumed that this was probably what Kotetsu had planned for his training.

Genya still never showed himself to eat. Hiroto shrugged it off and just thought of him as antisocial.

Taking Nezuko out of her box, he felt bored after eating and started to braid her hair. For some reason, Nezuko loved it when her hair was braided.

Muichiro watched the two from the side and crossed his arms. "That's one strange creature there."

"Strange? Nezuko?" Hiroto said. Nezuko mimicked Muichiro's movements and crossed her arms as well.

"Yeah. Weird. I can't really put it into words. Have I met her before? Must've been some time ago." Muichiro tilted his head. Nezuko also tilted her head.

"Yea, it was during the last Hashira meeting that Oyakata-Sama held. You were probably looking at the clouds or something." Hiroto commented, having already figured out Muichiro's quirks.

"Hmmm." Muichiro waived his right hand, and Nezuko mirrored him.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you. You wear such loose clothing, aren't they uncomfortable to fight in?" Hiroto asked Muichiro, looking at how loose his clothes were. Although he seemed to have grown taller since Hiroto last saw him, it still seemed a bit too big for him.

"It doesn't really bother me. It also helps when fighting Demons. They can't see my limbs and joints, so they can't predict my movements." Muichiro said, tilting his head from one side to the other. Nezuko also copied him.

'...What the hell are these two doing?' Hiroto thought, seeing Nezuko copy Muichiro's movements, and him indulging her.

"Oh. Where's the other red-haired guy?" Muichiro said.

"You mean Tanjiro? He's doing some training with Kotetsu and his doll. Something about getting stronger to beat you." Hiroto said casually.

"Hmm." Muichiro stayed silent and then spoke up. "Compared to you, he's much weaker. I'm not sure how he got into the Demon Slayer's."

"Hahaha." Hiroto laughed and lifted Nezuko onto his shoulders as she played with his hair. "You'd be surprised just how formidable he can be. Sure, he might be a little weak now… but he did fight against an Upper Moon and survived. And not just that, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were able to kill it too. Although it was heavily advertised in the reports, those 3 stood their ground and won."

Muichiro pondered Hiroto's words and then said, "I guess I should give him more credit then."

Hiroto shrugged and just played with Nezuko. Muichiro just hung out in the room.

Hiroto looked over to Muichiro and asked, "Say, since you came to get a new sword, how come you took one from the doll? Don't you have an assigned swordsmith?"

Muichiro didn't know how to respond. He looked down and said, "I don't. My first and only sword was made by someone who trained me. I can't remember his name or how he looked like."

'Rengoku did say that Muichiro had something called amnesia. Forgetting things that he's seen, and even people.' Hiroto thought.

"It doesn't matter," Muichiro said.

Hiroto stood and picked Nezuko up, walking out of the room. He turned back and said, "We all have our problems to deal with."

Muichiro turned and looked at Hiroto.

Hiroto smiled and said, "We can only do our best to move forward." He then left the room along with Nezuko and her box.

Muichiro kept looking at where Hiroto stood and said quietly, "...Why does he remind me of someone…"

----

After that night, the following days and weeks Hiroto didn't do much and just hung around the village, getting to know the people and how they operate. Occasionally he would speak with Muichiro, although he sometimes forgot what they talked about.

Hiroto checked up on Tanjiro from time to time secretly and saw how in the beginning he was struggling to fight against the mechanical doll. However, he seemed to have gotten stronger and was able to react and fight back.

Compared to when he was getting beaten mercilessly before, this was a major improvement in Hiroto's books.

Of course, Hiroto didn't just stay idle. He did some training of his own in the forest. However, whenever his crow came back and saw him, it would shout and him, saying that he shouldn't be training so harshly since he was still recovering.

Hiroto did spot Genya a couple of times, but whenever Genya saw him he would flip Hiroto off and storm away. 'Must be his rebellious phase.' Hiroto would always think.

In the present moment, Hiroto was sitting on a rock as he watched Tanjiro fight the mechanical doll.

*clang* *ding* The sounds of metal clashing reverberated throughout the forest, as Tanjiro deflected and launched his attacks.

According to Tanjiro himself, he said that he has 'awakened'. Acquiring the ability to predict movements and attack just from the smell. Since Tanjiro is still inexperienced, his reactions and reflexes are slower than those of a Hashira's.

Hiroto watched Tanjiro jump at the exact moment the 5 arms descended onto him. Cartwheeling over the doll, Tanjiro was about to slash its neck off but then hesitated.

Hiroto could recognize the look in Tanjiro's eyes. '*sigh* He's worried about breaking it.'

"Cut it down!!! I don't care if you break it!! I can fix it for sure!!" Kotetsu shouted.

Tanjiro resolved his will and twisted the sword in his hand. His eyes then widened as he smelt another attack coming towards his head, forcing him to tilt his head forward to dodge the attack.

*swish* The blade cut through the air and slices off some of Tanjiro's hair. As he fell in front of the doll, he brought the sword with a wide arc behind his body and slashed at its neck.

*CLANG* *Thud* "Ouch!!" Tanjiro shouted as he landed on his butt, with the sword in his hand broken in half.

"Are you okay?!" Kotetsu ran up to Tanjiro to check on him.

"S-Sorry, I broke the blade I borrowed," Tanjiro said.

Hiroto looked past them and stared at the doll. He was able to notice the small cracks that began to form on its neck, as it grew along the body.

"Hey, you might want to pay attention to the doll," Hiroto said, getting up from his rock.

*crack* *creak*

"Wha?!" Kotetsu turned when he heard the cracking noises from the doll.

*twang* *crack*

The head of the doll fell forward, with its scalp breaking apart behind it.

Hiroto's eyes narrowed, as he saw something sticking out of the doll's neck.

"Is that…"