Future plans

[Seiji's POV]

The only drawback my eyes had was mental exhaustion.

This was completely reasonable because seeing so many things in detail and many others that normal eyes were never meant to see, any human brain would be overloaded with information.

When I was young, I would have to sleep at least 12 hours to deal with the mental exhaustion. But as time went on, the requirements became less and less.

Still, surviving on barely 5 hours of sleep a day would be harmful to any human body, much less a body that has a special eyes such as mine, which was exactly what I had been doing in the past two months.

I forced myself to fight and work with only 5 hours of sleep every day.

And clearly it had taken a toll on me because right now, I felt incredible. I did not know how long I slept but I felt so amazing and good that I hadn't even opened my eyes yet.

In a world of complete silence, deep sleep was guaranteed. And even though I had woken up, as long as I did not open my eyes the world was completely silent and still.

It was a great time to have an internal monologue.

The question is, how do I plan to move forward from now? What was the plan? What was the next goal?

I had become a Hashira and I now held the most influence and power a demon slayer could get. So, what's next?

Killing Muzan Kibutsuji was the main goal but thinking about that time when I encountered him in Tokyo, I knew that it was still too far away to even consider.

I should at least be the strongest Hashira alive first to even think of slaying Muzan. In the story of Demon Slayer, the Hashiras - even the strongest - were merely cannon fodders to the Demon King.

It was only through sheer continuous luck, plot armour, tricks and heavy sacrifice that they finally put down Muzan Kibutsuji.

I wanted to kill Muzan Kibutsuji without any sacrifice, and I was not the main character with plot armour. That meant I would have to be strong enough to match Muzan at the very least - which I should mention, no one other than Yoriichi ever accomplished.

'Yeah, it is not realistic yet.'

So let's start with something more realistic and doable. I promised to be as strong as Muzan in five years - a promise that became more and more ridiculous with each passing thought - so what can I do to achieve it?

Or what can I do to at least get closer to the goal?

The first thing that came to mind was learning all of the breathing styles that exist. I was now a Hashira, meaning my colleagues were the best breath users in the present day. I could definitely learn thier breathing from them.

It took me a week to learn Flame Breathing and two weeks to learn Thunder Breathing. If those feats were used as a base, it shouldn't take me long to learn every breathing styles.

After that, I could work on mastering each and every one of them. I should aim to become as proficient at using each unique breath as their respective Hashira users.

I think that is completely realistic. In fact, it would take me less than five years to accomplish it - which is where the canon starts.

Speaking of canon stories, you can be sure that I would do everything in my power to not let that happen. I won't let Tanjiro's family be slaughtered like how it happened in the story.

This goal was also personal.

If you really thought about it, my backstory was eerily similar to Tanjiro's. Both of us came home after a hard day of work only to be greeted by blood and the cold corpses of everyone we ever loved.

A demon had killed our world while we were away.

The similarity did not end there as we witnessed tragedy befall our sisters. I was robbed of my hearing and he was robbed of his sister's humanity.

I couldn't save my own family back then, I was not strong enough.

But god damn, I will make sure the same thing doesn't happen twice.

Maybe I would finally get a bit of solace - like how Andrew Garfield's Spiderman did when he saved a different version of MJ.

So yeah, it was personal.

And beside it being a personal endeavour, there were many positive fruits that could come out of it. Firstly, I could learn Hitokami Kagura - which is basically a watered-down version of Sun Breathing.

Secondly, I could learn the location of the blue spider lily from Tanjiro's mother. For those who don't know, the blue spider lily is said to have the power to give demons the ability to walk under the sun and be resistant to the nichirin blade. Muzan had been searching for it for centuries and the demons were created with the objective of finding the blue spider lily for him.

There were also many other things like the possibility of saving Tanjiro's father and convincing the absolutely broken character to join the demon slayer corps, etc.

The only problem was that I had no idea where Tanjiro's house was located. The only thing I remembered was that he used to sell charcoal in a village near their isolated home.

I have no other clue. But then again, Japan was a small island, how hard could it be to find one home?

And what else is there, 'hmmmmm...'

It had been on my mind for quite a while but I could try asking for a bow and nichrin-tipped arrows. The smiths of the Demon Slayer Corps should be able to create one and hopefully, they would respect the request of a Hashira.

I wanted to know how my eyes would affect marksmanship.

Maybe I could develop a new breathing style for marksmanship. Who knows, I definitely won't if I don't try so I was going to try.

 'Hm?'

My world, ever so still and silent, was disturbed by vibrations felt by my skin. It was a tug of reality that threatened to bring me out of my musing.

More aware of my surroundings than ever, I felt someone inch ever closer to my skin. I could feel thier body heat as they got closer. I held my breath, I knew I was safe and no harm would befall me, yet my body was ready to fight.

But then, a small head landed on top of my chest.

I could not hear, I did not see, but I could feel thier ear on my chest. They were listening to my heartbeat and strangely enough, that made me listen to my own heartbeat with them.

*Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup*

*Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup*

My heart beats firm and consistent. Finally, I opened my eyes to see whose head was on my chest.

The moment I saw who it was, I felt my heart stop beating.

It was...

..

..

...an old man.

!!!!

"What the actual fuck!!" I yelled and quickly pushed the old man with a creepy smile off my chest.

It was unlike me to raise my voice, much less straight out yell, but the situation deserved it. I was truly shocked out of my mind.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked.

"I was checking if you were still alive or if you had problems. Lady Kanae told me to check every six hours!" the old man said.

That's....reasonable.

Why was I so shook anyways? And why do I feel a gigantic sense of disappointment wash over my entire soul?

Well, the answer was obvious. I was expecting him to be Lady Kanae or even Shinobu but I guess I was wrong. I really shouldn't get my hopes high just because I woke up on the lap of a beautiful girl once.

"That was...embarrassing."

I noticed movement on my side so I looked towards the window to see Shinobu peeking in like a kitten. A playful smirk danced on her lips and her eyes glazed with mischief.

"Yes it was." she said.

God, why did I say that out loud?

"Thank you for keeping an eye on him." Shinobu said with a smile.

The old man bowed and went away right after. I stared at Shinobu - not because of any particular reason other than just being fond of seeing her face.

"So, you finally decided to wake up after two days of sleeping?" she asked.

"It's good to see you again." I said.

"Same to you, I didn't expect to see you again so soon." she said and then threw a sword at me. I effortlessly caught the sword with a puzzled look.

"Why don't you stretch those tight muscles and give me some tips, Hashira." she said, "A nice sweat before a bath is always good."

It was weird that she asked me for such things right after waking up. Literally, no one does that, at least say good morning first.

But sometimes, eyes can tell you more than words. From the eagerness in her eyes and the way she peek at the window as if she had done it multiple times, I could tell that she had been waiting for me to wake up for a while now.

Likely to talk to me because she wanted to ask me for advice. There was also a competitive glint in her eyes. I saw a girl who was motivated to try her best and live up to what she believed was her sister's expectation.

She was honest and would go for what she wanted without hesitation like a child.

"Sure." I said and cracked my neck. She was right, my body was indeed tight and full of knots.

Her smile widened and she moved away from the window right as I lept out from it.

I remembered the pattern of Wind Breathing during my fight with Sanemi, so this would be a good time to try those out.

I was feeling refreshed and a bit weaker due to an empty stomach. But I immediately shot towards Shinobu with the sword.

..

..

..

[IMAGE]

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Author : If you get the reference of *thup-dup* then you my guy, are the goat. I like you.

Anyways, sorry for disappearing. I have a life and life happens if you know what I mean. I'll do extra chapters tomorrow again to make up for it.

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