Chapter 49: Rehabilitation Training, Part 1
My arms and legs are really short…
Then again, I'm shorter than everyone here...but not as short as shinobu...
Back on track, I'm really short due to the fact I got bit by a spider-demon.
I'm recovering by taking lots of medicine and getting lots of sunlight.
Meanwhile kuki and zenitsu…
They're recovering faster than me!
Stupid tall people…
Then again…
I hear that people who transformed completely may suffer the after effects even after they're human again.
Speaking of suffering, everyone besides Zenitsu, kuki and i, the rest look as if they were fighting demons with injuries.
"What happened?! what's wrong?!" zenitsu whined every time they came in.
They said nothing.
They simply just crawled into bed and sighed.
The next day
"Quit your shivering zenitsu, i'm sure training isn't gonna be that bad" hoshi said
Once they got to the main room, they were greeted by 3 girls and aoi.
"Today Hoshi, Kuki and Zenitsu start their training...so i'll explain it all again!"
Aoi pointed to a mat.
"First, over there you will lie over there, and those girls will loosen up your muscles"
Then she pointed to a table with kanao sitting there.
"Then reflex training. Each one of the cups contains medicinal tea that can be applied topically. You will compete to see who has to take the medicine. If your opponent holds down your cup before you can raise it, then you have to 'drink'"
Then aoi pointed to herself.
"Finally, full body training. Simply put, we play tag. Your opponents are me and kanao over there."
With that aoi finished
"Excuse me, may some of us have a moment," zenitsu spoke.
"Do you have a question?" aoi asked
"No its just...taiyo, kage...you too, inosuke and tanjiro...come on"
"I'm not going" inosuke said
"I'M TELLING YOU TO JUST COME WITH ME!" zenitsu yelled.
The four boys stared at him.
"COME ON! YOU SCUM, YOU TRASH!" he yelled as he pulled the four of them outside.
"We're spying on them, right?" netsu asked
Kuki and the other girls nodded.
Meanwhile
"SIT DOWN AND LISTEN UP! YOU IDIOT JERKS!" zenitsu yelled
"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL US?!" taiyo yelled
THONK
Taiyo fell back towards the wall of the mansion, because Zenitsu had punched him.
"Well, what the hell was that for?!" kage said
"Tell taiyo you're sorry!!" tanjiro yelled
"YOU SAY YOU'RE SORRY! YOU GUYS SHOULD APOLOGIZE! WHY DID YOU COME BACK EVERY DAY ACTING LIKE YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH HELL WHEN YOU WERE ACTUALLY IN HEAVEN?! YOU WERE HAVING A JOLLY TIME PLAYING GAMES WITH GIRLS, BUT EVERY DAY YOU CAME BACK LOOKING WRECKED! BOW DOWN DEEPLY AND APOLOGIZE! OFFER TO COMMIT SEPPUKU"
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOU!!" tanjiro yelled
"SHUT UP YOU STRAIT-LACED, SWEET-TALKING, STICK IN THE MUD! SHUT UP AND LISTEN! YOU GOT THAT?! WE GET TO TOUCH THE GIRLS! THEY'RE GONNA MASSAGE OUT BODIES! WHEN WE PLAY WITH THE CUPS, OUR HANDS WILL TOUCH! WHEN WE PLAY TAG, WE CAN GRAB THEM! THEY EACH HAVE NICE CHESTS, GREAT BUTTS AND STRONG THIGHS! WHEN THEY PASS BY, THEY SMELL GOOD! IT'S A JOY JUST TO LOOK AT THEM!"
Then he defied all laws of gravity and started to fly in the air.
"JOY!! PURE JOY!"
"STOP TALKING NONSENSE! LOSING TO THOSE TINY GIRLS IS EMBARRASSING!!" inosuke yelled
"OH, CRY ME A RIVER! YOU GREW UP IN THE MOUNTAINS ANYWAY! I BET YOU HAVEN'T SPENT ANY TIME WITH GIRLS BEFORE! SO YOU NEVER LEARNED! AW, HOW SAD!"
As if on cue, Hoshi threw three pebbles at Zenitsu, knocking him out.
Then she kicked him.
Then kage hit him with a bible
"He's never gonna get a girlfriend that way" kuki sighed
Then hoshi turned back to the boys
"Okay...starting today, don't listen to zenitsu unless it's important...that little son of a bi**h"
The next few days were absolute hell.
Except for zenitsu…
Surprise surprise…
During rubdowns, Zenitsu laughed continually despite the intense pain.
That wasn't normal-
"Well i'll say this...he meant every word. That hurt so bad, I cried, but he's laughing…" shizen said
And in the reflex training game, he beat aoi.
Every.
Single.
Time.
"Don't worry, i'd never throw a gross drink in a girl's face" zenitsu said with a smug face
Aoi grimaced every time he said that.
Everyone else felt the secondhand embarrassment.
He had also won during the full-body training but…
He didn't get to enjoy it.
"I won the game...but lost the fight…" he said
Meanwhile, inosuke and taiyo hated to lose.
They beat aoi as well.
Hoshi took the more...logical approach.
And by that, I mean something that didn't look like someone was trying to crack her head open.
She usually just put the cup of medicine on top of her head, and during tag, she simply just tapped her shoulder.
Shizen tried to monitor her steps in how she did things.
She won.
Netsu just used her enhanced sound in order to listen to where aoi was going next.
Finally kuki and tanjiro…
They were just…
Bad-
It got even worse when they had to face kanao.
Well, it was worse for everyone but shizen.
Shizen trained with kanao, thus she knew her every move.
"Even with the shorty 3 here, we finish every day soaked…" inosuke said
"Shorty 3...huh…" kuki muttered
"We joined the corps the same time as her, so why is she so much better?" hoshi asked
"4 years of intense training…" shizen answered
The group looked at her.
"It was about a year after the both of us got adopted...kanae and shinobu thought it would be a good idea to start training us...i was 11, and kanao was 12...it was absolute hell" she sighed
They lost to kanao for five days straight.
Netsu
Taiyo
Kage
Kuki
And the others never touched a single strand of hair on her head.
Inosuke and taiyo hated losing so they took it really hard.
Meanwhile zenitsu and kage accepted their fate.
Kuki was too lazy to do any of this
The five of them stopped coming.
"Sorry aoi...JUST YOU FOUR?! I CANT BELIEVE THOSE GUYS!"
"Maybe they'll come tomorrow" tanjiro sighed
"Maybe…"
"No, there's no need to bother with them any longer. If you don't want to come, then you don't need to" aoi said.
They lost for 10 more days-
Why can't i beat her? What are the differences between us...First of all, the speed of our reflexes is completely different. On my best day I'd probably still lose.
She even smells different. Her scent is closer to that of a hashira. And her eyes...i think her eyes are different...they look weird…they almost look like-
"HOSHI!" kage yelled
"WHA-"
Hoshi tripped
"Are you okay?!" kage laughed
"Yeah...i'm fine…"
"You're working harder now…"
"I know! It's great! I'm turning out to be a strong swordsman!" she smiled
"Don't get cocky...we're still at rank mizunoto, remember?"
"Right…"
"Oh, by the way! I heard tanjiro and some kid talk about…'total concentration breathing'? I dunno…"
"Oh! Grams talked about that one time...maybe i should get to mastering it…"