Become a disciple of Hashira’s ex

Having made up his mind, Rio ran out of the house to chase after the midget old man.

"Wait a minute old man!"

"Hmmm?"

Feeling that someone called him, the old midget man stopped walking, he saw a teenager running towards him and immediately knelt down.

"What are you doing young man, stand up quickly, don't kneel in the middle of the road like this."

Due to Rio's actions kneeling in the middle of the road, the people around stopped their activities and looked at him.

Ignoring the gazes of the people, Rio knelt before the midget old man without hesitation.

"Please make me your disciple!"

"Hah?!"

The midget old man was stunned, after awakening from his daze, he asked:

"Become my disciple? Young man, are you not wrong?"

"I'm just an ordinary decrepit old man, if you want to study, enter the Dojo."

The midget old man refused, someone unknown suddenly wanted to become a disciple, who would agree?

As if expecting rejection, Rio didn't give up, he kept pleading.

"Please old man, teach me swordsmanship, I must take revenge on that damned Demon!"

As soon as the word Demon was mentioned, the midget old man's pupils contracted, now he understood why this unknown youth wanted to become his disciple.

"Stand up young man..."

"No, before you make me your disciple, I will continue to kneel!"

The midget old man could feel the determination of the other party, if he didn't accept the other party as his disciple, he was sure that this fellow would continue to kneel here.

Taking a deep breath, the old man's stone-hard heart was touched.

"Let's stand up first, let's talk somewhere else."

"Do you want to be a spectacle for people?"

Due to the commotion, more and more people flocked to watch the show.

"Okay."

Since the midget old man no longer refused to make him his disciple, Rio knew he had to stop kneeling, lest the other party become irritated with his stubbornness.

After standing up, Rio and the midget old man left the village.

The two of them climbed the hill, because of the heavy snow that covered the road, the journey took half an hour before arriving at an old hut.

The midget old man opened the door and entered first.

"Come in, let's talk inside."

"Excuse me..."

Rio entered the hut, inside the hut there wasn't much stuff, in fact there was almost nothing except the cauldron hanging in the middle of the room and firewood under the cauldron.

The midget old man lit a fire in the kiln, once the fire was lit, the cold temperature slowly warmed up.

"Sit down."

Rio obediently sat across from the midget old man.

"First who are you? Where did you hear Demons from?" asked the old man midget as he put the firewood in the fireplace.

"My name is Rio, I am not a native of Japan, more precisely I am an Indonesian citizen who is far from Japan."

"Then why do foreigners who are far away come to Japan?"

Rio knew it would be very difficult to deceive this midget old man, therefore he mixed truth and lies.

Without changing his expression, Rio answered the midget old man's question:

"My parents and I worked on a caravan of traveling merchants from China, old man should know China merchants spread all over the world, right?"

"That's right."

The midget old man nodded in agreement, he himself had met many China merchants selling goods from foreign countries, so he believed the other party's explanation.

Seeing that the midget old man believed it, Rio continued telling his lie.

"A few days ago, when the caravan was passing through a village, suddenly the caravan was attacked by a human who resembles a human but also has abilities beyond common sense."

"That creature calls itself a Demon and eats everyone in the caravan before my eyes."

"Then why did you survive? Demons usually won't give up their meal, it's not like the usual Demon actions."

The midget old man narrowed his eyes, even though he was old and retired from the Demon Slayer Corps, it didn't mean his wisdom had decreased, he felt that there was something the young man was hiding in front of him.

Moreover, this young man from the beginning until now, his expression didn't change as if he didn't care about the death of his parents in the caravan. How could old midget not be suspicious?

Clenching his fists as if in anger, Rio spoke emotionlessly.

"The demon that attacked the caravan purposely let go of me, that Demon did something to me that made me lose all emotions inside me."

"The Demon said he wanted to make me a test subject, he said he wanted to see how humans live without feeling emotions."

"Blood Demon Art..."

The midget old man muttered as soon as he heard what the Demon did to Rio.

"Blood Demon Art?" Rio tilted his head in confusion.

Rio only knows from spoilers on facebook that every Demon has its own unique ability, he doesn't know it's called Blood Demon Art.

"Rio, were there any salient features of the Demons attacking the caravan back then?"

"The thing that stands out about the Demon… Mmm… Oh I remember now, the pupil of the demon's eye has the words Upper Rank 2 written on it."

"What!!! Twelve Demon Moons!"

Suddenly the old midget stood up with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Did I say something strange, old man?"

Rio didn't know what he said carelessly greatly shook the midget old man's heart in front of him.

The midget old man stared at Rio for a while, he sighed and sat back down.

"Hahhh… Young man, you were very lucky to have survived the Twelve Demon Moons and also had the misfortune of meeting an Upper Rank 2 Demon and losing all your emotions."

"If you lose your temper because of the Twelve Demon Moons, let alone an Upper Rank 2, that makes sense."

The midget old man now 80% believed Rio's story, due to the lack of information on the Twelve Demon Moons, it was due to the lack of information regarding the Twelve Demon Moons, let alone the Upper Rank Demons.

"Please old man, make me your disciple."

Rio bowed his head in front of the midget old man and again pleaded.

"Why do you want me to be your teacher? We just met today, how are you so sure I can teach you how to exterminate Demons?"

"It was because my intuition told me."

"Intuition?"

This was a very unexpected answer to him, the midget old man kept asking.

"Mn, since I was a child, I had a sharp intuition. I can feel the bad things happening to me, I feel the danger of the village the caravan is heading for."

"I informed that there would be danger in the village, but the caravan chief didn't believe me at all and we ended up meeting a Demon."

"I feel like if I can defeat that Demon, my lost emotions will come back."

"Please old man, accept me as your disciple."

The lewd old man closed his eyes as if thinking about something and his left hand stroked his beard.

After 5 minutes of silence, the midget old man opened his eyes and looked at Rio.

"My training is very hard, even so do you still want to be my disciple?"

"I am ready to undergo any training!"

"Alright, from now on you are my second disciple and also stop calling me old man!"

"My name is Kuwajima Jigorō, former Hashira (Pillar) Thunder, starting tomorrow your training will begin."

"Ready Jigoro Sensei!"