Emmanuel_Capricorn
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DS : Chapter 161
🕑 Added 2025-03-15 11:54:30 +0000 UTC[Seiji's POV]
Was it really necessary to go on a training montage like I was some sort of anime character?
The answer to the question was yes indeed.
But shouldn't I be able to meet with my friends and lovers once every month or so?
The answer was no.
What I was about to do was fundamentally different from normal training where as long as you put in the work, you got good results. I was going on a journey to find myself after 17 years of imitation.
It should be a journey of enlightenment. I needed to leave everything else behind and only look to the sword. At least until I finally achieve what I set out to do.
There can be no distractions.
Yoriichi was strong, he was the strongest being in the world, someone whom I could not beat if it came to a fight even now. But I have to remind myself that he failed to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.
And I couldn't hope to accomplish what he failed to do while I was still following in his footsteps. I needed to be more.
Yoriichi failed, it was time I stopped being his imitation.
I had to be myself and give Seiji Shigan a chance. Perhaps he wouldn't fail like Yoriichi did.
I took two weeks to recover from my injuries. During that time, I spent as much time as possible with everyone, especially Mitsuri and Kanae. I had to make up for all the times I would be absent.
Tanjiro also came to the Butterfly Mansion to finally learn under me but I had to disappoint him with the change in my plans. Like a fellow purple-haired guy once said, Man plans and God laughs.
The circumstances had changed, for better or for worse. I couldn't focus on others while I existed, unenough.
Instead, I directed Tanjiro to Giyu to further his training. It was how he became as strong as he did in the canon so it should work this time too. My earlier influence already affected him for the better.
I also informed him of the truth behind the Hinokami Kagura and the Sun Breathing. I wrote a scroll for him in my free time, one he could look upon if he wanted to further his training with Sun Breathing while he learned Water Breathing under Giyu.
Rengoku learned Flame Breathing from an ancestral book so he should be fine with that. Although I felt a little guilty when I promised to train him a long time ago.
But Tanjiro was more than understanding. He even made the situation better by claiming that I would be in for a surprise when I saw him again.
The only problem was with Giyu.
"Again?" he had said with a downcast expression, "Is the fate of Water Breathing Style to be a mere foundation for other breathing styles? When am I going to train my successor,"
Poor guy had trained five tsuguko and none of them used Water Breathing as their main style. With Tanjiro, that would make it seven.
Saying goodbye was difficult. I think I did a pretty horrible job making my last days happy and memorable, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't live with such defeat.
Muzan was strong, but I surpassed him in skill. Although the gap between us was massive, I had hope, I had a chance. But my fight with Kokushibo was hopeless. He was not ridiculously overpowered like Muzan but he outclassed me in both raw power and skills.
Kokushibo was an even worse matchup for me than Muzan.
I couldn't indulge in love when I was keenly aware that it could be taken from me, again. My trauma surfaced at this time and I think I ended up making things worse.
.....
I felt a rush of warm air on my neck on my final night in the mansion. The rush of air was followed by the smell of summer and love. A soft weight pressed down on me as I lay on my bed.
"Mitsuri?" I spoke in the dark of the night, my hand running down her hair while she clung to me for dear life.
I felt warm liquid on my chest, tears. Coming from the happiest girl I knew, it was more tragic than others.
"Must you go?" she begged.
They've asked me these countless times, but the answer has remained the same—a hard nod. I couldn't, no matter how much I love; hate must come first to protect love.
She couldn't stop me. And when she finally gave up, she stripped the thin kimono that she was wearing and laid bare on top of me. Her eyes were cloudy and desperate as she asked if I wanted to do it.
What kind of a question is that?
Of course, I wanted to do it.
But I didn't.
The purity of a girl was about the most precious thing she had. In the age and society we live it, it was even more so. It was the same as giving yourself fully to a man if a girl does that.
I was aware of this and although I had many chances, I never took that away from Mitsuri or Kanae. I didn't deserve to have them when they couldn't have me.
I love them, and I wanted to treat them right.
Not until I could dedicate my whole life to them. Not until I could protect them from everything in the world. Not until I finally killed the last of hate in my heart so that I could love them with everything.
Until then I wouldn't rob them of their precocious gift.
"When I return, I will be enough," I said and kissed her lips before kissing her longer at her forehead.
"And I will claim you,"
My arms wrapped around and I hugged her with everything I had. I didn't know how but I didn't feel lust at that moment. I only felt love for the beautiful soul in front of me.
When morning came, I whispered my final farewell.
Then I left, to return only when I can protect the world.
..
..
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[3rd POV]
Something changed in him.
Anyone who loved him could tell that he had changed. His transformation wasn't obvious. It wasn't an eruption of anger or a spiral to despair. It was subtler than that but with equal or more weight.
Kanae could hear it so clearly. Seiji was never a man of words but somehow he made silence comfortable with his presence. But now the silence felt heavier, they weren't comfortable.
The silence around him was brimming with something unspoken - an unrelenting hunger or perhaps a gnawing resolve.
Even when he spoke, it was no longer a cheap imitation of a perfect voice nor an attempt to sound more attractive to her ears. His voice was steel, there was something hard and rigid to them.
Kanae was worried, especially when she learned how he wanted to disappear from her for years in the name of training.
She was scared. What was she going to do if he was gone from her life? Her life would truly be plunged into darkness then.
But what frightened her even more was the darkness behind his lies. There was a part of him now, that seemed to be willing to break himself piece by piece for something he considered grander than himself.
No, there was nothing grander than him. At least not for her.
She tried to convince him somehow, but again, his voice was steel. The thing about loving the strongest in the world was that he could never truly belong to her and her alone. He also belonged to the world.
It was tragic.
"I'll be fine," he said.
Yes, but will she be fine?
"Yes, you will be fine too. I've talked to Lady Tamayo about it, you'll be fine," he said again, something exciting about his voice.
In the end, she couldn't stop him. How could she? He was a man and she was just a girl.
He left one morning. Kanae listened to his footsteps as he went further and further away from her. Until she could no longer hear him.
The moment he was gone, everything seemed darker.
It was funny, he would often disappear for days and even weeks but she never felt this hollow before. The promise of him returning soon always soothes her somehow but this time there was no promise.
They never heard from him again for many months. The only thing they heard were stories, about the sound of screams that haunted the forests of Japan.
Demons that were defeated, not by a nichirin sword but by a normal blade. Their body lay in pieces, some even turned into ground flesh. It would seem their regeneration was forced to the limit, they were cut until they no longer had the energy to heal themselves.
And they were left there, waiting for the mercy of the sun. Travellers had found these scenes all over Japan, the horrifying screams attracted attention since they were never killed instantly.
No one could ignore those screams of agony, not unless you were incapable of hearing them in the first place. People claimed that it was the work of a demon who tortured them out of deep hatred.
The people who were more aware, like the Hashiras, could tell that someone had used those demons as training dummies. Practising the art of the sword on their body until their regeneration reached its limits.
Seiji did it because of both reasons.
"Two birds with one stone," he had said while he walked along the forest.
..
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Comments
Martin Lervoll
We're going to see the training arc right? Your not just gonna gloss over it??
