Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 65: Hashira meeting rhymes with drama

He was barely sitting up on his futon, clearly the disease was getting worse.

"We are glad to see you healthy as well!!" All of them said in unison except me of course, because I was the main edgy character who bowed down to no one.

...

Kidding. It\'s just because of my ears and I still had trouble matching the intensity of these samurai traditions. Not to mention Ubuyashi was not actually healthy, I know with my eyes.

"Rise up my children, it is unsightly to see the pillars kneel to a sick man like me. I told you, you don\'t need to do so." Ubuyashiki said softly.

That just made us want to do it even more though. The man really deserved some respect, especially after giving me that long vacation, (Yeah, I\'m that easy to bribe).

We all rose and stood in front of him. He looked at all of us with a fond smile, like a father gazing proudly at his children.

All of the Hashiras were here except for the Fire Hashira, Shinjuro Kyojiro. But it was not a surprise since he had been missing the Hashira meetings frequently.

"Seiji," he called me and I responded.

"It\'s good to have you back my boy," he said with a smile. I knew how hard it was for him to talk so I was happy that he spared me a few words personally.

"Thank you, I\'m happy to be back as well." I said.

"I was glad to hear that you were able to settle your inheritance and spend time with your family." he said. He knew all these things because I would send him letters monthly while I was away, asking how the Demon Slayer Corp was doing and reporting on what I encountered or what I\'d accomplished.

Like that demon I slayed in Tokyo for example.

"And congratulations on your engagement."

"Thank you."

"...."

"...."

That got a few raised eyebrows from my fellow Hashiras but most of them just shrugged it off. After all, it was not rare for a boy my age (with parents) to be engaged to a girl. It was one of the privileges of having a good family and not being an orphan.

Well most of them at least, because one person absolutely exploded in shock.

"WHAT!!!!"

It was Kanae.

I was deaf but I could hear the surprise in her voice. I turned to look at her and saw the absolute shock - and horror? - on her face.

"What do you mean engagement?"

"Ah, Seiji\'s parents arranged an engagement for him while he stayed with them." Ubuyashiki explained.

"You mean like, like...with a girl?" she asked.

Now what the fuck does that mean? Do I not look straight? Why would I be engaged with a man?

"I suppose." Ubuyashiki chuckled.

Then her head snapped towards me, I was caught off guard by the intensity of her eyes.

"And you accepted?"

Why did I feel like I committed a crime?

"Yes?"

"So, you are going to get married with this girl?"

"...Hopefully? If I live long enough for that."

I had absolutely no clue why but a hurt look painted her pretty face. It was not like when she got hit during training or by a demon. It was like someone stabbed her in the chest.

"Why.." she said, I could hear her voice quiver almost, "Why didn\'t you tell me?"

Okay, hold the fuck on. I need to do a very deep analysis of my life to understand the context of this situation.

Because the way she was reacting almost made it seem like she was in love with me. There was no other way to explain such a reaction.

But that was completely insane!!

Was she in love with me?

It was impossible to tell because of her teasing nature. It was hard to tell when she was flirting or when she was teasing me. Because of this, even if she actually had feelings for me I would\'ve chalked it up to her messing with me.

Or, was she not teasing me all this time?

Was I being like those dense main characters even though I despised them? I thought I was different, especially with my eyes.

I knew Mitsuri loved me, I knew Shinobu had a small crush on me. I was aware of these things because I could see deeper with my eyes.

But what about Kanae? Did I also notice her feelings but I just ignored them thinking she was just teasing me?

Now I was completely confused. My mind went into a loop as thoughts buzzed in my head like bees.

"I\'m sorry," I was not sure what I was apologizing for. But the look in her eyes made my heart feel like it should apologize.

After my words fell, I finally noticed that all eyes were on us two. Every Hashira present was silent as they observed the small drama with rapt attention.

Kanae too quickly took notice of this and she quickly hid her feelings, shelving them away behind her closed eyed smile that looked playful.

"Ara~ What are you apologizing for? I was just surprised that\'s all," she said and covered her mouth with her haori while she giggled.

"I always thought of you as my little brother. It felt like yesterday when you became a Hashira as a child. It completely caught me off guard to hear you take such a drastic step in life." she said.

"I guess you are all grown now."

"...."

Okay....now I feel dumb.

But my eyes saw it so clearly. Was this just an act? Did I misunderstand it? Or was my misunderstanding a misunderstanding?

Come on, I was an absolute amateur in love. I did not have experience in both lives. It was unfair to give me such a complicated situation.

After she said that, the others nodded their head, finding it reasonable why she was so surprised. But strangely enough, tears started falling from Gyomei and he sobbed silently.

"Why are you suddenly crying again!?" Sanemi asked.

"Nothing." Gyomie answered and looked up to the sky, "Nothing at all."

But he just cried harder. He definitely knew something we didn\'t.

"Okay everyone, let us begin today\'s Hashira meeting," Ubuyashiki said and the meeting started.

The Hashira meeting proceeded like usual. There were no strange things happening, even Kanae acted completely normal.

The only difference was that the statistics this time were horrible compared to other times. It was a direct consequence of my absence.

It couldn\'t be stressed enough how valuable I was in completing missions. With my eyes, I could do an investigation mission that would take other Hashiras weeks, in less than a day.

That meant that no other Hashrias had to do an investigation mission and waste their time. They could focus their efforts on other things.

It could be seen that I really lived up to my title of the \'Pillar of Pillars.\'

The meeting took less time than usual as we were able to complete it at noon. One of the main reason was that Ubuyashiki was sick and could not talk for too long.

In the end, he had to end the meeting to take his medicine and rest up. He told us to spend the remaining time with each other as it was not often that we would gather in one place.

And all of us were happy to be given the time as well. Giyu immediately came up to me after the meeting, asking me about how my vacation was and about my engagement.

Tengen soon joined in, calling himself the master in the way of being a good husband. He presented the fact that he could keep three wives happy as proof of his qualifications.

He offered to teach me some tricks and advice which I seriously considered.

I was not sure but I think Gyomei was listening to our conversation from far away. He had crazy good hearing so he need not come close to hear us.

But all that came to an end when Sanemi walked up to me and yelled.

"Seiji!! I challenge you to a duel!"

There he goes.

"Let\'s fight!!"

He always challenged me to duels and he lost worse with each time. I sighed, a little tired of constantly beating him up at this point.

I tried to discourage him by beating him really badly once (I only used Wind Breathing) but Sanemi was anything but a quitter. He was like David Goggins if he had anger issues and Asian.

But seeing him walk up to me, I suddenly had an idea.

I did not want to fight him but there was someone I wanted to fight.

All this time, I had called myself the strongest Hashira but it was not official yet. So let\'s make that official

"I will deal with you later." I said, Hashirama style, before turning towards Gyomei.

"Big Brother Gyomei!! I challenge you to a duel!!"

"Hey, asshole!! I challenged you first!" Sanemi raged behind me.

Gyomei turned his body to face me. His crying face had now grown firm like a stone and he said.

"We shouldn\'t be fighting amongst ourselves. One of us could get hurt," he joined his hands in prayer.

By \'one of us could get hurt\', he meant I could get hurt. He was aware of how strong he was and for the longest part of his life, he had lived in fear of his own strength.

I would never get him to accept officially.

So I pulled out my sword and held it in a way that the blunt side was facing forward. Then in a gust of wind, I disappeared from my place which was in the middle of Tengen and Giyu.

Their eyes widen in surprise but I am committed to my decision.

In the blink of an eye, I was in front of Gyomei. Not only that, my feet were above the ground and I swung the blunt side of my blade down at him in a perfect arc.

His hand moved in a blur and he stopped my blade with his plan. Veins popped out in his hand as the weight of my attack pushed down on him.

The ground he stood on caved in. A cobweb of cracks formed around his feet and a violent shockwave followed.

"Please accept my request. I insist." I said with a grin, eyes glowing purple.

...

"...If you say so."

Raw stregth exploded.

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

..

..

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