Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

[Seiji's POV]

"So...what do you think of the boy?"

"He'll become strong very very quickly. I've never seen talent like that before, it's like the way of the sword is in his blood," I replied.

I was in Ubuyashiki's official room. It was bigger than you expected and even hollower than you'd believe. There was only a single futon in the giant room and nothing else. The room was so empty you could smell the wood from which it was made.

Ubuyashiki who was sleeping on a futon gave me a thin smile at my reply, as if that was not the answer to his question.

"I meant in another aspect...his character, and his mental and physical health," he said.

"Oh," I blinked. I just assumed that was what he was interested in since he let me meet Muichiro while he was training.

"He is a broken boy who doesn't even know he is broken," I said, "We will need to wait for him to recover his memory first before we can even help him heal mentally. Physically, he is healthy and will only get stronger from here on out,"

"That's good to hear," Ubuyashiki said, his white eyes closed as if my sentence had truly brought peace to his mind.

"He is currently sleeping in the other room. I suggest you don't wake him up tomorrow and let him sleep as long as he wants," I said.

"Were you genuine when you promised to teach him?" Ubuyashiki asked from his sleeping state.

I took a moment to consider that. I had planned to teach Tanjiro and Kanae already, so I figured I'd better make it a proper Naruto team by adding one more. Besides, I reckoned it wouldn't take much to teach Muichiro.

In the manga, he was able to reach the Hashira level in two months by training alone. And with my help, it should even be more remarkable,

"Sure, why not," I said, "I'll be leaving now,"

"Thank you for your time, Seiji. When the time is right, I will send Muichiro to the Flower Mansion," he said.

"Okay," I replied while leaving the room.

I was free from getting missions because of the request I made a few weeks ago. But now I had other duties to attend to, something far more important than merely taking missions.

Training the next generation.

'Although....' I thought to myself, 'I wonder if the new generation would truly need to fight again,'

I wanted to end Muzan even earlier than he was fated to die. If we went by the original timeline, Muzan would die in four years time.

There was nothing much I could do with myself to get stronger. My skills had reached nigh perfection. The only way I would grow is through natural growth or by fighting stronger opponents.

What I needed now was the perfect opportunity.

And I was hopeful that that would come this winter.

When Muzan came for the Kamado family under the cold blizzard of winter, I would be there, waiting.

..

..

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[Seiji's POV]

I returned to the Flower Mansion after that. It was already night by then and while I was travelling through the thick jungle, I swiftly killed any demons I came across.

Two of them to be more specific.

One of them was like a centaur, except he was a demonic donkey. The other was a man with a Scorpio stinger at his back. I killed them without even stopping my travels, they weren't worth the effort,

I sliced their head clean off from behind. I used Sun Breathing to slay them so although it was a single slash, they writhed in agony as they turned into ash faster than any other breathing style could do.

It took a few hours, but before it was late into the night, I had reached the Flower Mansion.

I entered the mansion from the back entrance like I did before and made a beeline to Kanae's room. I minded my steps as I quietly entered the room.

"Hmmm?" but even with my best effort to imitate a ninja, Kanae was able to sense my presence immediately with her heightened senses obtained from to the loss of her sight.

She took a few sniff in the air like a dog, "Seiji?" she called.

"Don't tell me I smell that bad," I said, flustered at the fact that she could tell it was me from my scent.

"You don't," she giggled.

She was half sitting on the bed, her back resting on the bedframe and there was a book on her lap.

"???"

I stopped my approach and took a moment to stare at the sad scene. I felt my heart twisting inside my ribs when I saw her dainty fingers feeling the writings on the page.

"Seiji?" she questioned with a tilt of her head.

I took in a deep breath to widen the cavity of my chest, hoping the feeling would diminish amidst the air. Then I released it in a long sigh that made my knees go weak.

"Yes," I responded gently and went to her side. I grabbed her shoulder as soft as I could, with both hands so that she knew I was not holding anything else with the other. She instinctively felt more secure at my touch.

"What were you doing?" I asked.

She perked up at the question and realized that she was holding a book in her hand. Her body language became timid as she closed the book with a small thud.

"err....testing," she said.

"Testing what?"

"My new senses," she said, "I realized that ever since I lost my eyes, my other senses were enhanced. I've heard stories, Seiji, so I was wondering if I could read by feeling the ink on the paper,"

I hummed softly, "And how'd that go?"

"I couldn't feel anything. It feels blank, the ink is too thin," she said, her head falling by an inch.

"Would you like me to read it for you?" I offered with a smile.

"It's a very lengthy book, you'd really do that for me?" she asked.

As if she wasn't aware that I'd do almost anything for her. I thought to myself.

"Here, let me see," I said and took the book from her hands. I took a glance at the cover to read the title.

'Echoes of Spring' was the title of the book.

"Interesting," I said while opening the book and going through it as fast as I could. From an outside perspective, it looked like I was mindlessly flipping the pages of the book.

But in reality, my eyes caught every page like a camera and breezed through the contents. In less than a minute, I was able to get the summary of the story by piecing obvious information like the titles, the chapter name etc.

"Hmm," I said thoughtfully, a blush crawling on my cheeks.

Normally, I blushed from my ears so you could imagine how flustered I was for the blush to reach my cheeks. Good thing Kanae couldn't see it.

"This is a very intense read," I commented.

The book was actually a novel about a mix of romance, drama and smut. To summarise it, it was about how a young teacher in a music school fell in love with her genius student. The female lead was the teacher so it was an older girl falling for a talented young guy.

Maybe reading this out loud for her would be tougher than expected. I'd feel pretty awkward to read out the spicy bits.

"Are you sure you want me to read this?" I asked.

"Hmm?" she tilted her head, "I don't know. What's the title of the book?"

"It says Echoes of Spring," I said and she froze.

People had varying reactions when faced with absolutely horrible situations. Kanae was the type of person to silently freak out within herself.

Too bad my eyes could see everything.

Her heart almost stopped beating as her vocal cords vibrated without making a sound. A healthy hur of red immediately flushed her cheeks as she shyly took the book from my hands.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this. I'd prefer if you tell me about what happened today, like you promised," she said with fake chuckles that did not hide her nervousness.

She didn't know that I had already gone through the story. She thought she was slick and that I wouldn't notice what I was holding.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" I began and a shit-eating grin spread on my lips, unseen.

"Are you afraid I'd discover that you read smuts?" I teased and much to my amusement, red finally consumed her face fully.

"W-What?" she asked, covering her whole face with her hands.

"A smut about an older lady and her young lover boy, is that why you fell for me? I guess you have a type," I said, teasing the poor girl more.

There was only around two year gap between us but I was doing it for the sake of teasing her. She became extremely shy and embarrassed that she took to the sheets, covering herself with the blanket.

I released a peal of laughter at the sake of her embarrassment. I could see her perfectly, she couldn't hide.

"It's not because of that," she said suddenly under the blanket after a while.

"Hmm?"

"I said, its not because of that. I like those type of things because of you, not the other way around," she admitted.

Adorable.

..

..

But I made a mistake. I showed my capabilities to read her lips even under the blanket and that seem to suddenly give her an idea.

She pulled the blaket off her and she emerged, sweaty and still blushing.

"And don't play that game with me, when you are actually a closet pervert," she said and her words caused her to blush deeper. But this time, not for herself.

"What? Where does this come from?"

"I know," she said, determined.

"Know what?" I asked.

She thinned her lips and looked at me with giant eyes sparking with shyness but also a resolute rebellion. She wanted to tease me back.

"That you...you...you..." she stuttered, "You have been peeping at me for years!"

!!!!

I felt the air change as Kanae pulled an Uno reverse from somehwere. Now I was the one caught red handed.

I was not sure what happened either. But she called me out on my most embarrassing habit which I would never tell anyone.

In Japanese she called me.

'Hentai boy,'

...

...

...

[IMAGE]

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Author : We will return to actions again soon. Hope you enjoyed the slow pace.

Stone