Incident

Back at the Flame Estate, Hiroto was sitting with Tanjiro.

"So, what happened with Giyu?" Hiroto said as he sat lazily down on the ground.

"Ah well, when I first went to find him he insisted on not training. I could smell the anger in his body, and when I asked him why he was mad he said that 'I'm mad because you didn't master the Breadth of Water. I could accept your older brother becoming the Flame Hashira, but you need to become the Water Hashira." Tanjiro scratched his head after explaining.

"Hm, well it's to be expected I guess. We did learn from the same master, and not only that, he was the one who brought us into the Demon Slayer Corps essentially. But we already talked to Urokodaki-San, so it should've been fine." Hiroto said.

"That's what I told him as well, but he said that someone has to be the Water Hashira right now because the Water Hashira seat is vacant," Tanjiro explained.

"Vacant? How? Giyu's the Water Hashira." Hiroto said, confused.

"He said that he wasn't." Tanjiro said, but then smiled and continued, "But later on he explained that during the final selection, he was with Sabito. Sabito was the one who saved everyone else, and Giyu was injured after a Demon attack. When he woke up, it was already over and he was selected for surviving the seven days."

"But, he never saw Sabito again afterward. He said that he didn't deserve to pass and that he wasn't worthy of being the Water Hashira. After that, he told me to not bother with him again and that he would never get the mark." Tanjiro said with a sigh at the end.

Hiroto looked outside of the window and said, "Well, since he decided to come back to the Hashira training, I assume that you managed to turn him around?"

Tanjiro nodded happily and said, "I did. Giyu mentioned that there was something Sabito and him entrusted to each other. When Sabito passed away, it took a heavier toll on Giyu than he let on. He still carries that to this day. I told him that isn't whatever Sabito entrusted to each other keeping the two of them together."

Hiroto smiled and ruffled Tanjiro's head. "You just always know what to say, don't you? Good job. Giyu's a tough nut to crack, but he's still a person, one weighed down by a sense of guilt and responsibility."

Tanjiro smiled back and let out a yawn. "Sorry, I'm just tired from today's training."

"Haha, no problem. Go and get some rest, you need to head onto the next training tomorrow anyways." Hiroto said to the sleepy Tanjiro.

"Mm, alright. Goodnight, brother." Tanjiro said, leaving the room groggily. Hiroto watched him leave for a moment then said to himself, "Oh wait, I forgot to ask him about the mark…"

-----

The next few days were quite uneventful for Hiroto. He went through the same daily routines with the trainees. Making them run through the course throughout the day and giving out advice when he felt it necessary. By word of mouth, a rumor reached Hiroto's ear.

Apparently, the trainees had an ongoing bet between themselves. What it entailed was whoever was hit the least by Hiroto's traps and rocks would win and have the first pick of dinner. Hearing this, Hiroto shrugged it off.

Hiroto thought to himself, 'It's good that there's at least some competition between them. This should push their progress further. Maybe I should start gathering more rocks…'

On some days, Hiroto would participate in the mark training. Well, it was called the mark training but none of them really knew what to concretely do. Remembering what Muichiro said at the Hashira meeting, the Hashira's that were a part of the training essentially just tried to raise their body temperatures as high as they could.

However, no matter how long they tried for, they never managed to form or attain the mark. Of course, this caused some dissatisfaction amongst the Hashira's. Well… Mostly Sanemi, who was cursing up a storm, but other than that, the other Hashira's were also displeased with themselves.

During one of the nights when Hiroto was finishing his daily duties, he received a letter from Zenitsu. After having read it, Hiroto almost barged his way towards the Wind Hashira's training location.

What Zenitsu wrote to him was that Sanemi went berserk on his own brother, Genya. Knowing Tanjiro, Hiroto immediately knew what he had done before finishing the entire letter.

Essentially, Sanemi claimed that Genya wasn't his true brother and the fact that Genya ate a Demon was spreading through the Demon Corps. The rumors were being cut as best as it could, but there were bound to be leaks.

From this, Tanjiro stepped in and tried to intervene. This caused Sanemi to throw his fury onto Tanjiro instead. From what he read of Zenitsu's letter, although Tanjiro did put up a fight, he still took quite the beating from Sanemi.

Reaching the door of his office, just as he was about to leave, a crow flew in from his window.

"Caw! Caw! You are not allowed to leave for the night! Caw!" The crow shouted in Hiroto's office.

"And why can't I?! You think that I'm supposed to stand back when that bastard went and beat up my brother?! I already looked past the fact that he stabbed my sister before, but now he went up and fought with Tanjiro!" Hiroto shouted at the crow.

"Caw! The orders come from Oyakata-Sama himself. He knew that you would be agitated, and has asked you to stay within the Flame Estate as you cool down. Caw!" The crow cawed.

Gripping his hands, Hiroto calmed down and said, "So, what happened in the end then? Although Tanjiro was slightly in the wrong, the majority of the fault lies on Shinazugawa. He's a Hashira. He shouldn't even be attacking the juniors, let alone go to the extent of needing everyone present to hold him down."

"You are right, Hiroto!" A familiar, and loud voice came from outside of his office. Opening the door, Rengoku entered his office.

"Rengoku? What are you doing here?" Hiroto asked.

"I heard what happened, and knew that I needed to come here before you do something drastic," Rengoku said, looking at the crow. "Although, it seems that it was unwanted in the first place."

Hiroto sighed and sat down on the couch to the side. Rengoku followed. Hiroto looked at Rengoku and said, "I'm fine. I was a bit rash just a second ago, but I calmed down. Ha, Oyakata-Sama even asked me to stay in the Flame Estate for the night. It seems he knew what I would have tried to do."

"Hahaha, of course! Oyakata-Sama is a great person. He is always paying attention to each and every one of us. I can tell you now, that he would not find this situation pleasant. Although he is currently bedridden, that does not mean that he isn't paying attention to all of us." Rengoku said.

Hiroto shook his head and said, "I can see why all of you look up to him so much."

"Hahaha. You will come to see how great he is in due time!" Rengoku laughed. However, in the next moment, he got a bit more serious and asked, "Hiroto. I need to ask you, is the rumor about Genya true?"

Hiroto looked at Rengoku and sighed. *sigh* "Yes. Back when I was at the swordsmith village and fighting the Upper Moon, he was stabbed. Multiple times. Each of those strikes were fatal. Would this be a problem?"

Rengoku shook his head and said, "It should not be. Although the juniors may not like the idea of a Demon Slayer having eaten a Demon and getting its powers, I highly doubt that Oyakata-Sama does not know of this matter personally. Besides, we have Nezuko, who is the first Demon to have conquered the Sun." Rengoku finished and took out a sweet potato from his pockets, offering it to Hiroto.

"No thanks." Hiroto rejected wryly, and said, "Hopefully this won't blow out of proportions. From what I remember, Genya didn't exhibit any tendencies towards Human blood. Well, it seems that your trip was unwarranted since I don't plan on leaving and picking a fight with Shinazugawa... yet. Do you want to stay the night?"

"No need, I need to prepare for my own training too!" Rengoku announced.

"Training? Wait, are you also going to take part?" Hiroto asked incredulously.

"Haha, of course! Although I have only one arm, I can't just sit by while everyone is doing their best to train and get stronger! I am a former Hashira, so I can still impart some knowledge to the juniors!" Rengoku said with his trademark stoic smile.

Hiroto smiled and said, "That sounds great. What will you be training them in?"

Rengoku answered straight away. "I don't know!"