Breathing Style

A few days passed after finding himself in this new world, and Yozora has already started adapting to his new life.

During the past few days, he has not been idle. The first thing he did after understanding his system was, buying a breathing style that suits him.

{Breath of the Night, First Form: Star Slash!}

*Swoosh* *Swoosh*

Five consecutive sword slashes came and cut the practice dummy. The slashes formed a star-shaped cut on them.

"Haa..." Yozora let out a breath before smiling, "I can finally use the first form quite well." he muttered.

Yes, he was happy just because he finally can do the first form of his breathing technique. That may seem like a joke but he has only been training it for a few days.

Not only that, when he bought the breath of the night, it only gave him the knowledge and not mastery which forced him to train.

Luckily, for some unknown reason, Yozora's physical fitness is already quite strong and has passed the minimum physical strength needed to start training in his new breath style.

As for the two sisters, they left after a day of Yozora waking up due to a demon-slaying job. He was only left with the girl, Kanae brought to, Kanao.

'Luckily, those two are not here so I can use my sword quite easily. Those kakushi are also not here due to work. But what's with that girl, Kanao, she's like a lifeless robot.' Yozora glanced at the girl at the side, watching him intently with an emotionless face.

During his days staying here, that girl has been silent, even when Kanao spoke to her.

'I'll mind my own business,' He turned away and started training on the second form of his breathing style.

After being reborn, his behaviour changed compared to his previous life. He didn't try to get close to other people and just ignored them especially due to the reason he died.

.....

Night~

The kakushi gave Yozora and Kanao some food. And currently, the two sat on opposite sides of the same table, in seiza style sitting.

"Mm," Yozora ate his food swiftly, not minding his surroundings but stopping as he glanced at Kanao.

The girl wasn't moving and just stared listlessly at the food in front of her.

After some moments, Yozora continued eating his food but then he once again noticed how Kanao wasn't moving.

He frowned, "Oi, eat your food, will you. You, staying still like that is making my dinner uncomfortable." he scowled.

Kanao slowly turned towards Yozora and his frown grew. The girl was looking at him with emotionless eyes like it was a doll, not a human.

"Eat!" He said as he used his chopsticks to put some food on top of her bowl of rice.

Kanao glanced at her bowl and grabbed something out of her sleeve.

It was a coin which she then flipped using her fingers. The coin stayed mid-air for a few seconds before landing on her palms, the result was heads.

Yozora watched the spectacle in confusion but then noticed that Kanao slowly grabbed her chopsticks and started eating food.

He gazed away from her and then continued eating his food.

The whole scene was witnessed by Kanae and Shinobu who just arrived from their job when they saw the event. They were hidden in the corner and they deliberately hid their presence so they weren't noticed.

"My my, Yozora-chan is really cute. Fufufu~" Kanae has her hand covering her mouth as she chuckled.

Shinobu smiled slightly too after watching the scene.

"Let's leave them alone, Shinobu-chan,"

"Yes, nee-san."

.....

The next day, Yozora continued his training early in the morning. He repeatedly tried on doing the second form of his breathing style but he didn't use his sword this time, he stored it inside his inventory.

Instead, he used some wooden training swords that were used for rehabilitation purposes.

He did this until the sun rose high up, shining brightly above him.

His whole body was full of sweat, his clothes were drenched with it.

"Huff...huff...huff..."

Yozora dropped his wooden sword and collapsed on the floor. He laid there, trying to catch his breath.

"Ara Ara, you're up quite early, Yozora-chan." A familiar voice said,

Yozora didn't need to turn his head to know who the voice came from, it was Kanae.

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

Yozora heard footsteps coming toward him but he didn't move.

Soon a shadow loomed over him and he saw that familiar beautiful face. Her long hair draped down her shoulders like a waterfall.

"Good morning," Kanae smiled brightly at him.

Yozora scowled at her and turned away to the side, "You're annoying, go away tch."

"Fufu, how cute," Kanae just chuckled and sat beside him.

"Why were you up early? Kanao is still asleep," She asked but only received silence.

"I know you still don't trust us but at least try to talk more. I don't know what your past was but remember, the past is in the past. Don't dwell on it too much and move on, instead focus more on the present." She continued yet no reply came.

She then took one last glance at Yozora before standing and walking away.

As for Yozora, his expression seems to tell he was in deep contemplation.

.....

Yozora stared at the bright full moon up in the sky along with the countless stars shining brightly. His expression was unreadable yet his thoughts were in a disarray.

One thing he noticed after a few days of being reborn was, that he changed. From his past personality, mentality, etc. All of it changed, while the change in his personality can be attributed to what he experienced before his death, the change in his mentality didn't.

Frankly, his mentality is currently quite complicated, it became a mix of his adult mentality yet mixed with a childish one. This change can be observed in how he reacted to Kanae's approach, earlier in the morning.

This has been bothering him for quite a while now, in the end, he just attributed it to being reborn in a child's body. This causes his mental state to regress along with his physical state.

In fact, his thoughts were quite accurate with just a bit of error as there are other factors to the change but he doesn't know that.

.....

A few weeks passed by swiftly and Yozora's training is starting to slow down. With him getting adept at using his breathing technique's 1st to 5th form but stopped as he can't seem to execute the 6th form, no matter what he did.

"Huff...huff...huff..."

Once again, Yozora was laying down after trying to do the 6th form but to no avail.

'Just why can't I use it?' he thought,

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard footsteps approaching. He abruptly rose and saw Kanae, smiling in front of him.

"How was your training going?" Kanae asked, she already knew that Yozora was training in a breathing technique new to her.

"...My training hasn't made progress, I'm stuck." He replied shortly after,

Kanae was surprised as he replied before smiling, "Can you tell me how you're stuck? Maybe I can help,"

Yozora glanced at her smiling face and contemplated for some time before explaining his situation.

"Hm, I think you need to learn Total Concentration Breathing and Total Concentration: Constant to progress further," Kanae explained

Yozora tilted his head confused, "Total Concentration Breathing? Total Concentration: Constant?"

Kanae started explaining about the two tjings she mentioned. Basically, it goes like this;

*Total Concentration Breathing is an advanced and esoteric breathing technique where a user inhales the maximum amount of oxygen within a specific breath pattern to raise their physical and mental prowess to their utmost limits. The effects include a plethora of enhanced physical and mental abilities, like superhuman physical characteristics (i.e. strength, speed, stamina, durability and agility), faster thought processes, maximizing concentration and hyper-information processing. At a more advanced level, Total Concentration is also capable of clotting wounds from severe injuries and slowing down the circulation of poison in the bloodstream.

*Total Concentration: Constant is a Total Concentration Breathing state during the morning, noon, and night, and even while asleep that advanced Demon Slayers, such as the Hashiras, can constantly maintain. There is an immense difference in strength, speed, and stamina between someone who can maintain Total Concentration Breathing at all times and someone who cannot.

.....

At the end of the explanation, Yozora finally understand.

"So Total Concentration Breathing is used consciously while Total Concentration: Constant is always used subconsciously by those who mastered their breathing technique," He said

"That's right," Kanae nodded

"So, how do I start training to use both?" Yozora asked

"For Total Concentration Breathing, you need to master your breathing technique first so you know how to control your breathing. Only then can you proceed to training Total Concentration: Constant,"

"I see," Yozora muttered

"Nee-san, it's time for breakfast!" Shinobu called out to Kanae.

The latter turned towards her sister and smiled, "I'm coming! Yozora-chan, we should go too." she said before walking ahead.

Yozora stood up and followed Kanae before passing by her as he said softly, "Thank you..." and increased his speed.

"Oh..." Kanae was surprised but happy as Yozora finally started opening up to them. She soon followed quickly and they had a wonderful breakfast.

With the new knowledge acquired from Kanae, Yozora finally had a new training direction. From then on, he focused on mastering the breathing part of his breathing technique and not the styles used for combat purpose.

But as expected, mastering a breathing technique without someone guiding him, Yozora had a hard time. But he persevered everyday to master his breathing technique.