6

"Amane-sama, are you heading somewhere?"

"Ah, Haruto-kun." Amane returned the greeting. "And yes, I have somewhere to be."

"Are you going alone without any guards?" I cannot help but say with a slight frown. Our respect for her aside, Amane is important to the Corps, she is Oyakata-sama's most valuable helper. One can argue that without her, the Corps would not be able to function as smoothly.

"It's just a short-"

That means that she is going off somewhere without any guards protecting her.

"Then I'm coming too." I replied politely, but also with a firm tone that conveyed to her my silent disapproval about her wandering out of HQ alone without any form of protection. I know that Oyakata-sama and Amane-sama dislikes having guards around his mansion, feeling that it is a waste of valuable manpower that could otherwise be better used in slaying demons.

However, we Hashiras begged to differ. In our opinion, none of us would make a single complaint even if he made us guard his home round the clock because to us, such an endeavour is both necessary and worth the effort. He is our leader, and if the leader falls, the organisation would follow. He deserves the highest form of protection no matter where he and his family goes.

Unfortunately, Oyakata-sama can be very persuasive and is even more stubborn than the Hashiras' combined might. So even till now, there are no guards around his home. The only thing protecting him and his family is the secrecy of his mansion's location.

And now, Amane is going off somewhere, alone, without us Hashiras knowing. This lack of security is unacceptable. If Muzan and his demons ever caught wind of her doing something like that they would converge on her the moment she took a single step out of the mansion. The Corps cannot afford to lose Amane.

"Haruto-"

"Amane-sama." I gently insisted as I stood in front of her. "Please do not have such a low opinion of your importance to us Demon Slayers and to the Corps. I understand where you and Oyakata-sama are coming from, that both of you felt that having us Demon Slayers and Hashiras acting as your personal bodyguards is a waste of valuable resources. However, you are our leaders, physically and spiritually. If anything were to happen to any of you there would only be negative repercussions."

Amane remained silent, probably not knowing how to make a reply to my statement.

"I do not know where you are going and I won't ask, but if you feel that having a group of Slayers following after you for your protection is a waste of valuable manpower, then please allow at least one of us Hashiras to accompany you. I can volunteer for this job, or if you think that it is inconvenient for a man like me to follow you around, I am sure that Kanae, or other fellow Slayers like Shinobu and Kanroji wouldn't mind doing what I cannot. This may sound rude, but for a person of your stature to leave the HQ without any form of protection is quite frankly, not a wise decision."

Our silent staring continued for a few more seconds before Amane let out a soft sigh.

"I guess I couldn't argue my way out of this one. I had hoped to sneak out of here without any of you Hashiras realising, but I guess I was too naive."

Amane looked up to face me once more.

"Very well. Whatever I have to do won't take long and it isn't very far anyway, so I can agree to having you follow me around to where I have to go on a few conditions. Firstly, Kagaya will have to be informed about this. Secondly, it must not interfere with whatever duties you might have right now."

"I assure you that I'm rather free right now." I replied.

"In that case, let me inform Kagaya, then we can be on our way."

As it turns out, Amane had been regularly leaving the HQ for quite a while before I accidentally bumped into her that day. The reason?

There are hopeful candidates that she and Oyakata-sama want to recruit into the Corps, even if they are just children right now. In fact, from what I was told the children are merely a year younger than Tanjiro, the same age as Nezuko.

According to Amane, she had been visiting those children ever since spring. It is now summer. Somehow, I cannot help but be impressed that Amane had been going out regularly without any guards by her side for one entire season without us Hashiras realising it.

I'm definitely holding a secret Hashira meeting the moment I get back to address this issue. We can reluctantly accept Oyakata-sama and Amane not wanting their mansion to be guarded by fellow Slayers, but we cannot accept any one of them leaving the protection of their home without a single Slayer accompanying them. This will have to be rectified.

"Maybe you can do what I could not. The older twin is really stubborn, not that I blame him for it."

"Twins?"

"Twins." Amane nodded as we walked along the dirt path up an unnamed mountain filled with trees. "They are the descendants of Tsugikuni Michikatsu, the older brother of Tsugikuni Yoriichi. Yoriichi was the creator of the first Breath Style that we know today, the Breath of the Sun that you are using right now."

I frowned a little upon hearing Amane's words. I could barely remember anything about Yoriichi beyond him being the original user of the Breath of the Sun and that he somehow passed it on to my ancestor. Whatever extra information that I learnt about him was from my visit to Tamayo. As for this Michikatsu person, my head hurts just by trying to remember who he is, like I should know more about him but somehow, I just couldn't recall a thing.

This sensation was like how I tried remembering the meaning of my family name before I turned four. In the end, I decided to just let it be. Maybe I would remember more after I see the twins that Amane held in such high regards.

"Oyakata-sama and you both believe that they have the same potential that their ancestors once possess."

"We do." Amane affirmed. "From what we can tell, they both live a hard life. Their parents had both passed away last year. Their mother from an incurable cold, and their father fell to his death from a cliff while trying to pick herbs for their mother in an attempt to save her. Right now, they only have each other. I suspect that this is the real reason why the older twin is so adamantly against the idea of them being Demon Slayers, because he doesn't want his brother to be a Demon Slayer and lose his life as a result."

Amane then turned to me with a somewhat rare cheeky smile on her face.

"Does that line of reasoning sound familiar?"

"Very." I replied dryly. "Should I get Shinazugawa here too?"

Amane let out a laugh.

"We can understand each of your reasons, really. Of course, Kagaya and I wouldn't force anyone to be a Demon Slayer against their will, but it doesn't hurt to try and bolster our strength. My husband and I are not swordsmen, but even we can tell that the twins really hold infinite potential. You can see for yourself once we are there. Their additions to the Corps can only be beneficial to our cause should they join, that is what we believe."

Throughout it all, there is that nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I would recognise those twins when I see them.

Is there a pair of twins in canon that I should really know of and have forgotten?

"Why are you still here?! I told you, didn't I? GO AWAY! You think I have no idea what your true intentions are, huh?! You are simply trying to use us! Scram!"

A basket of something was thrown our way. With a flick of my hand, that basket changed direction and landed somewhere else instead. God, if Amane had indeed been paying them visits since spring and this is the reception she received every single time, I could only imagine the kind of things this older twin had thrown at her since then.

Amane didn't flinch nor did she outwardly react. She simply looked at the twins without a change in her facial expression. I'm glad that I accompanied her today. I have a feeling that the usual reception she received is a lot worse whenever she comes here alone. I could see the wary gaze the twins are giving me the moment they spotted the sword attached to the belt on my waist.

I also recognised them immediately on sight, and I was reminded just what it is that I had forgotten.

One of them has to be the future Mist Hashira, Tokito Muichiro. It's just that I could not remember if Muichiro is the older or younger twin. In fact, I could not recall if he had any family at all. I had forgotten too much, but if Muichiro did not have any family members by the time canon rolls around it would mean that he had lost his twin somewhere down the line. Most Demon Slayers became slayers because they had lost people close to them, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case for Muichiro in canon.

Looking at the angry older twin, I cannot help but wonder if there is anything that I can do to help given my spotty memories about their history.

I glanced at Amane. Whatever approach she took obviously wasn't working. Maybe it's just like she said. Where she had failed, I may succeed.

I took a step forward, breaking the tension. The basket that the older twin threw at us earlier had firewood chips in it and they had all spilled the moment I deflected it. I simply bent down and placed them back into the basket, ignoring everyone else.

"Here." I handed the basket back to the younger twin, who obviously is more welcoming of our presence. He seems to be more receptive to the idea of becoming a Demon Slayer. I have no idea if he truly understands what it means to be a Demon Slayer, but now is not the right time to ask.

"T-Thank you." The younger twin mumbled back. The older twin casted a furious glare my way, a glare which I pointedly ignored. We are standing outside the twins' home and I took a sweeping glance at it and their surroundings, trying to understand the kind of lives they lead from what I can observe.

"You are woodcutters?"

The younger twin nodded his head in reply.

"Hmm, what a coincidence. My family are charcoal sellers. Had been doing it for generations." I said thoughtfully as I helped to clean up the mess the older twin had created in his angry outburst earlier.

"Don't touch our things with your filthy hands!" The older twin ran up and slapped my hand away when I was about to bend down and pick up the axe. He put himself in between his brother and I, seething mad for reasons quite unknown to me.

However, I do pick up on his emotions through my sense of smell. Fear, protectiveness, distrust. A small smile graced my lips when I recognised the sense of protectiveness the older twin is emanating.

I should have known. He is just like me. And maybe Shinazugawa too, now that I think about it.

"My name is Kamado Haruto."

"I don't care." The older twin spat before he dragged his younger brother with him back to their house and slammed the door right in our faces, leaving Amane and I outside in the scorching summer sun.

"Sorry you have to see that." Amane apologised as she walked up to me.

"You have nothing to apologise for, Amane-sama." I replied with a smile before turning back to look at the wooden house.

"If you trust me enough, Amane-sama, do you mind leaving the recruiting to me? I'm not confident enough to say that I can succeed in recruiting them, but maybe if they spend enough time with a Demon Slayer and understand what a Demon Slayer really does, their opinions might change."

Amane looked at me, then back at the wooden house.

"Very well." She sighed. "This may be a better arrangement."

"Why are you still here?"

I cracked open an eye from where I was lying underneath the shade of a tree the entire night until the morning sun rose again, spotting the older twin glaring at me from the door. It's near impossible to differentiate the twins based on their appearance, but it's easier to tell who is who based on their scent.

And even without the scent, just the hostility alone is enough to clue me in that I am talking to the older twin.

"Morning."

"Don't you morning me." The older twin growled as he picked up an axe and hurled it my way. I simply sat up, allowing the axe to land at where my head was earlier.

Huh, that was a scarily accurate throw. Oyakata-sama and Amane were right, the blood of the first users of the original Breath Styles do run in their veins. This cannot be attributed to anything else other than natural talent.

"That could have killed me, you know?"

"Like that would have killed you." The older twin scoffed as he walked up to me and with a vengeful glare, grabbed the axe before leaving, presumably to chop firewood.

"Yuichiro, what's- Kamado-san?"

"It's me. Morning." I greeted the younger twin who had poked his head out to see what the disturbance was about. If he called the older twin Yuichiro, then he must be Muichiro.

I turned back to the older twin.

"So, Yuichiro, right?"

"Shut. Up." Yuichiro growled as he picked up an empty basket and stomped off, but not before barking at his younger brother to prepare breakfast while he went and cut some firewood in the meantime.

"Sorry about Yuichiro." Muichiro apologised. "He's just… been like this since our parents passed away."

"I understand. Believe it or not, I was like him too. In fact, we are very similar." I said with a smile. "Don't think too badly about your brother. He's just worried about you."

"W-Worried?" Muichiro sputtered, as if not believing anything I said. "All he ever does is to scold me and whenever I try bringing up the topic of us becoming Demon Slayers like Amane-san suggested he just…"

"Flipped?"

Muichiro nodded his head dejectedly and turned back towards the kitchen, probably off to prepare breakfast like Yuichiro told him to. I entered the simplistic house as well. The younger twin didn't say anything as I helped him with preparing breakfast. I decided to break the ice.

"I don't think I know your name yet."

"Muichiro. Tokito Muichiro."

"It's a nice name." I replied. "Mu as in Mugen? Infinity?"

"Or more like Mu for In for Invalid." Muichiro muttered as he took up a knife to cut a radish. "That's what Yuichiro always says, the Mu in my name is In for Invalid, the In for Ineffective. I could never do anything on my own. I cannot cook rice properly like what Yuichiro can do, I cannot cut firewood properly like he can do. I can never do anything properly on my own so things like becoming a swordsman to save everyone is nothing but wishful thinking."

I remained silent as Muichiro continued to cut the radish. All this while, I observed the way he held himself and the knife, seeing how he cut it up so smoothly and rapidly and yet I can barely see any hints of wasted movements.

No wasted movements.

I was shocked at the sight. If my gift in using a blade is natural talent, then this boy has at least ten times my talent in using a sword.

Talent. All I can see is talent when I am looking at Muichiro. He is a true genius. A prodigy.

"I wasn't lying when I said Yuichiro is worried about you." I spoke up as I helped to boil some water.

"And how would you know?"

"Like him, I am an older brother too. I am the eldest, I have six younger siblings. Like Yuichiro, I don't want my younger siblings to be Demon Slayers if I can help it although I haven't been successful in preventing two of them from following my path. It's something that I struggle with every single second of the day."

Muichiro looked up at me, obviously interested in hearing what I have to say.

"You probably don't realise it, Muichiro, but behind all the glamour from being a swordsman is neverending danger and bloodshed. Demon Slayers very rarely live beyond thirty years of age. Do you get it now? Why is Yuichiro so adamant against you becoming a Demon Slayer?"

"It doesn't seem like it with the way he is acting towards me all the time."

"Not everyone knows how to properly express their innermost thoughts. Your brother is one such person. In fact, I am guilty of it as well." I admitted as memories of the actions I took to dissuade my siblings from becoming Demon Slayers started to fill my mind. I'm not proud of most of my actions, but back then it was the only way I know how to dissuade them from following my footsteps.

I can relate to Yuichiro, very much so. That said...

"And Yuichiro, stop hiding behind the wall. There's no way you can hide from me without undergoing the same training I did."

I heard a quiet curse being muttered as Yuichiro appeared at the door with an ugly scowl. He has been eavesdropping for quite a while now. Guess him going off to chop firewood was a lie, he probably was hoping that I would leave on my own accord when he stomped off earlier.

"Breakfast?" I offered as I began to help cook the rice.

Yuichiro looked at the rice, then back at me.

"That's our breakfast. We don't have enough to feed you. You go get your own breakfast."

Well, fair enough.

"M-Meat…"

I did not stop Muichiro from staring at the wild game that I had hunted, his jaws dropped in awe. I could see how he is almost practically salivating all over it.

And so, I handed over a wild chicken that I had hunted and grilled to perfection.

"Here, take it."

"C-C-Can we?" Muichiro asked timidly. I simply nodded.

"I have more than enough. Besides, I can tell that you and Yuichiro barely have enough to feed yourselves."

"If you think putting up the nice guy act is enough for us to change our minds, then you are dead wrong." Yuichiro said with a sneer as we sat ourselves down around a small table.

"You are wrong, I'm far from being nice. The nice people are people like Amane-sama and my colleagues, not me." I replied as I ate my breakfast. Muichiro is tearing into the grilled chicken that I had given him. The twins obviously had not eaten meat for a long time.

"Yuichiro! You really should try it!" Muichiro eagerly offered a piece of chicken meat and held it to Yuichiro, who simply pushed it away.

"I'm not taking anything from him, or any of those Demon Slayers." Yuichiro growled as he went back to eat his radish porridge. Muichiro looked a little lost as he held the chicken meat in his hand.

I simply opt to continue to eat my own meal. It's not like I'm expecting the chicken to result in a magical change in Yuichiro's attitude anyway.

"Why are you still following after us?"

"In order for us to get to know each other better." I replied with a hum from where I am tailing the twins.

"We are going to cut firewood, something beneath what a swordsman would do." Yuichiro said with another of his usual sneers. It's not even afternoon yet and already I am used to it at this point.

"In case you had forgotten, I had told you that I came from a family of charcoal sellers. Cutting firewood is something that I had been doing ever since I could lift an axe."

"Pft."

Yuichiro decided to ignore me as he put down the basket he was carrying and held his axe with his hands. Soon, he got to work with Muichiro, who is also helping to cut firewood nearby.

"It's inefficient."

"What?"

"Your way of cutting firewood is inefficient." I informed Yuichiro frankly and took the axe from his hands, earning myself another one of his many scowls. I simply walked up to another similar-sized tree and positioned myself with a stance.

"This, is how you use an axe."

I fell the tree with a single swing. I turned around, spotting the shocked looks Muichiro and Yuichiro are giving me. I simply asked them another question.

"Want to learn?"

"It's amazing! We got so much more firewood today! With this, we could probably buy meat-"

By the time we were done the sun was starting to set. Muichiro could not stop talking about how much easier it is to cut firewood after I taught them how to wield an axe in a more efficient manner. From my observation and the impromptu lesson which I had given them, I can conclude that the twins are really geniuses in their own right when it comes to the blade.

They pick things up extremely quickly. Not only that, they barely have any wasted movements whenever they swing their axe, or anything sharp in general. Their forms are near perfect even without any prior training. Any other flaws which I could spot, they only need me to point it out once before the flaw disappears entirely, never to be seen again.

They are definitely Hashira material. They are really geniuses when it comes to using a blade.

"Don't think I will be grateful just because-"

"I don't expect you to." I cut Yuichiro off before he could complete his sentence. Muichiro is happily storing the large amount of firewood that he had cut today, leaving me and Yuichiro alone in our own corner and out of earshot.

"I was like you, you know?"

"Do I look like I care?"

"Like I told you before, my family had been charcoal sellers for generations. Like you, we cut firewood from dawn to dusk in order to make a living. Life is hard for us too, especially when my parents have seven children to feed."

Yuichiro simply remained silent as he began to properly store the portion of the firewood which he had collected, but I know that he is listening.

"I met my first demon during nightfall, like right now. I was thirteen and on my way back home after selling charcoal and firewood to the townsfolk. The demon was lurking at the mountain where my family lived. Like you and Muichiro, I am naturally talented with a blade. I fought the demon with nothing but an axe and beheaded it with a single strike. However, demons cannot be killed with the exception of three things. The sun, wisteria flowers, or a weapon made from Scarlet Crimson Ore. I didn't have any of the three with me back then."

Yuichiro tossed a firewood into the corner with a little more force than necessary, probably hinting at me to shut up and leave. I simply continued my side of the story.

"I got lucky. A Demon Slayer was nearby and he saved me. It was how I met a Demon Slayer for the first time and at that moment, I decided to be a Demon Slayer. If a demon could appear so close to home once, then it could happen again a second time, a third time, and so on. To me, I feel that there is a need for me to learn how to properly slay demons. This is the only way I know of that can allow me to protect my family because the threat that demons posed to my family is very, very real."

Yuichiro took a brief pause in his actions before he continued doing whatever he was doing.

"My mother wasn't happy with my decision. She still isn't. My father, on the other hand, has always been supportive of me no matter what I do as long as I am sure that I want to walk the path that I have chosen. I soon became a Hashira, one of the strongest members in the Corps."

"Like I said, I don't care." Yuichiro snapped without looking back in my direction. "Just leave already."

I pretended that I didn't hear a thing and continued.

"Things were fine for two years. Then one day, my worst fears came true. A demon had found my home where my family was staying and I wasn't there."

Yuichiro froze.

"I arrived early enough to protect my mother and my siblings, but too late to save my father. To date, that is something that I deeply regretted. It is something that will follow me until the day I die." I said with a sigh. "This haori that you see me wearing, it belonged to my father. The same goes for the hanafuda earrings. It is the only memento I have left of my father."

"Get to the point."

"The thing is, demons are everywhere, Yuichiro." I acquiesced to his wish and got straight to the point. "Of course, you and Muichiro might be lucky enough to never meet one in your entire lives. If that is so, good for you, I am saying this from the bottom of my heart. However, if you are unlucky like me, who lost a loved one despite my best efforts in keeping my family safe from demons, then you will realise you would wish that you have the strength to keep them safe."

I walked up and placed a hand on Yuchiro's shoulder. Yuichiro didn't turn around, but at least he didn't brush me off.

"I know you are worried about Muichiro, and I understand. Really, I do, because I am an older brother like you are. If I were you I wouldn't want Muichiro to be a Demon Slayer too but let's face it, Yuichiro. The fact that you don't seek demons doesn't mean that they wouldn't seek you out. What would you do if that is the case? What can you do?"

Yuichiro didn't give me an answer.

"If there's another thing that I regret, it's that I couldn't stop my brother and sister from following my footsteps. The one thing that I was trying my best to prevent them to do, they did it. They are now training to be Demon Slayers too. If I could have my way I would never let them be one, but nobody has a right to dictate how anyone else should live their lives. The only thing I could do as their older brother is to equip them with the necessary skills as best as I could, so that they will return back alive."

"So I should allow Muichiro to be a Demon Slayer too? Because you allowed your younger siblings to be Demon Slayers?"

"No, that's not what I am insinuating." I shook my head and helped Yuichiro in arranging the firewood. "Like I said, I just want to understand you and Muichiro better. I admit that Muichiro probably doesn't fully understand what being a Demon Slayer means, unlike you. You are right to be worried, to be wary of us. We Demon Slayers rarely live past twenty years of age. I won't lie, even for someone like me there's a high chance that I would never live past thirty. If I'm lucky I might live past twenty-five, but that's about it."

"And even then, you allowed your siblings to be Demon Slayers?"

"I only allowed two of them to be Demon Slayers, and no matter what happens the three of us will be the first and last from the Kamado family to be Demon Slayers. That is my promise to my mother." I replied honestly. "Like I said, it's a dangerous job. Like I told you, I cannot decide their future for them. Only they know what is best for them, because it is their lives, not mine. What I can do is to ensure that they fully understand what they are getting themselves into and that they are as well-equipped as they can be. That is all."

Our work here finally done, I dusted my hands and looked at Yuichiro, who had turned to face me as well.

"I won't lie, Muichiro and you will very likely be the most talented swordsmen the Corps will see if the both of you decide to join. Both of you are a natural with a blade. However, we will never force you to join us, that I promise you. The reason I am telling you my side of the story is because you are a lot like me. For our siblings, we can do anything, we can become anything."

"Don't assume to understand who I really am."

"And don't assume that I cannot understand you, because our experiences and circumstances are painfully similar in several aspects." I replied. "In fact, there are quite a number of Slayers that I know of who are like you, doing everything they can to protect their younger siblings from danger. We are all alike, it's just a matter of how alike."

Yuichiro continues to glare at me, but I can see that his glare is a lot less hostile than before.

"Think about it, what is really best for you and Muichiro. Think about whether you can really live a life free from demons, think about whether you are really fine with deciding how Muichiro should live his life. You told him that the Mu in his name is In for Invalid, but that's not what you think, am I right? At least, when I first saw him using the knife to chop up the radish this morning the In that I thought of wasn't In for Invalid."

I took a pause, focusing my attention to my sense of smell.

"It's In for Infinity. The talent and potential that Muichiro possesses is infinite and I know that deep down, you feel this way too."

From the scent I smell from Yuichiro, I know that he agrees with me too.

I placed a hand on Yuichiro's head and briefly ruffled his hair. This kid, seriously. He's really too much like me, so much that it scares me. I would never want anyone to be like me, a man full of flaws.

If possible, I want Yuichiro to be better than me, regardless if he and Muichiro ever become Demon Slayers or not. This is what I really feel.

"Take some time to think, Yuichiro. If any of you ever wants to be Demon Slayers, the Corps will welcome you with open arms. If not, that's fine too. Only you have the right to decide what your future should be. Same goes for your twin."

With that, I walked off and started to make my way down the mountain. I will have to inform Amane that I have failed in my attempt to recruit the twins too.

Although, I can't say that I really regret it. The twins are still children and children shouldn't be out there fighting our war with demons.

It just isn't right.

I have no idea how long I was lost in my thoughts while making my way down the mountain in the dead of the night. Seeing Yuichiro and his behaviour had made me feel as if something had hit very close to home when it comes to the way we are trying to protect our siblings. We are both people who do not know how to best express ourselves. Very often, what we try to do in their best interests push them away from us instead.

I sighed.

Maybe I should have bid Muichiro goodbye before I left, but for some reason I have a feeling that doing so might cause him to quarrel with Yuichiro again. Also, where am I going to camp out for the night? Out on the mountains right here? Or should I continue to head down before finding a place to sleep? Or maybe I should just patrol the surrounding area for-

I froze when my nose picked up a foul scent. A foul scent that is so familiar to me.

Demons. They are here, up on the mountain.

Shit. The twins could be in danger.

"W-Why are you back?"

"Why? Do you rather end up as its food?"

Yuichiro watched as Haruto pointed to the disintegrating demon with the tip of his sword that was standing right at their doorstep. Even till now, Yuichiro can still feel his heart pounding away.

That was really too close. If Haruto didn't appear in the nick of time...

"Both of you stay here. I will go and patrol this mountain and ensure that there are no more demons lurking about." Haruto instructed them with a stern tone, one that none of them ever heard him say to them throughout the day where they got to know each other. He tossed to them a packet of something before he left.

"In it is wisteria incense. Burn it, it keeps demons away."

With that, Haruto closed the door and left without a sound.

"Y-Yuichiro."

Yuichiro turned to his younger brother, who is looking at him with a worried look in his eyes.

"I'm fine." Yuichiro grunted as he inspected the long scratch on his arm. It's just a mere scratch, although deep enough to draw out quite a fair bit of blood. Would have been a lot worse if Haruto didn't appear just in time to cut the demon down before it could tear his arm off.

Muichiro wordlessly helped to bandage his wound with whatever clean scraps of cloth they have, tears still in his eyes. Silence fell upon the both of them, the both of them not really knowing what to say to each other.

"I know you are worried about Muichiro, and I understand. Really, I do, because I am an older brother like you are. If I were you I wouldn't want Muichiro to be a Demon Slayer too but let's face it, Yuichiro. The fact that you don't seek demons doesn't mean that they wouldn't seek you out. What would you do if that is the case? What can you do?"

"Yuichiro?"

His twin's worried voice got him to relax his clenched fists. He hates to admit it, but Haruto's right. Their very first encounter with that demon earlier proved it all. If demons really do come knocking on their doors they are nothing but mere food. Useless. Unable to do a thing but livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

"If there's another thing that I regret, it's that I couldn't stop my brother and sister from following my footsteps. The one thing that I was trying my best to prevent them to do, they did it. They are now training to be Demon Slayers too. If I could have my way I would never let them be one, but nobody has a right to dictate how anyone else should live their lives. The only thing I could do as their older brother is to equip them with the necessary skills as best as I could, so that they will return back alive."

"Muichiro."

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you still want to be a Demon Slayer?"

"H-Huh?"

"You said you wanted us to be swordsmen, to save everyone who is suffering under demons." Yuichiro spoke without any fluctuations in his voice or emotions, his eyes looking straight into his twin's.

"Do you still feel that way?"

"Like I said, it's a dangerous job. Like I told you, I cannot decide their future for them. Only they know what is best for them, because it is their lives, not mine. What I can do is to ensure that they fully understand what they are getting themselves into and that they are as well-equipped as they can be. That is all."

Muichiro remained silent. His hands stopped working as he stared back at him too. After what seemed like infinity, Muichiro finally gave an answer.

"Yes."

"Fine. Then let's be Demon Slayers." Yuichiro replied as he looked away, trying to ignore the shocked look on Muichiro's face.

"You go and do your thing and save everyone. I will do my thing and save you whenever you get too full of yourself and do stupid things. Together, we will be the strongest Demon Slayers ever. You save people in danger, I save you when you are in danger."

"Yuichiro…"

Yuichiro looked away, not able to look at his twin.

"Sorry, I was lying. The Mu in Muichiro, it's the same as In for Infinity. Unlike me, you are the chosen one. If you ever do something to help others you can bring out infinite strength. That… That is what I truly believe in. Sorry. Sorry for being so mean to you since our parents died. Sorry, I-"

Whatever Yuichiro wanted to say was never completed. His twin caught him in a tight hug as they both started to sob, similar to when they had both lost their parents.

At that moment, Yuichiro made a vow.

Like Haruto said, he doesn't have the right to decide his brother's future. Nobody has the right to decide anyone else's future, but he can do something else. Muichiro can follow his dream to be a Demon Slayer to save everyone. Muichiro can wield his blade for the sole purpose of helping everyone like he kept dreaming about.

In that case, then he will protect Muichiro. He will wield his blade for the sole purpose of ensuring that his brother does not die in his foolishly naive quest to save everyone.

For his brother, he will be the strongest Demon Slayer ever.

He will be a Hashira.