Hi! Another chapter, yay! I just noticed that the previous ones were a bit small, sorry! Hope you guys like this one! (＾▽＾)

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"Please get strong, Tanjiro, Y/N, and tell that guy : 'is that all that you got, dirty bag? Your hair is too long! Looks like seaweed! Shrimp! Ugly midget! Commit seppuku! You're shameless!”

“No! Kotetsu! I don't think…”

“Maybe just hang him?”

“No! I can't say such harsh things!”

“Don't worry, Tanjiro, I can say it in your place!” Y/N happily said.

“That's right! She already got the spirit!” Y/N and Kotetsu high-fived like they were best friends for years and didn't literally meet an hour ago.

“Y/N, I know that you have a terrible sense of danger, but please don't say these things to him!!” Tanjiro pleaded.

“Huh? Why?” She confusedly tilted her head.

“But she will.” Kotetsu nonchalantly said, but Tanjiro harshly shook his head negatively and said : “No! She won't!”

'Even if I don't voice it, Tokito was incredible! He's smaller and younger than I am, but….'

While Tanjiro was deep in thought, Kotetsu kept pulling his cheek. “Just let her say it!”

“That's right! I wanna take revenge for Yoriichi 2!” Y/N cries while pulling his other cheek.

Tanjiro just ignored the two. 'I WON'T be beaten! I MUST get stronger too!'

And with this, they started the training, but…

“WAAAH!” The doll threw Tanjiro a few meters away just after a second of training.

“Tanjiro!”

“I'm gonna die! Six arms is too much!”

Kotetsu approached him to yank his clothes and help him to go back on his feet. “He only has five arms because that punk broke one! The doll has fewer moves now!”

“E-even so-”

“Look, your partner is doing just fine!-” Kotetsu pointed back at doll.

Y/N was matching the doll's movements just fine. Surprisingly.

'Well- I DID train with the real Yoriichi- And since this doll is a weaker version-' Y/N sweat-dropped, Tanjiro was looking at her with so much admiration that she was starting to feel bad, now he will think that she's way more skilled than she actually is!

“Keep going Y/N! To kick that snob seaweed's ass!!” Kotetsu suddenly exclaimed.

“PFFT- SNOB SEAWEED- GYAAH-” And this one second of distraction was enough for her to lose rhythm, the doll getting a hit at her and throwing the girl pretty far from it.

“Ouch, ouch-” She sat up from the ground, rubbing the back of her head with a pained expression.

“What was that?!” Kotetsu angrily approached her. “How did you get distracted by something so silly?!”

“S-sorry- I thought it was funny-” The girl meekly responded, apologetically bowing a few times.

“I'll say it again! So listen up, both of you!” He pointed at Tanjiro and Y/N, who sat beside each other on the floor, looking completely beaten.

“Tanjiro! You're moving based on habit! Don't watch your opponent and decide what you'll do before moving, that's no good! Understand?! You're lacking in the basic fundamentals, I'm surprised you survived this long! In demon slayer corps, everything is dangerous!”

“U-understood-” He shamefully looked down.

“And Y/N!”

“Y-YES??” She jolted on the spot.

“You're moving based on the things you memorized! I don't know how you managed to memorize the doll's movements that quickly, but there's a limit to where just memorizing things can take you! The moment you find a new opponent, it will be game over! Jeez, I shouldn't have to tell you that!”

“U-understood….”

“I'll beat the weakness out from both of you!! I won't give you guys any food until you both can do what I'm telling you!!”

“R-right-” Tanjiro said, his face looking as white as a ghost.

“No food…?” Y/N teared-up.

Kotetsu actually has a venomous tongue.

He was so depressed by his father's death that his tongue fell silent, but Tokito's actions snapped him out of it.

It turned out Kotetsu had a good eye for analyzing fighting styles, with his excellent powers of observation, he correctly diagnosed his weakness in technical ability, and was disappointed…. Despite being 10 years old.

He understood that people are often motivated by anger.

“I never told him this, but…” Kotetsu was checking on the doll, Tanjiro and Y/N sitting on the ground on each side of the kid, attentively listening to his explanation. “If you turn the key on the back of the doll's head, you can change its movements…”

He took out a puzzle box from his pocket. “Have you guys ever seen a yosegizaiku puzzle box? I made this one!”

“Yes, I know what it is, my little sister Hanako had one! you made that? Wow!”

“It won't open unless you move it the right way, it's just like that.” He demonstrated it by opening the box. “In the case of this doll, you can set its action by the number of times you turn the wrists and fingers, the swordsmiths designed it with movements to exploit the weakness of swordsman. Otherwise, there'd would be no point in using it for combat training.”

He started to let out a creepy laugh. “Even without training to resist torture, I'd die before I told THAT to anyone I hated!” Looks like he's still bitter about Muichiro commenting on how he didn't have torture resist training and calling him dumb-

Summarizing Kotetsu's explanation, the mechanism is only effective with input from its owner, so in the end, Tokito wasted time.

Kotetsu did a few more touches in the doll, only for it to suddenly whack Tanjiro away, throwing him so far from them that you could barely see his silhouette in the distance.

“You're too slow, Tanjiro! That's no good!” The kid exclaimed.

“You are good there, Tanjiro? Don't worry, not giving up is an important part ofWHOAAA-” The doll also whacked Y/N, throwing her in the same direction as Tanjiro's.

“Phew, I thought I was going to die-” Tanjiro commented to himself while getting up, but Y/N suddenly hit against him in scary speed, throwing him back on the ground. “GYAAH-”

“Ow…. Huh? Wow! It doesn't hurt! Lucky!” Y/N happily sat up, not even realizing she was currently sitting on the back of a half-dead Tanjiro.

“You'd both be dead if the doll wasn't using practice swords! Get it together! This is day five, tomorrow I'll give the doll real weapons!”

After a while, Tanjiro coughed loudly while sitting on fours on the ground, looking completely beat up. 'NO! I COULD REALLY DIE EVEN WITH THOSE PRACTICE SWORDS!'

“No food for you both again today!”

'AAAAAAAAH-'

Kotetsu's training consisted on making Y/N and Tanjiro take turns on fighting against the doll.

In Tanjiro's turn, he would set its movements accordingly to Tanjiro's weakness, nothing abnormal.

In Y/N's case, he would change the doll's fighting style each time it was her turn, so she couldn't fight against it based on the memorized knowledge she had, she also had no way to use the fighting spirit, since it was a doll, there was no fighting intent coming from it.

So basically, they both got beaten up pretty badly.

Kotetsu had impressive powers of analysis, but he had no skill in teaching swordsmanship, since he didn't know the limits of the human body, his style of training was terribly harsh.

It was inhumane to deny Y/N and Tanjiro food and water if they couldn't do as they were told, and without water, humans will die in three days.

So, this was torture… born of ignorance!

Their lives were saved by the fact that it started raining, but with that fearsome amount of exercise, with very little water, and no food or sleep….

Tanjiro began to cross the river to the afterlife. With an indescribable giddy feeling, he was crossing the bridge, but he was dizzy from hunger and fell into the river.

The river was dark and heavy, and warm for some reason, if felt like people were massaging him.

Glancing at the riverbed, he saw something shiny, as the hands massaged him, he went to grab it, and oddly…

The shiny rock had a smell even under the water.

Tanjiro eyes suddenly snapped open from shock in the middle of the training. 'What is this smell?! It's different from the opening thread!'

'The left side of my head, my neck, right chest, the left side of my torso, my right thigh, right shoulder..... Here it comes!!' Tanjiro suddenly managed to dodge one of the doll's attack, quickly crouching and taking a swipe on its legs.

Unable to break his fall, he face-planted on the ground, but the fact that he managed to hit the doll was there.

“Hey, Tanjiro! You got a hit in! Sure, it was too weak, and it didn't even faze the doll, but you've earned some food!”

“Yay! Congrats Tanjiro!” Y/N clapped.

“And Y/N, you won't be getting any food until you manage to land a hit!” …. And Y/N turned into a statue, immediately starting to tear up.

Tanjiro weakly walked back to them. “I-It's fine Y/N, I can wait until you can do it to eat, I-I'm not that hungry-” C'mon Tanjiro, you're not fooling anyone.

“Kotetsu. Gimme the sword.” Y/N suddenly said, walking in the direction of the doll while adjusting her sleeves.

“Wow- Y/N suddenly turned into a soldier-” Tanjiro said, impressed.

“She looks as if she's going to war, she's so serious about getting stronger! How admirable!” Kotetsu was also looking at her in awe.

'FOOD! I WANT SOMETHING TO EAT! I WILL KILL MYSELF IF I DON'T GET ANYTHING TO EAT TODAY-' They would probably be very disappointed if they could see what Y/N was actually thinking.

And that's how, motivated by the power of food, Y/N managed to land a hit on the doll, though it was a way less cool way of improving compared to Tanjiro-

“Rice ball and pickled plum! Tea! High-quality refined green tea!” Tanjiro exclaimed as soon as Y/N finished.

“Tempura! Lots of tempura! And mochi too! And it has to be the ones with ice cream inside!!” Y/N also earnestly made her requests.

And that's how Y/N and Tanjiro had their first meal in seven days, though they were crying loudly during the whole process of eating it.

After this, they got way stronger than before, Y/N and Tanjiro could now easily match the doll's movements, it was easier now that their strengths were back to normal.

In Tanjiro's turn, he was about to swing at the doll's neck, but flinched. 'If I break it..!'

“Swing! It's okay if it breaks! I can fix it!” Kotetsu reassured him.

Tanjiro got a direct blow, the blade of his borrowed sword breaking as he fell into his butt. “Ow!!”

“Are you all right?!” Kotetsu and Y/N ran up to him.

“Ow… the sword I borrowed broke, I'm sorry!”

“Oh, that's okay!… Huh?!”

They turned to looked at the doll, who suddenly started to crumble to reveal a sword inside it.

“AAAH! THERE'S A WEAPON ON IT-!!” Y/N tackled Tanjiro into a hug, pointing at the doll while trembling.

“T-There's is something in there!! Kotetsu, what is that thing?!” Tanjiro hugged Y/N back, also trembling.

“I don't know! What can it be?!”

“It looks like a katana, but it must be 300 years old!” Tanjiro said, his eyes almost jumping out from his eye sockets.

“300 years old?! How much worth is that?!” Y/N freaked out.

“Yeah! This is messed up! What should we do?!”

The three loudly started to take deep breaths while holding hands. “I can't stop freaking out!!”

“One sheep, two sheep, three sheep-” Y/N whispered with a blank expression. “Snap out of it, Y/N! Stop counting sheep!” Tanjiro shook her.

“M-maybe it's okay for you guys to take it! Yeah… you definitely should take it!” Kotetsu nervously said.

“Y-yeah, Tanjiro, you should have it!” Y/N violently nodded beside the kid.

“N-no way! I better not! All the battles it's been through took their toll, It just happened to break while I was training with it!” Tanjiro said with a completely red face, it was obvious that he really wanted it.

“But you just happen to be in trouble because you can't get a new sword forged, right? And Y/N already said that you can have it, so it's all right! As the owner, I say so!”

“But… But… you… But!!” Tanjiro couldn't even form a proper phrase, judging by his expression, he was using all of his willpower to refuse it.

“Steel from the sengoku period is high quality! Take it!”

“Are you sure it's okay??”

“You guys wanna try pulling it out?!”

“Yeah! I wanna see it!” Tanjiro quickly approached the doll, but suddenly turned back to Kotetsu. “B-b-but, are you really sure? What if it-”

“I'm pulling it!” Y/N took it while Tanjiro was distracted. “W-wait, Y/N!!”

She unsheathed it, the three staring in anticipation to see….

A completely tarnished blade.

The three leaned on the ground, completely disappointed. 'it's tarnished…'

“Of course, it's been three centuries since anyone cared for it, sorry to dash your hopes…”

“It's all right… I don't mind…” Tanjiro looked up at Kotetsu to reveal his face, literal waterfalls of tears were falling out of his eyes. “Whoa! Tanjiro! I apologize!”

Loud sounds called the attention of the four. “?! What the?”

A Haganezuka without using any kind of top cover and bulging in muscles was walking in their direction with an incredibly intimidating aura.

“WAAAAAH! Who is that?! Haganezuka?!” Tanjiro tackled Y/N into a hug, freaking out as the man approached them.

'Haganekuza without a shirt- I have to engrave this image on my mind-' Y/N, different from the two, was very happy.

“I heard everything. Leave it to me!”

“Leave WHAT to you?!”

Haganezuka tried to take the sword, so the four quarreled.

“Hey! Let go of that! Why are you trying to take it away!”

“T-Tanjiro, Kotetsu! I can't hold on for much longer! His muscles are distracting me!!” Y/N was freaking out. “Y/N?!?!”

“Leave it… to me…” Haganezuka kept pulling the sword. “No! This is Kotesu's!!”

“Leave it to me!!”

“Explain yourself, Haganekuza!” Kotetsu exclaimed.

“Leave it to me!!”

“No! What are you doing?!”

“I SAID LEAVE IT TO ME!!” He swung at them, throwing the three away. “Aaaaah! A grow-up shouldn't act like that!!”

“Boys! Haganezuka's weak spot is his sides, right there!” Kanamori suddenly appeared behind him, tickling his sides.

“Oh! Kanamori! Long time no see!” Tanjiro commented while helping Y/N and Kotetsu get up.

“It's been a while, Tanjiro, Y/N. Tickling Hagakuza immobilizes him for a while, so allow me to explain. Please forgive Haganekuza, he was secluded in the mountains for training.”

“Training?” Tanjiro questioned, while Kotetsu threw rocks in the immobilized Haganekuza on the ground.

“Yes. So, he can create a stronger blade so you both won't die. He won't admit that, though.”

“Is that so? How cute.” Y/N commented while poking Haganekuza with a branch. “Wow, he really can't move… ehehe-”

“Your smile looks a bit a creepy, Y/N…” Kotetsu said, moving away from her. “Oh, sorry!”

“For… us?” Tanjiro said with a moved expression.

“You've both been getting swords from him for a long time, and I think he was happy about that, most swordsmen detest him, so he isn't in charge of the same ones for long.”

“Oh, really?!”

“His interpersonal skills suck! That's why he never got married.” Kotetsu bluntly said.

Just after he said that, Haganekuza suddenly jumped from the floor. “Oh, he's back.” Kanamori said.

“I will take this tarnished katana, and polish it using the nichirin sword polishing art of the Haganekuza family!”

“You should have said so from the start! We didn't trust you and all you'd say was 'leave it to me!', like some idiot who can only say one thing.” Kotetsu said with a sigh.

Haganezuka angrily grabbed his collar in response, lifting him up. “GYAH!!”

“Hey! Hey! You shouldn't hit kids, Hotaru.” Y/N suddenly said, making him freeze and slowly turn to look at her with a murderous aura.

“AAAH! Y/N-SAN, HAGANEZUKA HATES BEING CALLED BY HIS FIRST NAME!”

“I KNOW THAT!” She said while childishly showing her tongue to him, making the guy let go of the kid to go to her direction instead.

“HIS SIDES! HIS SIDES! HIS SIDES!” Kanamori exclaimed while the three exasperatedly tried to stop Y/N's death, though they will always remember her heroic sacrifice for the sake of saving Kotetsu's life.