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It started out with mere practices. Trying out how to wield a katana properly. Hayami would have practiced with Gyomei, but the giant Kusarigama-like weapon used a lot of body strength ━ which was understandable as to why Gyomei uses such a weapon seeing that his body frame was quite large. Knowing this, Hayami opted to practice with a katana instead, after all, her body is far more small-scaled compared to the stone hashira himself.
Now here she was, gripping a wooden katana in her dainty hands and attempting to spar a dummy located at the butterfly estate. Even though as of right now she had no intentions to become a demon slayer ━ Hayami figured it was best she learned a thing or two about sparring. There were days when Gyomei and Kanae taught her, but most of the time a certain golden-eyed male taught her instead.
It has been nearly a year since she started living within the demon slayer corps, Hayami would say she has gotten quite used to the life she had here. And the people around her have seen her progress in communicating. The girl that once stayed mute unless spoken to, now speaks and starts small conversations on her own.
As she was sparing the dummy ━ that had seen far better days ━ Hayami could see from the corner of her eye a regular at the butterfly estate: a hot-headed boy that often came over with the number of wounds he got easily. Next to the boy, was one of her very closest friends, Kanae.
Hayami found comfort in talking to the flower hashira, it was as if she was talking to her own counterpart. Both her ideals and Kanae's were similar in multiple ways. Hayami didn't believe that she would be able to find such traits in a person her entire life. And yet Kanae had walked into her life as easy as so, and changed her life for the better ━ the laughs and conversations they had, have become a core memory for her.
Looking back at the dummy before her, Hayami felt a small smile creep onto her lips.
"I am so grateful for the life I have now," she thought to herself. It was physically impossible for her to imagine that within months her life could change this much.
"Hayami!" She heard a booming voice speak from afar.
The girl turned her head only to see him.
The boy that had helped her train with everything that he has. And the same person she accompanied read volumes of books nearly every time he stopped by. Rengoku Kyojuro.
It has only nearly been a year but his features had already started to change ━ he had grown taller, his unruly golden locks grew longer, and his face had become more structured. Although before he had already seemed ethereal to Hayami, he was far beyond ethereal now. Other than Kanae, Hayami had of course grown closer to Rengoku ━ along with Gyomei and everyone else she had encountered.
"I see you are practicing as always!" Rengoku said as he neared the girl.
Every time Hayami had a free period where she didn't need to tend to or care for an injured person, she'd use her time to practice her skills. Often Rengoku would joke with her and say that she was ready for the final selection ━ but Hayami was aware of the high responsibilities a demon slayer has. And she knew that she would never be ready for such a big responsibility. If she couldn't save her father from a mere fire a few months ago, how could she protect and save lives from human-eating demons?
