Within Her Eyes - Kimetsu No Yaiba

5. Nishikawa and the Swamp Demon

The fifteen days it took for the completion of Tsukiko's nichirin sword were not spent comfortably.

Now that Tsukiko had survived the final selection she was going to be facing even more dangerous demons. Hashimoto resumed training Tsukiko as if she had never left. He fed her a delicious meal, let her sleep, then woke her at dawn for hellish training.

Before she left for final selection, Hashimoto had Tsukiko train to build up her lung capacity and strength. She had made the mistake of asking why he had so many oddly sized gourds in the little hut behind his house. Hashimoto was letting Tsukiko continue training on her own until she reminded him of the gourds.

He had made her train her lungs until she could burst the largest of them with her breath. When she left for final selection, she had thought that was the end of her training.

Tsukiko was very mistaken.

"Total concentration constant," Hashimoto had said the second Tsukiko opened her eyes. She had screamed in fright when she saw him leaning over her.

"What are you talking about!" Tsukiko had thought that she would be allowed to rest until her sword came. "Are you saying there's more training?"

Hashimoto had grabbed her by her clothes and pulled her to her feet that morning. He gave her no chance to refuse. He recognized Tsukiko's intelligence and knew that, if given the chance, she would find a way out of the training.

Tsukiko had been promised that once she could manage the technique or her sword came she would be allowed to rest. Luckily, she had already done the heavy lifting before she had left for final selection. She had managed to have full concentration constantly. She had achieved it a day before her sword came.

However, this was no small feat. Had it been anyone else training her besides Hashimoto, Tsukiko doubted that she would have been able to actually manage it so quickly.

Tsukiko had thought that he was a brute when it came to training before final selection. During the fifteen days she saw a whole new side to the man. He stood over her every hour of every day for her training.

Tsukiko had only been so miserable once before in her entire life.

Finally, the fifteen days were over, and she was waiting outside for her sword to come. Tsukiko had covered her eyes once again with the veil that Hashimoto had given her. She had stood next to the path that led to the house peacefully and in total concentration. Until Hashimoto came outside and demanded she do more training.

"No old man!" She yells pointing at him as he stands on the opposite side of the path. "You told me once I could do the breathing all day you would leave me alone!"

"Don't call me old man!" He yells back aggravated with the new nickname she had given him since she came back from final selection. "I don't want you getting killed out there! The more you train the safer you will be!"

Tsukiko knew how he felt about her, and she cared about him in the same way. The two were family now.

"There's no way I'll die on a mission if I didn't die with your training! Let me rest until my sword comes!" Tsukiko had lived through the some of the most intense training a demon slayer could receive. Hashimoto knew how well her eyesight was and adapted to it. "I'm tired of you beating me with sticks!"

The two continue to yell back and forth until a voice spoke out. Both of them had noticed the man in a hat with ribbons tied on wearing a mask. He had stood silently for a few moments watching the two.

"I am Nishikawa. I am the one who forged the blade that will be used by Eto Tsukiko."

The two snapped their heads to the man, immediately embarrassed that they were caught arguing.