Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

[Seiji's POV]

The sun was already high in the sky, indicating that it was not so early anymore. In fact, it was nearly noon.

"Okay, let's do this then," I said and rubbed my palms together.

On this fine day, you could see that I was in the training area of the Flower Mansion. You could also see the little boy Muichiro glaring at me as he stood a few meters away, facing me.

He was upset I didn't wake him up early in the morning and let him sleep however long he wanted.

Although he was glaring at me as much as he could with that stoic face of his, I saw this as an absolute win. Not only did I let him rest, but I also made an expression show on his face. It was hitting two birds with one stone.

There was also a young girl standing next to him. She was a few inches taller than Muichiro, and she too, had a very stoic face except for the slightest curve in her lips. With her porcelain skin and neutral face, she looked more like a doll than a human girl.

It was, of courses, my sweet little Kanao whom I promised to train too,

"Muichiro, you wanted to learn how to wield a sword, didn't you? I wouldn't ask you why considering you lost your memories and it's pretty obvious from what happened to you," I said.

"And you..." I said, pointing a finger at Kanao, "It doesn't matter because I will do anything for you,"

Her slight smile bloomed into a full smile. She was just the cutest thing.

Her bright smile made me add passionately, "Literally,"

"So let's get right into it!"

The Flower Mansion was pretty quiet this morning, mainly because Mitsuri was still sleeping with Kanae. I haven't the faintest clue why they slept so much, maybe they didn't sleep well last night.

The training started, and at first, it went well. I showed both children how to hold a sword properly, correct their forms and guide them through every stroke of the blade.

My eyes could see imperfections and could pinpoint exactly where their movement went wrong, which made it incredibly easier for me to correct them and teach them where they went wrong.

But as the training continued, the stark difference between Kanao and Muichiro's talents became evident. Teaching them at the same pace was no longer possible, as Muichiro learned in an instant what Kanao took an hour to learn.

I was a little worried that Kanao would be disheartened to see someone so young learning things so efficiently. Maybe it would be better not to train them together.

Phooow!

Phooow!

*Swish!!*

Kanao and I stared at Muichiro, baffled as he learned a combination I was teaching him in just a few tries.

And it was not just on performance either. Normally, even when you could execute an attack perfectly in training, you would need years to imprint that in your body and use it in battle. But Muichiro was doing that in real-time, he was imprinting all my teaching into his body, soaking up the skills I was trying to share like a sponge soaking up water.

I could see it, the way his muscles literally rearranged with every new skill taught, ready to perform the attacks instantly like they had been honed for years. It was kind of gross and weird.

"Huuu..." Muichiro released his breath and then turned to me, "I've mastered it Seiji-san, what's next,"

I could see the stars in his eyes. He was enjoying it.

Kanao looked at me curiously and I nodded my head, "He is right. Literally no imperfection,"

Forget about Kanao being disheartened, I was feeling disheartened.

"Go sit under that tree," I said while pointing at the giant tree in the corner, "Meditate as I taught you and simulate fighting an opponent with what you've learned,"

Muichiro simply nodded and did as instructed.

"Are you okay Kanao?" I asked after Muichiro left.

"No, I'm feeling complicated. I feel sad and discouraged, and I have lost all my motivation, plus determination," she said and paused for a moment.

She hummed thoughtfully, trying to name what she was feeling, "I also feel jealous,"

"That's fair," I said, wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to my body. I rubbed her shoulder to console her.

I was glad she was honest. I taught her to always be completely honest with Seiji-nii, I can see all lies anyway so lying was meaningless.

"He is a special case that boy," I said, "He's similar to me,"

"!!!!!" Kanao was surprised. She looked at me and back at Muichiro who was sitting under a tree in the distance.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

Well, I was clearly not as talented as he was in training, but with all my other gifts, "Yes,"

"....That makes me feel a little better," she said and her tensed shoulder relaxed.

"It does?"

"Hn," she looked at me, straight into my eyes and said, "I've classified you completely different from the rest of the humans,"

"...." I did not know how to respond to that. Should I be offended? But I could see she thought of that as a compliment.

"So Muichiro is like you, entities that can't be measured with human terms and logic," she said.

I could see that she was not feeling complicated or disheartened anymore. That's one way to deal with that I guess. If it works, it works.

Although it meant Kanao put the likes of me and Muichiro in a different realm than humans.

"If that is so, let's continue with your training," I said with a smile and we continued.

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"Awesome job, both of you," I said and gave them head pats, their hair wet from all the sweat.

"You both surprised me today. Although there is an obvious difference in talent, I can see you both have equally great potential," I said and gave them a smile.

I hoped my smile looked okay. I have been trying to be more expressive instead of being robotic like I used to be. This is because I realized that I would have many people under me who looked up to me like an idol.

If I remained stoic and aloof like I used to, it would set a bad example for Muichiro and Kanao who were both like me, stoic.

"Talent and potential," Muichiro asked with a tilt of his head "Isn't that the same thing?"

"They are not. Think of it this way, your potential refers to your cup, the amount of strength and power your body can hold. Whereas talent refers to a spoon which you would use to fill the cup," I explained it in a very simple way, like I was explaining it to a ten-year-old because I was.

"So that means even if people have different talents, they would eventually attain the same level of power if they have similar potential?" Kanao asked.

"Correct," I nodded, "Although there are people with very little talent, or spoon, that they would never fill their cup even if they worked their entire life,"

"Muichiro probably has a smaller cup instead of a spoon to fill his cup," I joked.

That was why although Muichiro was more talented than me, I would always be stronger due to the sole fact that I had higher potential.

Forget about my eyes, we've established that I had as much potential as Yoriichi. Learning Sun breathing alone required you to have the potential to be a master of everything, speed, strength, precision etc.

It was like comparing Itachi and Naruto. Itachi was way more talented and if you compare them at young ages, Itachi was much stronger. But if you compare a 17-year-old Itachi and 17-year-old Naruto, the latter would be stronger by a mile. Naruto was fighting a God at that point.

That's the difference between talent and potential. I'd argue that although Tanjiro was not so talented, he had the greatest potential among the Demon Slayer cast.

"Any other question?" I asked and Muichiro raised a hand. "Yes?"

"Do you think I have the potential to be as strong as you, Seiji-san," Muichiro asked earnestly.

I did not answer immediately and thought about it. The answer was no but I didn't want to say that, even I was not so sure since Muichiro was only 14 years old when the story ended.

So who knows?

The only thing I knew for certain was that he would never surpass me while it mattered.

"Tell you what, I was able to become a Hashira after 1 month and 3 weeks since I became a Demon Slayer," I said, "Try and beat that and you will know the answer,"

Muichiro nodded seriously, a challenging glint in his eyes.

The progress I made after I became a Demon Slayer was immense. I was talented in a way that grew rapidly after each battle. My eyes helped me memorize moves and copy attacks. I was like Luffy who is always stronger even though Zoror trained way harder.

In that way, talents are not only different in quantity but also different in type. There are people who can grow fast with training, those who grow during a fight and those that grew strong after.

"That ends our training today, go and clean up before dinner," I said and they both bowed at me.

"Thank you,"

Heh, having pupils was not so bad.

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[IMAGE]

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Author : There is going to be a four-month time skip after this. I will do it like usual and give brief summaries. It will be two chapters covering the events that happen in two months respectively.

Finally, the next arc will be Muzan Kibutsuji who will try and kill the Tanjiro family like the canon story.