[Hiroto POV]

*clang, ting* sounds of metal clashing reverberates throughout the forest and sparks fly about the two of us clashing against each other.

Thrusting my sword forward, Botan knocks it aside with a parry *ding* and aims the hilt of his sword towards my face. I quickly predict the move as I move my elbow upwards to change the path of the hilt before it slams into me.

Pulling my sword back I raise it and swing it down towards Botan. *clang* Botan blocks it the katana with his left arm raising his own, and as our blade lock, I keep adding pressure down onto him.

Botan then swings his katana to the side redirecting mine and swings towards me again. *swoosh* I quickly step back dodging it by inches as it grazes the hair on my head.

He rushed towards me again, this time swinging his sword from a low sweep towards my legs. I quickly jump up to avoid the swing as I pull my sword back thrusts it towards his face. *Clack* Botan quickly leans out of the way towards the side, but not fast enough as to the side of his mask, causing a crack to form and a bit of blood to come out but not enough for it to break.

He quickly slams his sword down on top of the katana *Clang, Boom*, forcing mine down onto the ground beneath his feet.

Using his katana above mine as leverage, I maneuver myself around in an arc and launch a kick towards the side of his head. Not having his right arm, Botan quickly raised his left arm to block the brunt of the force *boom* as he is forced away, skidding along the ground as dust is kicked up.

Landing on the ground I inhale*suuuu*, increasing my lung capacity up as I silently start using total concentration causing my body to heat up. I run towards Botan who quickly readies himself for my strike. I swing towards his face and he bends over backward to dodge the strike and launching a kick up towards me while moving backward. I quickly sidestep the kick and continue pushing him, striking, again and again, *clang clang* causing sparks to fly at each hit.

*clang clang* Botan blocks and keeps backing up from my onslaught.

I bring the katana down low to my left and slash diagonally upright towards him. Botan quickly does a backflip onto the side of a tree to dodge and hangs there. I jumped up towards him the katana's edge gleamed as it moved up and swept down, swishing audibly through the air. Botan propels himself off to the tree to the side before I could hit him. *shiing* The katana glides through the tree as it is cut in one single slice.

*crckkkk* The sounds of bark and the tree sounds out as it starts to topple towards Botan. Running along the length of the fallen tree, I move closer towards him and launch myself with a forward thrust, as he quickly parries my sword off to the side. Before he could act again, I turn around and kick a do a low sweep with my legs, causing his posture to be unbalanced as he falls over.

I flip over my katana to a backhanded grip as I bring it down towards him. *Shitung* Botan quickly rolls out of the way as the tip of the blade stabs into where his face was. Flipping to a normal handed grip I drag the sword along the ground towards Botan as I aim to throw the dust-up to distract and blind his eye.

Unprepared for the sneak attack, Botan didn't have time to counter as the dust and debris landed on the mask, obscuring his view until.

*swoosh* *Clack*

As the dust settled I had already dashed past him and landed in a low crouch.

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I stand back up, with my back towards Botan who's behind me. My right hand holding the Katana and my left holding his cracked mask. I could hear Botan stop moving as he stands still in his spot.

I turn around to face his back. As Botan turned around I could see… He was wearing another god damn mask underneath it.

*sigh* "You had another one under there?"I said incredulously, waving the mask in my left hand towards him.

"Of course I do, the last people to have seen my face were probably Sakonji along with Sabito and Makomo," Botan said with a sadder tone towards the end of his sentence.

"Sabito and Makomo? Who are they?" I asked him.

Looking off to the side, Botan answered, "They were the orphans. Kids who trained under Sakonji before you guys came."

"Enough about that, it seems that we have a guest," Botan said, looking off to the side.

From there approached Urokodaki from the side, emerging from the foliage. Looking at the mask in my hand, he spoke up. "... Did you go easy on him?"

"In your dreams, the kid's more than meets the eye Sakonji. You should give him more credit." Botan said, looking towards me.

Walking up towards me, Urokodaki puts a head on my head as he says, "... I never had any intention of sending you or your brother off to go join the "Final Selection". I didn't want to see more children die from the test anymore. But I never thought that you would be able to defeat Botan. He used to train under me before becoming recognized as my equal, looking at his arm and eye under a Demon ambush. You did well."

Urokodaki hugged me as he muttered, "Don't tell Tanjiro yet, of what I told you. You should prepare yourself to leave in a few months when the examination ground opens up again." Separating from me, Botan came up and patted my shoulder.

"You did good kid, you made me proud by how fast you could grow," Botan said, before turning and walking away. I give a bow towards his diminishing figure, as he disappears behind the trees. We both walked away, towards the direction of the house.

As we continued walking I could faintly hear the sounds of Tanjiro yelling.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Tanjiro's yells echo faintly towards me.

'Work hard Tanjiro, I'm waiting for you to get stronger. Both me and Nezuko.' I thought before walking off again.

We were too concentrated with our own training that we barely interacted or saw each other. The only time we did was in the evenings when we ate and slept.

Arriving back to Urokodaki's home, I enter and directly go to wash myself from behind the back of the house.

Wiping off the mud and dried up blood stains I think back to how I was able to win the fight against Botan. My eyesight has improved tremendously over the past months of training. Being able to predict movements allows me to make effective counterattacks and dodges to stay ahead of my opponents.

I put on my usual white robe with my black and white haori on top before entering his bedroom. Bruises were still visible on his face and arms from past duels.

Laying in the futon, as usual, was Nezuko still asleep. Kneeling beside her I start wiping her face once again as I always do. It's become a way for me to settle down and relax in the evenings.

Closing the door behind me, I enter the main room to see a hotpot being cooked in the stove, with Urokodaki kneeling next to it.

At that moment Tanjiro walked in and asked, "What's the occasion Urokodaki-san?"

"It's your brother, he finished his training," Urokodaki said,

Tanjiro's eyes widened in surprise and joy before looking towards me, "Big bro, you really beat that Botan?" Tanjiro said.

I told him about what I had to do in order to get Urokodaki to recognize my abilities.

"Mm," I nodded my head in response.

"That's great! I have to get stronger to catch up to you and train even harder!" Tanjiro said, before sitting down next to us.

I hit the back of his head before he could sit down. "Oi, go and clean yourself first, you reek."

"Haha, sorry. I'll go now." Tanjiro said, before scurrying off the back.

*sigh* I said before sitting down in my spot. Urokodaki passed me a bowl filled with meat and vegetables. "Here, you should eat as much as you can. A growing boy like you needs food to get bigger and grow more muscles. You deserve it."

"Thank you for the food," I said before digging in.

The rest of the night followed as Tanjiro ate his fill before going to write in his journal as usual in our bedroom. I sat in the main room with Urokodaki and handed me a new kimono and haori.

"Here, my present for you for exceeding my expectations. Before you get your official uniform anyway." He says, passing me the kimono.

As I got changed into my new clothes, I observed how it looks. The kimono was white underneath, with the haori on top being black with white cloud patterns on it in a random pattern.