The dinner table was filled with four people, the disguised Electro Archon, Baal, Her shadow, Onikage, the caretaker(?) of the house, Tomoe, and the guest, Ren Cruz, the demon slayer. 

The four were talking about some stuff, well mostly the three as Ren had silently eaten most of his first portion. He was mostly acting like his older brother-disciple, Tomioka Giyuu, and was aware of that fact, hoping that he will not meet someone that was like Lady Shinobu when it comes to annoying him. 'I'm pretty sure, Lady Shinobu just likes Giyuu-senpai,' He thought, looking at the covered noble phantasm near his side.

"So, Cruz-san," Did he just tempt fate, because he can see some similarities with Lady Shinobu and Mei right now, especially that smile. 

"Yes?" Ren asked, looking at Mei, inching a bit away when she leaned in. "Personal space," Seeing the way the young man inched away from her made the young disguised Electro Archon pout.

"I'm asking you. Where did you learn how to use a sword?" Mei asked, curious as to what style the young man used to manipulate water without having a vision. She was also curious when she overheard him tell her friends about how long he trained. 

"My trainer and someone who took me in last year," Ren said calmly making Mei pout once again and look at him, waiting for answers. "She's not gonna stop until I tell her, is she?" ren said, feeling a bit uncomfortable at the curiosity of the Electro Archon. 

"No," The two said at the same time while eating their food causing the young man to sigh.

"Sakonji Urokodaki," Ren said as he took seconds from Onikage. "He was my trainer and a very strong swordsman," Calmly picking up a piece of fish, Ren mixed it with rice, surprising the girls at how skilled he is with chopsticks. ]

"I never heard of him before," Tomoe said quietly, holding her chin as she thought of the swordsmen and swordswomen she knew of. 

"I was also mentored by my older brother-disciple, Tomioka Giyuu," Ren added, taking his cup and drinking water from it. "Compared to Giyuu-senpai, I am quite unskilled," Ren said to them. 

"Why do you say that?" Onikage, or Rui, asked looking at the young man. She was impressed that he had temporarily disabled them for several moments with that technique he used. 

"You are quite skilled," Tomoe said, looking at Ren with a smile, making Rui a bit jealous. "The way you can use several swords at the same time proves that,"

"Tomoe and Rui are right," Mei said as she smiled at Ren. "You were able to react to Rui and me, defending yourself while simultaneously using a technique to slow us down," 

"Giyuu could probably have gotten your necks cut off before you had noticed," Ren said, surprising the duo. "Whenever we sparred I always had to give it my all, even when I used two blades I barely lasted against him," This shocked the two. 

"Wait, cut off our necks?" Mei asked Ren who nodded. 

"Yeah, we developed these techniques to match those a lot stronger, faster, and more durable than us," Ren said smiling at the memory of the swordsman he studied under. "He is amazing you know. He developed a technique that allowed him to take out someone that almost killed my friends. Tanjiro told me that Giyuu used that technique to effortlessly deploy the strongest attack of the one they fought and killed him without any problem with one slash. I only heard of it from Tanjirou after we met again on the hospital," Ren told them, leaving out some parts from the story to not draw attention. 

"Woah, Tomioka-san must have been a great swordsman,"  Tomoe said, eyes sparkling in excitement,

"Yeah, Giyuu-senpai was so cool that when He, Tanjiro, and I fought against the third strongest enemy we faced, he was able to last for so long until Tanjiro and I recovered," Ren said, rubbing his side, an injury he got from Akaza. "I got several of my ribs cracked that time and I got my left arm dislocated," Ren said with a smile. "Honestly, we would have been killed back then if Akaza hadn't have killed himself as thanks for reminding him of his humanity," 

"Wait, you guys fought a guy that almost killed three of you? The third strongest of your enemies? And  You only got several cracked ribs and a dislocated arm?" Rui shouted in disbelief,

"Yeah, I immediately put it back on position before we searched for the next target," Ren said.

"I see, you said he was the third strongest. Where were the others?" Mei asked, regretting as the air around Ren turned a bit cold. 

"The second strongest was killed after one of the strongest swordsmen we had sacrificed herself to weaken the enemy by using the poison she cultivated in her body by feeding herself to him," Ren said, "Despite being weakened, he was able to heavily injure the others," Clenching his hand, he remembered the kind young lady who often teased his master and older brother disciple.

"The strongest one was a swordsman from several centuries ago, he used a different style yet with the same techniques from us," Ren said, shivering as he remembered what happened from being told by the wind pillar. "It took three of the strongest swordsmen we had, two of them were the best, and yet we barely managed to defeat them..." Ren said, remembering a kind scar-faced young man, and another with a blank look.

"Who wants dessert?" Tomoe asked cheerfully, catching the attention of the group. This made the group look at her in excitement along with Ren, albeit his excitement was a bit hidden.

"Me, please," Mei said politely, however, the three could see her eyes sparkle.

Smiling, took out the desserts, causing Mei and Rui to gush and Ren to smile faintly. There was Mochi after all.

"Delicious," Ren said, after eating a mochi with his chopsticks, a beautiful, yet small smile of pure happiness appeared on his face as he remembered the times he spent with the corps. 

"Do you like it?" Mei asked, sensing the heavy air around Ren, she looked at the young man before blushing a bit. 

"Yes, it's tasty," Ren said with a kind smile aimed at her, his formerly wary and guarded eyes softened a bit, the scars he had only enhanced his looks making the other two blush a bit. 

"I'm glad you liked it," Tamao Tomoe said with a smile of her own, happy that their guest loved the food. 

"You better not be lying," Rui said, hiding her blush by turning around. 

After eating dinner, Ren sighed as he took out his leather wallet and stared at the picture of his family and friends, as well as the survivors of the demon slayer corps. He was all alone now once again, he had left Onigashima to take the place of Tomioka Giyuu as a retainer from the young master of the Ubayashiki house, Kiriya Ubayashiki.

"Did we wake you up?" The voice of Tomoe said, looking at him with a smile as she dried her hair with a towel, wearing a purple yukata, she had beads of sweat trailing down her face. 

"No, not really," Ren said as he saw Mei following Tomoe, the disguised Electro Archon merely followed one of her retainers and smiled as she saw Ren. "I don't sleep, actually, I just meditate or make myself pass out from exhaustion," 

"That's not healthy you know," Mei said, pouting at the young man. "How about we spar then? I know we just finished eating but we can burn some energy," Mei offered, making Tamao nod and look at Ren Excitedly. 

"Please, Cruz-Kun," Tamao said, as she looked at Ren with sparkles on her eyes. 

"Fine," Ren said, making the two cheer and lead him to the armory where they store training weapons. 

"What weapon will you use, Cruz-san?" Tomoe asked as she leaned over Ren's shoulder while he looked at the weapon. The surprise of the young woman suddenly talking from behind him made him react and almost slam his elbow hard on her face. He was able to stop it just an inch away from her place, making her pale and sweat a bit, for instead of the young man with a kind smile, the eyes he had was of a beast who wanted to kill. 

"Hey! What are you doing?" Rui shouted at Ren as she saw her crush almost get elbowed by the guest they let in. 

"Sorry," Ren whispered before picking up a pair of bokken and a small wooden knife before he went on a corner. 

"That bastard!" Rui said, gritting her teeth before calming down the moment Tamao held her sleeve and shook her head. 

"It was my fault," Tomoe said with a sad smile.

"But," Rui said before she saw the young man hold his arm and pant a bit. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw how he breathed to calm him down. "He has PTSD," Rui said before watching as the young man shook his head.

"Yes, I was excited to see him use his sword style so I leaned over his shoulder to surprise him. But, it seems like his instincts took over and if he hadn't stopped himself in time, I would have had my jaw broken," Tomoe said, as the bloodlust, the young man radiated formed an image of her being struck on the jaw before having her head cut off.