Chapter 62: Died in an Ordinary Manner (Ch 62)

Talent is a very unreasonable thing.
Things that some people cannot master in their entire lives are as simple as breathing in the hands of some people.
Sakoma Iori was not a particularly gifted swordsman.
She trained with her trainer grandfather for three years before she was finally qualified to take the test, but even so, she was unable to fully master the breathing form.
Maybe she didn’t work hard enough, or maybe she went in the wrong direction, or more likely the educator in charge of her was not very capable in education.
But no matter what, there is no doubt that Sakoma Iori is a weak person.
So she is always being rescued.
He was rescued by his family, ghost hunters, and a little brother he met on the road who was a few years younger than him.
After being rescued for a long time, even Iori himself felt that he might be very lucky.
But luck will run out one day.
Today, her luck ran out.
“… As for me… I don’t think I’ve ever told you… ahem, I have a younger brother…”
Iori suddenly mentioned this matter to Takeo’s ear.
Takeo, who was struggling to move forward in the water, heard Iori’s voice and had a bad feeling in his heart.
He didn’t know why he felt a little cold.
It should be the temperature of the groundwater. The groundwater is too cold, so it makes me feel cold.
Takeo thought.
Because of the coldness, his voice trembled a little:
“Don’t… don’t say any more. Save your energy. We need to go to the ground… The sun is about to rise, and support is on the way. Let’s go to the ground… If we go to the ground, we will be saved…”
“My brother… is the same age as you.”
Sakoma Iori seemed to have not heard Takeo’s words, and continued to talk to himself: “So small, so cute… following me around like a follower. To be honest, I used to be a little annoyed with him, because he always… always popped up at any time…
“I hate that.”
“Sakoma…”
“But later… after I got used to it, I thought… he was very cute… he always followed me around… calling me sister… sister…
“I once thought… he would… call me sister… for the rest of his life… but… accidents always come… very suddenly… right…”
Sakoma Iori suddenly smiled, her cheek pressed closer to Takeo, her breathing suddenly became steady, and her voice also became steady.
She smiled and asked:
“…I haven’t heard him call me sister for a long time…Hey, Takeo, can you call me sister? I’ll give you all the rice cakes I made.”
Takeo didn’t say anything. He bit his lips, took a deep breath, tried to steady his voice, smiled, and said to Iori:
“elder sister.”
“Um.”
Iori responded softly. This time, Takeo responded without any sarcasm, sarcasm, or disgust, which made her feel satisfied.
She took a breath, put her hand on Zhu Xiong’s head, and gently stroked it…
Then she whispered in Takeo’s ear: “Thank you for all the time.”
As she spoke, she exhaled slowly, then took another breath and whispered in Takeo’s ear:
“And…I’m sorry…” I blurted out.
As she spoke, she exhaled slowly.
No more air was taken in.
Her hand slid from Takeo’s head and fell completely to his side. Her body seemed to have suddenly lost something and became much lighter.
But it seemed as if there was something extra, and it became a lot heavier.
Iori stopped talking and no longer spoke. Takeo had never felt that the world had become so quiet.
It was as if some sound had been completely lost.
Walking in the water filled with mud and sand, Takeo felt his body becoming heavier and heavier.
It’s really strange. I’m not injured, but I feel like… the road has become difficult to walk on.
Probably the effect of water.
His lips trembled, then he smiled and said to Iori behind him:
“…Chendou…Senior, the team member should have been sent up there, and the Hidden Army should have come to deal with the situation. Even on the bright side, there might be some pillars coming over.
“You probably haven’t met the pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps yet. I’ve only met Mr. Kyojuro and Ms. Mitsuri. They’re both very nice people. The pillars coming to support us this time must be the same…
“Oh, you don’t know who Miss Mitsuri is. Miss Mitsuri… is the Love Pillar. She was once a disciple of Mr. Kyojuro. So, we are still brothers in the same sect… When I have time, I will introduce you to someone…
“Don’t you want to be Mr. Kyojuro’s stepson? I’ll tell Mr. Kyojuro… I’ll tell him…”
Takeo could no longer utter any more words.
Something blocked his nose, making him unable to speak.
He simply shut his mouth and focused on carrying Iori to the ground.
But after walking for a while, he heard a rumbling sound and a shaking sound.
He saw the rock wall collapsing and the ceiling falling. Large pieces of dust in the rock wall lost their support and fell to the ground.
The caves here have dust from dust ghosts in many parts of the rock walls. So when the dust ghosts died, the dust lost the support of the dust ghosts’ power and began to disintegrate, and the caves also began to gradually fall apart.
The cave is collapsing.
Realizing this, Takeo quickened his pace and ran through the cave full of water and mud towards where they came from.
Just like a scene in a movie, rocks fell behind him, and the collapsed rock wall landed right behind his feet, one step slower than him.
But the plot of escaping from the dead like in the movies did not happen.
As they were approaching the cave entrance, the collapsed rock wall finally caught up with the fleeing Takeo.
The rock wall fell towards his body.
No.
It was falling towards Iori who was carried on his back.
Without moving his head or thinking at all, Takeo immediately turned over and held Iori in his arms.
Although his body was slightly shorter than Iori’s, he was able to block all the falling rock walls for her.
Rocks and dust gradually covered his body.
He was then buried here together with Iori.
…
“Found it! Here it is!”
“Dig quickly!!”
“Great!! I rescued him!”
When Takeo regained consciousness, he heard a noisy sound in his ears and he felt someone pulling his body out.
Then put it on the ground.
I felt as if someone was performing CPR on me, and then feeding me something.
Then he started coughing: “Ahem! Puff!”
Water, mud, and some broken internal organs were spat out on the ground with his cough.
With a lot of clutter removed from his body, Takeo felt a lot better. He raised his head, looked at the sky where the morning light had already begun to appear, felt the warmth falling on his body, and suddenly felt much more at ease.
The sun rose and at least they were safe.
“Takeo! Takeo, are you okay?” Chen Dou’s figure quickly appeared in front of Takeo. He came to the lying Takeo and called his name.
Takeo shook his head and smiled at Chendou: “I… and Iori-sister, successfully killed that ghost…”
“Iori…sister?” Chen Dou was stunned and looked at Takeo in amazement.
Zhu Xiong seemed unaware, and said to Chen Dou:
“Yes, it was Iori-nee who broke the rock wall leading to the underground river and prevented the demon from escaping… She is the hero of this subjugation mission… By the way, where is Iori-nee?”
“Takeo, Sakoma is dead.” Chen Dou said in a heavy voice.
Takeo seemed not to hear: “Iori-sister said she would make rice cakes for me…the ones she made last time were damp, so she wanted to make some new ones, she…”
“Takeo!!!” Chen Dou suddenly grabbed his shoulders, staring into Takeo’s eyes and said word by word:
“Sakoma Iori, she’s dead!”
“…” Looking into Chen Dou’s eyes, Takeo finally realized something. He repeated Chen Dou’s words and asked, “Dead?”
“Dead.”
“Oh…dead.”
Takeo sat there, lost in thought. He didn’t cry or shout. He just sat there calmly and looked around.
Finally, he saw the body.
These are the bodies that were dug out, those of the Demon Slayer Corps and others.
Sakoma Iori was lying inside, no different from the others, except that his body was more intact, but otherwise inconspicuous.
Yes.
Takeo understood this fact.
Iori Sakoma is dead.
He thought.
Died in an ordinary way.