The Demon Slayer Corps Initiative

Intervention

"No way... this thing's alive! How?"

The gentle crunching of shoe soles against scattered bales of hay abruptly stopped.

"Wait- alive!?" Zenitsu practically shrieked. His golden eyes began to shrink and widen in terror- the poor boy swore he felt his heart plummet in his chest with an alarming sensation of dread sending sparks of fear to his stomach. "Surely, you don't mean... as in- ALIVE, alive!?" he asked.

The recent events of trudging through the utter darkness of the warehouse before Inosuke's foot clanged against metal was still fresh in their minds. The group had jerked at the sound of a thudding body and a yell of alarm from their friend echoing throughout the warehouse- yet the faint glow from the hay followed by a silent thrum of energy crackling around them unsettled them even more. For a brief moment, the air seemed to thin as they made their way over to the source... and uncovered the peculiar device.

Then here they were.

"Atusko's synced to the Quantum Interface Central Grid," Nezuko explained, fingers reaching out as if to almost run across the device buried deep in the gritty sediment they cleared up. "She's picking up radiomolecules, the data being mapped in an exponential decay pattern to measure half-life of the atoms- but I can't detect which isotope," she explained. Almost as if to respond, the computer gave a series of trills and beeps before a female, robotic voice spoke. "Indeed. At this time, I am unable to zero in on a comprehensible isotope of this known world- the values of the proton emissions still remain a string of garbled characters."

Ah, well that's CERTAINLY not doing anything to reassure us, Zenitsu thought to himself rather bitterly, his lips curving into a scowl. "Then what are we even here for?" he groaned, dramatically falling down onto one of the hay stacks. "It's freezing cold, my lips are drying up and my hands are probably frosting over right about now! I want to go home instead of being left here to be eaten by a demon in a place like this!" he wailed. Almost immediately he received a swift thud on the head in response from a very much disgruntled and annoyed Tanjiro.

"Calm down, Zenitsu!" the burgundy-haired boy exclaimed. "Nobody's going to get eaten by demons because there are no demons!"

"Oh, yeah? How can you be so sure of yourself!?" Zenitsu retorted, to which Tanjiro pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation and sighed. "All of this drama on the news is probably just a hoax... it'll clear up in a few days and the public's going to calm down, stuff like this happens all the time! Trust me when I say that there's nothing to worry about," the other reassured, though there was a hint of doubt in his words that thickened the air with tension and uncertainty.

Memories of bloodshed flashed through their minds- the haunting screams of the dead, those who left too soon... in the field amidst the battle where countless sacrifices were made, and where claws and steel clashed relentlessly in the darkness- underneath the grim glow of the pale moonlight, a single lotus bud remains pure and white.

When the bell rings clear marking midnight, two hours to dawn... the petals stain and bloom red. May they hope to put this beautiful cacophony behind them and forevermore bask in the sun.

Too many have they lost.

Suddenly, Atsuko nonchalantly began to spit out tidbits of scavenged information once more, startling the group out of their silence: "From the overall technological implementations on this device... its shaped like a broken off piece of a dashboard, vaguely resembling a battery. This device resembles another device, used in World War 1 by Russia. It appears vaguely Soviet as well, bearing an old and weathered USSR logo painted on the back."

"Property of the Russians, eh?" Tanjiro mused under his breath.

Then a disembodied voice piped up from behind them that sounded very much familiar: "You wouldn't be wrong to say so."

That was very much NOT Atsuko.

The group swiveled their heads around so fast they almost snapped their own necks, only for their eyes to widen at the sight of the unexpected visitor. "Sabito!?" they exclaimed in unison.

"And... Makomo!" Nezuko added in shock, motioning to the petite black-haired girl behind the other. Her confusion only grew when she saw the school janitor- yes, the school janitor- also dressed in the same unfamiliar garb as their fellow students- the black gakuran jacket with the hakama pants and polished black shoes, not to mention two of them wearing kitsune masks and strangely patterned haoris. "Urokodaki san, you're here as well?" Kanao inquired only to hear a shriek coming from behind her.

"EEEEEK! THE SCHOOL JANITOR AND TWO OTHER STUDENTS ARE HERE! DID YOU GUYS FOLLOW US!?" Zenitsu shrieked in alarm.

"That is Sakonji Urokodaki to you, young man," the man in the tengu mask expressed as he walked by them. "And I think the question that I should be asking is that what are YOU doing here? You are all compromising your safety just by being here, and this location is confidential," he stated with the authority of a military official, to which Inosuke brazenly yelled a reply, unfazed: "HUH!? Whaddya' mean we're in government territory, old man! WE found this warehouse, finders keepers! That means YOU all shouldn't be here!"

Tanjiro's entire body tensed up with the fervor of a man on death row. "Inosuke! Respect!" he hissed through gritted teeth, upon seeing Sabito's grey eyes spark with clear annoyance. "You still didn't answer my Master's question," the pink-haired boy growled, the baritone in his voice all too sudden and sending shivers throughout Tanjiro's being. In being confronted, the poor boy could only stammer out a response that bubbled to the surface of his mind amidst his internal panic: "...V-vacation... w-w-weekend..."

Explosive laughter echoed throughout the warehouse, and Zenitsu flinched, sobbing in fear. "VACATION!? You lot came here for a goddamn vacation!?" Sabito finally yelled, enraged. "What the hell is going through those minds of yours, honestly! One would think you'd go to the beach, or one of Osaka's cultural centers, not to the middle of nowhere! And this equipment that your sister brought, Tanjiro? We ought to arrest her for espionage!" he exclaimed, an incredulous expression crossing his face.

Nezuko shrugged, ignoring the sudden spark of anger that flared in her older brother's eyes. "Don't blame the woman that lost the bet," she nonchalantly replied to the older boy's outburst, pointing to a rather pissed Inosuke in the background. Makomo's gentle eyes of a deep cyan color almost curved themselves in response, her demure smile barely holding back a chuckle. "You heard the girl, Sabito. An agreement is an agreement, no matter the terms. Now wipe that frown off your face, you're giving yourself premature grey hairs with how much you stress over things."

"Am I wrong, though?" Sabito asked, spreading his arms in exasperation. "Master Urokodaki cares about these children a great deal. Seeing them put themselves in danger is a valid cause to warrant growing grey hairs over, thank you very much!"

Makomo shot the group a weary glance that clearly said: There's no winning with this guy. You'll get used to it, though.

"Anyways," Urokodaki stated, clearing his throat rather abruptly. "We need you and your friends to clear the premises, Kamado. We're here on official duty to investigate a 1-1-0. It's an unknown object affected by mystical demon arts- we still haven't conducted a proper risk assessment, so we need you to do this for your own safety as soon as possible."

Official duty? What...?

Zenitsu nodded. "Well, that's wonderful to know, sir. You have yourself a nice evening- or night, whatever. I-If you'll excuse us, we'll be on our merry w-"

"No. We're staying," Nezuko stated boldly, stepping forward. A pleased look briefly flashed across Inosuke's face before he yelled out a statement of agreement: "Me too, all of us want in! I demand to know what the hell is going on here!"

"You don't understand," Makomo added, narrowing her eyes. "You have to leave before they arrive."

"Who?" the whole group asked in unison before the device pulsated and hummed with another faint glow, more aggressively this time. All eyes shot to the box wedged in the ground before a tremor made the earth beneath them quake, trembling with a ferocity as though the earth would open up any second, swallowing them whole.

"Nevermind. It looks like they're already here."