⊱ ❅Clouded Judgement ❅⊰ | ❆ - • A Demon Slayer Story • - ❆

Chapter 7.

I couldn't tell how much time had passed when I woke up again, but the first thing I perceived happening in my surroundings was Kiseki treating his own wound and Kaoru trying to light a small fire. There was no apparent sign of danger. I could only guess by the state of my own recovery how long I had been unconscious; my cut wounds had already turned into permanent scars, while my other, more severe wound obviously hadn't healed yet, and slightly opened up with every straining movement I did.

"Noriyuki, don't move too much for now, unless you want your nasty wound opening. This is merely the reason rookie slayers shouldn't treat their superiors the way you did, understood?"

Kaoru still had a pissed tone being pushed back by a false tone of friendly concern in his voice. Atleast I was flattered to know he thought of me as a rookie slayer, meaning I would pass the final selection to begin with. So maybe he had some bit of faith in my skills, as much as he would deny it if asked.

"So.. what exactly happened to me?" I ended up asking him, still unsure of the cause of my sudden passing out.

"Well you weren't paying attention, there was a sixth demon waiting for one of us to drop their guard. Thankfully, I took them out both for you."

I felt like he was lying, but I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. A sixth demon? No, I was dead sure it was five of them, no more than that. But he was more experienced, he had no reason to lie to me.

"Noriyuki, I try to be tolerable towards your.. sight problem, but if it gets in the way of actual progression, I might tone down my trust in you in critical situations as you have displayed how unreliable you truly are."

Kiseki gasped at Kaoru's harsh words, but I was quick to respond.

"I wouldn't talk much about being reliable if I let my partner get stabbed in the back by a demon while standing directly next to hi-"
"Noriyuki, that's enough."

Kiseki was right, Kaoru made a fair point. 'Sight problem'. That's what I always get to hear from these people whenever I make a small mistake, they always blame it on something that never bothered me in my entire life up to this point. Hell, I don't even know what they're talking about, and I am strongly convinced they have no idea what they're talking about, but it is true that I wasn't paying enough attention and my wound was proof of that.

"..How much time is left until the selection is over?", I eventually asked, breaking the silence.
"One night. It should end in a few hours from now."

So I had passed out for quite a while.

"What are you two even going to do as slayers to begin with? Is it the same, generic revenge shit that no one manages to pull off?"

With that question, Kaoru confirmed my suspicions from earlier. It's a dark, yet undeniable truth.

"Now that you mention it," Kiseki replied, "not really, but if there was a demon I'd have a keen interest in taking out it would be Kaito Aki."

Kaoru nearly froze on the spot, absolutely mortified from what Kiseki had just said. He instinctively grabbed his sword and pointed it at Kisekis face, walking up to him and slowly moving it closer.

"How dare you put Kaito's name into your mouth like that? Demon? Kaito was a friend of our family, he would never turn into a demon you lying little fuck."

"Kaoru, put your sword away Kaoru. I'm not fighting you right now Kaoru. Please, why don't you tell me what you know about this Kaito individual?"
Kiseki remained calm even through Kaoru's threatening tone, almost as if he was offended.

"Kaito was my father's colleague when they were about our age, but he was wounded in the face in the fight against upper demon moon five and nearly rendered incapable of fighting due to all the injuries he sustained. My father wasn't there during the fight, but Kaito quit his life as a slayer and moved away as they continued exchanging letters every day. He even sent me letters and gifts every year, so no, he's not a demon as you claim he is. Who even told you that load of bullshit-?"

"Kamiya did. He saw it with his own eyes."

Kiseki's positive tone was completely gone from his voice. Every time Kiseki got serious when talking, it felt like listening to a completely different person.

Kaoru was still heavily offended, but probably saw some credibility in our story and put his sword back inside his sheath.

"..Whatever. The eyepatch I'm covering my eye with was a gift from Kaito, too."

With that sentence uttered, he went back to desperately attempting to light a fire.

"Kiseki, once we're alone, we need to have a talk."
"..Fine then, but it's staying between us."
This was one of Kiseki's signature traits, he would always know what I wanted to say sometimes before I would know myself.

Eventually, time flew by and a crow would show up to our location to lead us out of the forest. Kaoru had simply stopped talking to us, and Kiseki had to help me walk due to my stab wound, but it was manageable.
The little boy distributing the crows and ranks recognised Kaoru but for some reason didn't say anything to him and in response to us already having nichirin swords, we each got a designated crow and an official rank. And that was it, we officially became demon slayers as Kamiya intended for us.

And with the pride up to our noses, the three of us left the final selection with our brand-new official uniforms in hand.