ʟᴇꜰᴛ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ//ᴋɴʏ (ᴀᴜ)

F o u r t e e n

Kota's POV

I step out into the sun and head over to Tomioka-san. He is in is demon slayer uniform, only without his mix-matched haori. 

"Have you ever fought before?" is the first thing he asks. I nod. "Did you get trained by anyone?" I nod again. I can just make up a quick lie about my dad being able to combat. I imagine my tall dad, combating with Akaza. I giggle.

"What's so funny?" He asks. I stop. Oops. He sighs. "Let's see what you can do."

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A few minutes later, I'm gasping for air. 

"You're good at this." He compliments, handing me a cup of water. "We can skip over to the next part, since you're skilled in the combat section."

Akaza's training wasn't bad after all. I drink the water in a blink. 

"Now, I never trained anyone before so I'm going to train you like my trainer trained me. Got it?" He stated, and I nod. The only thing to do right now is obey, obey and obey.

He takes me up to a mountain by his house. I've never actually climbed one before, so I'm already worn out. Tomioka-san looks completely normal.

"From here on," he stops walking. I stop too, and inhale deeply for air. "You have to find your way back to my house before the sun sets. Good luck." He finished. Wait, what?

Before I can stop him, he is out of view. What the hell? How does he expect me to do this? Is he crazy??

I groan and start running down. I have no idea which path we took to come up, so I'm mainly focusing on getting to the bottom.  Suddenly, I hear a swoosh sound coming towards me. I get hit by some rocks. I fall down to the floor, rubbing my cheeks. 

"Seriously?!" I yell, frustrated. "Traps, really? I'm a dang beginner you piece of depressed quack! How do you expect me to do this??"

I sit there for a moment, listening to the wind. I get up and clean my pants. I dash downhill again trying to avoid all the traps I can.

By the time I get to the bottom, my legs are shaking. The sun is almost setting, but not fully gone yet. I sigh in relief.

"I see you made it back," I hear Tomioka-san's voice coming from behind me. I turn around and spot him holding a drink. "Drink this."

I take the drink with my shaking hands and drink it in a flash. Cold water, perfect for my condition.

"Come on. Let's go inside." He says walking away.

"But I'm tired! Can you carry me?" I beg, hoping he'll say yes.

My hope is deflated right away. "No."

I frown as I force my shaking legs to walk. Why is becoming a demon slayer so painful?

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It's been a month since I began training with Tomioka-san, and I'm getting better at climbing the mountain, and avoiding the traps. But every day the traps have gotten much harder. Like this one time when I was running down the mountain and a knife came flying towards me!

Of course I complained about this to Tomioka-san, but does he listen? I sometimes wonder if he is half deaf. I actually grew fond of him, and I think of him as a brother I never had.

I just got out of bed and am now having breakfast with him. 

"Before we start teaching you my breathing technique," He starts, sipping his tea. "We're going to go meet the Hashiras."

I drop my chopsticks. "Already?"

He nods. "I want to give you a choice of what breathing style you want to learn."

Gosh, since when was he this nice? I finish up my food and get up from my seat. "Today?"

He sighs. "Will you calm down a little bit?" I quickly shut my mouth and proceeded to stay calm. "Yes, today. We're having a meeting so everyone will be there."

I'm actually kind of nervous. What if they sense something weird about me, and then they figure out my whole plan, next thing you know my dad dies, Akaza dies, and I die, and we all end up in hell-

Whoa, I tell myself. I'm overthinking this.

"Here," Tomioka-san holds out a haori. I take his from him and study them. "I went to the market yesterday and it looked like it'll fit you."

The haori had some snowflakes on them, and were fading from white to icy blue. I loved it!

"Thank you Tomioka-san." I thank him in my calmest voice. I put on my haori and spin around. They were really comfy. 

One thing I gotta remember before meeting the hashiras; stay calm like Tomioka-san, maybe don't talk at all!

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We just arrived at the meeting place. We're in front of the gate, and I'm gathering myself. Stay calm.

Tomioka-san push opens the gate, and I follow him in. Out of nervousness, I grab onto his haori. He tries to make me let go, but sighs and gives up.

I peek from behind his back and spot people standing in a big circle, talking.

The Hashiras.