An Unusual Encounter

Tanjiro Agrees

"Fine. I'll become your friend, but only if you really promise to let me out of here!", said Tanjiro. "Wonderful! And of course I promise, I wouldn't have offered it if I wouldnt be serious about it. But you have to promise me something as well.", answered the demon in return. Tanjiro sighed. He kinda expected that there would be a catch. "Which is?", asked Tanjiro. "Please promise me that you won't decapitate me after I spit you out. That's not something friends do, is it now?", said the demon. It was a very logical thing to ask, so Tanjiro agreed to the terms and promised the demon.

"Wonderful! Though I have to warn you, this next part might be a bit rough and a bit, uh, weird.", explained the demon while preparing himself to expel Tanjiro. "I'm inside your stomach, it can't get much weirder than that.", answered Tanjiro, audibly annoyed at the whole situation. "Haha I guess that is true. Well then, here I go!", laughed out the demon.

The moment he was finished, Tanjiro could start to feel his surroundings shift and change. The muscles that restricted his movement before started to pulsate and almost seemed to push him upwards. He could feel his head enter the base of the demon's throat once more. From then on, the natural gag reflex of the demon kicked back in. It took some coughing and unpleasant feelings, but after the longest minute of Tanjiro's life, he was finally out of the demon's body.

He found himself back on the wooden floor, drenched in saliva and stomach juices, but otherwise mostly fine. Behind him he could hear the demon, still heavily coughing. This was Tanjiros chance! He got up, trying his best to ignore the feeling of wet clothes that he felt across his body and dashed towards the katana. The darkness inside the demon's stomach helped his eyes get used to it, so he could clearly see the outline of his weapon. He picked it up and pointed it back at the demon, which finally seemed to have been able to calm his breathing again.

However, that did not stop him from looking at Tanjiro with a shocked expression. "What are you doing? You promised me! I fulfilled my promise, don't tell me youre gonna break yours!", exclaimed the demon shocked. While Tanjiro surely would've loved to slash at his foe, he did have a good point. The demon could have just as well kept him in his stomach as a prisoner, or even digested him, and there was nothing he could have done about it.

With a heavy sigh, Tanjiro picked up the sheath that he dropped earlier and sheathed his katana. The demon let out a sigh of relief. "Phew, thank you for keeping your word.", it exclaimed. It was only now that Tanjiro started to wringe out parts of his clothing and tried to shake off the liquids that stuck to him. "Don't mention it, but you owe me an explanation! And an Apology!", He said. "Of course! That's what friends are for, right? Oh and there's a small bathroom I built 2 rooms down the hall. You can use that if you want.", The demon told Tanjiro. Tanjiro was skeptical, of course, but he eventually picked up what he lost during their confrontation and went to clean himself and his clothes. In the meantime, the demon went out the main entrance and sat down on the porch. He didn't want to push his luck with Tanjiro.

Roughly 45 minutes later, Tanjiro walked back out the bathroom and joined the demon on the porch. "Feeling better?", asked the demon. "Hardly.", answered Tanjiro. This earned him a low chuckle from the demon. "Understandable. So, ask away my friend.", said the demon, the hint of enthusiasm from earlier returning. This demon was truly confusing to Tanjiro. "Well, first things first: What is your name?", asked Tanjiro. He thought it might be better to address the demon with a name. "Oh right! My name is Nomiko.", answered the demon.

"Alright then, 'Nomiko'. Why did you attack and swallow me if you just wanted to become friends?", asked Tanjiro. He had a lot of questions, but that was definitely the Biggest one on his mind right now. "Well, would you have believed me if I just said it to you straight up?", answered Nomiko. Tanjiro wanted to protest but quickly realized that he, indeed, would have not. "Exactly. So I thought I would show you that I'm serious about it.", continued Nomiko. But now Tanjiro protested. "By swallowing me whole and holding me hostage with the threat of digesting me?!".

Nomiko's face shifted a bit, almost offended by such accusations. But he quickly regained his composure and answered. "Well, not exactly. I would have actually let you go either way, I never had the intent to actually kill you.", Nomiko exclaimed. Tanjiro was baffled. While he did kinda believe him, considering he could've easily bit his head off or crushed him, he was still skeptical. "But isn't that what Muzan ordered you to do?", asked Tanjiro. Nomiko looked a bit confused, but then gasped as if he finally understood something. "Oooh! That's what's going on, you think Muzan created me! Well I can calm you down a bit, it was actually the blood of a young lady in Tokyo that turned me into a demon.", explained Nomiko.

Tanjiro thought for a moment, but then realized that he probably meant Lady Tamayo. "So uh... Are all demon's able to do 'that'?", Tanjiro asked, while gesturing at Nomiko's belly and mouth. "Swallow things whole? Oh no. At least I don't think so. It's something that my Blood Demon Art allows me to do.", explained Nomiko. Tanjiro was beginning to understand.

"So you don't eat humans?", he asked. "Not really. Most of the time I eat small to medium sized animals or cook up a nice meal. But if and when I eat a human I ask them first and obviously spit them out later.", explained Nomiko. Tanjiro was a bit confused by that. "You ask them? And they agree to be eaten?", he asked. "Well, obviously not everyone. And that's fine, those who don't want to I just leave be. But occasionally there is someone that agrees. And they seem to like it in my belly.", said Nomiko.

To say that Tanjiro was surprised by this would be an understatement. "How could anyone possibly enjoy being eaten?", asked Tanjiro, sounding like it's some sort of crime. "Oh come on, don't act like you didn't see the appeal yourself.", responded Nomiko playfully. It is true that, apart from fearing for his well-being and the fact that he easily could've died in there, it was actually not too bad in the demon's belly. Of course he would never admit that, however his facial expressions told Nomiko everything they needed to know.

Suddenly, Nomiko stood up and stretched. "Well, I better go now before the sun comes up. If you ever need me I will probably hang around here.", said Nomiko. "Alright then, see you around, I guess?", answered Tanjiro. "Yup! See ya!", said Nomiko. And with that, he jumped back on the trees and hopped off into the night, presumably hiding from other possible Demon Slayers.

Tanjiro packed up his stuff as well, settled the wooden box back on his shoulders and back and went off. However, before leaving the forest he found the captured Kusagi Crow and freed it. Tanjiro guaranteed the extermination of the demon and since the Kusagi Crow only found the partially broken wood structure, it had no reason to doubt the usually honest Demon Slayer. Tanjiro continued to think about the adventures from that day up until he received his next assignment from the Kusagi Crow, wondering if and when he would meet his new demon friend again.

THE END