I Spy

Chapter 57: Water v Sun, Round 2

Date: December 21, 2024
Time: 3:45 PM
Location: Tanjiro's Basement
Weather: Very Cold and Frosty

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Frost had formed all around the area for the entirety of the day, it snowed a few days ago, so it was nothing unusual. 

The problem was that the roads were iced over completely, meaning that people had to limit their time outdoors due to the fact that they could slip and injure themselves, and considering the issue where most people in Japan usually walk to areas instead of using cars, most of everybody was kept inside the entire day, so the streets were almost completely empty. 

But that didn't deter Tanjiro as he sat in his basement and chatted away with his friends who were on a video call.

"Remember 3 years ago when we all played 'The Mimic' in Roblox?" Edmund asked, everybody on screen groaned, but it was more of a comedic groan as they brought up the fun times they had.

"Why'd you gotta reference the Lego game? Especially that one?" Johan stated as he sat behind Minato who was on the screen, "I just decided to play on my account again for some nostalgia, and I saw that game on my 'Continue' list and I wanted to know if you guys remember it." Edmund asked, "Of course we do, shit gave me nightmares for days, couldn't sleep alone!" Minato exclaimed.

"Yeah, that game was something, and it was pretty hard too, considering we played on the hardest difficulty and had to restart the entire chapter after somebody f*cking died! Lorenzo!" Tanjiro exclaimed as he gave a stink eye to Lorezno, "Look! You know I'm terrible at navigating mazes!" Lorenzo replied, "My guy! For most of the mazes, the entire layout was at the f*cking beginning! Either you weren't paying attention, or your memory is just as small as a goldfish!" Tanjiro complained. "I like how we are ignoring the fact that we kept making very suggestive jokes about a lot of things." Andrew said, "Yeah, that's what made playing good, because besides getting f*cking a*s r*aped by ghosts and disfigured women, the amount of laughs we made was worth it, even if we got punished in the end." Tanjiro said with a confident tone.

"Yeah, those jokes you made, especially about the girl with two mouths was something, Edmund." Minato stated, "What was her name again...?" He asked. "I think it was Rin or some shit, I don't know..." Lorenzo replied.

"Oh yeah! That woman! The starving b*tch that ate her own sister and the 3 rats we gave her!" Tanjiro said the entire group laughed at the memory while Andrew just chuckled a bit.

But their laughs were cut short by a message that appeared on Minato's computer.

"Huh?" He said before pulling it up.

He took a while to read and scan through it as Johan and Lorenzo also joined in, "What is it?" Andrew asked, "New mission...for Tanjiro..." Minato answered. "Yes!" Tanjiro celebrated, "Can we come?" Edmund asked, "No...it says it's a solo mission..." Minato replied, "Another 'yes'!" Tanjiro celebrated again.

"What does it say?" Andrew asked, "Well...it's something regarding these colorful devils....demons...whatever the f*ck you call them...apparently satellites picked one up yesterday and it seems that they are returning to the same place again and again...and I guess since Tanjiro is the only one who has a weapon that can kill these things, HR is sending him in to eliminate and gather some info..." Minato stated as he scrolled down the briefing.

"Location?" Tanjiro asked, "Eh...I'll just upload to your mask...just go get ready..." Minato replied.

"Aight', see you there!" Tanjiro said as he logged off and began to get ready, "I wonder if any of the slayers also know about it..." Tanjiro thought as he ran to his hangers and began to change.

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Meanwhile, Giyu sat alone in his house with a cup of tea and some papers that he was grading. 

*Peck* 
*Peck*
*Peck*

He heard a noise at the window and turned to see what it was. "What could it be this time?" He thought as he stood up and walked over to his window. There he saw his crow pecking at the window, he saw the crow shivering in the cold, and Giyu opened the window quickly before hypothermia set in for the crow.

"What are you doing here?" Giyu asked with a bit of a serious tone, "M-mission fo-for Tomioka Giyu..." The crow weakly said as it slowly walked on the living room table, "What is it? Couldn't they just have sent a text message?" Giyu asked.

"Master has sent you to an area with a reoccurrence of demons in the area, he is curious whether to know if that area is a tunnel that demons are using to move around or an area of popularity among the demons." The crow responded, "Where is it?" Giyu asked, "Master told me that I would have to lead you to the location since it cannot be found on GPS and must be guided by crows." The old crow said, "Haa...fine...but let's warm you up first before we get on our way, I don't want you to suffer from frostbite midway through our journey, I still need you." Giyu said as he sighed, grabbed a tablecloth, and wrapped the crow around it.

He went to a room to grab a heater and started to heat up the crow as soon as he plugged it in. 

The crow started to walk slowly but surely near the heater and started to rest for a bit, Giyu then took the time to walk to the kitchen to grab some nuts from his pantry to feed to the crow. 

He sat back down on his couch and placed some of the nuts on a little plate along with a little bowl of water as he got up again and went back upstairs to go get ready for the mission. The crow then started to eat the meal that was given to him by his owner as he waited for him to change. 

"Poor Kanzaburo...I worry about his health sometimes...he is so old and worn out, that I'm still surprised that he's not retired...I just hope he doesn't kill himself out there one day..." Giyu thought as he changed into his hoodie and grabbed his mask.

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"Water Breathing: First Form: Water Surface Slash," Giyu said as he finally decapitated the last demon.

He stood up and looked around the battlefield which was filled with holes and craters. "Seem that this area was very popular with demons..." He thought before sheathing his sword back into his saya. A small gust of cold air blew through the area and softly picked up some of the leaves and twigs that were scattered all across the ground, "Seems today is a cold night, I'm glad I gave Kanzaburo that makeshift blanket, or else he would not have survived these conditions..." Giyu thought, "I'm also glad I brought some additional layers...I did not expect it to drop down so much in the night..." He contemplated as he started to pace around the area.

"Glad I had some hot chocolate before this, am I right, Minato?" Tanjiro said into his earpiece while sitting on a tree, overlooking the Water Hashira. "Yeah...thanks to your hot chocolate break, it seems that another person already beat you to your mission, we could've collected some valuable info!" Minato exclaimed, "Relax you angry little chipmunk, I'm interested in those guys right now, I want to focus on the guys with swords and shanking the guys of color." Tanjiro replied.

"That sounded racist af..." Tanjiro whispered to himself, "Whatever man...you do you...I guess I just put it under partial success because the threat is eliminated from the area, but we didn't get shit..." Minato stated, "Also, why do the fighting when you have someone else do it for you? Work smarter, not harder." Tanjiro joked, "You got a point there...but what are you going to do then?" Minato asked, "Easy. I just pick up where the demons failed, fighting the depressed man." Tanjiro said as he quietly jumped down from the tree.

He had his Ninchrin sword with him in case he got there first, but he decided to tuck it away into some bushes to avoid getting recognized by Giyu. "I feel like I could make a joke about this, but I can't pinpoint exactly where I can make a joke..." Minato stated, "Relax, been there, done that, just watch me fight the man." Tanjiro replied, "Call me Will Smith, 'cause I'm about to clap this man." He added which caused Minato to burst out in laughter.

Meanwhile, Giyu was about to leave when he suddenly turned around to the sound of some bushes rustling. "Who's there?" He asked while unsheathing his sword once again.

"Halo." A voice behind him said as he soon turned around to see who it was. 

As soon as he saw who it was, his eyes behind his mask immediately dilated at the pure amount of shock that he felt at the moment. He was so shocked that he actually froze for a while and didn't do anything.

"What...hello...?" Tanjiro stated as he slowly approached Giyu, "What do you want?" Giyu replied as he quickly snapped back to reality. "I mean...I don't know...I don't really have any personal allegations against you...I just have to do this...so...no hard feelings?" Tanjiro said as he shrugged a bit, "What are you going on about?" Giyu asked.

"I mean...I wasn't planning to meet you today because I had other things to do...but...I guess now that you are here, we could probably duel..." Tanjiro replied with a bit of a cocky tone, "Very well...if that's what you want...I was planning on fighting you anyway..." Giyu answered as he readied his sword.

Tanjiro took his temporary plasma blade from his coat and ignited it. 

The blade was pure white with a luminescent glow surrounding it. Tanjiro sighed and held up a hand at Tomioka who was confused and surprised, "God dammit...I thought I already changed the color..." Tanjiro muttered to himself as he tweaked around with the blade for a bit before changing its blade color from white to deep red.

"Always like a color change from the usual..." Tanjiro stated, "What is this, Star Wars? Who is this man? Why is he so casual?" Giyu thought as he shook his head in order to get rid of the thoughts. 

"Now...where were we?" Tanjiro asked before readying his guard, "You attack first, I'm being generous here, I'm usually aggressive when it comes to fights." Tanjir added before going back into his guard again.

Tomioka took a deep breath in and focused on the man and his surroundings.

"Wait hold on," Tanjiro said again as he held up his again once again, which annoyed the Water Hashira a bit. "What could he do this time?" Giyu thought with a frustrated sigh. This time, Tanjiro changed the setting on his blade and ignited the solid version of the blade instead of the plasma version.

"Sorry, I don't want to cut your precious blade in half, so I decided to switch. Carry on, good sir." Tanjiro stated as he let his opponent finally make his move.

In the blink of an eye, Giyu appeared behind Tanjiro, "Water Breathing: First Form: Water Surface Slash." He said before releasing a horizontal slash at Tanjiro, who dodged it effortlessly by ducking under it.

Tanjiro then recuperated with a backkick to the gut, which Giyu managed to block but barely in time as he was sent back a couple of meters. 

Giyu then charged in again with his sword trailing behind him, "Water Breathing: Tenth Form: Constant Flux." He said while using his momentum to increase the power of his attack. 

Tanjiro stood there without any emotion as he let the attack reach him before colliding his sword with Giyu's, canceling the attack. Tanjiro then tried to slash at Giyu's lower left abdomen, but he managed to block it in time and follow up with his own attack as he tried to sweep Tanjiro off his legs. 

Tanjiro jumped up and swung his sword at him. His sword met with Giyu's again, this time, sparks flew across the battlefield. The two began trading blows with their swords as even more sparks began to erupt from their weapons.

The clashing soon got quicker and quicker as the sparks also became more frequent and bright. 

There were a few attempts at acrobatics or catching the other by surprise, such as Giyu flipping over Tanjiro and trying to kick him down, but Tanjiro turned around and hit him in his gut with the hilt of his sword. 

"Guh!" Giyu stated as he was sent back a bit by Tanjiro, "I swear...this is like fighting a child..." Tanjiro thought while shaking his head in disappointment. "Are you even trying?" Tanjiro asked, "What do you mean?" Giyu replied as he got back up and looked at him, "You don't pose any challenge to me, this fight is like swatting flys for me..." Tanjiro stated.

"You overconfident and cocky, you know that?" Giyu said, "Of course I do..." Tanjiro replied, "I get called that like every day..." He whispered to himself.

"Water Breathing: Second Form: Water Wheel," Giyu stated as he leaped forward, performed a front flip, and clashed with Tanjiro's sword. He soon dashed behind Tanjiro and took a massive breath through his mouth, "Water Breathing: Sixth Form: Whirpool." He said as he soon started to twist his body and generate a whirlpool of air with his sword.

Tanjiro quickly turned around and quickly deflected all of the slashes that were created from the artificial whirlpool. "Ok, now I see he's trying, a little bit more exciting...but not that much." Tanjiro thought as Giyu suddenly tried to kick him into the air, but he quickly blocked the kick with his sword but was still sent up into the air.

Giyu soon met him in the air as he lept to Tanjiro who was still flying, he then raised his sword over his head, "Water Breathing: Eight Form: Waterfall Basin." He said as he brought his sword down onto Tanjiro's sword and brought them both down to the ground.

A cloud of dust was soon formed after the two made contact with the ground. 

After the dust cleared, Giyu looked at the ground where he was expecting to see a defeated foe, but to his surprise, he wasn't there and he soon frantically looked around while breathing a bit heavily. 

"A little better, but still not enough..." Tanjiro said behind Giyu while fixing his cuffs which were a little bent.

At this point, Giyu was starting to get aggravated as he gritted his teeth a bit under his mask. "Welp...my turn I guess..." Tanjiro stated as he took his sword and prepared to attack.

Giyu stood ready and waited for Tanjiro's attack, but he never expected him to go under his guard.

This is exactly what Tanjiro did as he charged and elbowed the man in the gut before keening him in the same place and sending the Hashira into the air.

"Gah!" Giyu said while being sent up.

Before he could react, Giyu was sent crashing to the ground after Tanjiro jumped up to him and hammered him with both of his fists. He bounced a bit after he landed, and during that time, Tanjiro took the opportunity to kick him in his back and send him flying into a tree. 

Tanjiro then hammered him further into the tree by elbowing him in the back, he then took his leg and flung him across the field and he soon again dashed to him and hit him in the gut, but this time he hit him with the hilt of his sword.

Giyu was sent back again and fell to the ground.

He tried to get up and recover after a few seconds, but the amount of pain he was feeling in his abdomen and back was intense and he could barely do so, "W-who is this man..." He thought while trying to stand up.

"You done?" Tanjiro asked, "Never." Giyu responded as he used his sword to fully stand up. "Gotta give it to this man, he knows when to never back down...but I don't this is the right time to do that..." Tanjiro thought with a sigh before he went for the finishing blow.

Giyu was in a guard, but his vision was hazy and blurry. and he could barely see anything at the moment, so he was completely caught by surprise when Tanjiro suddenly appeared in front of him. 

Tanjiro then swept Giyu off his legs and caught him mid-fall by his hoodie collar, he then took his hand and neck-chopped him which finally made Giyu fall unconscious. Tanjiro then plopped him on the ground and met him face to face, mask to mask.

"Pshawww...that was something, eh?" Tanjiro stated as he stood up again, "Well...that's today's mission done for now...I gotta tell Minato about this." Tanjiro said as he looked around for a second and disappeared the very next.

"Narrowly escaped that, I think his friend just arrived at the scene," Tanjiro said to himself as he appeared in a pocket of bushes and ducked down to avoid getting spotted.

"Tomioka-san?" Shinbou said as she soon entered the battlefield.

She was alerted by Kanzaburo earlier and she immediately began to run over to the area as soon as she heard about the news. 

Her eyes shrunk a bit as she laid them on the unconscious body of Giyu, she ran over to him and turned him around to see the damage.

There were no severe scratches or wounds, just some dust spots and drops of blood that were caused by his crashing into the tree and small pieces of wood piercing his skin and drawing some blood. Shinbou then lifted up his shirt as she noticed Giyu holding his abdomen with his hand as if he was gripping it in pain.

She saw bruises around the area where Giyu was gripping with his hand, and she looked visibly shaken under her mask. "That man..." She thought while taking a wrap from her pocket and wrapping Giyu's bruises.

"I hope he didn't do anything else to you, Tomioka-san..." Shinbou stated as she tried to pick him up.

But due to her lack of physical strength, she soon had to drag the man along the ground and all the way back to the Butterfly Mansion. "Let's get you fixed up...you have some questions that I need answered..." Shinobu thought while dragging the man out of the battlefield and glanced at him with a genuine face of worry.

"Well that was...something..." Tanjiro said to himself as he took his Ninichrin Sword from the bushes and left the area in the opposite direction of where Shinobu was going.

"Glad to know that she's not just teasing him for fun..." Tanjiro thought while running through the forest and back home.

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Hello! Welcome back to another segment of "Kimetsu Gossip"! Unfortunately, we can't bring anyone here, except for Tanjiro, because currently, Edmund and Andrew are busy, Shinobu is coping over Giyu, and Giyu...well he's f*cking dead, he can't do it.

Tanjiro: Giyu's not actually dead...relax everybody...

Tanjiro: Anyways, today we'll talk a bit more about the field trip that will be happening in a few weeks. 

Tanjiro: It will be happening on the 24th, so it's on Christmas Eve. 

Tanjiro: Students are advised to arrive at school an hour earlier, so they have to make sure to get plenty of sleep the night before.

Tanjiro: There will be assigned buses to every group, which is currently about 11 or 12...so there will be an entire convoy in the morning...

Tanjiro: And I'm pretty sure you all know what is going to happen after we arrive there, but the end event will probably be the most interesting.

Tanjiro: After every group's rotation is done, they are all to meet back at one area in Tokyo and begin to tour the entire downtown during the night when all of the Christmas lights are on. Students are free to fall out of line for a while to take pictures of view the surroundings, but they must soon return back to their groups since as we go through downtown, the buses will be parked at a designated area downtown to pick up the students after the tour is finished and drive them all the way back to Kimetsu city.

Tanjiro: The time of departure should be around 5 to 6, and the estimated time of arrival is expected to be a few hours after 9 since the distance from Tokyo to Kimetsu is a couple of hours or so.

Tanjiro: Anyway, that concludes it for this segment of "Kimetsu Gossip", join us next time in the chapter, "Questions and Answers" where Giyu finally wakes up from his unconscious state and answers some questions that refer to what he saw, and I have another look in my Dad's diary and unlock some new information.

Tanjiro: Don't ask why I'm reading the book in segments when I could just read it all together, I read at like 1000 words per minute so I would probably get finished with the book in no time. I think it's just the author's attempt to add suspense or some shit...

Hey! I do-

Tanjiro: Bye!