Demon Slayer rewrite

Season 1 Episode 5. Muichiro remembers

"With the amount of air left in my lungs, I can make one last attack," Muichiro thought.

Muichiro breathed out the last air left in his lungs. "Mist Breathing, first form. Low clouds, distant haze!"

It didn't work.

"I can't even break it with a thrusting technique," Muichiro thought. "I guess that's to be expected with this chipped katana, though. It's no use... I'm going to die."

Muichiro suddenly noticed what looked like Tanjiro standing in front of him, right outside of the water prison pot.

"Why do you think that?" the figure asked. "No one knows what the future holds."

"Wait, no, Tanjiro never said that to me," Muichiro thought. "But... who DID say it?"

"It will work out somehow," the figure said. "Don't give up. Someone is sure to help you."

"WHAT!? You're telling me to leave it to someone else!?" Muichiro thought. "That's the worst thing I could possibly do!"

"People can achieve great things when they work together," the figure said.

"No one can save me, everyone is weaker than me," Muichiro thought. "I was supposed to do better, but I made a lot of mistakes, so I'm going to die."

"Human beings are creatures that can tap into an unbelievable strength when helping others," the figure said.

Muichiro suddenly realized who had said these things to him. It was his father.

"I figured it out, Tanjiro!" Muichiro thought. "My father had the same red eyes as you! I remember now. He was a woodcutter. As his son, I helped him cut down trees. It was a stormy day, and mother got pneumonia and died from a bad cold. Father had tried to pick herbs for her but fell off a cliff and died as well. Both of my parents died when I was 10 years old. I was alone."

Muichiro suddenly remembered another person from his past.

"Wait, that's wrong," Muichiro thought. "I wasn't alone until I was 11 years old. I had a twin. My brother's name was Yuichiro. He had a harsh tongue, and I feel like lately I might have been like him. Living alone with Yuichiro was hard. He was cold, and I thought he hated me. One time in the spring, someone came to visit. It was the master's wife. But Yuichiro spoke harshly as he always did and turned her away. She kept visiting the house, but we never spoke to her. Then summer came. The weather was hot, and we were always irritable. Even the nights were hot and the cicadas were louder than ever."

As Muichiro continued to remember what had happened to him, he felt himself being filled with rage.

"Then one night, we left the door open, and a demon came into our house and struck Yuichiro," Muichiro thought. "All I could see was red. I had never felt so angry in my life. Fierce anger and rage was boiling up from inside of me. I can't really remember anything after that. The next thing I knew, the demon lay dying on the ground, but it was suffering. I had smashed its head in, torn off all of its limbs, and stabbed it repeatedly with our farming tools, but it still wouldn't die. It wasn't long before the sun rose, and the demon evaporated into dust. However, I couldn't care less about that. I wanted to hurry to Yuichiro, but my body felt as heavy as lead. It took me forever just to reach the house in front of me."

Yuichiro was collapsed on the ground. He was mumbling something under his breath.

"Please... just spare my little brother..." Yuichiro had said. "He's not like me... he's a kind person. He wants to help people... but I stopped him. If you must punish someone, punish me. The Mu in Muichiro... means infinity. Muichiro... for the sake of others... you can tap into an infinite strength. You are one of the chosen. But remember... in the end, no one will be there to protect you, so I thought I had to do it. I'm sorry I couldn't be kinder, but I couldn't afford to. Only chosen souls can be kind to others."