Thirty-One

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Quite some time passed since you all arrived at the Wisteria house. Admittedly, you've been avoiding Zenitsu, still a bit hurt at his reaction. Inosuke has surprisingly helped with keeping the boy away, always yelling at him to fight him whenever Zenitsu even remotely gets near you. Tanjiro feels bad, especially since he reacted the same way years ago when he first met you. It took a while for you to be comfortable around him again and he can only hope that you'll soon forgive Zenitsu who genuinely seems to feel bad.

For now, the four of you are preparing to head off to your new mission. You all stand outside of the Wisteria house as Hisa kindly sparks a stone of good luck onto your backs. You have to hold back a laugh as Inosuke yells at the old woman, threatening her as he thinks she's attacking you all. Thankfully Tanjiro and Zenitsu manage to calm him down before he can do anything to the sweet woman.

"Always live your lives with great pride." Hisa tells you all. "I wish you luck in battle."

The four of you set off after that, running to your destination. Inosuke, confused, starts asking questions. "Great pride? Luck in battle? What does that mean?"

"Well, yeah, now that you mention it, it's kind of difficult." Tanjiro answers, leading the group as he continues running. "With great pride... I guess it means that y0u know your place and that you behave properly so that you're never ashamed of yourself. And the old lady is also praying for our safety."

"So, what is this 'place'? What do you mean, 'never ashamed'?" Tanjiro goes to explain only for Inosuke to interrupt with another question. "What exactly does it mean to 'behave properly'? Why in the hell would that old hag pray for our safety anyway? She has nothing to do with us. Then, why? She has no clue what her own place is, does she?"

You chuckle softly as Tanjiro suddenly picks up speed. Inosuke, being the competitive boar that he is, speeds up as well as he tries to catch up with Tanjiro. Zenitsu speeds up as well while you simply remain at a decent pace trailing behind the three of them. Despite the increase in speed, you all don't make it to your destination until the sun has set, leaving you all in darkness.

"Would you mind waiting a second?" Zenitsu calls out.

"Zenitsu? What's wrong?" Tanjiro questions as you all stop to turn to the other boy.

"I'm scared, all right?" Zenitsu cries, sitting on the ground while hugging his legs to his chest. "Now that we're nearing our destination, I'm so scared!"

"Why the hell is he sitting? How creepy is that?"

"Who are you to talk, Pig Face?" Zenitsu yells in offense. "Don't tell me you're not getting any vibes from that mountain!"

The two turn to look at the mountain before returning to facing Zenitsu. "Still, what good will it do to just sit there?"

"I told you, he's creepy."

"I am not in any way creepy! I'm normal! I'm the normal one! You guys are abnormal!"

A strange sound comes behind you, pulling your focus towards the mountain. It seems something caught Tanjiro's attention as well as he turns to look, mentioning something about a smell. He takes off running with Inosuke quickly following. Despite not wanting to, Zenitsu gets up as well to follow after them leaving you to trail behind since you were hesitant to leave the scared boy alone despite still being somewhat upset with him.

Approaching the mountain, you all suddenly come to a stop. You have to strain to sense the blob laying on the ground, barely able to tell that it's a person. "Help me!" The injured boys calls out quietly as he cries.

"He's got our uniform on. He's a Demon Slayer!" Tanjiro points out. "Something must've happened! Are you alright? What happened?"

You stand frozen as the outline of the boy suddenly disappears, unable to tell what happened to him. You can hear him yelling about something being attached to him before his voices fades away as he presumably gets further away due to whatever was attached to him. You couldn't sense anything which is extremely concerning. Whatever it was, you'll be unable to do anything about it if you encounter it upon entering the mountain.

"I'll go on ahead. You can follow me, shivering." Inosuke steps forward as he pulls out his dual blades. "This is making me hungry."

Tanjiro and Inosuke run into the trees, disappearing from your senses. Sighing, you turn slightly to Zenitsu, knowing he's far too scared to follow after. "You can wait here. As soon as the mission is over and the demon is dead, I'll come back for you. I promise."

You turn and take off, following the path you assume the other two took. Zenitsu cries out, his hand held up in despair as he watches you go. "Wait! I never apologized!" His stretched out hand falters before dropping as he watches you disappear from sight. "Even she's brave enough to run straight into the danger despite being blind. Just how pathetic am I?"

Zenitsu sits there for a while, his thoughts churning as he mumbles to himself about how he would've gone if they had just tried to convince him a bit more. However, he soon comes to a startling realization that forces him to his feet, making him sprint into the terrifying forest. "(Y/N) just went in there! She's blind so who knows if she'll even be able to find Tanjiro and Inosuke! How dare they just leave without her! I'm coming (Y/N)! Wait for me!"

——————
🔆TAISHO SECRETS🔆

🔅You left your geta behind at the Wisteria house knowing you can't be forced to wear them if you don't have them

🔅The threads connected to the boy were so thin that you couldn't possibly sense them

🔅Inosuke and Tanjiro have no idea you tried following after them

🔅Zenitsu is extremely worried for you. He's terrified that you might die all alone. He feels bad that he never got the chance to apologize or tell you how beautiful he thinks you are

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