I'm not Muzan Kibutsuji!

Chapter 15: Kanao attempts a murder

Kanao wanted to kill him. Surely, surely she wasn't serious? Masaru was not cut out for dealing with his master's murderous student, the guy would kill him the first chance he got!

Maybe he was a little afraid but can you blame him? Shinazugawa had stabbed him, and even though his arm had healed, he hadn't forgotten the event. He still had a fading scar in the shape of a sword. The guy was crazy!

Masaru didn't want to hold it against the man too much but surely it wasn't a ridiculous ask to never see him again? They didn't need to go to this guy. right.... right?

Kanao seemed completely unaffected by his concerns, continuing to go through some exercises with him. He mentally anguished as she continued to wordlessly stare at him. "....Kanao. He stabbed me. Stabbed! Me!" Unfortunately for Masaru, She did not see reason, and after several minutes of complaining, he begrudgingly got up. Sadly, Kanao might have been a little bit right.

The reality was, Shinazugawa was one of the best wind breathers out there, and they were trained by the same master. Therefore, he had the best understanding of Masaru's breathing. His flexibility had improved greatly, but his breathing was the same. Shinazugawa certainly had movements Masaru could mímic, so it made complete sense.

Now.. he was faced with another problem. Kanao had left to train on her own, and Masaru was faced with some options. He wanted to go to a pillar, assuming that since they were all hashira, they were probably friends, and therefore, Shinazugawa would not immediately pummel him. He could go to Shinobu, but he was slightly(read:very) afraid of her and didn't want to interrupt whatever she was doing, and he was definitely going to visit Rengoku, but he was still dealing with his brother and all of that.

He continued to think through options, before realizing It was, in fact, very much midnight, and if Aoi saw him outside, she might actually kill him. Not because training at night wasnt allowed, but because he was, in fact, very injured.

He looked down at the bandages, the slightest bit of blood sleeping through them. ... okay maybe going through stretches was a bad idea, but could you blame him.....??? The answer was yes and Masaru knew it so he begrudgingly went to Tanjiro's room. Nezuko was chilling in there, drawing some pictures. She slept a lot during the day, so Masaru got the impression that She was a bit nocturnal.

Instead of addressing his injuries like a normal person, Masaru decided to sit next to the not-very-ravenous demon and look at her coloring. "What are you drawing?" He whispered to her. Nezuko pointed at Tanjiro's sleeping form. He nodded. Drawing Tanjiro was completely understandable. Tanjiro had said Nezuko was their town's beauty, but Masaru was pretty sure he only said that because he hadn't seen himself. Have you seen that man? No wonder demons were after him Masaru couldn't blame them!

With nothing else to do besides sleep(and face his growing exhaustion) or sit with Nezuko, he took the far easier option and decided to start drawing his friends with her.

The graphite was messy and got all over his hands as the two worked on Zenitsu. As per real life, tears of fear and/or joy were streaming down his face. Nezuko proved to be a great artist, coloring his hair, while Masaru tried to copy the little triangles on Zenitsu's haori.

When they were done, Nezuko flipped it over and started doodling a new figure. As she sketched, Masaru realized it was Zenitsu sleeping, when he went into that crazy powerful state! The two continued to draw pictures of their friends. Eventually, Masaru learned over, his exhaustion finally taking him to sleep, and felt a flicker of warmth against his stomach, he learned against the heat, and drifted off once more.

He woke up again as sunlight filtered into the room. He was spooked at first, looking to where Nezuko had been yesterday, but found with relief that the little demon had decided to steal his hat. He also realized that someone had draped a blanket over him. It made him happy to realize he and Nezuko had grown closer. Man, getting stuck in a box does wonders for friendship, huh?

The light had come from the door, where one angry butterfly girl scolded him. The girl, who he remembered as Sumi, changed his bandages quickly, before helping him onto a bed and Serving Masaru and Tanjiro breakfast.

"Thank you!" He grinned at the girl. Unfortunately, Masaru had forgotten the fact that he was face sharing with the biggest asshole alive, and quickly remembered that fact when she ran out of the room in fear. The brief sadness in his heart that followed was soon overtaken by annoyance. Wasn't Muzan a demon? He could have picked literally any other look. Something a little more otherworldly? Pick white hair, then everyone would question Sanemi instead! Instead of slit eyes, he could have gone for bloody or soulless one, not blood red, go for some other fantastical color!

His thoughts were interrupted by Tanjiro, who had finally roused. Masaru had no clue what he had done yesterday, so decided to ask once the guy had gotten some food in him. "When you left yesterday, what did you do?"

Tanjiro sighed. "I went to cool off. That guy—he made me so angry. My Father.. he was a good man. Honest, kind—he taught me my breath style—the one with fire, though.." he paused for a moment, sighing, "I didn't know what it was at the time. Just—seeing that man, an alcoholic, someone who shared their techniques with their children Just like my father, hit his child—" Tanjiro seemed unable to bring himself to continue.

Masaru contemplated that for a while. His father was a man he didn't think about often, but Tanjiro's father.. seemed like a good one, from what he had heard. Yurei-Sensei came to mind—the man who had taught him breathing, taken him in despite knowing he looked like a monster, and cared for him so deeply. He couldn't imagine Yurei like that, lost within himself and hurting others just to feel something. He really couldn't.

"I can't imagine Sensei doing that, so I think I understand." He commented, leaning forwards. "Do you feel better now? Don't let what happened bring you down. At least Senjuro got to see his brother, right?" Tanjiro brightened a bit at that, nodding.

They cycled through plenty conversations before Masaru begrudgingly brought up Kanao's suggestion. "Ah, so you've been training with her too! And she suggested that?" Masaru could sense the mix of emotions within Tanjiro.

Make no mistake, Tanjiro was a saint. His kindness and compassion deep. But Shinazugawa had stabbed both Masaru and his sister, so.. yeah. Masaru got the feeling that Tanjiro wasn't a huge fan. Still, he was pointed in the right direction by his friend. "You could probably ask Tomioka. He's the one with the different-patterned Haori. He's really nice! Tomioka was the one that saved Nezuko, so I trust him." With that knowledge in mind, Masaru had a plan!

He would meet up with Tomioka and have the man help him meet and get help from Shinazugawa! It was perfect! Masaru was a genius! With this.. maybe he could finally protect his friends with his own strength, instead of relying on the shock that his looks provided.

A/n : Unfortunately for Masaru, this was, in fact, perhaps the worst possible way to get Shinazugawa to train him. Oops! Hi friends! Its meeee :DD I'm back! I've got plans! sorry for the long wait, and thank you all for the love and support!!