Soul || KNY x Reader

04 ≈ It Was At This Moment You Knew You Fucked Up

You and Tanjiro stood in the courtyard facing Urokodaki as he spoke.

"Demon Slaying Corps, with members in the few hundreds. It's an organization unrecognized by the government, yet it has existed since ancient times and continues to hunt demons even to this day. However, their leader's identity remains shrouded in mystery."

You held back a snort, knowing very well that Urokodaki had met at least one Ubuyashiki while being the former Water Pillar.

"Demons. Their staple food is humans. They kill humans and eat them. When they were born or where they came from is still unknown." More like Tanjiro hasn't unlocked enough protagonist levels to access that information. "They have powerful physical abilities and even when injured, they are able to immediately heal themselves. Their mangled flesh regenerates, and their limbs can be regrown as well. Some demons have special abilities. A few can even shapeshift. The only way to kill them is with the sunlight or by beheading them with a nichirin sword. The demon slayers fight demons with their mortal flesh and blood. Since we're humans, our wounds are slow to heal, and once lost, our limbs don't grow back. Even so, we still fight demons for humanity.

"I am a cultivator. Like what the word describes, I cultivate swordsmen. There are as many cultivators as stars in the sky and each of them teaches their disciples in their own respective place and style. To join the Demon Slayer Corps, you must survive the Final Selection process held on Fujikasane mountain. I get to decide whether or not you are allowed to enter the Final Selection."

Those were the words he gave the two of you before sending you both off for another round of going down the mountain. Even though it seemed repetitive, you always managed to find some sort of either new trap or an improved, deadly(ier) version of an old one.

Not gonna lie, old man, but you're pretty creative.

"Hey, Tanjiro!" You said cheerfully as you supported your body over a pit of knives. "Old man kills!"

"How can you say that so casually??"

You laughed, getting to your feet and continuing your descent down the mountain.

However, the more you and Tanjiro trained, the less time you had to spend learning Japanese. You decided early on that there really wasn't a point in learning how to read and write. You weren't going to encounter any situation that required you to take some sort of Japanese vocabulary quiz or anything. Even then, however, you didn't know a lot of specifics. You could only list what objects were in your immediate surroundings and maybe a few curse words you'd remembered from watching various anime shows. (there's always that one character who swears a lot and their voice is usually pretty clear, so you copied their pronunciation, although Tanjiro didn't need to know that).

But it was fine. You were managing.

"Hi, Bearnice!" You exclaimed one night as you entered the house. Your now friendly bear got to her feet and padded towards you, nudging your hand. When you opened your palm, she dropped some slobbery berries in it. Smiling, you patted her head.

She had picked up this habit of trying to feed you, especially when you didn't come inside at all the entire day. It was like she knew you hadn't eaten and was forcing you to do so, in her own way. But she was great, you loved her.

Then about a week after Urokodaki gave you the brief on the demon slayers, he gave you and Tanjiro each a sword before sending you up the mountain. For Tanjiro, it seemed like he just kept getting caught in a lot more traps, but for you, having one hand holding a sword and the other empty threw off your balance and you missed a lot of the jumps you would've normally made.