You could almost hear the crickets chirping or even just them jumping with the amount of silence that had descended on the room that we were in.
"Oyakata-sama" Himejima said, not sure what else to say without coming out as rude or trying to protest what his Master has said.
"I know that it is short notice and we probably don't have time to fully announce it but Akatsuki Hikaru is now the Dawn Hashira, you have mastered your breathing techniques have you not?" Oyakata enquired, a small smile on his face.
"It's a lot more complicated then just mastering them but that can wait until later, I can use any of the techniques without any drawbacks anymore" I said.
"Not only that but we have four Hashira's vouching for your skills in combat though the only thing that pulled me up was your need to self-sacrifice but that isn't all that bad in itself" Oyakata-sama said.
"If that is your choice Oyakata-sama then we will stand by it and welcome Akatsuki-san" Himejima said and they all bowed towards me and I froze.
"Oh no, please you shouldn't bow to me, oh and also just call me Hikaru please" I begged, getting flustered.
"You're not still rejecting your family name are you?" Sanami asked and they all remembered back to when they first met me and I told them that I had disgraced my family name.
"No nothing like that. I just think that if we are fighting by each other's side then we should be able to call each other by name. Anyway, weren't we discussing the marks?" I questioned trying to leave this talk behind me.
'He isn't accepting that he is a pillar yet' Himejima thought.
'Oyakata-sama probably caught him off guard with that, he is still easy to fluster' Sanemi thought.
'So he has become a pillar, we will have to see if he lives up to it' Obanai thought.
'I am so happy for him, oh his friends are going to be so proud of him' Kanroji thought.
'If anyone deserves to be a pillar it is him or Tanjiro' Tokito thought.
'You have come so far from a boy that was bleeding out in the snow' Giyuu thought.
'My isn't this interesting' Shinobu thought.
"You are right, Muichirou, if you could continue, we will continue to discuss this later" Oyakata said, he wasn't going to let the matter drop until I accepted I was a Hashira now.
"I couldn't move during the previous battle because I got poisoned. I was using my breaths to try and delay the poison from circulating through my bloodstream but a boy who tried to save me nearly lost his life and my old memories came back. Then I got so angry that I lost complete control of my emotions. I think my heart rate went over 200bpm, and my body became burning hot. I think my body temperature went over 39 degrees," Tokito started.
"But can you move in that condition? That would've been life threatening" Shinobu said in shock.
"Well that's why I think it can be used as a screening test. Will you die or will you not? That's probably the difference between those who have the mark appear and those who do not" Tokito finished.
"A heart rate over 200bpm and a body temperature of around 39 degrees?" Oyakata parroted.
"Yes, when Kochou-san was treating my wounds, I apparently had a fever. The temperature recorded on the thermometer was about 39 degrees. My guess is that I had the same body temperature when the mark appeared" Tokito said.
'Oh I see now' Kanroji thought.
"Tch, so it's that simple huh?" Sanemi asked with a scowl.
"I envy those simpletons who can say this is simple" Giyuu said and I bit my lip to stop my laughter.
"What?" Sanami glared.
"Nothing," Giyuu said.
"So I guess getting a mark to appear will now be a high priority for the pillars" Shinobu said.
"It's not as easy as getting your temperature up and your heart going faster" I said and they turned to me.
"You said before Oyakata-sama that Tanjiro was the first person with a mark?" I said and he nodded.
"Sorry to say but you're wrong" I said moving off my knees and rolled my pants leg up until I was showing off the top of my left thigh. There circling my thigh was a mark that was a crimson red that looked like vines with flowers on them but the flowers were actually suns.
"I am sure that you saw in my final battle against Hantengu my body got covered in these marks, Tokito-san" I said.
"I remember that," Tokito agreed.
"Unlike Tokito-san, Kanroji-san and Tanjiro, I was born with this mark. My Kaa-san was born with a mark before me as was my Tou-san. The rest of my ancestors as well. You may think that this is a demon crest in a way you would be right. This is a mark that was branded onto Akatsuki Tsuki by Kibutsuji Muzan, to mark out the Akatsuki clan to any demon that was hunting them" I explained.
