Purple Lotus [Kimetsu no Yaiba]

~Forty-Seven~

"We're not even official members of the Corps!" Kiyo cried as she was being carried against her will.

"We won't be able to help you!" Naho exclaimed as she was thrown on top of Kiyo.

The triplets, along with Aoi, were being dragged somewhere against their will by a large man with white hair and very vibrant clothing. Sound Pillar; Tengen Uzui, wanted them to accompany him to the Entertainment District to act as deacons for his next mission. He was just about to succeed in abducting them when Kanao held onto them for dear life, trying to stop him.

"Hmm?" he gave her a look and was about to argue and reprimand her when three loud voices interrupted him.

"WE'LL GO!!" Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke appeared on the scene. 

"We can accompany you on their behalves," Tanjiro volunteered. "We'll go to the Entertainment District!!"

"I wanna go too!!" Tsubasa ran after them, buzzing with energy. "Lemme go with you!"

The Sound Pillar looked at them skeptically. "I know Tsubasa would make the cut, and she'd be more helpful since she's a Hashira as well. But you three..." He stared at the trio a moment before he shrugged. "I suppose I can make it work. It is me after all."

With that, he let the poor girls go and the new group dashed right out the gate. Once they were on the dirt path, Tengen turned to look at the trio, Tsubasa standing at his side because she knew his next words wouldn't be directed at her. 

"First off," he started with a smirk. "I am a god. You are all peasants. Therefore, you must treat me like the flamboyant entity that I am."

The girl laughed at the thoughts that went through the trio's heads. Zenitsu thought he was mad, Tanjiro thought he was cool, and Inosuke thought he'd found another one of his kind of people.

"Just what are you the god of, exactly?" Tanjiro asked in pure innocence. 

Tengen's grin grew, liking the acknowledgement. "I am the god of festivals! Uzui Tengen!"

"Why, hello, god of festivals!" Inosuke greeted with a haughty air. "I am the King of the Mountains, Hashibira Inosuke!!" 

Now it was Tengen who looked at the boar like he was mad. Was he trying to imply that they were on the same level!? He was going to lash out when the boar dashed to his side and grabbed Tsubasa by the wrist, dragging her to his own side. "And this is my queen the brat!!" he acclaimed, proudly.

"Queen?" Tengen blinked at the girl. Tsubasa wasn't affiliated with anyone as far as he knew, but then again they weren't as close as she was with the Flame Pillar. He only liked the girl because she was the youngest Hashira and her Breathing Style was flashy. Not as flashy as his but still. "Right! We leave now!!"

The trio blinked and the two pillars were gone. "What!? Where did Tsu-chan and Uzui-san go!?" Zenitsu exclaimed and looked around. Eventually they saw that the two were several paces ahead of them, running at an inhuman speed. 

"Wait up!!" they called and ran after the two.

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"This is it." 

The group were now standing in the very heart of the Entertainment District. It was a place filled to the brim with people, shops, flashing lights and brothels. Zenitsu looked at it all in awe, Inosuke and confusion, and Tanjiro in shock. How could there be so many people in one place? And it was so bright even at night! It would be very easy for a demon to hide among all the people.

"Are you alright, Tsubasa?" the maroonette asked the girl when he caught her swaying and looking dizzy. 

"Yeah, there's just a lot of people in the area," Tsubasa shook her head and smiled, wrinkling her nose a bit as she heard all the dirty thoughts of the majority of the people there. "I'll be fine though."

The boy wasn't convinced. "Are you sure? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for you to..." the girl wasn't listening as she too started to marvel at all the sights the Entertainment District had to offer. 

Tengen had just just come back from dragging Zenitsu away from an inappropriate place, then he dashed to Inosuke who was being carried away by a swarm of unknowing people.

"MWAHAHAHA!! THAT'S RIGHT YOU WEAKLINGS!! CARRY YOUR KING!!!" he laughed maniacally before he was dragged down. Seconds later, from the complete opposite direction, there was screaming.

"WAHHH! I'M BEING WASHED AWAY!!" Tsubasa cried as she too was being swept away by the citizens of the area. "HELP MEEE!!!"

An irk mark appeared on the the Pillar's head as he sighed and ran to save the girl as well. When finally they had all been rounded up, he took them to a place where they would change clothes and disguise themselves before they could be sold off, for the sake of the mission. The Pillar was scrolling through several envelopes with caught the boys' attention. 

"What are those?" Tanjiro was the first to ask.

"They're letters that were sent to check up on me," Tengen replied. "Though, it's been a while since I last received them."

"They're from your wife?" he asked again. "Wow, there's so many!"

"Well, of course they are!" the whitette flashed a smile. "I do have three of them, after all."

The blonde's jaw dropped. "WHAT!?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE THREE WIVES!?! THAT'S SO UNFAIR!! HOW IS IT THAT BOAR GETS A GIRLFRIEND AND YOU HAVE THREE WIVES BUT I CAN'T EVEN GET A GIRL TO LOOK MY WAY!!!?" he exclaimed so loudly that Tanjiro had to bonk his head for him to shut up. 

"I told you she's not my girlfriend!!" Inosuke growled at him while Tsubasa struggled to help him wear the new piece of clothing. "She's my queen!"

"You have a problem with me having three wives?" Tengen asked, his voice low as he gave him an intimidating glare. Instead of denying it, the blonde just shut up and looked away. 

The sound pillar had changed into something more casual than his Corps uniform thought just as flashy. Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke were all in yukatas that concealed their muscular builds perfectly and were wearing extremely tacky make-up. "I could have done their make up, Tsubasa," Tengen deadpanned as the girl slathered the last bit of lipstick onto Zenitsu.

"Are you doubting my talents?" she asked with a glare that immediately shut the older man up. She then ran into the next room and changed. Minutes later, she went back singing, "I'm done~!"

The trio stared at her, wide-eyed. They'd never seen Tsubasa in anything other than the Corps uniform, so to see her wearing something different was awestriking. The girl was wearing a purple yukata with a pink flower pattern on it. Instead of being on her head, her warding mask was tied with a ribbon at the side of her waist and her hair was let down so it flowed all the way down her shoulder and back.

She'd done her own make-up but it looked normal compared to what she'd done to the boys. It was much lighter and not as tacky. "So, how do I look?" she asked, striking a pose. "I'm not used to dressing up, so I guess I look kinda weird, huh?"

"Beautiful," the boar blurted out the word before he even knew it had formed in his mind. Taken aback, the girl simply smiled and stared at the floor as a pink color dusted her cheeks. Realizing what he said, Inosuke smirked. "Oi! Why're you acting so shy? You know it's the truth, don't you?"

"Uh, thanks," she squeaked. Then she lightly slapped herself, snapping out of the shy trance, and beamed. "Let's go! Tengen is gonna sell us off!!" she cheered. 

The Sound Pillar deadpanned. "Well, when you put it like that, Tsubasa."

And so they trio, Sound Hashira and Emotion Hashira made their way out back into the hustle and bustle of rush hour, to initiate phase one of their next mission.

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~✨Blu<3✨