Scattered Petals (Giyu Tomioka X OC)

Chapter 35

Misaki's P. O. V:

I stand before Akaza whose head is beginning to regenerate. I can't hear from my left ear and my right arm is numb.

Tanjiro wakes up just then and yells, "Stoooooop!!" Akaza whips his head around, startled. Tanjiro lunges towards him but when Tanjiro goes to swing his sword, it slips from his hands. Tanjiro swings a right hook instead which connects to Akaza's cheek.

Giyu calls to Tanjiro, who is racing towards us, "Don't worry about us..." Tanjiro throws himself against Giyu and I and we're thrown into the wall to avoid an attack from Akaza.

We hit the floor with Giyu and I atop Tanjiro. When we get off him and look back at Akaza, we were stunned to find his body is torn up, as though he had attacked himself instead of us.

So now Akaza's body is crumbling.

Giyu and I look down at Tanjiro as he faints from exhaustion.

He'd protected us...

"Tanjiro..." Giyu murmurs, embedding his sword into the floor as he and I collapse onto our knees. Giyu bows his head. I couldn't believe Tanjiro had protected us like that...

We pass out from exhaustion.

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Giyu and I wake up before Tanjiro and we get a fire going. My wounds are already healed. He tends to his wounds. Giyu can't hear from his left ear and his right arm has gone numb.

He's now shirtless with bandages wrapped around his chest, stomach and arms.

Giyu is still bleeding profusely so we tried to stop it, but no matter what we do, it won't stop bleeding.

Giyu takes up his chipped sword. I watch as he holds it over the fire and starts to burn the edges of it.

"Waaahh! What happened?!" Tanjiro exclaims as he suddenly wakes up. Tanjiro sits bolt upright and stares at Giyu and I. "Did you chip your sword?!"

"We tried to stop the bleeding, but it's not working, so we're going to have to cauterise the wound," Giyu explains as he continues to burn his sword.

"Huh?!" Tanjiro exclaims in confusion.

"You try to stop the bleeding of the wound in your left arm," Giyu tells him. "But if it doesn't stop, I'll burn it, so strip down and come here."

"Y-Yeah..." Tanjiro utters.

Giyu asks, "Is the bone alright?"

"Um... yes! I-It's just a bruise," Says Tanjiro as he gazes down at his arm.

"Beware of an enemy attack," I warn the Kamado.

"Okay!"

Giyu murmurs, "I think you know, but this fight is just beginning. Our final target is Muzan. But next, we may have to fight Upper Ranks 1 and 2."

"... Right!!! I'll stay focused!!" Says Tanjiro.

Giyu's kusagai crow flies by as he calls, "Caw! Shinobu!! Kanao!! Inosuke!! These three!!"

Tanjiro asks as the crow lands by him, "Are Inosuke and Kanao alright?"

"Basically," Says the crow.

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Once the boys tend to their wounds, Giyu and Tanjiro put their clothes back on and continue running through the castle. Giyu's haori got badly damaged during the fight with Akaza.

We learn that Tokito and Genya, Shinazugawa's younger brother, were killed fighting a demon that could use Moon Breathing.

The three of us push onward.

Eventually, a crow calls, "Revival! Muzan has revived! The Hashira must gather at once!"

Giyu, Tanjiro and I let out gasps of shock. Muzan has revived while we were fighting?!

As the sound of a shamisen echoes through our ears, Giyu, Tanjiro and I stop short. When we turn, we find ourselves face to face with none other than...

... Muzan Kibutsuji himself.

There were mouths with very sharp and pointy teeth all over his body and his hair is long and white.

Tanjiro is breathing really heavy. Giyu tells him unwaveringly, "Tanjiro, calm down. Calm yourself down." Even as he says this, I feel veins of anger around my face as Giyu has them too.

"Persistent," Says Muzan distastefully. "You're all seriously persistent and it bores me. It sickens me from the bottom of my heart. Whenever you open your mouth, you only remember that one dumb notion about avenging your parents, kids or siblings. You've all survived. That should be enough for you." We gape at Muzan, unable to quite believe what we're hearing. "So your family got slaughtered. What's the problem here? Think of yourself as lucky, and go back to the way you lived before."

Tanjiro breathes, "What are you saying?"

"Look at it this way," Says Muzan. "Being killed by me is the same as encountering a great calamity. You don't need to think so hard about it." Tanjiro is unable to respond. "Rains, winds, volcano eruptions, earthquakes. You can't get revenge on a natural disaster, no matter how many lives it takes away.

"You can't bring dead humans back to life. Why not just stop fussing over the issue all the time, and live quietly to earn your daily wages. Most humans live that life. Why can't you all do that? There's only one reason." Muzan holds up a finger for emphasis. "The Demon Slayers are an assembly of deviants. And I'm tired of dealing with deviants. I'm the one who really wants to put an end to all this."

"Muzan. You are a being that should not be allowed to exist," Tanjiro says lowly.