Pillar Of The Night Sky

Chapter 19 Manslayer Izou, Lost in a Clear Sky

~Flashback, 15 years ago~
A young man by the name of Shinjuro Rengoku and Jigoro Kuwajima are near a river laughing with their friend. He was a prodigy with a blade and easy to get along with. His name was Okada Izou.

"Your sword skills have got to be the best out of all of us,Okada-kun. You should join the Demon Slayer Corp with us?"

Shinjuro told the boy. And in Izou's mind he was right. Despite not being able to use a breath he made up for it with his skill. Almost no one could match him.

"I'm sure if you join with us we'll all be unstoppable. We need you Okada-kun."

Jigoro smiled at Izou. That day Izou vowed to be a Demon Slayer. He wanted to prove the people who laughed at him wrong. He wanted to be known.

"That was the day it all went wrong."

"They begged me, said I was the only one who could do it.  That's what i thought and I swung my sword for them. The Demon Slayer Corps praised me as a master worthy of heaven's wrath, they gave me plenty of money and I felt rather great. The folks who mocked me now feared me, they got to walking on the side of the road. Truly great indeed, it was clear skies all around."

Soon Jigoro and Shinjuro became pillars and met a man named Sakonji Urokodaki. They all trained their Breaths the best they could. They even planned on passing down this knowledge to others. Meanwhile Izou was still the lowest rank, despite being able to keep up.

"But sooner or later, they started to look at me with the eyes one looks at a dog with. They started going on about how to train others on using a Breath Style or some complicated stuff and I was feeling all left out. I couldn’t stand it.  With the skies so clear, I couldn’t stand it, being left behind just because i lacked a Breath even though i worked just as hard."

Izou was in a bamboo forest. He did push ups, sit ups, and ran til he dropped. He swung his sword repeatedly every day, trying to hone his swordsmanship. But even still, people looked at him like he was useless, like he was lost. Like he didn't belong.

"Sooner or later, I got to loitering the city on my own just like when i first met them. I had no money, my stomach empty as can be. The sky above me was so clear, but it felt like such a pain to move. It doesn't matter what happens next, does it? Why the hell would it, i'm not important. They just wanted to use me as a damn tool for their own sake."

Soon he left the organization. He traveled across the world, mastering his craft. Anyone who laughed at him, he killed them. He was done being used.

He was done with people that are smart making him into a fool. He was done with the thought of having hope that his "friends" would see his worth. 

But despite enjoying this freedom, he couldn't understand this feeling in his chest. He wondered if he done something differently would they have treated him as an equal. He kept thinking to himself what he should've done.

"No, perhaps i have been all wrong from the start. Was meeting them wrong? Was me sharing a laugh with them wrong? Where did i go wrong? Was i wrong to be born? Was i wrong to pick up a blade? Was i wrong to trust humans? Who do i trust? A human? A demon? Anyone? At least.....i still have this clear sky"

Izou looked up, only to see the clear sky that he loved was now a night sky filled with stars.

~flashback end~

"…..clear skies. Clear skies indeed"