Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kaigaku thought that was it. After jumping off the bridge, he’d die.

Not that he wanted to in the first place, he was only forced to because the motherfuckers chasing him wouldn’t let up, and he’d rather take himself out than be killed by them. And by jumping into a river, he at least hoped his body would be found and his family would mourn for him properly. His mother at least. He didn't know whether or not his father would care. Or any of his step siblings.

Still, either way. He’s dead.

Or at least, he should be.

Instead, he woke up staring up at a dazzling blue sky, the sickeningly sweet scent of peaches wafting through his nostrils, and his head on a particularly sturdy rock. 

The pain of shallow water impact isn’t anywhere to be found on his body, only pain from resting your head on something very solid and not meant to be slept on for a long period of time.

Kaigaku blinks once. Twice.

Purgatory? No, this isn’t purgatory, this was too serene to be purgatory. Heaven, then? Definitely not. As much as he’d like to think he’s a good person, he had a past of making deals with shady men. They won’t let him step in heaven even if he did take in stray cats.

So where was this? How--

[Welcome to Demon Slayer!]

--And what was that?

Kaigaku stands immediately and wields his sword. Sword? He frowns and looks down at the weapon on hand. He definitely can’t remember ever using a sword, but why does it feel so right to hold it?

And why does his body feel so damn light? Hadn’t he been drugged up on fast food? He should be at least a little sluggish.

[No need to be afraid! It’s only me, your System!]

Kaigaku jolts, looking around frantically. System? What the hell is a system and why is it in his head--

Oh no.

“You--” Kaigaku starts to say, cautious. He’s not sure he could articulate his thoughts well enough to communicate with it non-verbally yet. “--Are you what I think you are?”

[Yes? What do you think a System is?]

“Don’t throw my questions back I--” He takes another good look at his surroundings; it’s peach trees as far as he can see. “--Is this transmigration?”

[Quick-witted! I’m lucky to have someone who already knows what’s going on!]

[+500 points!]

He startles at the sudden fanfare in his head, a small screen of text popping up in his vision like an overlay with virtual confetti raining around it. It’s an odd experience. Like playing a virtual reality game but the device is jammed into your eyes.

Kaigaku wills himself to focus on the situation at hand, despite the irritation bubbling up at being patronized. Transmigration.

He’d heard of it--who hasn’t? The thought of escaping your life after death and ending up somewhere better? It’s the best fantasy ever. But he remains cautious, because one of the downsides is ending up in a miserable life anyway and having a system push you to make better decisions.

Basically, a rewind of your old life, but this time the voice in your head is sentient and has the ability to grant you an immediate game over in the form of torture.

Kaigaku stretches, trying to get his bearings straight. If it’s anything like he’s read before, he should get a gist of the plot before moving forward. ”Hey, where did you say you transmigrated me again?”

[The all-time popular manga, Demon Slayer!]

Demon Slayer…a familiar name.

He’s read some of it, but didn’t really get that far because everyone was shitting on him for having the same name as an asshole in the manga. He managed to get himself spoiled on some details here and there, but ultimately didn’t mind it. 

It was about killing demons, something he doesn’t have qualms with, but the show had a way of humanizing the demons they fought. Luckily for him, being inside the show itself meant he didn’t have to see their sad backstories and cry about it.

But since he’s basically clairvoyant because he’s seen the show, it was still going to be hard.

No matter, though. As long as he doesn’t get a cruel game over or be one of the villains, he’ll be fine--

[I’ve helpfully transmigrated you into the body of someone who has the same name as you!]

--It’s one of the villains?!

“You put me in Kaigaku?!” He exclaims, ignoring the way his voice surprises some birds out of the nearby trees.

Kaigaku. Zenitsu’s asswipe of an ‘older brother’. The dude who chose to kill people in exchange for the chance to live longer than them.

“What the hell?!” He can’t help but complain. “I already had a pathetic death in my last life, and you’re giving me another one?!”

[Well, the point is for you to change your fate!]

Change his fate, his ass. The only thing that might change is that he might accidentally kill himself earlier than expected!

[You see, a lot of people felt that Zenitsu deserved to have a better big brother. So this System assigns you the role of being the doting big brother!]

Kaigaku calms down a tad. Just spoiling? He supposes he can do that. He wanted to have some siblings in his past life anyway.

“Alright.” He acquiesces, still wary but feeling better about his situation.  “So I just have to coddle the brat, no problem.”

[You have to be in character, though! I will deduct points if you show any signs of going overboard on being OOC!]

Isn’t Kaigaku’s character an asshole?! What the hell, this System’s setting him up for failure!

Kaigaku already feels a headache coming on. “Yeah? And what’s the punishment?”

[A unique Game Over scenario. I’ll be even giving you choices of how you want to die, for variety!]

Fuck variety!!

“You--!”

“Um.”

Kaigaku whips his head around, spooked by the new voice.

There he finds Zenitsu, looking all thin and weak. There’s patches on his cheeks and visible bruises on his arms, even if he tries to stretch out his sleeves to cover them. 

Shit. Looks like he transmigrated pretty late. Was he abused by him already? Fuck.

Kaigaku clears his throat and puts up a front, the system’s prompt about being OOC popping up in his peripheral and threatening him with penalties.

I get it already!

[Alright, let the scenario officially begin!]

“What do you need?” He grunts, surprising even himself with his tone. It seems that the system has finally equipped Kaigaku’s original voice for him. 

It's so rough. As expected of the character who’s a dick.

“Um, Grandp--” Zenitsu winces and Kaigaku just blinks. What? Was he about to say grandpa? What’s wrong with that? “Kuwajima is calling you. For training.”

Kaigaku nods. Not sure if even just replying a simple yes would get him an OOC warning. Instead, even if he really doesn’t want to, he trudges forwards and clips the blonde on the shoulder as he passes by.

Zenitsu hisses, hurt. Kaigaku bites his tongue.

When he’s far away enough, he turns back to the blonde, who’s shivering and clutching his shoulder.

“What are you doing just standing there?!”

“I’m--” Zenitsu sounds like he’s about to burst into tears. Kaigaku groans inwardly, very uncomfortable about making a kid he just met cry. “I’m sorry, I’ll go back to the house--”

Oh fuck no. Rehabilitation was going to start now. It had to, after all, unless he wanted to be tortured to death. 

First thing on the agenda, get Zenitsu to stay still and come with him to training; building their endurance and get them used to each other.

“Go back to the house?!” Kaigaku shouts yet again, hiding his own wince. That was a little too loud, wasn’t it? But he has to push through the second hand embarrassment.

Zenitsu looks just about ready to start running. He doesn’t though, and instead opens his mouth to explain himself. “Y-Yes! I--”

“You’re coming with me, the hell?!”

Kaigaku feels a big gust of wind suddenly come by, the trees swaying and leaves rustling in response. Their hair and clothes billow and roll in a way that he hasn’t felt before, almost controlled in a way.

Oh, so this was how it felt to be in a dramatic confrontation scene. Cool.

Zenitsu however, does not think it’s cool and instead looks confused as fuck. 

“Wh-What?” The blonde’s voice trembles. 

The system sends him a smiley face and a thumbs up in his periphery. Looks like he’s doing good.

“What do you mean, what?” Kaigaku all but growls, stalking forwards as menacing as he could. “Come here.”

He forcefully takes the blonde by his kimono, lifting him up from the ground easily. Man, this Kaigaku guy was fit. Or was Zenitsu just incredibly malnourished? He didn’t want to think about the last thought.

“Agh!” Zenitsu whimpers, his eyes closing shut. “No I’m sorry, I--”

“Where’s your sword?”

The blonde’s eyes snap open, filled with even more confusion and fear.

“Get your damn sword!” He hisses. “If you’re late to training, I’ll kick your ass.”

He pushes Zenitsu away and back to his own feet. Kaigaku walks away in a huff, quickly pulling up the system to ask where the training ground is.

[Congratulations!] It greets him with virtual confetti. [Not one OOC action! Well, apart from the fact that you acknowledged Zenitsu’s presence.]

Kaigaku frowns. Geez. How much of a jerk was this dude?

[But you were sent here to change the course of the plot, so I’ll turn a blind eye to that.] 

Hooray, he thinks in monotone. 

He chances a glance behind him, and sees Zenitsu staring back at him in awe.

Kaigaku sharpens his gaze and it sends the blonde running. To where, he doesn’t know. He just hopes the kid doesn’t take all his bark earlier too heavily. Not that he has any control over it, because the damned System transmigrated him too late into the story! He’ll be caught red-handed if he just suddenly stopped kicking the blonde down into the dirt!

He sighs and hurries his way to the training grounds. He’ll just have to manage with what he’s dealt with.

“What’s with you, brat?!” Kaigaku scolds when Zenitsu starts swinging blindly in front of him. He pays no heed to Kumajima’s prior instructions about the key movements, and is practically only playing around with his weapon.

Though, it’s not like Kaigaku understood what the key movements were, either. He just had the System direct his movements for him, and to be fair, his body seemed to remember enough. He has it easier compared to poor old Zenitsu.

Still, he stalked towards the blonde, punctuating his anger with heavy footfalls. Time to teach him a lesson.

Zenitsu is immediately in defensive mode, even dropping his sword out of panic. “I’m sorry! I just--!”

Kuwajima is quick to his feet, cautious because of Kaigaku’s old tendencies with explosive temper. “Kaigaku! Don’t--”

Kaigaku ignores him and  grips the kid’s arms; Zenitsu looks just about ready to scream. Kaigaku sucks it up and speaks again. “Open your fucking eyes!”

“I--!”

Kaigaku positions Zenitsu into a proper sword fighting stance. Again, how does he know this? He doesn’t. The System’s just giving him some helpful pop ups in his periphery while he tries to maneuver the blonde’s little arms like a puppet.

Kuwajima stops in his tracks, the frown on his face softening into confusion.

Zenitsu, in the meanwhile, is scared and shaking under his grip. Man, the kid was properly traumatized by him. At least he wasn’t running away now, like it was always joked about in the show.

He gives the blonde’s forearms a firm shake, to emphasize the position he’s in. “Fix your fucking form! You sure as hell won’t be able to learn if you don’t.” Ah geez, he wasn’t used to speaking with this volume in mind. “Are you listening?!”

Zenitsu is listening, he’s sure it’s hard to not listen when someone’s screaming every word, but he looks dumbfounded at the sudden attentiveness directed at him. “Yes! I mean I--”

Kaigaku lets him go with a huff, making sure to give the blonde a little push. Zenitsu stumbles back, and he resists the urge to help him up. His system cheers him on in his periphery. Keep it up! Keep being an ass! 

“Start the fuck over!”

Kuwajima doesn’t say anything, only waiting for Zenitsu to steady himself to begin the training again.

His system congratulates him in his head again, the confetti making its appearance yet again as he swings his sword around. Kaigaku keeps a close eye on Zenitsu as discretely as he could.

The blonde was struggling, some tears were being shed, but he was staying there and trying. That felt like enough of a victory for Kaigaku. He’d done nothing but run away before, maybe this time, he can push him to have a little courage.

While Kuwajima stays quiet for the most part, Kaigaku does see him eyeing him up after the incident. He tries his best to remain poker faced throughout the whole session. The last thing he needs is to sit down and talk with the ex-pillar about his sudden change of heart.

When it was time for dinner, Kaigaku made sure not to eat too much to give Zenitsu more incentive to eat. Unfortunately for him, Zenitsu was just picking at his plate, barely touching his food.

Kaigaku hides his sigh with another mouthful of rice.

He knows they’re still at the arc where Zenitsu couldn’t care less about being a successor, and all the kid probably wants to do is marry someone well-off...live a peaceful non-demon-killing life...all that nonsense.

But the frustration from seeing how powerful he could become in the future and seeing how half heartedly he goes about training irritates him to an extent.

[Be careful.] His system chides, amused. [I didn’t choose you to be another Kaigaku.]

Why me then?, He asks as he chews on a particularly chewy piece of meat.

[Because you’re as stubborn as him. But less inclined to murder.]

Kaigaku huffs. Less inclined. That meant he could still be enticed to murder anyhow.

He’s distracted by Zenitsu’s fork tapping the plate monotonously. The kid’s off to some kind of dreamland, thinking about something else entirely. Probably trying to escape through his daydreams.

Kaigaku purses his lips. Looks like it’s time to act up again. He prays for his throat briefly, because as long as they stay in this arc, he’ll be screaming a whole lot.

“Are you going to eat or what?!” He screams, pounding the table for dramatic effect. He silently says sorry to Kuwajima, whose bowl of soup clatters and spills over from the impact. “Can’t you see there’s food in front of you?!”

Zenitsu snaps out of it instantly, head jerking up to look at him. “Whu-” He stutters, moving to stand up and leave, interpreting Kaigaku’s sudden anger as annoyance at him. “I’m sorry, I’ll go--”

Kaigaku’s faster than him and stops him from moving any further by punching the floor next to the door.

Zenitsu stops, paralyzed from fear.

Now’s supposed to be the time Kuwajima berates him, or does anything to stop him from being so rude, but instead the old man just watches.

Kaigaku’s being scrutinized--Kuwajima can feel something different about him--but he has to keep going. He can’t let those suspicions stop him.

“You’re just going to waste all of this brat?!” He bellows, using his towering height as an extra intimidation tactic. “A pillar just burned his pockets just to give you food and you don’t eat?!”

“I--”

He reaches over and slams his own bowl of soup in front of him. He didn’t plan on eating it anyway. He winces when some liquid splatter out. Man, what a fucking waste. It sucks to have to act like a bitch.

Zenitsu startles, watching him with those same wide eyes from earlier.

“Finish it.” He growls, then gestures to the entire pot. “Finish this.”

He stands up to leave for dramatic effect, but then Kuwajima calls him back in an oddly calm voice.

“You’re not going to eat more, Kaigaku?”

He should. He really should. He’s really hungry, but he has to do this to persuade the brat (wow, that nickname just kinda spilled out) to eat. Him leaving the room is just a bonus so that Zenitsu won’t be too scared to move in his presence.

So he turns his head back, doing that cool thing he’s always wanted to do in the movies and says: “Lost my appetite.” Then he walks away.

Kaigaku deliberately slows his steps and hears the blonde picking his chopsticks back up. Good. He really would have preferred calmer measures, but unless he can find a way to remove the OOC function issue, he’ll have to remain like this.

And he does. Kaigaku remains angry and volatile for the rest of whatever arc he landed on.

It strains his voice, because Kaigaku’s character cannot stop growling or screaming when he wants to say anything. Apart from conversations with Kuwajima, where he can talk at decent volume.

Maybe if he imagines everyone to be a pillar, it’ll solve his problem, he mused.

Zenitsu’s still terrified of him. Understandable. He can’t really undo all of the abuse the old Kaigaku gave to him, but what he can do is make sure the kid can stand on his own.

Doesn’t know how to hold a sword? Manhandle him until he gets it. Won’t eat? Threaten him until he does. Runs away? Join Kuwajima in hauling him back inside.

All very violent, but he’s been trying to soften it recently. Instead of his usual screaming, he just gives Zenitsu a look and a firm grip on his arm.

It works, because for the past couple of weeks, they’ve been learning to understand each other mutually. Kaigaku knows when Zenitsu is getting too scared or unstable, meanwhile Zenitsu has been getting the hang of knowing whether Kaigaku is just screaming because it’s his normal voice or he’s actually mad (he’s almost always not, but if Zenitsu genuinely believes it then he must be a pretty dang good actor).

The next thing he knows, they’re invited into the final selection.

Kuwajima is crying when he gets the letter, Zenitsu is crying when he gets told he’ll have to spend the night with demons and Kaigaku is feeling anxious.

This is the first real deviation from the plot, and he’s pretty sure this is the point where he might get his very first game over. 

[Correct!]

Ah. There it is. Kaigaku sighs, leaning on a tree for shade. Across from him, Zenitsu and Kumajima are having their little picnic as a final rest day prior to the test. 

He really wants to join, because holy shit the food smelled good, but he has to keep up the edgy act.

[We have reached the Final Selection Arc! In compensation for passing this arc, you’ll be given +500 points and a chance to remove the OOC function!]

Remove? That sounds promising. A well deserved break for his already severed vocal cords.

As long as he can make sure Zenitsu is alive through this, his work would be done.

That night, Kuwajima invites him to drink while Zenitsu was still asleep from his afternoon nap, just hours before they had to go.

They didn’t speak, but it was clear from the silence: ‘don’t die’.

Good news, they didn’t.

Bad news--well. For now, he doesn’t think there’s bad news.

Thankfully, the system helped him retain the swordsmanship his original body had and he was able to cut through enemies with ease.

Zenitsu was pretty useless for most of the night, but when he fainted once, he basically had a guard dog with him. He could barely even sense things before Zenitsu would just zip around and pop its head off.

Helpful. Really.

Kaigaku sniffed out the wisteria flowers while Zenitsu did the killing. Luckily for him, Zenitsu followed suit and they reached an orchard together soon enough. They were finally safe from any more surprise attacks.

It was kind of awkward to have a still-in-the-zone-Zenitsu sit seiza with a hand on his sword, though. Kaigaku tried numerous times to get him to lay down, but to no avail. Zenitsu had super strength when he passed out, at best he was able to get him to lean on him as they rested on a tree to wait for the dawn.

Cute, but he couldn’t really relax when Zenitsu would twitch and unsheathe his sword a little when he heard a sound. Emphasis on Zenitsu only because Kaigaku heard jack shit.

The system also deducted some points for the ‘resting together on a tree’ part. Apparently it was too affectionate. Not that he minded. He had 400 left.

When daybreak broke and Zenitsu awoke from his daze, Kaigaku breathed a sigh of relief.

They passed. Sure, he didn't do most of the killing, but Kaigaku was happy enough that he’d managed to defend himself in spite of never handling a sword before.

After roughhousing Zenitsu to bandage him up (“Stay fucking still!” “But you’re angry!” “Because you won’t let me cover up your damn injuries!”), they make their way to reach the foot of the mountain; a long set of stairs tower before them. One last climb.

He gives Zenitsu a quick pat on the back, a sign of his acknowledgement for doing a great job. His OOC Limiter still isn’t removed, so the pat is more akin to a slap, but he hopes the blonde understands what he’s trying to say.

Zenitsu, probably still exhausted from unconsciously going around and killing demons, doesn’t say anything, only focusing on his feet on each step.

His expression is better than what he saw in the show, though. The blonde didn’t look terrified, not that he looked happy either really, but he just looked tired. Kaigaku supposed that was as good as his mood was going to get.

They reach the summit, standing in a row with three other survivors with the sun at their back. Kaigaku almost wants to shed his haori in favor of soaking it up, but he refrains from committing any more penalties.

Kaigaku turns to his left and sure enough, there he is. Kamado Tanjirou.

It’s kind of amazing to see a protagonist up close and personal, he resists the urge to walk up to him and ask for an autograph.

There’s also the grumpy dude right next to him. He’d seen some fanart of the guy with the white-haired pillar, does he soften up a bit?

And of course, there’s Kanao right next to him. She catches his eye and she gives him a cursory nod and smile. Creepy. But Kaigaku responds in kind, just without the smile.

He feels Zenitsu fidget beside him and he quickly looks to give him a glare. He catches him staring at Kanao. The blonde wilts at being caught.

He’s already taught Zenitsu to behave in front of women before, but it sure takes a while for old habits to change. He supposes the overt clinginess to girls is blonde’s way of being touch-starved; he’ll have to work on that when this damn OOC Limiter is off.

The two twins appear, and after a quick orientation and a clap, down came the crows.

As expected, Zenitsu receives his adorable sparrow. 

“This is a crow?” The blonde mutters, earning himself a nip from the irritated bird. He only yelps before trying to soothe his new partner with a few pats on the head.

That was new. No big overreaction. He’s been like that lately. Kaigaku supposes it’s a sign that his company is changing the blonde’s character (for the better, he hopes).

Kaigaku wonders what his own crow would be like, maybe cool and abrasive like him, but when he blinks once-- 

--there’s a pigeon on his shoulder.

He stares at it. The pigeon stares back.

Why?

It coos at him, then once at Zenitsu’s sparrow. The little bird chirps back. Hm, must be friends.

“I don’t care about the crows!”

Kaigaku flicks his gaze up, and the guy in the purple kimono is already walking forwards to complain. What was his name again?

[Genya.]

Oh cool. Kaigaku then frowns. Where have you been?

[I’m sorry I’ve just been really invested in the--]

Kaigaku hears impact and feels Zenitsu tug at his sleeves.

[--Oh my.]

Genya holds one of the twins by the hair, threatening them.

“I want a sword.” He grits out. Kaigaku resists the urge to huff. What’s with kids these days and murderous tendencies? Then again, he himself was pretty rough back then. He shouldn’t judge.

There’s a flash of blue leaving his left and Tanjirou’s already by Genya’s side, with a strong grip on his forearm.. 

“Let go of the child.” Tanjirou threatens, serious. “Or I’ll break your arm.”

Kaigaku raises a brow and ignores Zenitsu panicking beside him. Man, the kid’s pretty intimidating in person.

Genya isn’t fazed. “Do it if you have the guts to.”

Bad reply, because Tanjirou does end up doing it. Zenitsu shrieks when he hears the sound of bone cracking and cowers with both hands on his ear. Kaigaku, out of instinct, steadies the blonde with a comforting hand on his shoulder.

 [-5 points. Kaigaku wouldn’t comfort Zenitsu.]

Ah, right. Kaigaku still doesn’t remove his hand, especially when he feels Zenitsu relax. Might as well savor one of the rare times he’ll commit an error.

How many points do I still have? He asks the system curiously.

[1395 points left till a game over.]

Kaigaku scrunches his nose at the high number. Where’d the extra thousand come from?

[...bonus points.]

Kaigaku doesn’t press further.

Before them, the scuffle is stopped by the unveiling of the ores.

Tanjirou sniffs out his, as usual. Kanao daintily picks hers, and Genya snatches one randomly.

That left him and Zenitsu.

Kaigaku hums, unsure of how to approach the scenario. He didn’t remember if it was ever shown in the manga, how Zenitsu picked his. Knowing him though, he would’ve just picked something at random to get it over with.

He spies some ores looking particularly enticing to him. He doesn’t know if this was because he felt like they would make great swords or because they just looked extra shiny.

Maybe the System could help?

[Sorry. The protocol won’t allow me to mess with crucial moments.]

So when it comes down to it, if it’s a life-death situation and it’s crucial to the plot, would the system let him die?!

Kaigaku promptly ignores any more anxiety from overthinking things.

He steals a glance at the blonde and accidentally finds Zenitsu looking back up at him as well. The blonde flinches and ducks his head down. Great. So he won’t be making the first move then.

Kaigaku looks at the twins, and they just seem to regard them both with eerily long patience.

Well. Better get this over with.

Kaigaku picks two stones that feel the lightest and mashes them together, producing a blunt sound.

“Which one sounded good?” He asks Zenitsu, who’s still wincing from the sudden noise.

“Huh? Uh.” Zenitsu mumbles, his gaze glancing back and forth from the stones and Kaigaku. “I, um. The right one? I mean, your right. Like right ha--”

Kaigaku cuts his stuttering off, addressing the twins as respectfully as his face would make him seem to be. “The right one is the blondie’s. Mine’s this one.” He says, lifting his left hand.

Zenitsu is startled. “Wha-? But-!”

“As you wish.” The twins vocalize at the same time, a never faltering smile on both their faces.

Zenitsu shuts his mouth, knowing that any further complaints would be futile. 

Kaigaku nods his thanks. He didn’t have any special sense in choosing stuff, so he’ll have to rely on plot armor to give Zenitsu the sword he deserves.

Without any further complaints, they descend the mountain and back to Kuwajima.

When they see the old man’s silhouette in the horizon, Zenitsu immediately bolts forwards with his super speed. Kaigaku can’t help but run as well.

They’re both greeted by persistent pats on the head and a hug so tight that it could’ve stopped him from breathing a second time.

He hears a hoarse whisper of a thank you in his ear from the old pillar, before it’s drowned out by Zenitsu’s wailing.

Kuwajima is crying. Zenitsu is crying.

Okay, maybe Kaigaku’s crying too.

[Congrajfhkfncakjhfaoihfjndf]

The system is apparently crying too.

Hey system, Kaigaku muses as he’s plating some mochi for him and Zenitsu to snack on. 

He says ‘him and Zenitsu’ tentatively because despite their success in the trial, it didn’t mean they’re any better at being around each other. Zenitsu’s still afraid, terribly so, but he can tell the blonde is growing more curious about him.

Any news on the OOC Limiter thing?

[Right! My bad. I’ll start the disassembly right away.]

A screen pops up in his peripheral. It’s an oddly retro looking uninstallation software. Just what year is his System from...? Never mind.

He reaches the pile of rocks where Zenitsu had chosen to sit and daydream, startling the blonde when he sits right next to him.

20%, he sees. Still a long way to go. The system has helpfully projected a gif of a cactus dancing for his leisure as he waits. Weirdly cute.

Beside him, Zenitsu eyes the plate of mochi on his knee, shaken and unsure of how to approach him.

Kaigaku remains idle. If there’s anything he knew from his years of approaching stray cats is that you have to stay as still as possible and pretend like they don’t exist for them to approach first.

Zenitsu lifts a hand to reach over.

The meter is now at 80%. The cactuses are now two.

Finally, The blonde reaches over and takes a piece, albeit slowly. He seems to be contemplating something as he fidgets about.

When he finally decides to speak, he says: “Kaigaku, I--”

[OOC Limiter removal is complete!]

“Big brother.” And Kaigaku immediately cuts him off.

“Whuh.” The blonde blabbers, mochi nearly falling from his weak grasp.

Kaigaku repeats himself, feeling embarrassed when he realizes the weight of his words. “I want you to call me big brother.”

“But-but-why?” Zenitsu similarly grows flustered, but his embarrassment is much more obvious than his. “Everyone else calls you Kaigaku!”

“Yeah.” He shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant. “But you’re the closest thing to family to me.”

Zenitsu falters, “But you--” The blonde sags, gaze back down on the soil under his foot. “You hate me.”

Kaigaku takes a critical hit to his heart. Damn, spending so much time with the damned kid made him feel super attached.

“I did.” At least, the old Kaigaku did. Pretty heavily.

Zenitsu flinches at the admission.

“But I realized that you’re just a kid.” Kaigaku sighs, leaning back on the rocks. “A little brat.”

“An entitled brat being offered food and shelter in exchange of just a little bit of their time to train, and they could barely do that.”

Zenitsu is silent, but Kaigaku knew he was on the verge of tears. Still he pushed on. The sooner this was off his chest, the better their relationship would be.

“You didn’t choose this life. In fact, you wanted to leave from day one.”

Kaigaku sends a quick apology to the system before he speaks again. This might potentially cause him a game over.

“So I’m saying you can.”

Zenitsu's reaction is immediate, his attention is back on Kaigaku in a snap. His grip on the mochi is so tight it’s practically oozing.

Kaigaku presses on. “But before that, I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“I underestimated you.” He continues. No stopping, or he'll just end up hesitating at this point. “You can do big things, but if your heart’s just not into it, then it’s better not to.”

“And I was harsh because I was jealous you could do things I can’t. Got the attention that I wanted.” Man, as little as he’d experienced any prior events before this arc, the emotions from the old Kaigaku were spilling over. The bitterness, the hate--they were getting overwhelming. It was like the spirit of the old Kaigaku briefly giving him a taste of his own feelings as if to say Do you feel this? I had to live with all that.

“I still feel that way. I feel so bitter that you’re so special.” He mutters, acknowledging all of the sudden surge of negativity in his heart. “But that doesn’t warrant treating you like shit.”

Kaigaku can’t help the next words from coming out of his mouth. His own words as the lonely Kaigaku from another world. “And treating you like you’re not the little brother I’ve always wanted.”

He pauses for dramatic effect (in reality, he’d just never gotten used to confrontations and is taking a much needed breather) and relaxes. It’s all out now.

The raging, burning hate in his heart quiets down. Maybe the old Kaigaku would have trouble coming into terms with closure, but that’s not his problem.

“We’re family and that’s final. But like family, you don’t have to forgive me for the shit I did.” He says, popping the rest of his mochi into his mouth. “So in retrospect, you probably shouldn't call me big brother now, huh? You can still leave, though.”

He finally has the strength to look at the blonde, and when he does, Zenitsu is staring, pupils so wide his eyes could be white.

Kaigaku hears glass hitting the floor. When he turns back, he finds Kuwajima by the doorway of their home, looking spooked; paying no mind to the hot tea as it pools down by his feet.

What follows is the second crying session of the day, and the system rewards him with an extra heaping of a thousand points plus a confetti full of dancing cactuses.

Through his tears, Kaigaku ponders what the hell his system’s deal is with the sudden barrage of cactuses.

The next morning, he wakes up to some rustling next to his futon where Zenitsu usually sleeps. He thought that was it. He was going to get his game over, because he’s pretty sure that while he’s made amends as Zenitsu’s brother, he ruined the whole plot of the show by allowing Zenitsu to have an incentive to leave.

But it’s the opposite.

Instead, he wakes up to Zenitsu standing outside the door, sweat on his forehead like he’d been outside training and the blonde calling him big brother.

[I’ve recently discovered the existence of dancing plush cactuses. They reminded me of you and I’ve unfortunately embedded them into my theme.]

Kaigaku snorts. That explained it. Beside him, Zenitsu wonders what his brother finds so funny. 

The dirt path they’re trudging along on is familiar and Kaigaku suspects this is where they’ll meet Tanjirou for the first time. He’s a little excited. Okay maybe a lot excited. It’s the protagonist after all, and from their last meeting in the trial, Tanjirou seemed super fucking cool.

But he’s here with Zenitsu now, meaning the events are going to change. 

And Zenitsu probably wouldn’t be keeling over trying to get some poor girl to marry her, sending Chuntaro to panic and look for help. He’d made sure to teach him basic manners this time.

[Zenitsu’s fixation with getting a girl in the first place was probably because he was lonely.]

Kaigaku acknowledges his System’s explanation with a small nod. It felt flattering to know that because of him, someone wasn’t lonely anymore.

“Kai--Big brother.” Zenitsu calls, still not used to his new self-designated honorific. “Where are we going?”

Kaigaku blinks.

Oh right. They haven’t got a briefing from either of their crows. Well, pigeon and sparrow. He’s not sure where his own pigeon went, but he vaguely remembers Chuntaro snacking on some seeds before they left the last town.

Kaigaku really only took this road out of instinct since this was where the plot would progress. Looks he’ll have to act this scene out, thankfully if he made any mistakes, the OOC Limiter is down.

“The damn pigeon flew off in this direction, so I figured our mission was somewhere over there.” He says, pointing randomly out to the forest before them. His speech is still rough from all the months he’s been forced to act all aggressive. “We’ll ask for directions.”

“Okay.” Zenitsu says, obedient. However, he stops, eyes wide when he sees something of interest in front of them.

Kaigaku raises a brow at him, but when he follows his gaze he realizes why.

It’s the young girl Zenitsu originally assaulted in the start of the series. The blonde probably still finds her rather pretty.

Would it be okay to skip talking to her? He muses, but when his System doesn’t respond, he decides it’s better not to risk it. He’ll have to be hyper aware of checkpoints now, because apart from existing, Kaigaku shouldn’t be changing any particular relevant plot point.

Kaigaku clears his throat and approaches, unsure of how customs are in the period he’s in, but he does his best. “Excuse me. Is it okay if we ask for directions?”

The little girl is surprised and falters, wary of strangers.

“We’re sorry to bother you.” Zenitsu adds meekly, head bowing in respect. 

Hm, not bad. No gross crying or panicking this time, though Kaigaku can feel the blonde pinch his haori to ground himself from nerves.

The girl stares at Zenitsu, looking entranced. Kaigaku frowns but doesn’t press her to talk, waiting patiently.

“Oh. Um.” She stutters, blinking herself out of her reverie. “You’re--You both aren’t bothering me!” Kaigaku caught that slip-up, but says nothing. “What do you need to know?”

Kaigaku tries not to let his contempt show. So now that his little brother is all nice and polite, girls fall for him? He supposes it made sense, a good attitude is endearing. Still, it doesn’t stop him from feeling bitter that Zenitsu wasn’t loved already in the first place--

Kaigaku pauses.

Man, I’m really immersed in this big brother thing, huh?

[Well, that is the point of this.]

Kaigaku hushes his System and sends the girl a crooked smile. “Thank you. We just wanted to know what's ahead on this road?”

The girl hesitates, suddenly looking terrified. So he was right, the house was just ahead of them. “I, I don’t think--”

“Excuse me!”

Oh, that’s one loud scream. And only one person could scream like that. Tanjirou. He wondered how he was going to appear in the scene.

He turns to look towards the sound, and he’s faced with a brunet clad in green running at high speeds toward them, a chirping Ukogi sitting on his bird nest of a hair. He hears Zenitsu squawk and take refuge behind him.

Tanjirou stops in front of them, at a distance close enough that screaming shouldn’t be needed, but that doesn’t stop the young Kamado from doing it anyway. “Are you Zenitsu?!” 

“Yes?!” Is his little brother’s scared reply, also screaming. Man, these two influence each other so easily.

“Your sparrow got lost--ow!” Ukogi nips him on the earlobe, offended at the suggestion that she’d get lost. “I mean, you lost your crow! I found her chirping around in the last town!” He explains, guiding the little bird back to her owner.

“Huh?” Zenitsu muses in confusion as he lets Ukogi flap down to perch on both his palms. “But I thought you left me to eat--ow!” Ukogi uses this chance to repeatedly nip at Zenitsu’s scalp, irritated. “Don’t bully me! I’m sorry!”

Kaigaku watches on in amusement. Despite circumstances changing, one thing seems to be universally fixed and that is how Tanjirou would meet his little brother. Screaming and with bird abuse.

Then Tanjirou fixes his gaze on him and he momentarily panics. While he could handle dealing with all kinds of people in this world, there’s just something different about looking at someone and knowing they’ll kill the main villain without sweating.

But in true Tanjirou fashion, all that intimidating aura is wiped away with a simple smile. “Oh, sorry!” He says, grinning like the sun. “Nice to meet you as well!”

“Hey.” Kaigaku mutters, still feeling awkward. “Thanks for bringing his bird back.”

“It’s no problem, uh?”

“Kaigaku.”

Tanjirou’s grin grows wider. “Kaigaku!”

Zenitsu withdraws from his hiding place, no longer scared of the stranger. Might be because of Tanjirou’s kind sound or because Kaigaku seems to get along with him.

“Um.” Oh right, the girl.

Tanjirou is the one who immediately moves to apologize. “Ah, we’re sorry!”

“It’s no problem!” She smiles, patient. “I just wanted to say that there’s a really dangerous place ahead. Please be cautious when passing by. Apart from that, there’s an inn just past it!”

That’s exactly where we’re going, though. Kaigaku bows in thanks, nevertheless. “Got it. Thank you very much for your help.”

Zenitsu echoes the same thanks, and Tanjirou all but screams it with a smile, despite not knowing what they were talking about in the first place.

The girl excuses herself, nodding in particular to Zenitsu, who starts blushing immediately and starts babbling nonsense, reminiscent of his old reaction.

Kaigaku huffs, annoyed. Tanjirou just pats the blonde on the back comfortingly.

The rest of the walk is quiet, and unlike before where it was quiet because Zenitsu had used up more than half of his energy screaming at a girl, this time it was because the blonde had developed shyer tendencies and had trouble talking to strangers.

Kaigaku worries. What if he ends up not talking to Tanjirou at all? Maybe he shouldn’t have coddled him too much. Now he’s gone and made Zenitsu dependent on him.

Luckily for him though, Tanjirou isn’t the protagonist for nothing.

“Here, are you hungry?” The brunet beckons when he notices Zenitsu’s awkwardness. Taking out a rice ball from his bag and offering it kindly. “Don’t be shy, take it!”

“But, what about--” Zenitsu glances back up at him. Oh that’s right. Kumajima packed them some lunch too. He’s probably thinking about that.

[Zenitsu taking Tanjirou’s offer is essential to the plot.]

Kaigaku hums, amused. Essential to the plot or do you just like seeing them interact?

The system is silent.

Kaigaku sighs and rummages through the satchel hanging off his shoulder.

“You should think about yourself too, brat.” He scolds, handing Tanjirou his own rice ball. “Here.”

Tanjirou is momentarily surprised, but a grin soon lights up his face. “Thank you Kaigaku!”

“Just fucking eat.” When he sees Zenitsu eyeing the rice ball that’s supposed to be theirs, he raises a brow. “Mine has red bean. You like it plain, don’t you?”

Zenitsu blinks, like he’s just suddenly remembering his preferences. “Thanks, Tanjirou.” He murmurs to the brunet.

Tanjirou only smiles back in reply.

The system rewards him points for his efforts.

Chapter Text

Kaigaku bumps into another wall, the impact leaving him wincing and toppling down to the floor. The house is shifting again. He stands back up and resumes running, frantic.

Shit. He’s lost track of where the kid went.

Zenitsu should be here in place of him, but with how much he’s already acted differently, what if he doesn’t pass out and immediately one shot the demon? 

The blonde might attempt to actually fight it sober which, while that would have been impressive, is incredibly worrying because he might end up with more than a few bruises. So he left him outside to fret with the kids and protect Nezuko. He doesn’t get his badass scene, but he’s not about to risk it.

Plus, he’s weighed both scenarios in his mind and concluded that Zenitsu protecting Nezuko is more important. 

Well, that and the system had kindly reminded him earlier and he wasn’t about to disagree with it. As far as he knew, that was what made his initial character likeable anyway.

Kaigaku runs around the ever-shifting hallways of the house, looking for any signs of life in the hallways. Human life, at least. 

Eventually he does. Kaigaku sees the kid ass down on one of the hallways, looking terrified. He prepares himself to launch an attack at the assailant, but then he sees what he’s so scared of.

Inosuke.

Right on cue, the boy bounds out of the room with a crazy laugh. Leaving him and the kid alone. He’s probably off to kill the bigger fry.

Well. That’s one checkpoint done. Kaigaku can only hope that Zenitsu can handle Inosuke when he inevitably gets thrown out of the house.

He helps Shoichi to his feet, “Hey. You okay?”

The kid nods shakily, a little jarred. Kaigaku’s pretty sure he’d be calmer if he had someone just as scared with him (Zenitsu). Kaigaku leads him through the hallways, careful not to move too fast and trip them up. The whole house was still unstable after all, one beat on the drum and they’ll be face first on the floor.

From how far they were able to run without obstacles, Kaigaku almost thought there was going to be no demon, that somehow him existing (and throwing Zenitsu out of the picture) erased that guy from the story--

--but then he’s slammed into one of the rooms by a large tongue.

He curses and Shoichi yelps, dragged along with the momentum. Kaigaku makes sure to shield the boy from the impact with his body, wincing when they hit the wall in the room they get thrown into.

Kaigaku doesn’t waste any time and stands back up, pushing Shoichi behind him. “Stay there. Don’t move.” He warns. He’s given a shaky nod in reply.

The demon crawls over towards them, cackling as their drool drips down to the tatami floor. “Oh? An adult? That’s a shame. You grown-ups are chewier, less bone marrow…” It’s smile turns sinister. “..but your taste doesn’t change no matter what.”

Kaigaku hesitates, his grip on his sword wavering. Despite undergoing all those training sessions with Zenitsu and getting his body used to the sword, it won’t compare to using a breathing technique now.

But. He doesn’t know any. So he calls the system for help. 

Uh, do you know any of Kaigaku’s moves?

[Alright, let’s make a random choice!]

Kaigaku stops himself from barraging his system with complaints. Is this really necessary?! Playing a game right now?!

The demon stops crawling and starts sprinting towards them with its forearms.

Meanwhile, his system prepares a helpful visualization of a wheel in his peripheral. Complete with a pointer designed as a cactus.

[No worries, once the pointer stops at any technique, your body will be able to automatically do it!]

It better!, Kaigaku thinks. Because that thing is charging at me, fast!

He has no time to doubt himself so he focuses on breathing properly, grip tightening on his sword. He'll have to trust his system and it's cactus themed roulette wheel, then.

The wheel spins--

The demon leaps at the air and it’s tongue descends down them like a dagger--

--and the wheel stops.

“Thunder breathing,” Suddenly, Kaigaku feels all of the energy pooling in his legs, his stance adjusting and vision tunneling in an instant. Woah, was this what activating your sixth sense or ultra instinct felt like? “Fifth form,”

“Heat Lightning!”

His sword is out of its sheath before he knows it, and the enemy is beheaded by a long electric slash coupled with a clap of loud thunder. The damage reaches the several floors above, splinters of wood raining down from the wooden supports he’s managed to cut in half.

There’s the scent of burning, rotting flesh when he snaps his sword back in place. The demon’s body falls back down, dismembered and fried to a crisp. Well fuck, looks like he burned the guy good.

Behind him, the boy cowers both in fear and awe.

Kaigaku's body feels like it briefly shuts down, and he staggers for a moment, out of balance. Huh.

[No reaction?]

Well, uh. Kaigaku thinks as he helps the young boy to stand on his feet. I always thought Kaigaku was kinda weak.

[Sure Kaigaku wasn’t able to learn the first form, but he was by no means weak.]

I guess. He thinks in reply. Just only weaker to Zenitsu then, Kaigaku muses. It was probably really frustrating for the original Kaigaku, to know that someone else can improve while he was stuck in a plateau.

Kaigaku sighs. Maybe he’s more similar to this character than he thought.

The boy fusses over him, worried that the downcast expression on his face may be from exhaustion.

Kaigaku isn’t thrown out of the house, unfortunately, so he has to work on navigating the hallways himself. He probably won’t be able to go out at all until Tanjirou kills the drum demon making all the hallways dance around, though.

So he tries his best to appear like he’s doing something with the kid in tow, things like suddenly stopping and looking around or slashing random doors down pretending there’s a demon behind it. 

Shoichi eats it up, looking up at him like he’s some sort of hero. Kaigaku guesses that he is one, technically, but that doesn’t make things any less awkward.

When he slashes the next door open and finds sunlight blinding him in return, he figures that it’s time for the next event.

They don’t get thrown violently outside --Kaigaku had felt a really big tremor earlier, so he supposes he missed the chance to get hurled outside-- he and the kid just jump down from the second floor, with Kaigaku taking up most of the hit as usual.

And sure enough, he finds Inosuke and Tanjirou battling it out, while Zenitsu, battered and bruised, watches in horror.

Despite the tension in the scene, apparent from the way the three reunited kids huddle in the corner in fear, Kaigaku is relieved. Zenitsu protected Nezuko and Tanjirou saw him for the good person that he is. Character development, hooray.

Also Inosuke interacted with them, which was also important. Kaigaku didn’t know what would happen if he was the one left outside. He doesn't have the patience to stay still when he's taunted. Not that he would hurt a kid deliberately.

And so, to let the other two be, Kaigaku focuses his energy on bandaging his little brother up and reassuring the three kids that no, the nice brunet wasn’t going to die and no, the crazy, pretty boy with the boar mask isn’t a monster.

When Zenitsu shrieks at the sound of foreheads on impact, Kaigaku sighs. 

He turns back and sees Inosuke down for the count, while Tanjirou stands tall. As tall as he can manage to be while in pain, that is. The brunet huffs, too much energy exerted from dealing with a strong demon and a rambunctious dude in a boar mask.

“Is. Is he dead?” Zenitsu stares incredulously, looking back and forth from Tanjirou and Kaigaku, looking for reassurance. Kaigaku just shrugs. It’ll take a lot more to kill Inosuke anyway.

“No. I just headbutted him hard.” Tanjirou answers politely, as if he hadn’t just K.O’d a dude with his forehead. “Probably just concussed.”

Zenitsu continues to just stare in terror as the kids gather around Tanjirou, the little girl fascinated by the dude’s iron forehead.

After the chaos, they worked on making a comfortable bed for Inosuke, then burying the dead bodies they found out of respect.

Inosuke woke up halfway later as planned, and Kaigaku was planning to let Tanjirou use his accidental reverse psychology on him when he did, but Zenitsu had stared up at Kaigaku, beckoning him to do something.

And Kaigaku of course, indulged his little brother.

“Hey boar face.” He called nonchalantly as he picked up stones for the burial. “Bet’cha you can’t bury more bodies than me.”

Inosuke threw out bodies from the house in a record breaking time of 10 seconds. Everyone was both impressed and terrified.

Zenitsu had frowned at him then, disappointed, but what else can Kaigaku do? He sure as hell can’t navigate for shit inside the house. Better let someone else do it.

Eventually, when it got late enough, they began the trek towards the inn.

“Zenitsu--” Tanjirou calls, but pauses when he sees the blonde already on Kaigaku’s back. “Oh.”

Kaigaku raises a brow, adjusting his hold on his little brother with a frown. Did Tanjirou remember he was supposed to carry Zenitsu here? 

“What’s wrong, brat?”

Tanjirou stares, and wow Kaigaku feels like he’s being seen through. “No just.” The brunet shakes his head, instead readjusting his hold on Nezuko’s box, heaving it up like a backpack like usual. “You two are really close.”

“We should be. I’m his brother, after all.” Kaigaku explains, eyes fixed in front of them. Man, how do people navigate through this place? At least, the ones without crows squawking above them. Normal humans.  All he sees when he blinks are more trees.

“You are?!” Tanjirou exclaims and oh, right. He hasn’t really introduced himself as Zenitsu's brother earlier. “That’s so cool!”

On cue, Inosuke cuts in, swinging his swords wildly. “Huh? What’s so cool about that?” He taunts. “Just fight me already Monjirou!” 

“I said I don’t want to already!” The brunet quips back hotly.

Zenitsu whines on his shoulder, bothered by all the noise.

The walk continues uneventfully, as uneventful as Inosuke’s constant taunting would be. However, Kaigaku could see Tanjirou occasionally cupping Nezuko’s box like he’s carrying someone by piggyback, before retracting his hold and staring at his hands.

Kaigaku hums.

Any chances Kamado can become self-aware?, he consults his system.

[78%]

That’s an oddly specific number, Kaigaku thinks warily, but ultimately doesn’t dwell on it.

When they reach the inn, Kaigaku has never felt more like a teacher on a school trip.

Inosuke is a menace, Zenitsu is a whining mess and Tanjirou, while behaved, is definitely contributing to the increasing decibels in the room.

While he’s definitely happier that Zenitsu was acting much more like he used to around the other two, he can’t help snapping at him more frequently because his eardrums were practically beating from overuse.

(“But I want the bed next to my brother!” “It’s okay, Zenitsu! I’ll give you mine!” “I sleep in the middle, no changing!” “Can everyone just shut the fuck up?!”)

They all settle on sleeping arrangements they’re content with after all the chaos. 

Kaigaku tunes out the conversation Zenitsu and Tanjirou are having, mutely preparing his futon next to Inosuke’s. As noisy as the boar is with his snoring, Zenitsu was pretty mobile in his sleep and he didn’t want to get kicked in the face.

All was going well until he heard the familiar clatter coming from the corner of the room. Nezuko. Kaigaku looks back up and sure enough, Zenitsu’s already hiding behind Tanjirou as the box creaks open.

Out comes Nezuko without much fanfare. Without the effects from the manga or anime to emphasize the scene, it’s pretty awkward with all the silence. 

Kaigaku prepares for Zenitsu’s screaming--

--but it doesn’t come.

Curious, he glances back at Zenitsu.

Instead of the usual screaming, Kaigaku catches the blonde’s gaze on him. Zenitsu whips his head to look away from him, instead focusing his ire on Tanjirou, who looks confused.

Is he trying not to overreact so he won’t upset him or something? That’s a bummer, it was a pretty funny scene to watch.

Zenitsu clearly wants to scream, but he succeeds in keeping his voice levelled, despite the small trembles. “You’ve been travelling with such a pretty girl?” The blonde hisses, but it’s nowhere near the explosive shouting he’s watched in the show. Instead, all the strength is translated to the furious tugging on Tanjirou’s arm. “How dare you!”

“Huh?” Tanjirou is visibly unsure of how to react. He enunciates his next words very slowly, as if he feels like he shouldn’t say them at all. “Well, uh. She’s actually my sister.”

Zenitsu’s anger falters. “Sister?”

“Yeah. She’s the only family I have left.” 

“Oh.”

The room is quiet and uncomfortable after that. Or was it just from Kaigaku’s imagination because he was expecting more chaos to unfold? Either way, the room was having some kind of tension.

It’s broken, thankfully, by Inosuke’s snoring.

“Well, um. She’s very pretty.” Zenitsu compliments simply when he comes back to.

Kaigaku resists the urge to huff. That's a really passive reaction. Did he mess up his character after all, somehow?

“Thank you, Zenitsu!” Tanjirou takes the compliment in stride, always ready for his sister to be appreciated. “She was the prettiest in our town, you know?”

“Mn.” Zenitsu nods, “I can see that.”

The conversation dies down there, and they move to lay on their futons. He spies Tanjirou frowning for a millisecond before dismissing it. He’s just probably confused about Zenitsu reacting to a simple girl, screaming or not.

Kaigaku sighs, plopping back on the fresh sheets. Well, they’re still all getting along, he supposes that’s one victory to celebrate.

The next morning, Kaigaku helps fold the futons, watching from the small opening of sliding doors as  Zenitsu twirls a flower between his fingers outside. The blonde should be already up and about, chasing Nezuko around with it, but he’s out there sighing like a lovesick boy.

Kaigaku finishes folding one futon, leaving the rest to a humming Tanjirou, and marching right outside to the garden.

“Why don’t you just give her the flower, you idiot?” He scolds in a whisper, to keep from Nezuko hearing.

Zenitsu flinches at his arrival, but he knows how to differentiate surprise flinches from fear flinches now. “Well.” The blonde hesitates, “You told me to not act so gross--”

Kaigaku clicks his tongue. So that’s why he’s been trying to hold back from acting out. He should be proud he managed to knock some sense into someone who was a notorious pervert before.

“It’s just a fucking flower.” He scratches his head, impatient. He doesn’t know if it’s actually important to give her the flower, but Zenitsu clearly wants it to happen. “Let me--”

Zenitsu startles when the flower is snagged from his grip. “Ah--” He tries to match Kaigaku’s large strides back into the room.  “Wait, Kaigaku!”

Kaigaku doesn’t listen, making a beeline for the little half-demon playing with the straps of her own box. “Hey, Nezuko.”

She hums, trotting cautiously towards him. Behind her, Tanjirou watches like a hawk.

Kaigaku kneels before her, and presents her the flower with gentle hands.

“Here. For you.” Kaigaku lets the flower rest on his palm, so she doesn’t have to touch him if she doesn't want to. “From Zenitsu.” He adds.

Nezuko just stares for a moment, Kaigaku almost thinks he’s been rejected, but the next second he finds himself with an arm full of an excited half-demon. She hums happily with sparkling eyes and nudges his hand to pin it over her hair.

Before Kaigaku concedes, he takes a glance at the older Kamado across the room. The brunette wears a usual smile, happy to see his little sister so energetic. 

He takes a look back at Zenitsu.

The blonde’s pouting, obvious despite looking like he’s trying not to do so, and huffing to himself. It seems that he’s maybe interfered with his little brother’s crush.

All that is forgotten however, when Inosuke bursts back in and causes chaos.

It’s the early morning after the doctor’s last visit. Tanjirou’s crow is crying and leading them to a new direction. Kaigaku gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. It’s time for the Natagumo Arc.

Well. Time for them to start the Natagumo Arc, because apparently, he’s assigned a different mission.

Right after the crow delivers his message, Kaigaku’s pigeon visits as well. He coos to him, once, twice, before flying to the west without waiting for his approval.

“Brother.” Zenitsu’s cry snaps him from his reverie, it seems that he’s been staring at the sky, to where the pigeon was leading him to. “You’re not coming with us?!”

Kaigaku feels bad that he has to leave, but he reassures himself and Zenitsu with a comforting hand on the blonde’s head. “No.”

When Zenitsu starts bawling, his system speaks.

[It’s an important arc for the three protagonists. You’ll have to sit this one out.]

Kaigaku sighs and moves away to look for his newly folded clothes. He has a feeling that this would be happening a lot, being left out of crucial plot points. Then again, it would make sense. His purpose was to just be a good brother, not to change major events.

Tanjirou takes the lead of soothing his little brother with pats on the back. Inosuke is shouting about wanting to go to both locations. 

And if they need any help?

[I’ll be sure to ping you whenever Zenitsu is in trouble.]

Kaigaku pauses in slipping his shirt on, Isn’t this the arc where he gets severely poisoned?

[...Yes.]

No choice. Fine. He knows he’s not going to get pinged either way. I know that he survives this, at least.

When they finally part ways, Kaigaku stays back to wish them a safe trip with the old lady. He doesn’t want to join them on the road. Too much noise that he can’t handle.

After the lighting of the flint, and the initial fuss that came with it, Zenitsu is hesitant to let go of his haori. Tanjirou and Inosuke are already running off to the distance, but the brunet is the one to pause and call back to him, kind as ever. 

Kaigaku gives Zenitsu a light tap on the head courtesy of his fist and sends him away with his new friends.

'You'll be fine', Kaigaku says, 'I believe in you' and it seems to give him enough strength to finally let go.

Kaigaku runs as fast as he can through the dense forest. The moonlight is barely coming down to reach him, the thick leaves of the trees above shielding him from anything above. It might as well look like a black hole down here.

Great. He’s fucked. These off-script moments are the worst. He doesn’t know what’s in store for him here, so he has to be alert, sharp and careful. A single wrong move can get him--

[Duck to the left!]

Kaigaku stumbles, surprised at the sudden alert, but he manages to comply in time. He narrowly misses something (a fist? It was too fast to gauge) that was aimed at his skull. The impact instead hits the tree before him, ripping it to shreds. The gust of wind that follows cracks the others in half.

[Warning: Threat level 79%.] His system blares at his ears. [Kaigaku, watch out--]

“You’re rather brave for doing this alone on a full moon, slayer.”

Kaigaku feels a chill run down his spine.

Great. Kaigaku curses. He recognizes the voice. Good thing he watched the movie when it premiered.

Dude, what the fuck. Is Akaza set to appear this early?

[I don’t know. His movement before the Mugen Train Arc is unknown.]

Kaigaku stands up carefully, his back to Akaza. It’s stupid and the guy could literally stab him in the back when he wants to, but he’s too afraid of what will happen if he does look at him. The less Akaza can read him, the better.

“Fresh meat, aren’t you?”

He stays rooted in place, lowering his sword. The system could just help him out of this, but that’s going to involve a lot of pain and hell. Even if he did survive, it’ll take a while to recover from fucking with an upper moon.

Rank third, of all people.

“Hm? Not going to talk?” Kaigaku keeps his gaze levelled with the broken column of trees in front of him. Better not provoke the guy with sudden movements. No matter the taunt he throws at him. “Thought you guys wouldn’t waste any time shitting on us lowly demons.”

Kaigaku, out of fear, isn’t able to filter his next words. “I’m not about to provoke an upper moon.”

[Threat level 95%]

What--

Suddenly he’s pinned to the ground, neck caught in a chokehold as Akaza’s soles rest leisurely (painfully) on Kaigaku’s stomach, stuttering his breathing.

His expression is manic, eyes wide with murderous intent. “How did you know I was an upper moon?”

And Kaigaku, because he’s stupid, taunts back. “It’s pretty obvious from your eyes, don’t you think?”

“You didn’t see my eye when you oh so rightly assumed.”

“Maybe I did.” He didn't.

The hand on his neck tightens and oh god that’s fucking sharp--

“Well? Why aren’t you trying to kill me?” Akaza teases, the hands clinging to his throat tightening once more.  Because you're choking me and I can barely fucking breathe, Kaigaku complains to himself. “Cut my head off so you can claim to those hashiras that you murdered an upper rank so quickly.”

“Why aren’t you trying to kill me?” Kaigaku snaps back, insults being the only defense mechanism at his disposal right now.  “We both know who’d win the fight.”

Akaza just laughs.

“A cocky one, aren’t you?”

I didn’t say I’d win it, Kaigaku screams in his mind, but otherwise keeps silent.

Akaza stares him down, expression unreadable, before he’s lifted off the ground and thrown against a tree violently. He ends up breaking an extra tree or two due to the impact. Kaigaku tastes blood.

“You’re lucky I’m done with business.” The demon murmurs sweetly as Kaigaku sags down to the ground in pain. “But I’ll leave you with a treat since you’re so kind to stop by.”

Kaigaku wonders what the fuck is the guy planning, and then wishes he hadn’t.

Because Akaza just goes to rip one of his arms and throws it behind him, where Kaigaku’s blurring vision can’t see.

“Here, puppy.” Akaza coos to no one in particular, before leaving in a flash.

“I suggest you start running.” Is the last whisper Kaigaku hears in his ears before something gurgling and cracking is heard in the distance.

What the fuck.

Technically. Kaigaku starts a conversation with his system as he lays under the moonlight, breathing heavily from his injuries. He’d managed to behead whatever amalgamation was left back in that dense forest, and now he’s hauled himself out and over to a big rock, waiting for his pigeon to bring help. 

Technically I fought an upper moon.

[Elaborate.] His system kindly entertains.

Well, Akaza fed that fucker his arm. Got to have some Muzan blood in them. Even just a speck. He holds his breath when he feels his heart stutter from the ongoing blood loss on his side. Gotta keep breathing. So I should be a pillar now.

Instead of arguing back or teasing him, his system compliments him instead. [You did well. +1000 points.]

Kaigaku groans.

The next time Kaigaku wakes up, he’s on a bed with pristine white sheets, and a little girl is on his side, taking his pulse.

“You’re awake!” She gasps, staggering back a little in his chair. Kaigaku moves to steady her out of instinct, but he winces in pain, a painful reminder that he’s still heavily injured. The little girl gasps in response, pushing him back to settle on the bed.

“Good,” Kaigaku hisses when the light hits his eyes. “Morning.” He greets.

The girl nods in response, smiling kindly. “I’ll go alert Ms. Shinobu!”

He watches her bounce out her chair and run outside. Alert a pillar? Why the hell would he need a pillar? Are the injuries he got really that severe?

Kaigaku adjusts himself on the bed, fluffing up his pillow to keep his head elevated higher. Might as well get comfy if he’s going to get grilled on something.

“Good morning, Inadama.” A female voice speaks and Kaigaku flinches back awake. Did he manage to fall asleep back again? “How are you feeling?”

Kaigaku is now face to face with Shinobu Kochou, sitting on the stool that the little girl occupied earlier. Man, she's really pretty, it’s a shame that he knows she’s not as serene as she seems.

“Alright, maam.” He answers respectfully, bowing despite the pain in his back. “Thank you very much for your help.”

“None of that now.” Shinobu waves him off, and Kaigaku leans back on the bed. “I hope you don’t mind me bothering you so early.”

Kaigaku shakes his head. “Not at all, maam.”

Shinobu smiles, and while it's a very calming sight, Kaigaku knows it's to lower his defenses so he'll have no choice but to answer. It's working, though.

But then a booming voice cuts through the peace of the room, “Good morning!” It greets. Oh, don't tell me...

Kaigaku leans to the side a little bit, just to take a peek, and finds the flame pillar in all his glory, hand on the door frame. His appearance is striking, even more in person.

“Shinobu, we have a pillar meeting considering--ah!” Oh. He spots him. “Good morning!”

I heard you the first time. “Good morning.” Kaigaku greets back, bowing like earlier.

“Rengoku. I was on my way.” Shinobu says, giving him a curt nod as well. “I just have some quick questions for our dear patient here.”

Shit. Did I do anything out of character? “Please.” Kaigaku encourages.

“You’ve encountered an upper rank, haven’t you?”

Kaigaku frowns. Right. That happened. But how'd they know so fast? “Yes.”

Shinobu seems to be able to read his confusion and gives him a tightlipped smile. “Your crow told us.” Right, he forgot the birds could communicate somehow. “What rank was he?”

“Third.”

“Amazing! And you survived the encounter?!” Kaigaku winces at the volume. The flame pillar, despite standing near the bed, had decided to still shout. Shinobu kindly (though brutally) gives Kyojurou a discreet kick, a quiet warning that he’s still talking with a patient. It doesn’t stop him from keeping his volume at max. “How brave of you to take that for your first mission!”

I was terrified, actually. Kaigaku thinks. “I wasn’t able to engage directly with the demon, only another demon which he fed his arm to.”

“Of course!” Kyojurou once again interjects. Man, this guy had a lot of energy.  “You wouldn’t be here if you did!”

Kaigaku chooses to ignore the fact that he was just called weak.

Shinobu continues her question in stride. “Have you observed any other qualities apart from that?”

Kaigaku considers his options. He could tell them what he knows in context, that he’s fast and strong. But that’s all demons. Is he allowed to give them some leverage?

[I’ll allow three.]

Kaigaku sighs. That’s as good as he’s gonna get.

“He’s strong, fast and was able to regenerate in a flash.” Kaigaku says. 

And immediately regrets it because he ended up describing Akaza as bare bones as possible.

Shinobu hums, looking at Rengoku with a raised brow. “I think all demons have that, don’t they?” Kyoujurou just nods his head, if he's disappointed, he doesn't show it.

And they do. Kaigaku was just stupid, forgive him.

“Sorry for interrupting but.” Kaigaku says a blush on his cheeks. He’s a little embarrassed that he fucked up, but he hopes to clear the air about just how dangerous Akaza could be. “It’s not that simple.”

Shinobu nods. “Elaborate.”

“Imagine if you can stay alive with sheer determination to keep fighting.”

Kyojurou is the next one to ask. “Even through decapitation?”

Kaigaku lets his silence speak for him.

“I see.” The insect pillar hums, hands folded neatly on her lap.

Whatever comment she had to say next was interrupted when a crow flew through the window, squawking for the pillars to move.

Kyojurou perks up, reminded of the reason he came here and Shinobu excuses herself, standing up from her chair daintily. “Thank you for your information, Inadama.” She says.

“Rest well!” Is the flame pillar’s advice when he follows Shinobu out. “And recover fast!”

Kaigaku watches them go, feeling melancholic.

[What’s wrong?]

I don’t know. Just sucks to see someone who’s going to be dead soon.

The system says nothing.

After the impromptu interview with pillars, Kaigaku figured that he should at least visit Zenitsu and the others to see how they fared. If things all went according to plan, they’re probably chilling in the recovery room. 

Which recovery room? Kaigaku didn’t know. Because he spent an hour and a half wandering around the hallways, lost and refusing to take his system’s help of implanting directions in his brain.

Why? No reason. He was stubborn and wanted to go see how big the pillar estates were. And well, he found out the hard way. It didn't help that he was still feeling rather weak from his injuries. As long as he didn't need to sit down and get up, he should be fine.

Eventually, Kaigaku found himself in a hallway where he could hear his little brother whining in the distance. Great, he's on the right track. On cue as well was the Kakushi assisting Tanjirou by the back, running towards the same room he's after.

He follows them inside and puts on his best angry face. It’s been a while since he’s gotten the chance to whip it out.

“Zenitsu.”

The blonde is startled, immediately shutting up, much to the surprise of Aoi. “Brother?” He murmurs, looking teary-eyed.

“What’s with your screaming so early in the morning?” Kaigaku asks as he comes closer, hand poised to give Zenitsu’s crazy hair a little ruffle.

“Big brother!” Zenitsu is bawling into him in a flash, snot and tears clinging to Kaigaku’s once crispy clean top. “They’re making me drink something so bitter I hate it!” Kaigaku sighs, patting the blonde roughly on the head. He missed Zenitsu dearly, as well. Just not his volume. “And the spider stung me really badly! It hurt so much and my arms are really small and they keep telling me to--!”

Kaigaku felt a vein pop from anger. “Stop your yapping!” He scolds, giving the blonde a love tap (read: punch) to the head. “Just listen to the girls and drink the damn medicine!”

Zenitsu doesn’t stop crying, but he does stop talking. “But…”

Kaigaku just rolls his eyes. It’s times like these that Kaigaku is just reminded of how young these boys were. 

“Deal with it.” Kaigaku murmurs, soothing the blonde with a simple pat on the back. "The sooner you recover, the sooner you won't have to drink this."

Zenitsu whines, but aquiesces. He takes a cup from the tray Aoi has kindly set down for him and downs it in one go.

Before Zenitsu can start complaining again, Kaigaku spoils him with a pat on the head. “I’m proud of you.” He says, as sincere as he could.

Zenitsu gapes, then immediately starts crying into his shirt again, but louder. Kaigaku can’t even tell if he’s breathing. He hears sniffling beside him and finds the Kakushi holding Tanjirou bawling. Tanjirou is just smiling at the scene, probably reminded of his own siblings from before.

Aoi sighs, looking fond before excusing herself from the room with a quick nod.

“Tanjirou?” Zenitsu whispers shakily, when he finally looks up, meeting gazes with the brunet. He crawls over to the Kakushi to reach over him, a few tears still dripping down his face. “Tanjirou you’re here too! Are you okay?”

Tanjirou blinks, not expecting to be acknowledged in the middle of Zenitsu's crying fest. “I’m, I’m fine!” He stutters, as the Kakushi flails, Zenitsu taken to crying on his shirt this time. “I’m glad to see you're okay, too.”

“And,” He continues, but stops when he catches sight of Inosuke on the other bed nearby.  “Inosuke!” He stumbles off the Kakushi, “Inosuke are you alright? I’m so sorry I left you all alone in--”

“I’m sorry. For being weak.”

As expected, Inosuke’s voice is busted. Tanjirou looks bewildered.

Meanwhile, Kaigaku is reeling in his laughter. Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh. It’s not funny when someone got actually hurt, you asshole.

[I'm deducting a thousand points if you laugh.]

That gets Kaigaku to sober up quick.

Tanjirou squints, still unable to process what’s happening. “Inosuke..?”

Zenitsu takes the liberty of explaining things like usual. Not bothering to clear up his nose still, of course. Poor Kakushi. “Someone squeezed him real hard on the neck and his voice broke.”

“It’s kinda funny.” Zenitsu starts to snicker, but then catches a glance at Kaigaku, who’s glaring down at him. “...I mean--it must hurt.”

"Why--" Then Tanjirou stops, anything else he was about to say cut off.

Tanjirou stares at Zenitsu, look unreadable. Kaigaku can’t tell if it’s confusion, longing, or some weird mixture of the two. Either way it makes him uncomfortable. The system did say Tanjirou had an oddly specific chance of becoming aware.

“I’m sorry everyone. Because I was weak.”

Thankfully, the tension is broken with Inosuke. Again.

The two focus their energy on screaming compliments at him as Kaigaku offers the poor Kakushi the tissue he wanted.

“Brother.” Zenitsu whines when night time hits and they’re all retiring to their beds. 

Kaigaku was just about to go back to his own room when Zenitsu pulled him back, a hand on his haori. 

“Can you sleep here?” The blonde pleads, whispering so he wouldn’t bother the others asleep.

“I can’t waste the beds. They’re for other patients too.” Kaigaku doesn’t mention that apparently he got put into a private room all by himself.

Zenitsu purses his lips, his grip unrelenting. “Please?” The blonde puts on his best sad face. Kaigaku looks away. He must stay strong! “I’m scared.”

“Of what? You killed that spider guy, didn’t you?” Kaigaku reasons.

Zenitsu tugs on his shirt, silently pleading this time.

Kaigaku could only count for a few seconds before he gives up for good.

“Alright.” He sighs.

He takes refuge in the available bed next to the blonde, pushing them close together at his insistence. Kaigaku fell asleep patting Zenitsu’s arm to lull him to sleep.

When Zenitsu trembled and gripped his shirt tight, Kaigaku pretended to not notice.

“Be mindful of others!” Kaigaku scolds yet again when Zenitsu ends up making a fuss while drinking medicine. Tanjirou panics when he gives the blonde a good hit on the head to drive his point home.

Zenitsu’s whining doesn’t stop, but he does drink the medicine as told.

“Thank you.” Aoi says to Kaigaku, gathering her stuff on a tray noisily. “I don’t know what I’d do if he doesn’t shut up.”

Poor girl. She’s basically acting like the head nurse of this place. Kaigaku nods to her politely. “Don’t worry.” He throws in a smile too, a light one to seem amicable, because his face isn’t made to smile. “You can leave the medicine duty to me. I’ll make sure he recovers well.”

Aoi beams back. “Thank you so much for your help!”

And off she goes, with one last glare at Zenitsu, she leaves the room just as quick as she came.

Kaigaku prepares to leave as well, to get his daily exercise quota in. But when he turns to bid everyone goodbye, he finds Zenitsu pouting.

“What’s with the face, brat?” He pinches Zenitsu’s cheeks in an attempt to wipe it off.

“Why do girls like you so much!” Zenitsu complains, crossing his arms and giving Kaigaku a shove to the chest. He tries to reel in the wince he makes, he still had injuries too. “You’re always mean to me! So why’s that?!”

He sees Zenitsu’s tense shoulders when he jokingly turns away. Kaigaku huffs, amused. Zenitsu’s comfortable acting up agaisnt him now, huh?

“Because your whining is a headache.” Kaigaku gives him a noogie then pats his cheek, to make sure that he doesn’t misunderstand his tone. “If you’d stopped whining so much they’d like you too.”

Zenitsu sticks his tongue out, but Kaigaku senses that the tension is gone, replaced with mirth. Kaigaku almost wants to tear up because that's gotta be a milestone on the 'be a good brother' checklist, right?

But he doesn’t because he catches Tanjirou staring at them a bed away from them.

“Ah!” Tanjirou exclaims, looking embarrassed at being caught. “Good morning, Kaigaku!”

“Good morning.” He greets back even though they've already greeted each other earlier. Tanjirou sure was acting weird.

He leaves and Zenitsu’s already trying to crawl over Inosuke’s bed to head over and complain to the brunet. Tanjirou, being the saint that he is, doesn’t stop him and instead sits on Inosuke’s bed so all three of them can be together.

Cute, was Kaigaku’s final thought before he went out. 

Kaigaku’s walking through the halls, just coming back from his walk when someone passing by clips him on the shoulder.

He stumbles and looks back. It’s Genya, glaring at him. Kaigaku frowns, wait, wasn’t this event supposed to be triggered by Tanjirou? Or was it already triggered, and Genya just happened to pass by him this time?

Nevermind, Kaigaku thinks as he growls, meeting Genya’s gaze with a glare of his own. He'll antagonize him a little. “Watch it, kid.”

Genya visibly falters at his response, looking lost. “I. Excuse me.” He mutters, walking away in a hurry.

Kaigaku blinks, staring at the boy’s back as he walks away. Man, does he really look that scary when he tries? Probably. His character was set to be a demon.

He has another chance encounter when he’s finally on the hallway to his room, this time with the insect pillar.

She greets him curtly as he bows in respect. “Going for a walk, Inadama?”

“Yes.” He nods, as formal as ever. “The sooner I can recover, the sooner I can help.”

“How honorable.” Shinobu giggles, giving him a little pat on his shoulder.  “I hope you can urge your brother to do the same.”

Oh no. Kaigaku straightens up. “Is he doing something wrong?”

“He’s not attending functional training along with Inosuke.” Oh? Before he realized it, they’re apparently in the middle of the rehabilitation arc. “I was actually on my way to give them some pep talk.”

Pep talk, huh. 

“I will help.”

“Zenitsu! You little brat!”

Kaigaku kicks down the door to the dojo, momentarily hoping that Shinobu won’t kill him on the spot before trudging towards the trio doing stretches inside. Well. Tanjirou doing stretches. The other two were really just hanging at the back.

Zenitsu is spooked, hiding behind Tanjirou as Kaigaku approaches.

“Have you forgotten what you are? You’re a slayer for god’s sake, you can’t just laze around now that you’re in a mansion!” Kaigaku screams and points, letting Tanjirou be excused for comforting the blonde for now. “You’re doing the damn training, you got that?!”

“Yessir!” Zenitsu screams, the way his arms are circling around Tanjirou’s neck look tight enough to choke. Tanjirou looks fine, even laughing a bit at their antics.

“And you!” He sets his sights on Inosuke, who jumps to attention. “Can’t handle a little exercise? You can’t be called king of the mountains when you can barely fend for yourself! Go back to your bed for all I care!”

Inosuke is quiet for a moment, before an ear splitting scream is heard.

“Who are you calling weak Kuugaki?!” He pounces on Kaigaku, who darts around the dojo to lead him around.

“Oh my.” Shinobu chuckles from afar.

Inosuke snarls, fired up. “Fight me, Kigiko!”

This damn boar can never say names right. “It’s Kaigaku!”

“Well then, Inadama.” Shinobu cheerfully calls from the doorway. “I leave the coaching to you.”

Kaigaku stops. He's been betrayed.

Inosuke takes this as an oppurtunity to take him down with a kick.

Chapter Text

Eventually, everyone recovers and every thing goes back to business as usual.

Kaigaku spent many tears, sweat and vocal chords coaching Zenitsu (who wouldn’t stop whining), Inosuke (who’d treat the whole training session as a 1v1 against him specifically) and Tanjirou (who wouldn’t stop staring at Zenitsu focus on the fucking task at hand you little ) back to fitness.

They were a rowdy bunch, but despite the draining work, Kaigaku couldn’t help but have fun. It was hard not to. They were good kids.

Kaigaku expected that the Mugen Train Arc would’ve happened immediately, but it didn’t. When asked, his system tells him that time would flow differently in the context of actually living through the plot. After all, the manga would only highlight important events, not the mundane.

Kaigaku shrugged it off. At least he had a few weeks to spare before everyone gets inevitably traumatized.

Though despite that long time be spent doing missions and honing his ability with the sword, he is instead currently stuck in the butterfly mansion, hanging up laundry.

His pigeon was oddly quiet. Not directing him anywhere in particular. And even if it was, it would be small missions; demons dead with one swipe, not even with a breathing technique sometimes. 

The pigeon’s just chilling in the bird bath with Giyuu’s crow, passing the time by grooming himself.

Kaigaku thought this was a glitch or something, if that could even happen, but his system just kindly reminded him that he was a Mizunoto with a limited range of demons he could take on solo.

He lamented that he’s stronger than he looks and questioned why the system wants to assign him to specifically solo missions, but otherwise didn’t press it. He should just enjoy the peace while he’s living in it.

And while he’s enjoying said peace, Tanjirou stops him in the hallway.

“What’s the matter, Kamado?” He asks, arm full of laundry to be hung outside. It was heavy, so Kaigaku hoped the young protagonist wouldn't take much of his time.

Tanjirou looks away, looking like he’s debating what to do. Kaigaku adjusts his hold on the basket. Looks like this was going to take a while regardless.

“I don’t know.” Tanjirou finally says, shoulders sagging.  “Don’t you feel like, nothing’s going the way it’s supposed to?”

Kaigaku nearly lets the basket fall to the floor in shock.

He should’ve expected this talk would come soon. There were signs, but he didn’t think it’d be important now.

Still, Kaigaku keeps his composure, making sure he appears confused. “What do you mean, kid?”

Tanjirou studies him, trying to find something. Kaigaku steadies himself, not wanting to appear suspicious. “I’m.” Tanjirou stutters, “I’m sorry. This is going to sound very wrong.”

Wrong? What is he going to say? That he feels Kaigaku shouldn’t exist? Like Kaigaku’s messing with the big picture? As much as all of that is true, it’ll hurt a lot to hear it from the main character’s mouth--

“I feel like I should be closer to Zenitsu!”

Closer?

Kaigaku lets himself be silent for a while, trying to gain his bearings from being blindsided.

“What? Aren’t you close enough already?” He asks, this time genuinely confused at the direction of the conversation.

“Frankly.” Tanjirou continues, he’s serious, Kaigaku can tell, but that adorable pout on his face just doesn’t let him take the boy seriously. “It feels like you’re in the way.”

And wow. If he has to compare it to something, it’s like Tanirou just said fuck you. Still, he ignores how bluntly Tanjirou insulted him in favor of mulling over his words.

In the way of what? Sounds like bullshit. The trio hang out together all the time, meanwhile Kaigaku is left to his own devices doing solo missions and boring himself to death.

“He’s my brother.” Kaigaku says, the basket now held in one hand so that his other can rest on his hip. “I keep watch on him. That’s normal.” He thinks. Then again, maybe he has been too overbearing lately. Or does it just feel that way because he's always stuck inside? Either way, he doesn't get how it would lead to Tanjirou feeling this way.

Unless...

“If you’re jealous or something, then come with us when we’re training.”

Tanjirou seems to bristle at the insinuation. “I’m not--!” But no other words come after that. Kaigaku raises a brow. He can hear the poor boy’s rusty brain gears turning.

When Tanjirou looks like he’s built up enough brain cells to speak, running footsteps towards them distracts them both.

“Big brother!” Zenitsu comes in from a corner, whining. “Chuntaro ate my--Tanjirou?” The blonde comes to a stop between them, looking to and fro.

“What, um, were you guys talking about something?”

Why we were talking about you, dear brother. Kaigaku thinks as he shrugs, desperately wanting to say it. And how Tanjirou here feels like he severely lacks your attention.

“I don’t know.” He says instead in a sing-song, a playful lilt to his voice to tease the brunet a little. “What were we talking about, Tanjirou?”

“Something important.” Tanjirou answers, tone clipped. He’s still looking like a kid throwing a tantrum so it’s not nearly as intimidating as it probably should be. “But it doesn’t matter.”

Zenitsu squints. “Something?” He parrots back, bemused. “What is it?”

Tanjirou doesn’t elaborate, only flashing them both a warm smile and trotting away, rounding the corner where he appeared from earlier and disappearing behind the many walls of the estate.

Kaigaku huffs. That was a weird encounter. While he’s happy that Tanjirou doesn’t recognize him as a threat to the universe, he’s a bit worried that Tanjirou may consider him as an obstacle for something else.

Kaigaku turns back to Zenitsu, who hums and tilts his head.

Someone is probably more accurate.

“Say.” Kaigaku starts, continuing his walk out to the back. Zenitsu follows after him like a puppy. “If someone asked for your hand in marriage, tell me about it first, okay?”

They reach the back and Kaigaku sets the basket down, starting to hang the sheets up when the words finally register for Zenitsu.

“What?” The blonde giggles, and Kaigaku feels that it is his brotherly duty to make sure Tanjirou never hears that. “If anything, I’d be the one proposing to people!”

Maybe not anymore, Kaigaku muses ruefully, flapping the blanket in his grip and flicking specks of water unto his brother, who whines. He’ll have to keep watch on that Kamado guy.

“You don’t have to keep helping around!” One of the girls, Naho, exclaims when she finds him replacing the sheets of a bed recently used. “You’re technically our patient!”

“I’m discharged already.” He quips back, letting the girl unsuccessfully try to tug him out of the room.

Plus, Kaigaku thinks as he pretends to be swayed out of the room, I don’t think there’s a Thunder estate.

[There is.] His system says when he asks later at dinner.

Oh? Why can’t we use that?

[Only a pillar can have access.] [The upkeep is quite expensive, but it exists.]

Any chance you can magic me to be a pillar for points?

[That would have to involve chucking another Upper Moon at you.] [Directly at you, this time.]

Kaigaku shivers at the thought. Like hell he’s willing to get beaten up just to have a big house that he’d probably get lost in.

Nevermind, he thinks as he snatches back the meat Inosuke stole.

Kaigaku yawns, sleepy. Today was a particularly slow day. 

Zenitsu’s out on a mission with Inosuke and Tanjirou, so he’s got no one to hang out around. As sad as it is to say, they were really his only friends in this place. He’d barely talked to anyone else apart from the butterfly estate people.

So he’s on his own here. Unless his pigeon, now lovingly nicknamed Kyutaro, gives him a new mission, he’ll be stuck staring at the bird baths again and feeding seeds.

With that in mind, Kaigaku decides halfway through his walk that he’s hungry and changes trajectory to the kitchens. He feels bad for always bothering the butterfly estate girls, but the insect pillar’s place was the only one generous enough to let anybody in.

He’s thinking about helping cook dinner again when a door creaks open in front of him. He stops in his tracks. Aoi doesn’t open doors carefully, or anyone else for that matter. Doors were always slamming in this place. Was someone sneaking around?

Kaigaku’s about to prepare for an attack when he catches sight of a pink ribbon pinned on black hair.

Nezuko?

She’s peeking through the door, curious. Kaigaku would throw her back inside in a heartbeat, but luckily for them both, it was a cloudy day. Still doesn't mean he’s not panicking.

When she spots Kaigaku, she immediately bounds out of the room, but he catches her before she can go too far.

“Hey,” He chastises gently, “No sneaking out.”

Nezuko huffs, stomping her foot in protest. She’s been restless without her big brother, it seems.

Kaigaku just carefully guides her back inside the room, “Tanjirou will be back soon to visit.” He reassures her. “Be patient.”

He gets them both past the open door without much fuss, but the minute Nezuko realizes he’s going to leave her alone, she starts flailing around again. Kaigaku makes multiple attempts to calm her, but when she still doesn’t sit still, Kaigaku sighs.

Looks like he’s on babysitter duty. “I’ll keep you company.” He finally says, sitting down on the bed in defeat. Lunch will have to wait later when it turns into dinner. “Will you sit still then?”

Nezuko nods, giggling as she throws herself on the bed to sit too.

Kaigaku smiles, giving her a little head pat. “Okay.”

They sit in silence for a while, Nezuko content with just swinging her legs from her bed and humming. It looks like his company is enough to keep her from roaming arond. Good.

Kaigaku, however, can’t sit still. The silence is deafening. Back in his own world, he never knew true silence, so this was pretty uncomfortable for him. As cute as Nezuko was, with her hums and stares, he was getting restless.

He stands up, hoping to find something inside the room that they can help pass the time with. Nezuko obviously can’t be left alone until Tanjirou comes back, unless he wants to risk her sneaking out, so he might as well entertain her.

Kaigaku digs around the drawers. Nezuko is curious, but otherwise stays put.

Just as he was about to give up, finding nothing but sheets of old clothing and cloth, he finds something of interest tucked deep within. A small wooden box, aged but still firm, with multiple cards stacked inside, all held together with a string of fiber.

“Karuta.” He muses when he withdraws it from its hiding spot. 

Kaigaku’s always wanted to play it, but he doesn't think it’d be a good game to play with Nezuko in particular. She’s still got the mind of a child after all, he doubts she can remember and recite a hundred poems.

Kaigaku gives the drawers another once over, before shrugging. No choice then, it’s literally the only thing here that he could use.

“Hey, Nezuko. Wanna play this?” He shakes the box in his hands, the rattling sound piquing Nezuko’s interest. 

She hops down from the bed, watching Kaigaku clear out the floor to place the cards, enraptured. Halfway through setting up though, Kaigaku encounters a roadblock. He too, knows absolutely jack shit about poems.

Uh. Any chance you’ve got a database for Karuta?

[...Your requests are getting odder, Kaigaku.]

Just give it to me.

And the system does. He gets a little dizzy from having a 100 poems suddenly engraved in his mind, but otherwise he could handle it. It’s like having a sudden flash of nostalgia but it's more of a flashbang.

Nezuko is eager to go, already sitting seiza and looming over the cards. Kaigaku tries to give her a brief how-to, but she’s obviously not paying attention past the part where he says you have to slap cards.

Still, he manages to give her the basics, and they’re able to start.

“ In the summer night, The evening still seems present, But the dawn is here .” Kaigaku recites, not stopping to pause where the yomifuda ends to help Nezuko pinpoint the card. “ To what region of the clouds, Has the wandering moon come home? ”

Unfortunately for them both, despite the handicap, it seems that the amount of cards and Nezuko’s reading speed is against them, because she ends up just looking like a lost puppy, glancing at each card in confusion.

Eventually she grows frustrated and starts crying, punching Kaigaku’s arm in an attempt to throw a tantrum.

“Ah, hey. Calm down!” He hisses, Nezuko’s punches aren’t deliberately hard, but they hurt all the same because of her demon strength. 

He knew they would be in a predicament. Kaigaku stares down at the cards, one hand stroking his chin and the other patting Nezuko to comfort her.

“Let’s do it like this, then.”

Kaigaku flips all the cards over, revealing the pretty pictures in the back. Nezuko’s eyes sparkle in awe.

Kaigaku’s scan through them all. They’re all animals. Drawn rather cute too. Was this made for kids? Nevermind. They all seem different enough that he could say one animal and not have it correlated to another. 

What to say… “I spy…” He drawls, “A dog!”

Nezuko immediately slaps the card in question out of its place, stumbling for a little bit before turning to Kaigaku for praise.

Kaigaku gives it to her willingly. “Good job, Nezuko.” He says, and he gets a satisfied huff in return. “Wanna keep playing like this?”

Nezuko nods, already positioned to give the game another go.

The game proved useful, because before Kaigaku knew it, Tanjirou’s already back, stumbling into the room with a mumble. The tiredness is replaced instantly by a smile when Nezuko comes scampering towards him for a hug.

Kaigaku doesn’t mind being ignored, instead using the time to rearrange the cards, just in case both of them want to continue playing.

“Kaigaku!” Tanjirou exclaims when they’re finished with their extended greetings, letting Nezuko trot away and back to play the game. The brunet takes notice of the cards, squinting as he sheds his haori. “Karuta?”

Nezuko nods to him in reply, waving a card to show it off.

Tanjirou sits down next to her, “Nezuko you can play Karuta?!” He coos, “Let me see, let me see!”

“She can’t read the cards fast enough.” Kaigaku says, finally cutting in. She can’t read them  at all, but Kaigaku keeps that to himself. “But she does well with the pictures.”

Tanjirou sits back, eager for a demonstration. Kaigaku raises his hand as a signal for Nezuko to get ready, and she huffs.

“Rabb--”

A card is swiped to the side in record time, one with a smiling rabbit pounding mochi.

“Nezuko!” Tanjirou is quick to praise, giving her a warm, celebratory hug. “You’re so good at this!”

Always the doting sibling, it seems. Kaigaku can’t fault him. He’d drop anything to praise Zenitsu too. Probably.

Kaigaku is distracted by a tug or two to his sleeves. It’s Nezuko, looking excited yet again. 

“Hm?” Tanjirou observes her mutely for a minute, before understanding what she’s trying to say. “Oh, she wants to be the one to read the cards this time!”

Are you sure that’s a good idea?, They had just established that there is no way Nezuko could read, but nevertheless Kaigaku positions himself across Tanjirou. They began this game for her anyway, better indulge in what she wants.

As expected, Nezuko can’t speak at all. So she’s resorted to miming out the animals she sees. It takes a while for it to register for him, because they’re basically playing both charades and where’s waldo at this point, but for Tanjirou it’s a fucking walk in the park.

He swears the both of them can telepathically communicate and it’s unfair.

“I’m sorry about my outburst last time.” Tanjirou whispers when he snatches a card. Kaigaku forgoes his irritation from being slowly defeated in favor of listening. “I got carried away.”

Kaigaku hums, “It’s alright.”

“It’s not!” Tanjirou exclaims, just taking a quick glance at Nezuko miming ears with her hands to swipe another card Kaigaku was just about to target. Again, Kaigaku tries not to rage at that. “I was being selfish. Zenitsu is--”

“You were.” Kaigaku replies, not even bothering to lift his hand and try at this point. Tanjirou winces. “But you just wanted to hang out more with a friend, right?” He says, emphasizing the friend part.

Tanjirou pauses before he nods. Hm. 

Kaigaku sighs. Obviously Tanjirou's bothered a lot by it, so he won't try to downplay how the brunet feels. But Tanjirou’s probably confusing his feelings about Kaigaku existing and being an anomaly in the plot, with his feelings for Zenitsu or something. He doesn’t know how those two would influence each other, but they probably would. Somehow. Probably just feels ignored because Kaigaku's taken most of the brunt of dealing with Zenitsu this time around.

“You're a good kid, Tanjirou. You can be a little selfish.” He reassures the brunet with a hand to the shoulder. This still doesn’t stop Tanjirou from swiping another card when Nezuko does another pose. Damn it. “Don’t push it, though.” Kaigaku adds as an extra warning.

Tanjirou bites his lips, pensive, but grins back eventually. 

Especially when he wins the round. Lucky fucker.

They’re just about to start their third round when the door swivels open, revealing Zenitsu and Inosuke on the other side.

“Nezuko! I’m here to--” The blonde pauses just as Kaigaku is just about to swipe a card. Tanjirou gets it instead. Fucking hell. 

“Brother?”

His surprise is mirrored by Inosuke, but the kid's more elated instead of bewildered. “It’s Kogaika!” He stumbles inside and throws his mask somewhere behind him, ready to wrestle with Kaigaku as he charges inside with a shout.

“How are you messing up my name even more?!” Kaigaku scolds as he leaps out of the way, the cards flying as Inosuke lands on the floor with a thud. Great, that’s going to be fun to clean up later.

“What were you doing here?” Zenitsu gripes at his brother, ignoring the way Kaigaku and Inosuke were jumping around the room. “You were hanging out with Nezuko without me?!”

Like hell I’d know that I would be hanging out with her now! Kaigaku thinks as he keeps bounding from corner to corner of the room. I was making sure she wouldn’t go outside and fucking burn to death!

Zenitsu doesn’t take into consideration that Kaigaku couldn’t possibly have romantic interest on a fucking kid, and instead joins in on the chaos; chasing after Kaigaku himself and even throwing some projectiles here and there. 

Kaigaku yelps, avoiding a pillow thrown at him. “How dare you?! I thought you were my brother?!” He cries, then turns to Tanjirou for a quick complaint. “And you Tanjirou! What happened to protecting Nezuko huh?!”

As expected, he’s confused, because Zenitsu is being unreasonable. “Kaigaku’s not a threat though?” Tanjirou muses.

Kaigaku’s mood immediately does a 180 when he hears this. The audacity of this brat--! “Oi, are you calling me a bad person, huh?!” He screeches, changing gears and chasing after Zenitsu. “Come back here!”

Zenitsu recognizes that the tides have turned and runs for safety; safety being behind Tanjirou’s back. It doesn’t deter Kaigaku, who just ends up following the blonde in circles, while a worried Tanjirou spins around in the middle, trying to calm both of them down.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

"You'll be sorry once I get you!"

Nezuko just squeals and giggles, obviously amused at all the ruckus. Her poor brother, however, is left to try and keep things controlled.

“Let’s just all calm down--!”

“Hey Ponjirou!” Inosuke cuts in through all the noise. Stopping his pursuit of a fight to pick up one of the cards that’s scattered all around the room. At the same time, Kaigaku finally manages to catch Zenitsu and pin him on the floor, sitting on his back as punishment.

“What’s this?”

“Oh, you don’t know what Karuta is?” Tanjirou moves to finally gather up all the cards into a stack, the situation fully diffused by now.

“Of course he doesn’t. He’s a brute from the mountains.” Zenitsu mutters from his place on the floor, earning himself a smack from Kaigaku.

Tanjirou ignores their antics, taking time to explain the mechanics to their friend. “Someone reads the first half of the poems from this,” He holds up a yomifuda, “And you have to grab the other half of it before anyone else.” He says, gesturing to the one Inosuke currently held.

“Reading?” Inosuke snorts, throwing the card away, not even bothering to hand it back to Tanjirou. “Sounds boring.”

Tanjirou just chuckles. “Since Nezuko can’t read yet, we’re using the pictures on the back!”

He demonstrates by showing off the paintings on the back. Kaigaku feels like they’re offending their ancestors as they speak by doing this. They probably shouldn’t use Karuta cards to play what seems like an entirely different game.

“Whatever, it’s boring!” Inosuke just whines, throwing himself on the nearby bed.

Tanjirou just laughs his disinterest off good naturedly. “It’s okay, Inosuke!” He comforts. “Not everyone can get a hang of it so quickly!”

Uh oh. Kaigaku slides off his brother, who groans in relief, and grimaces. Here comes the reverse psychology.

Zenitsu, who’s finally released from Kaigaku’s weight, tugs on the brunet’s shirt, fully aware of what’s about to happen next as well. “Tanjirou don’t--”

“Huh?!” Inosuke squawks, leaping off the bed in an instant. “I’ll show you! I can play this damn game!” He marches over to tower across tanjirou, before sitting down across him and repeatedly slamming the floor.

“You versus me! Right now!”

Tanjirou, not seeing this as the blatant challenge that it is, just indulges Inosuke, thinking that he just wants to play a game. “Okay!”

Inosuke points a finger at Kaigaku, authoritative. “Kigeku! You read!”

What’s there to read? But Kaigaku just goes with the flow, sitting across them both. Might as well pick a random animal and get it over with.

He sets the yomifuda cards back down, picture side up of course, and  starts the game. Zenitsu sits beside him, equally confused about the unorthodox playing style while Nezuko cheers them on, shrunken on Tanjirou’s lap where she won’t bother her brother as he played.

“I spy...” Kaigaku says, hand cradling his cheek as he leans on a leg. “A hor--”

This sort of feels like family game night, Kaigaku muses as Inosuke and Tanjirou bump heads trying to dive for the same card.

Eventually it gets so late to the point that Aoi has to barge in and scream at them to go get some sleep.

“We should do that again!” Tanjirou says, all cheer.

“And I’ll keep winning!” Inosuke quickly snaps back.

“You don’t even get the right cards!” Zenitsu complains.

And Nezuko cheers once more, content to lounge around on her brother’s lap.

Kaigaku gives his own brother a pat on the head (read: noogie), the warmth of their company overwhelming him.

“Yeah.” 

The next time they play Karuta, they play it the proper way, and Tanjirou tries to sing.

Zenitsu puts a stop to it pretty quickly.

Surprisingly, Inosuke apparently has the hundred poems book memorized by heart.

“I don’t know.” Inosuke grumbles when he swipes another card away from Zenitsu’s grasp.  “It’s just in my brain.”

Kaigaku, having already learned about this tidbit in his past life from getting spoiled on the internet, gives Inosuke a pat on the head. Ignoring the boy's confusion.

Kaigaku grunts as he trudges through the hallways in the dead of the night. 

Aoi and the girls had been hell bent on cooking dish after dish earlier, and his arms were sore from all the carrying he had to do with the crates of ingredients being used up. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have checked up on them to see what was wrong, then maybe he wouldn’t have been dragged into the mess.

Was there a festival? This was foreign ground for him because it’s an in between plot detail. He had no idea what celebrations were happening.

His question was answered, however, when some unknown slayers pulled him into a room of about a hundred people, all drunk in one way or another.

They left him standing there in the entrance looking stupid. Was he supposed to find a table somewhere? He barely interacted with the other slayers his age, what was he supposed to do? Drag the kids into this place? 

“Brother!” 

Oh. Well, apparently they’ve dragged themselves inside just fine.

Kaigaku sees the triple troublemakers in a table on the far right, chowing down on some food that he recognizes Aoi and the girls have been cooking up in the kitchens earlier. Zenitsu is waving at him like crazy, and Inosuke is shouting at him to ‘get over here already Kaguko!!’.

No harm in joining, Kaigaku supposes. He weaves his way through the other slayers, some even already passed out on the floor. What the fuck was happening here?

“What’s happening?” Kaigaku voices out when Tanjirou offers him a plate and a drink. The bottle offered to him is alcoholic, and Kaigaku is momentarily scared that Zenitsu had been drinking, but all the trio seemed to have was some sort of lemonade.

Aoi answers for him, when she suddenly pops up by their table, adding more food to his plate. “Just something we do to keep morale up.” She explains, grinning down at him. “Thank you for your help earlier.”

“Thank you for the food too.” Kaigaku nods back. Beside him, Inosuke violently tries to eat off his plate. Kaigaku deflects his attempts with his own chopsticks, his speed built up from all the attempts at training with Kanao.

Morale, huh? Kaigaku picks at his food, listening to Zenitsu and Tanjirou’s small talk (“Nezuko really likes the flowers I picked today!” “That’s great! Let’s go together tomorrow, you lead the way!”), Inosuke’s occasional screaming (“I bet I can pick more flowers than you Binetsu!” “Are you trying to challenge me for Nezuko’s hand in marriage?!”) and feeling rather downcast.

The event feels kind of hollow when you already know how things would be in the end. It feels like he’s just waiting for the inevitable here.

Kaigaku’s chopsticks almost slip from his hand when he feels a firm grip on shoulder. 

“Have some fun.” Someone whispers into his ear. “You never know when it’s your last.”

Kaigaku whips his head up and sees the sound pillar, dressed down for the occasion, smirking down at him. Uzui gestures to the food on his plate, already nearly empty because of Inosuke’s wandering chopsticks.

Kaigaku nods back at him, mute. Of course, how could he forget that he was stuck in an action manga that nuked half of its cast by the end of it.

Sure doesn’t feel like it when the most emotion he’d felt was the impending threat of Kamado Tanjirou monopolizing his little brother.

[Seasons may feel like it would pass longer because you are living in the world.] His system pops up to say, reminding him. [Of course, I could just assist you with time skipping.]

Kaigaku considers this, looking back at Uzui who’s already sitting comfortably in a table just for the pillars. Uzui meets his gaze, smirks, and toasts to him with his glass in the air. Kaigaku toasts back out of respect, but this also catches the attention of Kyojurou who’s sitting next to the sound pillar, and he raises his own glass to the air aggressively.

Kaigaku nods back, shaking his glass to acknowledge him. That was one way to meet a new face, he supposes. He takes a sip of his drink, the alcohol burning the back of his throat.

I’m good. He addresses his system, I don’t do well with trauma, anyway. 

Even if he knew his little brother would survive, it still hurts to know that everyone else would be gone in the next second. So he’d rather savor moments like these.

He looks down at his half-empty glass, an idea in his mind.

Can I use points to keep myself from getting drunk too early?

[Of course.]

Nice. Kaigaku pours more for himself.

[Kaigaku.]

Kaigaku hums, turning his head on the pillow. 

The gathering had finished hours ago, and everyone else had gone to bed. He had just been about to fall asleep when his system had popped up to talk, tone grave and serious.

What’s up?

[You’ve accumulated a million points. Congratulations.]

Kaigaku opens his eyes, frowning at the ceiling. There’s an awful lack of cactuses dancing in his vision for this to be considered a congratulatory movement. He slowly sits up from his bed, leaning on the head board for support because his head was reeling from all the alcohol he'd drank earlier.

You don’t seem too happy for me.

[At a million points, you are eligible to leave the world.]

Kaigaku blinks. Straight to the point, huh?

Well. He figured it would have come any time soon.

And if I don’t want to do it?

[It’s your choice, of course.] His system goes quiet. [I too, don’t want to leave.]

Too entertaining for you? Kaigaku snorts in humor.

[Yes, that, but also.]

Zenitsu? Yeah. I don’t wanna leave the brat either.

Kaigaku’s gotten too attached to him at this point, especially with the way Zenitsu had lowered his guard around him. He didn’t want to leave for another world and risk losing the warmth of family he has now.

[Then we’re in agreement.] If the System could sigh in relief, it did. [The points need to be exchanged though, to prevent a sudden game over.]

Kaigaku raises a brow. Apparently his troubles aren’t over yet. Why? I thought earning points was good?

[The surplus is one million. Any more points earned will instead be subtracted.]

Makes sense. The systems are probably built with the expectation that nobody would get a million in the middle of their journey. Hell, he's even surprised he got so many points without trying. What was his system's basis on rewarding him these points? Surely there must be some rules on it, or are all systems just allowed to go ape shit?

That being said…

And whose fault was it that I got to a million points all of a sudden?

[...I apologize.] [I may have gone overboard with my rewards.]

Kaigaku shrugs, playing with the ends of his blanket, deep in thought. Not like he minded. More points means more wishes, right? Then again, the problem of what to wish for arises.

I don’t know what to do. Life seems to be going easy.

Kaigaku hums.

Can I wish for Muzan to be defeated?

[Request Denied: Sorry, I don’t think I can mess with the main villain’s files. Maybe some minor leads?]

Figures that the plot would stop him from wishing for an immediate happy ending. 

Kaigaku grunts, head hitting the headboard in exasperation. It made his headache worse but he’s just so damned tired from thinking. He really should just think about this later, when the sun is up. Deal with it along with his impending hangover.

Kaigaku was about to just exchange some points for a nice dream when his door slid open rather violently, revealing a panicked Zenitsu kneeling on the floor.

“Big brother!” Zenitsu whispers harshly, his kimono a mess and his hair disheveled as nervously tiptoes inside. He looks like he ran an entire marathon through a forest, where had his brother been?

Kaigaku ignores the way his head throbs and slips off the bed to meet Zenitsu halfway. “Zenitsu what the fuck, it’s like two in the--”

“Tanjirou kissed me.”

Kaigaku feels like he’s just been punched square in the jaw.

“Excuse me?” He says for good measure, hoping to God that his little brother was just playing a prank on him.

But Zenitsu just looks up at him, and now that Kaigaku looks closer, he’s sporting a blush and his lips are bruised from biting. A bad habit of his when he’s extremely nervous. 

“I--” Zenitsu tries to speak, but can’t seem to make a coherent sentence, let alone words, through his fluster. “He--”

Kaigaku felt his sanity slipping with each stutter.

Hey, system. How many points to kill a main character?

[Access Denied.]

Kaigaku sighs, frustrated. He tried.

He goes to sit back down on his bed, letting his head hang back to stare back up at the ceiling and count down any blemish he sees. Zenitsu follows suit, meekly sitting next to his brother, fidgeting and swinging his feet while he waits for him to speak.

He knew Tanjirou was about to make a move soon, but he didn’t expect soon to be now. That’s his fault for being too complacent.

[What’s wrong with him and Zenitsu being in a relationship?]

My pride as a brother hurts. Kaigaku answers curtly. He should’ve been able to deflect potential love interests with a glare, but it seems to have no effect on brunettes equipped with plot armor.

“Did he say anything after that?” Kaigaku finally finds the patience to ask. 

Zenitsu smacks his lips together. “I ran away.”

Kaigaku lifts his head back up, glaring down at him. “Did you hate it?”

“I don’t--” Zenitsu pauses, the blush on his cheeks reaching down to his neck. His voice is shaking when he speaks next. “I don’t know.”

So you don’t hate it, Kaigaku thinks with a groan. Just his luck. Tanjirou’s crush is reciprocated.

He’s not as cruel to ruin a relationship that his little brother may want, so he keeps all his complaints to himself. He’ll have ways to rain hell over Tanjirou and chances to do them soon.

For now, they both need sleep, because the longer Zenitsu stays up worrying about this, the more he’s susceptible to Tanjirou’s sweet talk that he knows is coming when they walk back to his room. Tanjirou doesn't sleep unless he knows both him and Inosuke are safe after all, and he’s not about to make Zenitsu fall harder than he already is.

“Get some sleep.” Kaigaku urges, standing up from his bed and giving his little brother’s hair an affectionate ruffle.  “Maybe it was from the atmosphere.” It was definitely not and Kaigaku is 100% sure it was done deliberately, but he doesn’t want to rile Zenitsu up any more.

“Yeah. Yeah!” Zenitsu laughs nervously, hands on his cheeks as he allows Kaigaku to begin leading him out. “He was just excited maybe. Or something. I--”

“Come on. I’ll take you to your room.”

Eventually they reach the hallway to Zenitsu’s shared room with Tanjirou and Inosuke. As expected, Tanjirou is there waiting for the blonde, worried. If he was disappointed to see Kaigaku with him, he doesn’t let it show, and instead bows politely, wishing him a good night as he takes over escorting Zenitsu back.

Kaigaku keeps a watchful eye on them both, just for appearances sake, because he knows Tanjirou wouldn’t do anything.

When the brunet peeks out for a final goodbye, Kaigaku leaves. Exasperation punctuated with heavy footfalls on the wooden floors.

He’ll have to do something about that Kamado kid. With how tightly wounded the plot was in the original manga plot, character relationships barely dug deeper than friendship. So he was pretty suspicious of Tanjirou and his glances towards Zenitsu in the beginning, but ultimately didn’t expect much out of it. After all, they were barely interacting in the first place.

Then the kid decides to kiss his brother.

Was this his fault for making Zenitsu act more mature?! Did he fuck up by removing the gross parts of his personality before?!

Kaigaku groaned, falling face first on his bed. He’ll get to the bottom of this. Sure, Tanjirou was a nice guy, but he’s fully assimilated to the role of protective big brother now and he wasn’t about to slack off.

He would’ve been fine if things progressed more slowly, but a kiss?! This early into the plot?! Hell, the train arc hasn’t even happened yet! What would happen to all those emotions if they suddenly got trauma?! Zenitsu wouldn't even spend any significant time with Tanjirou past that arc, apart from some small moments here and there! He wouldn’t want Zenitsu to experience heartbreak and mourn for someone at the same time!

Kaigaku pauses.

Hey. He pokes at his system. Can I manipulate an upper moon?

[Yes.]

How much?

[900,000]

Kaigaku clicks his tongue. Expensive. Looks like even with his system’s generosity, he won’t be able to alter more than one, currently.

Right then. He’s got a plan.

Chapter Text

Kaigaku wakes up feeling like he’s always had. Horrible. And at 4 am sharp.

His body moves automatically; roll out of bed, half heartedly fix the covers, stare at the mirror and then go freshen up.

The house is quiet, as it usually is. His mom doesn’t make a ton of noise moving about, so sometimes it can be a bit unnerving to wake up so early and just randomly see someone in the living room watching television at the lowest volume.

Kaigaku doesn’t bother checking the phone. There’s nothing on it anyway, at least, there shouldn’t be. He’s stopped talking to most people, and not a lot of them want to deal with someone who keeps isolating themself anyway.

Instead, he heads out to the living room--

--and stops in his tracks.

His father is here.

“Kaigaku? You’re awake.” He beckons from his place at the dining table. “Come on, we’ve got some coffee brewing.”

Instead of voicing out his confusion, what comes out of his mouth is a cheery good morning. His father laughs back in reply. Odd. He feels like it’s the first time he’s heard of it.

“Morning, sweetheart.” His mom greets from the kitchens, peering out while holding a carrot. When has she been well enough to cook a meal, let alone stand for so long? “What would you like for breakfast?”

His mouth opens for him. ‘Curry’, he says.

“I shouldn’t have asked.” She laughs too. “Why don’t you try something other than your favourite?” 

He doesn’t remember being able to eat curry enough for it to be his favourite.

Kaigaku meekly makes his way to the table where his dad sits. He makes sure to sit at least a chair away from him. His father just raises his brow at him. It’s without malice, just playful. “What’s gotten into you?” He chortles, “Why’re you so shy all of a sudden?”

Kaigaku isn’t shy? He remembers being so shy his back would break from leaning over tables. Of course Kaigaku is shy.

“Probably just woke up.” That’s his step-sister speaking, appearing from the doorway. She’s never stepped inside before. “Or else he’d be giving everyone here a headache from how loud he is.”

Another person comes in, another older older sister of his. “Shut up! At least he’s fun, unlike you!”

Kaigaku’s fun now, apparently.

“Hey.” There’s a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see his step-brother. He feels a chill oddly mixed with artificial warmth. Touch with him had never been gentle. “You sure you feel okay?”

Kaigaku nods. It feels like his body is trying too hard to stay still.

His mom sets down your breakfast in front of you, and the chatter begins. Your sisters are gossiping about work, your older brother is beside you,  pleasantly talking about the news with your father, and your mother is cleaning up in the kitchen.

And it feels so nice. It’s so warm. He never wants to leave, finally he feels like he could change for the better, the Kaigaku they know isn’t cold, isn’t weak, isn’t--

--isn’t real.

Kaigaku stabs his brother square in the face with a fork.

His mother screams, his other siblings start scrambling away and his father is shouting, hands reaching out to him.

It doesn’t matter. It would never be like this.

System. He beckons, memories of what the dream demon could do rushing into his mind as he moves to get out of the house. They’re screaming and shouting for him to come back, but he doesn’t listen. Are you there?

[You snapped out of it rather quickly.]

Kaigaku doesn’t acknowledge that. Where’s my spirit core?

[Past the bridge where you jumped.]

Of fucking course.

Kaigaku runs out of the make-believe city ignoring the screaming and shouting following him from behind. It’s not only his family screaming now, it’s everyone. It’s everything. 

It’s loud and painful on the ears but the minute he passes the threshold of the bridge, it goes quiet. Kaigaku sighs in relief. He never did like the city.

It takes him a while to see it, but eventually he reaches where his core resides. He’s a little winded by the time he does, though.

His spirit core is a dull grey, floating in the middle of a plain that looks like the textures haven’t even fully rendered yet. Kaigaku wants to scoff. Way to show off how boring he is.

No thief running around to kill me? He muses, looking around the wide expanse of space.

[None. I suspect they don’t even know you’re a slayer.]

Hm. So I’m stuck here until the demon dies, then.

Kaigaku walks over to the glowing orb and sits on the floor, or at least what he thinks is a floor, and leans on the pedestal his spiritual core is dangerously perched on. And he waits.

It’s quiet. There’s no wind. It’s cold. No sounds.

He almost wants to go back to that sickeningly sweet scene he left earlier. Almost.

What kind of place is this, anyway? Kyoujurou had fire, Inosuke had cave channels, Tanjirou had the sky and Zenitsu had pitch black. His just looks boring.

Then again, Zenitsu’s deep consciousness was pretty boring too. Maybe it’s a sibling thing.

[Spiritual cores are representative of a person.]

Kaigaku startles, wondering what started the conversation, but then remembering that his system can basically read his mind. I mean, duh?

[However, it is better to base this assumption on the environment of the core itself.]

What? He frowns, So I’m nothing?

[You think you’re nothing. You feel like you don’t deserve anything. Therefore there is nothing.] The system pauses. [And the landscape reflects that.]

Kaigaku feels vaguely insulted, even if those are true to his thoughts. Shut up.

[Let’s try thinking some good thoughts.]

Kaigaku leans back. What good thoughts are there? But he doesn’t complain any further and closes his eyes. He’ll be here for a while, anyway. Might as well let the mind wander where it wants to.

He tries for a long time to think about little things; mochi, the new yukata they made for him back at the butterfly house, and his sword. Nothing. Kaigaku’s pretty confident he’s pretty happy with those things.

[Keep trying.]

Kaigaku clicks his tongue in irritation, but doesn’t give up. 

If the materials don’t do it for him, then maybe people? He tries to think of Zenitsu, how whiny his voice is. How annoying he can be when he’s in front of a girl. How annoying the way he cries is, all snot and no cute. How--

Kaigaku frowns. Now he’s just insulting the poor kid. These were supposed to be good thoughts, right?

But then he feels a sudden wave of warmth, like the kind you feel when you step out of the shade in summer. 

Kaigaku blinks his eyes open, and sees the sun above him. He stares. Or well, tries to. It’s still the sun and it does a good job burning his eyes. He raises both hands to shield him from the overwhelming shine.

That’s weird. He would’ve thought for sure that Tanjirou would be the sun. After all, the boy was the literal embodiment of sunshine. Figuratively too, since he’s the one given the Dance of The Fire God in the story.

Kaigaku moves to sit up, because he’s begun to slump over, but then feels grass flit through his fingertips.

He looks down and suddenly he’s in a meadow, right next to a flowing river. The water is so clear he can see the fishes swimming by in clear detail, but the rush of water is strong and brisk. He gets a few flicks of water thrown his way here and there.

Huh. Kaigaku supposes this was enough to still relate to Tanjirou. The feeling of being embraced by nature in its kindest form.

“Ow!” Kaigaku yelps, when something bites the hand steadying him on the ground. “Fuck!”

Next to him is a cat, looking ready to pounce. He hasn’t even thought of anyone else yet! Or was he unconsciously completing the trio by adding Inosuke here anyway?

Or at least, he thinks it’s Inosuke. Kaigaku watches as the cat bites his pants and starts kicking his legs insistently. It sure is hyperactive enough to represent him.

The cat purrs when Kaigaku runs a finger on its head, but is quick to take a bite of his finger when he gets too confident. Yep. That’s Inosuke.

But then, he feels fire.

Kaigaku blinks awake, the train is ragged and looks like it just crashed, but miraculously, no one is hurt. Especially when he sees the burn marks all over the carriage he’s in. Kyoujurou.

Kaigaku feels the phantom weight of a hand on his shoulder. He rolls it off and instead tries to remember the sunlight on his face, the sound of rushing water and the little bratty cat that nipped his hand.

He has better family to worry about.

A conductor chimes in through the ruins of the carriage they’re in, they’re migrating to another emergency train, it would seem. How convenient.

Time to see how his first change of plot will turn out.

“Inosuke!” Zenitsu shrieks when the meat from his ramen disappears again. “That’s mine!”

Inosuke pays no heed to his complaints, only chowing down on his third bowl.“Eat it faster then, Ninetsu!” He snaps back, rice flying everywhere as he talks. “I’m helping you out!”

“Inosuke fought a lot earlier! He’s just hungry.” Tanjirou interjects, pushing his bowl towards his friend. “You can have some of mine! Let Zenitsu eat!”

“Tanjirou!” Zenitsu whines, grateful.

Tanjirou just lets him pick and take from his bowl, turning back to the flame pillar sitting right next to him, enjoying his own bowl of food. “Um, Rengoku.” He gestures to the table, all the bowls and plates quickly stacking up to make towers. “Are we really allowed to buy so much?”

“Of course!” Is Kyoujurou’s boisterous reply, he’s no better than Inosuke while he’s eating, still chewing as he speaks. “Eat up! You’ll need all the strength you can get!”

Kyoujurou gives Tanjirou a hearty pat on the back. “All of you did a great job keeping everyone safe on the train earlier. This is your reward!”

Zenitsu and Inosuke cheer at that, gaining even more energy as they scarf down the food. Tanjirou looks over to the kitchens, where a young woman is hard at work trying to keep up with them. 

“Sorry, we’ve taken most of your stock!” The brunet apologizes, he looks quite ready to bound out of his seat and help.

She waves him off, “It’s not a problem.” She wipes the sweat off her forehead, but doesn’t look the least bit perturbed with her work. “It makes me really happy seeing you all enjoy your food!”

“Koyuki.” A young man suddenly appears from the back, looking worried. He walks close and squeezes her shoulder. “Let me handle it out here, you should go to the back and rest already.”

Koyuki shakes her head, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “No need, Hakuji!” She rolls her sleeves up, flexing her lithe arm. “Thank you, but I’m fine! Look!”

Hakuji is visibly flustered, but nods, not pushing her any further. “I believe you but--”

The intimate moment is interrupted by Inosuke’s screaming.

“Hey! I want more meat!” Inosuke shouts as he finishes his latest bowl. “Give me more meat!”

“Inosuke!” Tanjirou hurries to shush his friend, fully aware of the murderous aura directed at them. “Sorry, sorry! He says please!”

Kyoujurou just laughs, shoving mochi into his mouth without a care in the world. 

Kaigaku observes them from his vantage point; in an alleyway people don’t frequent and hidden in the shadows.

What a party.

His system chimes in, [Did you remove Akaza as a threat to keep Rengoku alive?]

Yeah. Kaigaku muses as he watches Inosuke inhale another bowl of Gyudon. He'll be a good distraction for Tanjirou, I hope. Keep him busy by being a Tsuguko.

[All this for Zenitsu?]

Hey. It’s a good ending, yeah?

The system doesn’t reply, but showers him in more dancing cactuses. It seems that it appreciates his commitment to his role.

Kaigaku stays for a while, making sure that there aren’t any disturbances with such a drastic change in the plot. All seems well, for now. Hakuji doesn’t seem to be turning back into Akaza anytime soon, despite Inosuke annoying him. 

But Kaigaku knows better than to trust the serenity of things. He’s still in an action manga, after all.

Nevertheless, it would be best if he’d withdraw now. He’ll look suspicious just tailing the group around town. Maybe he could use this time to indulge himself in some local food, provided that he has the money to, of course.

Kaigaku moves to leave, asking his system about money, but then his wrist is caught in a strong grip.

He briefly panics. Did someone catch on to his stalking? If he’s careful enough, he won’t have to make a scene and catch the attention of Zenitsu and the others.

He slowly turns his head, prepared to beg and reason--

--then sees it’s Kyoujurou, expression unreadable.

Kaigaku stops struggling, dumbfounded. 

Well. This was even worse. The pillar himself knows. He can’t help but look back at the humble restaurant, confused at just how Rengoku managed to slip out without him noticing.

Hasn’t it been just less than a second? Was he just that fast? Or was Kaigaku really just that stupid?

Kaigaku supposes it was the second one.

He doesn’t look angry, Kaigaku observes rather warily. Kyoujurou still isn’t smiling, and it’s making him more uncomfortable by the second. Not seeing the guy smile was on par with seeing Giyuu laughing.

But the doubt is eventually erased when Kyoujurou’s grin comes back in full strength and tugs his arm, gesturing somewhere to his right. 

Kaigaku follows his line of sight obediently; a ramen stand. He supposes that’s as private as they can get.

Kaigaku follows him quickly not one to disobey orders from a Hashira, chancing one last glance behind him to make sure the kids are none the wiser. They aren’t. In fact they seem to just be enjoying their time chatting with a growing irate Hakuji.

“Two please!”

He gets pushed into a chair as Kyoujurou loudly greets the chef. So much for being discreet. Kaigaku warily looks back at the trio. He’s sure that was loud enough to echo through town.

The chef nods to them both and Kaigaku remains seated obediently, watching as Kyoujurou immediately starts eating the minute their food is placed in front of them. What’s with these people and their stomachs?

“I didn’t think I’d see you here!” Kyoujurou finally addresses him, his mouth full. “What was your name again?”

“Kaigaku Inadama.” Kaigaku answers dutifully, starting to eat as well.

Kyoujurou slaps him on the back and Kaigaku has to steady himself or else he’d shoot over the counter. Ouch. “Kaigaku! Why not show yourself? You’re not a demon, aren’t you?”

Kaigaku knows he’s just teasing, but the glint of suspicion in his eyes is hard to ignore.

“No.” Kaigaku answers swiftly, unnerved by his stare. Him and Tanjirou had the same intensity. He slips an arm out of the shade to prove it. “Sorry, I just. I was watching over my brother. I prefer that he doesn’t know I’m here.”

Kyoujurou hums, curious. “Brother?”

Figures. He looks nothing like Zenitsu. “Ah. The blonde one.” Kaigaku gestures to his hair. “We’re not blood related.”

“I see. I see.” Kyoujurou hums, leaning back to cross his arms contemplatively. His ramen bowl is already half empty. “I feel your brotherly bond! It’s quite strong!”

“Thank you?” Kaigaku answers after a moment passes and Kyoujurou has yet to speak again. He has no idea how to interact with this guy.

“Yep!” Kyoujurou gives him another heart pat on the shoulder, seemingly finished with whatever profound thought he’s ruminated on. “But I can’t leave you to fend for yourself in these streets.”

Kaigaku blinks, hesitant. “Oh, I’m not--” 

“Stay close by. I’ll make sure your brother doesn’t know you’re here.”

“I was planning to leav--”

“Alright. That’s the plan!” Kyoujurou stands up, drinking the remaining broth in his bowl before turning to Kaigaku proudly. “If any demon attacks, I’ll be there to kill it!”

Kaigaku can’t even say anything, Kyojurou is gone in an instant.

He’s almost worried that he’ll be left to pay the bill, but he finds cash pinned under his own bowl of ramen (how did that get there?) and relaxes.

Oh well. He better just enjoy the free food.

Kaigaku’s not about to fuck with a pillar’s command, so he does stay close by. Lurking behind a corner, pretending to buy something in one of the stalls, pretending to ask for directions in the background--he does these all the while keeping watch on Kyojurou and the trio.

Kyojurou was doing his part as well, albeit a little obviously. Laughing too loudly when Zenitsu mentions his name and even straight up just standing where Kaigaku could be seen. At this point, he’s not sure if it’s being done on purpose or not.

When he hears Kyoujurou absentmindedly mention him for the third time in a conversation that is definitely not related to him, Kaigaku groans in irritation. Maybe he should’ve left Akaza in the story.

[Easy now.]

Kaigaku rolls his eyes, forgoing his plan for revenge and instead buying another piece of fruit for the nth time. At least the sellers seemed happy to have a customer buy so many from their stalls. He’ll have enough to fill two refrigerators by the end of this.

The evening rolls in and the atmosphere immediately changes. Kyojurou acts the same as usual, but it’s obvious that he’s more alert.

Kaigaku sobers up too. They’re in an unfamiliar town, and he’d rather not risk getting killed by a rogue demon he has no encyclopedic knowledge of.

And there must have been a reason why they chose to send a pillar to this place.

[You can always ask me, though.]

I don’t always want to cheat.

His system offers him a shrugging emoji.

He’s sure they can manage on their own.

They cannot, in fact, manage on their own.

Okay, can I ask now? Kaigaku asks his system as he peeks through a gap of wooden supports behind a food stand.

Kyoujurou and the others are face to face with a demon made entirely of eyes; hands, feet, head--even its fucking sword has eyes. From the sheer amount of them, Kaigaku can clearly see what rank it was even from his hiding place.

Upper Rank 3.

Kaigaku curses. I thought I killed off Akaza already?!

[The story adapted quickly.]

He hears Kyoujurou grunt and winces when the flame pillar barely dodges a counter from the demon. It was impossibly fast. Just as fast as Akaza would’ve been. And now it can probably read Kyoujurou’s movements better because it’s made out of damn eyes!

Great, so Kyoujurou’s going to die either way?!

[Aren’t you here?]

Kaigaku breathes, leaning back on the stand for support. He’s not built well for high stress situations. Sucks to be him though, because he’s stuck in a genre known to give high stress until their characters break. 

That’s an awful lot of confidence in me.

[You were called here to be a good big brother.] Boy, his system is pushing him a lot today. [What did you say your plan was?]

Kaigaku grunts. The system doesn’t provide much of a tone to its voice, but he can hear the teasing lilt that its question would have. 

I said spare him from heartbreak, he mutters, hitting his head on the wood in embarrassment. And the grief.

His system is quiet, but he can picture its smirk if he tries hard enough.

Fine. Give me a minute.

Kaigaku resumes his spying, assessing the situation as calmly as he could. He watches the demon move, despite its speed only providing after images to work with, he does his best. 

He twitches when Zenitsu nearly takes a hit, hypersensitive to his brother’s safety. It causes the stall to creak, and Kaigaku immediately withdraws back farther into his hiding spot before he risks being noticed. 

Kaigaku wants to rush in and fight along with them, but judging from the way it was matching even the flame pillar in movement, this wasn’t a time to act irrationally.

No hints?, he prods at his system.

[The only hint I can give you is that they can see and copy everything.]

Kaigaku kind of knew that already. What else would a demon covered in eyes be able to do?

Kaigaku staggers at the gust of wind that passes him. Inosuke’s attack nearly sliced off his bangs. He resists the urge to tell him off.

Everyone’s just throwing basic attacks here and there, no outrageous techniques just yet. After all, if it could be hurt by a breathing technique, it’ll be easier to gauge it’s threat level.

Kaigaku wonders if Kyoujurou’s doing the same, observing. The pillar hasn’t moved to use a breathing technique himself, after all. 

And just when Kaigaku feels fed up with waiting, does Tanjirou take up a familiar stance.

The Dance of The Fire God? This early into the fight? This early into the plot?!

[He’s used it before, Kaigaku.]

Yeah, but! Kaigaku watches as Tanjirou charges with a shout, Zenitsu and the others providing support on the sidelines in case the demon tries to escape. It takes a toll on him, doesn’t it? He just used it earlier in the train, didn’t he?

[This isn’t unusual. Tanjirou should start being able to utilize it more from now on.]

Kaigaku prays that the scenario will end soon. Akaza’s fight was long, sure, but Kyoujurou did most of the work. The trio were injured before. Now that they’re all working together, it should be a piece of cake, right?

Tanjirou’s attack is destructive, and dust rises from the impact. Some of the stalls are displaced and splinters of wood fly away from the epicenter. Kaigaku covers his nose and mouth to avoid choking.

Was it done?

All is silent, and Kaigaku almost fell for it, thinking it was just a pause for dramatic effect, when Tanjirou’s sword gets violently thrown his way. Kaigaku manages to duck back and avoid it, with a yelp.

It stopped it?! He screams in his thoughts, waiting impatiently for the dust to settle.

The demon stands, tall as ever. Inosuke has Tanjirou in his grip, holding him like a sack of rice over his shoulder. Zenitsu stands just beside him, frantically looking from the demon and Tanjirou back to back. 

Kyoujurou stands at the front, expression dark.

No, it didn’t stop it. It dodged. It saw it coming. Kaigaku grips the handle on his sword. If they use any more of their techniques, that demon can use it against them. While it’s not able to mimic the strength, it can use it to predict and avoid decapitation.

Shit. He can’t just jump out of his hiding spot then; the minute he leaves his safe haven behind these wooden sticks, the demon can see him. He needs to hide in plain sight, but how?

Kaigaku tries his hardest to make a battle strategy in his head, watching as the demon dances around the slayers as if it was playing a game. Damn him for never being invested in strategy games before! Now look at him struggling!

But then he sees a flash of yellow pass his vision.

Zenitsu!

Zenitsu, like the demon, is too fast for him to see clearly and the next thing he knows, is that he’s managed to injure an eye. It’s small but it’s enough to draw some blood. Kaigaku can see a brief moment where the demon stumbles.

Speed.

Demon or not, if you move fast enough, you’re bound to pass a blind spot in the eye somehow. Or in their case, eyes.

Despite this, Zenitsu is unable to read the demon just as fast as his attacks were, and he ends up kicked up against the nearby wall. Kaigaku curses. He’ll get the damned thing for that.

Kaigaku sees Kyoujurou prepare for another attack, and decides there’s no better time than now to participate in this fiasco.

If he’s fast enough, he can blindside the demon using a joint attack with the pillar. Kaigaku thinks his hiding place hasn’t been compromised much, so he’s fairly confident he’s hidden enough to attempt this.

Kaigaku inches himself away from the wall, positioning himself close to the opening of the stall and concentrating all his breathing into his legs.

[Can you handle it?] His system asks, it being doing a breathing technique.

Yeah. I think I’ve trained enough to use these now. And what luck that he gets to see the fruits of his labor so soon.

Please be fast enough. He chants, waiting for Kyoujurou to move, time seeming to slow down as he does. I can’t be as fast as Zenitsu, probably not even as strong, but please!

“Flame Breathing, Fifth form:” Kyoujurou chants.

“Thunder Breathing, Third form!” Kaigaku follows suit, whispering to himself.

“--Flame Tiger!”

The entire street is engulfed in fire, and the demon manipulates its way out, each eye following Kyoujurou’s movement in a snap.

Kaigaku’s legs move.

“--Thunder Swarm!”

It happens in a flash, and before Kaigaku knows it, he’s zipped across the street, leaving in his wake waves of electricity and slices from multiple directions.

Kaigaku stumbles straight across the street, into another one of the stalls, his sudden dash disorienting him. His crash is loud but he’s not worried. The demon had exceptional eyesight, but Kaigaku could tell it couldn’t hear very well. As long as nothing seems amiss, he’s safe. And the sound of Kyoujurou's attack drowns everything else.

The demon is bewildered, the injuries gained from his attack severely blinding it for a moment.

Kaigaku presses himself back onto the wall, peeking from the stall’s bamboo build.

Luckily, the others seemed to not see him pass by. Although he can see Zenitsu looking frantically around. Shit. He’ll have to time himself better next time and hide his attack with that of Kyoujurou’s.

From his vantage point, he can see Kyoujurou’s confusion; he must’ve felt him. Kaigaku shifts his legs on the wood flooring, making it snap deliberately. With Tanjirou already moving to attack, sword back in hand, along with Inosuke and Zenitsu, communicating should be safer.

Kyoujurou stands to attention, but doesn’t move any differently, only shifting his gaze towards him as he continues to be on the defensive.

He catches Kaigaku’s eye, who’s in the middle of unsheathing his sword again.

‘I’ll cover you.’ He tries to communicate with his gaze--flicking from the demon, his sword and Kyoujurou himself--hoping he understands what he’s trying to convey. 

‘Just cover me.’ He adds by giving the blonde a quick glance, watching his little brother zip around as best as he can. ‘Don’t let Zenitsu see me.’

Kyoujurou nods, just a small movement before charging again. Kaigaku focuses on his breathing and bringing his leg muscles to life.

In the end, the demon escapes.

It was still an upper moon after all, they wouldn’t be able to kill one so early into the plot. Akaza originally served to emphasize how threatening they were, it seemed fitting for this demon to serve the same purpose.

Kaigaku remains in the shadows, heaving a sigh of relief. In any case, if things continue like the original, they won’t have to face it until the final arc happens.

When he moves to slip out of sight, Kyoujurou sees him and throws him a discreet (it’s not discreet he’s pretty sure Tanjirou saw it) thumbs up, looking exhilarated. 

Kaigaku underestimated using a breathing technique because his damn legs are so sore.

He manages to limp into a nearby inn out of sheer determination and pass out on their front desk, his legs giving out from overuse. He’s only been out fighting a few times after all, and he’d never had to use fifteen breathing techniques in one night.

The poor lady at the front desk kindly briefs him on the amount he’d have to pay to stay one night and Kaigaku nearly passes out again. This time spiritually.

Can you magic me some spare change? Kaigaku pleads to his system as he remains paralyzed on the desk. The nice lady had offered him a drink, but otherwise made no move to remove him.

[Of course.] It chirps back rather cheerfully. [Would you like the ‘person falls next to you and their wallet accidentally gets into your pocket’ or the ‘fish out some change out of the nearby well’ option?]

Kaigaku winces. None. I guess I’m sleeping out tonight.

He’s pretty sure he can handle it, anyway. This place looks safer than any other city he’s lived in by far.

Kaigaku’s about to peel himself off the table and apologize when the lady taps him on the shoulder kindly. “My bad. Are you Inadama, sir?”

Weird. He hasn’t told her his name yet. “Yes?”

“Ah. My apologies. I really should have asked for your name first.” She bows and points upstairs. “A young man already has a room reserved for you.”

Young man? Kaigaku blinks blearily for a moment, trying to remember acquaintances. 

“Oh. Uh.” He mutters intelligently, “Fiery-looking guy?”

The lady smiles patiently. “Yes. Sir Rengoku was his name.”

Kaigaku settles in the room, debating whether or not he should just go to sleep feeling all grimy or risk getting caught when he goes out to the spring. His legs still hurt like hell, and the futon he’s just unfurled is so comfortable that he might just--

His decision is made for him when the flame pillar barges in his room and invites himself in.

“Kaigaku!” Kyoujurou bellows as he practically rips the door to his room apart. “Let us take a bath together!”

Kaigaku startles back into a sitting position, both from Kyoujurou’s volume and his offer. “Wha--”

“Don’t worry, I’ve made sure to tell Zenitsu specifically to not enter the hot springs!”

So you didn’t tell the other two?! “That’s. I’m thankful but--”

“Let us hurry!”

And so Kaigaku, without much choice in the matter, is dragged to stew in the hot springs with the boisterous flame pillar chilling just across him.

It took a little bit of courage to strip down, especially when Kaigaku’s superior seemed to be sculpted by the gods, but eventually he managed to without much trouble.

It’s not bad, and honestly, Kaigaku was just looking for an excuse to brave the risk and go take a bath. What better excuse would there be than having the highest ranking person you know drag you out themselves?

“Your swordsmanship was incredible!” Kyoujurou compliments loudly as Kaigaku sits deep in the water, head half submerged as he leisurely makes bubbles with his mouth. “I felt your fiery passion through your attacks! You’ll become a pillar in no time!”

Kaigaku rises back up to reply. “Thank you. But I’m not aiming to be one.” 

“How humble!” If Kyoujurou is confused by his refusal, he doesn’t show it. “But don’t reject the opportunity when it comes!”

Kaigaku shrugs, muttering a vague ‘thank you’ before dipping back in the water.

He’s not sure what to make of his own skills anyway. When he got transmigrated in the first place, he knew about the basics of his swordsmanship, and even some of the breathing forms. 

All he’s achieved on his own is practically nothing.

Sure, he’s got a lot more achievements in the social department, but it’s to be expected. After all, that’s the main reason he’s here. After it’s done, he could probably peace out and leave for a nice village.

Or be removed. Violently or silently.

[We’re not that cruel!]

Sorry. Kaigaku tries to comfort it, You know that’s just my anxiety talking.

[I know. If your objective is truly finished. You’ll have some choices at your disposal.]

Kaigaku sits up properly, feeling overheated. Leaving, huh? Almost makes him want to do his job a little more worse.

As if sensing his inner turmoil, Kyoujurou slips into a milder tone when he speaks next. “You did a great job, Kaigaku.”

That’s kind of the opposite of what I want to do right now, Kaigaku thinks. But he forces himself to acknowledge the compliment for once. He did do okay. Especially for a guy who literally had no experience with Upper Rank demons before.

“Thank you. Sir.” Kaigaku replies with a slight bow of his head, putting aside his existential crisis for later.

“Aha! What’s with all the formality?!” Kyoujurou starts laughing, even going as far as crossing over to idle somewhere beside him. “We are allies after all! Bowing all the time must be tiring!”

Kaigaku chokes, especially when Kyoujurou pats him hard on the shoulder, once, twice. This guy really doesn’t know how to control his strength.

“Rengoku, sir. You’re a pillar.” Kaigaku says, ignoring the multiple pop ups on his peripheral, courtesy of a playful system. It seems like it’s amused by their interaction.

“Hm?” Kyoujurou just leans back on the rocks, curious. “What about it?”

Kaigaku stares for a moment, incredulous. While he doesn’t personally value ranks as a means to determine the amount of respect you get, it’s obvious that the pillars of the Demon Slayers deserve it.

But of course this guy would be casual about it. He really is just Tanjirou with dyed hair.

“Nevermind.” Kaigaku says.

They spend a good chunk of the time after in companionable silence, Kaigaku playing with the water and Kyoujurou humming a simple tune. It’s late enough that other patrons aren’t using the hot springs, so it’s just the two of them sitting around and enjoying the place. 

“Why did you join the corps?” Kyoujurou asks suddenly out of the blue.

“Sorry?” Was this a test? To see if Kaigaku deserved to keep serving under them or something?

The pillar repeats himself politely, unaware of Kaigaku starting to have a meltdown. “Why join the corps?”

A magical sentient piece of software implanted into my brain told me to. He wants to say, but joking probably isn’t appropriate right now.

[-1000]

And his system just deducted him points.

“A pillar trained me to be his successor.” He settles as an answer. Short and simple. “ He gave me shelter, food and family. I wanted to honor that by being here.”

Kyoujurou doesn’t seem to be satisfied by it. “And your reason?” The pillar emphasizes, leaning in to scrutinize him. “That’s what’s expected of you, but what do you want for yourself?”

“I don’t--”

Kyoujurou flashes him a smile. “It’s okay to be selfish.”

Kaigaku pauses. The problem was that the old Kaigaku was too selfish. Who knows if he’d inadvertently revert back to zero if he started acting more leisurely. 

And frankly he didn’t know what his reason would be, other than I am being held at gunpoint by a system to do this.

[-5000 points for insulting me.]

It was a joke.

[-10000]

Kaigaku stops himself from scoffing, finding his system’s antics hilarious.

Still, what would be his reason? Sans Kuwajima recruiting him to be a pseudo grandson. He doesn’t have a lot of things to treasure right now. He was just practically born just months ago. 

“I want to be here for my little brother.” Is what he blurts out without thinking. Kaigaku doesn’t know if it was the work of his dear system or himself, but it didn’t taste wrong on his tongue, so he won’t disagree.

Zenitsu has really grown on him.

“I know what you mean!” Kyoujurou suddenly moves, the water sloshing loudly as the pillar excitedly leans over. “My own little brother, Senjurou, is a fine little brother! But so fragile! That’s not to say he’s not strong!”

That’s basically what you said. “That’s great.” Kaigaku awkwardly agrees as he leans back. From what he’d read before, Kyoujurou had contributed a lot to making sure Senjurou grew up as kind as he is today. Old Kaigaku or not, Kyoujurou was a better brother than he could ever be.

“You seem rather dispirited.” The pillar falters, withdrawing. “You were here for your brother tonight, is that not enough?”

“I’m still too weak. Too slow.” Kaigaku mutters, his filter gone. If he was a little bit better, he wouldn’t need to take so much time planning his moves. Maybe they would even have a chance at decapitating the damn demon. “If I’d--”

Kaigaku nearly jumps out of his skin when he feels a comforting hand on his shoulder. He was expecting another slap to the back, but Kyoujurou remains still this time around.

“Humans are fascinating, because they can do anything they put their mind into.” The pillar muses, the smile on his face softer but despite this, it’s not any less brighter. Kaigaku can’t help but stare.

“But along with being human comes rest.” Kyoujurou squeezes once, then lets his hand fall back. “Be at ease, Kaigaku. You were strong enough for now.”

Kaigaku, taken aback by the sudden offer of genuine advice, can only nod in response. He didn’t expect an earnest epiphany to come while talking to Kyoujurou of all people, but he shouldn’t be one to judge a book by it’s cover.

The moment is over when Kyoujurou’s gaze returns back to normal, all notes of somberness gone and replaced with his usual, fiery self. 

Kaigaku blinks once, twice, then sighs.

“I still won’t talk to you disrespectfully.”

“Ha!” Kyoujurou laughs heartily, making the water ripple with small waves. “And here I thought I was able to convince you!”

Kaigaku can’t help his lips twitching up into a smile. “Thank you, Rengoku, sir.” He says, because the pillar did give him something to think about. “I’ll.” Kaigaku pauses, still unsure. “Do my best.”

“That’s the spirit!” Kyoujurou doesn’t take note of his last minute hesitation and completely ignores it in favor of standing up and pumping his fists in the air. “Wahoo!”

Kaigaku startles, gaze darting anywhere but at Kyoujurou. “Wahoo.” He joins in, waving his own fist up meekly.

“That’s right!” Kyoujurou moves to get out of the spring, rather excited. “Your newfound passion is a cause for celebration!”

Celebration? Kaigaku panics when he sees Kyoujurou running out the door not even bothering to slap a towel over his-- “Ah, wait, Rengoku!”

“Maam! I’d like to request your finest sake!”

Too late. Kyoujurou’s already slammed the door to the hot springs open, leaving the poor young women on the other side taking stock of the towels for other guests to nearly pass out from the sight of him naked. Kyoujurou continues to blabber like nothing's wrong.

And Kaigaku, from the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, breaks his composure. 

“You fucking idiot!” He screams, running out with a towel wound around his waist and another clutched in his hand. “Put on some clothes first, hey!!”

Eventually, Kyoujurou calms down enough to finish bathing. And finally wear his clothes.

Kaigaku accompanies Kyoujurou to his room but stops a few doors away, still wary because the trio were obviously sleeping in there as well. He doesn’t want to cause ruckus when and if Zenitsu learns of his presence here. 

“Goodnight Rengoku sir.” Kaigaku bows his head curtly.

Kyoujurou just nods, already accepting the way he’s addressed. “Goodnight as well!”

Kaigaku starts to walk away, but can’t help but look over his shoulder once or twice. Kyoujurou still stands there, amused at having caught him. 

“I’ll keep them safe.” He says, and Kaigaku believes him.

Kaigaku sighs, leaning over the railing as he hangs out by the very back of the train. Sitting inside just felt too overwhelming from him now, and he enjoys the way the wind would whip his hair and clothes around.

Kyutaro remains perched on one of the railings, his little pigeon feet holding on for dear life as the winds try desperately to pry him off it. Kaigaku had tried to keep him in his embrace for comfort, but the pigeon struggled out anyway. Stubborn little thing.

Kaigaku prods at his system, So was my encounter with Akaza erased?

[Overwritten.] His systems says, [The events were mostly the same, except the arm fed to the demon you fought had eyes.]

That was a neat feature. Kaigaku had thought, when he made the wish to revert Akaza back to Hakuji, that he’d have to start over again. Good on the system, or whatever operates this reality, that they don’t inconvenience anyone for too long.

“Chu!”

Kaigaku turns back just in time to get a face full of bird, the wind pushing whatever it is that came towards him at full force into him.

Kaigaku pries the fluff off of him and cradles it in his hands. The little bird chirps and nestles into his palms as thanks. He frowns, confused. “Ukogi?”

“Brother!” 

Kaigaku startles, snapping his gaze forwards to see the three kids running through the carriage to meet him. Inosuke is the first but is also the one who nearly falls off the damn railing in an attempt to tackle Kaigaku.

Luckily Kaigaku has great reflexes and catches him mid-dive. Ukogi flutters off to Zenitsu in panic.

Kaigaku steadies Inosuke, panicked and overwhelmed when he’s screamed at from all sides.

“Rengoku was right!” Zenitsu whines, not even trying to help pull up Inosuke, clinging to his brother desperately. “You are here!”

“Kuugaku!” Inosuke screams, unbothered as he’s basically dangling from the fucking train. “Did you stalk us?!”

“Why didn’t you tell us you were here too?!” Tanjirou shouts next, thankfully helping Kaigaku drag Inosuke back up. “We wanted to surprise you when we got back, too…!”

Zenitsu’s whining grows louder at this. “I could’ve spent the money for souvenirs and bought something else!”

Inosuke, now on his feet, takes out both his swords and swings them wildly around. “Fight me Ongaku!”

And Kaigaku, now even more overwhelmed compared to the claustrophobia of being inside the cabin, shrieks as he avoids the kid’s attacks. “That’s not even remotely close to my name anymore!”

Kaigaku helplessly looks behind him and finds Kyoujurou standing just a few steps away, smiling in amusement.

Chapter Text

When they return from the mission, all battered and bruised, they’re immediately whisked away into the butterfly estate. 

All of them except for Rengoku. Though he sees to it that they’re all well before he returns to his own estate. Pillars were really something else, being able to overexert themselves with barely breaking any sweat.

Lucky, Kaigaku had mused as two of the butterfly estate girls struggled to support him, he had a quiet place all to himself while he had to deal with three screaming kids all day.

Kaigaku himself had initially refused to get treatment, but ended up getting dragged into a check-up anyway. Apparently, he was on the brink of dehydration and his legs could use a good splint or two.

“Don’t move.” Aoi scolds as she forcefully stretched his legs, “What were you thinking about, overusing your muscles like that?”

“I didn’t--” Kaigaku winces when she tugs at a particularly sore point. Man, he’d really like some anesthesia on this. “I didn’t think.”

Aoi just glares.

Zenitsu, as it turns out, was in a similar situation as him. Less bad, but from the way he whines about it, it might as well be like his legs were going to get amputated.

“I can’t feel them!” Zenitsu screams from the other side of the room. “Big brother, I can’t feel my legs!!”

“Then how the fuck were you able to stand up and say ‘hi’ to Nezuko earlier?!” He yells back, beating Aoi to it and chucking a pillow at him for good measure. “Quiet down!”

“But I don’t want to walk.” Zenitsu’s in tears again, clinging to the nearby scaffolding in fear.

“It’s either you do or you won’t ever again.” Kaigaku mutters, forcing his own legs to bend.

It’s been a few days, and part of the recovery process meant stretching the muscles out. It’s painful, still, but Kaigaku grits his teeth and pushes through it. Even if his muscles feel like they’re tearing instead of healing.  What else can he do? They both need to do it, whether they like it or not.

“It hurts!” Zenitsu repeats, as if Kaigaku hadn’t heard him the first time. Kaigaku would give him a gentle slap (read: violent) to shut him up, but unfortunately, he’d rather not walk a couple of extra steps just to give his dear brother a concussion.

So he just sighs and waddles off at his own pace. Zenitsu would follow soon enough, the blonde just likes to whine to get some attention. 

“Zenitsu!” 

And here that attention comes. 

Tanjirou runs in from the gates, looking disheveled. He’s recovered far faster than either of them, same goes for Inosuke, and has even begun taking missions again. Kaigaku’s not jealous whatsoever, but it would be nice to walk around again like he wasn’t about to keel over.

Kaigaku watches as Tanjirou slips the blonde’s arm around his own, “Lean on me and I’ll help you!”

Zenitsu is immediately driven to happy tears. “Tanjirou!”

The atmosphere is immediately sweeter, Kaigaku swears he could see those damned floating flowers in the background. He’s not sure if the damage from his legs had finally climbed up to his brain, causing the hallucination, or if this kind of thing really happens canonically in-universe.

Kaigaku just sighs and forces his legs to move faster. Damn lovey-dovey kids.

He’s about to leave them both in the dust out of sheer will, that is until he feels himself being lifted off the ground and--

“What--?” He exclaims, struggling before looking down in panic only to see a familiar tuft of blue hair.

“Inosuke!”

The kid cackles maniacally, even having the audacity to throw Kaigaku up in the air a bunch as a show of strength. “You king is here to help!”

Kaigaku, feeling mortified at having a kid lifting him up with no problem, screams. “You stupid fucking boar put me down!”

He hears scandalized gasps in the distance. Oops, he probably should watch his mouth in front of the girls.

In usual Inosuke fashion, Kaigaku’s ignored. The boar even runs faster, to where? Kaigaku has a feeling they both don’t have any idea.

“Look Kuugaku! We’re winning!”

“This isn’t a damn race you--”

Shinobu trips Inosuke and sends them tumbling down the dirt road.

They both get sent back to the recovery room for detention.

Inosuke nurses the bump on the back of the head, grumbling. Shinobu had taken the liberty of punishing him earlier. “Why can’t you just move it?”

Kaigaku grunts back, trying to do light stretches with his legs. He’s currently banned from standing up, lest Inosuke get some ideas again. “Because it hurts.” 

“Just twist it around!” The boar starts demonstrating with his hands. Eventually he gets fed up when Kaigaku doesn’t seem to understand what he’s saying and stands up, doing a weird gesture with his leg. “Twist!”

“Twist?” Kaigaku humours him. This kid is really crazy. Having enough stamina to still scream and jump around.

“Yeah! Like this--” 

And Inosuke just decides that dislocating his fucking leg in front of him is a good idea.

“See?”

Kaigaku passes out.

Inosuke is put into detention for twice the amount of time. Again.

It’s been a day or two since the Inosuke fiasco has happened and he’s gained his standing privileges again. Aoi gave him a new cane (the old one broke from their fall) and told him to continue walking around; near the building of course, so that he didn’t need to worry about rotting to death alone if he fell down a ditch.

Kaigaku puts his all in extending and flexing his legs, though he barely manages to get himself to do it through the shaking most of the time. He’s eager to be walking properly soon. The weather is always so nice around the estates, not too hot and not to cold, it’s such a shame he has to experience it all while in pain. He’d like to take a proper stroll again once he’s better.

But for now, suffering.

He clicks his tongue in annoyance when he can barely stretch his legs out straight. It’s just not letting him do it. If he had someone here with him, maybe he’d ask them to pull on it and--

“Inadama!”

No need apparently, because getting jump scared by a pillar is enough to get the job done. Kaigaku resists the urge to just fall on the ground and scream. He turns to the (indirect) cause of his pain, finding Kyoujurou leisurely making his way towards him with his ever-blinding grin. 

“Sir.” Kaigaku greets, as he ever so slowly returns his legs to a leisurely bend. Thankfully he’s able to mask the pain with a smile.

Kyoujurou laughs unabashedly when he reaches him, none the wiser. “Back to formalities, are we?”

“What are you here for?” Kaigaku asks bluntly. He’s not exactly in the mood for banter. His left leg feels like it’s on fire.

But he is, however, very curious about the neatly folded cloth draped over the pillar’s right arm. It bears the same style and pattern as Kyoujurou’s own haori. Is he doing laundry?

Kyoujurou perks up, noticing his interest, “Hm. This?” He pats the cloth a few times, lost in thought, as if debating something. Then he’s back to his usual cheery disposition.

“It’s be a surprise! Come I’ll--”

Kaigaku is tugged forwards all of a sudden and his grip on the cane loosens, putting all of his weight on his still very injured legs. He can’t help the shout that comes out of him as he staggers to a fall.

“Ah.” Kyoujurou frowns, worried as he catches Kaigaku by the shoulder. “Are you still hurt? You can’t walk around in that state.”

It’s not like he had much of a choice. “It’s part of the recovery process, sir.” Kaigaku answers dutifully.

Kyoujurou hums, then slings the cloth over his shoulder. He pulls Kaigaku roughly towards him. Kaigaku's is too stunned to register the pain that happens because what the fuck is this guy doing--

“Then let me assist you for the time being!”

Frankly, Kaigaku thinks as Kyoujurou links arms with him, he didn’t know what the difference between using a cane and leaning on this guy would be. Aren't they basically the same?

 [+100]

Kaigaku blinks. Well, look who’s back. What was that?

[Points.]

I know. For what?

[Doing a great job so far with your recovery.]

“Kaigaku? Is this okay?”

Kaigaku stutters, a bit out of sorts when he’s met with Kyoujurou’s concerned gaze. Oh. He forgot to say yes.

“Yes. Thank you, sir.” He’s able to croak out. The response is good enough for the pillar and they start making their way to--wait, where were they going? 

Kyoujurou is quick to quell his confusion. “Right, off to visit Tanjirou then!” Ah. “I’ve come to invite him to my estate as a pupil.”

So it’s finally happening. All according to plan, of course. Even though he would very much like to know Kyoujurou’s thoughts on taking in Tanjirou as a Tsuguko, as long as it happens, he’s fine without knowing.

“And if he declines the new haori?”

Kyoujurou laughs the possibility off. “It’s just a formality!” He exclaims with a shake of his head. “He can refuse.”

Kaigaku questions no further. He doubts that Tanjirou will refuse in the first place.

Arriving at the training grounds comes far slower than expected, mostly due to the fact that Kaigaku slows their pace by a large margin. He’s half tempted to tell Kyoujurou to go on without him, but whenever he hesitates in step to speak up, the pillar tightens his grip.

Kaigaku sighs. Fine then. At a snail’s pace they go. 

Kyoujurou boisterously announces his presence when they arrive, the three kids reacting in varying levels of enthusiasm. He gingerly assists Kaigaku to sit down on one of the nearby benches before he relays the big news.

Kaigaku catches Zenitsu staring the whole time it happens, and glares at him. The blonde yelps and holds his own cane close, hurriedly doing some pacing back and forth.

Oh. He wants to tell him that no, that glare didn’t mean ‘why aren’t you walking’ and actually meant ‘there is nothing suspicious about the flame pillar helping me sit’, but if it helps to motivate Zenitsu to exercise then so be it.

Then, as if on cue, a pretty strong gust of wind suddenly sweeps the landscape, taking Kaigaku out of his thoughts.

It ruffles the trees and scatters leaves down the pavement. It’s all rather cinematic, especially with the way Kyoujurou and Tanjirou are standing in the perfect place to make it seem like the sun is a spotlight over them. 

So this is how those pretty shots in manga would look from a bystanders view. He thinks it’s rather overrated. Especially since he’s under the tree that’s shedding leaves at a worrying rate, he’s had to brush off a forming leaf pile off his head a few times now.

“Kamado Tanjirou!” Kyoujurou’s voice bellows as another gust of wind blows. Kaigaku has to keep his bangs from obstructing his view and also potentially puncturing his eyes. “I have witnessed your skill with a sword and your drive to kill demons. I wish to hone that ability to its fullest.” 

Kyoujurou offers the haori to him, the golden flames embroidered into the fabric glinting as if they were real gold.

“Will you accept me as your mentor?”

Tanjirou looks starstruck. Mouth opening and closing in shock. He’s practically vibrating from excitement, and his sword lays on the ground long forgotten. Eventually he agrees with a shaky yes and takes the haori like it’s made out of glass.

Cute. He’s happy for him, but he’s also hoping this doesn’t fuck up the future plot. After this was supposed to be the red-light district arc. If Tanjirou would have managed to hone his sun breathing technique this early, would that mean that he’d be the one to eliminate Daki if given the chance? And would that prompt Muzan’s approach early?

[I think you’re overestimating what Tanjirou can do in such a short time.] His system reminds him. [He’s just a kid.]

He’s the protagonist. Kaigaku quips back, I can overestimate him at least a little.

Kaigaku’s only this worried because the new demons might become stronger, to scale with how Tanjirou is growing stronger himself.

Kyoujurou laughs at Tanjirou’s babbling in the distance.

Good thing they have more support this time.

Beside him, Inosuke sneers. Kaigaku scoffs. Someone’s jealous of all the attention Tanjirou’s getting. Well, what can you do? He’s technically the main ‘main’ character, these things are meant to happen. Surely there must be a mentor figure for Inosuke to come, he’s still a deuteragonist.

Then again, Inosuke wouldn’t have anyone to guide him on his technique since his breath technique is self-made. Sanemi might be a close contender for teaching the beast breath technique, but only because he looked like a beast himself. Maybe even Gyomei?

“Inosuke!” Zenitsu musters all of his strength to waddle over and shake Inosuke in his disbelief. Kaigaku nearly jumps out of his seat to support him when he stumbles. “Tanjirou’s becoming a Tsuguko…!”

“Whatever! I don’t care!” Inosuke shakes him off, “Tsuguko or not, I’m still the better slayer!”

He says that but, Kaigaku sinks down on his seat, he sure sounds like he cares.

And from the way Inosuke’s grip on his swords wavers when Kyoujurou gives Tanjirou a hug, he cares a whole lot.

Fucking hell, these kids.

Kaigaku clears his throat hoping to catch the pillar’s attention.

Sure enough, Kyoujurou meets his gaze. The trio are far too busy in their own worlds to bother noticing him; Zenitsu and Tanjirou gawking at the new haori with Inosuke throwing a tiny tantrum.

Kaigaku momentarily gestures to the sulking Inosuke. Do something about him, he tries to say without words.

Kyoujurou only takes a moment to frown before he’s back to all smiles, nodding obediently.

[You seem to posses some sort of telepathic communication with him.] The system says, mirth in its tone.

Shut up, Kaigaku chastises as Kyoujurou faces Inosuke.

“And I haven’t forgotten you as well! Your tenacity during the fight was contagious!” The pillar lays a steady hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You’re also invited to be my student and I’d be honored to have you!”

Kaigaku furrows his brows. Well. He certainly wasn’t expecting that. It’s was one way of cheering him up.

If Inosuke’s mask was off, he’s pretty sure the kid would be on the verge of tears. But all he can see from his view is him shaking from the shock. At least he’s happy.

Another gust of wind, ugh. He’s getting cold here. But it adds to the dramatic effect when Inosuke suddenly jumps in the air out of sheer excitement. Tanjirou joins him in the celebration.

“That’s great Inosuke! We’ll be classmates!” The brunette exclaims, looking incredibly ecstatic. They both express their joy by running around the training grounds and shouting at each other. Zenitsu, however, is whining at the sidelines that he didn’t get picked. Truly not a single braincell is present in any of them.

Inosuke brandishes his swords with a newfound vigor, laughing maniacally as he tries to attack Tanjirou. The brunette parries it away with no problem. “I’m not your classmate, I’m stronger than you!” He boasts.

Zenitsu is quick to play the straight man. “Tanjirou got invited first, you know.”

“Hah?!” Inosuke sneers. The blonde yelps when the swords are pointed at him, hobbling to Tanjirou for help. “Who cares! I got invited last because Kiijiro was so scared to approach me first!”

The blonde continues to argue back, no shame at all as he uses Tanjirou like a meat shield. “That’s a pillar you’re talking about!”

The training grounds continue to be filled with sounds of swords clashing, running footsteps and the sounds of either kids shouting at each other. Kaigaku is close to getting a headache from it all, but at least no one’s in a bad moon anymore.

Kyoujurou sits down with a huff beside him, beaming much like a father would at his kids.

“Didn’t want to add Zenitsu to the roster?” Kaigaku jokes.

Kyoujurou sounds shocked that he’d even ask. “I can’t take your brother from you.”

Kaigaku chuckles and doesn’t say anything more. Such a serious answer.

The rest of the afternoon is spent watching Tanjirou and Inosuke jump around, play fighting each other in the training grounds until they’re panting from exertion. Surprisingly, Kyoujurou stays with them, quiet for the most part, but indulges Tanjirou and Inosuke when they try to drag him into conversation.

Zenitsu, having no strength to join them in training, inevitably wandered over to Kaigaku to complain. Kaigaku is subjected to barrage after barrage of chatter from his brother, not that he minded because he didn’t have anything to say himself, but Zenitsu can be very talkative when given the chance. He’s lucky they’re stuck here with a pillar so he can’t shut him up like he usually does.

The blonde eventually grumbles himself to sleep on his lap, and the other two run off to fetch some snacks from the butterfly estate, finally tired after all the screaming.

That left Kaigaku and Kyoujurou to themselves; the pillar with his eyes closed, leaning on the tree and Kaigaku playing with Zenitsu’s blonde hair.

“I didn’t mean you should take him as a Tsuguko as well.” Kaigaku says, after a moment of silence stretches for too long. Kyoujurou doesn’t seem to mind that they weren’t speaking, but

The pillar looks genuinely confused. “Hm? I shouldn’t have?”

“No I--” It’s not that he didn’t want him to, but Tanjirou and Inosuke are pretty rambunctious. Kyoujurou has to have a lot of patience. “I just wanted you to compliment him too or something.” 

“This seems like a better compromise.” Kyoujurou says, “Inosuke is a delight.”

“I don’t know if we’ve talked to the same kid.”

Kyoujurou laughs at this, loud and free like he usually does. Zenitsu stirs from the noise and Kaigaku has to soothe him back to sleep.

“They’re both a delight.” Is what the pillar says.

Tanjirou was quick to show off his new haori from Kyoujurou the next day. Of course, Inosuke was just as fast to make it a competition on who can show everyone their shiny new haori around first.

Inosuke would win by a landslide, but only because he could scream the loudest.

Giyuu reacted somewhat poorly at first. Tanjirou did practice the water breathing technique before everything else, so it probably feels like betrayal. But in true water pillar fashion, his disappointment is barely noticeable and fairly short. He seemed pretty content afterwards, even entertaining Inosuke’s request for a quick spar.

Sanemi didn’t respond whatsoever, as expected of him. Or rather, how unexpected. He usually wouldn’t have hesitated to try and put the both of them 6 feet under. Gyoumei just cried his way through the conversation, but he seemed happy for them.

Shinobu indulged their antics, even riling them up so that when they eventually approached Uzui, the sound pillar found them too annoying to even tolerate and kicked them out of the estate. Kanroji took them in right after, and subjected Obanai to a very noisy tea time with the duo.

Kaigaku watched all of these unfold from the sidelines. As much as he’d like to interact with the main cast too, they seem to only spawn within the protagonist’s general area. Kaigaku could barely see them roaming the streets himself, but come Tanjirou and all of a sudden, they’re everywhere. 

Kaigaku sighs, feeling a little forlorn as he observes the trio bumble around the water estate. It’s been the norm for them to hang around the pillars and bother them in their residence, much to the ire of people like Sanemi and Uzui. So energetic, those three. It’s like they never really run out of things to do together.

He’d like to join them, but admittedly it was rathe awkward to participate. It was a little disappointing. He would have liked to see more of the characters in person, but he was in the body of an NPC. Nothing special about him to warrant any pillar’s attention.

“Inadama!”

Except for one, it seems. Then again, Kyoujurou was a special case.

Kaigaku turns, greeting the approaching man with a bow. “Good afternoon, sir.”

“Don’t be so blue!” Kaigaku is given a slap so hard it could’ve ascended him into another transmigration. “I’ve heard that you’ve come back victorious from another mission!”

“Yes.” Kaigaku chokes out as Kyoujurou attempts to cheer him up with multiple pats on the back. “I have.” 

Kyoujurou laughs heartily, ignoring the way Kaigaku responds to him in deadpan completely. Honestly quite a feat.

“I miss my own brother.”

The piece of dango making its way down Kaigaku’s throat nearly goes through his windpipe from the surprise. What a way to start a conversation.

They’ve both taken refuge under the shade of the old tree in the training grounds, the very same place where Kyoujurou had offered Tanjirou his Tsuguko status, sharing a nice afternoon snack. Kaigaku had only passed by and greeted, not wanting to bother the pillar, but Kyoujurou was quick to coax him to sit down.

It’s been rather peaceful. Until, of course, Kyoujurou’s amazing icebreaker.

Kaigaku hides his choking with a quick sip of his tea and a persistent clearing of the throat. “Then go talk to him?” He offers.

“I can’t!” Kyoujurou shouts.

Kaigaku shifts in his seat, too late to spare his eardrums. Is that something you should be so loud about?

“It feels like.” Kaigaku’s annoyance is dampened when he sees Kyoujurou’s unusually contemplative expression. “I forgot what I had to say after coming back from that train. Or if I had anything to say at all.”

He should’ve known there were consequences.

Kaigaku tries not to let his panic show, despite the chill slowly creeping down his spine. This isn’t good. “Is it not a blood technique left over?”

“There shouldn’t be.” Kyoujurou shakes his head, smiling wanly. “I’ve checked with Shinobu already.”

There’s a lull in the conversation and Kaigaku assumes that’s the end of it. The atmosphere is terrible, or maybe it’s just because he knows too much? Guilty people usually feel uncomfortable even in situations that are completely normal. But Kaigaku has nothing to be guilty of. He saved this guy’s life; Kyoujurou should be happy.

Then again, he’s the only one who knows that. That past Kyoujurou doesn’t exist, and this present Kyoujurou has to deal with the fact that he wasn’t written to be alive in the first place and therefore has no clear purpose to exist.

Kaigaku heaves a sigh, his hold on his tea shaking ever so slightly.

A lone dancing cactus drifts down in his periphery. His system’s way of trying to cheer him up.

And just when he thought he’s finally began to calm down, Kyoujurou decides to open his mouth yet again.

“Have you ever struggled to talk to people you love?”

Kaigaku feels like this is the hardest conversation he’s had ever since he came here.

Honestly, granted that he isn’t from this world and has no prior connection to anyone, yes. But he can’t say that. “Sometimes.” Is what he settles for.

“It’s like choking yourself.” Kyoujurou explains, voice low and quiet. Kaigaku feels like he isn’t meant to see this side of him. “Painful.”

Kaigaku dissects the pillar’s words carefully. Was Kyoujurou aware of what was supposed to happen? He probably didn’t know explicitly--unless this guy also transmigrated--but he supposed the ghost of a scenario was still ingrained in him.

But maybe he already had an inkling of his death prior to the mission? Pillars did have heightened intuition.

Still, it’s hard to think that Kyoujurou had any plans to die at all. So why was he feeling so lost?

Kaigaku tries his hand at comforting words. “I’m sure that’s not the case for you and your--” He hesitates to add Kyoujurou’s father to the picture, but he supposes he should. “--family.”

Kyoujurou chuckles, it’s hoarse and shorter than his normal outbursts of laughter. “It’s not my place to say that.” He mutters. “Not anymore.”

Damn. Kaigaku bites the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from saying anything stupid. He’s not sure how to respond to that.

Another bout of silence passes by, but this time Kyoujurou doesn’t do anything to break it. Kaigaku, too scared to say something wrong, does the same. Despite the freely flowing wind, Kaigaku feels claustrophobic. Despite the warm glow of the sun, he feels so cold.

Saved or not, it’s his fault that Kyoujurou’s lost his fire, all because he was so focused on completing his mission.

There’s muffled chatter approaching from the gates, distracting his thoughts from tumbling down yet again.

It’s Tanjirou, along with Aoi, Zenitsu and Senjurou. He can’t make out what they’re talking about, they’re still far from where Kaigaku and Kyoujurou had decided to situate themselves in. The brunette notices them first and waves them over.

Kyoujurou glances at him but Kaigaku shakes his head--another silent agreement—and it’s only the pillar who stands up and walks towards them. Kaigaku felt vaguely fatigued, so he waves off Tanjirou’s frantic attempts at catching his attention.

Kyoujurou smiles in front of his younger brother, and Kaigaku sees the slight strain as he does. So it’s been bothering him for a while now. Kyoujurou must have been feeling awful keeping those thoughts to himself, he was thankful that he was at least able to help get some of it off his chest.

Senjurou says something he can’t hear, and offers his brother the plate of mochi he’s been carrying with him. They’ve probably just finished making them, judging from the left-over patches of flour on his face.

Kyoujurou take a piece and with each bite, his smile becomes more and more genuine. Eventually that all familiar grin is back, none of the hesitance and doubt that Kaigaku saw earlier. He was finally Kyoujurou once again.

Kaigaku stays in his seat, watching all of it happen. They laugh at a joke Tanjirou accidentally makes, they take turns trying to taste a bit of Senjurou’s mochi to praise him, the atmosphere is calm, bright and—

There’s a crushing weight on his chest. His smile falters and his legs feel weak.

He’s not supposed to be here. He’s not supposed to exist.

Kaigaku has always understood that, but now, it feels worse. Seeing Kyoujurou light up and blend in so easily with them has made him realize that despite the pillar being disconnected from the plot, he still had a place within this world. He served the same purpose as when he would’ve left.

He’s never thought about it before, how lonely he actually is in reality. He knows all of these people but they barely know him. He has all these memories of past events, of things that should have happened but didn’t because he messed with the timeline. Now they haunt him, and haunt the people who were involved. And it’s all his fault. All for his dear little brother.

Kaigaku watches Zenitsu whine at something Aoi says.

Is he even his brother?

Zenitsu meets his gaze, probably having noticed that Kaigaku was only staring and not walking over. He tries to beckon him over, but Kaigaku shakes his head. He’s not sure if he’d be able to pretend any further today. Kaigaku feels the aching loneliness wash over him when Zenitsu’s frown is immediately abated by a call from Tanjirou. He should probably go too.

And when Kaigaku finally leaves the scene behind, it really does feel like he’s choking himself.

Later in the evening, Zenitsu brings him a plate of steamed dumplings that they were all feasting upon earlier.

They’re cold because the brat hasn’t bothered to reheat it, and it’s stringy when chewed.

It soothes the pang in his heart, nevertheless, and makes him feel like he too might have a chance to belong.

Chapter Text

Kaigaku pauses, the sheet of cloth in his hands unfolding from the crease he had painstakingly tried to do.

“Home?”

His legs have finally recovered, and he was back to being on duty. Weirdly though, Kyutaro hadn’t given him any since he was able to walk again. And he’s just realized why.

Naho nods fervently, folding the laundry expertly. She isn’t even looking at it as she does it, eyes fixed straight at him. It’s a little terrifying. “Yes!” She ecstatically replies, but falters when she sees Kaigaku looking solemn. “Or do you not have someone to go home to..?”

“We do, we do. Our grandp--master.” Kaigaku reassures. He’s actually been meaning to write to the old man, but was too shy to actually send a letter. The drafts he had written was made into a nest by Kyutaro next to his bed. “But are you sure we can all afford a break?”

Kaigaku hears Shinobu’s laugh before she sees him. “How noble of you to think of others.” She says, sauntering inside the room from the hall. “It’s fine, Inadama. These are scheduled.”

“I see.” He supposes he can’t really argue with them any further. “Thank you for taking care of us.”

Shinobu takes charge of folding the next batch of laundry, Kaigaku supposes that’s his cue to leave. He stands up and bows to her, before making his exit.

“Happy new year to all of you.”

She inclines her head. A polite farewell. Beside her, Naho enthusiastically greets him back.

With no other place to go, Kaigaku has taken to strolling around the area. It’s cold, and there’s already some amount of snow blanketing the area, so he can’t help but regret that parkas aren’t a thing yet.

But it’s rather therapeutic despite the biting cold. The trees, the snow, and the way the buildings look make for a great walking experience. He feels like he’s walking through a heritage site.

A bunch of crows caw in the distance, and he can hear the hurried footsteps of some slayers hurrying to follow them. He can’t believe he can take a break from scrambling to kill every demon that pops up like them. They haven’t celebrated other events so far, so having one all of a sudden is jarring.

In the manga, real life events were just portrayed through a special colored illustration or a small comic here and there. With the way Demon Slayer was structured, it wasn’t really a priority for the characters to take a break from the action.

Did they take a break in the manga?, He decides to ask his system.

[I’m not sure.] It replies dutifully. [Though, they are definitely doing it now.]

Kaigaku snorts, passing by a group of slayers chatting about their beloveds and the feast that awaits them back home.

Yeah. I figured. He might as well not read into it further and just appreciate the opportunity to go back home.

His short-lived walk leads to him standing in front the gates of the training grounds yet again. It’s unoccupied, most probably because the snow doesn’t make for a good place to start fighting on. Still. Kaigaku regrets that it’s the one setting he only ever finds himself in. Then again, almost every other place in the area is owned by the pillars. He doubts he’ll be welcome in any of them, even if he and Zenitsu are technically under a past pillar.

With nowhere else to go, Kaigaku sighs and takes out his sword. Might as well use this time to be productive. He might not be able to practice fighting the training dummies reliably with all the snow around, but he can stretch his limbs and practice his stances.

He didn’t know when they had to leave, but he'll wait until Zenitsu gets the news.

Kaigaku manages to get a decent workout, and it’s only interrupted when he hears a familiar bout of screeching from afar. There’s his cue. “Brother!” The voice calls frantically. Kaigaku also faintly hears the panicked chirping of a sparrow above him.

Sliding his sword back into its sheath, he tries not to snap back at Zenitsu and get him to shut up. It’s the holidays, he supposes the blonde can be indulged. They’ll be leaving soon anyway.

“Grandpa sent us a letter!” Zenitsu wheezes when he finally reaches him, a hand on his knee and another extending to him a crumpled letter. Why couldn’t he have waited to give him later? He looks like he’s about to pass out.

“That’s Sir Kuwajima, to you.” Kaigaku corrects, but nevertheless, he snatches the letter off him. Ugoki takes this time to flutter down and rest of Zenitsu’s head as the blonde waits for him to read.

It’s a short and succinct; greeting them a happy new year and asking when they’d be coming back. Kuwajima says he’ll make sure to prepare all their favorite meals for the holidays.

“Can we do that?” Zenitsu’s practically glowing with excitement when Kaigaku regards him again. Practically vibrating from the idea of a break. He’d probably leave Kaigaku in the dust the minute he has the chance to leave this place. “Go home? Right now? Are we allowed to?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Kaigaku grumbles, punctuating it with a harsh ruffle of the blonde’s hair. “Yeah, we’re going home. Didn’t they tell you already?”

Zenitsu shakes his head. “I just got this so,” He perks up, registering Kaigaku’s words. “Wait, right now? Let’s go! Let’s—”

Kaigaku can’t even give him a reply, Zenitsu is already tugging him through the gates. He can’t even shake him off; what’s with this freakish strength?! “Hey you fucking brat, calm down!” He tries to resist, “Oy!”

They don’t manage to get any farther down the road though, because Tanjirou and Inosuke intercept them, waving as they approach.

“Zenitsu!” Tanjirou shouts as he runs to them. “Are you leaving already? Let’s go together!”

Beside him, Inosuke is maniacally flailing his swords around in a tantrum. Kaigaku doesn’t even bother telling him off, it’s the norm now. “Hey! What are you doing trying to leave the great Inosuke behind?!”

"We're not leaving yet!" Zenitsu answers for the both of them, he ceases the tugging and Kaigaku can finally breathe.

The trio chatter amongst themselves once reunited; Zenitsu absolutely raving about the oncoming break while Tanjirou regards them with stories of their old family traditions in new year. Inosuke seems visibly confused on the occasion, but responds periodically, especially on the topic of food.

Kaigaku participates passively by the sidelines. They can talk themselves to death without needing his input.

He does, however, notice that despite how boisterous Inosuke is, he hesitates to speak whenever Zenitsu and Tanjirou speak of their families. Kaigaku almost wants to give him a comforting pat on the head.

Almost. Last time he did that, Inosuke mistook it for a challenge and kneed him in the stomach.

Luckily, Tanjirou seemed to sniff out the awkward atmosphere. 

“Inosuke come with me!” The brunette says, holding Inosuke’s hand eagerly. “Nezuko and I are going to Mr. Urodaki’s place! He cooks a mean hot pot!”

Inosuke pauses, clearly not expecting it, but touched nonetheless. Of course, instead of a genuine thank you, he responds haughtily, though without any bite.

“Since you’ve invited the great Inosuke, I’ll go!” He declares, raising their joined hands in the air victoriously.

Tanjirou allows it, even waving it excitedly. “That’s great! Nezuko would be really happy to have you there!”

But then he turns to Zenitsu and oh no-- “Then, Zenitsu you--”

Most definitely not. Kaigaku adored the kid, sure, but this break was going to be entirely free of Tanjirou and Tanjirou-related shenanigans. He needs a break from the constant attempts at keeping them apart.

[You could just let them interact like normal.] His system teases, [It’s no skin off your back.]

It’s every sibling’s responsibility to be a bitch to suitors. Kaigaku shoots back, Even if that suitor is a kid not even capable of malicious intent.

So Kaigaku does what he does best, mess with people’s plans.

“Kumajima must be very lonely.” He muses loudly, brows furrowed to sell his act. “To send us a letter in such short notice, he might want us home as soon as possible.”

Tanjirou falters and Zenitsu bites his lip, immediately sold at the thought of their poor grandfather. “That’s true! And I miss him a whole lot too.” 

Kaigaku sees Tanjirou stall and frown from his periphery. Nice.

[Bullying kids now, are we?]

It’s just a little fun, Kaigaku thinks as he watches Tanjirou try and rack his brain for another way to spend time with Zenitsu.

“Then,” Tanjirou licks his lips in concentration. “Let’s exchange letters?”

Easy counter. “You don’t want that sparrow working overtime now, do you?” Kaigaku asks, even giving Ugoki a little tap on the head for emphasis. The sparrow preens under the affection.

“Oh.” Zenitsu seems to sulk a little. Hm. It looks like he may have wanted to exchange letters after all. “You’re right. Chuntaro needs some rest too.”

With that said, Kaigaku grins down at Tanjirou, satisfied at his deflection. It really shouldn’t feel good being petty with a kid but damn is it satisfying. His system amuses him with some pity points, a job well done on being such a menace.

Tanjirou pouts at him. “Then.” The brunette stutters, “Then!”

“I’m—We’re going to your house to visit you!”

Zenitsu perks up, genuinely excited at the idea. Inosuke shouts in agreement, always eager for an adventure.

Tanjirou looks triumphant at everyone's response. Kaigaku just feels 10 more additional years erased from his future. This kid’s persistent.

“But.” This time, Zenitsu’s the one who speaks up. “We’re really far from where you’re from and the mountains--”

Tanjirou is quick to take Zenitsu’s hands in his. Kaigaku feels a throb of annoyance when his little brother reddens at the contact. Look at this sly motherfucker, employing some cunning tactics.

“That doesn’t matter, I want to see you!” He exclaims and hey hey hey watch it that’s too close you little-- “Inosuke too!” Cheeky. Including Inosuke in his reason to not looks suspicious.

“Yeah!” Inosuke, for the most part, doesn’t look like he knows what’s happening, but likes feeling included. “Those mountains won’t stop me, I’ll kill them!”

Zenitsu snaps from his reverie to admonish him. “You can’t kill mountains!”

“That’s the spirit you two!” Another voice suddenly booms from behind them. “Use your youth to achieve your dreams!”

Kaigaku sighs, Inosuke just has murderous tendencies, not dreams, he thinks ruefully, but bows in respect to Kyoujurou as he approaches. Kyoujurou offers a small nod, acknowledging it.

“Good morning, sir.” Kaigaku greets at the same time Inosuke shouts ‘Yeah! I can kill mountains!’.

 “Exactly!” The flame pillar cheers once more. Kyoujurou has no idea what their conversation is about, does he?

“On your way home too, Rengoku sir?” Kaigaku asks instead. The less they dwell on his defeat against Tanjirou, the better.

Kyoujurou nods sternly, but he’s back to his usual bravado in seconds. “Yep! To my father and little brother.” He regards the children with a warm smile. “Travel well, all of you.”

The kids parrot back the notion. Kaigaku does the same. “You too, sir.”

He makes space for the pillar to pass through their little circle. They probably should have had this conversation to the side of the path, Luckily, Tanjirou’s here to make sure that nobody would stop them from obstructing the road.

Kaigaku startles when he feels a hand on his shoulder and a whisper next to his ear. “Maybe I can think of what to say on my way there.”

The contact is over before he realizes it, and the kids barely take notice of the way he looks spooked. Kyoujurou is already far when he regains his consciousness.

Kaigaku stares at the fluttering haori in the distance. He hopes Kyoujurou fares well in his second chance at life.

Kumajima welcomes them both home with a warm embrace and an even warmer smile.

Zenitsu bawls instantly at the arms of his pseudo-grandfather.

Kaigaku admits to tearing up a little too.

Kaigaku grunts as he makes his way back into the kitchen, rolling his shoulders and trying to relieve the left-over pain from earlier.

Kaigaku insisted to do all the heavy work himself and gotten himself sore and aching in the process. It was all kind of worth it, though, especially when he sees Kuwajima gazing fondly at him from his seat on the courtyard.

They’ve taken to cleaning every nook and cranny of the house, and that included having to move furniture outside to dust the spots that were usually left covered. And since Kaigaku had spent so much time in the butterfly estate helping, he’s taken the liberty of fixing some furniture that had begun to fall apart.

He’s never been more thankful that their home was such a small one. He didn’t know if he could handle cleaning something as large as the butterfly estate.

He reaches the kitchen in the hopes of a quick drink, and finds Zenitsu staring aimlessly at the window, his chin resting on the end of his broom. He raises a brow. Daydreaming on the job now, are we?

“Hey!” Kaigaku purposely kicks a stool noisily to snap him out of it. “Help with the cleaning, you brat!”

Zenitsu yelps, rightfully frightened. “Yes sir!”

It’s just been three days, Kaigaku muses as he glares at Zenitsu for good measure. Let them hang out in their house for a while. The blonde scrambles out of the room with a whine, no doubt to go complain to Kuwajima again.

“Walk faster, brat!” Kaigaku scolds, already ahead in the road.

Zenitsu is way behind him, panting and wheezing. “But it’s so far!” He weeps, even taking the time to lay down face first on the snow as protest. “Why didn’t we bring the carriage…”

“And let you rest while I do all the work?” Sneaky little brat, trying to take advantage of him. “Pick those fucking feet up!”

The blonde eventually recovers, trudging his way to Kaigaku regretfully as the latter waits for him to catch up. Kaigaku gives him a good pinch on the cheek for taking too long.

Zenitsu cries, but his grip remains unwavering on Kaigaku’s sleeve when they continue their walk.

He’s never really known why peaches played a significant part in the introduction of Kaigaku. Turns out, it’s what Kuwajima does as income. Selling fruits, mainly peaches, in town. He hasn’t seen the old pillar do any sales in person, but he supposes that was only because he’d been so focused in training Zenitsu at that time.

Peaches were out of season in the winter, delicate fruits they were, but that doesn’t stop the business at all. Kuwajima had taken the time to painstakingly cook them in sugar and make them into candies. Which is what they've currently got strapped to their backs, weighing them down in their walk to the town.

Kaigaku himself couldn’t help but take a small jar for himself when he saw it. He’d paid for it of course, and shared it with Zenitsu. Lest the blonde get any ideas and take another jar for himself.

When they reach the town, it’s still bustling despite the cold. Though it’s noticeably warmer compared to the road they’ve been on, what with all the open fires and people mingling about.

Kaigaku forgoes his awe at this and tugs his brother to the market to get some potential customers. Zenitsu looks like he’ll want to run into a shop and waste their money if he didn’t force them both to get a move on.

They find a good spot to rest, just next to a vegetable vendor who offers them a bench to rest on. Kaigaku gives them a jar of peaches free of charge as thanks.

“Do we just wait here?” Zenitsu mutters, fiddling with the straps of the basket secured to his back.

“Probably not.” Kaigaku grunts. He didn’t really know if people would just stop by to buy a jar from them. They don’t really have a stand and no signs to indicate they’re selling anything. “We’ll have to go door to door then.”

Zenitsu makes a noise, a bit nervous on the idea of walking up to people and trying to sell them stuff. Luckily for his dear brother, Kaigaku is too determined to lessen their load and sell every single jar they have. No matter what it takes.

Their first victim customer cowers away the minute he looks at Kaigaku.

The second one runs when Kaigaku speaks.

The third one offers to give all he has when Kaigaku shows him a jar of peaches.

“I’m sensing a pattern.” Kaigaku muses when they’re sat on the same bench as earlier, downcast. The vegetable vendor kindly offers them a drink when he sees his mood.

Zenitsu fusses over him. “Um, uh. How about we approach them nicely?”

“We were approaching them nicely.” Kaigaku can't help but grumble petulantly. “I was even smiling.”

Zenitsu winces and Kaigaku feels insulted. What? Did his smile look that bad? He hopes it’s not as bad as Sanemi’s, at least.

[Kaigaku’s face is unfortunately rather unfriendly in nature.]

There you are. Happy new year. Kaigaku greets, albeit robotically from his current state. You’ve been talking less and less.

[You’ve not been in situations where you’d need my help, really.]

Yeah? What about now?

It considers the options for a moment before speaking. [Since being nice won’t work, then do what you’ve been always good at?]

Figures. Kaigaku grunts, downing the drink in his hands in one shot before standing up and patting his thighs. “Alright. We’re switching tactics.”

“Huh? How—”

Kaigaku points at a random man, readying his vocal chords for the chaos he's about to cause. Beside him, Zenitsu jumps at his volume. “Hey fuckface! Are you going to buy this damn candy or not?!”

The man splutters, caught off-guard by him. “I, what—I--!”

“Yeah I’m talking to you bald ass!” He gets several gasps from that, even Zenitsu squawks and tugs at his sleeve for him to sit back down. Kaigaku is unperturbed. “Get over here and buy two of these or else!”

“Yessir!”

“Brother?!”

They sold out. Kaigaku may have used questionable tactics in doing so, but hey. At least they don’t need to carry anything back.

“You sold them all?” Kuwajima asks, taken aback when Kaigaku hands him the money they’ve earned. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to at all.”

“It’s good, though.” Kaigaku frowns when his grandfather doesn't agree. Wait, aren't they supposed to sell them all?

“Right?”

Kuwajima just chuckles and gives his arm an affectionate squeeze. “Very good. But we don’t need this much.” He hands Kaigaku what he considers an excess, which still felt like a decent amount.

“Spend it on what you like, you two.” He urges, “Ah, since it’s the end of the year, why not buy gift for your friends?”

Friends. Kaigaku looks down at the money in his hands. Apart from the trio, who does he have as friends?

“Spend?!” Zenitsu exclaims, oblivious to his brother’s growing apprehension. “We can buy stuff from the town!?”

Kaigaku huffs, tugging him inside by the ear. “After lunch, brat.”

Sure enough, they return to town in the afternoon. Some of Kaigaku’s dear customers start cowering in fear when they see him, but when they see the lack of straw baskets strapped to their backs, they sigh in relief. They stop by a humble dessert shop as their first target.

“Brother!” Zenitsu beckons him over the rows and rows of sweets. “Look, they’ve got chocolates in the shapes of sparrows!”

“Make sure to buy something that won’t spoil when they receive it.” Kaigaku says, looking at rows of the manju for display.

He’s not particularly sure if he should buy anything else, since a gift from Zenitsu would surely translate as a gift from him as well, right? But he supposes that be a bit unfair. It would be safer to buy all the gifts he can now.

Zenitsu ends up buying a bunch of knick-knacks, heeding Kaigaku’s warning about food by buying desserts that would last till the new year passes. Of course, he bought plenty for himself, not caring about his brother’s scolding about eating too much sweets.

Kaigaku himself have bought a variety of surprise bags, fukuburo they called them. Cute. It was a decent price, so he may have splurged on it a bit and bought too many. He’ll give them to some slayers when they go back.

It’s been a week or so since their break, and he’s pretty sure it’s only a few days till the new year’s. It’s been nice, spending time with his little family in their isolated home.

He hears Zenitsu giggle then groan in the same breath. And the rustling of paper being crushed into a ball.

Well, maybe not all nice.

“Go to sleep brat!” Kaigaku rolls over to scold Zenitsu, who was currently hunched over a table and scribbling god knows what.

He snatches a paper from him, and the blonde yelps. “What even are these—”

Zenitsu grabs them from him in a flash. Wow, no need to flex the legs. “Don’t read them!” His little brother exclaims, clutching them so close to his chest that they crumple. “It’s for, um, Tanjirou and Inosuke.”

Oh. Letters. Turns out his little threat about overworking his sparrow didn’t work, then. “Going to give work for Ukogi?” Right on cue, he feels a nip on his earlobe. “Ow, hey!” What the hell, he’s on Zenitsu’s side?

“Hey, he’s the one who keeps trying to get me to write letters!” Zenitsu asserts, pouting. “He’s been restless.”

Restless, huh? Kaigaku picks up the little bird from his shoulder and plays with him in his hands. Ukogi chirps in protest but is otherwise content to mess with his fingers. It would make sense that they’d be bothered about being so still. Back in the corps, they’d always be soaring in the air.

Over at the windowsill, his own pigeon coos. Kyutaro seems unbothered as always, though.

Kuwajima passes by their room with a lamp, but contrary to what Kaigaku would expect of him, he just smiles fondly when he sees the scattered paper on the floor.

“Letters?” The old man asks to no one in particular, setting his own lamp next to the one already lighting up the room and taking a seat on Zenitsu’s abandoned futon.

“Why not write one yourself, Kaigaku.”

Well. Now Kaigaku can’t exactly protest anymore. “But—”

“Yeah!” Zenitsu is quick to jump in and persuade him into it. No doubt happy that he’s not going to be made fun for doing it alone. “I have some paper left!”

“Ahh, let me have some.” Kuwajima even joins in, “I have some old pals I have to greet too.”

And that’s how Kaigaku finds himself across Zenitsu, brush in hand and staring at a blank piece of paper for the past half hour.

He’s not procrastinating, far from it, his letters for Inosuke and Tanjirou are finished. Just a simple greeting and a light threat for them to not complain about their gifts for the new year’s. Nezuko has one too, but hers is just a crude painting of a snow rabbit with a smiley face.

So, no. He’s not staring at this piece of paper for naught. He’s debating very seriously on whether or not he can give a letter to anyone else apart from the trio. Because as he’s been just realizing that he has no other friends apart from these kids. How lonely.

[Kyoujurou?]

Kaigaku pauses. Maybe. He’s a pillar. He’s more of a superior to me. And wouldn’t it be a bit forward?

[I don’t think he’s the type of person to mind, Kaigaku.] His system comforts, [He seems to enjoy treating people he sees worthy equally.]

And I’m equal, how?

[You fought an upper moon with him.]

Kaigaku sighs and finally moves his brush. Alright, fine. We’re writing to him too.

After a while, he adds: But we’re not expecting a reply.

[Of course.] His system agrees, seeming far to amused for his liking.

Kaigaku almost thought they’d never come, it’s been so peaceful so far, these past days (as peaceful as Zenitsu can get but of course). But he’d learned the hard way to never underestimate them. 

Their front door is suddenly kicked open, so intensely that the moment it slams into the wall next to it, the handle flies off.

Kaigaku feels a nerve pop. Zenitsu screams bloody murder and hides behind him. Miraculously, Kuwajima barely bats an eye from where he’s sipping his afternoon tea.

“Nenetsu!” The perpetuator screams, laughing maniacally as he hops on a nearby stool. “The great Inosuke is here!”

“You could’ve fucking knocked first?!” Kaigaku lunges for the kid, ready to pin him to the ground. Did the kid even know they’ve just cleaned the entire place?! Now there’s bound to be splinters everywhere!

“Language, Kaigaku.” Kuwajima admonishes him.

Kaigaku turns back to him in disbelief. Inosuke takes to wandering inside and raiding their pantry. “But--!”

“Kaigaku! Zenitsu! We’re here to visit!” Tanjirou peeks inside with a grin, thankfully not ignoring the fact that their door is broken and even moves to try and fix it back together. Tries to, at least. He just leaves it vicariously stuck together via the left-over splinters of wood.

“I bought some food and Nezuko!” The brunette says brightly, gesturing to the box behind him.

Zenitsu perks up at that. “Nezuko?” He starts reaching for Tanjirou who indulges him, crying. “Nezuko!”

Kaigaku, who’s trying to rip the boar out of the fucking ceiling, screams at them both. “Will you brats help clean up the door you broke?!”

The kids do not in fact help clean up the door, and Kaigaku will just have to settle with haphazardly fixing the handle back with some crudely tacked on nails.

“Woah, what’s this?” Tanjirou raises the box high, shaking it a little bit out of curiosity.

Inosuke guffaws, looking down at it in awe. “An offering for the great Inosuke?!”

“Shut the fuck up you two.” Kaigaku mutters as he prepares breakfast. The kids have insisted to stay overnight, so it’s his job to make sure all of them are so full they’d pass out the minute they hit the futon. “It’s for the new year’s.”

Kuwajima has already given the kids their Otoshidama, a packet of money earlier. Despite their noise, they were very respectful to him regardless. Such a shame that they were such good kids, he can’t find any reason to kick them out.

“Wait, you gave yours already?!” Exclaims Zenitsu from the doorway, looking betrayed. “I wanted to give mine first! Take it back, brother!”

Kaigaku resists the urge to throw the uncooked egg at him. “Just give yours already!”

When he’d finished cooking, he had to stop Inosuke from rattling the giftbox so hard he’d ruin whatever was inside.

“Good morning.”

Kaigaku startles at the sight of the water pillar, almost closing the door on him. He’d only expect Tanjirou and Inosuke to visit but the water pillar? What was he doing here? “Sir Tomioka.” He greets warily. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Giyuu curtly replies.

They stare at each other for a good minute or so. Right, he forgot this guy was bad with people. “Um. What are you here for sir?” He asks, taking charge of the situation.

Giyuu nods briefly. “Tanjirou, please.”

Ah. Looks like Tanjirou is being picked up. Makes sense, the kid just decided to run off when it was only a day or two before the new year’s. “Please come inside!” He insists, opening the door wider. However, he’d forgotten that he’d made such a shitty job at fixing the door that the handle detaches immediately, leaving the door unmoving.

Kaigaku clears his throat, silently cursing a certain boar. “Ignore that, please.” He says, kicking the door wider instead.

He leads the water pillar to the courtyard, where the kids were currently playing with each other on the show. Thankfully the weather is cloudy enough for Nezuko to prance around as well, but Tanjirou makes sure to insist she still stays within some shade.

“Giyuu!” Tanjirou greets readily when he sees him. “What are you doing here?”

Inosuke does the same, popping out from where he was submerged in the snow. “Yuuyuu!” A nickname? From Inosuke? That’s new.

Nezuko huffs from her place beside her brother, playing with a ball of snow Inosuke had given to her. Zenitsu is having the time of his life beside her, playing with her hair.

“Urodaki got worried.” Giyuu says, straight to business, but takes a seat beside them. “He asked me to fetch you two.”

Tanjirou chews his lip, suddenly looking guilty. “Oh!” He mutters. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry anyone.”

Giyuu, looking unsure of how to continue the conversation, just hums. “Mm.”

“But, um, can we stay longer?” The brunette pleads and Kaigaku scoffs. So he hasn’t even gotten permission to stay the night. “Please? Just until the next two days?”

Giyuu looks conflicted. “But—”

“Please!” Tanjirou shouts, and of course no one can say no to him. He looks so damn sincere. Even Kaigaku is moved--not. “I want just want to spend some time here and, um, Inosuke really wants to stay and play here some more!”

In the distance, Inosuke cheers when he hears his name, oblivious to the bargaining that was currently happening. Cheeky. Using Inosuke as his reason to get his way. Now since when has Tanjirou gotten so good at lying?

Then again, his face isn’t scrunched up at all. Inosuke probably does want to stay as long as Tanjirou says so.

Giyuu remains quiet for another moment, debating his decision, but eventually acquiesces. What can you really do against Tanjirou Kamado?

“Okay.”

Kaigaku takes this as his cue to leave, “I’ll bring some tea.” He says, bowing out of the scene.

Inosuke jumps at the chance to request more food. “Kirigaku I want more mochi!”

“You already ate earlier control that fucking stomach of yours!”

He leaves Inosuke whining outside, focusing on brewing some tea for the pillar. He finds Kuwajima enjoying his own cup by the kitchen and Kaigaku bows in respect as he passes by.

The old pillar chuckles, “It’s becoming lively.”

Kaigaku makes a noncommittal noise. He’d prefer if it wasn’t, but he can’t exactly control how loud they want to be. There’s already boiled water on the stove so his preparation is cut short. “You’re not going to join us?” He asks, nodding to the courtyard as he arranges the tray for the drinks.

“I’m content in watching.” Kuwajima waves him off with a smile, “Go on and enjoy some company.”

Giyuu isn’t particularly talkative and doesn’t add much to the conversations (or add anything at all) so Kaigaku enjoys his time sitting beside him. He acts as Kaigaku’s meatshield against Inosuke’s incessant ramblings and surprisingly does a good job at it. Tanjirou can even talk to him about anything and Giyuu’s small hums of acknowledgement are enough to keep him going.

The sun eventually shows itself by the time the dusk rolls around (ironic) and Nezuko has to retire inside to not get accidentally hurt. Zenitsu surprisingly doesn’t follow her and instead plays in the snow with Inosuke. Tanjirou joins in after he makes sure his sister is alright and they all eventually start pelting snowballs at each other.

Giyuu remains still as ever, but there’s a ghost of a smile on his lips when Inosuke kicks a tree and Zenitsu gets buried alive in the snow. It was pretty funny, watching Tanjirou try dig him out.

The moment is ruined, though, when he hears loud knocking coming from the front door. Kuwajima is busy entertaining Nezuko inside, so he’s the one left to entertain whoever was at the door. He excuses himself quietly, Giyuu nodding at him, and makes his way to the door.

However, Kaigaku is shoved out of the way before he could say anything.

“Oy! Tomioka, are you in here?!” It’s Sanemi. He does a better job at opening the door than Inosuke, but the door is still practically slammed open before the pillar saunters inside like he owns the place.

“Welcome.” Kaigaku mutters through grit teeth. Not even a hello, as expected from the biggest asshole in the series. Well. Next to the old Kaigaku.

He’s not alone though, because apparently Genya is here as well, looking quite nervous.

They’ve made up? Kaigaku asks his system, but he doesn’t wait for a response and instead gestures for the kid to come inside.

“Not going to come in?” He asks when Genya barely moves and inch.

Genya ducks his head, “I’ll wait outside.”

Hm. He’s a lot mellower already despite the Swordsmith Arc being months away from happening. And Sanemi’s talking to him already, judging from how they both stood in the same place and didn’t scream at each other. What the fuck happened when he decided to revive Kyoujurou?

Well, whatever did happened, it’s not the time to be thinking about it. The kid’s freezing. “In the cold?” Kaigaku questions, an eyebrow raised. “Come inside, kid.”

Surprisingly, when he leads Genya into the courtyard, he finds Sanemi and Giyuu being civil. Not necessarily friendly, especially with how Sanemi’s leg is impatiently bouncing up and down, but civil enough that they’re not actively trying to kill each other.

Oh, and there’s the fact that Sanemi was looking for Giyuu in the first place.

They’re friends?

[You had some impact.]

Impact. Kaigaku muses as he watches the two interact (read: sit next to each other without saying a word). What fucking impact happened?

The system doesn’t give him an answer.

“Genya?” Tanjirou, as always, is the first to notice their new company. “Hey! You’re here too?! Happy new year!”

Inosuke jumps up and down on the snow. “It’s ugly face!” He exclaims, pointing with his sword. Why does he have it out for a snowball fight? “Gonba!”

“Wait Tanjirou,” Zenitsu clings to the brunette in fear. “He’s the scary looking guy from the selection, why are you talking to him?!”

Genya squirms under all the attention he’s getting, looking flustered and a little bit discouraged. Kaigaku would be too if he just got called ugly and scary all at once.

Tanjirou, ever the mediator, soothes the blonde’s concern. “What? He’s not that bad.” He reassures, patting Zenitsu’s arm. Kaigaku narrows his eyes, it better stay there and nowhere else.

“Come on, let’s play!” Tanjirou beckons Genya over with a jolly wave.

“Tanjirou! He’s too scary we can’t—”

Kaigaku pelts him with snow to shut him up. He hears Sanemi smothered cackle in the distance. “Have some fucking respect brat!” He scolds, before turning to Genya and gesturing for him to join them. “I’ll get some snacks.”

Kaigaku passes by the two pillars with no word said. He’ll just get the tea. He feels like if he just looks at Sanemi’s general direction he’ll get slice into two.

After another session of a snowball fight, and a very awkward tea time with two pillars (no one says a fucking word but Kaigaku can feel Sanemi trying to dissect him alive), dinnertime eventually rolls around.

And no one leaves.

So Kaigaku is left to cook again for an increasing amount of people.

Kuwajima joins the dinner table and it instantly quells whatever seething hatred is in Sanemi that causes him to frown and scream all the time. The rest of the dinner is spent surprisingly in peace because of this.

Man, we really are alike. Kaigaku muses, watching the way Sanemi is stunned into silence. Is this why Kaigaku was turned into a demon? Were two Sanemi’s too powerful?

[I think you’re stroking your ego on that last part.]

Kaigaku just snorts and continues deboning a fish for his brother.

After dinner, the pillars announce their leave along with Genya. It was pretty dark outside and Kaigaku had half a mind to warn them about demons, but then he remembers that these are pillars he’s talking about. Demons are probably scared of them.

“Tanjirou.” Giyuu starts when they’re all seeing them out by the door. Looks like he’s not done negotiating. “We need to go.”

Tanjirou remains firm in his decision, cheeks puffed. “I’m really sorry!” He bows low, nearly parallel to the ground. “But I don’t want to!”

Sanemi clicks his tongue, impatiently fixing the sword attached on his belt. “Can’t you just leave it already?” He leans on the doorway. “Let them stay, it’s not like they can go home by themselves.”

Giyuu looks downcast. Kaigaku realizes that oh, maybe he wanted to spend some time with the kids too and it’s not out of obligation from Urokodaki.

“Stop sulking.” Sanemi chastises, already walking out. “Come on, we’re going.”

At this, Giyuu frowns, vaguely irritated. “I can go home by myself.”

“I know that, you fucking ass.” Sanemi spits out. Crass. “We’re coming with you. This shithead wants to meet the old water pillar.”

Oh? Kaigaku’s not very sure if that was just an excuse to make him feel better or it was a legitimate request from Genya. The timeline has been so fucked so far and he’s not sure if Sanemi’s still an asshole or a lesser asshole now.

“I--!” Genya splutters, “I didn’t mean we had to so soon, I just—"

“Shut up!” Sanemi barks back and wow, is that what he looks like when he’s screaming at Zenitsu? Maybe he should tone down the glaring.

"Um." Kaigaku takes this oppurtunity to give the gifts, awkwardly offering them to both pillars and to Genya. "Happy new year."

Giyuu blinks, but takes the gift with a small nod. Genya is surprised, mustering out a quick thank and not so subtly trying to shake it to find out what's inside.

Sanemi doesn't even try to take it, as expected. Kaigaku just sighs and stacks it on top of Genya's gift, startling the poor boy again.

The wind pillar turns to address Kuwajima, politely, ignoring Kaigaku all together. “Thank you for your courtesy, sir.”

Kuwajima waves them off with a fond smile. “Thank you for stopping by. Take care on your way!”

They all bow to him in respect before going their merry way. Kaigaku turns to Tanjirou when he can no longer see their figures in the dark.

“Hey blockhead.” He says, “You’re going to make it up to Sir Tomioka alright? He looks lonely.”

Tanjirou looks affronted that Kaigaku would insinuate that he’d purposely make Giyuu feel bad. To be fair, Kaigaku agrees with him. He’s too nice for that.

“Of course!” He exclaims. “I didn’t mean to, well, Zenitsu what if you come with us—”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

Kaigaku stares, his hand still on the makeshift handle he’d made for the door after yesterday’s had broken.

He’d just woken up to the cry of a rooster nearby and had heard tiny knocks coming from the front door, thinking it was children asking for their new year’s gift, he’d open it leisurely. But what he found was exactly in this order:

“Kaigaku! Good morning!” A shout, followed by laughter as bright as the sun.

“Where’s Tanjirou?” A question that sounds more like a threat despite how quietly it’s whispered.

Kaigaku stares at the new pair of pillars in their doorstep.

What in the actual fuck.

Muichiro doesn’t even bother for his reply and, much like Sanemi, marches right inside without any permission whatsoever. The kids are up and at ‘em already anyway, Kaigaku was actually the one to wake up late, savoring his last remaining days of break.

He feels a prick on the back of his neck and realizes it’s from Kyoujurou staring. Oh right. “Good morning.” Kaigaku greets back. The pillar nods back gleefully, satisfied.

“I found Muichiro loitering around the house, and I knocked for him!” Kyoujurou says, eager to tell a story. “He was itching to visit!”

That’s. Then, were you also coming over to visit? Kaigaku’s thoughts are racing through his head in an incredible speed. He should have expected these to happen since Tanjirou was here, the protagonist, but it was still overwhelming having all these people suddenly just show up.

“Well, um. Come in, sir.”

“I’d be glad to!”

As Kaigaku leads Kyoujurou to the kitchen, where he can hear the clamoring of bowls and utensils as the kids try to make breakfast, he pings his system.

Is Muichiro already friends with Tanjirou? He asks frantically. Aren’t we still in the prelude to the Red Light District Arc?

[That’s true.]

Then why?

[Stranger things have happened.]

Like?

“What a quaint house! I can barely fit under the ceiling!” Kyoujurou bellows, laughter echoing through the small room as he taps the roof with his palm.

Kaigaku stares. Alright. Good point.

Muichiro, for the most part, acts like the sweetest person alive when right next to Tanjirou. Kaigaku is impressed at how smoothly he switches, honestly. Zenitsu, however, is not impressed at all. Maybe even he daresay jealous at all the attention Tanjirou is getting from the new guy.

So he puts all his attention into making breakfast and keeping Inosuke in one place. It’s cute to see him all pouty and it’s actually impressive how he’s able to manage being a decent person who doesn’t whine all the time; he should get more people to hang out with Tanjirou. Well, not like Tanjirou needs his help on that department.

Kaigaku leaves them to their antics. He’ll only meddle when it involves anyone hitting on Zenitsu.

Kyoujurou’s presence melds in easily with the kids, boisterously helping out with the cooking. Kaigaku, left with nothing else to do, leaves to sweep the outdoors.

Kuwajima was surprised when he’d come back from his walk and found two more pillars joining them for the day, but he welcomes them just as pleasantly as he did with Giyuu and Sanemi.

“What did you come here for, sir?” Kaigaku asks when the kids leave them to wash the plates. He insisted on doing it alone, but Kyoujurou had insisted on helping. “Muichiro came for Tanjirou and but you…?”

“Ah!” The pillar gestures to his pocket. “I came to deliver my response to your letter!”

What.

“Why in person?” Kaigaku has to control his voice as to not fully shout at him. He couldn’t have just sent his crow?

“It seemed rude not to!” Kyoujurou answers breezily, as if there was nothing wrong with doing so.

So, what? Him sending Kyutaro over was rude? Kaigaku shakes his head. It was useless to argue with him on these. “Nevermind, thank you for taking the time to come over.”

Kyoujurou hums cheerfully in response, scrubbing vigorously on a particularly persistant stain.

Both pillars end up staying for dinner as well.

Kaigaku was a little worried, since it was only a day away from new year’s and Tanjirou still insisted on staying, but he couldn’t really argue with two pillars in the vicinity. He’ll just have to make sure that Tanjirou and Inosuke spend more time with Giyuu and Urokodaki in future breaks.

There’s alcohol on the table, but it’s out of reach of the kids. Kaigaku didn’t want to bring it out before because Giyuu didn’t look like he particularly enjoyed alcohol, and Sanemi didn’t seem like he was staying over for leisure.

Muichiro was as quiet a guest as Giyuu had been, but would speak up if Tanjirou had taken charge of the conversation. In an effort to compete with this, Zenitsu would also start talking frequently (not that he wasn’t already talkative before), leading to a very noisy gathering indeed.

Inosuke just looked happy to be eating with people really, and for that, Kaigaku would ruffle his hair despite the challenges of a fight that would inevitably come right after.

Kyoujurou was, surprisingly, not as talkative as the kids. He’d offer his opinion here and there, but he largely enjoyed just eating away like Inosuke, albeit less uncouth than the boar.

Kaigaku excuses himself to sit out in the courtyard. While he doesn’t particularly mind the company he’s with, there’s no one talking to him anyway, so he might as well. Kuwajima glances at him, curious, but he just shakes his head and stands up, bringing a half empty bottle of sake with him. 

The quiet creeps up on him the farther he walks, and when he’s finally seated out, staring at the cloudless sky through the dead trees, the noise from inside is barely heard.

He sighs and stretches. It’s been an eventful week, as expected from being in the immediate vicinity of the main characters. It’s not that he minded, hell, it was kind of cool to see everyone and interact with them. Everybody’s just so bursting with personality that Kaigaku himself, who has barely any personality in him, is left drained.

Kaigaku pours himself a cup of sake; he deserves this break.

“You’re a good brother.”

Kaigaku startles, nearly letting go of the sake cup in his hands. He catches it on time, but still spills some on his kimono. “Uh.”

Kyoujurou is lounging leisurely beside him, looking up the sky, his own cup of alcohol in his hands. When did he get there?

Not sure whether or not the pillars statement even requires a response, he says: “You too?”

“Of course!” The pillar barks, the people inside remain unbothered despite the volume. Kaigaku thinks he may be a bit tipsy from the way his grin looks more unhinged than usual. “I always do my best for Senjurou!”

Kaigaku nods idly, he’s not to disagree with that. Why are they having this conversation? Especially while drinking?

“But.” Kyoujurou says next, somber. “I think you’re being too good of a brother.”

Kaigaku tries not to scoff in the face of a pillar. Well, if only you knew what I was sent here to do. “I wasn’t aware that would be a bad thing.” Is what he says instead.

“It isn’t!” Kyoujurou shouts yet again, at this point, no matter how far they are from the others, they’ll be bound to know what they’re talking about from the way this guy can’t control his volume. “Family is important, and valuing the people you love is most important of all!”

Kaigaku hums, there’s something more to that. He shifts in his seat to settle the weight of his head on his hands. “But?”

“But.” Kyoujurou parrots back, “I think recognizing distance is good to consider too.”

“Are you telling me to stay away from my own brother?” Kaigaku can’t help but blurt out, surprised at the implication.

The pillar just bursts into laughter. “Now that you say it, it does sound like that!”

Kaigaku grunts, and Kyoujurou continues to laugh vibrantly next to him. This conversation is going nowhere.

But he may have a point.

“I mean I get it.” At least, Kaigaku thinks he does. Kyoujurou still looks drunk, the guy might just be rambling, but he knows the pillar holds his liquor good enough to remain sober for a while.

“You want me to trust Zenitsu to be on his own, is that it?”

Kyoujurou hums. “Not entirely.” He singsongs, contemplating his next choice of words rather seriously. “I want you to trust yourself too.”

Trust himself? Kaigaku doesn’t say anything, letting Kyoujurou fill the silence to explain himself. The pillar eventually does, but it catches him off-guard.

“You're rather dependent on him, aren’t you?”

What.

“Um.”

Kaigaku feels vaguely offended. If anything, it’s Zenitsu who clings to him. It’s Zenitsu who keeps sticking to him. It’s all Zenitsu who’s dependent, definitely not him what the fuck what the fuck.

There’s no way that he’s dependent on the brat, the kid can barely function on his own so why is he the one who’s dependent? Unless, oh no, the fact that he’s denying it so fiercely is exactly why he’s dependent? Is he dependent on Zenitsu attention on him? He did have an entire crisis when he realized that he didn’t belong in this world and wasn’t actually the blonde’s brother so is he—

Kyoujurou continues to speak, oblivious to the way Kaigaku’s having a breakdown from having his perspective flipped on his head. “You keep saying that you want to be stronger. For him.”

“I’m not saying that you can’t be.” Kyoujurou turns his cup, watching the way the sake glint under the moonlight.  “I’m just saying that, you should figure out what you want to do for yourself too.”

“Because before you know it, you’ll start doubting yourself and the very reason why you do everything.”

Kaigaku blinks, lost in a moment of clarity but simultaneously feeling like he has too much thoughts to process. He’s still a bit confused (because he’s definitely not dependent on that brat he can’t be there’s no way), but he knows where the concern is coming from.

Kyoujurou’s father. Broken down from the loss of their mother.

Kaigaku is quiet. He’s not really sure what to say, so he just sips on his drink.

After a moment’s rest, Kyoujurou suddenly starts laughing again. It scares Kaigaku just a bit, worried that the pillar had finally snapped or something.

“That was rather glum, wasn’t it!” Kyoujurou rests from the laughter with a wistful smile, “I’m sorry.”

When he finally meets gazes with Kaigaku (it’s only the that he realizes Kyoujurou hadn’t looked at him once while they were talking), there’s a familiar fire in his eyes. “Having a reason to keep fighting is what keeps the fire in your heart burning.” He feels a familiar sting when Kyoujurou gives him a hearty pat on the back. “But don’t let that consume you!”

“Use it to your best potential!”

Kaigaku feels like his back might just break down from all the abuse it has taken from this man's palm. But he lets it slide, Kyoujurou had been surprisingly introspective with him tonight. He knew the pillar wasn’t always smiles and loudness, but it was hard to think otherwise when he had such a small role to fill before in the manga.

“Thanks.” Kaigaku finally croaks out when the pats stop. “You too.”

Kyoujurou blinks, curious. “Hm?”

“You always talk about protecting the weak.” Kaigaku explains. “Don’t let that kill you too.”

“If it’s necessary, I will.” Kyoujurou doesn’t even hesitate to reply.

Kaigaku opens his mouth to retort, but stops when the image of Kyoujurou bleeding out to death from a hole in his stomach flashes in his mind. He bites the inside of his cheeks.

“Then, if I have to consider myself more.” He drawls out, hoping that he’s able to convey the same fire Kyoujurou had when he’d given his advice. “You have to consider how others feel more, too.”

 Kyoujurou stares, caught off-guard. Kaigaku averts his gaze quickly, worried he might’ve said something wrong, so he doesn’t see his expression when the pillar speaks again.

“I should.”

“Rengoku sir, Kaigaku!” Tanjirou cuts through the tense air, grinning. “It’s time for dessert!”

Kyoujurou and Muichiro leave for the last day of the year, and finally, Tanjirou and Inosuke join them.

Kaigaku gives them both a new year's gift. It's better received than when he'd given it to Giyuu and Sanemi, at least. With Kyoujurou promising a return of the gift soon and Muichiro perking up just a bit from his usual listlesness.

The flame pillar vigorously shakes hands with Kuwajima before he leaves, thanking him for his accommodation and for, Kaigaku quotes, ‘raising excellent pillars-in-training’.

Kuwajima just laughs, bashful and even invites Kyoujurou to visit again.

Kaigaku himself ignores the way he preens from the praise.

And also ignores the way Kuwajima grins at him.

“What a fine young man.” His dear grandfather not so subtly says when they’re all gone. Zenitsu’s already retired inside, whining about missing them already. “Shinjuro has raised him well.”

“Yes.” Kaigaku replies dryly, unsure if more words will make him more suspicious. Suspicious of what? It seems that’s only for Kuwajima to know.

Chapter Text

[In a rather cheap piece of paper, full of marks from a bird that may have kept pecking on it, are neat letters leaving deep indents on the paper, as if the writer was struggling as they wrote.]

Dear Rengoku,

How are you doing?

Thank you for taking care of me and my brother this year. Please give my regards to your family, I wish all of you a happy incoming new year.

Sincerely,

Kaigaku

[In a sheer and expensive looking piece of letter paper, rugged brushstrokes full of vigor litter its face.]

Kaigaku! Happy new year!

I’m surprised to have received your letter, but it’s a good surprise!

I’ll be coming to visit to offer my gratitude in person!

Signed,

Rengoku Kyoujurou

Kaigaku’s sure his legs are going to break one day, he just knows it.

[It won’t.] His system sounds amused. [Please have more faith in your own physique.]

I’ll have more faith if it doesn’t feel like they’re about to fall off. He sighs, the cool night air at least helping him feel calm.

He’s back from another solo mission. Well, semi-solo. He had other demon slayers with him, but he decided to forgo their company in the middle of it. He personally isn’t very good with crowds, often opting to sit it out and be on the sidelines. Kaigaku was already notorious for being a lone wolf anyway, so it works in his favor of keeping in character.

They weren’t able to face a high-ranking demon, but since his fellow slayers were of the NPC flavor, they didn’t bring much to the table. Kaigaku had to work overtime just to get them through the first wave, and so, his legs took another heavy beating.

[You can ask for medication from Shinobu if you’d like.] His system kindly chimes.

I don’t want to trouble them, it’s late. He would very much like to. A lot. His legs hurt so fucking much, but he has manners. This’ll go away with enough rest.

Still, Kaigaku figures, he can sneak into the butterfly estate to steal some food. Surely, they won’t mind him getting something to eat. He was starving and he’d earned enough this week to replace it, anyway.

When he passes by the yard as he attempts to slink about, he sees a familiar brunette brandishing a sword, swinging it to and fro with practiced movements. Kaigaku pauses in his steps. Tanjirou? This late? What the hell was he doing? There’s an urge to call out and disturb him, but he looks so serious. Must be having a main character moment.

Kaigaku shrugs and leaves him be. If he comes back and Tanjirou’s still at it, he’ll drag the kid to bed, but for now, food.

He reaches the backdoor entrance to the kitchen, thankful that the hinges were loose and didn’t make a sound as he carefully pushed it open. Slowly, he creeps inside, shutting the door as quietly as he could behind him only to be met with--

--something pink?

Kaigaku stares. That’s an unexpected character to see tonight.

He finds Kanroji mumbling to herself and messing with the pantry, no doubt looking for something to eat like him.

“Um.” He tries to stay, unsure of how to make conversation.

Kanroji jumps, shrieking. Kaigaku’s surprised no one wakes up at that.

“Don’t tell them please, I--!” She stumbles to get a grip on Kaigaku’s haori, pleading. “I was just super hungry and I couldn’t take it so--!”

Kaigaku backs away, taking her hand as gently as he could and untangling it from his clothes. “It’s okay, Maam.” He says, raising up both hands in defense. Was Obanai here somewhere too? He doesn’t want an early death. Again. “I’m just here to eat as well.”

Kanroji laughs nervously. “Oh. Well.”

Kaigaku raises a brow at that. He leans to the side to peek at the contents of the pantry.

It’s empty.

“I’m sorry!” Kanroji explodes into another bout of apologies, seeing his disappointment. “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s,” Kaigaku stutters. Looks like he’ll just have to grit his teeth a little more and walk a few miles into the night for some food. “It’s no problem. There’s still some shops open I’ll just—”

He’s immediately cut off, suddenly faced with sparkling eyes. “I’ll go with you!” Kanroji exclaims. “A-As an apology! I can treat you to some food!”

I don’t think that’s the only reason you want to go out. “It’s okay maam, I don’t need—”

“Let’s go!”

Kaigaku is suddenly tugged out of the estate. So much for a quiet evening.

The market place nearby is still full of life despite the late hour, with a lot of shops open and their lights illuminating the area to make way for customers. The wisteria overhead provides a beautiful atmosphere to all this, protecting the patrons with their presence.

Kaigaku would have liked to stop and stare, but he was quickly pulled aside to a stall selling big bowls of udon by an excited pillar. No questions are asked and he’s immediately served a big bowl way past his appetite could handle. Nevertheless, he perseveres to eat all of it.

Thankfully, Obanai wasn’t anywhere to be seen or else he would’ve been dead before he could even take a bite. Kanroji was too focused on indulging herself to have conversation with him anyway. He was even able to order an extra plate of croquettes discreetly, something he’d never do in front of Zenitsu because he’d abuse his big brother’s favorite food quick.

Still, after all of the chaos from being force-fed different dishes throughout the night, he was thankful for the meal. He says this with a bow to Kanroji, who just giggles and waves him off.

“Oh it’s no problem, silly!” She gives him a few hearty pats on the arm, reminiscent of a certain someone. “I was hungry too, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to know more about Kyoujurou’s—ah.”

Kanroji pauses, suddenly blushing red down to her neck. Somehow Kaigaku’s feels his face heating up as well. What the fuck?

“I mean, Kyoujurou’s friend!” She hastens to say, flustered. “And, um, he’s right! I’m right! You’re very nice! Good night!”

Kaigaku is briefly flattered and distracted by the compliment, but is quick to be polite. “Ah, wait! How do I pay you back for--!” She runs away before Kaigaku could even say something, “…the meal.”

Funny. He’s pretty sure she knew nothing about him because all they did was eat together, barely any conversation was made during it too.

 [+1000]

Kaigaku frowns. Hello??

[For making a young lady blush.]

He scratches his head, sighing. What exactly was she blushing for?

Still at it.

Kaigaku leans on a tree, not even trying to be discreet about his position anymore, and yet Tanjirou pays no attention to him as he continuous to swing away with his sword.

As much as he wanted to leave the guy to his own devices--he might be having a very important introspective moment--Kaigaku did say he’d come back for him if he was still awake. And, well, Zenitsu wouldn’t be too happy to see Tanjirou so tired tomorrow for his mission, would he?

And so, with a hesitant obligation to keep Zenitsu’s future definitely not husband alive, he calls out to him.

“Hey!”

“Ah!” Tanjirou stutters to a stop, swiveling his head to meet his disappointed gaze. Kaigaku is worried he’d broken his neck from the speed he did. “Good evening!”

“What are you doing out so late?” He admonishes as he approaches, arms crossed for extra intimidation. “Don’t you have a mission with Inosuke tomorrow?”

Tanjirou chuckles, lowering his sword bashfully. “I just wanted to train some more before I slept.” He bows slightly in apology, “Sorry, did I wake you up?” And then, struck by a sudden thought, Tanjirou straightens up in alarm. “Is Zenitsu--!”

“--asleep? Yes.” That’s a lie. Kaigaku has no fucking idea. He’s pretty sure Zenitsu might be playing with Nezuko right now, but it’ll help to pull the rascal back inside for sleep. “But he won’t be for long if you keep screaming.”

The threat works a little too well than expected because Tanjirou then decides to sulk rather endearingly, staring at the ground with a pout. His concern for his brother would be cute if he wasn’t here on a very explicit mission to be a menace to suitors.

[It’s your self-imposed mission, actually.]

Details, Kaigaku counters.

“Go inside, Kamado.” Kaigaku says, only now noticing that Tanjirou had forgone his old haori for the new one Kyojurou had given him. That’s an odd choice. “You can play with your new haori tomorrow.” He notes with a raised brow.

It seems to hit a sore spot because Tanjirou snaps his attention back up to him rather aggressively (was that even possible?). “I wasn’t just playing!” He exclaims, the grip on his sword tightening. “I’m training! I need to be stronger and--ow!”

Kaigaku hauls him inside by the ear to shut him up. He doesn’t have the patience to hear his anime protagonist's speech right now.

 “You can be stronger tomorrow, you idiot.” He explains, giving the tiny ear a squeeze for emphasis. “For now? Sleep.”

“No!”

Kaigaku startles when Tanjirou practically manhandles his own grip off him with a violent strike. He can’t help the grimace he makes. That’s going to bruise like hell later, what’s with using his protagonist strength on him all of a sudden? And violent? Tanjirou?

Looks like the brunette himself is surprised by his own outburst, eyes widening immediately in regret and withdrawing into himself.

“Ah.” Tanjirou stutters, looking afraid. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, I’m just.”

Kaigaku hums turning back to face him, moving slowly to not spook the kid. The last thing he wants right now is for Tanjirou to go running off dramatically into the night.

“Didn’t mean to?”

Tanjirou shakes his head, eyes squeezed closed like he’s forgetting he did that in the first place.

Kaigaku tries again, this time trying to soften his tone. “Did you want to train or can you just not sleep?”

“Both?” Kaigaku nearly melts from the way Tanjirou’s voice croaks.

Well. Now he really can’t leave the kid out here alone, can’t he? He’s obviously bothered about something.

Kaigaku quietly removes Tanjirou’s increasingly, worryingly, tight grip on the sword and leads him to the pasio to sit. He places the sword gently on the floor, sheathing it while watching Tanjirou as he fiddles with his fingers. Kaigaku waits. The kid will talk eventually, when he’s calmed down.

Eventually is after a good ten minutes or so. Kaigaku knows because counting is all he can do in the silence.

“I’m sorry. I just.” There it is. “Feel like things have been going so fast.”

On the contrary, it’s at a snail’s pace for me. Kaigaku leans back, careful not to let any emotion show in fear of triggering an even worse response. “How?”

“I just became a Tsuguko.” Tanjirou is hunched over, like he’s carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders. “Kanao’s been training her whole life for this and I just—”

“Give yourself some damn credit.” Kaigaku cuts him off before the kid can stray deeper into any darker thoughts. “You fought well and the flame pillar acknowledged it.”

Tanjirou heaves a sigh, eyes darting frantically from the hands clasped between his legs and the trees in the distance. “Am I really worthy? I just got here and all of a sudden I shot up the ranks.” 

Yes, Tanjirou. You’re literally the chosen one. The plot basically revolves around you being the highest of the highest. He wants to say, but Tanjirou doesn’t know that. He’s just a kid who got orphaned early, tragically at that, and got thrust into the world of killing for his sister. No amount of prestige can replace that family he’s lost.

So he doesn’t say anything placating, can’t say anything positive really. “I’m not the one to say.” Is what Kaigaku decides on. “Clearly Rengoku saw something in you that you don’t.”

“What did he see?”

Kaigaku licks his lips, contemplative. “Someone strong.”

“I’m not.” Tanjirou’s voice trembles, but it’s resolute. “I’ve only ever pretended to be.”

He whispers his next words so quietly that Kaigaku has to strain his ears to hear it. “People had to die for me to be here.”

Kaigaku doesn’t say anything for a moment. Too many people have, and will in the future. This story isn’t a happy one. Still, he shouldn’t let Tanjirou dwell on that thought. “I don’t think your family would appreciate you blaming yourself for all of this.”

He gets a smile out of him for that, and a sad chuckle. “No. I don’t think they would.”

There’s a lull in the conversation, and Kaigaku should really usher the kid to bed. The moon’s already so high in the sky and he’s certain Tanjirou would hate himself when he wakes up tomorrow like shit. But he knows Tanjirou needs this, right now. Preferably before he has to kill another life.

Tanjirou breaks the silence with a hiccup, on the brink of tears. “I just wanted to save Nezuko.” He mutters, “I—”

“I’m so tired.” Tanjirou finally sags, not from relief, but probably from being able to finally say what’s on his mind. “Everything hurts every time we come back from a mission, and I try to deal with it, and deal with it, and deal with it but--”

He stops, a sob comes out choked from his throat, but he doesn’t let the tears flow. “And I don’t have the right to complain.” His voice shakes from the strain of keeping it all in. “There are people who care about me, who loved me, and I can’t let them down.”

“Not like this.” He finishes with a sniffle.

Hm. Kaigaku observes, unsure of how to respond. This Tanjirou’s a lot more vulnerable compared to what he’s previously known. The brunette has a lot of feelings portrayed in the manga, all of them positive to stand out from the bleak reality they live in. He was a light of hope for every character he’s ever met in his adventure. Tanjirou’s had too many moments where he’d cry for others, but Kaigaku’s only really realized that the kid rarely cries for himself.

The moment is utterly ruined, however, with the way Tanjirou is doing his absolute best to not let the tears fall. He’s biting his lip and it seems like it’s causing him pain so intense he’ll probably end up crying from it than his own emotions. It would be heart wrenching to watch if the brunette didn’t look so damn comical, like he’s having an out of body experience just to force his eyes to not give up.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Kaigaku can’t help but ask.

Tanjirou is distracted from his struggle when he hears pure venom in his voice. “Huh?”

“You’re going to bite your lips off doing that.” Kaigaku clicks his tongue, pinching the kid’s cheek not too painfully, just in an attempt to make him stop. It works for a moment, earning him a whine from the brunette. “If you’re going to cry, then cry.”

“But—” Tanjirou scrubs his eyes roughly, Kaigaku winces when the brunette’s gaze is redder than before. “I have to be strong!”

Kaigaku resists the urge to hit him square on the head. Someone needs to remind these kids that they’re just too young for that kind of attitude.

“Yeah? You see anything threatening?” That shuts Tanjirou up pretty quickly. “No? Then you don’t need to be fucking stubborn.”

“I can’t, I—”

Having enough of this talk, he drags Tanjirou’s head rather roughly to rest on his shoulder. Kaigaku regrets this immediately because Tanjirou’s forehead is the hardest thing known to man, and he had just essentially given him another injury to worry about. But he prioritizes comforting the kid before first aid.

Tanjirou makes a noise of confusion. “Kaigaku?”

“What? The tears aren’t on you.” Kaigaku soothes, well, as soothing as his voice can get. “That means they aren’t yours. I’m the one who cried, see? Wah.” He doesn’t bother making his crying sounds authentic, they’re deadpan if anything, but he supposes that should do the trick.

And it does. Tanjirou almost immediately is bawling into his shoulder, arms winding around Kaigaku to cling to his kimono. The cry isn’t a pretty one; it’s messy and noisy and Kaigaku’s pretty sure he’s going to have a hard time scrubbing off the snot that’s going to be on his kimono for weeks.

And Kaigaku, despite his earlier opinion of the fact that stopping yourself from crying is bullshit, still attempts to smother his own tears by biting his cheeks because he is the adult here and he will not be caught having emotions by this brat.

[Would you like to spend some points to stop disable the tear ducts?] His system asks with a flourish of dancing cactuses in his vision.

Shut the fuck up, Kaigaku says, but it helps to quell the tears threatening to fall.

“…I’m sorry.” Tanjirou has taken to mumbling over and over again into his shirt. “I’m really sorry.”

Kaigaku just adjusts his hold into something more comfortable. Tanjirou leans into him gratefully.

“I don’t know who you’re apologizing to, brat.”

“Everyone.”

Kaigaku hums. “I’m not everyone.” He pats his back as gently as he could, “It’s just me.”

They really are just kids.

As expected, Zenitsu is very much awake when they all come back to the mansion.

And is very angry at Kaigaku.

“What?” Kaigaku’s currently locked into a stare down with Zenitsu, who had taken one look at Tanjirou’s tear-streaked face and considered his own brother to be public enemy number one. “I didn’t do anything to your boyfriend.”

“Boyf—?!” Zenitsu chooses to ignore the teasing in favor of glaring up at him. “Tanjirou was crying!”

“Are you saying I did something to make him cry?” Kaigaku does his best to glare just as viciously back.

Zenitsu doesn’t falter. Impressive. “Yes!”

However, Kaigaku, who had exhausted all of his emotional capacity to placate Tanjirou earlier, only sighs in defeat. “If I did, what would you do?” Zenitsu squawks in protest when he pushes him away with a palm to the face. “That’s right, nothing. Now go to sleep.”

In the corner of the room, Inosuke jumps up on his bed. “Kuugaku! I wanna play Karuta!”

“No Karuta tonight! Get some fucking sleep, all of you!”

A tired, tiny voice calls out from across the hall. Sumi. “Mr. Inadama! No bad words please!”

Oops.

The next day, Tanjirou is back to wearing his old green haori. Kaigaku relaxes at the sight of it somehow.

They’re fussing about in the kitchens, preparing some food for the journey. Well, only Tanjirou really. Inosuke was still fast asleep on the floor and Kaigaku had tried to wake him up but all attempts have failed. He supposes the kid would just snap awake on his own.

The mission was far off to the south and it would take a couple of days to get there barefoot, no matter how fast they ran, so it would be best to take all they need so they won’t need to spend extra time in the towns.

Zenitsu, as expected, did not take kindly to being abandoned on his own in the missions department. Nothing he could really do, however, because Ukogi had already given him a mission prior as well. Of to the north, so he can’t come with even if he wanted to.

“But Tanjirou!” Zenitsu whines, currently clinging to the brunette as he usually would whenever aggravated. Compared to his meltdowns in the manga it’s much more tamer now, no tugging or flailing, but he’s still loud about it. Tanjirou just continues to mold rice balls with no problem at all.

“What am I going to do all alone?!”

“You’re strong Zenitsu!” Tanjirou beams, ever positive. “I believe in you.”

Zenitsu’s whines just grow more incoherent.

Fucking hell. If it wasn’t so early in the morning, Kaigaku would scream at him to—

Who was he kidding, he didn’t care.

“Shut up already and pack your own bag, stupid brat!” He shouts, throwing the ball of blanket Zenitsu didn’t bother to fold earlier when he had gotten up. “You’ve got bigger things to worrying about than being alone!”

Zenitsu just sticks his tongue out defiantly, “What bigger things, huh?!”

“You wanna know?” Kaigaku lowers his voice to a grave tone, dragging a thumb across his own neck for emphasis. Zenitsu yelps and hides himself further into Tanjirou’s arms, the brunette only laughs, consoling him with indulgent caresses on the back. Sly kid.

As Kaigaku tries to shimmy Inosuke out of his futon and get Zenitsu to work on his own chores, Tanjirou finishes up packing everyone’s food for the day.

Including Kaigaku’s.

He raises a brow, but doesn’t deny his charity. He takes the plate with an (un)kind nod. “I’m not going anywhere, kid.” His pigeon had already given him a mission yesterday that took only one night to finish. He’s free for another day or so.

Tanjirou isn’t fazed by the cold shoulder. Of course, he isn’t. “You can still eat it for lunch!”

“And it’s my thank you.” He adds with an embarrassed chuckle.

Zenitsu, who was currently doing his best to fold all the blankets and futons at the behest of his brother, narrows his eyes at the warm tone. Kaigaku squints back, challenging him. Now look what Tanjirou had gone and did, he made his little brother so quick to jealousy.

Finishing his chores quick, Zenitsu unfurls his portion of food from its wrapping and peers into in discreetly, frowning as he looks at the ones Kaigaku has on his plate.

“Yours have more filling than mine.” The blonde murmurs to himself, dejected.

Kaigaku snorts, amused. That’s enough to set him off? “It would seem so.”

Zenitsu petulantly wraps his food back up, stuffing it in his bag sluggishly.

He could leave it at that and not trigger his dear little brother any further, but what good of a brother was he if couldn’t be an asshole sometimes?

Kaigaku puts on his best smirk, leaning on his hand in an attempt to provoke him further. “Jealous?”

As expected, the reaction is immediate. “No!”

Kaigaku laughs maniacally at Zenitsu’s red face, enjoying himself. Man, he forgot how good it was to mess with kids.

Unfortunately for him, he forgot kids can still retaliate, and Zenitsu does this by stealing his plate of rice balls for himself. Kaigaku didn’t particularly feel the need to bring it back, but Tanjirou did give it to him in good faith. He’s not going to let a gift from the protagonist go, it probably has some good karma in it.

“Hey!” Kaigaku roars, reaching for Zenitsu as the blonde darts off back into the kitchens. “Come back here you fucking—!"

Tanjirou comes into the picture, his savior. “You can’t, Zenitsu!” The brunette scolds good-naturedly, able to snatch back the plate in his hands because of his superior reflexes. “That’s for Kaigaku!”

Zenitsu is visibly dejected, unable to say no to him. Kaigaku can’t help a proud huff escape him.

“Hah.”

Zenitsu glares back at him, looking like a cat that’s been forcibly dragged into a bath.

“Tanjirou! I was friends with you first!” Ah, there it is. Zenitsu’s killer technique. Begging. Again. “Why don’t I get bigger rice balls?!”

Tanjirou just purses his lips, in thought. Zenitsu takes this badly and his whines increase in volume. Kaigaku just sits back and watches the show, if Tanjirou had any plans of courtship in the future he’d better handle the blonde’s outbursts well.

Speaking of outbursts, Kaigaku throws a pointed look at the snoring boar on the floor, is he ever going to wake up?

Tanjirou, in the meantime, presents Zenitsu with a fresh batch of ohagi. It’s all misshapen and malformed, but the thought is there. “Sorry, Zenitsu. I just wanted to show my gratitude!” He explains, pushing the desserts towards him with a gentle smile. “Here, I made desserts specifically for you.”

Zenitsu’s eyes twinkle at the new offering, tentatively taking a bite of one. His eyes sparkle in delight from the sweetness, but quickly tries to smother his obvious joy with a quick turn of his head and a huff.

“Thanks.” He mumbles, “You’re lucky I like these too.”

“Ah, but leave some for Inosuke, okay?” Tanjirou adds with a cheeky grin.

Zenitsu pouts at that, but Tanjirou merely pinches him on the cheek.

“For me?”

“…Fine.”

Kaigaku watches as Inosuke ruins the moment by suddenly re-animating from the dead and taking a big bite of Zenitsu’s half-eaten ohagi.

That was one way to diffuse his brother’s ever-present dramatics. Maybe he doesn’t need to keep watch on Tanjirou so much after all.

He really should have kept a better watch on Tanjirou.

Now here Zenitsu is, cradling a new delicately carved fan, a gift that Tanjirou had bought him while they were on the mission prior. It’s got a shitton of bamboo ribs, clueing Kaigaku in on just how expensive this thing was, and a beautiful yellow and orange motif suited for Zenitsu.

Just happened to pass by, he said. Just happened to think of Zenitsu, he said.

Of course, Zenitsu is too flattered to be offered the gift to understand that this is another ploy of Tanjirou’s. “I don’t see why you’re so fussy over it.” The blonde says, stroking the fan in awe. “It’s just a fan.”

“Just a fan?” Kaigaku can’t help the way he spits the question out like venom.

“Yeah.” Zenitsu responds, still obviously distracted. “Inosuke has one too.”

“Does he now?”

When Kaigaku sees Inosuke’s fan, his suspicions were confirmed.

Inosuke’s fan is gigantic and not nearly as pretty as Zenitsu’s. Deadly, is more appropriate, especially with the way its edges glint in the sunlight. And the fact that it’s metal.

Kaigaku thinks that maybe giving one of the most unhinged characters a new weapon to play with isn’t the best choice.

How Tanjirou came across a dangerous weapon, much less buy it, he didn’t know. What kind of place sells pretty, ornate fans and has weapons of mass destruction just right next to it?

“See?” Zenitsu brags, as if Kaigaku was just delusional from the start. “A fan.”

Kaigaku scoffs. “Yeah. But yours isn’t built to kill someone.” He gestures haughtily at him, “Yours is for display.”

“I’m not trying to kill people.” Zenitsu mutters, having the audacity to look bashful. “And I like my sword already.”

Kaigaku just clicks his tongue. No winning against someone blind in love.

When Tanjirou finds him, he’s given a fan as well. It’s not nearly as pretty as Zenitsu’s, his looks like you could actually use it, but he appreciates it all the same. Not. (He does.)

“Ah yes. Tanjirou’s souvenirs!” Kyoujurou bellows as he settles down beside Kaigaku, a plate full of snacks in one hand and the other holding his own gift from Tanjirou. It doesn’t even look like it’s been used much. Funny, Kaigaku expected the opposite.

“He’d given me one as well! He’s given everyone a piece! But I don’t have much use for it because I don’t even feel hot!”

That’s because you’re a monster. Kaigaku thinks as he politely mutters his thanks for the food.

Kaigaku didn’t know when it started happening, but he’s been a frequent visitor of the flame pillar estate. Mostly because his plans of making Tanjirou (and Inosuke by proxy) busy as a Tsuguko backfired and now Zenitsu was willingly going to visit the brunet every day. If they’re not in the butterfly estate for injuries, they’re barging into Kyoujurou’s to hang out.

Kaigaku originally only lurked outside, watching his brother interact with Tanjirou from afar, but eventually Kyoujurou caught him and he was ushered inside ever since.

He’d had doubts about overstaying his welcome--Shinjuro was still somewhere around this place and he didn’t want to cause a disturbance--but really, if he wasn’t showing up to scream at the three kids causing havoc in the yard bi-weekly then he’s probably fine.

Kaigaku had tried to ask once, but it ended up rather awkward.

(“My father could care less about us!”

Kaigaku pauses in his drinking. He doesn’t know how to respond to that. It’s a blunt way of putting it.

“Um, that’s good to hear?” Is it?

Kyoujurou just shakes his head, eyes fixed into his cup of alcohol, pensive.

“He drinks himself to sleep more often nowadays.” The explains, voice down to a reasonable volume. “So there’s no need to worry.”

Sounds like there’s plenty to worry about your dad. Kaigaku clears his throat before he speaks, he opts to steer the conversation away from any more serious talk.

“Then I suppose dropping off Zenitsu here is welcome?”

Kyoujurou is quick to snap back to his previous jovial mood. “You’re both welcome!” A warm grin is flashed at him. “Always!”

Kaigaku not so subtly chokes on his drink. His system spares him the embarrassment by not making a sound.)

“Ah, but you’re looking quite bothered, Kaigaku!” Kaigaku snaps back to reality, blinking in surprise when Kyoujurou flaps his fan open with a smack. “Let me help you with that!”

Kaigaku ends up subjected to Kyoujurou’s rigorous fanning abilities to cool off; the pillar moving his arms at high speeds without breaking a sweat (even eating, laughing, while he does it).

He vaguely wonders if this is where the technological inspiration for industrial fans came from.

Apart from the comicalness of the pillar’s antics, the afternoon is a quiet one. One thing he can always appreciate within the demon slayer estates is the sense of peace and calm they would always evoke in him. In the distance, he can hear the mild-mannered sweeping of Senjurou, doing his best to keep the estate in tip top shape and the sound pattering footsteps—

Ah, they’re back.

Inosuke is the first one to burst in, running through the gates like a madman and immediately doing some sort of flip and breakdance routine within the training area provided. Kaigaku feels tired just by watching him. Tanjirou and Zenitsu follow suite, both chattering with each other about something excitedly as they make their way in.

Kaigaku makes a mental note of Tanjirou’s tired smile. Looks like he’s still hung up about whatever was messing with his thoughts from nights prior.

He’s distracted from this by the new silk pouch attached to Zenitsu’s kimono, dangling and swinging as the blonde walked. Keeping his gifts close, he sees.

“Welcome back!” Greets Kyoujurou with a hearty laugh, “Feel free to have some more food, we’ll resume shortly!”

“The great Inosuke demands mochi!”

“Do you have ice cream?” Zenitsu whines, fanning himself unsuccessfully with his own hand. “It’s really hot and—”

“Don’t be picky, you brats.” Kaigaku threatens. The blonde yelps in surprise, clearly not expecting his brother to be present. “Eat what they can serve.”

Kyoujurou chuckles, reaching over to pat Zenitsu comfortingly. But in true flame pillar fashion, the hand is heavy Zenitsu nearly topples over from the impact. “Ah, but we do have some.” The pillar says, “I’m sure Senjurou won’t mind as long as you share!”

Zenitsu hurries to find Senjurou with glee, Tanjirou and Inosuke following right behind them with excited prattle about food. Kaigaku sighs. If the pillar says so, then so be it.

When they return with a flustered Senjurou in tow, Inosuke joins Kyojurou in the fun activity of fanning and competes with the pillar on who has the most stamina to keep up the activity for longer.

Kaigaku ends up with basically two electric fans set in opposing sides.

All the while Zenitsu and Tanjirou ate (read: fed each other because they were using one spoon to eat from the damn bowl) ice cream in the sidelines. Senjurou, the perfect angel that he is, sits obediently beside his brother and serves him extra snacks when the pillar runs out of them.

Throughout their little extended break time, Kaigaku can’t help but watch Tanjirou for more signs of fatigue. If he sees just one, he’d drag the brunette out of here and tie him into a bed, pillar’s training be damned.

“You’ve been staring at them for an awful while now.” Kyoujurou observes after he’d long beaten Inosuke on his own bet, the boar now taken to pester Senjurou on the sidelines. Kaigaku pretends to find his empty cup interesting to not seem suspicious. “Would you also like ice cream?”

Kaigaku just shakes his head. “No, sir. I’m fine.”

“Hm. Something’s bothering you, then.” Looks like Kyoujurou’s not going to let him off the hook. Kaigaku swears he’s fine. He’s peachy.

“About your brother?” Kyoujurou notes, eyes darting from him and the blonde curiously.

“Again?”

Kaigaku bristles at the way he says ‘again’. He’s been keeping a perfectly good distance away from Zenitsu’s business, thank you very much. He is most definitely not being overprotective, yet again. Sure, he meddled with the fan thing, but how could he stand idly when his brother is being wooed in broad daylight?

What he’s worried about is Tanjirou, but feeling like he’s being patronized, Kaigaku practically hisses. “No. It’s your fucking Tsuguko.”

“Kamado?” Kyojurou questions, ignoring Kaigaku’s momentary lapse of manners.

He’s gotten himself a bad case of imposter syndrome. No, he can’t say that. “He looks tired.”

Kyoujurou cradles his own chin in thought, “We do have a regimen to maintain—”

“No it’s—”

“—And Kamado has been very receptive to—"

“I meant tired mentally you damn--” Kaigaku stresses, growing frustrated. He clears his throat, catching himself before worse words spill out of his mouth.

“Sir.”

Kyojurou takes his fit in stride, immediately just howling in laughter at him. Kaigaku ignores the way his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Why isn’t his system helping him keep his composure around this guy?!

[Kyoujurou is an anomaly, much like you are.] It chimes in, [This system can’t use the Pillar Filter function for him.]

Yeah? Still a pillar, though.

[An anomalous pillar.]

Kaigaku groans in frustration at the same time Kyojurou stands to clap his hands.

“Break time is over!” He shouts, startling the poor kids. He picks up the wooden sword propped up on a nearby tree. “Time for your final lesson for today!”

Inosuke has no complaints, brandishing both of his swords with no hesitation and running towards Kyoujurou with vigor. “Let’s go! I’ll get you this time, Rokurou!”

“It’s Sir Rengoku to you!” Zenitsu corrects him, already making his way to Kaigaku to cling to him for the rest of the afternoon.

Tanjirou nods resolutely and takes his position next to a more or less vibrating Inosuke. “I’ll do my best!”

Kaigaku sets his cup down, curious. He rarely gets to see them actually spar, since the times Kaigaku had been invited over was when they were lounging around, recovering from their training already. He’s a little excited to see how things were taught.

There’s no fanfare whatsoever, Kyoujurou just has to move his foot once and both kids are already lunging at him to land a hit.

Tanjirou aims for a hit on Kyoujurou’s right, misses and nearly hits Inosuke with an attack. Inosuke dodges fairly easily and uses that momentum to thrust his own strike at the pillar. Kyoujurou blocks and counters with his own slash, the impact making Inosuke back up and accidentally trip on a rock.

Kaigaku snorts as Inosuke momentarily falls to the ground. Good start.

Tanjirou is quick to retaliate, but has to focus on blocking Kyoujurou’s incessant advances. Leaving him no choice but to also fall back. Luckily, Inosuke is back up in no time and the fight continues.

Inosuke is fast and messy with his movements, it’s hard to predict where he’s going to aim for next, much less where he’s is going to position himself next in the field. He’s uncoordinated but strikes fast and somehow has an acute sense of where Kyoujurou’s current weak points can be.

Tanjirou is much more measured and openly amateur. His movements retain a lot of fluidity from Urokodaki’s teachings and subsequently Giyuu’s influence. He steps around Kyojurou like he’s water, responding to where the pillar’s movements on the ground land, but there’s a distinct raw power in the way he holds his sword. His own brand of flame bleeding through.

Despite this, all of their strength pales in comparison to Kyoujurou’s defense. He was a pillar and there was a reason why he got that title in the first place. He has Tanjirou’s elegance in the handling of sword, even more so, but still has a certain wildness to it akin to Inosuke’s frantic movements. His weak points are nonexistent from the way he’s able to recognize and rectify almost immediately.

With the way Tanjirou and Inosuke are struggling to even just find time to get up, he knows Kyoujurou isn’t holding back at all. Damn.

[Close your mouth, Kaigaku.]

Kaigaku snaps back to reality with an embarrassed cough. Had his mouth been open? Senjurou and Zenitsu beside him are too engrossed in the fight to notice his dilemna.

It is closed.

[Of course, of course.]

Kaigaku feels slighted. I’m just really impressed.

[Kaigaku I’m literally not saying anything.]

You might’ve wanted to.

[Pray tell, about what?]

Kaigaku doesn’t dig himself further into his own pit and shuts up.

Tanjirou suddenly moves to aim his attack behind Kyoujurou and the pillar is quick to respond to it, but Inosuke appears in front of him as well. A coordinated assault. The pillar manages to block both somehow with just one swift slash of his sword, but Tanjirou forgoes defending and instead continues his barrage, even if he suffers a pretty bad hit on the arm.

The next moment, Inosuke’s strategy had changed, no longer is he trying to confuse Kyoujurou with his constant jumping and running, he’s now taken to sticking behind Tanjirou at all times. Whenever Tanjirou attacks and Kyojurou returns the favor, he takes the hit for the brunette, also being able to deliver a few cheeky hits here and there.

The fight reaches its climax when Tanjirou was able to deliver such a heavy hit that it breaks both his and Kyoujurou’s sword, making an opening for Inosuke to land a hit on the pillar finally after so many exchanges.

Kyoujurou dodges in time, but his sleeve is torn just from Inosuke’s weapon grazing his clothes.

Holy shit, Kaigaku thinks.

Senjurou gasps, worried for Kyoujurou’s safety or from surprise at Tanjirou and Inosuke’s victory, he doesn’t know. What he knows for sure is that Zenitsu’s yelp is definitely from his friend’s success.

Kyojurou is also surprised, stuck in a daze momentarily, until he beams at both his Tsugukos proudly.

“Good job, the both of you!” He barks with a laugh. “You’ve landed a hit on me!”

Tanjirou, at a loss for words, simply stares. He’s yet to relax from his combat stance. “I—” He stutters in disbelief. “Did we really?”

“Huh?!” Inosuke had already thrown his sword to the side, cheering for himself. “Of course I did! The great Inosuke never misses!”

Kyoujurou nods in agreement, a sincere grin plastered on his face. “Of course!” The expression turns a little solemn when he asks next, “Would I lie, Kamado?”

“No!” Is Tanjirou’s immediate response, looking much more alive compared to earlier. Good, Kaigaku muses, happiness is a good look for him. The only look he should have, really. “I just—Thank you very much!”

He immediately joins Inosuke in raving about their victory, running laps around the training grounds screaming and shouting. Zenitsu leaves his side and joins them in celebration, blabbing about Inosuke’s cool foot work and Tanjirou’s amazing sword technique. Tanjirou pulls him in for a hug, laughing carelessly as Inosuke also tries to wriggle in between them.

Kaigaku has half the mind to stand and pull Zenitsu back from Tanjirou’s hold, but he’ll let it slide. Just for today.

Kyoujurou returns to his seat beside him, ignoring the way one of his sleeves is now torn and holding for it’s dear life by a thread.

Senjurou panics at the sight of it, “I’ll go get something new for you to wear, brother!”

Kyoujurou opens his mouth to protest, but he’s already darted behind one of the screen doors. He merely shakes his head and returns his attention to Kaigaku with a nod.

“I see what you mean.”

Kaigaku raises a brow. See what he meant? Tanjirou’s problem? He got it from one sparring session?

“Um.”

“He has a desire to fight, still, despite the doubts.” Kyoujurou explains and wow, how the fuck does this guy read someone from a fight? Kaigaku can barely focus on anything else when he’s facing off with someone. “But he’s growing weary holding on to his reasons.”

However, just as he was about to shower Kyoujurou in praises within his head of how perceptive he can be, the pillar decides to open his mouth again.

“We’ll have to increase training in the future!”

Didn’t you understand what I was trying to say?! “Rengoku, sir, Tanjirou is—”

“I know.” Kyoujurou waves off his concern, “But I’m sure you know that Tanjirou isn’t one for rest and standing idly.”

Kaigaku shuts his mouth at that. Point taken. “But what’s tying him down with work going to do?”

“Nothing, I suppose.” Ah. Well. That’s a straightforward answer, Kaigaku considers. Is there really nothing they could do for the kid? Kyoujurou continues. “They are both welcome to tell me if they’d like to stop.”

Kaigaku glances back at the trio, watching as Tanjirou helps a whining Zenitsu swing his sword like he did earlier, and playfully admonishing an Inosuke who’s trying to get the blonde to trip on his feet and fall like he did.

“But company usually is best for circumstances like this, don’t you think?” Kyoujurou asks, following his gaze and chuckling when Inosuke succeeds in his attempts.

Kaigaku sighs, picking up his long-abandoned cup.

“I guess.”

Kyoujurou doesn’t deign him with a response, only quietly offering to pour him a drink. Kaigaku belatedly realizes that he should’ve serve the pillar first and manhandles the bottle from him. Kyoujurou just laughs again.

If they can’t help any more than this, he’ll just have to make sure that Tanjirou knows it’s okay to be vulnerable to the people who matter to him the most.

Tanjirou notices his eyes on him and waves back with a grin. Kaigaku, embarrassed at getting caught staring and thinking sappy thoughts, doesn’t wave back. Kyojurou, however, waves back enthusiastically for the both of them.

Chapter Text

“Mr. Inadama!”

Kaigaku is unsure of what to do when Naho runs towards him, crying.

Chapter Text

Patrons. They’re supposed to be going around and being patrons.

Kaigaku is still in a daze when he and Kyoujurou exit the room Tengen had temporarily rented for the duration of the mission. He’d just finished getting changed into a simple yukata and getting his hair styled courtesy of the pillar. For a moment there, he thought he would have to pretend like Zenitsu, but no. Just a simple outfit change and he was briefed for the mission, given pep talk, and kicked out with Kyoujurou.

He barely remembers the details of it all, his brain too busy reeling from the fact that they had to partake in certain services. Namely he had to…enter and…

Kaigaku wanted to scream. Another downside to being involved in the plot. Getting roped into doing ridiculous stunts by good looking people.

Speaking of, Kaigaku begrudgingly turns to the reason he’s even in this mess in the first place. The flame pillar is currently engaged in a one-sided conversation with him, rambling exposition as they walk. It’s only then that Kaigaku registers Kyoujurou’s attire.

He's wearing a casual yukata in the color of his hair, dressed down like Tengen. Maybe too dressed down because his chest is barely covered by the clothes he wears. Kaigaku refuses to elaborate on that.

His hairstyle is noticeably different, though. His hair tied back in a loose but high ponytail, and his bangs hanging loosely to frame his face. Not completely covering his forehead, but not quite like the blown back, owl style he’d usually be seen with.

Essentially, he looks and plays the part of a red-light district customer well.

Kaigaku fumbles with his yukata, insecure, as he tries and fails to cover his chest that had been thoroughly exposed to sell their act. The fabric isn’t cheap, and boy he can tell because there wasn’t a single crease on it when he unfurled it earlier.

Feeling pressured all of a sudden, he pokes at his system.

I’m not going to, um. He’s struggling. You know. Right?

[How you proceed with situations is beyond my control.] It says back, oddly cheerful. [Just have fun!]

Have fun. Yeah. Kaigaku deadpans. How the fuck do you have fun in the red-light district.

“Over there, Kaigaku!” Kyoujurou exclaims while pointing at an elegantly built brothel. “Our mission awaits!”

A few onlookers turn their gazes their way at the booming voice and Kaigaku feels a wash of embarrassment overcome him. Can you stop making it super obvious?! 

“Please lower your voice.” He begs.

Kyoujurou pays him no mind and marches onward without a care in the world, determined in his steps. Kaigaku follows after him, reluctant.

The door opens and they’re both quickly approached by a polite, but somehow terrifying, lady. They’re both led to a table and served freshly prepared tea. Kaigaku accepts graciously and takes small sips. He’s immediately given a napkin to wipe himself when some of it drips from the side of the cup.

That’s some next level service. He assumes the reason they’re being treated with amazing speed and courteousness is directly related to the flame pillar right beside him. Looks can really get you far, huh?

“Dear patrons,” She greets with a flash of her perfectly carved smile, sitting down in front of them. “How may we serve you?”

“Good afternoon!” The pillar greets back with gusto. “We’d like to be served by your most skilled!”

Kaigaku stifles a choke from Kyoujurou’s sentence--thinking something else entirely--but otherwise continues to act perfectly normal. This guy probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He nods quietly in agreement, not trusting himself to speak.

There’s a pause in the air before the lady speaks once again, this time hesitant. 

“Both?” She shoots a look from Kaigaku to Kyoujurou and oh no-- “Of you?”

Kaigaku wanted to sink into the floor. Kyoujurou continued, relentless and oblivious. Or he just didn’t care at all.

“Yes!”

The lady is speechless. Kaigaku agrees. His jaw would be hanging, no actually, it’d be detached entirely from how confidently Kyoujurou was steam rolling into a conversation about a threesome--

“Yes, well.” She finally gathers her wits back, clearing her throat. “I’m not sure if we have maidens who are fit to serve, two.”

Kaigaku made a noise. Okay, this had to stop. “We. Do not require physical entertainment. Please.”

The woman just raises a brow, suspicious. “Understood.”

Kyoujurou chugs his tea and screams ‘this is delicious!’ as per usual.

They’re led into their quarters for the night by a young woman the lady had introduced them to. She wore a light green silk kimono, long hair let down with her parted bangs framing her delicate face. 

The room is larger than most inn rooms, at least compared to those he’d seen meant for two people. A table sits on the center, and it’s where she motions for them to sit by. Kaigaku carefully takes a seat on the available pillow. The feeling of something soft under him keeps him grounded a little. She sits across him languidly, smiling.

Kaigaku coughs and nods back politely, a little thankful for the table separating them from her. He’d feel a little more exposed without it.

“What an oddly decorated place!” Kyoujurou exclaims openly as he plops down beside him with little reservation. “It sure is different from ones I’ve seen before.”

You’ve been in one of these before? Kaigaku thinks, wide-eyed as Kyoujurou looks about the room. How often were pillars taking missions in this place? He sounds like a frequent customer. Was he--

Kaigaku catches himself before he spirals down weird thoughts, frowning. Of course he would. For missions. For missions. He shakes his head. And they don’t always offer sex. Geez Kaigaku.

“Would you like something to drink?” The girl offers, reaching behind her for a bottle of alcohol. Kaigaku didn’t even realize she bought some with her.

Kyoujurou, ever the socialite, jumps at the offer. “Yes please! Miss,” He says, a lull in his sentence, waiting for her to add something to it.

The girl perks up, a light blush on her cheeks at the subtle prompt. “Oh, my name is Himari.”

The pillar nods in satisfaction. “Nice to meet you, Himari! Thank you for your courtesy.”

She giggles and takes a shy glance at Kaigaku. Oh right, he’s here to participate as well. 

“Thank you.” He offers curtly.

She takes the bottle of sake in a flourish and delicately opens it, sliding the cups on the table to distribute it between the three of them. Kaigaku watches as she moves smoothly like a dancer, he supposes it’s done deliberately for the guest’s entertainment.

Just as she’s about to pour, however, Kyoujuro just decides that taking the bottle from the lady was a good idea.

“Let me, Himari!”

Kaigaku blinks when Kyoujurou pours sake on both hers and his cups in one fell swoop, a grin on his face as he does so.

Kaigaku’s cup remains empty. 

Hello? He can’t help but hiss in his mind. What did he do??

Despite being startled by her guest’s forwardness, she continues to be the ever-accommodating host that she is and moves to take the bottle from him. Kyoujurou just laughs good-naturedly, placing the bottle far from where she can reach over the table.

“Ah. I’d like to keep this. It’s the usual amount I drink.” He says, taking a big swig of the bottle, before letting out a guffaw. “Thank you very much!”

Did you get that tolerance off your dad or something?! Kaigaku’s losing braincells by the minute. And where the hell is my share you asshole?!

Kyoujurou licks his lips, staring at the bottle after he’d downed nearly half (what the fuck) before even considering giving Kaigaku a portion.

“Here, Kaigaku!” He says, and oh good. The pillar hasn’t forgotten about him.

“It’s mild, so you’ll probably be able to handle this.”

Kaigaku feels something in him snap. 

What.

The moment his cup is filled, he snatches it off the table as fast as he could muster.

“I.” He starts through grit teeth as he nears the cup to his lips. He was an adult and his alcohol tolerance will not be put into question. He was getting wasted at bars during his prime!

“Can handle worse.”

Kyoujurou acquiesces, much like an adult indulging in a kid’s fantasy. “Of course, of course!” He laughs it off, taking another swig of the booze.

System.

[Can’t kill a character you specifically wished to be revived, Kaigaku.]

Kaigaku pointedly does not meet the poor lady’s confused expression as he drinks bitterly from his cup with a slurp.

There’s silence for a moment. Due to Kyoujurou’s messing with what was supposed to be Himari’s routine, the girl probably finds herself unsure of how to approach them.

She takes another chance to lead the conversation when Kyoujurou gives him another cupful of sake, her eyes fixated on his bandaged arm.

“Sir Inadama.” She meekly calls out, moving to stand up. “You seem to be injured, if I may—”

“Oh.” Kaigaku stops her before she could. He’d rather not trouble her with first aid care. “There’s no need. The bandages will be enough for tonight—”

Kyoujurou makes a noise of complaint beside him, patting his injured arm with a heavy hand. It was probably to initiate a sense of sympathy, but all Kaigaku got was more pain. 

“Nonsense! You’ll need to change those hourly if possible!” He exclaims. With how the pillar is, he’s unsure whether or not the guy was already drunk out of his mind. ”Look, some blood has already started to seep through!”

Himari, eager to be of help, stands up with a newfound vigor. “Then I will fetch you a clean batch!”

She rushes out of the room, sliding the door behind her haphazardly.

“What a spritely young woman.” Kyoujurou chuckles, leaning on the table casually.

Kaigaku lets himself relax a little too, rubbing his injured arm idly. Thankfully, this mission is easier to execute than he’d expected. They just had to sit here and be served. It looks like what they’re looking for isn’t in here anyway. He hasn’t seen any signs of Tengen’s wives anywhere. Sure, they may not actively seek them out, but not one face stood out to him.

So Kaigaku leans in a little close to the pillar, whispering covertly. “What are we supposed to do?”

Kyoujurou turns to regard him with an odd look. “Hm?”

Kaigaku tries again, trying to keep his voice low. “How are we supposed to know if--”

“They’re not here.” Kyoujurou says simply, when Kaigaku’s point finally hits him, not even bothering to change his volume. “In the rooms we’ve passed earlier, I didn’t see them.”

Oh. Figures. Of course, the pillar had been two steps ahead of him in terms of the plan.

“But.” He wonders out loud, “Shouldn’t we be moving to the next brothel?”

“Tengen’s wives were assigned at specific brothels.” Kyoujurou plays with the bottle in his grip, swirling the contents. “Tanjirou, Zenitsu and Inosuke have been assigned at the main three.”

“We’re only here as backup.” He taps the table with the hand not preoccupied with booze. “And if we move too much I fear that it would attract too much attention.”

So you’re aware that you attract too much attention. “Noted.” Kaigaku mutters.

Still, it doesn’t erase his unease. Should they really be standing idle while the kids and Tengen continue like usual? Then again, Kyoujurou isn’t supposed to exist in this scenario either, so he can’t say he’s doing anything wrong. But they have the ability to help, Kyoujurou even more so, so why can’t they?

“Now, now, Kaigaku!” Kyoujurou pats his back heartily, prying him out of his thoughts. “Don’t look so glum! This is the entertainment district after all!”

Kaigaku huffs. Well. He’ll leave any further thinking to Kyoujurou. He’s the pillar in this situation, and Kaigaku’s tired overthinking his place in this damn story.

“I don’t like to, uh, join the kind of entertainment this place has to offer.” He quips back, finessing the sake bottle out of the pillars grip to pour himself another round.

“You don’t?”

Kyoujurou’s tone makes Kaigaku whip his head in his direction, fast enough he can almost feel his neck crack. He stares incredulously.

“You do?”

Kyoujurou hums, looking him up and down and oh no that’s not fair. The pillar smiles, a casual one. But with the added context of their topic, it doesn’t seem as sunny to him anymore.

“It’s entertainment, Kaigaku.” A laugh. “It’s supposed to be fun, right?”

[+1000]

“I return with the bandages, dear guests!”

The sliding door opens with Himari’s return. That, coupled with the sudden notification of his system, almost kills him. He does a little jump that Kyoujurou’s noticed, for sure, but thankfully doesn’t point it out.

You’re paying for my funeral!, He hisses at the system when he composes himself. Sometimes he believes the little piece of shit is actively trying to kill him.

[I was simply doing my job.]

And what was it for?! Kaigaku argues, That was out of the blue you--

“Thank you, Himari!” Kyoujurou greets Himari for the both of them. Oh, right. The poor girl was waiting for acknowledgement. Damn system making him look rude.

“Thank you, Himari.” He bows, already standing up to take it from her.

That is until a hand on his shoulder, gently pushes him down and takes charge. Kyoujurou kneels close, the clean bandage already in hand, already preparing to remove his old bandage.

“Kaigaku, if I may?”

Kaigaku doesn’t move, he’s still reeling from earlier and now the guy does this? Kyoujurou decides that just taking his arm and treating Kaigaku himself is a good idea after what had just happened.

You have to at least let her serve us! Kaigaku protests weakly in his mind, but does not make any move to push Kyoujurou away.

The conversation from earlier persists in his mind like a stain because the pillar had just implied that he fucks and Kaigaku honestly does not know what to do with that information.

The pretty girl has taken to just sitting there, unsure of what to do with herself. Kaigaku takes pity and tries to strike up conversation.

“Thank you, again.” He says, acutely aware of how Kyoujurou sits close to cradle his arm. He tries not to let it sag too much in the pillar’s grip. “You didn’t have to help me with my injury.”

“No! It’s alright.” She’s quick to shake her head primly. “It’s my duty to serve you both!”

“Ah, probably not like this.” And you definitely did not expect to have your guest out serve you.

Kyoujurou merely laughs, content to give him the lead of conversation.

And what a pleasant conversation it was. Clearly, the girl had been studying a lot on how to pick and prod at a person’s interests. She knew what questions to ask to keep him talking and to make him feel comfortable sharing, even. If only she wasn’t so offset by the chaos they both brought with them, she would have been in her element.

“You’ve both been so kind, dear guests.” She says after Kaigaku recounts a tragic tale of teaching Inosuke a game called ‘the floor is lava’ and being subjected constant forced piggyback rides. Himari hadn’t quite understood it either, but she had more common sense than the kid.

“We’d hate to be rude.” Kaigaku replies.

Himari just smiles back, but her lips purse in thought after a minute. She looks like she wants to say something, so Kaigaku waits. Kyoujurou remains ever busy with his new task of playing nurse. He’s gone from cleaning his wound to applying the new bandages, finally.

“It makes me wonder if, um.” She stutters, growing increasingly bashful.

“If you both are gentle too, in bed.”

Kyoujurou falters in his ministrations, and Kaigaku is stunned for the third time this night because what what what.

“I.” Kaigaku squeaks. He squeaks. Take him out of his misery already.

Unable to think of something to say, he looks to Kyoujurou for help. You know how to deal with this, right? You’ve done this before, right?! Lead this fucking conversation!

Kyoujurou just regards him with an impassive look, head tilted in question. Kaigaku does every subtle thing he can to communicate--a frown, a nudge, eyes flickering to and fro, anything— and prays that the pillar understands his plight.

It takes a good minute, but eventually the pillar nods with a smile on his face.

Instead of being reassured, however, Kaigaku feels cold dread seep into his bones. Oh no. Whatever Kyoujurou says after this, he’s not sure he can handle it.

The pillar turns to address her with gusto.

“Miss Himari! Sorry to disappoint you, but I am not gentle!”

Yep. He was right.

“As much as we’d like to partake in your offer, we refuse!”

What do you mean, ‘as much as we’d like to’?! Kaigaku wants to get absorbed by Daki’s magical sash realm. Where is she. He’s offering himself willingly. It’s only you who wants any of this!

“I, of course.” Once again, Himari is struck speechless by Kyoujurou. “You are our dear guests, if you do not choose to do it, then I cannot force you.” She flushes. “But, um, I’m just curious what two healthy men are doing not partaking in offers, so to speak.”

Kyoujurou waves her concern off. “There was never any need to!” He chuckles, “This is a secret tryst!”

Himari gasps and Kaigaku feels his sanity slipping.

“T-Tryst?!”

Kaigaku stares holes unto the floor, wishing it was a demon that could eat him alive. Meanwhile, Kyoujurou finishes up his work on his arm, tying the bandage secure with a small ribbon.

“Yes! We’re here on a secret mission.” He nods, looking serious. At least, Kaigaku thinks he is because god knows this might be some sick joke he wants to play. “I hope you understand, miss.”

She looks back and forth from Kaigaku and Kyoujurou. Face growing redder with each look. What? What’s with that--

Oh no. Oh no no no no--

“I understand, I--!” You don’t. You really don’t, do you? Stop looking at me like that-- “I shall tell no one!”

Please! Kaigaku all but begs to her through telepathy. At this point I’d prefer it if you’d just tell everyone in this room what you understood!

But despite his head throbbing from an incoming headache, this thing that Kyoujurou had oh so helpfully implied is a perfect cover up for their mission. No one would dare question it, especially because it’s such an outlandish thing to imply.

Two lovers that had gone to the brothel to meet in secret, to hold each other with no judgement…

[You’re rather adept at creating scenarios yourself, Kaigaku.]

Shut up. Kaigaku is weary, Just shut up.

With that in thought, he says no objections and even nods to add strength to the pillar’s claim. He’s still on thin ice, though.

“Thank you very much!” Kyoujurou replies, delighted.

Himari stands up, suddenly looking very skittish. “Then, I will go to provide you privacy.” She says, a sparkle in her eyes. “I hope things go well!”

The door to the room slide shut once more.

“That went easier than I expected!” Kyoujurou laughs it off, like he hadn’t just deleted 20 years off of Kaigaku’s simulated life. “Honesty does wonders!”

Kaigaku just stares at him like he’s mad.

“Sure.” 

Kaigaku would’ve skipped going for a bath, but Kyoujurou had pulled him in regardless, talking about how ‘the onsen is essential!’ and crap like that.

Thankfully, he had managed to narrowly avoid getting his back washed by the pillar--

(“Sir, with all due respect, if you come near me I’m going to kill you.” “That’s the spirit, Kaigaku! Would you prefer a towel or a loofa?” “Sir.”)

--and is now enjoying his soak at the spring, leaning on a flat rock.

Kyoujurou continues to scrub himself clean by the nearby showers, humming idly. The silence is neither awkward or comfortable, it’s teetering in between. It’s the type of silence where you don’t know if the other party wants you to talk or they’d prefer if you’d keep your mouth shut.

Kaigaku sinks himself lower in the warm water.

Despite hanging out with Kyoujurou a lot, sometimes not by his own volition, he’s come to terms that it’s the pillar who leads their conversations most of the time. Kaigaku only follows, answering or entertaining Kyoujurou’s many thoughts.

Thinking about it now, it’s unfair. He doesn’t take initiative to approach Kyoujurou at all. But from the way the kids talked about them yesterday, they looked close enough to be friends, sans the Tsuguko misunderstanding.

So, he can talk to him, right? From one story anomaly to another.

You know what? Kaigaku groans. Why is he even thinking about this too much.

“Rengoku, sir?”

“Oh!” Kyoujurou’s voice echoes out from the showers. It makes Kaigaku jump a little. “What is it?”

“You.” He thinks for a moment. “What were you doing with sir Tengen?”

“Assisting him in a mission!”

“No, I mean. Before that.”

There’s a distant sound of water splashing, Kaigaku assumes he’s finally washing himself off. With this in mind, Kaigaku quickly ducks under the water and closes his eyes as wet footsteps start getting closer to the spring.

He’s gotten used to seeing him naked, but it doesn’t mean he needs to.

“Well.” Kyoujurou’s voice is muffled because of the water entering his ears. “I was wandering, and then Uzui found me.”

Kaigaku counts to three before resurfacing, a fresh out the bath Kyoujurou now sitting beside him. He shakes his head to shed the water off him. The pillar laughs when some of it falls his way.

“Wandering? Where to?” Kaigaku pushes, relaxing again on the stone.

Kyoujurou’s eyes flicker up in thought before meeting his gaze again. “Not sure.”

At Kaigaku’s frown, Kyoujurou chuckles. “Why does it matter?”

“Well, did you have a reason to go near here?”

“I don’t.” Kyoujurou folds his arms together, his smile slowly fading. “I don’t, but I felt the need to do something.”

“You.” Kaigaku doesn’t want to force him, but he is curious. “Couldn’t you have chosen to wander anywhere else?”

It takes a while for the pillar to talk, and Kaigaku almost backpedals, but eventually Kyoujurou speaks again. “I couldn’t stay back and do nothing.” He explains, looking frustrated.

The furrow of his brow deepens, but the pillar shakes the grim expression off. His arms remain folded but he leans back, trying to seem as relaxed as he did earlier.

Kaigaku doesn’t buy it, especially when Kyoujurou adds to his statement with a low mutter.

“All I can do is look for something to do.”

Kaigaku purses his lips. It’s obvious that he’s restless. He thought Kyoujurou had adjusted himself back into the general story, maybe he’d thought wrong.

He wants to know more, ask him why finding something to do is so important to him, but it’s obvious he’s a bit bothered by this topic. It looks like a fresh development and he’d rather not have a ticked off pillar to sleep with, so he doesn’t push any further. He should change the topic.

“You know, I like mochi.”

Kyoujurou blinks, surprised.

Well. That’s one way to diffuse a situation, Kaigaku chastises himself, Such a hard-left turn of a topic.

“My master—” No turning back now. “He likes to make it as a snack so often that I accidentally got obsessed with it. It’s fluffy and has a really nice texture, it’s super easy to carry around too.”

“Zenitsu hates the red bean filling on anything so when master whips some up, I end up eating all the flavors he doesn’t like. But I never get sick of it.”

Silence. Yeah, he expected that. Kaigaku surprisingly doesn’t stop eye contact with Kyoujurou, though, despite the mortification running through his veins.

“Um.” He tries again. Cooperate with him here, please. “What do you like? To eat?”

“Hm.” Kyoujurou nods slowly, taking in the question. Eventually he slips back into his usual cheery disposition.

“I like everything!”

Kaigaku falters. Of course you do. “That’s. Uh, I gave you something specific. That’s unfair.”

Kyoujurou snaps his fingers, in agreement. “That’s true!” But he says nothing more, lost in thought.

Kaigaku waits patiently, focusing on the way the water sways him around. At least he's managed to avoid a potentially uncomfortable talk. Doesn't mean he won't ask again in the future, but for now, he'll let it slide.

“Nikujaga.” The pillar finally says.

Kaigaku acknowledges this with a hum.

“My mother had a specific recipe that made it the tastiest.” Kyoujurou sighs, remembering fond memories. “I begged for it every time we ate.” He chuckles, “She had no choice but to cook it for me to me to shut me up.”

The thought of Kyoujurou badgering his mother as a child almost makes Kaigaku laugh. “That's sweet.”

Kyoujurou’s smile melts into something warm and personal. “It is. Senjurou’s cooking comes close to it.” The smile turns melancholic, “But nothing can beat hers.”

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to steer the conversation to his dead mother either, but the irritation from earlier seems like it’s died down. Good.

“It’s pretty hard to replace a mother’s cooking, anyway.”

“Yes. But he’s doing his best.”

“Mm.”

The lull in the conversation is expected, Kaigaku didn’t want to press on and dig through some repressed memories, so he keeps himself quiet. He just watches the stars overhead, enjoying the spring to its fullest. Beside him, Kyoujurou begins to hum a tune. He’s never noticed until now, but he does it a lot to fill the silence.

He can feel himself slipping in and out of consciousness, which was bad, it’s not a good idea to fall asleep in a bath where he could drown. But the night breeze was cool and the water is so warm and—

--there’s people moaning in the spring bath next to them.

Kaigaku snaps his head to the left, eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. Oh no. This can’t be fucking happening. He knows it’s normal, this is a fucking brothel after all, but all this happening while he’s here with Kyoujurou?!

“Hm.” Kyoujurou looks to the barrier that separates them from the other bath, unbothered. “They seem to be having fun.”

Yeah, no shit! Kaigaku feels his face overheat and sinks low into the water.

Maybe they’ll stop, he tries to convince himself, maybe it’s just a quickie please for the love of god just be a quickie.

There’s a splash and the moans grow louder.

Scratch that he’s out, he moves to stand up.

“I’m leaving.”

He’s stopped by Kyoujurou, a hand catching his wrist. He’d be blushing if it weren’t for the noises in the other spring causing him a mental breakdown.

“isn’t it too early?” The pillar asks, as if this is a minor inconvenience at best. “Stay.”

“And hear people having sex?!” Kaigaku stage whispers. “Are you kidding me?!”

Kyoujurou frowns.

“Well, we could just tell them to stop.” He says, as if it’s the easiest thing to do.

Oh fuck. No, this is Kyoujurou. This is the easiest thing to do for him.

“No. Rengoku don’t—"

“Excuse me!” The pillar cups hands around his mouth, screaming. “Please lower your voice when touching each other!”

Kaigaku can only stare at the partition in disbelief when the noises do stop. But the silence that follows is so awkward that he’s sure if he strains himself enough, he’ll hear the other person’s heartbeat from where he is.

“Thank you very much!” Kyoujurou hollers, turning back to him with a nod.

“There we go.”

Kaigaku bursts out laughing.

He plops himself back in the water, ignoring the large splash he makes and covers his face with both hands in an effort to muffle himself. This guy.

“I can’t fucking believe you.” He cackles.

When he removes his hands from his face, he’s faced with a grinning Kyoujurou.

“Are you staying?”

Kaigaku just waves his question off, swimming to the spot he’d left earlier. Kyoujurou settles back too, relaxed and his arms no longer folded. The silence is finally comfortable.

“Mochi, hm?” Kyoujurou muses with a grin. “Should we put in an order?”

Kaigaku scoffs, considering the ridiculous suggestion because he’s still in a good mood. “If you order for Nikujaga too, sure.”

When they leave the baths, Kaigaku makes eye contact with a dude in the distance. The guy flinches and scurries off. He snorts.

They eat their dinner outside in one of the stalls, since Kyoujurou was very adamant about eating Nikujaga and mochi together. It was nice. If this part of the town wasn’t destroyed in the future fight, he won’t mind coming back to hang out. Not inside any brothels, of course.

Himari only comes back later to provide them their futon and spare yukatas, and shuffles away immediately once he accepts them. Kaigaku wonders just what she’d told her boss because he’s pretty sure she’s supposed to sleep with them (literally), but he won’t ask. He doesn’t want to know the answer, anyway.

Speaking of.

“Ahh! This reminds me of my youth!” Kyoujurou unabashedly pushes their futons together. “Come, Kaigaku! Let’s share stories of—”

Kaigaku rolls his eyes and tosses a blanket over the pillar in an effort to get him to shut up.

“Goodnight. Rengoku, sir.”

Surprisingly, he slept well that night.

When Kaigaku awoke the next day, he’s surprised to see Kyoujurou up so early, already hunched on the table. There’s a flurry of something that leaves through the window.

Despite his sleep muddled brain, he can piece together what was happening. Kyoujurou’s being called in for back up.

In true pillar fashion, Kyoujurou notices he’s awake when he’s barely moved an inch, looking over his shoulder to flash Kaigaku a smile.

“Good morning, Kaigaku!” He greets, “You’re up early.”

“Good morning, sir.” Kaigaku sluggishly pulls himself to sit. “I’m usually awake this hour, I swear.”

Kyoujurou’s eyes trail over his bandage, blood has seeped through it overnight. “Ask Himari to assist you with that.”

Kaigaku wants to say he can handle it, but he’s cut off by the door sliding open. Himari stands in the doorway, surprised.

“Oh!” She exclaims, holding a basket of laundry. Their freshly washed clothes, probably. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you two were already up!”

“No apologies needed!” Kyoujurou says in a voice that’s definitely not meant for mornings. Kaigaku grumbles. The pillar stands to take the basket off her hands. “Sorry for such an early favor, but my friend’s bandages you see…”

Himari looks over to Kaigaku in panic. “Ah, yes! Don’t worry, sir. I’ll get a new roll for you.”

Kyoujurou nods, grateful and waves her off. Kaigaku slips in a small thank you before she leaves.

Kaigaku’s intuition is proven true when Kyoujurou immediately frowns at the close of the door, suddenly serious. The pillar sets the basket down and begins to undress his yukata.

Kaigaku is still far too sleepy to be flustered by the scene, so he crawls his way to the table, where some left-over edamame sits from last night’s meal. He pops some into his mouth and chews without a thought in mind.

He hears the sound of fabric being flicked straight in the air and footsteps approaching him. A heavy hand rests on his shoulder and squeezes and oh had his eyes been closed?

Kyoujurou, now back in his full pillar outfit, looms over him non-threateningly.

“Stay here.” He says. It’s not a suggestion.

Kaigaku nods, a little sober now. “Yes sir.”

The pillar leaves in a flourish from the window and Kaigaku’s frown deepens.

[He is fine.] The system pauses. [He will be fine.]

I know he will. Kaigaku scoffs. His system doesn’t say anything more.

“Sir?” Himari peeks inside tentatively, in her hands are the brand-new bandages Kyoujurou has requested.

“Where is your lover?” 

Ah. He nearly chokes on the edamame. That jolts him awake somewhat. Kaigaku coughs, sitting straighter. “He had some important business to attend to. Had to leave early.”

Himari sits beside him, already beginning to undo his old bandages. He winces when she tugs at the parts that cling to his skin.

“It must be hard.” She remarks, sighing wistfully. “Not being able to spend enough time together.”

Kaigaku tries his damn best to focus on the pain of his wound instead of focusing on, whatever the fuck they were currently talking about.

“Uh. Sure.”

With nowhere else to go, Kaigaku really does have no other choice but to stay in the brothel. Before he knows it, it’s dusk. Himari doesn’t seem to mind, nor does her boss for some odd reason, so his time in the room isn’t too bad.

That is, until he hears an explosion outside and screaming.

“Himari!” Kaigaku tugs her back to safety, “What are you doing?!”

The brothel is ruined, parts of it had long collapsed when the first projectile hit its foundations earlier. Luckily, everyone was able to run out to safety in the streets and he’d corralled them into the nearby forest, making sure to place them in an area where wisteria bloomed.

All except for one, apparently.

“She’s—” Himari is sobbing, distraught. “Aiko! She’s still in there, sir! Please I can’t—"

Kaigaku struggles to hold her back, she’s ready to throw herself into the rubble just to find her friend. He grits his teeth. The building was still in the process of collapsing. Himari and her friend can’t climb their way out of that together.

“I’ll look for her! Just—” He grips her shoulders tight and stares her straight in the eyes, trying to make a point. “Stay here.”

Himari looks like she wants to fight more, but thinks better of it and just nods shakily at him.

“Promise me.”

Kaigaku wastes no time and dashes inside the building, using his quick feet to dodge any falling rubble that’s big enough to give him a new head. Most of the rooms have already caved in, and it does nothing but elevate his anxiety. What if that Aiko girl was already crushed under all this junk?

Kaigaku shakes his head.

He looks and looks, every crevice and small hole he thinks a young girl could fit into to hide, he checks even at the imminent danger of the ceiling crumbling down on him.

And that’s when he hears it, whimpering and…meowing?

He rounds a corner in haste, and he finds a girl hiding under a table nearly covered shut by the fallen scaffolding and concrete overhead. In her arms is a calico cat, meowing and licking the tears streaming down her face.

Kaigaku breathes, not realizing he’d held it.

“Hey!” He shouts to get her attention, she perks up, surprised that a person was still in here.

“Did you go in here to save a cat?! What the hell were you thinking?!” He scolds as he stumbles towards her, already clearing a path for her to be able to run through. Things were still shaking and rumbling, they’d have no other choice but to run towards the exit.

“Stop crying!” He tells her when he’s able to reach under the table. “Focus!”

He grabs her hands and pull her out. She trembles, scared, but Kaigaku has a promise to fulfill. “Run. And don’t fucking stop for anything, you got me?”

And run they did. She’s barely able to catch up but Kaigaku tugs her forwards with all of his might. The debris trips their speed up at times, but they’re able to reach the exit even quicker than when Kaigaku had went it.

“Wait!” Aiko cries over the chaos, “The cat, he--!”

Kaigaku turns to look, the cat had jumped out of her arms and into the corner where a piece of metal work hung dangerously loose above it. He swears.

“Leave the damn thing alone!” Kaigaku shouts, “It can take care of itself!”

“But it’s Himari’s--!”

Fucking—

He shoves her out the door, just before another big rock falls overhead to hit them. Kaigaku doesn’t follow, though, and jumps towards the cat to shield it from the inevitable danger.

Without a sword, he can only pick up a stray piece of metal to parry the falling hazard. The impact sends a jolt of pain through his still fresh wound and he flinches.

He topples back into the concrete with a thud, cat safe in his arms.

The rumbling of the ground under him stops, but the sounds of mayhem outside continue. Kaigaku groans, head lolling back in exhaustion. The demon they handled yesterday was so much tamer compared to the shit that happens when he’s near the main characters.

The cat in his arms wiggles out of his grasp, meowing repeatedly. Kaigaku glares at it.

“Be thankful, you piece of shit.” He says at he gives it a few scratches behind the ear.

It thanks him with a bite to the knuckle.

“Ouch!” Kaigaku shakes his hand with a start, and the cat prances off somewhere else.

“Hey!” He calls after it, “I just saved you! Don’t go running around and getting yourself killed!”

The cat acts like it doesn’t hear him, ducking into a secluded area almost immediately. Kaigaku almost just wants to leave it there, but he promised Himari he’d get Aiko back, and that probably includes the cat.

So, he runs after it.

And nearly loses his mind when the cat very much phases through the wall it was just about to ram into.

Kaigaku doesn’t have the time to process it, however, because he too falls head first into said wall like its water.

He groans as he heaves himself off the ground, and mentally adds possible concussion to his list of injuries for the day.

Kaigaku hears a distinctly female gasp and the distinct sound of a sword being unsheathed.

“Who goes there?!”

He adds possible stabbing to the list. Just to make it easier for himself later.

Kaigaku looks up and finds himself situated in an oddly, not ruined living room. It’s decorated simply, but it looks notably out of place from all the rubble he’d just been trying to survive through.

But there are more pressing matters, and that is the figure that stands before him. A young man clad in a white haori, holding the katana that threatens to pierce his face.

Oh.

“You…” Yushiro, at least that’s what Kaigaku remembers his name is, mutters. “You’re a slayer.”

What? “How do you know?”

“You’ve got that stench.”

“Hey!” Kaigaku snarls. He's just as rude as he looks on print. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Yushiro?” A soft voice calls from behind them. “If he is of no threat, then drop your sword. Please.”

“Of course!” He quickly complies, sheathing it faster than he had unsheathed it earlier.

Now with the removal of an impending threat, Kaigaku is able to stand fully and greet another familiar face. She moves forward, slowly extracting herself from her hiding place behind Yushiro.

“Hello.” The young woman, Tamayo, greets elegantly with a bow. “I’m afraid we haven’t met before.”

Kaigaku nods idly, fixated at the way her eyes have the unruly shade of a demon's, yet still filled with warmth. She exudes the same calming effect as Ubuyashiki would, but not as powerful. He supposes it's just her disposition.

“Stop staring, you animal!” Right. Her guard dog is still here. “If you just as so much—”

“Yushiro, please.” And with nothing more but a hushed reprimand, the guy quiets down in a snap. Kaigaku would laugh if it didn't mean he'd start a whole new demon vs. slayer thing, parallel to the uproar outside.

“Sorry, um. No, we haven’t.” He instead settles with. “I’m Kaigaku Inadama. I didn’t mean to barge into your domain.”

She shakes her head primly. “It’s alright.” The cat he’d been following nudges her feet, and Tamayo smiles, leaning down to offer it a pet. “You followed this little gentleman here?”

“Yes. It’s a girl’s pet cat.” Kaigaku replies.

Tamayo looks genuinely surprised. “Pet?”

“Huh?” It’s Yushiro’s turn to react, “Whose?!”

“Himari.”

Yushiro repeats her name, the scowl that’s already present on his face worsens. “So she’s the one who domesticated him?!”

“Yushiro—” Tamayo tries to calm him, to no avail.

“We only have a few of them left and she decides to adopt one?!”

Kaigaku just pays him no mind. Dramatics is his forte. “I’m sorry, I still need the cat back. it's dangerous outside.”

“What’s the emergency?” Tamayo asks, letting Yushiro brood a little longer.

“There’s a demon. One of the twelve kizuki.”

Yushiro stands alert. Tamayo frowns.

They exchange glances with each other, and with the wave of Yushiro's hand, sounds from the outside reach them. The clash of swords, sounds of falling debris and destruction--

Tamayo listens on in horror, cupping her mouth in shock. “I got too complacent.” She murmurs, distraught. “I thought…”

Yushiro sees this and is quick to blame Kaigaku for it. “Hey!” He admonishes, “You made Lady Tamayo upset!”

Kaigaku feels a vein throb. “I’m just telling the truth, pipsqueak!”

“Pipsq—”

“Yushiro, we must go quickly.” Tamayo stops any further disagreement from between them by laying a hand on his shoulder, shutting him up. “I apologize for letting my guard down, we were almost found because I didn’t…”

Yushiro springs into action, holding both her hands in determination. “Lady Tamayo! Please don’t blame yourself!” He draws her delicate hands to his chest. “it’s my fault, I didn’t think to lift the blindfold—"

The sound of cracking wood cuts Yushiro off, one that sounds worryingly close.

“Lady Tamayo.” He’s serious now.

Tamayo nods, composing herself. “Right. We must go.” She turns to Kaigaku with a grateful smile.

“Thank you, Inadama, for your help.”

Kaigaku shrugs. “I barely did anything. I just warned you.”

Yushiro clicks his tongue. “Accept her thanks or don’t say anything at all!”

“You fucking—” Okay that's enough out of this guy. "You’re lucky I don’t have my damn sword with me or I’ll have you—"

The cat jumps in his arms, effectively silencing whatever insult he had going. Kaigaku just sighs and scratches the thing behind the ear, earning him a purr.

“Hmph.” Yushiro begins summoning his blood art, turning away from him. “Just take that with you and leave already.”

“Isn’t he yours?”

Yushiro scoffs. “What’re you talking about? He’s owned by that Himari girl.”

Kaigaku blinks. Huh.

Beside him, Tamayo smiles appreciatively.

"Sir!" He hears Himari before he can see her, "You're okay!"

Kaigaku had only blinked once and before he knew it, he's back in the open field to where he'd left everyone to stand back. He didn't even register being led back. Damn. Tamayo’s abilities are scarier than any demon who can hack his own neck off.

Himari and Aiko crash into him for a hug, both crying desperately. Kaigaku has to raises the cat high so it doesn’t get crushed in their embrace.

“Easy on the hugs.” He grunts, prying them off to give them the howling cat. “Here. Keep a good tight grip on him, okay?”

Himari says her thanks through tears and Aiko just hugs both her and the cat tight.

Kaigaku doesn’t bother joining the fight. They have two pillars in action this time, they’ll be fine. Instead, he focuses on finding people amongst the chaos and bringing them back somewhere safe.

The girls from the brothel help him lead the people to safety. Kyutaro makes sure they don’t go too far into the destruction. The fight is still ongoing, after all.

The district is all but in ruins, the rows of buildings reduced to chunks of concrete and burnt wood.

As he hauls another citizen by the arm, he prays for everyone’s safety.

Thunder.

Zenitsu! Kaigaku looks to the horizon, seeing trails of lightning zipping around the sky. Have they separated the two demons already? He’s not sure, he lost track when he’d gathered all the people to safety.

There’s one big flash and everything goes quiet. He steps back. That means—

“Everyone!” Kaigaku screams, “Get down—!"

The entire city is destroyed.

“Mr. Inadama!” This time it’s Himari who pulls him back, despite failing miserably. “Don’t you think it’s too early to go back in?!”

Kaigaku struggles, to remove her grip. “I’ll be fine.” He says, “Stay here and wait for help. It’s on the way.”

Aiko’s also clutching his sleeve. At this rate, his yukata is going to tear

“But—”

He clears his throat. “I’ll be looking for my partner.” And wow, he’s not sure how he’s able to say that without stuttering, but it does get them to stop tugging. “He’s in there somewhere.”

They hesitate but eventually let him go. He nods back in thanks at their tentative waves goodbye. Kyutaro flies over from his perch on Himari’s head, Kaigaku catches him on his arm.

“Find Zenitsu for me.”

The pigeon coos once, pecks his finger and flies over head. He follows dutifully.

Kaigaku wants to say anything, how he was so worried, how he’s relieved to see them both okay, but what comes out of his mouth is:

“What the hell is that get-up?”

“Brother!” Zenitsu whines, offended and clutching at his sleeves to try and stand. “I was so scared! Don’t you even care that your little brother is on the brink of death?!”

“You seem fine to me!” He pushes the blonde back down. Don’t use your leg, you idiot! He looks to where Inosuke lies on a piece of roof, has Nezuko already visited them?

“Inosuke?!”

“Hah!” The kid squawks, waving both swords wildly. “As if the great Inosuke can be defeated!!”

Looks like they’re both okay.

Kyutaro had left him already, flying back with the flock of crows that had just left, presumably to alarm the Kakushi for help. Tanjirou is nowhere to be seen, but Kaigaku assumes he’s fine as well, he has Nezuko with him after all.

“Kaigaku!”

He turns, surprised to find Kyoujurou well enough to run towards him.

“Rengoku, sir I—”

Kaigaku is cut off by Kyoujurou putting both hands on his shoulders. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“I’m glad.” The pillar relaxes. “The building we had been in got destroyed, so I thought—”

Kaigaku pats his arm, slowly extricating himself from the pillar’s grip. Right, he had no way of knowing. “I evacuated all of the patrons and workers the moment my pigeon warned me of an upper rank in the area.”

Kyoujurou blinks slowly, unreadable expression on his face.

“Yes, good.” He says after a moment, relief and amusement in his eyes. “Good.”

There’s screaming in the distance, Obanai and Tengen arguing. It gives Kaigaku some comfort to know they’re well enough to argue. He’s not sure if Kyoujurou’s presence had helped lessen the sound pillar’s injuries at all. He hopes it did, even just a little.

Eventually, Tanjirou pops back into the scene, carried by a tiny Nezuko. Together, they embrace Inosuke and Zenitsu in relief. Kaigaku looks on fondly, before feeling something heavy in his pocket.

He fishes it out, only to see a note.

‘Thank you.’ It reads, before it disintegrates in the air. Must be Tamayo and Yuhsiro.

In the distance, he sees the silhouettes of the townsfolk carefully walking through the ruins of the district. Some crying in distress at the loss of property and some just relieved that they’re still alive. He spots a familiar green kimono amongst them all, carefully cradling a cat and another girl’s hand.

Kaigaku sighs. He’s glad they’re all safe.

Well. Except—

Kaigaku gives the flame pillar a once-over, duly noting the tattered sleeves and abrasions on the man’s face. He’s in no position to judge Kyoujurou and his condition, but he’s pretty sure the pillar had taken a heavy beating.

Kyoujurou meets his gaze, noticing his attention. “Me?” He remarks quite casually. “Oh, I’m fine--!”

And then Kyoujurou’s body decides to betray him and hack up a lungful of blood.

“R—Kyoujurou?!”

Kaigaku yelps, catching the pillar by his shoulder in panic. The kids, surprised by his shout, waddle on over to whine and cry for him as well. Kyoujurou just keeps laughing despite the blood constantly spurting out of his mouth. Kaigaku almost wants to punch him to shut him up.

Almost.