^ Chapter 21 - All Aboard the Infinite Train ^

"It seems like you made quite the impression on Kanao-san, Tanjirō~" remarked Shinobu with a warm smile as they walked together towards the front entrance of the mansion. She had told him that the girls had something prepared for Zenitsu, Inosuke and him, and that they needed them before they left. "It's honestly a rarity to see her talk that much with someone else. So to see you getting her out of her shell, perhaps you can really change her for the better."

"About that, Shinobu...what happened to her, exactly? With you, I could smell your emotions, but for her, it was more difficult than I expected. I eventually figured out part of it, I think…"

Shinobu's smile dropped for a bit as she looked up to the sky and gave Tanjirō a brief summation of Kanao's life and upbringing at the Butterfly Mansion, which was helpful but wasn't able to provide the key information that Tanjirō wanted.

Hearing about Kanao not being able to do anything by herself, even eating, without being ordered to do so, sounded strange to him and it made him think again of what Kanao had told him during their goodbye. Shinobu could see him delve deep into his thoughts with that determined look on his face and it made her smile, her right hand coming up to lightly tap him on the back and bring him out of his own head.

"Hey, you don't have to think so hard about it right now...I'm sure you'll be able to hear it from her after some time. Remember, you were able to do it with me, after all." said Shinobu as she leaned against his right arm, slipping her other hand into his.

Tanjirō glanced at her and the smile she had, which made him smile as well and caused him to tilt his head to the side and pressed his cheek against the top of her head. They walked together like that the rest of the way to the front of the mansion before they had to separate and appear normal as they walked outside, seeing Zenitsu and Inosuke waiting for them with the girls.

That's when he could see what the "something" Shinobu had mentioned the girls prepared for them off to the side, in the form of three of the largest wooden gourds that could be built, their last trial in their training to master Total Concentration - Constant. Each gourd was easily the size of the girls from base to mouth and as wide as two of them standing shoulder to shoulder.

No doubt they were the thickest among all of the gourds they had busted thus far, so it was going to require everything that they had in order to make them implode. It looked daunting, sure, but as Tanjirō made eye contact with his friends, they all shared a single nod with one another.

Inosuke pulled his boar head off, revealing his pretty and feminine face, and stood with Zenitsu and Tanjirō before their final challenge. All three of them had been working hard towards this moment before their deployment, and so with a determined look and a raging fire burning in the pits of their stomach, they then took one of the gourds each and pressed their lips to the mouths.

Then they began to blow as hard as they could into the storage vessels, their cheeks puffing out as they expelled every last ounce of air from their lungs into the gourds. The girls cheered them on close by, pumping their fists and jumping up and down a little, while Shinobu clapped her hands and joined in on the cheering as well. She was mostly rooting for Tanjirō, but she also wanted Zenitsu and Inosuke to succeed as well because she had grown rather attached to all of the boys themselves. She was only a year older than Zenitsu and Inosuke, but it was as if they were her children, considering how she and the girls of her mansion had taken care of, and nursed them back to help from their gravely injured and incapacitated states.

Tanjirō, Inosuke and Zenitsu continued to expunge their breath into their gourds for a couple more moments before with several loud cracks, all three of them blew apart and sent fragments of wood flying out in all directions across the garden.

"Yeaah!" roared Inosuke with a huge fist-pump, while Zenitsu gasped a little before grinning and bumping fists with Tanjirō.

"We did it, guys!"

"All right!"

The girls clapped happily for the three of them and as another gift before their departure, they presented them with a basket full of freshly made rice balls in order to keep their hunger at bay as they made their journey to the nearest city.

Tanjirō and Zenitsu thanked the girls for their trouble, while Inosuke immediately reached for the basket, or more specifically the rice balls themselves, in order to begin feasting on them. Zenitsu berated the uncivilized Inosuke for his lack of manners and tack as he started chowing down on one of the rice balls, with Inosuke barely paying any attention to him until Zenitsu started tugging on his arm to get him to knock it off.

"Thank you for all of your hard work, you three. We all greatly appreciate it!" Tanjirō said gladly to the girls, all three of them blushing and smiling back to him while giggling. He lifted his gaze up to Shinobu standing a few feet behind him and gave her a characteristic smile, causing her to giggle lightly and cover her own mouth while blushing to hide her joyful smile. "Especially you, Shinobu-san! Thank you for taking care of my friends with Aoi-san's assistance! I'm grateful!"

"Any time, Tanjirō-kun~ Just try not to come back here too often, you know?" she replied as she gave him a wink.

"Understood!"

Tanjirō then detected another familiar presence nearby and after confirming it with his sense of smell he turned his head and noticed Giyū had arrived at the entrance to the Butterfly Mansion, standing with his body turned halfway away from them with his arms crossed. Their eyes managed to meet for a brief moment and a tiny little smile appeared on Giyū's face, prompting Tanjirō to jog over to him in order to greet the Water Hashira.

"Tomioka-san!" he said with a big smile, Giyū's stoic expression returning again once Tanjirō reached him. "Did you come to see us off?"

"That's why I'm here, yes. I also wanted to give something back to you that I haven't had a chance to yet." Giyū replied while reaching beneath his haori to his hip, where an object was hanging from his belt.

As he pulled it out Tanjirō's eyes widened and he was hit with an instant jolt of remembrance when he saw what the object was in the Hashira's hand. It was Urokodaki's fox mask that had been gifted to him, the one he had with him on Natagumo Mountain that had been severed from his face by Rui's threads.

He had completely forgotten about it, and only just now remembered it when Giyū presented it back to him. The younger slayer accepted it graciously and checked to make sure it wasn't too damaged before slipping it back on top of his head, with the mask itself resting on the left side of his head facing that direction, in a similar manner to the mask he had worn during Final Selection. It brought Tanjirō a sense of ease, now that he had his master's hand-crafted mask back, and he thanked Giyū for giving it to him.

"I hear that you've mastered Total Concentration - Constant as well." Giyū added once the mask had been handed off.

"Yes! My friends have too!"

"You should keep at it, the three of you. Constant practice is key to maintaining it at all times."

Tanjirō nodded his head while continuing to smile, before his expression softened and he began telling the Water Hashira how thankful he was for giving his sister and him the benefit of the doubt two years prior in the snowy forest. He thanked him for sticking his neck out from the siblings without their knowledge as well, referring to Urokodaki's letter that the Master read during his impromptu trial a few months earlier.

It made him feel blessed and in debt to the Water Hashira, but instead of accepting his thanks or providing some other response, Giyū responded in a similar fashion to when they had their little discussion on Natagumo Mountain about demons. He told Tanjirō that the younger slayer could thank him by having good results on their mission. With that said, Giyū then vanished in the blink of an eye, Tanjirō laughing a little to himself as he watched the Hashira leave with his enhanced vision and perception.

Tanjirō felt light footsteps approach him from behind and he turned around just in time to catch Shinobu trying to sneak up on him. He laughed and she blushed a tiny bit before raising a finger up to his lips and shushing him quietly as she motioned with her head to his friends and the girls, who were too preoccupied with one another to pay attention to them.

Figuring out what she was wanting to do, Tanjirō switched places with her so that his body hid her smaller figure mostly from view as he then held her hands in his own. They looked into one another's eyes for a few moments, the joyful crying of the girls coming from behind them before they blocked it all out. The world comprised the two of them alone, and it filled their hearts with warmth and comfort. With one last check to ensure that no other eyes were on them, and without speaking a word, they let their emotions say everything as they kissed for what seemed to them like an eternity.

"Please be careful...I don't want to feel any more grief because something bad happened to you…" said Shinobu softly once the kiss ended, her hands lifting up from his to rest on Tanjirō's chest. She could feel his steady heartbeat pumping his demonic blood through his body, and she smiled softly when he put his hands back on top of her's. "You mean a lot to me now...just like Kanae-nee had…"

"I will, Shinobu...I'm going to do everything within my power to keep the promises I made, including the one to you." he replied with his warm smile. "Nezuko and I, we're gonna prove it to everyone that we can be trusted!"

Shinobu giggled at his enthusiasm and optimism, her hands gripping the front of his uniform a little tighter before she looked around him to check they were clear, and then quickly gave him another kiss on the lips.

Tanjirō's fingers wrapped around Shinobu's hands as the kiss lasted for a few seconds, the Hashira wanting to give him as much of her emotions as she could for his journey until she found the will to pull herself away from him and blush cutely. It was Tanjirō's turn to laugh at her as he held her hands together and gave her one last confident grin before turning and walking back towards his friends and the girls so that they could go.

"Please be careful! We don't want to see you back here too soon!"

"You're all heartbroken to say goodbye to me, aren't you?" asked Zenitsu with tiny tear droplets out of the corner of his eyes, while Inosuke was in one of his tranquil silent states from the girls wishing them good luck and safety. "I can stay behind for you if you want, you know!"

"Zenitsu-sama, please try to learn how to be considerate and respectful of girls." replied one of the girls with a slightly blank expression.

Zenitsu quickly cleaned up his act and nodded in agreement, speaking in a more normal tone to the girls as he gave them a proper farewell. Inosuke of course couldn't say anything because of his trance-like state, but he woke up soon enough from it when Tanjirō came back and picked up Nezuko's box that was laying on the ground next to Zenitsu.

Tanjirō glanced back over his shoulder at her box as he pulled the straps over his shoulders and made sure it was comfortable, before looking to Zenitsu and Inosuke to give them a thumbs up. He was ready to go, now was the time to go to work!

"We'll be off! Wish us luck!' he announced as the three boys began to walk away from the mansion, the girls and Shinobu bidding them farewell with smiles and waves.

Gone are the days of relaxation, recovery, and training. They couldn't sit on the sidelines any more, not while innocent men and women were being killed by demons. The Flame Hashira and the Demon Slayer Corps were relying on the trio to step up to the challenge and give it their all in order to ensure the successful completion of the mission.

If only they knew just what kind of storm was waiting for them.

As the sun was beginning to set, the trio of slayers arrived at the nearest city's train station and made their way past some of the citizens into the building itself. Their appearance of course drew the gazes of several men and women as they walked by, most notably because of the swords strapped to their hips and Inosuke, but despite that they were able to arrive on the platform with little to no trouble.

Of course that's when the real trouble began because the mountain and boar-raised Inosuke came to a screeching halt and started to shudder in confused awe at what was waiting for them. With the blaring of the whistle, the train they were to board in a few minutes struck Inosuke with its mighty presence to the very core and actually caused him to step back once out of fear for the unknown.

"Wha...Wh-What the hell is this creature!?" he bellowed out with a slight stutter, his right hand coming up with a shaky index finger to point at it. Zenitsu of course was the first to stare at him with an expression of dumbfounded amazement at how Inosuke was that detached from modernizing society within Japan. "This has to be it! The master of this land! The ruler!"

Inosuke then ran from one end of the platform to the other, drawing the attention of more onlookers who were waiting for their turn to board their respective train cars, which left Zenitsu and Tanjirō with blank expressions and a feeling that this was only the beginning of what they'd have to deal with once they were able to get on.

Their friend was like a puppy who was seeing the world for the first time, meaning he had to explore and see every little thing that his eyes would come across, and experience it in one way or the other. Unfortunately for them, even when they explained to him that it was a train, a creation of the rapidly modernizing world that could take them from one place to the other faster than going on foot, that didn't stop Inosuke from being Inosuke.

With a mighty roar Inosuke charged the train and rammed his head into one of the cars with a loud bang, causing many of the onlookers to gasp in surprise and others to turn away while shielding their eyes. The commotion caused some older men who were obviously security guards for the station to run at them while blowing their whistles, noticing they had swords and yelling that the police needed to be called.

With a screech Zenitsu was the quickest to react by snagging both Inosuke and Tanjirō in his arms before running away at top speed from the two men in order to avoid being detained. That took up a good portion of time, so once they were able to lose their pursuers in the city, they made their way back to the station to see all of the passengers had boarded and found their seats in their respective cars.

Since they still had some time left before the train would leave the station, Inosuke plopped down onto his rear to rest for a moment while Tanjirō pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Even when he had been raised in the country, like Zenitsu he was still somewhat knowledgeable of the world outside of that, with his first true real experience of the modern world being when he encountered Muzan and then Tamayo and Yushiro soon after.

"Thanks to you, we went through hell, Inosuke! Say you're sorry!" shouted Zenitsu at Inosuke while pointing at him accusingly.

"Haaah?! In the first place, why did we have to run from the police! We could've taken them, we're Demon Slayers!" said Inosuke obnoxiously, his hands gripping his trousers tightly.

"We don't just attack random civilians, you idiot!" barked back Zenitsu as he softened his stance somewhat, reminding himself with a glance from Tanjirō that Inosuke wasn't as in the loop as they were when it came to their place within Japan's society. "We the Demon Slayers aren't officially recognized by the government. We can't really walk around in broad daylight with our swords, talking about demons and such."

"He's right, Inosuke. They wouldn't even believe us if we explained about the demons, including myself. We'd probably only confuse them even more than just by introducing ourselves as Demon Slayers." added Tanjirō with a head nod.

Zenitsu and Tanjirō resolved to hide their blades on their backs beneath their clothes in order to draw less suspicion towards them, with Inosuke attempting to do the same but failing miserably because of his lack of clothes above the waist. They were drawn away from his shortcomings when the train whistle sounded off the time for departure, and with a roaring hiss the wheels of the engine began to slowly creep forward along the tracks.

"Oh, crap! The train's leaving! We gotta get on before it leaves us behind!"

Inosuke led the charge while exclaiming he was going to challenge the supposed master of the land, with Tanjirō and Zenitsu following close behind in a mad dash to get onto the train before it cleared the station platform. The first two were able to hop on the very last car, helping Zenitsu climb up from the rear car's train coupling to be with them.

They looked back at the train station as the locomotive rapidly picked up speed, surging along the tracks faster than they could have ever believed, the sound of the churning engine even reaching them at the very end of the line of train cars. The coal powered locomotive was an impressive feat of human engineering, and adding it along with all of the things that Tanjirō saw in the big city when he had gone there with Nezuko, it made him wonder what else could be in store for Japan as modernization continued.

"Ooohuouhouuu! Man, it's fast!" Inosuke said with a laugh as he watched the hills and trees of their homeland soar past them, becoming nothing but a darkening, muddled mess of colors. "Whoooooa!"

Inosuke was clearly ecstatic to be on something so new and foreign to him, but for Zenitsu, he had something else entirely on his mind. He wasn't even smiling as the train station became nothing but a lit up blur in the distance, just like the city.

"Hey, Tanjirō…" murmured Zenitsu, the yellow-haired slayer glanced at Tanjirō when he grabbed his attention. The air the train displaced as it traveled across the train tracks was causing their hair to flutter and flap around wildly, but it hardly affected him and his desire for answers as all. "Are you sure about bringing Nezuko along? Wouldn't the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters be the safest place for her?"

"Yeah, I am. Wherever we go, Nezuko and I will be together. The last time I left her alone, I almost nearly lost her...I'm not going to make that mistake again. We're never going to be apart again."

Zenitsu stared at Tanjirō for a few moments, his advanced hearing catching the soft snores of Nezuko inside of her box, before his worried expression turned to one of confidence as he smiled and nodded.

Tanjirō returned the gesture, and the pair looked out over the landscape with Inosuke. As they did, his mind drifted back to some of his earliest memories of his life when the tragic accident involving his family's near total death occurred on that snow day, and when he had discovered Nezuko's transformation into a demon.

He recalled the terror and the pain that he felt from seeing her nearly attack him, then change to protection when he was met by the person he'd learn later on was one of the strongest Demon Slayers in all of Japan. All of the choices and actions he had made had led up to this moment, where after defeating Rui, one of the Lower Moons on Natagumo Mountain, had propelled him into a position to prove himself to the Hashira who still doubted him and reaffirm his proclamation that he and Nezuko could fight alongside them as fellow Demon Slayers of the Corps, even though they were demons themselves.

Tanjirō remembered Muzan's vile and rotting smell, the very thought of it causing him to lose his smile briefly and allow some of his own anger to boil up and make him clench his hands into fists. No matter what, he was going to kill Muzan. He was going to bring an end to the cycle of hatred and decimation that the demon lord had caused, and from there he was going to do everything in his power to try and fulfill the dream he had inherited from Shinobu and her sister. He was going to seek out and find every single good demon who regretted their actions and help them recover what little humanity they had left, so that they could make a better life for themselves and for those around them.

"Nezuko...everyone...I swear on my life I won't fail. Regardless of what happens to me, I'm going to make sure I succeed! I'm going to defeat Muzan! I'm going to turn Nezuko back into a human and give her back what she lost! And I'm going to save the demons who lost everything because of their transformation! I swear it!"

^ Part One - Kamado Tanjirō, the transformed Demon ^

^ End ^

A/N Hey everyone! Yeah, I know this chapter is SUUUUUPER short compared to every single chapter beforehand (by about five to six thousand words to be precise). I get this, don't riot at meee! XD But the thing is, with this chapter's end, this brings to a close the anime's extent and the transferal over to the Manga side of Demon Slayer, so I thought that to honor that, I could put a little pause here! Hope it's not too much of a problem for all of you!

To those of you who saw fit to wish me a happy birthday today, even though you didn't have to, ya'll make me so happy to have you as my readers. Well and truly, thank you, from the bottom of my heart! I love all of you guys, even the ones who don't say anything! It makes me happy each and every morning to see all of the attention my story gets, especially after I upload a chapter and I get to read all of the reviews that you leave me, those of you who do that is!

I really do wish I could hear from all of you, because I really well and truly want to get something from all of you because I GREATLY cherish your input. Nothing is better to an author than seeing and reading how somebody is enjoying the work that you make, and I won't lie when I say that several reviews that I've gotten have sincerely made my day and made me put on one of the goofiest smiles ever. It warms my heart, and it pushes me on even harder to continue to give you something amazing and worthwhile to read!

For all of you that are in the US, I hope all of you are staying safe and secure in these crazy as hell times, with COVID, the protests / riots, and everything in between, I really do hope that in all of this crap I can provide you a temporary escape from all of that with this project I'm working on. I want to make you guys feel as though you can forget your worries, even if, for example, its with a chapter as short as this one!

Ahh, but I'm rambling now so I'm gonna stop haha :D Let me just repeat how thankful I am for each and every one of you for giving my story a chance, I promise I won't waste your time!

And let me be clear here too...from here on out, this ride you and I are taking is about to get a whole lot more bumpy...kuku. :D

PRETTY PLEASE leave a fav, follow, and a review if you havn't already! Do it or I'll steal your couch! Hope to see all of you very soon in the next chapter! One that I PROMISE will be back to normal length! XD

Bye bye!