With Zenitsu's shaky breathing on one side and the strong grasp of Shoichi's hands by the other, Ayaka was starting to get annoyed.

Although it was only Zenitsu's nervousness, his fear was so irrational and uncontrollable that it got on her nerves. It wasn't enough to clutch to her as if his life depended on it, but he also sweated generously and didn't stop trembling, and that made Ayaka question how he had been able to survive the Final Selection, or even learning any kind of breathing.

He had said it himself, hadn't he? That not even he knew how he had made it. She didn't either.

She wasn't able to see not even a pinch of strength, nor mental nor physical, in Zenitsu Agatsuma.

At first it wasn't a problem, since it was easy to ignore him if she put effort into it, but Zenitsu's estate progressively moved from fear to panic, and from panic to terror.

And he didn't stop hugging her, which made her uncomfortable for two reasons. The first one was it greatly restricted her movements and if they ever encountered a demon that would be a disadvantage. The second one was that… he was hugging her as he leaned her head on her chest, which was weird, and he got all types of things on her uniform, snot, tears and sweat. She had to gather all her strength not to tense at the thought of her uniform, the one she had cleaned barely a few days before, to be covered in sticky substances.

Maybe not all her uniform, but it still sent shivers down her back.

Quite the contrary, Shoichi did everything he could to not get on her way. He obeyed without complaint and stuck to her side without hassle, maybe for fear of demons or for his respect for her. She chose to believe the latter.

He was just as exhausted of Zenitsu as she was, using Ayaka as protection so he wouldn't get too close to him.

"I think he's lost his mind," he had whispered into Ayaka's ear at some point.

Ayaka just gave him an apologetic smile, as she couldn't confirm nor deny his suspicions, but as they spent more time on the house, the more did Ayaka consider the possibility of those suspicions being true.

It would be funny if she were to see it from the outside, but with Zenitsu heavily breathing and by her side, it wasn't funny at all..

He was for sure worse than a little kid and Ayaka bet Teruko would have been a better civilian to protect in that kind of situation. She found herself unexpectedly missing Tanjirou's caring personality.

"Excuse me, Zenitsu-san," Shoichi called weakly, tiredness sweeping through his features.

Instantly, Zenitsu skipped a bit and fell to the floor in pure terror, giving high pitched yells and grabbing onto Ayaka's waist in desperation.

She only sighed and, with the only free hand she had left, pinched her nose in distress..

This would be a long, long mission.

She would make stew out of her crow when she defeated all the demons and she wouldn't even eat it, she would throw it to the wild animals in the forests for him to feel on his bones how it felt to be uselessly wasted.

"Signal! You need to give me a signal!" Zenitsu yelled in panic, tightening his grip around Ayaka's waist. "If you want to say something don't just suddenly say it! My heart nearly lept out of my mouth, if that actually happened, you would be a murderer! Got that!?"

"I'm sorry," Shoichi muttered, giving a step back to hide behind Ayaka's arm. "It's just that… no matter if it's your sweating or your erratic breathing… it's only getting worse so…"

"I'm doing my best here, you know!" Zenitsu jumped defensive. Ayaka's tired grimace got heavier, sighing for the second time.

"But seeing you like this makes me feel unsafe…" Shoichi continued, then he whispered, "and I don't think Ayaka-san can protect us both by herself."

Ayaka's eyebrow twitched. He was underestimating her.

She had to say that yes, maybe it was something complicated to keep an eye on two civilians in a fight against one or multiple demons, but that was nothing for her! She was sure Genya could do that, both him and Himejima-shishou, and she would be no less, for gods' sake, she was better than Genya!

"That's enough," Ayaka said in a frown," Zenitsu, get yourself together already! And you, Shoichi, calm down! We'll get out of this house alive, I'll make sure of it!"

Shoichi nodded, but even then she could see a pinch of distrust. Did he believe her to be so weak she couldn't keep her promises?

This was why Ayaka hated to treat with civilians. Would Tanjirou have this kind of problems? Everyone always appeared so at ease with him. What did he have that she didn't? It didn't matter either way, dealing with civilians wasn't a problem if she was strong enough to save them and shut them up while doing so.

"But A-chan, I'm so scared," Zenitsu complained in between whines, rubbing his face against her stomach and further spreading his snot all over her uniform.

Ayaka clicked her tongue, letting go of Shoichi's hand who confusedly looked up at her as she grabbed Zenitsu's collar and brought him to his feet.

The fat tears were still going down his cheeks. He didn't stop trembling, not even when Ayaka harsly grabbed him by the shoulders to look at him face to face.

"Listen closely, Zenitsu," she started in a tone so cold it burned. "Do you seriously think I never get scared?"

He decided that shamefully playing with his hands would be a better idea than possibly looking into her eyes by accident.

"No?" He answered, still without daring to look somewhere that wasn't the ground.

From Ayaka's mouth came only a sour chuckle.

"That's bullshit!" She bitterly replied. "If you are weak it's only natural for you to be scared, and all of us are weak against demons, who in their right mind wouldn't be scared of such strong creatures?"

For the first time since he met her, Zenitsu looked directly into Ayaka's eyes.

"Well it doesn't seem like it! No one from the corps is as scared as me, it's not the same! I'm a coward!" He continued to try and excuse himself. Before he could open his mouth again to talk instead of whine, Ayaka shook him by the shoulders.

"Us weak things will always be scared, and we won't stop until we leave this world, so the only thing you can do is use that fear to fuel you to defeat stronger things!"She started, without ever stopping on shaking Zenitsu."Because that's the only thing we can possibly do! Keep that in mind and try to do something for once! If you keep hiding behind your fear you'll continue being as weak as always and you're no use to anyone like that, you goddamn stupid-!

"Ayaka-san, "Shoichi interrupted her in fear as he tugged on her sleeve. Zenitsu had also petrified on her grasp, both looking somewhere behind her.

"What!?" She asked annoyed, turning around to take a look at what Shoichi was pointing at with a trembling hand.

All anger instantly vanished like leaves swept by wing and Ayaka, astonished, left Zenitsu fall to the floor with a loud bang.

"This is why I kept telling you to be as quiet as possible! You see!? A demon appeared! A demon really appeared!" Zenitsu yelled from the floor in distress.

Ayaka's nichirin sword quickly came out of its sheath, shining silver like made out of moonlight, its owner pointing it towards the demon that had so silently appeared before them..

"We see each other again, you worthless bastard," Ayaka said with a sour taste at the back of her mouth. "I'll cut off your neck this time like I promised."

There he was, the demon that had disappeared so suddenly.

The injury on his arm and neck had disappeared, but the traces of blood remained, turning its immaculate white skin to an insightful calcareous red.

"Get behind me," she urged with a hand wave and a commanding tone as her sharp eyes stayed fixed on the hunchbacked demon. Her eyebrows fixed together as she noticed the few space between them. The corridor was narrow and the demon, although not big for how its kind usually were, was too much to easily fit there. It would be a problem having to keep Zenitsu and Shoichi not too far away as she made sure the demon didn't go close to them.

It was faster than her, she'd have to make a plan to kill it quickly, to stay away from Zenitsu and Shoichi while keeping the demon at a distance too in order to assure the safety of those she swore to protect and herself.

Even if that meant taking demons' lives in exchange, even if that meant losing herself in the process, she'd accomplish her goal.

The demon barely gave her a disinterested look, scratching his cheek without much worry even with a sword pointed right at its face.

"Do I know you?"

Ayaka's eyebrow twitched again, irritation slowly making its way to her features. It didn't even recognize her!? What did she have to do to be respected on that goddamn house!? First Shoichi and then that demon. It was seriously starting to get on her nerves.

"Shoichi, Zenitsu, don't stay too far away from me but don't get out of the corridor either, swear you won't," Ayaka muttered as she adjusted her hold on her sword's handle.

She saw, there was something weird about the edges of each room, the dust didn't go between them, like a shining line marking the limits of something, something unnerving. What that something did was still a mystery she hoped to solve in no time, but the unsecurity of not doing so made her fidget.

"Zenitsu," she specifically called with a harsher tone, making him skip a bit and get up from the floor stumbling against his own feet, his knees trembled. Since he couldn't clutch to her he simply held Shoichi's hand.

"Y-yes?" He asked in fear, not taking his eyes off her back.

She looked so much like a warrior, samurais from ancient times that vanished long ago, strong, confident and ready to take on a whole army by herself, that it was hard for Zenitsu to believe from her came such a sad sound, like the sobbing of a small child. She wasn't lying when she said she was scared.

"If I'm not there to protect you and Shoichi, swear you'll do it for me," Ayaka firmly asked, a certain anxious grip on her sword as she looked at the demon that still hadn't moved towards them and that would surely do it soon.

"A-chan, don't give me that much responsibility, it's too much for me," Zenitsu whined on his usual trembling voice. Tears started yet again to fall silently and with them came the shaking.

"Stop sheltering on your own weaknesses and honour the title given to you, live your life according to the pride of a demon slayer," Ayaka harshly spit out.

Maybe it was true that she hadn't seen a pinch of strength on Zenitsu, or that he had cried and trembled since the moment they first met, but there was something she couldn't see with her eyes, that she felt on her bones, that told her Zenitsu was worth something.

«I don't understand», she thought. She had spent the last three years only trusting her eyes, gut feelings and hunches had already failed her after all, whispers that said Genya cared for her, that Himejima-shishou wasn't the perfect master she thought him out to be, that she could use Repetitive Actions. That Zenitsu Agatsuma was strong was the only one she listened to, just for once. She would have liked to say that to him, but she wasn't especially good with feelings.

Swallowing, Zenitsu nodded.

And with that, Ayaka threw herself at the demon.

Her knuckles turned white around the sword handle, and with determination shining burning on her eyes, it was no surprise the demon decided to pay attention to her for the first time. It raised his giant hand up in the air, the intentions of smashing her against the wall clear on the way his eyes lazily rolled up to his skull.

Maybe it was stupid, but he wouldn't stay still waiting for a demon slayer to cut off its neck. His hand was twice Ayaka's size, but she wouldn't stay still waiting to be crushed either, so she swiftly jumped back.

The narrowness of the corridor was a problem like she had predicted. With just its hands the demon was able to cover it almost entirely, having no problem cornering her if she moved back too much or reached a corner too small.

"I'm bored," the demon scratched its chin with its sharp claw, looking at her as if she was a bug that fluttered around it making an annoying nose.

Ayaka clenched her jaw.

"Have you seen a redhead and a little girl over here?" She asked, her fingers playing nervously with her sword handle as she got into position to attack again. "If you cooperate I'll cut off your neck painlessly, I advise you do that, there is a Stone Breathing Form that makes your head explode and it would be quite disgusting to have your blood all over the place, and none of us want that, right?"

The demon didn't take any worth on her words, looking behind it and then looking back at her once again.

"Are you talking to me?" It asked in confusion, pointing a white finger towards itself as if something like that could be possible. "Well, that doesn't matter, I'll finish you quickly since there was something I had to do, but I don't remember what it was."

It raised its hand again to crash her with a simple move. Ayaka replied to its foolish move by jumping, but not towards the wall, but above the demon's head and with her feet on the ceiling, she got ready to jump towards its head. Raising her sword to the sky, the demon clueless to where she had run off to, she knew the fight was already over.

"That's for underestimating me you asshole!" Ayaka yelled, gaining speed as she jumped from the ceiling.

Stone Breathing, Second Form: Upper Smash!

The blade of her sword fell with all its strength against the demon's head in a crushing blow. Ayaka briefly settled her feet on the demon's back, jumping far away from the blood explosion that replaced its head the moment her sword moved away from its skull in order not to get any blood stains on her.

Had she ever mentioned before that she kept her promises?

Landing elegantly a few meters away from it, the demon's body lifelessly fell to the floor behind her.

Ayaka smiled with hands on her waist as she turned around, expecting to find Shoichi and Zenitsu looking in amazement at the way she had took down the demon. However, there was no one behind her.

They weren't there.

Of course, she instantly went into panic.

"Zenitsu! Shoichi!?" She worriedly called out, starting to walk to the last place she had seen them. Tangled up between the confusion of the rush she stumbled against the demon's corpse and fell to the ground, but she paid no mind, as she got up and started to walk faster.

"Zenitsu, Shoichi!" she tried again, this time running through the corridor that started to feel too long.

What could have happened to them? Maybe they had disappeared just like Tanjirou and Teruko, but she made them promise not to go out of the corridor.

There was also the option of encountering a demon while she was busy with the other one.

«Fuck, fuck, fuck», Ayaka cursed on her mind time and time again.

Why had she listened to that hunch and left Zenitsu alone!? She had hoped he would run away and keep the both of them safe with his cowardice at the very least until she took care of the problem! Not for them to disappear! This was by far the kind of possibility she had thought about!

She didn't know where they were, her eyes couldn't see them either, the dust here was too weird! And Zenitsu was alone with Shoichi!

With all those things in mind Ayaka fastened her pace, taking her sword back to its sheath again without taking the time to clean it as her eyes scanned in nervousness through all the rooms they could have run off to.

She was reaching the end of the corridor when the sound of thunder piercing through the air. She stumbled in confusion for a moment, leaning on the wall so as not to fall to the ground.

«Jigoro Kuwajima», she instantly thought.

The sky had been clear when they went into the house.

«Could it be...?». The question stayed floating in her mind, not even sure if that could be possible.

She suddenly stopped running, taking a second to think about what the hell that had been.

It came from the room she had stopped next to, and swimming in uncertainty, Ayaka peeked through the door.

Luckily it was Zenitsu and Shoichi like she had thought at first, and a pretty creepy demon.

But it was dead, its head on the floor starting to fade away in dust with just a light breath of air when she arrived.

"I's dead1 It's really dead" Zenitsu yelled in a high pitched voice, noticing the demon's head gainst his foot for the first time.

He suspiciously looked over at Ayaka, but before he could ask she answered with an outright "no, it wasn't me".

She was still greatly confused, and she sent Shoichi a look full of questions at the other side of the room, but Ayaka knew just as much as Shoichi. Not even goddamn Zenitsu knew!

At Ayaka's negative, Zenitsu directed his attention towards the only person left.

"Shoichi-kun, don't tell me you…" he stated in a trembling voice, getting closer to him in small steps.

Ayaka blinked.

"Thank you so much! We're finally saved! I won't forget this favor you did for me!" Zenitsu yelled, finally throwing himself to Shoichi hugging him like he used to hug Ayaka. "You should have told me you were so strong from the very beginning!"

That was what Ayaka would have liked to tell him, but she was left speechless, eyes wide open as she looked at the demon's head.

A clean cut, no mistakes on its technique.

Yet again, another thing her eyes couldn't see. They had started to be too many already; first it had been not seeing Nezuko, then it was impossible to make out how the house worked or the exact location of the demons inside besides blurry images she couldn't tell apart, and then this! She was gonna die out of stress before becoming a Pillar at this rate!

«You know what? I give up, to hell with it, I hate group missions.» It was either that or a headache, and she didn't want to have a headache.

Why did everything happen to her? Tanjirou and Zenitsu were such weirdos.

ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ

«Why does everything keep falling apart?», Ayaka thought in distress, as she witnessed Tanjirou fight against the spirit boar.

It had all been so fast her eyes hadn't been able to catch up.

Zenitsu had protected her.

When she, Shoichi and Zenitsu were unexpectedly thrown out the second floor window as the house crumbled down, Zenitsu had protected them both with his body from the fall. Suddenly the possibility of Zenitsu being strong somehow made sense to her, just a bit.

Then the boar appeared, yelling how he wanted to murder the demon on Tanjirou's box. She would have tried to look surprised since Zenitsu was there but she was still swimming in confusion, drowning further with the unexpected appearance of the haf-boar, who turned out not to be an illusion of a monster.

"Stop it you two!" Ayaka ordered, as she desperately tried for the nevers not to overwhelm her as she looked, powerless, how Tanjirou and the boar continued with their fight.

"I told you to stop!" She yelled again, distress making her voice become eight times more high pitched. She hated how it sounded like a little girl's.

What should she do? It was a violation of the rules to fight against another demon slayer, even to stop other demon slayers from fighting! She couldn't violate the rules, what would Himejima-shishou say? She had already given shelter to a demon. And they didn't listen to her either!

What should she do? What should she do?

The three siblings had finally reunited, and were emotionally crying their reunion behind Zenitsu as they also looked warily towards the fight.

Zenitsu was still holding onto the box, blood scattered all over his nose where Shoichi had tried to clean with a piece of cloth.

This mission was a total failure.

Himejima-shishou was able to shut down a fight between Pillars with only a clap, and she couldn't even stop a nonsense fight between recently named demon slayers.

She was a total failure.

Was that how she wanted to take over Himejima-shishou? It was such an impossible dream that… Her eyes opened in surprise as an idea popped bright on her mind, as if someone threw a brick to her face as the boar proudly showed off his flexibility.

She wasn't sure if to be impressed or disgusted.

What he wanted was to win a fight to show off his strength, right? But he had never said it had to be a fight.

Before she could put her plan into action, Tanjirou headbutted the boar.

His head was sent flying but it wasn't his head, but Ayaka discovered that, quite ontrary to what she had believed at first, it was a mask. And in fact, the boar was a human.

"Eh!? A woman's face!?" Zenitsu yelled out what everyone was thinking, she didn't know if that was surprise or horror.

With a deep inhale, she took in the fact that the goddamn boar was prettier than her!

Even with blood running down his nose, the no-boar had skin white as milk with a precious blush on his cheeks, impressive eyelashes and naturally pink lips. His hair looked silky and shining, the Sun shining down on it gracefully.

Ayaka considered herself a pretty girl, since the girls from the village down Himejima-shishou's mountain always complimented her whenever she went down to the market. She had been blessed with pretty although short eyelashes, even a mole on her right cheekbone complimented her face nicely. Eyes of the perfect size, she wouldn't say her lips were horrible even while chapped, but she was too pale and her hair didn't shine under the Sun at all, so the no-boar surpassed her greatly.

She made those thoughts come to a halt, she couldn't worry about that now!

"What did you say just now!? Do you have any complaints about my face!?" The no-boar yelled (she had no other name to call him by).

As if Tanjirou caught on to her thoughts, he continued:

"I have no problems with your face! In fact it's very pretty, with a slight blush contrasting against th white!"

Ayaka, Zenitsu and the three kids stared at the exchange like a tennis match:

"I'm going to kill you, you bastard! Bring it on if you've got balls!"

"I can't, I'm too tired!

"Try your headbutt again!"

"I won't! Just take a seat! Are you okay!?"

"Hey, Wide-Forehead! My name is Inosuke Hashibira! Remember that!"

«So he does have a name», Ayaka thought in curiosity.

"How do you write your name!?" Tanjirou asked.

Did he ask that to everyone?

"Write!?" Inosuke confusedly asked. "I don't know how to write! It's written on my underwear tho!"

Ayaka scrunched up her nose. How disgusting.

Just like that, Inosukes eyes went up to his skull and he fell back, crashing against the floor with a strong bang.

Cautiously getting closer to his limp body, Ayaka gave him a light nudge with her foot to confirm if he was alive or not.

As she saw how his chest went up and down, she at least knew he was breathing, which was quite an accomplishment taking into account foam was starting to get out of his mouth.

"Is he dead!? Is he dead!?" Zenitsu asked in his usual high pitched voice, hiding behind Teruko as if Inosuke would miraculously get up and beat him up once again.

"No, he's only unconscious!" Ayaka yelled from her place for him and the children to hear. Getting her eyes back to Inosuke, she nudged him with her foot again. Just to confirm, of course.

"He's not dead, probably got a concussion," Tanjirou asked, appearing by Ayaka's side unexpectedly. "Because I used all my strength to ram him with my head."

Ayaka's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, now with her head clear, the first thing that came to mind was just how mad he had been with Tanjirou all day.

Her eyebrow had been twitching all day, she was for sure gonna get a few early wrinkles.

"I swear I'm going to kill you!" She started, poking her finger sharply against his chest. "Goddamn Tanjirou, why do you never listen to me!?"

ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ✿ᵒᵒ

Once Ayaka calmed down and Zenitsu had miraculously prevented her from killing Tanjirou with her own two hands, they did what was only natural. To bury the dead.

Ayaka had insisted they should rest as she did it all, since she was the only one that had come out unscarced.

Tanjirou, with that stubbornness of his she had already become familiar with, didn't agree. She had been expecting his negatives on the matter when she claimed she would take care of everything, what she hadn't expected, however, was that Zenitsu was also very persistent.

She could have dealt with Tanjirou alone but if Zenitsu joined him there was no chance for her to win the argument.

She had to get used to the idea and let not just the two of them help her, even the children helped with the task. She didn't know kids could be this kind.

Like how she had grown to expect from him, Tanjirou didn't allow to leave Inosuke unprotected on the floor, unconcious and heavily injured.

So they made him a pillow with Tanjirou's haori and covered him up with Zenitsu's. Ayaka firmly refused to lend hers, Inosuke deserved no sympathy from her with the way he had beaten up Zenitsu, and she was also slightly annoyed by him being prettier than her. She would never say that outloud, of course.

Ayaka was muttering a small prayer before one of the tombs she had just digged when Tanjirou came up to her.

If there was something she respected the most with her entire being, it was the dead.

Maybe it was because of Himejima-shishou's religious tendencies, she wouldn't be able to tell, but for your life to be snatched away from you, what a horrible, terrifying thing.

She quickly rubbed her tears away with her haori's sleeve as she saw by the corner of her eye how Tanjirou walked over to her. There was something he wanted to talk about at the tip of his tongue, something she had no interest in.

"What the hell do you want?" She asked, clicking her tongue, only an eyebrow raised and a hand on her waist. The blow hit her right to the face.

"I encountered Muzan Kibutsuji on my last mission."

He had said that in a whisper so neither the kids or Zenitsu heard him, so close to her she could feel the warmth of his breathing against his face.

Horror, freezing and dripping over her back, made its way to Ayaka's chest as she grabbed Tanjirou's elbow and led him to the deepest part of the forest, where no one would be able to hear them.

"I swear if you're making fun of me! Tell me you're joking!" Ayaka started grabbing the collar of his uniform as she shook him.

Tanjirou grabbed her wrists to make her stop but that didn't bring her relief in the slightest.

"I'm not joking!" Tanjirou insisted, as he held her wrists trying to stop her from trembling.

With a harsh tug Ayaka got away from Tanjirou's grasp and brought her hands to her face.

"You don't acknowledge how dangerous that was, right?" She asked, voice muffled by her hands. "It's not something normal to encounter him and if that would ever happen, no one, no matter who, would be able to survive, how the hell are you still alive?"

"Well… I had the help of a demon, her name is Tamayo and she- " Tanjirou started as if it was a story to tell your children before going to sleep.

"I think you're taking this too lightly!" Ayaka yelled, hands out in frustrated gestures close to pulling her hair out of her scalp. "And I wasn't even talking about that!"

"I listened to you, that's how I survived! I calmed down like you told me to!" he answered yelling too.

That made her more or less come back to her senses.

"Oh," was the only thing she dared say, suddenly blushing without knowing why. For freaking out in front of him? Yes, maybe.

"I calmed down like you told me to, that's why I wanted to tell you," Tanjirou continued in a lower voice, resting his hands against Ayaka's shoulders, maybe to check if she was still trembling or to hold her in case she panicked again, both of them were very likely. "Thank you for your help."

"Ah, you're… welcome?" Ayaka answered, traces of horror on her veins still remaining, and they wouldn't fade away so easily. "That's good, I-... I guess."

"Yes! It was as if you talked in my head and judged me, with that face you always have on when you scold were like «Tanjirou calm down, Himejima-shishou would spank you a thousand times if he saw you like this, and this is how you are a demon slayer? You don't even come close to Himejima-shishou's heel, don't apologize, do something of use and calm yourself down.» It was intimidating and quite scary but it helped me think clearly." Tanjirou continued cheerfully in a shrug.

Shame started to drip through Ayaka's face, cheeks turning a bright red to show it.

"Do I seriously talk like that?" Ayaka asked, uncomfortably playing with one of the strands of hair that usually framed her face.

"No, no, no!" Tanjirou stammered. She hid her cheeks and mouth behind her hands, shining to match the red of her haori. "Well, maybe… yeah, kind of."

"Do I seriously mention Himejima-shishou that much?" She muttered at her hands, looking down.

"Yes, not much. But you do it a lot," Tanjirou continued as if he was walking over a mines field and a step too much to the side would make him blow up. Ayaka was very sensitive when it came to Himejima and Tanjirou wasn't able to lie either.

"Now that you mentioned it, well maybe I bring up his name a lot but, I just can't help it!" Ayaka tried to excuse herself as she moved her fists up and down, excitement taking over her shame. "If you got to know him you would know what I mean. Then you would talk about him as much as I do! And you would get along nicely with him, too! I know him, I'm sure he'd love you!"

"I would love-" A high pitched scream pierced through the air and they both rushed to the glare where they had left Zenitsu and a not so unconscious Inosuke.

He used his new found consciousness to run after Zenitsu, hoping to fight him as well.

"The hell were you two doing in the woods!? Making out while I was being attacked!?" Zenitsu quickly hid behind Shoichi's back, trembling. "You reek of intimacy!"

"I reek of intimacy?" Tanjirou brought his arm up to his nose, Ayaka glanced at him in a disgusted scrunched up expression.

Inosuke became quiet for some reason as he stared at the children burying the remaining corpses.

"What are you guys doing!?" He asked, angry for some reason.

"Burying the dead, of course," Tanjirou answered as if it was that obvious. "Inosuke, you should come and help out too, there was a bunch of people killed in that house."

"It's pointless to bury the remains of living organisms! Who would even think that!? I'm not helping you!" Inosuke declared stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

A mischievous smile made its way to Ayaka's lips.

"Say, Inosuke, would you be interested on fighting against me?" Ayaka confidently came closer to him, even daring to cheerfully pat his chest.

He quickly turned around to her, words catching his attention. He was so predictable.

Ayaka's smile slightly widened.

«I got him.»

"But we can't fight against each other, with or without sword, so I have another competition to test our strengths, big boy, do you want to join in?" She continued in a mellow manner, like a bug falling into a spider's web guided by honey.

She still remembered Takeshi, and to let his memory torment her all her life wasn't pleasant so what else to do than learn from him?

Because in exchange for everything he took away from her, she'd borrow his strength and overcome his ghost.

That was... the only thing she could do.

"Whatever you want, however you want! I just know I'll defeat you!" Inosuke yelled in low cackles.

"A-chan, I don't think that's a good idea, this guy is crazy!" Zenitsu warned peeking over Shoichi's back.

Ayaka quickly shook off his worry.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I won't lose," Ayaka said, as Zenitsu continued to fidget. "We'll just do a tiny arm wrestling competition."

"Don't you have anything to say about this!? That lunatic is gonna kill A-chan!" Zenitsu said to Tanjirou, who observed calmly.

"It's a friendly competition, I don't know why you're so worried," Tanjirou replied with a shrug. "Besides, Aya is very strong, I don't think Inosuke can defeat her."

Inosuke burned in fury (more than he had been before) at the estatement, crying out an angry shriek. If Ayaka looked closely, she could see the veins on his forehead. It wasn't a really pretty sight.

"Let's do it right now, I'll defeat you! I'll defeat you in such a crashing way you'll never be able to rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!" Inosuke continued yelling as he pointed a threatening fist at her.

"Stop yelling already!" Ayaka heard Zenitsu cry from Shoichi's back.

"Of course, but to be honest, I don't care about this competition at all," Ayaka started sweetly. (She, in fact, cared about that competition, she was still annoyed by him being prettier than her). "So to make me be motivated, if i win, you'll have to promise to help bury all the corpses from the house. However, if you win, you can make me do whatever you want, and I'll obey without complaint, is that fair to you?"

Inosuke eyed her suspiciously for a moment, but finally accepted the offer when he shook her hand in excitement reeking of foolishness.

"This is going to be the easiest thing I'll ever do in my life! With those thin arms of yours I'm sure you won't even be able to-" He interrupted himself suddenly as Ayaka took off her haori and offered it to Shoichi, leaving her toned arms uncovered.

She had specifically asked for the sleeves of her uniform to be removed, it was her pleasure to show off her hard work indulging in such a tiny detail.

Unusually cheerful, Ayaka walked off to the first rock she saw, leaning her elbow against its surface as she waited for Inosuke to imitate her.

"Are you going to give up, big boy?" She provoked knowingly, Inosuke didn't take much to explode in anger and join her side. "Ah, I thought that was weird. Kiyoshi, do us the favour of counting down, will you?"

The boy nodded, just as obedient as his brother Shoichi, and got by their side prepared to start when Ayaka told him to.

"Know that I will defeat you, you stupid girl!" Inosuke announced as they interwinned their hands together, squeezing her hand too tightly.

Ayaka only smiled while Zenitsu insisted to Tanjirou that Inosuke was going to kill her and that he couldn't marry her if she was four metres underground.

Kiyoshi started counting down.

"3"

"My name is Ayaka Iwamoto, make sure to remember it, Inosuke Hashibira," she introduced herself with a squeeze just as tight as the one he was giving her.

"However it is, Alana Yamamiko! When the count gets to one I'll defeat you!" Inosuke continued cackling.

«That doesn't come close to my name at all», Ayaka thought, feeling her eyebrow twitching.

"2"

"Say Inosuke, can you move that boulder over there?" She asked, ignoring the wrong calling of her name as she pointed with her free hand to the biggest rock on the glare. "Because I can."

"1"

Inosuke didn't have enough time to answer, since Ayaka's hand pulled his hand along with his whole body against the rock with so much strength it broke, leaving a speechless Inosuke on the floor, in between dust and the remainings of the stone.

His face was, certainly, funny, looking over at her with wide open eyes and astonishment clear on his features.

"I win," Ayaka said, shaking off a dust that wasn't there from her hands as she couldn't help but cackle.

The taste of victory was a delicious dessert on her mouth and the feeling took no time to manifest on her face as a proud smile.

«That's what you get for being prettier than me,» she thought in satisfaction.

"That was amazing, Aya," Tanjirou said appearing by her side. "Although I think you overdid it."

Zenitsu could only stare thunderstruck, scared for his life, meanwhile the kids opened their mouths in wonder, just as stunned as euphoric.

Inosuke quickly got up once he recomposed, talking louder if that was possible.

"I don't care you won, Akira Kawaiji! I'm not going to help you bury dead people!" He said, cursing a name that wasn't hers. "Maybe you're quite scary but I'm not gonna listen to you, you hellish woman!"

Ayaka squinted, ready to fight since she had won fair and square, but Tanjirou interrupted her.

"It's because your wounds still hurt that you're unwilling to help, right?" Ayaka didn't know if he said that to manipulate Inosuke or because he seriously believed that, but that was far away from reality, at least that was what Inosuke's annoyed face told her. He seemed to have the urge to attack Tanjirou any moment now. "It's okay! Everyone has different levels of pain tolerance! Burying people is a really tiring job, Aya, Zenitsu and these kids are all very capable so don't worry."

«That's not what he meant», Shoichi, Kyoshi and Ayaka all thought at the same time.

"Inosuke, you should take a well earned rest," Tanjirou gently finished, smiling kindly like he usually did.

«He's totally clueless», Ayaka thought, squinting at him either in surprise or disappointment, she couldn't tell.

That was the last straw, because Inosuke yelled in annoyed and finally lost his mind, at least what she saw, because he seriously looked like a crazy person.

"Don't underestimate me! I'm a better grave-digger than anyone else! Even you, Akami Momotaro!" He pointed at Ayaka to make his intentions clear. "No matter if it's a hundred or two hundred people, I'll bury them all!"

«Does he believe I was born out of a peach? He called me Momotaro even when I told him to remember my name...» Ayaka thought in exhaustion. «I don't think Iwamoto is that hard to spell.»

Inosuke ended up helping them bury the dead.

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