Chapter 2: Fujikasane Mountain
In the years that follow, Shinobu changes, imitating her sister, while her anger grows, and Tanjirou throws himself in training. He tries to reach her, staying at her side as much as his training and her missions allow him.
When he is fifteen, he is ready to enter the Final Selection. Urokodaki-san, the last of the people Tanjirou trained under, gives him a fox mask as a good luck charm once he proved him he was ready by cutting a boulder in half on Mountain Sagiri. As he does, thirteen children in masks gather around him.
"Well done," a boy with peach-colored hair said, "future Sun Pillar."
"Now go beat the other guy." a girl in red flower-patterned yukata smiled at him.
"We'll be looking over you." another boy smiled.
Tanjirou bowed at them and left.
He made his way to Fujikasane Mountain where the Final Selection took place.
'Wow, blooming wisteria. They aren't supposed to bloom in this season.' he thought as he ascended the mountain. He looked around at the Slayer hopefuls, 'That's a lot of people. Ah, aren't those Zenitsu and Genya? And that's Kanao over there.' he smiled noticing familiar faces, waving his hand at them, as they noticed him, too.
His smile brightened as he saw Kiriya-kun and Kanata-chan.
"Greetings everyone. Thank you all for joining the Final Selection tonight. There are a lot of demons captive on this mountain, brought back by demon slayers. They are unable to leave," Kiriya-kun explained.
"Because from the mountain foot to half way up, there are a lot of demon repelling wisteria flowers that bloom all year around." Kanata-chan continued.
"However, from here on out, there are no more wisteria. Only demons. If you can survive here for seven days," Kiriya-kun started.
"Then you pass the Final Selection. Now, let the Final Selection begin." Kanata-chan finished.
They both bowed and the slayer hopefuls marched up the mountain.
Tanjirou patted their heads as he passed them.
"Say 'hello' to your parents from me." he smiled at them.
He had been walking in the forest for a while, when he caught the scent of two demons nearing him.
'There's two of them…'
"Hey, hey! You go over there, I'll eat this!"
"Hell no! Get out of here! That's my prey!"
"Shut it!"
"We'll just decide it by whoever gets to him first!"
They were fighting over him before charging him.
"Haven't tasted human flesh in such a long time!"
'Concentrate. Smell the lines. Now! Sun Breath; Eighth Form: Soaring Flame Haze.'
He charged them and attacked with a haze covered strike, coming to a stop right behind them, as their heads fell.
He sheathed his sword and turned to watch the demons disintegrate.
'After slicing their necks, nothing is left behind – not even their bones.' he thought, sadly, 'May you rest in peace.' he prayed for the two.
Suddenly, a really heavy scent reached him.
'Ugh! Where is this heavy scent of rot coming from?'
"Uwaaaaahhhhh! Why is there such a large type of mutant here? I didn't hear about this!" a young man came running from further in.
A large Demon was following him, covered in hands and holding the corpse of another young man.
Tanjirou watched in shock as it reached and grabbed the one running away by the foot.
He drew in a deep breath.
'Sun Breathing; Second Form: Azure Heaven.'
He spun vertically, creating a 360-degree slash, resembling a wheel and cut off the hand holding the young man.
"If you can still move, go! Find others and help them. We stand better chances together than alone."
"What about you?"
"I'm looking for someone." Tanjirou smiled back at him.
The demon was staring at them.
"Here comes another cute little fox." he said, "Hey, little fox. What year of…the Meiji era is it?"
"Meiji…? It's the Taishou era right now." Tanjirou replied.
"AAAHHH! The era name! Even the era name changed!" that send the demon off, "Not enough! Not enough at all! How long have I been locked up here in this place? I'll never forgive him! Never! Damn Urokodaki!" he started screaming.
"How do you know Urokodaki-san and why do you hate him so much?" Tanjirou asked.
"You know why! I was captured by Urokodaki! I won't forget that moment 47 years ago. He was still hunting demons back then. It was during the Edo period…during the Keio era."
'From the Edo Period?!'
"You're lying!" the young man shouted from behind Tanjirou, "There aren't supposed to be any demons here that have lived that long! Because the demons here should only have eaten two or three people only, and demons are killed during the selection. Also demons kill each other which makes this impossible…"
"But I still remain alive. In this prison of wisteria. I've eaten a total of fifty small kids."
'Fifty of them?!' Tanjirou thought, remembering what he learnt about the strength of the demons compared to how many people they have eaten.
"…Twelve…thirteen, and then, you're the fourteenth." the demon was saying pulling Tanjirou out of his thoughts.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm counting the number of Urokodaki's apprentices I've eaten. I've decided to kill all of his apprentices." the demon giggled, "Speaking of which, the ones that left me the most impression, was this pair of kids. And of those two, the kid with that rare hair color was the strongest. He had a head covered with pink hair and a scar on one side of the corners of his mouth. The other was a little girl wearing flower patterned yukata. Even though she was small and not very powerful, she was quick and light with her movements."
'Those two were killed by this demon? But I…met them…all thirteen of them…' Tanjirou thought shocked.
"That fox mask is a mark. I remember the style Urokodaki uses when carving the masks. The tengu mask he wears is carved the same way. It's called a 'warding mask' or something, right? It was because they were wearing it, that they were eaten. They're all in my stomach. It's as if Urokodaki killed them himself." it laughed, "When I said these words, that little girl was so angry, she had tears shinning at the corners of her eyes. After that her movements became rigid. So I plucked off her arms and legs."
"I see. That's what she meant." Tanjirou said to himself, tears in his eyes, "You're the other guy."
'Sun Breathing; Eleventh Form: Solar Halo Dragon Dance.'
Tanjirou attacked, moving in circles, avoiding the demon's hands, and slashing them away.
'Even when I slice off one of its hands, it regrows after a while…' he thought. His nose twitched, 'There's a strange scent coming from the earth over there!'
He jumped high, avoiding the demon's hands just in time.
The demon shot a hand at him, while he was still in the air and to evade it and gain a better position, Tanjirou headbutted it.
Using that same hand as a foothold, Tanjirou ran towards the demon's head.
'Total Concentration. Water Breathing; First Form: Water Surface Slash.'
"Urokodaki!"
"This is for them." he said, softly, as he cut the head clean off.
He landed close to the demon's body.
'Such a sorrowful scent…' he thought, with tears in his eyes, turning to the outstretched hand. He held it gently in his hands.
"God, please, allow this person to not become a demon again when he reincarnates." he prayed, eyes closed, forehead pressed against its knuckles.
'Everyone…I won…You can rest now. You returned to Urokodaki-san's side, even as spirits, just like you promised.' he sighed, 'Better find somewhere to rest for now.'
In the days that followed, Tanjirou did his best to protect others, while looking for Genya, Kanao and Zenitsu.
When the seven days were up, Tanjirou looked around him at the survivors. There were ten of them, among them that guy from that first night.
He was glad his three friends – or acquaintances, in Genya's case, only because the boy still didn't want to make friends – were alive, standing around him, too.
'Ten from the about twenty.' he thought, 'I am sorry I couldn't help the others. May you rest in peace.'
"Welcome back." Kiriya-kun said.
"Congratulations." Kanata-chan echoed, "We are glad you made it safely."
Kanao was playing with a butterfly.
Zenitsu was mumbling to himself. Tanjirou strained to listen to his panicked words.
"We will die." he said over and over again, "Even if we survived here, we'll still die in the end."
"Eh! Now what do I do? What about the blade?" Genya spoke up.
"You must first pay the cost for the uniform. Then you must get your body measured and have your rank engraved." Kanata-chan said.
"There are currently ten ranks." Kiriya-kun explained, "Mizunoto, Mizunoe, Kanoto, Kanoe, Tsuchinoto, Tsuchinoe, Hinoto, Hinoe, Kinoto, Kinoe. You are now at the lowest level, Mizunoto."
"What about the blade?" Genya demanded again.
"Today you will each choose the alloy. Your blade will be completed within ten to fifteen days. Also, from now on a Kasugai crow will be assigned to you all." Kanata-chan said, clapping her hands once.
A crow landed on Tanjirou's shoulder and he smiled at his new companion.
"Eh? A crow? But isn't this…Isn't this a sparrow?" Zenitsu said shocked.
Tanjirou blinked, as he saw that indeed, a sparrow had landed in Zenitsu's palms.
Neither Kiriya-kun, nor Kanata-chan replied.
"Kasugai crows are crows that are primarily used for communication." Kiriya-kun said instead.
"Caaww!"
Genya shook his crow off.
"I don't care about some dumb crow!" he shouted and punched Kanata-chan, "What I want is the blade! Give me the blade right now!" he shouted grabbing the young girl by the hair, "The blade of the demons slayers corps! The 'color changing sword'!"
Tanjirou grabbed his wrist.
"Let go of her this instant, Genya!" he ordered, "If you don't let go, I'll break your arm!"
"Huh? You can try if you dare!"
Tanjirou did just that.
Genya looked at him pissed beyond belief. Zenitsu looked at them shocked and scared. Kanao wasn't bothered. The rest avoided looking in their direction.
"Are you done?" Kiriya-kun asked, as if nothing had happened, "If so, please go over there, and choose the alloy that will be used to create your blade." There was a table set with different sizes of chunks of ore. "The alloy for the blade that will be used to destroy demons and protect yourselves, will be chosen personally by each of you."
They all looked at the table seriously.
"I'll probably die really quickly." Zenitsu said, gritting his teeth.
Tanjirou let his sense of smell guide him to choose the alloy. Then he paid for the uniform and waited patiently for Masao-san to get the measurements for the uniform, then get the uniform itself and then for Kiriya-kun to engrave the rank on his hand.
Once that was over, Kiriya-kun and Kanata-chan bowed.
"We wish you luck in your upcoming battles." they said in unison.