It had been like an hour since they have stumbled upon this abandoned. It turns out it wasn't an abandon household and is actually a territorial boundary for demons that seeks shelter from the sun. It's purpose is probably to lure in traveling folks into thinking this is a safe haven in the middle of the dense forest. In actuality, the method is overused and has been successful so far. Demons would do anything they can to stuff their bellies with. That or just with force no matter if it's daylight or the break of dusk. Desperation is the start of a new adrenaline seeker.
Inside of the house, Zenitsu carried an unconscious lightning elemental BoBoiBoy on his back and lightly jogged their way to someplace where they can find Tanjiro and the others. Shoichi is seen keeping up Zenitsu's pace while at the same time making sure Lightning isn't going to fall off on Zenitsu anytime.
His thoughts run on Zenitsu. At first, he was basically a coward, always cowering away from danger even clinging onto a person who is younger than him. Zenitsu proved him wrong by doing his technique on a demon and saved Lightning from an immenent demise. However, Zenitsu didn't know it was his own doing and Shoichi kept this from him to avoid making Zenitsu doubting his ability.
"Where are you, guys?" Zenitsu huffed and continued on with their search. 'I can still hear that creepy sound. Just be safe and sound, guys!'
"Um, Zenitsu?" Shoichi questioned. "Is it just me, or are we just going around and around in circles?"
"I knew it!" Zenitsu said and they both stopped to catch their breath. "I was getting the same feeling! Shoichi, I knew I could count on you!"
He ran his eyes on Lightning on his back. He didn't budge or move but he can hear his slight breathing. "You'll be alright, BoBoiBoy! The least I can do is to make sure you'll make out alright!"
Although this is entirely false. Lightning hadn't done much except fending himself against the demon. Shoichi inner debated if he should tell Zenitsu what really happen but his other side won the argument and let himself stay silent in the meantime.
"All right, could you check to see if this room is safe?" Zenitsu asked the shorter boy. Shoichi should have protest but seeing him carrying Lightning on his back would make him harder to do some tasks. Nodding his head, Shoichi lightly opened up the sliding door. His eyes vibratingly scanned inside and to his relief, nothing came out of the ordinary.
"There's nobody around." Shoichi said while sweat is pouring down his head.
"Right! Let's go this way!" Zenitsu adjusted his arms and careful not to let go of Lightning and both of them entered inside. "Tanjiro, please show up!"
Before any of them would run forward, the room flipped vertically. They didn't have time to register nor give a reaction as to how it happened.
"Th-The room... just flipped!" And just like, all of them fell. Zenitsu and Shoichi both screamed until the sliding doors automatically opened up and the final one revealed the actual outside of the house. They launched themselves out of there and crashed on the ground with a loud thud.
Zenitsu involuntarily released Lightning and that made him hit the ground on the head. The last thing Zenitsu sees is gazing at the cloud sky.
Surely, it was Kyogai that done that to flip the room around and made BoBoiBoy Earth and Tanjiro flopped everywhere. It continued for a while when Earth caught Tanjiro by his arm and spin him around to throw him to another spot that will give them some hints on what to do.
"Tanjiro! Keep dodging his claws and predict when the room's gonna flip around soon! Broken bones or not, show him how unstoppable we are!" Were Earth's encouraging statement towards Tanjiro. Gritting his teeth and firmly grasping the handle of his sword's hilt, Tanjiro immediately dodged Kyogai's sudden claw attacks without letting up one bit.
Each of them still can't get used of the room continuously flipping in any unpredictable rotations. Even if Earth can pinpoint the sounds of the tsuzumi's rotation ability, he still wasn't able to land on the spot perfectly because of the broken bones within him. Tanjiro grabbed on hold of the swinging lantern and Earth roughly landed on the wall next to a sliding door, which is destroyed.
'Despite our many attempts, we're never gonna defeat the demon using our spirit alone! C'mon Earth, use your head! Not just motivation but your intellect as well!'
Busying himself with the prep talk, Tanjiro almost let himself get slashed by the claw had he not let go of the swating lantern. He was a hair away of falling down the door that leads to a long dark hallway when Earth caught him just in time.
"Thanks! That was a close call!" Earth pulled Tanjiro up albeit the achy feeling inside of his torso. The broken ribs damaged his internal organs.
"It's... not over... yet...!" Earth panted and Tanjiro lent him a supporting hand.
"Damn! This is so annoying! I gotta consume some Marechi! There's no time to lose!" Kyogai said frustratingly and tapped his tsuzumi. The flipped rotated once more and made the boys fell down once again.
"Aaughh!" Earth groaned in great pain. His already damaged bones intensified.
"At this rate, there's not even a time to stop and think!" Tanjiro is starting to get annoyed with this.
"You're telling me." Earth slowly gets up and both of them evaded the oncoming claw attack. He turned his attention to Kyogai.
"Hey you! What's your name?" Earth asked for the demon's name.
The mentioned demon was taken aback but answered his question anyway. "Kyogai."
"Kyogai! We're not handing over Kiyoshi... the Marechi to you! We're not gonna cave! We're not giving up!" Earth extended his fist up to express himself.
"We don't wanna hand over the Marechi to you! If you want him, you're gonna have to get through us first!" Tanjiro added.
Their bold declaration triggers a memory inside Kyogai. He saw himself sitting down, looking down in shame and guilt. An old man was presented as well.
"Just give up, will you?" The old man said
Hearing them say that is making Kyogai riled up. "I'm going to get my hands on some Marechi..." He raised his head up and revealed his irises including the label on his right eye that read Lower Moon Six. "...AND RECLAIM MY PLACE AMONG THE TWELVE KIZUKI!"
In his anger, he pressed against his tsuzumi's at a faster rate, making the room rotate entirely in random and sending out claw attacks everywhere. Earth and Tanjiro are forced to take precautions and tried their very best to dodge everything. Papers on the shelves all flew out and were spreading everywhere. Some pieces of paper somehow covered up Earth's face and he struggled for little while to get them off. But when he removed the paper and read some contents plastered on it, he felt intrigued by its writings.
"Interesting..." Earth commented and continued to dodge more of the claw attacks.
Kyogai's memory continued. "Just give up, will you? It's so boring!"
It was raining outside. The household they were in were Kyogai's home. All the lights inside are assumed to be off.
"Your writing is just so boring. Every last word is utter trash!" The old man said and dropped all the papers he had in his hands on the floor.
"No beauty, no fragility, no impact. Why don't you forget about writing? It's just a waste of paper and fountain pens!"
Kyogai remained on being silent while he keeps receiving the harsh criticism.
"You never even step outside anymore these days. So no wonder you're so boring! You should just enjoy your hobby, playing the tsuzumi as long as you're shut in here. Not that you have the skills to teach that, either!"
The old man finished what he's saying and trampled on the papers. The human Kyogai, seeing his work being stepped on by a man he once respected, is boiling inside in anger. His eyes are filling in with red, meaning that his demon side is showing. He revealed a tsuzumi on his stomach and tapped it. The old man behind him were slashed into four pieces.
The memory ended.
"OUT OF MY SIGHT! YOU DAMN INSECTS!!" Kyogai has had enough. For being reminded of his work being deemed a failure, for having the person he respected not recognizing his true talent, he's beyond angry.
"RAPID DRUMMING!!!" Kyogai held his arms up, readying his drums.
"Oh no! By the sounds of his tone, he'll be hitting them in like a bullet's speed!" Earth narrowed his eyes.
Kyogai brought both of his hands down hard on his tsuzumis, striking them now in a speed of light. The room spins rapidly at the sound of the tsuzumis being tapped. Earth and Tanjiro, screaming from the defying gravity being controlled, ragdolled in the air, and the papers are scattered around.
'This is making me dizzy as hell! Honestly, that skill Kyogai has, it's amazing!' Earth lands safely and avoided the claw attack. This time, instead of being three-clawed, it is now five-clawed.
'It's not just three but five claws in total now!' Earth maneuvered himself around the air. Seeing the pile of papers scattered on the floor, Earth carefully puts his foot on the floor without stepping on the papers. Tanjiro lightly landed without stepping on them as well. This made Kyogai stop and stare at them. His work isn't being stepped on by them. He wondered why they didn't trample on the papers.
"Wait a second..." Earth discerns Kyogai's paper quickly enough then moves to the side to avoid getting slashed by the claws coming. "These papers mean something to him... that's why he hesitated to strike the tsuzumi just then! Hey Tanjiro!"
Tanjiro avoided a claw attack and jumped right next to him. "What is it?"
"Listen to me, move your body swiftly using your feet and don't sway your body that much. It's a way of not aggravating our wounds. By doing this, not only we can do it but we can now do our breathing correctly!"
Tanjiro takes in his words and put them into action. Kyogai tapped his tsuzumi and more claws are hurling their way.
"Take shallow breathings! Use the breathing technique to reinforce the muscles around the broken legs! Use your sense of smell to determine the claw attacks position!" Earth gives his orders.
'I'll be concentrating on dodging on the claws if I have to! I just need for Tanjiro to get in close to the demon to deliver the finishing blow!' Earth picked up a swerving sound from the claw's noise.
'There's the sound of the claw! From above!' Earth ducked under and the claw missed its target. He dodged many of them in different directions. Tanjiro is also managing his own really well.
'Above!'
'Left!'
'Right!'
'Behind!'
Kyogai looked on them with a nervous face. 'They're evading all of my attacks!' Earth takes one shallow breath. 'Now. To disrupt the room to unable to flip, I need to hold it in place.'
"Total Concentration! Earth Breathing! Third Form!" Once he gathered enough air in his lungs, Earth stabbed his sword in the floor, making the entire house shake until it stopped momentarily. Kyogai tried to tap his tsuzumi again but the room didn't flip.
'What the hell is this?! The room didn't respond to my literal beat of the drum!' Kyogai thought with a sweat. Earth had found the room's weakness.
"Shattering Earth Bindings!" Earth pulled the sword out of the ground, making another rumble inside the room. 'I only disabled the room's orientation for a while! This should give us enough time to get up close to Kyogai!'
"All right! Go, Tanjiro!" Hearing his cue, Tanjiro takes a deep breath.
"Total Concentration! Water Breathing! Ninth Form, Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent!"
He then sprinted across the room, leaving splashing water in his trail and allowing Tanjiro to move around the room without any limitation to his body.
'Minimize the landing time and area as much as possible! I can move freely thanks to Earth halting the room's orientation!' Tanjiro thought mid sprint.
'He's adapting to the room's orientation changes! Not only that, the other one completely disabled my tsuzumi's rotation ability! Just what on earth is that?!' Kyogai can feel his death coming closer, however, he hasn't forgotten about his claw attack either.
"Die already!" Kyogai tapped thrice on his middle tsuzumi and sends out three consecutive five-clawed attacks on Tanjiro.
"Total Concentration, Earth Breathing, Second Form, Earth Barrier: Defense!" Earth channelled his inner strength and summon a rock wall as a defense mechanism for Tanjiro. The claws made contact with the wall and almost grazed the wall. Tanjiro maneuvered around the rock wall, stands on top of the wall, and unleashed another move.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form!" He leaps down from that wall and Kyogai didn't have time to tap one of his tsuzumis.
"Kyogai!" He heard his name being called by Earth. "Your Blood Demon Art is truly incredible!"
Kyogai had made a surprised face. Before his death is approaching, the last thing he heard is him compliment his abilities. And as he knew it, his head is now decapitated by Tanjiro.
"Modified! Promontory Waterfall Basin!" Using another breathing technique, Tanjiro swung his sword vertically on Kyogai's head, at the same time releasing flows of water spreading across the room temporarily along with the Earth Barrier, that acts as like a diving mechanic for Tanjiro unleashing the move he made, thus creating another combination move in a form of a high land that sticks out into the sea. Tanjiro as the water and Earth as the rocks.
His head made contact onto the tatami floors, rolling around until his head is fully facing his way to the Demon Slayers. Tanjiro landed on both feet unharmed from the technique he made. The Earth Barrier collapsed and made a resounding noise across the house.
"We did it...! Tanjiro, we did it!" Earth happily went his way to Tanjiro, who took a deep breath and caused his broken bones to react in pain. He clutched onto his chest painfully.
"You shouldn't have done that! That would make your bones worse than it is already!" Earth said with concern for his brother figure. But as soon as he said, Earth's bones also reacted from the amount of breathing he done, which also caused him to hold on to his chest.
'Gah! So much... for that...!'
"Boys..." They heard Kyogai, the bodiless Kyogai, only his head remained, speaking to them. "Answer me. You think my Blood Demon Art... was truly incredible?"
Tanjiro looked away, frowning from his question. "It was amazing. But..." He paused before turning to the demon again. "I can't forgive you for killing others."
Kyogai understood. "I see... What about you... Boy?"
Earth had a sad look. "Kyogai... Your abilities are really amazing. And also... your work..."
"Huh...?" Kyogai is confused, not knowing what he meant by your work. Earth noticed his confusion and picked up a piece of paper lying on the floor.
"These writings... made by Kyogai himself. I can tell that you put lots of effort into making them. And I gotta say, they're... very unique and astonishing to read." He gave his criteria on Kyogai's work. Hearing him praising his work made Kyogai had tears in his eyes.
"Oh, wait, I gotta get a blood sample." Tanjiro muttered and pulled out an item meant for extracting blood and threw it at Kyogai's disintegrating body. The item automatically extracts the blood by up to the max.
"Awesome." Earth commented as he sees the thing extracting the blood. They made their way to the demon's body and watched the extractor do its work.
"So, it really does extract blood automatically if you stick it in there." Tanjiro pulls the item out of the body and examined it closely.
"Yushiro sure had a knack for creating something as cool as this." Earth said before hearing a cat's meow in the room.
"A cat?" Earth is confused as to why there's a cat in here. "The cat's also wearing an invisibility spell? Hehe. He looks so cute."
"Ah! You're the one who's going to deliver this to Miss Tamayo, huh?" Tanjiro caressed the cat's chin and placed the extractor inside of the container on the cat's back.
"Tanjiro, can I uhh.. have a turn?" Earth felt obligated to do the same thing to the cat as well. Tanjiro raised an eyebrow but said yes anyway. Earth gave him a smile and squat down to meet with the furry feline.
"Hey there." Earth pats the cat on the head and even caressed him on the chin, much to the cat's enjoyment.
"You... remind me of my first pet." He smiled faintly. It's true that he has his own pet cat named Mimi. "I wonder how's she's doing right now at home..."
Speaking of cats, his thoughts ran over to Cattus, cactus-looking feline. He missed him so much.
"Okay. I'm done." Earth stood up and the cat turned his back on him. "Take care now."
The feline started to walk away and meowed the second time, making the cat invisible again.
"Hey—" Tanjiro uttered.
"Whoa, he disappeared."
"I was told that Yushiro's spell, it would be invisible until it meowed, and then vanish again when it meowed a second time." Tanjiro explained.
"So, it's true, huh?" Earth mused. He then thought of Teruko and Kiyoshi.
"Hey Tanjiro, we need to search for Teruko and Kiyoshi. They could be anywhere around the house."
Tanjiro perked his head up. "Oh right! C'mon!"
As soon as they stood and made their way into the hallway, Earth paused and looked back to see Kyogai still straing at them. Eyes shaky and lips quivering, he stepped forward and crouched down to meet with Kyogai for one last time.
"Kyogai... I wish I can see more of your writings, I really do." Earth sympathized with him. Kyogai widened his eyes. "I can hear what you think. I'd never think of them as trash. You have the potential to be an amazing writer, if you hadn't become a demon in the first place."
"Y-You..." Kyogai can hardly keep his emotions in check and he teared up heavily.
"Earth..." Tanjiro quietly said.
"We'll be on our way now." Earth stood up and went over to Tanjiro, with a slightly happy look on his face.
'My writings... weren't trash. At the very least, not to those kids. They saw fit not to trample on it.'
His teary eyes found themselves staring at Earth. 'That kid... He praised my work... He complimented my ability to write. He saw the beauty I have put in. This isn't him faking it, it was genuine and passionate about my work.'
"Rest in peace." Tanjiro and Earth bowed. Tanjiro ran off to find the siblings but Earth stayed one last time to look at the fading head.
Kyogai didn't even bother trying to hide his tears. He expressed them all out for Earth. Those two were the first people to have ever acknowledge his work.
"Farewell... Kyogai." Earth almost had his barriers broken after seeing Kyogai crying and hearing his wails. He now started running after Tanjiro and leaving him alone now.
'My Blood Demon Art... my tsuzumi playing... and my writings... have been recognized.'
Were his last final words. And like that, Kyogai is now gone, faded away in ashes, and that he can die knowing he is now acknowledged.
Kiyoshi! Teruko!"
"Kiyoshi! Teruko!"
They both yelled out the siblings names whilst running down the halls. The spotted a familiar sliding door and opened it.
"Kiyoshi! Teruko!"
Whirling objects are being thrown at Tanjiro now. He evaded two of them but then got struck by a book on the forehead.
"Hey! What's the ruckus abo—" Did not get to finish what he's going to say when he got struck by a vase on the head, making him comedically slump down.
The siblings realized that they have done and looked at them. "Tanjiro... BoBoiBoy..."
"Why are you throwing stuff at us?!" Tanjiro said while holding his aching forehead from the blunt blow of the book.
"We're so sorry! The tsuzumi vanished, so we panicked."
"Nghh... Apology accepted." Earth groaned before letting himself up. "But it's all over now. The demon is gone now. We're safe now."
Teruko let out a bawl. Her nightmares in this place had finally come to an end. Earth walked over to her and patter her on the head.
"You two did great on holding out for so long. I'm proud for both of you." Earth formed a grin.
"Come on, let's head outside. Climb onto my back, Kiyoshi." Tanjiro bent down and offer a piggyback ride.
"O-Okay." Kiyoshi staggers a bit and let himself latch onto Tanjiro's back.
"You must be tired Teruko. Come on. Let me carry you." Earth did the same manner as Tanjiro and bent down. She immediately climbed on top of his back and he placed his arms beneath her legs for support.
They now walk down into the dark hallway. The four are casually taking their time to find their way out of here.
"Is your leg okay?" Tanjiro asked.
"Yes!" Kiyoshi replied.
"You just have to be brave a little longer."
"How about you, Teruko? Everything okay?" Earth cooed at her. She nodded her head. That alone is enough for Earth to usher on to find the exit.
"I'm picking up Zenitsu, Lightning, and Shoichi's scent. They must be outside."
Earth paused when he heard the sound of something beating and smacking someone.
'I heard bashing sounds!'
"Is something wrong?" Teruko wondered why he stopped.
"Oh, it's nothing." Earth replied. He even saw Tanjiro in a similar manner as well.
"Do you feel that, Tanjiro?"
Tanjiro nodded. "Yeah. Come on, let's hurry."
They picked up their pace and lightly jogged their way to the exit. The sight of the exit is within their reach. But when they finally gotten out of the house, they were greeted with a horrible scene unfolding in front of them.
"Take this! Move it! Take this!" The boar masked boy, Inosuke, is seen kicking his foot onto Lightning, who keeps blocking using his arms trying to protect Zenitsu, who looked bloody from all the beating he received.
"Draw your swords and fight me! You spineless punks!"
A sense of fear dawned on Tanjiro and Earth, each seeing their friends in danger and being beaten up by Inosuke. Shoichi is behind a tree, silently crying and witnessing the brutal display being played.
"Tanjiro..." Zenitsu said weakly, obviously from the numerous beatings. "We protected it."
Tanjiro looked Zenitsu and looked like he's ready to cry.
"Because you said... this was more important to you than your life. The thing is..." Zenitsu paused.
Lightning is seen clenching his teeth, blood trickled down his head, bruises are present on his face, and many sorts of dirt appeared on his face. He looked battered up than any injured person they have ever seen.
"Earth... Ngh... What took you guys... so long...?" His voice is really painful to hear.
"L-Lightning..." Earth widen his eyes, all shaken from the horrible state Lightning got himself into. However, for the lightning element, he's stubborn and despite all the injuries he received, he finds himself getting up and still have more fight left in him.
"Zenitsu... Get up."
The mentioned boy weakly got up, fists ready and glare at the unforgiving boar for all the beatings.
Earlier on, after them being launched out of the house, Zenitsu is still unconscious. The wind swayed his clothes and he barely felt the passing breeze.
'I've always had really good hearing. One time, I knew what people said while I was asleep, and that creeped everyone out. I'm not hearing any more demon sounds. Tanjiro, and the other BoBoiBoy, you defeated that demon, didn't you? I can hear you guys, and also these weird-sounding, loud footsteps.' Were Zenitsu's thoughts in his moment of solitude.
Lightning still laid there on the ground. He stirred awake and lightly opened his eyes. His eyes were greeted by the sunlight waving down on his body. He put up a hand in front of his face, shielding the sun's view. He then made a weak sigh and tried his best to get up. He almost forgot the pain he felt earlier then held his chest tightly.
"BoBoiBoy! You're awake!" He heard Shoichi running to his spot. "Thank goodness! I thought you wouldn't wake up!"
Lightning shakes his head carefully, not to aggravate the wounds, for a few seconds, making sure he's actually awake this time. Even though he couldn't get up, Shoichi supported him up anyway.
"Where are we...?" Lightning adjusted his eyes on the new environment.
"Outside! We're now outside of the house!" Shoichi replied with stray tears in his eyes. Lightning confirmed his suspicions based on surveying his surroundings. They are indeed outside the house.
"Where's Zenitsu?"
Shoichi pointed at the downed boy over at the front of the house. He still hasn't wake up yet. Lightning staggered his way to Zenitsu and shook him gently.
"Zenitsu! Wake up! C'mon, Zenitsu!" It worked as Zenitsu slowly opened his eyes and was met with Lightning's yellow orbs. "Phew. Are you all right?"
Zenitsu sat up and stared at him for a moment. "Y-Yeah."
"When the room spun around, we got thrown outside. We fell from the second-story window." Shoichi explained.
Zenitsu puts his hand behind his head. "Did we now?" Flowery images floated on top of his head.
"Were you okay, Shoichi? You looked like you aren't hurt at all." Lightning raised an eyebrow.
"Zenitsu was protecting me. But..." Shoichi trailed off.
"I'm glad to hear that." Zenitsu made a smile. "So, tell me, why all the tears?"
And when he asked that, he felt a liquid sensation behind his head and brought his hand in front of him to reveal blood on it. He takes a moment to register what happened before coming to a conclusion.
"NOW I GET IT! I FELL RIGHT ONTO MY HEAD, DIDN'T I?!" Zenitsu screamed in fright.
"Yes." Shoichi replied.
"Am I gonna... Am I gonna die?!" Zenitsu can faintly feel the swirls emanating in his head. "My head is starting to spin."
Lightning sighed. "Stop it. It's not that fatal. The wound should heal if you—"
Suddenly, they heard laughing coming from inside the house.
"What's this? What's this? What's this?!" Zenitsu looked at the sliding doors.
"It's that guy's voice again!" Lightning recognized the person's voice tone.
"Comin' through! Comin' through!" That last part was clear as the person headbutted the doors, breaking and knocking them over.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! THERE IT IS AGAIN! THE MONSTER BOAR!!" Zenitsu huddled up on Lightning for protection.
"Hey! How many times are you gonna cling on me?!" Lightning exclaimed.
Inosuke laughed maniacally. "I'm getting a demonic vibe."
Zenitsu eventually let Lightning go and stared at Inosuke. "It's him! I was able to tell from his voice! He's the fifth survivor!"
"Fifth survivor?" Lightning mused then turned to look at Zenitsu.
"During Final Selection, he was the first to rush up the mountain and then he came down from the mountain before anyone else! Mr. Impatient!"
"Really? Hm." Lightning sets his eyes on Inosuke. The latter scanned anywhere for the demonic vibe he sensed. Later, his eyes landed on the box, Tanjiro's box, near the bushes.
Inosuke chuckled. "Hey, found it!"
"Oh crap! Nezuko!" Lightning couldn't just stand there and let Inosuke get the box, which houses Nezuko inside. He sprang up, ignoring the pain in his chest, and tackled Inosuke on the ground.
"BoBoiBoy!" Zenitsu ran and stood in front of the box. Inosuke kicked away Lightning off of him. He slid across until Zenitsu caught him and helped him back up.
"Who the hell are you two? Get out of the way!" Inosuke gazed on Lightning. "Huh, you're that punk from inside the house! How the hell are you outside now?!"
"Me? He must be referring to Earth." Lightning uttered.
"I'm Zenitsu Agatsuma and he's BoBoiBoy! We're with the Demon Slayer Corps like you!"
"Demon Slayer Corps?" Inosuke repeated. "Then I shouldn't have to tell you! We gotta get rid of that thing! Now, get the hell outta my way!"
"I'm not moving!" Zenitsu yelled.
"Neither do I!" Lightning glared at the boar. "This is Tanjiro's—"
"Don't argue with me!" Inosuke retorted. "In that case, I'm gonna demolish him and the box together!"
Inosuke raised one of his swords and puts it near Lightning's head by the side. "Get outta my way!"
Lightning didn't faze one bit nor flinch at the boar. Instead, he gave his infamous glare towards the boar, a glare filled with anger.
"No." A simple word packed with venom, even Zenitsu shivered at the word.
"Why, you..." Inosuke isn't backing down from him.
"Inside this box... Inside this box is something we're not letting you touch! Something precious to Tanjiro!" Zenitsu said.
"Oh, hey, come on! What are you talking about? There's a demon inside that box! Don't you get that?" Inosuke stated to instill sone reasoning in them. Unbeknownst to Inosuke, they both knew it before he does.
"How could you know there's a demon inside the box?" Lightning asked.
"I can feel their presence even if they're far away! This one inside is obviously a demon! Now move outta the way!" Inosuke clarified.
"Of course I knew there's a demon inside! I've known that from the very start!" Zenitsu admitted, which caused them both to look at him.
"Zenitsu... You knew...?" Lightning, feeling his anger swept away, stared at Zenitsu in disbelief.
"I knew you were both traveling with a demon. Because the sounds demons make aren't anything like human sounds. But... I can pick up a sound so gentle and kind from Tanjiro, it makes me want to cry. So kind, I don't think I've ever heard anything like it before. You, on the other hand, your sound is emanating with kindness like Tanjiro, but somehow, the current you right now is filled with anger."
"All living creatures constantly give off sounds. The world is full of all these sounds spilling out. Breathing, heartbeats, the sound of blood circulating... By listening closely, I could tell what someone was thinking. But I've been deceived by others time and time again. I've always believed in whomever I wanted to believe in."
"Tanjiro, despite being a Demon Slayer, is traveling with a demon. BoBoiBoy, also a Demon Slayer. You are traveling with someone accompanying a demon. But I'm sure both of you have a reason for that. And that it's the reason I can accept! I believe that!"
"Z-Zenitsu..." Lightning softly said after listening about Zenitsu's ability. He felt guilty for treating him unfairly inside of the house and that he's just someone that wanted to be believed in from others. Lightning often knew that there is something more from Zenitsu but he just couldn't put his finger on anything until he heard of his story now.
And here he is now, risking his own body and life all for Tanjiro's box. He's a good person to be able to risk anything all for their friend even if they just met for like a few hours ago.
"You just need to think of something positive that motivates you into doing something. Like uhhh... a friend that is there for you.
"Friend..." He mumbled.
"BoBoiBoy..."
Even if he's not the original, Lightning fully faced him.
"I thought about what you said... And I'm sorry if I hadn't been exactly the kind of person you wanted me to become someday. As of now, I'll start believing in myself from now on..."
Lightning didn't know what to say at this point. His mouth opened but no words flew out of it.
"Despite a few hours ago, you and I are... friends, right?"
Then this struck him whole. What Zenitsu really wanted was a friend that believed in him. But no matter how much trial and error he did to make friends, they'd always leave him, backstab him, or betray him. But BoBoiBoy and Tanjiro never treated him as an outsider or a stranger to him. For once in his life, he felt happy, happy knowing that there always some good people in the world, and he finally has what he wanted.
Friends.
"I..."
Inosuke, after hearing Zenitsu's speech, stared down on him and not on Lightning this time.
"I'm going to ask Tanjiro and BoBoiBoy directly myself! So, you..."
Zenitsu's face darkened. "You can just back off!"
"Why, you...!" Inosuke attempted to kick Zenitsu. Lightning prevented that to happen and kicked him away before he can.
"Get the hell away!" Lightning growled at Inosuke. Inosuke lunged at his spot and tackled Lightning onto the ground. They wrestled for a bit until Zenitsu pulled Inosuke off of Lightning then punched him in the gut. He pulled back force as much as possible and throw another jab at Inosuke, sending him to the ground.
"Nice one, Zenitsu." Lightning smirked. Zenitsu isn't done yet. He pinned Inosuke on the ground while the boar masked boy elbowed him on the back.
"Let go of me, dammit!" Inosuke pulled Zenitsu's hair then threw him away. "You're so annoying!"
Lightning watched as Zenitsu spat out saliva after landing roughly. "How dare you!!"
Inosuke almost made it to the box before he has his foot stuck on something. He turned to see Zenitsu pulling on one of his foot.
"You're not laying a finger on that! BoBoiBoy, now!"
Lightning did a swift punch to Inosuke on the chest, making the masked boy cough up. Lightning continued the facade of kicking and punching the masked boar until he felt his ribs acting up again. Inosuke used this opportunity to kick Zenitsu continuously, earning Zenitsu a black eye, and attacked Lightning by punching him many times in the head, stomach, and the wounded part of his ribs then threw him to the side.
"Stop that!" Zenitsu gathered enough strength to throw Inosuke away by his foot. "That box is something precious to Tanjiro!"
"*cough*cough*" Lightning violently coughed up blood from being beaten up many times. But he can still handle the pain enough. Adrenaline kicked in and that caused to divide the pain he's enduring.
"You're not touching it until he gets back!" Zenitsu covered the box using his entire body.
"Damn you!" Inosuke rushed forward and roughly kicked Zenitsu in the face. Each kick brings forth blood to spill on the ground.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!" Lightning angrily gets up from his spot and punched Inosuke as hard as he can. Inosuke felt his own ribcage cracked from the punch itself. Inosuke gaspee for air inside of his own mask.
"*pant*pant*pant*" Were his ragged breathing escaping his mouth. Inosuke stubbornly went up and pushed Lightning harshly and he fell down on Zenitsu.
"Now, move it!" Inosuke forwarded his sword on them.
"We won't!" Zenitsu yelled and still protecting the box. Lightning held his arms up, as a last ditch effort for defending himself and Zenitsu until Tanjiro and Earth gets here. And by the time they all got here, this is the first thing they see.
"Take this!" Inosuke had enough and brought down his foot onto Lightning. "Move it! Take this!"
"Draw your swords and fight me! You spineless punks!"
Tanjiro and Earth looked on with fearful expressions.
"Tanjiro... We protected it. Because you said... this was more important to you... than your life."
Lightning coughed up blood. "Earth... Ngh... What took you guys... so long...?"
The mentioned elemental released Teruko and put a hand on his mouth. His eyes are visibly shaking because of the state they're in.
"Zenitsu... Get up." Lightning and Zenitsu got in their fighting stances, barehandedly.
"After all that bluster, you won't even draw your swords, you dumbasses? If you're a fellow Demon Slayer, then let's see you fight!"
"Says the pot calling the kettle black." Lightning remarked, because of the taboo of not drawing their swords against Demon Slayers, he'll have to abide for that unless if it's necessary.
"What was that?!" Inosuke delivered a kick towards Lightning, who grabbed a firm hold of his foot then quickly threw Inosuke in the air. However, Inosuke delivered an axe kick and vertically kicked Lightning in the head, finally knocking him down on the ground, making his body go limp.
"NOOO!" Earth couldn't stand there and had to interfere or else, Inosuke will continue to beat them into a bloody pulp.
"If you won't get out of my way, I'll just have to skewer you two along with the box!" Inosuke positioned his sword, having his blades directly pointing at Zenitsu and the box. He raised them up before delivering them down.
"Knock it off!" Tanjiro and Earth said simultaneously. And before any of them knew it, they sprang forward.
"KNOCK IT OOOOOOOOOOFF!!!" They have never been this angry with someone before. Not to mention, Earth was never angry at somebody in his entire life, except for a certain alien. But now this is different. He watched his friends being reduced into nothing but punching bags for the boy in the boar mask.
They reared their fists, making sure that Inosuke will regret messing with the likes of them ever again.
Not much to say about this but I can say is that having a monthly holiday due to COVID-19 is making me feel homesick.
Stay safe you guys. Stay indoors, wear masks, bring alcohol at all times, apply social distancing to reduce and avoid making contact with a person that has a probable corona on them, and TAPOPS salute them as a form of greeting. XD
~ s a y o n a r a, m i n n a ~_~
