walk steady on this cruel world's path

By: Aviantei

Part Eleven:

"Sustaining the Storm"

I did receive a message from Kaigaku, though it wasn't until spring had kicked in. The morning after a completed mission, I woke up in my most recent inn room with both Tadashi and Tanaka perched outside the window. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I rolled to my feet and let the birds in, half expecting for another job to get dumped on me, but Tadashi instead presented his leg with a tiny piece of paper clutched in his claw.

I made Tsuchinoto, it said, little drops of ink flecked onto the side of the page, Kaigaku. And then, in scribbled characters at the bottom, Thanks for the gift.

"He replied!" It wasn't much, yes, but it was a step up from his near year of radio (paper?) silence. I pumped a fist in victory, then proceeded to scritch Tadashi's head. "You did good delivering his birthday present, Tadashi. Did you bother him until he wrote a reply?" Tadashi's feathers puffed up in pride, and I giggled. "I'll get you a snack today, yes I will! Do you want an egg, little buddy?"

Not one to go long without attention directed at him, Tanaka swooped at my head, scattering feathers everywhere. "Message! Message from Shimizu!"

"Calm down! If you make a racket, you're gonna get me kicked out." Tanaka pecked at my hair, and I sighed. "Gimme that, would ya? I can't read what Shimizu-chan wrote me if you don't even pass me the letter." Tanaka cawed and pecked at my head one more time before landing on my forearm and letting me untie the letter from his leg. His load delivered, Tanaka flapped over to the windowsill, preening himself. I can name one bird who's not getting a special snack for his troubles, I thought before unfolding the paper and getting to reading.

Hey there, Rairi-kun! As I'm sure you guessed by Tanaka running delivery, this is Shimizu. I wanted to let you know about the mission I got done with on Natagumo-yama a bit ago…

I read over the details, my eyes growing wider with each line of text I read. There'd been a whole "family" of demons on the mountain, including the Lower Moon Five of the Twelve Kizuki. Tons of lower rank Demon Slayers had been deployed, and, in the end, two Hashira had ended up on the scene to clean things up. Further, there was something going on with one of Shimizu's friends, whose sister had been turned into a demon—and oh, hell, that had to be Nezuko; Shimizu had met the protagonist, holy shit.

"Please be more careful, Shimizu-chan," I whispered. Again, aside from the very base premise, I knew jack crap about Kimetsu no Yaiba, but my years of otakudom meant that I could recognize the plot kicking into gear when it happened—and encountering one of the Twelve Kizuki so counted as shit going down.

I wish I'd known more than a few scattered character designs, though. Was Shimizu a Canon character? If so, what happened to her? Or maybe…when I helped her fight the demon in Final Selection, had I saved her from joining the other deceased students of her sensei? After all, fighting a demon who'd killed the former students of the protag's teacher seemed like a good plot arc, so maybe we'd stolen that job from him? I'd considered the possibility before, but now that we were dealing with events that I was presuming had happened in the Plot, the idea of Shimizu ending up in an even riskier situation as time went on made panic start to well up in my chest.

But wait! There was more to worry about!

It wasn't just Shimizu who'd been around for the shitstorm; Zenitsu was there, too. Given that I hadn't been able to do anything about being stuck in a manga, I'd then, for the sake of my sanity, kind of blocked out the fact that my kōhai had been someone with a notable enough design that all but screamed Major Cast Member. Dealing with Lower Moon Five was, what? I'd say early plot still but challenging enough to be the first major difficulty spike? In terms of story tension, the next thing to do was start raising the stakes, which meant that there were going to be some nasty battles coming up.

I could have gone my whole life without knowing I was in a stupid manga, fuck!

If it weren't for that knowledge, I could just be grateful that Shimizu and Zenitsu had made it out safe; it wasn't like encounters with the Twelve Kizuki were super common or anything. There wouldn't have been anything to fuss about, and we could've gone back to our usual routine and lives. Maybe not the best description, sure, since we all fought demons for a living, but you know what I mean.

A lot of people got hurt, and it seems like a lot of Demon Slayers died here before our mission, Shimizu wrote, but I wanted to let you know that both I and Zenitsu are okay! We're going to be on bedrest for a bit, but we're going to recover. That said, I figured that your kōhai would appreciate a visit (and I would, too, of course!) while we're here, so stop on by if you can. We're at Butterfly Manor, which Tadashi should know how to guide you to if you're busy and can't have Tanaka take you there.

Stay safe, Rairi-kun. Hope I hear from you soon.

Urokodaki Shimizu

By the time I finished reading the letter, I had a godawful headache starting to pound between my ears, and I rubbed at my temples. I hated understanding where I was because there was no comfort at all in it. I didn't know how hard this series was willing to go; did anyone have reliable plot armor? Or had the manga already stopped mattering a long time ago because my presence had impacted the world enough to make a sizable difference? Hell, I could have been in some AU where the original plotline meant jack shit in the first place. I had no goddamn idea!

But I did know something important: two people I cared about very much were injured, and the best thing I could do right now was visit them when I had the chance.

I pushed loose strands of hair out of my eyes and looked to Tadashi. "Do I have another mission to take care of?" He shook his head, and I went to gather my meager things. "Butterfly Manor it is."

Once I saw it, Butterfly Manor reminded me far too much of Sensei's home in terms of aesthetics, though it seemed to have a larger grounds. A wall also surrounded the estate, and I had followed along its side for quite a while before I found the gate. I could have just jumped over the whole thing, but that would have been rude.

Whenever I stepped inside the yard, I managed to find a young kid with black pigtails (done up with blue butterfly clips, which was fitting to the location) tending to some flowers out front. They wore a Corps uniform but had no sword at their hip, so I guessed they were on support, or maybe an off duty Kakushi? Their sapphire-colored eyes flicked over me, assessing my condition. "You don't look like you're in bad shape," they said. Since Butterfly Manor was the home base of the Insect Hashira, the Corps' most advanced member in terms of medical care and demon poisons, this place could serve as a recovery point for more severe injuries than Wisteria Houses could handle, assuming it was safe enough to transport them. "Did you need something?"

I waved my hand, as if shooing off the kid's concern. "I'm not injured, just between missions. I heard that some of my friends were involved in the Natagumo-yama mission and were recovering here. Agatsuma Zenitsu and Urokodaki Shimizu? I just wanted to check on them."

Though the kid had been frowning before (please lighten up, child, you deserve to not be grumpy all the time), their expression softened a bit at my request. "Come with me," they said, pivoting on their heel and headed towards the closest door on the manor. "You're lucky that you got here early; they haven't started their training for today yet."

Training? Even though they're recovering? Well, if they could get up and practice, they couldn't have been hurt too bad—which was an even greater blessing given the situation that they'd gone through. I followed the kid through several halls that seemed like hell to my abysmal sense of direction, and then they stopped in front of a door. "This is where they've been resting. They should both be in here."

"Thanks a bunch," I said with a little dip of my head. The kid retreated into the halls, maybe heading back to the flowers, and I put my hand on the doorknob. "Pardon the intrusion…"

Within seconds, there was a loud gasp, and then Shimizu had launched herself out of her bed with her hand raised in a wave. "Rairi-kun!"

"Huh? Oh, Senpai!" Zenitsu's expression brightened up to an intensity that could rival the sun. God, my kōhai was so precious, my heart might burst. "I'm glad you're here. It's been way too long since I've seen you!"

That sure was right. Just like with Kaigaku, I hadn't seen Zenitsu since that day at home in the orchard. At least he'd written letters, but seeing people in person was a special treat in its own. For the time being, Zenitsu was in a pair of light green pajamas, which seemed to be the infirmary's, given how Shimizu was dressed the same.

I crossed the distance to Zenitsu's bedside and ruffled his hair once. He laughed, a happy blush dusting over his cheeks. "It's good to see you, Kōhai. I'm glad that you're okay."

Shimizu joined me at his bedside, and both her hands caught onto my shoulders. "Rairi-kun," she said, looking me dead in the eyes, "you've done such a good job with him."

"Um, I'm glad you think so?" I mean, yeah, Zenitsu was great, but I couldn't take all the credit for the hard work he put into improving himself. Given where he started, I was so proud of his improvement, all the way up to becoming a proper member of the Demon Slayer Corps.

But, hey, everyone got worked up over different things; I had no room to judge Shimizu for it—though I considered doing just that as she shook me by the shoulders. "You should've seen it! He pulled off this super cool Hekireki Issen against this enemy, and it was amazing."

"Oh, yeah?" A little thrill of excitement went through me, and I extracted myself from Shimizu's hold to turn back to Zenitsu. "How's your Hekireki Issen coming along? How much have you managed to build it up?"

Zenitsu flushed redder under the attention, and his hands gripped onto the blankets. "R…Rokuren."

"Rokuren?!" I shouted without meaning to. Oh so very sorry, other people using this infirmary. But in comparison to the twofold variation he'd demonstrated for me last summer, it was a vast increase in capability. Letting my enthusiasm get the better of me, I pulled him into a hug. "That's amazing, Zenitsu. You've done great; I'm so proud of you!" Zenitsu made a muffled sound, and then I remembered that the whole reason I was visiting him was because he was injured. I rushed to pull back. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot that you're still recovering; I should've been more careful."

"I-it's fine," Zenitsu said, looking a mix of embarrassed and pleased by my praise. "I don't have a lot of external injuries. Now I'm just recovering from the poison as my body grows back to its normal size." Come to think of it, he'd felt smaller than usual in my embrace, and I could see that he had his pajama sleeves rolled up so they didn't eclipse his hands. Just another Blood Demon Art ability to bestow the [Fucking Bullshit] association upon. Still, seeing Zenitsu smaller was kind of freaking adorable, though I wasn't about to pour salt on the wound like that, even if it did make me feel better. It was bad enough that Kaigaku had gotten even taller than me in comparison to before. I at least wanted some dignity left as the eldest of Sensei's disciples!

Though, if I were that concerned about dignity, maybe I wouldn't care so much about the idea of getting outgrown by my kōhai…

Shimizu was nodding, attempting to look sage-like, even with the state of her dress. I was starting to feel convinced that her ability to make anything look good was some sort of supernatural power all its own. "Zenitsu-kun's been taking his medicine, so it shouldn't take too long for him to get back into shape," she said, still looking pleased. "Oh, oh, Rairi-kun, you should meet Tanjirō-kun and Inosuke-kun!"

She pointed past Zenitsu's bed, and, sure enough, there were two other occupants in the room. Inosuke was easy to pick out because, you know, wearing a literal boar head, even while he was recovering one bed over. In the bed after him was a boy with brown hair that had a reddish tint under the sunlight, a dark scar over his left temple, and earrings that had a hanafuda-styled sunrise depicted on them—AKA, Ya Boi the Protagonist. I didn't see any signs of the famous Nezuko anywhere, but, given that she was a demon and couldn't go into direct sunlight, that wasn't too surprising.

"It's nice to meet you!" Tanjirō said with an earnest smile before bowing. Oh, so he was the cinnamon roll category of protag, then. Good to know. "My name is Kamado Tanjirō. You're Zenitsu's senpai, right? He talks about you a lot. Thanks for looking out for him."

Zenitsu squawked, whining out some protest or another. I shook my head and returned Tanjirō's gesture. "My name is Rairi. Thank you for looking out for Zenitsu." Aside from Natagumo-yama, they had worked on a mission together before, as Zenitsu had told me about in his last letter. The two of them were friends, and, as little enthusiasm I had about what danger that would bring, I couldn't blame Tanjirō for being the protagonist when he was just trying to save his sister. I raised my voice a little. "You're Inosuke-kun, right? Thanks for sticking with my kōhai, too."

Inosuke exhaled hard enough that I wouldn't have been surprised to see the breath come out of his mask's nostrils. "Of course! Inosuke-sama always looks after his underlings!"

"Who are you calling your underling?!" Zenitsu shouted in what had to be a familiar exchange. The two of them started bickering, as Tanjirō tried (and failed) to calm them both down. Shimizu giggled, and I couldn't help but laugh with her.

"They're so adorable," she said, and I was super grateful for the boys' antics if it could bless me with another of her amazing smiles. After some time, though, Shimizu clapped her hands and raised her voice. "Now, now, if you all have the energy to argue, you know that Aoi-kun's just going to make your training all the harder."

The mention of this Aoi-kun had all three boys groaning, or maybe that was the threat of more intense work. "Oh, yeah," I said, remembering what the kid who'd escorted me to the infirmary had said, "what's this training all about?"

There was another chorus of groans, and even the boisterous Inosuke seemed defeated. Zenitsu grabbed onto my haori sleeve and looked up at me with watery eyes. "It's awful, Senpai! They put us through this hellish training every day. I know it's gonna help us get stronger, but I feel like I'm gonna die! It's super hard."

Tanjirō nodded. "We've made a lot of progress, but it is difficult. We can sometimes get the better of Aoi-san, but Kanao-san's way faster… Oh, but Shimizu-san can do it!"

Shimizu let out a pleased little laugh. "That's just because I've been a Demon Slayer for longer than her. I have a little bit more experience. If we'd started at the same time, I'm sure she'd outclass me, since she's a Tsuguko and all." Tsuguko was the term used for those who received special instruction underneath an active Hashira, and they were trained to succeed their patron's title. People like that had an advantage over those who didn't receive any extraordinary considerations, so it was no wonder that the boys would have trouble overcoming her in…whatever it was they were supposed to do. Shimizu put her hands together and beamed at me. "Why don't you come and participate, Rairi-kun? I'm sure that the boys could learn a lot from watching you."

Zenitsu blinked, but then his expression lit up. "Will you, Senpai? You're amazing, so I'm sure that you can do it!" Tanjirō and Inosuke were also looking at me now, in what I assumed to be curiosity—well, Inosuke has harder to judge with the mask in the way, but I still got the impression that I'd caught the attention of a wild animal. Had Zenitsu talked me up that much? He was giving me the puppy dog eyes to imply so, and Shimizu was also bearing an expectant smile. Trapped between their gazes, there was no way I could resist.

"Well, I guess I'm already here," I said, and Zenitsu and Shimizu cheered.

The training didn't seem too bad at first, but that was an assumption based on the verbal description I got. Watching, it was obvious that it was rougher than expected. Three young girls with butterfly clips in their dark hair and matching white outfits, save for the different colored sashes around their waists—Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi—took care of stage one, which was an extensive stretching routine that pushed the subject's flexibility to the limit. Deciding it was worth a shot, I subjected myself to the treatment while observing what else was going on.

In comparison to how I'd been before I got dumped in the Taishō Era, I was way more flexible nowadays, but those three little girls stretched out muscles I didn't even know existed. And, yeah, it hurt, but the burn was kind of gratifying in the end, and that feeling increased since I could feel that my movements were way more limber by the time I was done.

The other two stages of training were more about physical prowess than anything. First was the reflex test in the form of a one-on-one competition to see who could splash medicinal water on the opponent before the other. On a low table were several cups, and those playing could block the opponent's moves: if the other player put their hand on top of a cup you grabbed, you weren't allowed to pick it up. You had to have the kinetic vision to see what was going on, the reaction time to block your opponent's attacks, and the speed to pick up a cup and splash it without getting caught yourself. I watched on as the boys did their best, managing to score regular victories against Aoi (the pigtailed kid I'd met outside) and always getting outclassed by Kanao.

If you were to catch sight of her, she didn't look like much: a slip of a teenage girl. She had a knee-length skirt and white western boots under her Demon Slayer jacket, as well as a white cape over her shoulders, and she wore her dark hair in a side pony with a pink and green butterfly ornamentation. But she'd earned that Corps uniform, no doubt about it. Her expression didn't waver from a serene looking smile, but her violet eyes were sharp, and every game with the cups versus her ended up with the boys soaked in medicinal water. She was also victorious when it came to training number three, which was Total Concentration enhanced tag.

She's gotta be using Total Concentration: Constant, I thought, observing her movements as she managed to get behind Inosuke and smack her hand to his back. Shimizu had mentioned that Kanao was a Flower Breathing user, which had branched off from Water Breathing somewhere a long time ago. I could catch the similarities between the movements, and Kanao was overall efficient yet graceful as she moved without a single wasted effort. Though Zenitsu had improved his max speed with Thunder Breathing since I'd last seen him practice, there wasn't any way he could keep up with someone who was always enhancing their movements, instead of in little bursts.

In the end, all three boys were exhausted and sprawled out on the porch to dry, while Shimizu was smiling from the sidelines (since she'd already beaten Kanao several times, she'd stuck to observing and offering pointers, giving the boys more time to improve). "You see, Senpai?" Zenitsu gasped out between wheezing breaths. "It's ridiculous. I know that Shimizu-chan pulled it off, but there's no way."

"Don't be silly," I said, nudging him in the side with my foot as I stood over him. "Yeah, it's tough, but this training has nothing on Sensei's, and you know it." Zenitsu grimaced, knowing my words as truth. If Sensei were giving this lesson, he'd never give us the time to rest and recover like this. "You just haven't built up the right technique or experience to pull it off yet. I'm sure you'll get it in time."

Zenitsu nodded, though he still looked worn out. In comparison, Kanao didn't even look out of breath, despite having obtained a perfect streak of victories. "You think you can do it, Senpai?"

"Hm, probably. I wouldn't be perfect at first, but I bet I could get it down." And that statement just earned me another trio of expectant stares from Zenitsu and company. Shimizu also beamed at me. "Fine, fine, I get it. Excuse me, Kanao-san. Mind if I give it a go?"

Kanao's expression didn't so much as shift as she turned to me, but she did nod. Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho got to work on setting up the table and its cups right away, and I sat down across from Kanao when everything was prepared. My hands still in my lap for the starting position, I breathed, ready to give it my best since everyone else was watching. I had to at least put on a good show in front of my kōhai and his friends, not to mention it would be nice if Shimizu thought I was cool.

"Ready…" Aoi said from the sidelines, her hand raised before she dropped it as the signal to start. "…go!"

Both Kanao and I moved at the same time, our hands snapping to cups to pick them up and to block the other's movements in rapid succession. I'd noticed that she was excellent at cutting off her challenger's movements, and, though I felt that I moved faster than any of the boys had, she had no issues keeping up with me. Shimizu had mentioned that she was part of the same Final Selection group as the boys, but that special Tsuguko training had done Kanao plenty of favors.

There was one problem with her approach, though, and that was how reactionary she was. She was damn good at seeing where you were moving, and her palm often slapped down on the cup you were aiming for before you could even reach it. And maybe I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of that if I'd faced her without any prior knowledge, but watching her three matches with the boys was more than enough to recognize the habit and exploit it.

Blocking off her most recent attempt at picking up a cup with my right hand, I shot my left towards a cup on Kanao's side of the table. She slapped down for a block before I could arrive, which was fine with me, because I was feinting to snap up a cup from my side of the table. She tried to get her other hand in to cut me off, but I'd already lifted the cup and splashed the medicinal water at her (trying to avoid the face at least), before her palm smacked onto the now vacated spot on the table.

Kanao blinked at me, and there was a beat of silence before cheers broke out on the side of the room. Zenitsu was shouting, "Did you see that? Did you see that? That's my Senpai!" while Tanjirō's face had lit up in admiration as he breathed, "Amazing…!" Even Inosuke (who'd taken off his boar mask to reveal his dark shoulder length hair, green eyes, and super bishi face at contrast with his brash attitude) was staring me down with an intensity I hadn't expected. Shimizu's excited grin, on the other hand, made me feel like I'd struck the goddamn lottery.

"Thanks for indulging me, Kanao-san," I said, giving her a polite smile. "You've got a lot of great skill. Do me a favor and use that to help out my kōhai to improve, will you?" Kanao's expression didn't so much as twitch. I felt bad for thinking it, since she was a living, breathing person in front of me and not just some lines drawn on a piece of paper, but I guessed she was one of those characters that started out with a limited emotional range and ended up growing a lot by the end of the series. I stood up, smoothing out the folds in the front of my uniform. "If you don't mind, could I have a game of tag as well?"

Kanao nodded once more and, after a few minutes to dry off her cape with a towel that Naho provided her with, we stood on opposite ends of the training hall. Just like before, Aoi was the one to give us the signal to start, but, remember everything I said about Thunder Breathing users having the advantage when it came to speed? Yeah, that kinda took all the challenge out of it, and I'd caught up to Kanao in under a minute, my hand tugging on the edge of her cape to another round of cheers from the spectators.

"Senpai, that was incredible!" Zenitsu said afterwards, looking up at me with that admiring gaze that I'd honestly missed. "You moved on a whole different level."

"Well, yeah. As a Thunder Breathing user, it'd look bad if I couldn't out speed someone who's less experienced than me." If Kanao had been in the same Final Selection group as me, maybe it could have been a challenge, but it was hard to feel proud about beating someone who was lower ranked than I was. I put a hand on my hip. "You should be capable of doing at least this much, too, Zenitsu. You just gotta get the right technique down."

I could read the disbelief on his face, but soon his expression shifted to that determination I enjoyed seeing on him. "Alright! If you say so, I'm sure I can do it. Please help me out, Senpai!"

"Me, too, please," Tanjirō said, his burgundy eyes shining. "I'd love to have you help me out, Rairi-san—ah, Rairi-senpai!"

"Be grateful!" Inosuke shouted, getting up in my face. "I've decided that you're worthy of helping me with training, Kairi!"

From seeing him interact with the others, I was well aware it was useless to try and correct Inosuke on my name. Instead, I held up my hands, trying to get some personal space. "Um, I mean, I guess I can help? I don't know when I'll get sent out on another mission, but I can at least try to give you pointers." Was it a good idea to try and help out the main characters? What if I gave them bad advice and fucked everything else up in the timeline? Shimizu's laughter dashed those concerns from my mind, though.

"Hehe, I'd love to see you help them out, Rairi-kun," she said, looking far too amused by me getting swarmed by Zenitsu and his friends. "I've been looking forward to watching you as a senpai, you know!"

And that, as it were, was all it took to seal my fate.

[Author's Notes]

It's chapter eleven, so welcome to fic part two, baby! AKA, where we kinda get some canon content, but also...?

Thanks to ErrorSansEx, Happywheal, LazyKid24, Sly Extreme Turtle Hero, Rodrik Snow, Mitsuo the Universe jumper, Marie The Trainer, kkore3691, ILikeFoxes, BloodyBel, SilverStar56, hyunkei1234, Cadmus8, V-Trigger, SlackTheKing, YuyaKnightwriter97, kani-leek-lover, CookieTheDark, lagoonsnake, NekoKitsune1, YoungTaoist, and KarlaMalfoyPotterPrince for the favorites, follows, and reviews since last time. Last upload broke even more view records than before, so thanks all very much! Y'all are incredible.

For those that may be wondering, this is not going to turn into "This is canon but also Rairi is there." We'll have some canon moments, but Rairi's story is more focused on other things than that. We will be hanging around Butterfly Manor for a little bit, and there will be other arcs that we weave into, but there's a whole lot more of the Kimetsu world that I wanna explore, so that'll be the focus as we go through things. Hope that clears stuff up in advance!

It's time for a Taishō Era Secret! Out of the Thunder Trio, Zenitsu is the shortest at 5'3". The second fanbook decided to destroy my headcanons for Kaigaku, who is canonically 5'5.5"/5'6". Rairi is supposed to be in the middle somewhere, with Kaigaku consistently at least a few centimeters shorter than him, a fact that grates on them since they're older. Meanwhile, Shimizu is even shorter than Zenitsu, around the 5'1" range.

Shimizu is also a year younger than Rairi, with her birthday somewhere in fall that I haven't picked out yet. Rairi's birthday is in February. To my dismay, the second fanbook didn't give Kaigaku a birthdate, which means my headcanon is still free real estate, so I'm slapping it in May. Also free real estate is the exact date of certain plot points, so it's currently mid-May in fic (mid-Butterfly Manor training arc), and you can't stop me. The core cast's current ages are as follows: Rairi, 19; Kaigaku, 18; Shimizu, 17; Zenitsu 16. Shimizu and Zenitsu's birthdates will pass before the end of canon/this fic.

Next Time: Senpai mode, nighttime, and nightmares. Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[05.22.2021]