It was gradually stretching to sunset when the convoy of two wagons eventually arrived at the outskirts of this flourishing capital, a true marvel of the eastern world for its ongoing time. Flags waved from the numerous brick-built buildings that drifted in the breeze, providing advertisements to neighboring establishments in all varieties of colors, and the roads were entirely laden with an immense amount of people, not a car or vehicle in sight. For those that were present? They lingered firm to their routes, red car trams that had merely been installed within the last decade or so, still green to the expanding capital of Nihon.
Josuke... was troubled. At first, he assumed perhaps it was a type of festival where families bore many fashionable outfits. But the further the wagon shifted into the downtown lanes, he saw no food vendors or parlor games that would indeed suggest an eventful scene; just more people, wandering to and fro about the lively streets. The youthful teen didn't even stop to talk with the men who had carried him here. He merely hopped from the rear of the cart, reeling about to draw in the sights. This must have been the wrong place... It had to be.. THIS was Tokyo?! This couldn't be the capital, he'd seen it so much on TV. It was known as a gigantic, sprawling cityscape full of steep, soaring office buildings and skyscrapers, yet here he was; standing in the heart of a roadway of individuals that separated about the youth, confused by what was occurring. They all wore specific clothing, but the theme was simple and old-timey. A few men passed sporting three-piece suits, while others would be draped in classic Japanese Montsuki robes of differing colors.
Something promptly captured his eye, standing on the edge of the street, on a short wooden crate was a child, covered in a flat newsboy cap, white shirt and suspenders, fluttering about a newspaper and hailing out all diverse topics that would appeal to all types of attention. Jojo made a B-Line to the kid, shuffling and wedging through the crowds with feasible urgency, practically knocking over an ordinary couple who had gotten mingled up in his hurried dash. Luckily, he's capable of plucking the paper from the trader's grip.
"Hey! You've gotta pay for that, Mister!" Josuke discounted the boy, his eyes floating along the sheet with chilled sweat. He hadn't entirely put it together until now; but it was gradually driving sense to him. The way everybody dressed, the presence in how everybody carried themselves, even the part Shinobu-san had mentioned... it all made sense.
'Are you referring to that falsified card we found? Tsk tsk, Higashikata-san, You can't expect us to believe that something so terribly made could be proper proof, ne? The birthdate is all wrong! According to this, you haven't even been born yet~"
'Haven't even been born yet'
'been born yet'
'born yet'
Panic. It travels through him like an electrical shock, searing his face in a flush of fear when his eyes focused to the stamped date upon the paper. In broad bold letters, it displayed 'May 15th 1913' There's so much pouring into his brain that he had thoroughly froze; he'd struck out mentally... not a thought passing through his mind.
"Hey... HEY! I SAID YOU GOTTA PAY FOR THAT, BASTARD!" the tabloid was flung from his grips; not by the youngster, but by his supervisor, a grander man with an even heftier sideburns, enveloped in a murky brown Montsuki. Following the snatch of their 'product', they shove the juvenile back to where he falters further into the billowing crowd, skipping on his feet and striking the tough stone trail with a thump.
Just like that, his breathing returned, rapid and hyperventilated. He was freaking out, and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe... He had to get out of here; he had to go, somewhere! He withdrew into a sprint amongst the bustling crowds; not even bothering to pause and apologize to anybody he hit on his delirious panic run through the winding roads, too out of his mind to even speak properly. He ran, and ran, and ran; everything was just a blur of lights that shuddered about his mind; the words of Shinobu, continuing to reverberate throughout his head. How could something like this happen?! WHY did it happen?! He tried to tumble over it his head; if anything was off about that happy school morning. but there was nothing…
He must have run for what seemed like hours, only ceasing when the extent of his stamina forced him into a hard, breathed standstill. Hands on his knees with his back bent forwards, still somehow besieged by a horde of people going about their lives... For the first time, he felt so lost... so alone.
He needs to sit down; he had to relax. His mind was still shooting at a mile a minute and if he didn't take a moment to stop and regather his composure, he wouldn't be able to think this through at all. His feet float for a moment, slipping him into a backward alley off from all the bright lights and heavy crowds, his chest lifting and sinking, deep breaths that gradually shuffled back to a steady pace of breathing. He had to pull himself together — he'd been in worse situations than this and had always dragged himself through it.
"Hmmm? I think you led us to the wrong one, Yahaba-san~"
Huh..? A man and a woman... who were they? Did they spot his strained condition and plan to provide help? A kind action, but there was little they could do to ease his panic.
"Their footprints lead just behind that wall. Perhaps they posted a guard to keep watch for any intruders. No matter, we will find them all eventually, and execute them vindictively." Jojo stood to his feet, turning to confront the pair with an uneasy look. He didn't wish to be impolite and ignore their help... perhaps if he indulged them, they'd go elsewhere.
"A-Ahaha.. I guess I just had too much to drin-" a lie he could not complete. Something had already swept towards him with astounding speed, halted by the quick response of this spiritual guardian.
"DURAH!"
Steam fizzed fast from the firm grasped palm of his Stand, its ghostly arm outstretched to seize a vigorously fast orb that would have otherwise sketched his head matter all across the fencing behind him. Its spin did not cease nor did the burning impression that scarred Josuke's hand, as if it had lost no sense of trajectory from its abrupt halt. Then, out of nowhere; a forceful pressure hurled itself upon Crazy Diamond's grasp. The absolute pressure of gravity behind just a simple temari ball had even pressed his feet across the ground, struggling to hold back the whirling toy.
"G-Ghnn!..." Someone was actually overpowering the superhuman might of his stand; and they were barely moving too! It's as if each second that passed, the faster that ball would twist, wringing a robust red patch now to the centre of his palm, burning the skin clean off. He had to do something. If he kept this up; he felt as if his entire arm would crack!
Before he even realised it, he was sailing in the air, the grip of his stand still tightly stiffened to that ball, but his frame no longer adhered to the ground. With the firm wall behind him, he estimated he would have just crashed into the frame and perhaps had enough relief to come up with a counter-attack, but without even noticing, his body had phased through a phantom wall, and sent him lunging along to a grand building that appeared to materialize from nowhere!
"G-GGHHNN!" The ball regresses from his control, circling back to its owner with inconsequential consideration for the person linked to it; now left perilously flailing out towards the enigmatic structure with scant he could do to stop himself. With what bare time he had remaining before impact, he brough the pastel guardian from his front to his back, bearing back a ready shooting fist in preparation until he made rough impact to the wooden walls and blew open a considerable opening with just a lone house cracking strike.-
It had been dark for quite a few hours now and the streets of Tokyo had drawn a lot out of Tanjiro Kamado. The circumstances that brought him to this part of the metropolis were a solid variety of bizarre and heart-racing moments that even he required a few minutes to recover his composure. With him was his youthful sister, Nezuko. Once a human, she was forced with Demonization, though refused to ingest any sort of flesh despite her affliction. Never had it been suffered before, and as of present, it was a meticulously secured secret between the two.
Their expedition through the expanding capital had brought them into a fluke of situations that evidently had them hold haven with two new characters, and Demons at that. A woman who insisted to be a physician; Tamayo, and her associate; Yushiro. They appeared to the Green Haori wearing Slayer during an ugly moment amongst the town people; a man who was formerly human had been tremendously transformed into a beast and taken a nasty bite out of their spouse. Tanjiro did all he could to keep the altered human down, but ultimately, several police officer sought to split them apart.
If it wasn't for the intervention of the Beautiful Female Doctor, the street crowds could have very well ended up as a feast for the freshly reformed human. Presently, they were sitting in Tamayo's office, tucked away via the use of a certain seal that shrouded the location of their very abode, a fairly impressive trick that astounded even Tanjiro with everything he had already witnessed. As for his twin, she didn't seem too bothered; much more drained than usual, likely due to a recent battle they had both fought only days ago. It was a form of restoring her energy, separate from eating human muscle. She'd doze for hours and hours in a crate sat on Tanjiro's back, only emerging at the often urgent of moments to aid her elder brother when it counted the most.
The ongoing exchange had been about the possibility of returning a demon back into their previous human state, something that the maiden Tamayo had been researching for years, to perhaps create some type of antidote to the scourge. She requested two elements from Tanjiro, who only glared in perplexity at the idea.
"One. Permission to study your sister's blood. Two, to retrieve blood samples from Demons as closely related to Kibutsuji as possible." Her tender lavender views scan over towards the young girl beside Tanjiro, her body settled on the floor carelessly, with a wonderful stare towards the roof, not at all following any part of the dialogue.
"Nezuko-san's current condition is extremely rare and unique. I understand she was asleep for two straight years, and I believe her body underwent changes during that time. Normally, any demon who went that long without consuming the flesh or blood of a human or beast would unquestionably go berserk." She was soft-spoken, and her posture was purity incarnate, much with the way she sat; she presented herself more elegantly with each passing moment.
"And yet, surprisingly, Nezuko-san shows none of those signs. This miracle will be the key to finding a solution" It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, a never experienced condition that, if studied properly, could undoubtedly generate a breakthrough in both her and Yushiro's impending two century old investigation.
"...The other request I have for you is a harsh one... By 'Demons closely related to Kibutsuji'. I meant demons whose power are more on par with that of Kibutsuji himself. It won't be easy to extract blood from such demons... Are you still willing to go along with my requests?" It was a radical burden she was presenting to the shoulders of the young Tanjiro. Such horrors resided in this world? For but a flash, his eyes turned to his sister, currently curving her cheek against his free palm, resting her eyes on the delicate silence that occupied the room. He knew his resolve had to be proper. He was doing this for his sister, the sole surviving member of his remaining kin.
"If there's no other way, then I'll do it... If it means you're going to research all these Demon's blood and create this medicine. If that happens, that means it won't just be for Nezuko. Lots of other people will be saved too, right?" A smile shifted to his face, turning his sight back to the physician with a confirmation of commitment. Startling Tamayo with the reply.
She beams, returning the reciprocal sympathy of such a burden only they could vindicate, her words as serene as always, responding with a modest "That's right."
A pact had been created between the two, a deal that could preserve the future from the Demon curse, one that would never be registered in history, but would still pave the course for future generations to experience a threat free life from these devious beings.
"..! GET DOWN!" Yushiro, the boy who had lingered largely silent for most of the discussion, erupted with an anxious shout, his body pushing instinctually to defend his colleague with scant concern for his own safety. Moments later, the left part of the office detonated with a deafening blast of crackling wood and hardwood, something substantial had just crashed into the room space and absolutely shattered one of their bookshelves upon landing. It was supported by a much more devastating salvo of two vibrant Temari balls, piercing through the structure with insidious momentum. The two spheres bounce to and fro around the chamber and obliterate practically all in their path before they withdraw in similar haste, fleeing the room in appalling disrepair.
The four residents had but a few moments of respite before another attack from the pair of ricocheting death bringers violate the room once again, both Yushiro and Tanjiro, holding onto their respective partners in a form of conservation. But those spheres, it's as if they had a mind of their own, waiting for the most auspicious occasion to attack with sharp precision. Truly a task they acted reasonably well when one ball wavered, inches off from Yushiro, who had, of course, jumped forth to protect Tamayo, solely for it's orbit to altogether change and seize him in the side of the head.
With just the bounce alone, it completely obliterated his cranium into nothing but fragments of gore that decorated the walls about them in crimson dew, rendering his body limp into Tamayo's arms.
"YUSHIRO-SAN!" It was all Tanjiro could blare from the unmitigated shock at how mighty a blow from one of the Temari could present against someone. As swiftly as Yushiro's frame slumped limp, his aim was to immediately bring everybody he could to safety, his head turning to twin, who had been safely shielded by her brother.
"N-Nezuko! Take the lady sleeping in the backroom somewhere safe outside!" His words were heavy and clear, met by his sister with an understanding nod.
"No! It's too dangerous outside! We have a basement, so take her there!" Tamayo shouts through desperation, providing them with a much safer alternative
"Understood!" The boy was swift to readjust to the whims of the proprietor, turning to peek once more at his relative. "Nezuko!" before she scampered off to perform the task. With this out of the way, Tanjiro hastily drew his Nichirin blade, holding it down a firm, ready posture, mentally preparing himself for the troubling battle ahead. He knew all too well that the two figures, appearing across the courtyard were, in all utterances of the term, hostile. He could smell the bloodlust itself, so abundant in the air and near revolting to inhale.
"Hmmm? The Demon Hunter wearing hanafuda-like earrings... It's you, isn't it?" After the Temari had once again retired to their owner, the womanly character spoke; a hint of delinquency in her speech; she was enjoying this.
Wait a moment… they were targeting him? But how did they find him? and so quickly too? Nevermind that now, he had to manage the scene, make sure everybody was protected. He couldn't fight while worrying about both Tamayo and Yushiro. He had to have a coherent mind, so he swiftly turned to gush an order to the surgeon, presently cradling Yushiro's limp body.
"Tamayo-san! Please find a place to hide! I'm the one these demons are after!"
But she refused, her eyes washing down at what survived of her apprentice, her eyebrows knit together firm. "Tanjiro-san... I want you to fight without worrying about us. We'll be fine without your protection, since we're Demons."
"Alright, it's all over for you now!" another vigorous shout fell from the aptly called 'Temari Demon'. Their entire frame churning in an arc before thrusting their weapon of choice at maximum pace, leaving behind a powerful stream of earth beneath the spinning ball on its passage to slaughter. Tanjiro held his ground, in no means ready to let these two take him from his sister, and in fact; clutching the base of his sword tighter, preparing his counter-offensive.
"Kaaaahhhhhh..." torrents of gale swirl from the gaps of his lips, a specialized type of breathing used to adjust his body for just the occasion, perhaps even mitigating himself because of the magnitude of the situation. He knew the Temari would swerve if he opted to avoid it, so, naturally, there was only one option remaining: he had to go on the attack.
'Total Concerntration... Water Breathing! Seventh Form, Drop Ripple Thrust-curve!'
The motion had been engrained in his mind. All of those months of training, it all led up to this. The pain, the sweat, the tears. He had the capabilities to oppose the threats of a demon, and he was bringing them into full effect tonight. His black blade pierces the breeze itself, bursting the on-anticipated ball with complete precision, skewering the colorful sphere in just the span of a few moments, effectively halting its dangerous trajectory and disarming his adversary at the simultaneously.
But even that wasn't enough. For what felt like a few terse moments of triumph, wound up turning into a disquieting discovery for the inexperienced slayer. In a violent tug against the length of his Katana, the Temari jerked from its impalement and once more, struck its course backward to their hostile attacker, their pompous grin showing all Tanjiro required to understand that, the primary rules of physics didn't at all apply upon contest with such a horror.
"Yushiro... Yushiro..!" Tamayo, she was trying to gently rock the headless form in her grasp
Perhaps on que, something grotesque started to take shape, even the sight of such an un-natural display of the true regenitive powers of a demon had Tanjiro's unfortunate attention, powerless to do much but observe as the previously lifeless; Yushiro, reformed their very own skull. First it appeared with a narrow wiggling squirm of tendrils that wriggled from what lingered of his collar, before they curl and weave with each other to restore what emerged to be tissue, thus skin.
"T-... Ta..." Their tongue, fluttering out in desperation, had managed to somehow form words for the woman who bound him deep within her grasp.
"T-Tamayo.. S-Sama...!" Now, hardly a mouth and a narrow segment of their nose had returned. It was adequate for them to speak, but the absolute sight of it was still unnerving.
"Didn't I tell you? We shouldn't have gotten involved with that Demon Hunter, from the very start!" with even half a head, still, they protested. The notion of working with Tanjiro still irked him.
"M-My Blindfold technique is still a work in progress! I know that you're well aware of that yourself!" The tone grew heavier, while the passage beneath his eyes had revealed the small hue of his iris' return.
"I may be able to conceal the presence of buildings, people and their scent.. But it's not like I can mask their very existence!" At last, it looked like she was speaking to an ordinary human now, though talking is a wide term. Tamayo was practically receiving a lecture from the young man; his fingers clutching at the tuff of her kimono, not out of resentment, but of desperation for her safety.
"The greater our numbers, the more traces we'll leave, and the greater the odds that Kibutsuji will discover us!" Such words echoed strongly with Tanjiro. It subsequently drove sense on why he couldn't detect them with his heightened sense of smell. Whatever Yushiro had done, it had effectively concealed them, though as it seems; it certainly wasn't enough.
"Anyone... ANYONE, who ruins the time I get to spend alone with you... I hate such people!... I hate them with a passion! IT'S UNFORGIVABLE!" The rage had festered to the top, their entire face had returned with the addition of their silver hair, as if nothing had transpired in the slightest.
"Ayeehaaahahahaha! Look, look! He's babbling like an idiot!" Their note was disturbed by the Temari Demon, reaching to the borders of her robe and unveiling it from her frame, revealing a black tube top that slung around her chest, exposing her sickly pale skin. She was doubling down on the hostilities with glee, all while gushing her favourite set of words: "What fun this is… What fun this is!"
"To be killed by me, One of the Twelve Demon Moons... You should be honored!"
"Twelve Demon Moons...?" Tanjiro muttered, puzzled to what magnitude the title carried
Tamayo was right on top of it, meeting his rhetorical question immediately, to provide him a gauge of the situation. "They serve directly under Kibutsuji"
Another malicious laugh rattled about the yard… the ego this demon had, It was nigh incomparable! She had no fear of the youthful slayer, and she had no issue going all out from the get go, enjoying this all too much. From the sides of her ash white chest, burst two extra series of arms, cluttered with vigorous veins that bulge and flail from beneath her complexion, settling when more of those weaponized Temari appeared. What started as two had promptly increased to four, then six! six of those murderous orbs, even further ready to deploy much more chaos to the cornered three.
"Now then... Let's keep playing! Until morning comes.. Until you're all DEAD!" All six of her limbs whip out in ravaging momentum, firing the Temari with that shit-eating smile affixed to her face. She revelled in the idea of turning all of their victims into nothing further than a pulposus mess, it… excited her.
The young man's abilities were not to be made fun of, with an assortment of gymnastic movements he could flip over, if not; deflect the ricocheting Temari that had enlarged in sum. Whether it was that acute sense of smell, or perhaps the extensive muscle memory that persisted him into the present state, this didn't mean that it wasn't hounding his particular human stamina, he was starting to tire. Two cuts, each cleaving clean a pair of the six spheres, showed to do nothing but increase the number of targets he now had to repel; It was becoming harder and harder to hold on.
What was he to do? Without Nezuko, it felt like a true up-hill battle, compelled to settle on the defensive with limited chance to react, aside from the shifting strokes his body produced with keen strided dips and rolls. For what implied to be a deliberate alteration; three of the Temari stole off in visible haste, turning their concern to Tamayo and Yushiro. They were headed straight at them with little to halt their high-speed carvings; Tanjiro was just too far away to protect them.
Then, as if from nowhere; the air itself prompted forth, and from ascending debris powder that phumed around the Doctor and her colleague entered a grand detonation of woodwork. Twisted and distorted floorboards conjoining closely to construct a broad defensive shield in front of the two, just in time for the Temari to deflect once again, and return to circling their underlying target; Tanjiro
Both Tamayo and Yushiro were at a loss, where had this protection emerged from? Surely, they would have healed from any trauma; but the intention alone was still surprising. Suddenly, out from the earlier unsettled soot, came a towering character, their form solid and ready to engage to the confrontation with barely any observation of their adversaries. The impact may have taken him out of it for a few minutes, but when he had come to, everything was in disarray. With such a short extent of time, he was capable of at least seeking to defend what he assumed at the time to be innocent bystanders, swept up in a confrontation between him and these two maniacs.
But there he stood, Josuke Higashikata; drifting into an abrupt halt with his Stand, spiraling out beside him with a curled fist to knock another orb into the planks beneath Tanjiro's feet, an absolute extraordinary entrance, but greatly recieved.
"The Arrows, Watch the Arrows!" evidently being a Stand User came with its host of advantages. Whatever had been directing the Temari was all too visible to Josuke — Maybe these Demon Blood Arts were more meticulously related to Stands than anybody thought. It's not as if regular people could see them.
"Arrows?!" The two of them were now back to back, The Slayer with his sword, swinging in strict motions to divert each powerful collision, and The Stand user, utilizing the talents of his powerful Crazy Diamond; to fist each incoming ball out of their general area. Tanjiro saw nothing of the sort, purely the vaulting missiles that were still a struggle to keep up with. Then, as if from nowhere, something patted flat to his forehead; a piece of paper with a seal that emerged right after attaching to his brow.
Just like that, he could see several dashing red arrows, jarring from corner to corner with the Temari right behind. But that wasn't all. From the corner of his eye, he could see an enormous pink figure rising guard in front of his recent companion! It looked similar to a humanoid, yet its entire body was covered in a light blue series of armor segments, coasting all across the frame until it struck the collar where a full helmet of the same tint covered all but the eyes and mouth of this muscle bound spirit.
Everything that had been concealed to him was now clear; he could see all the attacks telegraphed for him, their trajectories, their targets, all of it. Which made it even more easy for him to twist and curl around, producing a tremendous prowess now that he perceived where they would ultimately strike.
"Yushiro-san, Arigato! I can see the arrows now as well!"
"Then hurry up, and defeat her!"
"There's two of them! The crazy one and some weird guy!" Jojo interupts, all the more clear they'd have to divide and conquer if they expected to stand a chance. Josuke may not have known his new combat partner, but he was willing to depend on him enough to get through this precarious plight.
"He's up in the tree— Nezuko!" his sister, who had vanished to aid the separate dwellers of the clinic, had returned, turning to look at Tanjiro, then Josuke. With the inclination of her head, she wondered if she had gotten her numbers all wrong… weren't there meant to be just three people up here?!
"Nezuko, let's go outside! Take care of the demon up in the tree!" He loathed having to get her entangled in conflict, but without her; they'd likely be in a crowd of trouble; they couldn't keep on the defense forever. Her head bobs in acknowledgement, aware of what she had to do— immediately racing out to locate the source of the cursed arrows with a bounding surge high into the Sakura leaf trees.
"G-Ghn...!" Josuke dropped to his knee, clasping his midrift in pain. He hadn't acknowledged it until now, but the stitching Aoi-chan had neatly given had once more split. Not completely, but sufficient enough to leave a broad crimson patch beneath his blazer. The teen wanted to fight, he wanted to help— but his present condition was haltering his movements. All he could manage was watch Tanjiro sink through the debris field, out into the fray to fight their attackers.
"D-Damn it..." He refused to let this hold him down, his sense of justice was too heavy to just stand aside and view from the side-lines. He knew he could help, he knew he could fight. If it wasn't for this damn wound, he'd be right out there with them!
"Don't move." Tamayo came to Josuke's aid, perhaps in return for his noble act at protecting her and Yushiro. She may have been a Demon, by she was also a doctor— and if they had any aspirations to repel this threat, he'd need to be clear of pain. Her hand, as pale and slender as it was, tore the buttons clean from his coat, baring his sweat clouded shirt beneath to quickly search about for the injury. Jojo unquestionably would have blushed if it wasn't for the tense mood presently clearing aside all other sentiments.
"Yushiro!"
"Hai! Tamayo-sama!" The white-haired assisant was swift to depart to another section of the room. He knew exactly what she required and was fast to retrieve it.
"I don't know who you are, but please... help them. The Twelve Moons are known for their brutality. If something were to happen to Nezuko-san, then everything will have been for nothing." She was pleading with him, searching his face for some sort of answer, when all she found was pain.
"Tamayo-sama! Here!" Yushiro returns, although agitated at how close his teacher was to the youthful man, understanding that it wasn't the time to complain; and that his condition was considerably more urgent than a petty spat of jealousy.
She drew something from her companion's palm, something undeniably sharp. Josuke could literally feel it puncture his side. Whatever it was she had supplied him with, had to linger before it took effect.
"Tamayo-san! Are these two demons closely related to Kibutsuji?" A call from outside the house, it was Tanjiro; already had he worked what dexterity he held to dismember the Temari Demon, utilizing the chance to confirm something with his new colleague.
"Most likely" she promptly replies, turning to glimpse at the Haori cloaked youth after she had wrenched the injector back from her present patient. However, their discussion was not passed without unwarranted participants. The laughter of that Temari bound girl was all it took to pull their attention back to the threat; all except Josuke, who had not yet felt the effects of the Doctor's aid.
"You think you're going to extract blood, from us? I don't know what you're scheming.. But I won't allow you to do anything to displease him!" She was gloating, still unbroken despite her lack of limbs, even turning to confront Tanjiro with that wicked smile.
"If you think you can extract blood from us Twelve Demon Moons, Then have at it!" As a show of her overwhelming power, six new arms sprouted from the severed stubs across her form, Just as muscular as the last pair, and ready to unleash hell upon Tanjiro's body.
"I'm going to bring that head of yours to him." She stretched her feet apart, a new batch of six Temari landing in each of her palms; on the crux of departing into attack when Nezuko, Tanjiro's dearest sister; came shooting through the air towards her sibling, crashing into with him, knocking him from his feet.
"Now.. Why don't you both die, together!" Once more, she lurched back, ready to end this with one last strike of her Temari when-
"DORA!" The Monster didn't even see it coming, all she felt was the vigorous indenting of her cheek bone collapse deep into her gums and shatter her jawline with just the cleanest of attacks. It may not have thrown her from her feet, but the surprise had surely turned her attention back around to her aggressor. There stood Josuke, having appeared from the tremendous rift in the building with his blazer securely tied around his midsection, glaring menacingly at this chuckling fool.
"Oi, Oi. Where are you looking? I'm your opponent..,"Josuke demanded her attention, which she returned by gawking at him, maddened that she had been captured off guard by such a simple creature. If she couldn't have the Slayer boy now, then she'd just have to take her aggression out on the pathetic idiot that even dared to lay a hand on her.
"Hey! Demon Slayer! you and your sister, get rid of that arrow man first! We'll take on the Temari woman with this one!" announced Yushiro, now stood behind Jojo.
"Wakarimashita!" Tanjiro proclaims in reply, pulling his twin to her feet; his gaze encased to Josuke for but a brief moment of unease. Could he handle a monster like this? But their fears would not be needed, the 'Morphine' Tamayo had added into his system was finally kicking in, ousting the agony he had felt mere moments ago and implementing a minor upper hand against his angered opponent. It may not last permanently, but the dulling of his nerves would be all the more convenient when it came to the coming test of endurance.
To be continued.