"Voice, if I may before we begin. I would like to address something that I have noticed." "You may, this time is for all of you after all. I am only here to show you the information, it is on you to make of what you will from it." Gyomei nodded in thanks, before starting a small prayer. "Iguro, Shinazugawa, it has come to my attention that neither of you have said anything in a while. You two are the one's that have the most issue with Tomioka, what thoughts are running through your minds?"
Shinazugawa and Iguro looked at each other, hating that they were called out like this. They knew both of them were gonna catch some flack for their thoughts, but their thoughts still had to be voiced. Shinazugawa stood to the crowd and finally spoke. "Look, I acknowledge that he went through hell. But this is the story of almost every slayer, loss of family, people don't believe they're real, loss of friends. This still doesn't change how he acts or how he claims to be different from the rest of us."
Before everyone started to come after his friend for his very much disliked opinion, Obani stepped in. "You can't say that he isn't wrong, everyone who wears our uniform has faced wrong-doings in some form. It may not be spoken on, but nearly every one of us have faced hardship, loss, and pain. What he has gone through can't be seen as unique, because a lot of people have gone through the same thing."
"While you two may be correct that a lot of slayers have faced similar situations, that doesn't mean we all face trauma the same." Shinobu had said, taking up her position to try and side for Giyuu. "Take Tokito-san for instance, hid brain had forced itself to forget the memories of what happened to him as a way to keep him safe. You use your anger and frustrations to enhance your strength and motivation Shinazugawa." Shinobu had walked up to Sanemi, moving to whisper in her ear. "You know exactly what it is I've done with my pain Shinazugawa."
"Yeah! I know you two don't like him and are mean to him, but that doesn't mean you can discount what he's went through! We were all here to see it, it's not like any of us didn't believe he didn't face hardship!" Mitsuri shouted, determined to defend Tomioka-san after learning how he's become so cold. It was obvious that the pain he went through effected him deeply. She paid attention to what happened, and believed he never had the time to have closure or try to recover from it. He chose to stay alone and bury himself in his pain.
"Kanroji, you can't deny that at some point his attitude had become an issue. He actively distsnces himself, he shows no emotion to any of us, and he always thinks he is different to us with no desire to explain. If we were not the ones to voice our distate of it, then it was only a matter of time before someone else did." Obani had voiced his reasons, believing in every word he said. Before an argument between the hashira could be started, the voice had intervened.
"If I may interject, we will not be starting the new scene, but I wish to clarify something. As everyone saw, Sabito had made Giyuu promise he would not wish for death, correct?" Everyone shared a look between each other, remembering the one sided argument that happened with the friends. "Giyuu in his grief, had actually forgotten of this promise. For the last eight years, he has wished to be the one that died, either in place of Tsutako or Sabito."
Mitsuri was the first to interject, showing utter sorrow that Tomioka-san wanted to die for this long, and she hadn't known at all and couldn't help. "But it's not his fault to what happened to either of them! It was because of the demons that they died, that's what we all saw!" "And you are correct on that Mitsuri Kanroji, but do you believe that's how Giyuu sees it? In his eyes, he is responsible. Firstly, if Tsutako had not returned home, but ran past it, he believes she could've lived while he demon had come across him. She had thrown herself into danger to keep him safe. Secondly, because of him being unable to properly fight and being injured, it forced Sabito to have to send him away, having to face the hand demon alone." Tengen was the first to speak up, realizing what revelation was being hinted. "God's above, Tomioka has survivors guilt."
The hashira in the room turned towards the proclaimed flashiest and god of festivals, wanting to see where he goes with this. "Uzui-san, would you care to elaborate on how you came to this?" Shinobu asked, showing her curiosity of this answer. "The voice said already at 13 years old, Tomioka wanted to die if it meant his sister lived right? Also that over the last eight years he's wished he was the one that died if it meant his friend and obviously the more talented swordsman lived, right?" Everyone nodded, aware they already had this recap. "What do you do if you feel like you're the cause of death to those you love and hold dear? You isolate yourself. You hardly let anyone close, you do EXACTLY what Tomioka had done since any of us knew him."
The realization had struck everyone, the logic of it made sense. They all had seen how broken he responded to the death's of two people in his life that shaped him. To avoid going through that same again, he chose to isolate himself from everyone. The pain of loss wouldn't hurt him the same way if they did compared to those two, because if he didn't allow himself to get close to them, then he wouldn't be as heartbroken again. That just left only one thing left to be answered for.
"That's one answer we have, as to why he always keeps us at arm's length. There's still one we need the answer for, why he thinks he's different from the rest of us." Shinazugawa finally spoke again, reflecting on the logic of the first answer. In an annoying twist he understood it, he kept his brother Genya at distance and tried to demoralize him to force him to quit. That, and he didn't want his eventual death to effect his little brother like how their siblings did to him. He sighed, wishing things could be normal and wouldn't have to think about all this. "Hey voice, we're ready for the next scene."
"Excellent then. We shall be covering two scenes once again. One was when Giyuu had first met Tanjiro Kamado and his sister Nezuko, and the other has yet to happen. It will be in the future, another conversation between the two once again. While this may cause deviation and events to change, the importance of what is said is too great. Remember how I said you all created an idea of him and all ideas were incorrect? This will be the truth."
A part of their brains had attempted to rationalize that seeing the future had to be impossible, the part of their brain's that still believed this was nothing more than a bad dream everyone was having. But this was a being that was already outside their level of reasoning they were dealing with, saying they existed in a different level of logic and reason all together. The doubts began to leave as they all prepared themselves, finally ready to have their answers they were pulled here for.
The image had come up, only to see it was all white with sounds of gusting winds blowing. It soon cleared, revealing Tomioka holding Nezuko Kamado at sword point, and Tanjiro Kamado bowing with his face almost buried in the snow. Everyone by this point was aware that the demon girl was different from others by this point, but now they were curious as to what caused Tomioka to spare her in the first place.
"I'm begging you. Please... Don't kill my little sister. Please don't do it... I'm begging you." Tanjiro barely had the emotional strength to speak, but he knew he had to for his sister to live. He had returned home only to see his family's mutilated and bloody bodies, and he feared he was about to lose the last of them. His tears stung his eyes as they continued to flow, but this was all he knew how to do right now. "Please don't take her from me too, she's all I have left."
Giyuu gritted his teeth as he watched the boy continue to cry and beg. He felt himself shaking in anger at the boy, bowing to an enemy that was a threat to his family. Being forced to relive through his own memories once again, he felt something inside of him snap. "Don't grovel like that and give your enemies the chance to kill you! All you're doing is making yourself vulnerable! If it were even a little bit effective, your family would still be alive right now! How could a weakling like have any hope of finding a way to heal his sister? Or hunt down a demon?! Don't be ridiculous!"
Shinobu stared on in awe, not entirely sure how to handle seeing her universally stoic friend like this. Giyuu hardly shown any emotion during the time she'd known him, only remembering the one instance where he smiled over a bowl of salmon of all things. During all her time of poking teasing and prodding, he'd always reply with a feigned annoyance. Watching this moment of him, it almost made her think the damn that held everything inside had broken. She was already growing concern from what Uzui-san had said, but now she had to worry about what else there was under the surface.
"The weak have no rights! They don't get to make choices! All they can do is be relentlessly crushed by the strong! Now maybe the demons know of a way to cure your sister! Maybe! But don't think for even a moment that any one of them is going to respect your wishes! Just like I have no respect for you! That's reality! Why the hell did you throw yourself over her like that? Was that your way of protecting her? Why didn't you swing that hatchet? Why would you ever turn your back to me?! Those mistakes are what led to her capture! I could've easily just skewered the both of you and be done with it!"
The other hashira weren't fairing any better at seeing the most quiet of them like this. This wasn't the Tomioka that they knew, but then again, it was starting to settle in that they knew nothing about him really. He was Giyuu Tomioka, water pillar of the demon slayer corp. Before being in this room, they had no other knowledge or information on their comrade. They knew him as well as they knew someone that just joined and gotten their first mission. He never reached out to any of them, but did that mean they were in any better of a position to not reach out to him?
The boy eventually sat up, watching Giyuu with tear filled eyes and awe. Giyuu didn't say another word, watching the boy as he thought to himself. "Don't cry, don't succumb to sorrow. This isn't the time to fall into despair. I know you're devastated, your family massacred, your sister a demon. I know it hurts, I know you want to scream out. I understand. If only I was better and gotten here half a day sooner, maybe then your family would still be alive. However, there's no way to turn back time. So feel this rage inside of you. Feel the pure rage of being unable to forgive. Let it be what gives you the strength to take action. With that fragile resolve of yours, you can't protect your sister, or heal her. And you'll never get revenge for what happened to your family!"
"Poor Tomioka, he speaks in such a way to young Kamado that it almost familiar. As if he is speaking to a younger version of himself. Does it not?" Gyomei looked on at the scene, his eyes filled with tears. He spoke with harsh truth, attempting to set in the reality of what's happening to the boy. "It may seem harsh and even insensitive, but it is clear his intent is trying to help Kamado. He does not want him hurt by attempting to lie to himself. He wishes for him to be prepared for the harsh reality that has been forced upon him."
Continuing to watch the scene, they saw Tomioka stab Nezuko through her shoulder, causing a reaction from Tanjiro to finally get out of his trance. "Stop hurting my sister!" Tanjiro grabbed the hatchet and started to run between the trees. He threw rocks between lines of sight, before long finally rushing in towards Tomioka. "You let your emotions control you and charge at me with reckless abandon. You foolish child!" Tomioka had brought his swords grip down in a hammer swing, striking down on Tanjiro's back and knocking him out.
Nezuko's demonic features had softened, looking down in worry of her brother. A part of her still recognized her older brother, and was scared to see him so injured. Giyuu looked down at the boy, noticing something was missing. "What happened to the hatchet?" Giyuu had looked up from hearing the sound of a heavy object whoosing through the cold air. Quickly shifting his head, he narrowly avoided the hatchet as it dug itself into the tree, inches away from his face. "After passing that last tree, when he tossed the rock directly at me, he tossed the hatchet into the air above my line of sight. He only pretended to attack me, so I wouldn't realize he was unarmed. He knew he couldn't defeat me had on. His whole plan was to kill me after he had already been knocked out."
Nezuko sensing that her capture was distracted, quickly broke free from Giyuu's grip and kicked him away. She quickly rushed in the direction of her brother, eyes focused on his unconscious form. "Dammit! I let myself get distracted, she's going to kill him!" Giyuu felt his eyes go wide as the demonic sister took up a defensive stance, as if trying to defend the boy from him. He found himself back inside the closet of his childhood residence, looking through the cracked doors and saw Tsutako defending him. He knew of his job as a slayer, he knew it was his responsibility to kill this girl. But every fiber of his being told him he couldn't, he couldn't make someone else go through that pain.
The silence was deafening in the room. They saw a freshly created demon eat their own family members before. Many people had claimed that they wouldn't eat people, only to them be devoured before they could finish defending the demon. Here they were, finally seeing an instance of a demon refusing to eat someone, in fact defending their family from a slayer. They watched on as Tomioka refused to fight Nezuko, eventually sheathing his sword and rendering her unconscious. Giving her the bamboo muzzle they'd all seen her wear before. "So this is what he was trying to tell me on the mountain, I owe him an apology for not trying to listen." Shinobu finally said, thinking back when she had almost struck him for trying to tell her the full story.
"Why... Why Gods dammit all?" Shinazugawa couldn't help but let the words escape his mouth, unable to hold back his pain and anger. "Why in the hell is she able to retain some of her humanity? Why her when my own damn mother couldn't even do it?! What blind fucking luck needed to happen for her to get this ability when my own mother couldn't resist attacking my little brothers and sisters?!" He stopped caring to hide anything, screaming as his tears finally began to flow from his eyes. His mind flashed him the images of that night. The bloody mutilated corpses of his siblings, dead at the hands of his demon mother. The sound of crying from Genya, calling him a murderer for defending him. The image of his mother, burning away in the sun. He saw the truth, and he hated every second of it.
Kocho saw this and recognized that Shinazugawa was going through a panic attack, and being the doctor of the slayers, had to jump into action. "He's having a panic attack! Quick hold him down so he doesn't hurt himself or anyone else!" Before she could tend to him, she heard Tokito screaming in pain. Turning around, she saw the boy gripping onto his head. "Tokito!"
Muichiro clutched his head, feeling the memories lost in the fog finally return to him all at once. The words of Tomioka echoed that of what his brother, he spoke harshly, speaking of the weak were not in position do anything. That strength was the only way to guarantee getting what you wanted in life. Strength was needed to protect others, to keep them from being taken. The Kamado sibling's actions also reminded him of his own accident. Desperate to protect each other, even with no real strength available to them. They constantly threw each other's bodies in harms way to protect the other. From remembering his brother, he remembered his mother, his father, everything. "I'm so sorry I've forgotten all of you. Please forgive me." He gripped his head tightly as tears continued to run down his face.
"I will leave you all with a break to take care of this. It appears the actions witnessed had caused some memories to return to a few of you. For some that is a good thing, for others, painful. Have your time for now, but be warned, I cannot guarantee the next scene will be any easier to watch."