"Fuck..." Fugo ignored the pain that had shot up his elbow from smashing it into his cubby as much as he could.
Trying to take his mind off the bad memories, he slid both of his arms into his red suit in a single, slick movement, and buttoned up the garment quickly with one hand, while the other hand grabbed his tie and began to knot it around his neck, leaving it loosely hanging. He grabbed his watch and fastened it around his wrist.
Fugo slowly slid the door open, and walked out. His footsteps were silent, not wanting to disturb their mourning. As he walked down the hallway, he turned down the corridor, only to find the new master of the house at the end of the path.
Fugo quickly turned around, not wanting to disturb her, but she quickly ran over to him with a pleading expression.
"Wait!" She said to Fugo. Fugo stopped walking, and looked towards Shinobu. He adjusted his tie slightly before he walked back to talk to her.
"Seeing that you saved me, it's not my place to ask, but I have a few questions for you. If you could follow me, I need you to come and meet my master as well."
Fugo had never been that good at answering questions for people like Shinobu, but her sister had just passed away. He felt that he needed to do something for her if that was the case. A few questions couldn't hurt to answer, could they?
Fugo straightened his back and replied. "I will do my best to answer your questions."
When he had finally arrived, he expected it to be much more populated and bustling, judging by how Shinobu had described her headquarters. But instead of the loud area he had anticipated, it was deathly silent, and nothing made a single sound, other than the rustling of leaves in the wind. Shinobu had asked him to wait, so she could inform her master of what happened, to make it an easier process to know what happened.
Shinobu had said that they were going to ask questions about him. Fugo's first thoughts were the usual inquiries for situations similar to this, like, "Where were you born?" or, "How did you stumble across us?" They were fairly simple questions that Fugo could answer without revealing too much of his past or personal information. Mentioning the fact that he was from 2001, and an entirely different universe entirely was quite the secret. So was his occupation as an ex-mafioso, or just the fact that he was involved in the world of crime. It was easy to see that he was a foreigner and things would be different, but the rest of that information was incredibly crucial.
The first thing Fugo's eyes were greeted by was a group of quite eccentric looking people. Hell, he'd even compare their appearance to the incredibly bizarre fashion style his gang members sported, although a bit more subdued, more of it going to their hair and upper body, rather than plain everything. But there was one thing that all of them had in common with each other.
Every single person had puffy eyes from crying.
'So Shinobu's sister must have been well liked by these people if all of them were crying. Perhaps they were so close, that they considered themselves family' Fugo thought, examining the people before him.
Soft footsteps echoed behind Fugo, and he spun his head around to face whoever was coming. Out from the shadows of the building, came a man with shoulder length black hair, and a pink scar that stretched all over his forehead. Judging by how he walked steadily and slowly, he was probably blind from the scar.
He walked to the front of the area, where everyone could see him, and opened his mouth to speak.
"My children, as you may have heard, the Flower Pillar, Kanae Kocho, was killed in an attack by the Upper Moon Rank 2. But, through her effort to fight him, he was weakened enough, and was able to be defeated and finished off."
The group of people in front of him were visibly shocked when they heard that one of the "Upper Moons" was defeated.
"Wait, Oyakata-sama, you never said who defeated him, was it Shinobu over there who defeated him?" The short man with a snake around his neck asked.
"Kocho-san, would you please address what happened?" Their master said, gesturing towards where Shinobu stood, Fugo not far from her, but in the shadows, still obscured from vision.
"Yes. When my sister was first mortally injured by the Upper Moon 2, she jumped into the attack's range to block it from reaching me. She gave her life, trying to save me. Her attempt would have been in vain, if it weren't for someone intervening." Shinobu said, as she gestured for Fugo to walk out of the shadows and into the sunlight.
Fugo's posture was proper and straight when he walked out from the tree's shade, and he bowed deeply as soon as everyone had laid their eyes on him.
"My name is Pannacotta Fugo, the one who defeated the demon that killed Kocho-san's sister."
The people in front of him grew silent when the words escaped from his mouth. Fugo could almost feel their emotion of disbelief leaking out of them, like a broken dam.
Before Fugo could explain how he had been able to defeat the demon, he felt himself being pulled up by his shirt, and face to face with a man with white hair, and scars all over his body.
"You're telling me you defeated the Upper Rank 2? What kind of drug did this kid give you for you to believe that, Kocho? He's not even part of the Demon Slayer Corps! How do you expect me to believe some scrawny teenager in a swiss cheese outfit defeated a fucking Upper Moon?"
Fugo stayed silent, his jaw clenched in silent anger, while he let the man scream into his ear. His eyes were darkened by the shadow of his hair, no emotions shown on the outside whatsoever.
"And Oyakata-sama, you believe him too? I can't believe this! It's not possible for this random person that Kocho probably was knocked out by, to fucking kill a demon without a Nichirin blade!"
Fugo's index finger began to twitch in anger, his already little amount of patience wearing thin. He had endured the man's slander for as long as he could, knowing that he was just being ostentatious, but Fugo's anger was steadily rising.
"I can't believe Shinobu would associate with a thieving liar like you. I bet that Shinobu just felt bad for you, and you took advantage of that! You probably did that with all your other 'friends'!"
At that moment, something inside Fugo burst like an explosion, and all the anger he had been holding back had been released suddenly, all in a single combustion of rage.
Fugo clenched his fist, and swung his fist into the man's cheek. He grabbed his hair, and slammed it into the ground, he repeatedly slammed it, not giving him a moment to recover. The man was taken off guard by Fugo's outburst, so much so that he hadn't noticed him about to punch him. Fugo crouched down and looked straight into his eyes with a killing glare. He seemed rather calm aside from his eyes, but that illusion shattered the moment he opened his mouth.
"What the hell did you just say? Repeat that right now, right to my face! I couldn't give two fucks about whoever the hell you are, or your status, but I couldn't care less about you! You can yell into my ear all you want, but all that's doing is giving me more of a reason to beat your ass into the ground! I can't believe you would act like this, when someone just died! Act your own age, and have some respect!"
The white haired man visibly flinched at Fugo's volume, before he tried to grab the sword at his hip, only for Fugo to grasp onto his hand, Purple Haze partially summoned, making his grip strength stronger. The faint outline of his checkered white and purple stand's arm was visible, along with the yellow virus capsules. The man let out a yelp, his hand turning an ugly shade of purple as Fugo clenched it harder and harder.
"STAY QUIET DUMBASS!" Fugo roared, louder than before, letting a murky image of Purple Haze's vicious face materialize in front of the man, threatening him.
Fugo quickly swept the dust off his suit, and stood up, ready to explain what had happened, but the people behind him were shocked. Fugo quickly came to the conclusion that the man he had just beaten up was a strong and high ranking official, and for Fugo to have scared him so easily might have frightened them a little.
"As I was going to explain, I stumbled upon the two fighting off the demon, but I could see it was a close fight. It could have gone either way. But at some point, as Kocho-san had said, Kanae was fatally wounded protecting her. At the time, I didn't know what was happening, but when I saw her chest being slit, I couldn't just sit there and watch. I fought the demon while Kocho-san tended to her sister, and while I was able to kill it, Kanae had died of blood loss, with a smile on her face." Fugo explained with a pained expression on his face, and his head hung low. "It was my fault, that I wasn't able to intervene in time, and prevent any harm from occurring."
"But that doesn't explain anything about how you defeated him. You're not part of the Slayers, and you didn't have a nichirin blade, so there's no way that you could have defeated a demon, let alone an Upper Moon!" One said, clearly not believing that he had defeated him.
Fugo nodded and beckoned everyone to look at him. "This may be hard to believe, but I have a special ability, called a 「Stand」.A stand could be comparable to a manifestation of your soul. It reflects your inner nature, and it's essentially another side of yourself. Mine...it's truly something appalling. It's savage in ways I can't describe. It strikes like an explosion, and departs like a storm. Words cannot describe how brutal it is. It's nothing but a hindrance to my allies, because of its ability." He didn't say the last part, knowing it would only raise questions.
"This may not be a good time to ask, but I am intrigued about this so-called 「Stand」. Could you demonstrate to us what your stand is capable of doing?" Shinobu's master said in an interested tone.
Fugo winced when he heard if he needed to demonstrate his ability. He hated his stand ability. It was too unreliable, and one single wrong step could end up with someone dying. But he had to. It would massively benefit the corps if he showed them, and he decided to join.
"Purple Haze." Fugo muttered, quietly bracing himself. Suddenly, purplish fog began to emanate from around Fugo, circling around in a distorted path lazily. His body seemed to almost blur and double, like a heat mirage. It was as if his soul had stepped out of the confines of his flesh, moving to its own accord.
This was his personality given form, his 「Stand Power」 .
There was a collective gasp from everyone present when Fugo unveiled his stand. He winced slightly when many backed away instinctively from the sight of his stand. The white haired man, who was still on the ground from the earlier beating, was doing his best to get as far away as he could from his stand.
There it was, his stand. It crouched lowly, with an almost drunken sway to it, as a purple tinted mist emanated from its frame.
Purple Haze was a ferocious stand, it's appearance more akin to a zombie than a man, more sentient than obedient, unlike most stands, which served to only help their user, and usually were not aware or conscious. Everything about it screamed that it was wrong. It's skin, if one could even call it that, was purple and white, forming diamonds that took shape all over its body. The limbs were loosely stitched together in a twisted form of patchwork, barely holding it together at the seams. His eyes emanated violent anger, and it's lips were sewn together, drool escaping its mouth, and running down his chin, although the sewing on it's lips wasn't very effective at quelling it's angry expression.
Purple Haze let out a groan, as it slowly stood up from its position, it's back hunched over, walking sluggishly.
The feeling of anxiety between the group had noticeably grown as soon as Purple Haze had stood up. Fugo could feel the unease among the group in the air in front of him, as Purple Haze took a step forward, and sent a glare towards everyone in front of him like a guard dog.
But all the tension had broken instantaneously when droplets of Purple Haze's drool dripped onto its leg.
"Ew...that's kind of gross…" The pink haired girl said, eyeing his stand with what could be said was a disgusted expression.
The stand seemed to share the sentiment, as it made what sounded like a throaty gasp when it saw the drool on it's leg, and began to wipe it off with it's wrist furiously. It let out a few puffs of air from it's mouth happily while it finally cleaned up the last of the drool on its leg.
Fugo looked to the side sheepishly, and nervously began to speak.
"Sorry, this is one of Purple Haze's habits. It always looks pissed off, but it's actually quite high strung, and it's a clean freak. I guess it could be said it's one of its personality traits, an idiosyncrasy, if you could word it like that." Fugo explained.
Everyone present seemed to be mildly shocked at the stand's behavior, except for Shinobu, who was oddly gushing at how it acted. She found it adorable that something as menacing as Fugo's stand acted so cute about cleanliness!
The stand suddenly let out another gasp when it saw that the wrist it had used to clean up the drool was now dirty. It cried as it rubbed both of its wrists together to try and rub the dirt off, but it only spread to the other wrist as well. The stand began to snivel, and licked at them to clean, and was successful...until the drool from its wrists dripped down onto it's leg again. It began to wail, and tried to clamber towards his master to help him.
Fugo shuddered slightly as he eyed his stand walking towards him. He took half a step back by instinct. He hated the sight of it. It was creepy. Too creepy. As if Purple Haze had heard his thoughts, it began to whimper, crouching down with what could be loosely described as a sad expression.
While Fugo and the rest of the group looked in slight disgust, Shinobu suddenly pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket, and walked towards Purple Haze without fear. She began to clean the drool on its leg and wrists, and playfully baby-talked with it, all while everyone else watched with a deadpan expression. Purple Haze looked up at Shinobu with a gleeful expression and began to happily let out puffs of air, gurgling happily as Shinobu wiped away more of the spit. She squeezed Purple Haze's cheeks and began to happily squeal at it, and cuddled it tightly.
Needless to say, it was a rather mortifying scene to those who were watching.
Fugo, who had looked away for a moment and was explaining the limits of stand power, suddenly felt some kind of pressure on his cheeks and body, spun his head around, and looked at Shinobu with a confused expression, before it immediately shifted into one of dire concern as he quickly pulled her away from Purple Haze, making the stand whimper, while Shinobu pouted at him.
"Kocho-san! If you're not careful you could end up killing yourself. And a little side note, try not to squeeze its face like that, I can feel it too." Shinobu let out a gasp, as she tried to silently apologize with red cheeks, while Fugo only had a dark and menacing expression, before he lightened up a bit, accepting Shinobu's apology, and turned towards the group, and began to speak. "As I said earlier, this is my 「Stand」, Purple Haze. I'm not sure if I can currently demonstrate its ability at the moment-" He was cut off by a crow, who was seemingly able to speak, that began to screech.
"Eastwards! Eastwards! A Lower Moon demon has been spotted near the outskirts of the mansion! A Lower Moon demon has been spotted near the outskirts of the mansion!" The crow shrieked as it flapped its wings brashly.
"What?! A Lower Moon?" The man with the double patterned haori, who had been quiet for most of the meeting said, expressing his disbelief.
"But there are wisteria trees surrounding the perimeter! What kind of demon would be dumb enough to approach us, and how did they find where we are?" The woman with her hair worn in thick braids said.
"Who will you dispatch, Oyakata-sama? If it's one of the 12 Kizuki, they've probably arrived here on behalf of Muzan!" The man with gemstones encrusted into his headband asked urgently.
"If I could make a small suggestion..." Fugo suddenly interrupted the panic, as he walked towards the gate of the mansion. "My 「Stand」 isn't just something I can show off because of its potential danger, but this is a good opportunity to manifest Purple Haze, and have no consequences by using its ability. I can fight it for you, and demonstrate my abilities." He said, facing towards their master, who smiled slightly, and nodded his head.
"If you're going to come close to observe, stay as far as you can. If you truly want to see more, stay no less than 5 meters away" The tone in Fugo's voice was hesitant, almost as if he were afraid to fight. But Fugo's legs kept walking forward. Despite Fugo's fear, he had to do this.
"Oyakata-sama! You can't be serious! Are you really going to let this boy fight a demon, a Lower Moon? Sure, he claims that he defeated the Upper Moon 2, but I still don't believe him!" The white haired man asked, who apparently still had enough energy to still complain.
Fugo stopped walking, and turned around to look at the white haired man. He shot a glare at him, manifesting Purple Haze, and let his stand hang off of his shoulder, in an odd manner.
"I never got your name, but I could give less of a fuck about it. Shut the fuck up, and let me beat this thing's ass, unless you'd like me to fight you instead. I'd rather not injure the same man again twice."
The man quieted down after hearing his tone, and backed away, with a vicious glare directed towards Fugo. Fugo turned away, and began to run towards the gate.
Fugo quickly reached where the "demon" was, and stood silently, examining the creature in front of him. For the most part it looked much like a human, but his eyes had a marking on them, just like the earlier one that had killed Shinobu's sister. But this one was much more ugly.
"Ah...the first meal I've had in so long…you're not the marechi I smelled, but you'll do just fine." The demon said, licking his lips.
Fugo just walked over to a tree and began to lean on it, and spread his hands out, in an inviting gesture. The demon was taken aback from his action of calmness, and reflexively took a step back, before his lips split into a malicious leer, and began to run towards him.
"HAHAHA! I hadn't even noticed that you weren't a slayer, and you're just a civilian! No Nichirin blade, no uniform, no nothing! I'll kill you faster than you can feel it! The hell is wrong with your clothes though? They look like the Swiss cheese they import from the merchants!"
Fugo only narrowed his eyes, and began to count the amount of steps the demon was taking. The demon had begun charging at him from about 40 meters away from him, and each stride he took was around 2 meters, and each stride had taken 2 seconds to complete. It was rather fast, and was higher than he had expected.
"HAHAHA! YOU'RE TOO SCARED TO DODGE, AREN'T YOU? STAY STILL, JUST LIKE YOU ARE, AND MAYBE I'LL GIVE YOU A PEACEFUL END!" The demon screamed as he came closer and closer to Fugo, before he jumped at him, ready to maul him.
"You've walked right into my range."Fugo said, a frigid gaze locked onto the demon's eyes. The demon felt a presence behind him, but before he could spin around to kill it, something grabbed his neck, and slowly began to crush it.
"Now just sit tight." Fugo said.
"Wh-What is this!?" The demon said, barely being able to choke the words out of his mangled throat. He desperately clawed at Purple Haze's hands, trying to pry them off to no avail.
'What the hell is this thing? It wasn't there before, and it doesn't even have any Demon Slayer Corps equipment, and it's about to force me to use my Blood art! Not to mention this thing looks like it's protecting him and crushing my throat!'
"So, can you see it? This is my stand, Purple Haze." Fugo said calmly, although there was an underlying tone of amusement, seeing a demon like this have it's ego crushed in front of him.
The demon's skin began to crystallize, forming some sort of armor, right in front of Fugo's eyes. The demon began to laugh loudly at Fugo.
"HAHAHAHAHA! NOW WHAT WILL YOU DO!? YOUR BEAST'S HAND IS BEING PIERCED BY THE CRYSTALS GROWING ON MY SKIN, AND THE GRIP IS FAILING!"
Fugo balled his hand into a fist and clenched his jaw tight, trying to ignore the pain that stung his left hand. 'So not only can normal people see Purple Haze, but they can hurt him too…I don't have the surprise advantage like I did before with that other guy, and now I'm in a tough spot.'
"WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW? MY ARMOR CANNOT BE DAMAGED, SO YOU'RE STUCK WITH NOTHING TO DO!" The demon continued to ridicule him, laughing dementedly at Fugo's dark expression.
"God, do you ever shut the fuck up??" Fugo asked, with barely restrained rage brimming from his voice. He had had enough of this guy. He thought he was hot shit, all because his skin was shiny. He was the definition of the kind of egotistical person he had seen countless times in Italy, and had hated with all of his heart. Just like his parents...
"Purple Haze...kill him now. Don't waste a single moment!" The stand quickly obliged, and roared as it slammed its knuckles into the demon's face, cracking one of the capsules, releasing the virus into the air, directly into the demon's face.
But it seemed that the demon had seen the purple virus cloud seeping out, and froze it before it could spread any further, sealing the crack in the virus capsule, almost like flash freezing, as the demon laughed for the 4th time, and headbutted Fugo square in the forehead.
"What?!"
Fugo felt a stream of blood leak out from his forehead, but he didn't waver. He commanded Purple Haze to deliver another blow, pulverizing half of the rib bones in the demon's body to dust.
But the strike hadn't shattered any capsules. Shocked, Fugo looked down at his stand's knuckles, only to realize that the demon had already crystallized the virus capsules, unable to shatter any of them.
'Shit…What am I supposed to do? My capsules are frozen...' There weren't many other options, now that his stand's virus capsules were sealed off. If Fugo tried, he could potentially punch hard enough to break through the crystal covering on his knuckles, but he would risk breaking his arm in that single punch. Right now, all Fugo could do was punch hard, and whittle down the crystals on his fist.
The virus that had crystallized right before detached from the demon's skin, and fell to the ground. It was almost like a twisted ice sculpture, glowing with a purple hue. The virus had begun to solidify, effectively blocking out any chance of the cloud escaping.
"Agh-!" Fugo coughed up a glob of blood, as the demon elbowed Purple Haze in its ribs. There was a look in the demon's eyes, although it wasn't that of anger, but more of satisfaction and sadistic desire.
It disgusted him. He spit a bit of his blood close to the ground near the demon's feet, and pushed himself up.
His stand kept at the demon's front, and it was still for a moment, before Purple Haze's knuckles began to push further and further, closer to his face.
"S-Shit! Is he about to break through!?" The demon screeched out, trying his best to hold the fist away from his face.
"No, in fact, I'll do the opposite. I won't move my fist any closer to your face. I'll bring it back!" Fugo roared, with a dark expression in his eyes. If one looked closer into his eyes, they would see a flame, burning ferociously in the reflection of his eyes.
The demon kept
Suddenly, Purple Haze bashed it's fists together repeatedly, as the demon watched.
Let your skeletons out. Let them out just for the night.
"T-There's no way you can break through my crystals! They're harder than quartz! No one from the Demon Slayer corps could cut through them, so what makes you think that you can with just fists?"
Purple Haze pummeled its fist one last time, before the crystal broke apart into pieces.
"WHAT THE HELL? T-THAT THING...IT'S STRONG ENOUGH TO BREAK THROUGH MY CRYSTALLIZED SEALING?" As the demon freaked out, Purple Haze's first jerked downward quickly, and launched one of the virus capsules, and landed onto a wall with an audible crack, spilling out the virus. The demon screamed in pain, no longer able to hold off the virus with his crystallized skin. He let go of Purple Haze's arm, and began to claw at his skin, ripping it off and trying to separate himself from the virus. Within all of the commotion and shaking, the demon suddenly crashed into the solid virus cloud which had spread for space, shattering it. More of the virus broke free, and began to surround the demon. The screams of the demon had sent a chill down everyone who had heard it.e
"There was no way you could know that I could launch my capsules, so I used that to my advantage. Not to mention that the frozen virus cloud was right behind you. All it took to take you down was a simple push in the right direction."
Purple Haze lifted back its newly freed fist, and roared out in fury. "UBASHAAAAAAAAA!" Purple Haze's fists moved at impossible speeds, barraging the Lower Moon everywhere, almost like a beast, doing whatever it would take to find its prey. The demon's bones shattered from the impact, but the virus didn't care. It infected instantly, incubated, multiplied, and mutilated. That was the lifespan of Purple Haze's virus. All in 30 seconds.
"Just go to hell already! Stop trying to cling onto this shit you call your life!" Fugo spat, watching the demon's body melt into goo. He dismissed Purple Haze, and began to walk towards the people he was with just a moment ago. It seemed that every step was a heavy one, as if he were tired.
Feral. Explosive. Remorseless. There were many words that could describe Purple Haze. But the permeable feeling of terror lingering in the air when it appeared always stayed the same.
Just a touch from Purple Haze spelled death. This was Pannacotta Fugo's power. One of the most fearsome in the world.
"That...was incredibly brutal. It finished the demon off so quickly too, and it didn't even use a breathing technique or a Nichirin blade!" One of them finally spoke up after a long period of silence.
"Pannacotta Fugo, was it? I'd like to speak with you for a moment, and Shinobu Kocho, are you available? I'd like you to come with me and Fugo-san as well." The master said, beckoning Fugo and Shinobu to follow him. Fugo dusted off his shoulder and straightened his tie, before he began to walk behind him, with Shinobu not far from him.
"Please, sit down. I can't have my guests stay standing, can I?" The master said with a small chuckle, passing him and Shinobu a cup of tea. Fugo and Shinobu both thanked him for the tea, and accepted it with both hands.
"I do not think I have introduced myself yet, Fugo-san. How rude of me. My name is Kagaya Ubayashiki, and I am the head of the Demon Slayer Corps, an organization tailored specifically to exterminate those creatures you fought. Your stand's performance was quite brutal, but that battle was over in just a few minutes, and to think that it was a lower moon as well! I had my fair share of doubts when Kocho-san here had reported that you had avenged Kanae's death by killing the Upper Moon 2, but I can now see that you were able to do so." Kagaya said politely, sipping his tea calmly after introducing himself. Fugo nodded slightly, and also drank his tea.
"Please, I'm sure that any of the others would have been able to do a better job than me." Fugo said, dismissing Kagaya's praise.
"No, you're severely underestimating that demon's ability. You see Fugo-san, in order for us to kill a demon fully, we need to decapitate them using a Nichirin Blade, but that demon had the innate ability to solidify his skin. Aside from Himejima-san, we have no weapons that can smash through crystals, since we use katanas, but you were able to kill the lower moon using your stand's fists only."
Fugo sheepishly smiled, not used to genuine praise, unlike what he had when studying.
"Introductions aside, I would like to ask you something." Kagaya said, slightly smiling at Fugo. "Please, go ahead." Fugo said in a warm tone, all of his attention on Kaguya. Shinobu looked at Fugo for a moment, before she looked away.
"Would you like to join the Demon Slayer Corps, Pannacotta Fugo? Your stand's ability would certainly be an amazing asset to the Demon Slayers. And while not many noticed, you had expertly calculated your plan, and fought tactically, despite the unexpected drawbacks, and how crafty the demon's power was. It'd be a benefit for someone with your intellect to join us, and help fight against demons." Kagaya asked politely, reaching a hand out to Fugo.
Fugo stayed silent for a moment, before he looked up, and said, "I'm so sorry, but I'm not sure if I can join. My ability isn't just something I can use whenever I want. Purple Haze is a hindrance to my allies, and I might end up killing someone by accident, not to mention my anger. When I lose my temper...I-I do horrible things… I think of myself as a liability...dead weight.. I'd rather live alone, and not bother anyone anymore."
Shinobu shot a quick glance at Fugo, and felt something inside of her…Something about Fugo resonated within her. His eyes were watering, as if he were remembering something rough. His lips quivered with every word and breath that came out of his mouth, and drops of sweat dribbled down his temple, clearly showing his anxiety. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was so similar about Fugo, before she saw his hand ball up into a fist, his knuckles clearly showing, and a vein bulging.
He was just like her in a way. Fugo had felt the same kind of loss that Shinobu had. He had lost many people important to him, and he felt that it was his fault. She had lost her parents, and not long ago, her sister. She didn't know how, when, who, or how many he had lost, but all she knew was that he was suffering, and he took it upon himself and considered himself responsible for what had happened.
Just like her. She didn't realize she was in the exact same situation then, but her heart had already responded to Fugo. Despite the fact that he had rarely talked about his past on the journey to the butterfly estate, only stating that he had grown up in Italy, her heart did not waver, and approached him.
Shinobu slid her hand gracefully into Fugo's, and gently squeezed it, letting her fingers interlock with his. His hand was oddly soft, almost like a pillow, unlike what she thought it would feel like. She would never admit it out loud, but she enjoyed the feeling of her hand in his. Fugo's hand suddenly tensed up, as his face went pale. He shakily looked at his hand, and saw Shinobu's hand joined together with his. He looked right at Shinobu with a rather mortified look, but she only smiled gently at him, and kept her hand within Fugo's.
She leaned in close to Fugo's ear, and whispered, "I'm here for you. It's my turn to help you." Fugo opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He simply closed his eyes, and sighed, before he squeezed her hand. Shinobu felt his rather tensed hand slowly relax as she comforted him.
"Pannacotta Fugo," Kagaya said, regaining his attention. "I have a feeling that I'll be able to quell that sweltering anger within your heart. No matter what happens, I will bring the best out of you, including that fierce and impulsive anger."
Fugo felt something in his heart was moved after hearing the last sentence Kagaya had said. Those words...They were the exact same words Bucciarati had said, when he had been confronted to join his gang. Fugo's lips shifted upwards, and he glanced at Shinobu with a content look, and shook Kagaya's hand.
"You know...I think I'll be able to trust you. Perhaps I'm just being impulsive, but something in my heart is telling me to follow you. You reminded me of someone that had taught me to learn how to trust, and I can't shake the feeling that I'd regret it if I didn't come with you. So I'll join you." Fugo declared.
Kagaya chuckled lightly and smiled. "I am glad that such a great individual is with us in the ongoing war against the demons. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for listening to my request, Fugo-san."
Fugo's lips quirked upwards even further, and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "No, thank you, for giving me a second chance. I'm still not sure whether I'll be very helpful because of my ability, but I know for sure that I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations." After Fugo said those words, he stood up, walked to the door, and left the room with a faint smile on his face, which was a rather rare sight. Shinobu was quick to follow him, but Kagaya suddenly stopped her.
"Kocho-san, I'd like to speak to you about your sister." Kagaya said grimly, almost as if he had been dreading this conversation.
As soon as Fugo had stepped out from Kagaya's room, he was almost instantly ambushed by the same people he had seen during the meeting. It seemed that they had been waiting the entire time for him to step out of the room.
"That...was absolutely flamboyant! The way you defeated that demon, your beast's incredible strength, everything was magnificent!" The man with gold bands on his biceps yelled out at Fugo's face.
"Yes! I agree! That was a splendid performance, Fugo-san! I had the wrong impression of you at first, but it seems you are quite strong, and you were able to kill it in less than 5 minutes! That could be a record of some sort!" The man with forked eyebrows exclaimed. Fugo flinched from the sheer volume the man had been using, but still smiled nervously out of politeness.
"Namu Amida Butsu. You were able to defeat a lower moon that many of our slayers wouldn't have been able to defeat. I can feel that you are strong. It was almost like you expertly calculated that he was going to crash into the solid purple cloud." The huge man said, easily towering over Fugo. There was a strange presence of tears flowing out of his entirely white eyes.
'What a strong man! And to think he's only around my age as well, and didn't need a breathing technique!" The only girl present said in her mind.
Everyone else bombarded him with compliments and questions, and all Fugo could do was sheepishly rub the back of his head, silently waiting for Shinobu to come back and help him.
"Ah, we've forgotten to introduce ourselves! How shameful! I shall do so now! My name is Rengoku Kyojuro, the Flame Pillar! The one with the two blades on his back is Uzui Tengen, the Sound Pillar. The gloomy looking one who's farther away from us is Tomioka Giyu, the Water Pillar, and the one next to Uzui is Himejima Gyomei, the Stone Pillar! He's quite hard to miss, seeing how he towers over all of us! After that, we have Iguro Obanai, the Serpent Pillar, and right beside him is Kanroji Mitsuri, who is The Love Hashira. She used to be my apprentice until recently. And the one sulking in the corner is Shinazugawa Sanemi, the person you had given a beating to. He's the Wind Pillar!" The now named Rengoku declared with incredible vigor in his voice.
A small bead of sweat dropped down Fugo's brow as he smiled embarrassingly, and shook Rengoku's hand.
"It's good to meet you all. I'll be looking forward to knowing more about you." Fugo said politely, despite his earlier feeling of awkwardness from all the attention given to him.
"Likewise! I think that you and I will get along swimmingly!" Rengoku said cheerily.
"Say, Pannacotta Fugo, was it?" The man with the serpent, Iguro said with a hint of curiosity. "Since you defeated not one, but two of the 12 Kizuki, will you be made a Pillar? There are not many who can do such a feat without injuring themselves mortally or just dying. You aren't even part of the Demon Slayer Corps, nor did you even pass the Final Selection." The Serpent Pillar asked, pointing at Fugo's face. Fugo noted the bandages around his mouth, wondering what they were there for.
"I'm not too sure about it myself, I'll have to ask Ubayashiki-san on that topic. I'll tell you when I find out."
"Surely he will be made a Hashira!" Rengoku cheerily declared, his shining smile stretched upon his face. Fugo had to shut his eyes for a moment from how bright the man's aura was. "He has displayed exemplary mannerisms for someone who is not even a Demon Slayer, staying calm under pressure of a demon that would steadily defeat many of us!"
Fugo's eyebrow quirked upwards, as he glanced at Rengoku incredulously. One, he wasn't calm at all. Two, the man was like a ball of sunshine, and the sunshine was burning his eyes out. Fugo had never been given this much praise, even by his tutors and professors.
There was a thought in the back of his head that asked him,
'Just how long will it take for him to second guess his claims? A week? A month? A year?'
Fugo quickly abandoned the sentiment, and returned to the conversation with the Pillars, as Rengoku and Iguro argued, while the rest could only watch in exasperation, feeling a little embarrassed that such a childish argument was happening in front of a guest.
After more talking and getting acquainted with each other, Shinobu walked out from Kagaya Ubayashiki's room. Suddenly, the mood within the group had noticeably soured, each of them reminded of Kanae's death.
The pillars had all loved Kanae equally. Many times after getting injured on a mission, Kanae would take them to the Butterfly Estate to patch them up. She was almost like a loving elder sister to many, despite the fact that she was younger than most of the Hashiras. Fugo, who was the sole person who had never truly been acquainted with her, could only wonder what kind of woman she was, for her death to elicit such a reaction between the hashiras.
Shinobu bowed down, and took in a breath of fresh air, before she began to speak. "Oyakata-sama has decided for me to become the next Hashira, to replace my sister. From this day onwards, I will now be the Insect Pillar, Kocho Shinobu. A pleasure to work with you."
Fugo clenched his fist at her tone, and began to tremble. How many deaths could he have prevented at this point? Abbacchio's? Narancia's? Bucciarati's? And now Kanae? He didn't even know Kanae personally, but he felt overcome with guilt, knowing that she was a casualty that could have been avoided.
The other pillars seemed to have shared the same sentiment, even Sanemi, who was usually a hardass, couldn't help but clench his jaw in sadness.
"Yeah...It'll be a pleasure to work with you as well, Kocho-san…" Fugo murmured, as his hand began to tighten into a fist.
and that's the end of chapter 2! sorry for not updating for like a fucking year, i had everything written, but freshman year of high school had me stressing. (not that that was the reason i didn't update, i was just lazy LMAO) regardless, i'm glad to say i'm back. The action in this chapter was definitely wonky, but i'm gonna blame that on me writing this like two years ago. i have the third chapter about halfway done, so stay tuned, and i (probably) won't take as long to update again. i hope yall fuck with the update and enjoyed it, so stay tuned.
-40percentbluelung out