Chapter Twenty Seven: Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku
It was the dead of night. A train conductor was walking in the carriage of a moving train. The conductor was checking the cart ensuring that its empty, when suddenly the lights flickered. The man turned to investigate the disturbance, and he saw a marked demon.
The demon looked like a bald middle-aged man with a muscular build and very pale skin and lime green eyes with black sclera and blue markings all over his body. The man screamed in horror when he found the hideous creature hiding in the shadows, the man tried to flee but he was killed by the monster, the man's body was discovered later.
A Demon Slayer entered a soba shop guided by his Kasugai Crow, whare he met the Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku.
'I apologize for interrupting your meal Hashira Sama' said the Demon Slayer as he bowed in apology and Kyojuro offered the Slayer a seat and asked the chef to give him a bowl as well and then the two began discussing an incident that happened last night, whare they discovered a woman attacked by a demon who is now recovering in the hospital.
'Has your business been affected by these incidents?' Kyojuro asked the chef, who told him that his business has declined due to the mysterious disappearances that have been happening in the area making people to afraid to go out after dark and with word of a Slasher going around even forcing him to let off his workers. The chef adds news of the Mugen Train being put out of service after forty of its passengers mysteriously disappeared. The Demon Slayer informed Kyojuro of whare the Mugen Train is located and they leave to investigate.
In a empty train station,a young girl named Fuku was struggling to feel better after no one bought her bentos, her grandmother an elderly woman named Tomi, tried to cheer her up by claiming that she can sell them in the afternoon instead as demons only rome at night.
Meanwhile Kyojuro and the Demon Slayer were searching the train station but they didn't find anything unusual, instead they saw Fuku irritably rejecting her grandmother's advice about demons claiming that they don't exist, Kyojuro approached her and nonchalantly claimed that he is looking for a demon to the shock of the accompanying Demon Slayer!.
'There's no such thing as demons!' yelled Fuku in frustration as she hurled her bun at Kyojuro, smacking him in the face. The girl quickly bowed and apologized for her actions. Fuku explained that she is nervous about the news of the Slasher, wich is similarly effecting everyone. Kyojuro advised them to continue business and reassured them that he will deal with the Slasher. Fuku tried to sell him some bento boxs to which Kyojuro excitedly decided to buy them all!. Kyojuro gave some of the boxs to the Demon Slayer as he ordered him to return to HQ, believing they will make great gifts for the Corps.
Kyojuro boards a train with a crate of bentos is brought apon by a conductor. Kyojuro claimed to be a bento vendor and is looking for the Mugen Train's shed, believing the train he is on will take him there, but the conductor said that the Mugen Train's maintenance facility is in fact quite a fair distance away pointing at the window. The Flame Hashira thanked the conductor and said that this is where he will disembark before leaping off the train and running towards the facility!...He sees the train being repaired before sensing the faint scent of a demon lingering on it.
Kyojuro saw a Marked Demon holding a young boy and driving his claws into the boy's face!.
The workers followed and they were horrified to see the demon clutching their friend!. The demon wretched before stepping on a dropped bento box. The monster was repulsed for human food was inedible for him. As the Hashira hurried to confront the demon...the monster dug deeper into the boy's skin and said.
'I'll just devour the humans that seem tasty, but the ones that taste bad...l like to show myself a good time by tormenting them all night' laughed the repulsive creature to his hostage a boy named Tatsu. The demon's blue markings suddenly started glowing and the demon speeds around Kyojuro trying to goad the Hashira into attacking him.
The scene forced the other workers to flee in terror while Kyojuro stood his ground. The demon boasted that he is the fastest and began taunting Kyojuro, claiming that he can not kill him without injuring the boy. He also mentioned how last night he slashed a woman until he grew board...making Kyojuro realize that he was the demon that injured the woman he found!.
'Even if she does survive, she's doomed to be consumed by fear for the rest of her life' said the Slasher Demon with a cruel smile on his face. Kyojuro commended the demon's speed, but the Hashira warned the demon not to get cocky, adding that the woman was in fact saved and is determined to heal without lasting wounds.
The demon decided to kill the vendors who gave Kyojuro the bentos in place of the woman but he wanted to kill Tatsu first, but Kyojuro rushed forward and sliced off both the demon's hands!...saving Tatsu.
The demon then retreated and stood outside the shed, and then useing his sense of smell, the demon was able find the location of the bento vendors and he speeded forward to kill them.
Kyojuro assessed Tatsu's wounds before calming the concerned workers by stating his friends will arrive, and at that moment, more Demon Slayers arrived to assist him. Meanwhile Fuku and Tomi had arrived at the station and Fuku begans setting up a shop. The Slasher Demon arrived shortly and smells them nearby.
Kyojuro left the rest of them and followed the train tracks,and using Total Concentration Breathing to accelerate to incredible speeds, determined to stop the demon and save them.
The demon had followed Fuku's scent and found her, the monster moved forward to kill her but he was suddenly hit by a bento box thrown by Tomi. With the demon momentarily disgusted by the smell, Fuku attempted to flee outside but was quickly caught by the demon!. The demon was viciously grabbing Fuku's throat!. But luckily Kyojuro had arrived in time to save her...the Flame Hashira had sliced the demon's Achilles Tendon, saving Fuku. Stunned by what she had witnessed, Fuku realized that her grandmother is now alone!.
The demon confronted Tomi for throwing the bento box at him but was instead accosted by Kyojuro. The Slasher Demon wondered how the man had caught up to him so quickly. The Hashira repeated his words about not getting cocky and challenged the demon to see who is faster...whether the demon can kill Tomi first or Kyojuro decapitates him before!. To this end, Kyojuro claimed that the demon is slow, and he instantly rushed forward, decapitating the Slasher Demon with the Flame Breathing First Form: Unknowing Fire.
After decapitating the demon, Kyojuro preformed a Chiburui, sliding the demon's blood off the blade of his Nichirin Sword, dragging the blunt end of the Kissaki toward the Koiguchi of the Saya and sheathing his sword through Nōtō.
'You...saved us didn't you?.
Twice. I'll never forget that face, that haori. Fuku's mother...and i...twenty years ago, you saved our lives' said Tomi with tears in her eyes, his actions remaindered her of her previous saviour. Kyojuro said that it was most likely his father who saved her back then and that he is simply following in his father's foot steps to save people from demons, and then Fuku rushed back to her grandmother's side and said.
'I'm sorry for saying that there couldn't be any demons Grandma ' apologize Fuku, she regretted not believing her grandma. Kyojuro laughed at this saying that not acknowledging these monsters existence is for the better. Soon other Demon Slayers arrived at the scene, Kyojuro happily informed them that the demon has been dealt with. He added that the Mugen Train was being repaired tonight and would return to service the next day.
When Kyojuro's companion claimed that the situation was now over, the Hashira told him that the Muge Train had forty people go missing and that the demon who is likely responsible is not the one he had just killed. He believed that the train is harboring a far more powerful demon.
The sun rises to a new day, and people now swarm the streets. The soba chef overhead news that the Mugen Train is back in service, the man hoped that nothing bad will happen again.
As the sun sets and night time arrived, Kyojuro Rengoku, boarded the Mugen Train for his investigation, but not before meeting Tomi and Fuku again. The two offered Kyojuro some beef bento boxs as a way to show their gratitude for saving them last night. The Flame Hashira happily accepted their gift, he loved the gift not to mention that he hadn't tried the beef ones yet. Kyojuro took their entire supply, and Tomi and Fuku wished him good luck on his mission.
As the train prepared for departure, Fuku sells some bento boxs to the passengers but she heard a loud commotion nearby, it was Inosuke Hashibira head butting the train with Zenitsu Agatsuma angrirly reprimanding him. Inside the train all the passengers were preparing for the trip, Kyojuro had decided that now is the time to eat the bento box.
'Umai!' Kyojuro loudly exclaimed as he opened the package and tried the meal. Kyojuro was absolutely delighted.
Author's Note: the Mugen Train Arc has begun!...be prepared for all the drama and suspense!, and thank you all for reading and supporting my story, your kind reviews and comments help give me the motivation to continue this story and hopefully we will see it to the end.