just like a blue gem shining

By: Aviantei

Part Nine:

"The Sea and the Storm"

"Rairi-kun…!"

"Shimizu-chan!"

Any and all thought vanishes in an instant. All that matters is the girl standing before them, the one that's about to burst into tears. Rairi isn't doing much better, though, and they're running across the space separating the two, crashing into the Shimizu with what would be enough force to knock her over were they not both well-trained enough to be at Final Selection.

"Shimizu-chan, Shimizu-chan, Shimizu-chan—" It takes holding Shimizu tight to convince themself that it's not all a dream, and even then, it still feels like one. This is the sort of thing that Rairi fantasized for ages back in the previous round, that slipped in their mind and dreams ever since the moment they realized the situation they were in. That somehow, whatever force that brought them both to Kimetsu in the first place would also allow the two of them to travel back in time. Zenitsu and Kaigaku both came along, after all, so why not Shimizu-chan, too?

"Rairi-kun! Thank god!" At this point, they're both sobbing, making a giant scene of themselves in front of all the other Final Selection candidates, but Rairi gives zero fucks about any of that. Not even the little itch at their pride of being a giant disaster in front of a much younger Kiriya matters. "I didn't know what I was going to do if you didn't remember me!"

"It's okay. I remember everything, too." Unless there's some sick joke going on that maybe they both stumbled in from different timelines altogether, but that sounds way too convoluted to be an option. Nope, Rairi's going to assume that Occam's Razor is the case until proven otherwise. And even if they are? So what? It's still Shimizu, through and through. "You don't have to carry everything alone this time, alright? We'll be able to work together from the start."

"You read my notes?" Oh. Right. Rairi's lived with the knowledge that they were both transmigrators for so long that they've kind of forgotten Shimizu never got to learn that. It's the strangest possible feeling. "I—I'm sorry if they weren't enough. If we both ended up here, does that mean things got messed up? I promise I tried to put down everything I remembered—"

"Wait, wait, wait, it's okay." Somehow, spilling all their shared isekai protagonist junk out on the dais of Fujikasane-yama doesn't seem like a good idea. Well, if all else fails, Rairi knows they have one thing in common. "Let's talk this way, alright?" they ask in English.

Shimizu gapes. The shock of it is almost enough for her crying to start altogether, but not quite. Somehow, the pieces must be clicking in her head, one at a time. "Um, Rairi-kun," she says, the honorific still slipping out despite the change in language, "are you…?"

"That time I ended up in another world for a manga I never got around to reading but still fucked up the plot anyways." Something like a bit of laughter splutters out of Shimizu's mouth, and Zenitsu (who learned English from Rairi throughout their marriage), also snickers. "I'm a dumb American weeb at heart under all this, but I never read Kimetsu. So I'm more grateful for your notes than you could have ever known. We wouldn't have made it to the end without you."

It's no surprise that Shimizu's eyes well up with tears, because Rairi's about to start sobbing, too. "You mean it? I helped?" Shimizu's voice cracks, and she buries herself in Rairi's chest, the layers getting soaked through within seconds. "Thank God…! Thank God…!"

And that's how they stand for a while, both still holding onto each other and crying, and there's also the sound of Zenitsu wailing in the background, too. Any other Final Selection Candidates who are around have decided it's best to ignore the mess happening in front of them—not that Rairi would have cared, anyways. Shimizu deserves to cry, deserves to know that she's not alone, deserves to know that it's possible to make things better.

Whatever fate that let them all be reborn together, that let them happen to meet now instead of later—Rairi is so grateful for it all that they feel like they're about to burst.

"Shimizu-chan," Zenitsu says, letting his footsteps be audible so he doesn't startle her, "I'm so glad to see you again!" To no one's surprise at all, his crying has come out in full force, too, tears and snot sliding down his face. "We were able to make it through everything thanks to you. Even if it wasn't perfect, we got a way better ending than Canon gave us!"

Shimizu stares for a minute, and Rairi chuckles. While they've long gotten used to it, they're certain seeing an anime character (even one you've long since been used to viewing as a real person) just start talking in English and dropping terms like "Canon" is pretty surreal. "Surprise?" Rairi says, not knowing what the appropriate thing to say in this situation is whatsoever. "Um, it's not just me and you who came back. We all did. After…" You died, Rairi doesn't feel like saying. "…I shared everything with Zenitsu, and he was a big help. Rengoku-san, Tanjirō-kun, and Inosuke-kun vouched for us, too, so we were able to have all the Hashira help! Some of them still passed, but way more people made it to the end, and Tanjirō-kun didn't rampage, either." From Rairi's perspective, it's been decades since then, but the sadness and gratitude for Mitsuri, Kochō, and Iguro still lingers, and a part of them can't help but wonder if everyone will be able to make it through this time without any issues.

This time will be different, right?

"Um… About Tanjirō-kun," Shimizu says, already looking nervous. "I might've…told him to take his family out of the mountains for winter so his family doesn't get killed." There's a beat of silence as Rairi processes that information, and they'd be surprised that Zenitsu's not shouting if the look on his face didn't make it clear just how stunned he is. While Rairi had a soft spot for Tanjirō, he was one of Zenitsu's best friends, so of course their husband is a little gob smacked. The implications of just…cutting the whole inciting incident out of Canon are a little bit overwhelming. It's good, because no one person should have to carry the brunt of such a tragedy for everyone else to reach the happy ending, but it also means there's going to be ripples that will throw things off even more than normal. "I don't know if he listened or if it changed anything, but I had to try. Then after that, I went to Tōkyō, and I've been working with Tamayo-san…"

Oh, Tamayo's already involved, too. Rairi never had more than the one substantial encounter with the woman, but they did get to know Yushirō well over the years. Hell, the demon helped babysit Rairi and Zenitsu's children, took one of their grandchildren on as an apprentice. While it's been just a bit easier having Zenitsu and Kaigaku around, knowing they're all from the same time, Rairi can't help but feel a little melancholic about the prospect of a friend they spent decades with not having any idea who they are anymore.

At their side, Zenitsu takes their hand without even needing to be asked, and Rairi squeezes his fingers in appreciation. It'll be okay because none of them are alone.

"We should catch up once Final Selection's over," Rairi says, and Shimizu nods. A lot can happen in a year, and they all need to know what they're working with to make the best possible plan. Rairi may not have gone as far as changing the Canon baseline, but they did start on their Corps reforms, so that's gonna have some effects. With their powers combined, they might just make Canon damn near unrecognizable, for better or worse! "I might've already started bitching about the Corps structure, so the test is gonna be way different. They cleared out the Hand Demon a while ago, too." Sensei received a letter of an update a handful of months back, once Oyakata-sama started instituting changes. And if Tanjirō might not even be a factor, they don't have to worry about any potential loss of character development in the process! Though he turned out okay last time, so it might just be a non-factor. Clearing their throat, Rairi looks over their shoulder and switches back to Japanese. "Alright, I think we're ready to—"

Rairi blinks.

Kaigaku's nowhere in sight, which, with everything he told them, makes perfect sense.

Ah, fuck.

Kaigaku has wandered off into the grove, the scent of wisteria doing nothing to help his impending nausea. He's careful not to go too far past the barriers of the trees and into the testing grounds, but he does get out of view of the Fujikasane-yama dais, until the lanterns are but faint glowing impressions between the tree trunks.

That seems like far enough to lean against one of the trees and hurl up his dinner onto the roots. It won't be far enough to escape Zenitsu's ears, but nothing ever is, so there's no point. Besides, ever since coming back to the start, Kaigaku's started to feel a whole lot less embarrassment over letting Zenitsu see his vulnerabilities.

Urokodaki Shimizu, though.

Well.

There's a reason he's retching underneath the wisteria branches, now isn't there?

Seeing her wasn't quite too much, which was a good sign. Even the rush of hot jealousy he used to feel over her presence has dulled. She was Rairi's first love or whatever, but Kaigaku's one of their partners now, so there's no reason to worry. Rairi wouldn't abandon him or Zenitsu for anything, and that's what matters most. So, yeah, the jealousy is gone, but what it's replaced with is all the worse:

Fear.

Urokodaki Shimizu is not the embodiment of all of Kaigaku's worst traits, but she sure as hell is a reminder. Kaigaku's the one that fucked up, and she paid the price for it. Hell, even if he had just the slightest better grip on his feelings, maybe he wouldn't have been so easy for Kibutsuji (and, even now, a year later, he has to stop himself from adding -sama to the end of the name) to manipulate. It's a whole lot of what ifs that he didn't get and doesn't want the chance to test, but none of that stops the thoughts from bombarding his mind like the harsh downpour of a typhoon on a town near the sea.

(Kaigaku needs to be strong—even if his idea of what being strong is has changed—but now he just feels like he's drowning.)

"Aniki, do you want me to talk, or do you want me to shut up?"

Still leaning against the tree trunk, Kaigaku looks to his side to see that Zenitsu has followed him. Before, where he would've lashed out, Kaigaku just gathers the remaining bile in his mouth and spits into the mess he's already made in the grass. It's not the first time Zenitsu's found him in shit condition after the time loop began, and Kaigaku has a feeling it won't be the last.

"Tell me something Rairi-senpai did last time that I didn't get to see." It's funny, how he'd rather hear about the timeline he'd died in than deal with the one where he's alive. Well, he's not going to be able to face the issue unless he's in a more stable state of mind, so calming down with an anecdote of his partner's last life it is.

Zenitsu doesn't even question the request, instead going thoughtful with his thick eyebrows furrowing together. "Oh! They got super into hanafuda!" Kaigaku blinks; he knows of the card game, but he never had much opportunity to learn the rules. It was either scrambling to survive to demons or training or back to scrambling to survive as a Corps member. "I mean, they liked cards in general. Taught us all some games they knew from Before. But hanafuda was their favorite, and they got into these super intense matches with Saori-san."

The idea of getting into a super intense stand-off of any kind with Saori—the head housekeeper of the Thunder Estate—is enough to make even Kaigaku wince, but part of him can't help but feel curious. Maybe, whenever they return home, he'll ask them to watch, or even learn. Kaigaku's interest in gambling makes him feel pretty confident in his ability to learn games. "…I haven't seen them play that since we got here, though." A whole year is plenty of time to indulge in something like a hobby, after all.

"That's because they've been so focused on getting up to speed with Thunder Breathing and everything else. We all have." Yeah, that makes sense. Passing the time by playing cards in a peaceful world is different from looking at a future filled with potential tragedy and doing everything they can to prevent it. Still, Rairi and Zenitsu have both shown Kaigaku the value of rest and relaxation, so maybe he should remind them in turn. "Rairi wants everything to work out even better than before, Aniki. They're not going to abandon you just because Shimizu-chan's here."

To hear that spoken out loud makes Kaigaku's chest ache in the best and worst possible way. He breathes, willing himself not to fall apart, though he can't tell if he'd even close to successful or not. Zenitsu is there, a hand on Kaigaku's shoulder, but he doesn't say anything else. "…She remembers, doesn't she?"

"…Yes." Kaigaku thinks about closing his eyes, then decides he's not in the mood to have mental images of all his worst decisions playing on his eyelids. Instead, he just stares at the bark of the tree before him, as if it's going to have the answers. "She didn't say anything about you, though we didn't talk for too long. But she wants the same thing we do, to make this time different than before! I…I'm not going to say it'll be easy, but I'm sure we can all work together, at least for Senpai's sake…"

The use of Senpai is the biggest give away of Zenitsu's uncertainty on the matter. Oh, Kaigaku's willing to try—it'll feel worse than shoving a hundred needles underneath his fingernails, but he'll still do it. And Rairi has talked to him about trauma, assured him that it's something he can get over, especially with support. It'll be another long, rough road, but it's a path he's willing to tread for a long and happy future together.

There's just no guarantee that Urokodaki will be able to commit to the same thing, and it's that possibility that makes things even messier than they were before.

This time, things may be different, but they're sure as hell not easier.

As happy as Rairi is to be reunited with Shimizu, there's a whole lot of complications that come from having her and Kaigaku in the same place, considering…considering. With Zenitsu serving as a messenger between them all, they come to the conclusion that it's best to focus on passing Final Selection first, and hashing out the rest can wait until the testing period is done. After all, working with the Demon Slayer Corps kind of involves being in the Demon Slayer Corps, and there's no sense in wasting the one year lead they've all gained on the previous timeline by getting delayed to autumn's Final Selection and offsetting their plans for another three months.

While Rairi did make a change to the Corps last time and had a whole life to get over the nonsense that was the recruitment and handling of new Slayers employed when they joined, going back in time and writing up their documentation has just had them pissed off all over again. From a narrative perspective, sure, they get the choices made, but when it comes to actual people making actual decisions that affect others' lives (not to mention that Shinazugawa had the gall to act like it was the new Slayers' fault they had such a shit baseline)?

Yeah, no, it's bullshit. The Hashira are excellent, and Rairi has no problem with their unique aptitude and strength helping keep the Corps steady, takes no issue with them being the best option against higher-leveled opponents like the Kizuki. It's just that putting all your eggs in one basket is just asking for trouble.

It's like playing a Pokémon game with just your starter stronger than everyone else in your team—once they go down, the rest of the party follows, all of them struggling against an opponent they can't handle. And while some people are best left to being one-man armies, both Canon and the previous round defeated Kibutsuji by working as a team. With that in mind, what better option is there for everyone to learn as a baseline? Sure, there are limits to how much a safe environment can help someone become an effective Demon Slayer, but Rairi's stance on the matter hasn't changed in the slightest:

There's no sense in people dying and wasting their potential just because they're not ready at the time of Final Selection. There's no sense in people dying just because they're not ready period.

And so Final Selection has been adjusted with Rairi's recommendations, going even a bit beyond that. There is an assessment of being able to wield a sword. Knowing Total Concentration isn't a requirement, but anyone that can't has a note taken so that their eventual mentor (still in progress as a system, but there) can help them work on it. There is still a practical component of fighting demons, but, rather than the good fucking luck stance of the week-long marathon of the past, the period is shorter and mid-rank Slayers are present as proctors. Candidates receive clothes made of similar material to the Corps uniforms to help reduce deadly injuries. Anyone whose life is in danger gets rescued, escorted out, and told to test again next season. In a similar manner to knowledge of Total Concentration, anyone that's missing basic nature survival skills has that noted for mentoring, too. Rairi grimaces to think about how many potential Slayers died on Fujikasane-yama, not from a lack of ability to fight, but instead because they didn't pack enough food and had no idea what was safe to eat. There's a very real possibility of needing to fend for yourself while out in the field, and Sensei beat those lessons into his successors just like everything else.

For the four of them, it's nowhere near close to a struggle. Sensei's training already included those sorts of things from the get-go, not to mention Rairi and the others have the benefit of a past life's experience of already serving as Demon Slayers. Passing was kind of a given; Final Selection a formality. Rairi was much more interested in seeing how the test has changed, and it's satisfied their expectations, both in the general execution and the lack of a death count. Next will be assessing the mentorship system, but that can wait until after their debriefing with Shimizu and whenever they make a game plan for the future—and Rairi has the feeling that things will just get busier from here.

At least there's going to be time to rest back at home while we wait on our swords. Already, the thought of the Thunder Estate makes Rairi smile, those familiar halls filled with plenty of life. Their children and grandchildren may not yet be born, their future apprentices not ready to take up the blade, but seeing Sensei and Kaigaku there, along with Kimiko-san and her grandmother still out and about is plenty satisfying. Maybe, once they defeat Kibutsuji, Sensei will be there to see the family that his successors will make. We'll need to work extra hard to make sure that happens, though.

Before all of that, though, Rairi has a mighty need for a nap. The nights of testing are concluded, and everyone received a nice dinner and bath at the closest Wisteria House, and now Rairi is ready to sleep before making the journey home. And that would be on the table if it weren't for the small figure (smaller than when they first saw them last time) with straight black hair, a purple kimono, and a pristine, doll-like expression on their face.

Ubuyashiki Kiriya.

A child who will be asked to carry a burden that no child should ever have to in two years' time. The thought is enough to make Rairi's heart clench—and then the words spoken by their previous timeline's adopted baby sibling are enough to make them almost want to puke:

"Your presence has been requested," Kiriya says, their voice flat and professional as ever. "Kuwajima Rairi, you will next travel to Headquarters to talk to Oyakata-sama."

Rairi's oh so eloquent response is as follows:

"Oh, fuck."

[Author's Notes]

And here we are, with everyone all gathered up and in one place! Or as much of one place as they can stand to be. Shimizu and Kaigaku have a lot of shit to work through, and you can bet your bottom dollar it's gonna be messy. Hopeful, because I don't want this fic to be an utter downer, but messy.

Thanks to Lucifer_Archangel and ToonyTwilight for the comments on the last update! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Considering I'm trying (and honestly not quite succeeding) to make this fic go a lil faster paced than walk steady, I didn't feel like detailing out a play by play of Final Selection. Hopefully what we did cover will give you the gist.

And Kiriya! Looks like Rairi has some explaining to do at headquarters~.

Once more, go read my original novel, Twelve Zero Zero, which is now hosted on Ream! That story updates every week on Tuesdays, and it's got gays and ghosts, what more could you need?

Next Time, Part Ten, which will go live on October 26. Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[7 September 2024]