The Sun Will Always Rise Again

Chapter 24: Appreciating Art

Everything was starting to look like a blur. Your vision was only getting fuzzier and fuzzier by the second. The room around you was twisting and turning in all sorts of directions. Of course, the pattern of Kyogai's drum play was not something that you could recall precisely from the show. So, it was extremely hard not to constantly fall onto your face each time the room made a turn.

Like Tanjiro, you were telling yourself you could do it. That you would be able to complete this mission and you would not give up. However, you were starting to get frustrated. It was like you did not even have a chance to attack Kyogai. You were not even close to it.

For a moment, the floor underneath you was pulled away like a rug and this made you fall once again. When you crashed into something, which seemed softer than the floor you had fallen onto many times by now, your eyes widened at a pained grunt, coming from behind you.

"Tanjiro-! I'm so sorry- uuaAAHH-", the room twisted again. You were slammed against a wall this time. Or was it the ceiling? You did not even know anymore.

When you tried to get up again, you saw a flash of green in the corner of your eye. With slight confusion, you looked up and your eyes widened at the sight. Tanjiro was dangling from above, holding onto one of the pretty lanterns, that still lit up the room amongst all this chaos and fighting.

This was the perfect time for Kyogai to release another of his claw attacks. However, instead it being aimed at Tanjiro, the claws were mercilessly thrashing through the floor towards you.

You had been so distracted by Tanjiro, that you barely missed the attack. With a loud thud, which echoed through the room, you threw yourself on the wall nearby. It was almost like you were hoping to stick to it, but you were not some bug after all. So, you slowly slid down again.

If this had been a different situation you were sure, Tanjiro would have laughed. However, right now he was is no position to enjoy your usual silliness, that managed to always put a smile on his face.

With the sound of a drum, the room turned again. This time you were heading towards another wall, head first. You tried to twist yourself around with all your might, but that just made you flip around your axis like crazy. At this point you were convinced, that you were some kind of ball...

Wait!, you landed on top of the wall with another loud clash, That's it!

Your legs were shaking slightly, when you tried to get onto your feet again.

"You're so annoying", Kyogai said suddenly, "I want to eat the rare blood now!"

Another slash rushed through the air, this time going for Tanjiro. The boy however was able to move in time and asked the demon a question with a stern voice "What's your name?"

The demon was stunned for a moment by his question "It's Kyogai."

"Kyogai. Listen", his eyes wandered to you for a moment. You were still standing there, your body seemed to hive heavily. Maybe you were trying to concentrate on your breathing more? Tanjiro blinked. He was getting worried again. "We won't surrender Kiyoshi to you! We won't bend to you! It's futile!"

Kyogai's face looked slightly down as his voice started oozing with more anger "I will get my hands on that boy and reclaim my rightful place among the twelve Kizuki!" When he looked up, the crossed-out number on his right eyeball came into view.

The demon's thoughts were littered with a faint memory...A voice was constantly nagging him in the back of his head...reminding him of something that had happened a long time ago...

..."How boring. What you wrote is so boring. All these papers are as good as trash."

The said papers were falling onto the ground...Kyogai's dreams seemed to fall apart, when the pieces of his work dispersed around the floor.