𝞖𝙞𝙨 𝙐𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙩//𝙆𝙣𝙮//𝙁𝙁//𝞐𝙐

T w e n t y - e i g h t

I hear a loud thud and a crack. I whip my head around to see who that was.

Kamado-kun.

Okay, he can't be dead. Maybe it's just a few broken bones. He'll get up in a second, right?

A crow lands on him, stays there for a minute or two while I cut off Kibutsuji's head in half. 

"KAMADO TANJIRO, CAW! IS DEAD!" The crow announces, and my heart drops a hundred feet.

"Yeah, no." I shake, running to the crow on the red-haired boy. Kneeling down, my hair tie break and my hair falls beside my ears. I pick the bird up, and start shaking it. "He's not dead, stupid bird!"

"His heartbeat has stopped, caw." The crow squawks softly. "Let me go, caw?"

I drop the bird, and it flaps its wing to fly upward.

I grit my teeth. Kota's death, Kamado-kun's death... It's all...

"KIBUTSUJI!" I shout, whipping my head around to face him. 

Tamayo's POV

Fury. It is written all over Ms. Tsugikuni's eyes. It looks like she has lost control over her emotions.

"Calm down, Tsugikuni Yasu." I say calmly, walking over. I stop in my tracks when a cold blade rests on my shoulders.

"Take one step closer," Tsugikuni says in a low tone. "And I slice your head off."

I take a step back. "You lost control of yourself; the one thing that matters the most in a battle."

Her grip on her sword gets tighter. "You don't know how this feels."

I do. I really do.

I shake my head, closing my eyes. "Control yourself, Miss Tsugikuni. These are the consequences you have to face becoming a demon slayer. Surely you've prepared yourself, haven't you?"

She lowers her blade a little bit. She turns around, grabs another hair tie from her wrist and hold it with her mouth while gathering her hair up. She ties her hair into a ponytail, much similar to the man who has spared my life.

His reflection flicker beside her. He looks the exact same as Yasu, just taller and muscular.

I can feel his spirit lingering around this battlefield. 

Watch over her, I hear a soft whisper. I widen my eyes and turn in several direction, but no one is to be seen. Watch and see her finally killing that demon.

My eyes are still wide. "Tsugikuni-sama-" I mumble under my breath.

My surroundings turn dark blue, and I'm no longer at the battlefield anymore.

I see a figure appearing beside me. It's him. It's really him.

The man who saved me from Kibutsuji's grip.

"It's been a while, Tamayo." He speaks so quietly that I almost missed it.

I nod, still processing what is happening.

"How-" I mumble, but he stops me with a chuckle. 

"Something spirits can do. Not for long, though." His voice echoes through the empty space. 

"Did you want to talk to me?" I ask.

He turns his head towards me. "She doesn't know the 13th form yet, Tamayo?"

I nod slowly. "I don't think so.."

"Well then." He straightens his haori. "Time to help her out. I guess Kibutsuji didn't see the end of me just yet."

I open my mouth, but the space vanishes and I'm back to the dust-flying platform. 

What did he mean by that?

I watch Yasu as she desperately looks for an opening. The good thing is that my blood demon art is keeping Kibutsuji from going anywhere else.

What exactly was Tsugikuni-sama going to do?

Just then, I saw a flicker of his spirit appearing beside Yasu.

Yasu's POV

"H-huh?" I stutter, whipping my head to the right. I swear I saw something. Was that Kibutsuji's doing?

Yasu.

A voice. An unfamiliar voice is calling my name. Am I finally going crazy?

"Is this Kibutsuji-" I say. But what's happening around me-?!

I widen my eyes as the battlefield vanishes into a navy blue color. I grip my sword tighter. Another demon perhaps?

"No need to worry, Yasu." I hear a voice approaching.

A man, maybe in his twenties? Thirties? His looks similar to me.

"Who... are you?" I ask, keeping my guard up.

"You know me." He smiles. "My name is Tsugikuni Yoriichi."