I decided to write a fun little filler chapter since the next one will be the Swordsmith Village arc~ (yes there will be a minor time skip next chapter).
"Just come to this location...?" I read over the letter Mitsuri had sent out to every Hashira. I'm guessing not Tengen since he was out on that mission.
So it's a mystery place? Not unusual but also not like Mitsuri...eh oh well.
The expression on my face probably looked like I was ready to kill someone. "What could Mitsuri-san possibly have set up for us?" I mumbled
"Would anyone even show up...? WAIT WHAT ABOUT GENYA'S TRAINING" Y/n you're talking to yourself again!
I'll leave a note before I leave then. I grabbed a piece of paper and a writing utensil, then started to write:
ᴜꜱ ʜᴀꜱʜɪʀᴀ ᴀʀᴇ ᴜɴᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅʟʏ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ...ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏᴇꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɴᴏ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ. ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ 2 ᴋᴀᴋᴜꜱʜɪ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ꜱᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʀᴀɪɴ.1. 10 ʟᴀᴘꜱ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴍʏ ᴇꜱᴛᴀᴛᴇ ᴀꜱ ᴀ ᴡᴀʀᴍ-ᴜᴘ2. ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴋᴀᴋᴜꜱʜɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ʜᴇʟᴘ.3. ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀᴄᴄᴜʀᴀᴄʏ ɪɴ ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋɪɴɢ ᴍɪᴅ-ᴀɪʀ4. ᴇᴀᴛ ʜᴇᴀʟᴛʜʏ!!!5. ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴇ ᴜꜱɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢꜱ ᴀꜱ ᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴛᴀɢᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴋᴀᴋᴜꜱʜɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴏᴅꜱ. ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ꜰʀᴇᴛ :)6. ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴋᴀɴᴀᴏ-ᴄʜᴀɴ ᴡɪʟʟ ʜᴇʟᴘ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜɪꜱ ɴᴇxᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ꜱᴘᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇʀ ᴜɴᴛɪʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀɴᴀɢᴇ ᴛᴏ ʟᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʙʟᴏᴡ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴍᴀʏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ~
ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴀʟʟ~~ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ꜰᴜɴ!!
In all honesty, sparing with Kanao wasn't all that easy, that's why it'll be great practice for Genya, just in case he was in a life or death situation.
"What time is it Atlas?" I peered over at my bird who was eating almonds. "CAW IT SEEMS AROUND 11 AM Y/N-SAMA!"
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YELLING? you know what never mind...wait did you say 11? SHIT, I'M LATE."
I pushed Atlas off the table, making a mess in my room, trying to find one specific thing. "ATLAS WHERE'S MY KATANA?"
I long awaited a response, but it never came, "Atlas?" I looked over to the side of my bed to see my bird knocked out cold.
"WOW OKAY, knocked out from a simple push, dumb bird."
I don't know if I was going crazy but I heard a sound, like a laugh, coming from Atlas. Ah whatever I need to find my Katana. OH, THE KITCHEN.
I found my katana on the floor near the door, so I picked it up and placed it on my hip belt. Someone knocked on my door and I peeked through the window to see who it was. The Kakushi are here now...
"HEY so I'm running late but basically, don't let Genya slack, food is over there and don't. go. in. my. room." I said the last few words in more of a more serious tone and I rushed out the door.
I looked back a little and they looked confused as hell, but I trust them to do as they were told.
★ Small time skip ★
My crow stopped and I lifted up my hand so he could rest. What is this eerie place?
I looked ahead to see what looked like a path and I decided to follow it. I heard a faint noise coming from above and it was Mitsuri's crow. It dropped a folded note on the ground. Should I even pick that up?
I read the note out loud, "You will be paired with another and you can't change it...?"
Mine reads...Giyu Tomioka- oh my brother.
My eyes lingered over the other pairings:
Gyomei & Muichiro
Mitsuri & Shinobu
Obanai & Sanemi
Seems pretty solid to me.
I continued to read the note, "It's a hunt in the woods, whichever pairing has more points can choose who buys the rest of us food. This is all set up by the Kakushi so no cheating will be involved."
"What the fuck is this." I questioned
"I don't know, you tell me." The sudden voice coming from my brother started me. He just appeared out of nowhere.
"All I know is that I'm too broke to be spending money on you guys for food," my brother shrugged his shoulders and pointed more towards the woods. Are we supposed to like actually hunt for food? demons? an object?
The whole situation confused me and my brother, but I wondered how the others were doing right at this moment.
"What are we even supposed to be looking for?"
"I don't know Y/N you tell me." I scoffed a little at his attitude, he didn't NEED to have one right now.
This feels like a mission more than another day off.
"CAW WE WILL BE RELEASING THE DEMONS NOW." Many birds flew over our heads, repeating the same line over and over again.
haha what...?
I gave a confused look to my brother, only to receive one back. What was Mitsuri thinking...wait the prize is food...OH, makes sense now.
"I mean maybe this could be fun, right?" Giyu seemed to not care about my statement and glanced around the forest to see if there were any herds of demons coming. (ngl this feels like the walking dead)
In the corner of my eye, I saw a demon, but in an instant, their head got decapitated. Well that's taken care of.
"CAW TEAM TOMIOKA HAS 5 POINTS!" What...? from one demon?
~
Here's the point chart:
Kills in 1 attack = 5pts
Kills but more than 1 attack needed = 2pts
Demon touches you = - 1pt
Combo (2 or more demons in one attack) = 10 pts
Hashira do not know these rules.
(In a 15 min time limit)
~
"Y/N behind you!"
I turned around to see a demon about to jump on top of me. I quickly avoided that by turning to my side stabbing it in the chest, then decapitating it.
From the distance, I heard more crows shout out team names and their points.
"MUICHIRO AND GYOMEI HAVE SURPASSED 30 POINTS!! CAW CAW."
"Ain't no way, nii-san we gotta pick up the pace." He nodded in response and we continued to kill three more demons.
I spotted a pairing of two and I decided it would be pretty cool of me to kill them both...IN ONE GO!!!
"Breath of Ice, Sixth Form: The First Snowfall"
Ensuring a painless death, I gripped my katana and turned it to face both of the demons. In my head I recited the steps for this attack.
Two steps on the ground, last step leap of andddd....slice!
Both of their heads fell to the ground, but they weren't in agonizing pain, instead, I witnessed them embracing the snow that was falling, which was an after-effect of my attack.
I sighed and put my Katana back into its cover.
"Y/N MANGAED TO GET A COMBO! CAW"
I rolled my eyes at the statement and I went over to help my brother.
He wasn't struggling at all. This reminds me of the Final Selection, despite my brother not running away this time. The thought of that made me laugh, like really laugh.
"SHINOBU AND MITSURI HAVE GAINED 91 POINTS!"
They tell everyone elses' points BUT NOT OURS!!?
"I really don't want to buy them food..." I mumbled under my breath as I sliced one, and another demon's head off. "MAN THIS IS GETTING BORING!"
"Boring you say?" a voice came from behind and managed to push me on the ground. I was about to get up when the familiar scene came to my mind.
"Why didn't you save them?"
"Stronger Sibling..."
"Don't follow me"
"Y/N don't let your brother get to you." huh that's a new one...
My eyes darted everywhere and somehow my mind was making me think I was in the Final Selection again.
"Breath of Water, First Form: Surface Slash"
"Y/N get a hold of yourself!" The demon's head fell to where I was sitting and I kicked it away cause of instinct.
I can't let that happen again, just from a stupid past memory.
"Sorry..."
"CAW TIME IS UP, TIME IS UP. FOLLOW THE NEAREST CROW TO THE END OF THE FOREST."
My brother and I did as we were told and we followed the crow toward the end of the forest. Reaching the end, I saw the other Pillars there before us.
Once all the Hashira were there we all gathered in a circle to see which team was the winner.
"The winner is...Obanai and Sanemi."
"WHAT"
"HOW"
More questions revolved around the two. Honestly, I thought the egos of them both would get in the way of fighting. Maybe not...
Well I already know who they're gonna choose to buy the group food.
"Tomioka-san. not chan, the lonlier one." They both said in sync, but the phrase was said by Sanemi himself. HAHAHA YESSS
My brother sighed and I slapped his shoulder to reassure him..........that I will order the most expensive shit there.
I pushed Giyu to join the group and I walked over to Muichiro who seemed to be annoyed that he didn't win.
I looked over at him, giving him a smile. No smile in return as usual, but I felt his hand grab mine and we walked hand in hand to the restaurant, receiving glares from both Giyu and Obanai.
Here's a bonus scene~(3rd POV)
While the Hashira enjoy their after-dinner, bonding and chatting with each other, Genya was still making way through his training list.
Pants could be heard from the boy as he ran over to the butterfly estate to as Shinobu's Tsugoku to spar with her. Although, he wasn't all that good at talking to females.
He knocked on the door and Kanao already knew what he was there for.
"I'm here for Y/N-sama's last part of training." Genya gave the paper to the girl.
Kanao nodded her head and led him to the battlegrounds. Getting her battle stance ready she decided that she would make the first attack.
Aiming at his shoulder, she swiftly landed an attack directly where she wanted.
Genya gasped in pain and rolled over to his side, whining, also wondering when he'll actually get the chance to land an attack.