You step outside the mansion, smiling tiredly with prominent eye bags and darkening eye circles while giving a thumbs up, "you ready to beat some demon ass??"
...
"U-uh, Rengoku-san?"
"UMAI!"
"Yes, we get that part already, um..."
"UMAI!"
You were to the side, filming the whole thing. Yes, you even learned how to use old fashioned cameras, just for this moment.
...
I'mnotreadyimnotreadimnotreadimnotready-
You were gonna mess up. Your wonderful anxiety allowed you to toss and turn on your futon until 1 am, then fell asleep for a plentiful 30 minutes, and woke up freaking out at 1:30 am, thinking it was go time.
So you were all ready to go and all that at 2 am when you decided to look at a clock to see you have 3 more hours.
So you decided you weren't going to sleep, since you can't anyway, and just wait for the others to wake up and leave.
Except that was a STUPID decision.
(A/n: that's your cue, go to bed! Sleep is great guys)
Because sitting on the train with Rengoku and the Kamaboko squad, you were already dozing off without Enmu even having to put you to sleep.
So now you're gonna mess everything up and realize that changing the story is virtually impossible and overthink the rest of your life and-
*clack* You hear the sound of clicking metal. Ah- the sound of a hole puncher- WAIT. WHAT.
You see the train worker dude punching holes in your comrades' train tickets. How long have you been just sitting there and questioning your life choices? How is it already in this part of the story???!
I have to get rid of the tickets, or else Enmu's gonna put them- and me to sleep.
As you see the retreating figure of Enmu's minion leave through the door, you say, "Throw it out."
"Huh? Throw what out?" Tanjiro tilts his head at you while trying to restrain Insouke from attacking the insides of the train and Zenjitsu freaks out in the nearby seat.
"The tickets. Throw them out the window." You repeat.
"W-woah, Y/n-chan, are you okay...?" Tanjiro asks as a deadly aura is emitted from you.
"Throw. It. Out."
And then a passenger screamed.
The weakling demon is coming now. You've memorized the events of this arc specifically so you could do something about it. But why is it happening earlier than you remembered? Is it so hard to just throw out some shitty train tickets?? It's like the plot is trying to stop what you're doing.
"Please calm down! As this is an emergency, please excuse the fact that I have a sword!" Rengoku exclaims as he steps up and fire materializes on his blade.
But the demon was the least of your worries. All you could think of was that you needed to get rid of those tickets. That's the first step, if you can't even manage that, it's going to be pretty much hopeless to change anything later on.
You ripped the tickets from Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu's pockets. But Rengkouku was fighting the demon-
"BIG BRO RENGOKUUU!!!!!"
"PLEASE TAKE ME AS YOUR TSUGUKO!!!"
Wait, what??
Why is it much faster in real life than the anime???
"HAHAHAHA I'LL TEACH YOU ALLL!!!"
...
"FUCK!" You slam your head on the wall, then realizing you weren't Tanjiro, you hissed in pain and rubbed your forehead.
Tanjiro, Inosuke, Zenitsu and obviously you were all awake, but a certain flame pillar was now soundly asleep on a seat.
Well, one thing to be comforted about is that with them here, the children demon can't exactly just come in and destroy Rengoku's core thingy or whatever in his dream.
"W-what's going on Y/n-chan?" Zenitsu mumbled nervously.
"What's wrong??" You frowned and sighed, pointing to Rengoku, "Try waking him up."
"Huh? Why? Wouldn't that be-"
"Just do it."
Tanjiro went over and tapped Rengoku on the shoulder, "R-rengoku-san, sorry... uh, can you please wake up for a second...?"
Nothing.
"...Rengoku-san?"
Nothing.
"YO JUST WAKE UP ALREADY!!!!" Inosuke shouts and headbutts him, causing some heads to turn. A mother looked over and spoke to her children. Probably going: see that? Don't grow up to be like that, okay?
Still nothing.
You sigh, "You see what the problem is?"
"WAHHH IS HE DEADDD?" Zenitsu wails.
"Z-zenitsu be quiet people are looking." Tanjiro sweat drops, then looked to you, "So what do we do now?"
"Uh, why are you all looking at me? Is something on my face...?" You mumble as the Kamaboko squad looks at you for guidance on what to do.
"Oh, uh... Let's see." You realized why they were looking, and started thinking.
"So... Don't ask how I know, but there's a lower moon on the train, and it may have merged with the train."
Actually, since they were put to sleep, the demon probably hasn't merged with the train yet, right? ... Is that a good thing or bad thing?
"Anyway, it should be preparing to merge or whatever right about now, so I would guess the demon is at the head of the train. "
You thought for a bit, "As you can see from Rengoku, its blood demon art is probably putting people to sleep. So that's why..."
"I made masks! So the demon won't know where your eyes are, and can't use their blood demon art on you!!" You cheered.
While you were planning out what to do ou got the inspiration from Inosuke, because Enmu couldn't tell where his eyes are with the mask, he couldn't put him to sleep.
And you weren't a creative person so you just sliced off the heads of some boars and asked the kakushi to make Inosuke masks, "As Lord Inosuke's underlings, we all gotta have a matching uniform right??"
"AHAHAHAHH OF COURSE, VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT, UNDERLING!"
"Nooo, there's no way I'm wearing that! I tried on Inosuke's before, it's so stuffy-" Zenitsu's cries were abruptly stopped by you who put the mask on his head, "I asked the kakushi to make it lighter so it shouldn't be that bad, just wear it."
Tanjiro put it on without saying anything since he decided to trust your judgement.
"Okay," Youclapped your hands, "Tanjiro and Inosuke, you two go to the head of the train to defeat the demon, I'll stay here in case the demon has merged with the train so I can protect the passengers and try to wake up Rengoku."
Just as you were talking, the chatters around them gradually subsided until it was just silence.
"All the passengers are asleep, too..." Tanjiro frowned.
"Alright, we took too long the demon had merged already, you two go now!" You shoved Tanjiro and Inosuke forward, and without much of a word they both sprinted towards the head of the train.
"And... Zenitsu..." you turned to look at the blond boy who was shivering in a corner, holding onto his mask, "I left the most important mission for you..."
"I CAN'T DO IT, I'LL DIE!!!!"
You patted the box where Nezuko was sleeping, which was on a seat, and said with a great sense of importance, "... protect Nezuko."
"NEVERMIND I CAN DO IT!!!"
You knew Nezuko can protect the front few cars, so Zenitsu would be able to help out, and you were gonna protect the back few cars while Rengoku gets his beauty sleep.
"Great, now get moving."
...
"I know you're having a great time sleeping, but you really need to WAKE UP!!" You yell as you slice a piece of demon flash that was reaching for a passenger.
"This is a shit ton of people I need to protect here, it's like those days when I had to do a group project all on my own!!!" You complain as you sprint down the hallway to protect someone else.
"I swear, I'm telling Oyakata-sama to not pay you for this mission if you keep sleeping." You jump out of the way of some demon flesh trying to get to you.
You were confident that you could handle five cars in the train by yourself, since Rengoku could as well, but you realized that it was much more difficult than it looked, and you would appreciate some help.
"...Come on, your bento is getting cold, how are you still asleep...??"
Right, in the anime Rengoku woke up when the demon girl tried to kill him, right? I just need to do that to wake him up...
"Hah, take that!" You pointed your sword at the flame pillar's neck threateningly, "I'm about to pierce your throa-"
You were suddenly grabbed by the shoulder and harshly pinned against the train seat.
"Ow... Well, it woke you up, so... that's good?" You wince as you greet the finally awoken Rengoku. Trying to not think about the funny position you were in.
The pillar looked around at the sleeping passengers, "I guess I missed out on a lot! What's going on?"
"Uh, so the demon is the train, and it puts everyone to sleep. Tanjiro and Inosuke's trying to kill it right now, Zenitsu and Nezuko are in the front cars, and I was tryna wake you up while protecting the back of the train." You gave a summary, "... Which I need to get back to, so you mind unpinning me...?
"M-my apologies for making you uncomfortable!" The flame pillar blushed as he backed off. You smirk and picked up your sword, shielding a nearby passenger just in time.
Just then, the train screeched, and the passengers all started to awaken. Panic rose amidst the crowds and people yelled about what was going on.
"They just killed the demon, let's go to the front." You sprinted towards the front of the train, weaving around confused and shaken passengers as the lights in the train flickered on and off.
Arriving at the head, you see Tanjiro take off the mask and huff a breath of relief. "Good job, Inosuke!"
"Yeah you carried, Inosuke!" You laugh.
Little white fluff balls were appearing around his head again, how does it even happen? Like he's got a built in fluff generator in his head or something?
Nevermind, we don't question anime logic.
"Tanjiro! You got stabbed!" You direct your attention to the stab wound on his stomach. You thought you would've made situations better, and maybe he wouldn't get stabbed by the train conductor this time around.
"Um, okay so, lie down." You push the boy on his back, jabbing a finger at his wound, "And focus on your blood vessels or whatever and find where it's bleeding."
Tanjiro winces as he tries to focus. "Don't frown, focus." You repeat.
"Once you've found it, stop the bleeding... great, there we go!" You were proud of your instruction, maybe you could take a tsuguko!
As someone who helped out at the butterfly mansion for a few months you gained some first aid knowledge, you cleaned out the wound with some water, applied antibiotics, then took out some bandages from your modified pockets and dressed the wound. You internally mumbled, damn Tanjiro's got some abs.
"Anyway! Does anyone know how to operate a train?? It's gonna topple off the tracks if it keeps going like this!" You frantically ran to the controls and looked at the variety of handles and buttons.
"Hah? How am I supposed to know??" Inosuke stomped.
"I can try... I've seen people do it before." A yellow mop- no it was Zenitsu's head- popped into the control room.
"WAHHH ZENITSUUUUU!!!" You were in tears, "I KNEW I COULDN'T COUNT ON THOSE COUNTRY BUMPKINS!!!!"
A major part of your plan was to not let the train fall off the tracks, if you could get it to just drive it's way out of where Akaza will appear, then it's problem solved!
SCREEEEEEECHHHH
The train tipped dangerously, throwing the group of you onto the far wall, stacked up like a sandwich, as Zenitsu wailed in fear in the control room and the passengers yelled with him.
SCREEEAAAAAAAAA
The train tipped again, tossing you to the other side of the train, but after a moment to adjust, it slowly, landed back on track and continued forward (rather) smoothly.
"Alrighty, I think you guys got it from here. I got to go early to... do something," You announce, "Just stop the train at a nearby station... I'll catch up with you guys later!"
Tanjiro and Rengoku went to comfort the passengers, Zenitsu was (trying to) control the train, and you were tying Inosuke up so he wouldn't be going and traumatizing people. Nezuko slept in her box.
You jumped off the train, and sped back towards the clearing where soon, a certain upper moon 3 would arrive.
...
Slowing down to a walk you release your aura, "I have bad eyesight and it's really dark here, where are you at?"
"... Why is it you again? I thought I was going to be able to fight a strong opponent." A familiar voice complained as a demon's figure emerged from the shadows.
You crossed your arms, "Am I not a strong opponent?" You had to stall for time until the sunrise to make sure Akaza wasn't going to make any donuts. And since he doesn't fight women, you weren't against a little chat.
"...No."
Excuse me-
"But I am curious," Akaza pointed out, "Why aren't you even reaching for your sword? Last time, too, you don't act like I'm a demon."
"I've a question too, why are you not attacking me?" You questioned.
"..."
"So, tell me..." You drawled, "Do you really like donuts?"
"I have no time to make small talk." Akaza started leaving.
"Aww, but wh-"
"Why? Because... You're not the only hashira that was on that mission."
(A/n: hehe I guess the fight is still happening ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑ I thought we should still have it cause it was what the arc was really about.)