"There is no more that I can teach you both."
That's what Urokodaki told the duo one day out of the blue. Both of them were training, even if it was snowing that day.
It had already been a year and a half since (Y/n) had been training under Urokodaki in the Sagiri Mountain.
"Wha-"
"It's all up to you kids from now on," interrupted Urokodaki. "Let's see if you both can master and improve on everything I've taught you."
"Follow me."
Both the teenagers followed the older man to where he was going.
"I wonder what comes next..." wondered Tanjiro.
Urokodaki led (Y/n) and Tanjiro to a massive rock in the midst of nowhere with a rope tied around it.
"If the both of you manage to split this rock into two, I'll allow you to join Final Selection."
They both just looked at their trainer, shocked.
"Can I... cut a rock? Can I do that with a katana?" thought Tanjiro. "I don't think I can. It'll snap my katana." He looked at the rock in awe.
"How am I supposed to split this huge rock into two?" thought the younger girl, half-hoping their trainer was joking.
Urokodaki turned to walk away.
"Urokodaki-san, please wait!" exclaimed Tanjiro.
"Urokodaki-san!"
However, the older man had already vanished.
"He really went away..." said (Y/n). "How are we supposed to cut this... thing?"
"I don't know. But let's try our best, shall we?" Tanjiro gave the girl a weak smile, trying to be enthusiastic.
"Alright. Let's start now..."
She was determined not to let a rock stop her from entering the Final Selection.
Since then, Urokodaki had stopped training the duo for good.
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(Y/n) and Tanjiro had been practicing repeatedly everything they had learned from their master. Now that Urokodaki was gone, Tanjiro knew it was up to him to make sure that (Y/n) didn't over-exhaust herself.
"How stubborn are you, (Y/n)? I told you to rest now!" Tanjiro scolded.
"How do you and Urokodaki-san always catch me...?"
"How do you still continue over-training?"
(Y/n) sighed. "I'm sorry... I'm not going to stop training, but still."
Tanjiro rolled his eyes. "You've fainted 5 times in the last six months due to this..."
"You're being mean," the younger girl whined.
"If I'm not, you'll continue harming yourself this way."
"But it's been 6 months, and we still haven't cut the rock! I'm still trying to develop my new breathing style, so I do have to train harder for that."
"That is true..." It was Tanjiro who sighed this time.
It had been 6 months since they had last seen Urokodaki, their trainer. Every day, Tanjiro felt (Y/n)'s mental health was slowly deteriorating which worried him to no extent. To top it off, Nezuko still hadn't woken up. It made him wonder if he was too weak to be a demon slayer, which made him want to quit sometimes.
Meanwhile, the younger girl, being prone to getting overwhelmed, pushed herself way beyond her limits. She knew it was harming her, but she desperately wanted to be good enough to join the Final Selection, so she was training as much as she could to cut the rock. She did feel like crying every night due to the pressure she was putting herself through, but she buried her feelings inside her every time.
"After all, it was me who got myself into this mess... So I have to do the best I can."
🌺
Later...
It was a warm evening. The duo were trying to cut the rock again, as they had been doing for over the last half a year.
"Breath of Water, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
"Breath of Twilight, Fourth Form: Glowing Dusk!"
Both of them tried to cut the rock from different angles trying to synchronize their attacks but failed again.
(Y/n) tried to catch her breath and sat beneath a tree, trying to convince herself that she could manage to cut the rock off eventually.
"Why can't I do it??? I can't cut this rock at all! What's wrong with me??" she thought, trying to fight off her tears.
"I have to believe in myself. I'm sure I'll somehow manage it... Somehow..."
Meanwhile, Tanjiro looked utterly defeated as he stood towards the rock.
"I must work harder... harder! I have to... I can't let Nezuko just die like that!"
(Y/n) knew both of them weren't in a very good mental state.
The younger girl looked at the older boy in worry as he slammed his head with the rock.
"Tanjiro! Calm dow-"
"Shut up!" a voice came out of nowhere.
"Real men don't whine. You'll just end up looking bad."
The duo looked up to see a boy sitting on the rock wearing a kitsune mask. He was wearing a white haori over a cloth with geometrical patterns and had peach-colored hair.
"When did he show up...?"
"No matter how tough it gets, you must bear it in silence. Like that girl over there.", he said, referring to (Y/n).
"If you are a man, and if you live as a man," the boy continued, jumping off the rock, "and if you live as a man..."
The male clashed his wooden sword with Tanjiro's katana, and when Tanjiro barely managed to block it, the guy kicked him beneath his chin.
"Tanjiro-kun!" The girl shouted as she ran over to a fallen Tanjiro.
"You're sluggish, feeble, and immature. Thus, you're not a real man," said the boy.
"Hey! Stop that. What are you doing here??"
"I was about to ask you both the same thing."
"We're training, of course. Got any problem with that?" replied the annoyed girl.
"You don't even have any protection. How are you even capable of becoming demon slayers?"(Y/n) immediately pulled her katana in front of her.
"How does he know we're... training to become demon slayers?" thought Tanjiro, as he stood up along with (Y/n).
"Well, show me what you got."
"But... you have a wooden sword. Ours is a real one." (Y/n) said.
Just then, the boy in front of the duo started laughing loudly.
"I think he finally lost it..." thought the girl.
"My goodness. I'm so grateful for your consideration. You really think you can hurt me," the boy mocked, before he ran towards the duo and attacked them as they tried to defend themselves.
"You both may have a lot of compassion and determination, but I'm stronger than you guys because I can cut that rock!"
"He.. can cut that rock?"
The male jumped away from the teens, before attacking them from behind again, but they managed to just barely defend themselves.
"I can't even see him, he's so fast... He just passes by in a flash before I can see him. No, wait, I need to use my sense of touch to detect him instead of relying on my sight!"
However, the male still managed to attack the duo without them even seeing the attack coming.
"You haven't learned anything. You both simply haven't made anything into yours," the boy reprimanded as both (Y/n) and Tanjiro tried to get up from the ground, "Especially the breathing technique that Urokodaki-san taught you, Total Concentration breathing."
"He knows Urokodaki-san too? Even the breathing technique??"
"All you both did was memorize it in the form of knowledge, not imparting any of it into your bodies. What have you been doing the past year and a half?" He attacked again.
"I'm going to make all of that stick into your flesh and blood."
The man constantly attacked the duo with swift moves as they struggled to keep up with him.
"Attack faster. I'll make you never forget every essence of what Master imparted upon you."
"I'm going to nail it right into your bones!" he shouted.
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