It was a very hot day in Kimetsu City, no one felt like going outside. Not even the parents who had work, nor the children who had school. But like most things in life, they didn't get what they wanted.
But unlike most of the adults who got to go to work and sit under nice air conditioning during their lunch breaks. The children had nothing more than slow breeze of wind coming from their windows or outside. To make things worse for the students of Kimetsu Highschool, it was a P.E day...
A whistle can be heard coming from the school gym. Many students in their gym uniforms can be seen huddled around and listening to the teacher who had blown the same whistle to gather their attention.
Giyu: "Alright, now that I've got your attention. Time for the next assignment." He said as he stood atop the stage in the gym room.
Murata: "Hey.. Sensei.... Can't we.. Take a break... please?" He pleaded, panting and wheezing all over the place.
Zenitsu: "Yeah.. I have to agree with Murata on this one..." He admitted, also panting. The rest of the students were either on the floor or standing up crouched over gasping for air and without being able to say anything it was very obvious that they were agreeing with Murata and Zenitsu.
Giyu: "..." He didn't know what to think, whether he should let them have a break or not. It made him think back to when he was young and in his gym class begging for breaks like his students are now.. it made him feel sick in a way.
While Giyu was having his.. 'moment' .. the doors to the gym slid open abruptly. Everyone in the sports hall quickly switched their attention towards the door, checking to see who or what opened it. Everyone was looking around questioning about it, their guesses on who it was didn't last long though, as Ms. Kanroji stepped into the room with five other people walking behind her. The students and Giyu could easily tell that two of the people walking behind her were Mr. Iguro and Mr. Shinaguzawa but couldn't recognize the other three.
Giyu: "Huh?" He asked himself while the students were muttering and wondering what was going on.
Mitsuri: "Hello everyone!" She greeted with a passionate smile on her face.
Obanai: "Hi." He was.. he was just being Obanai...
Sanemi: "Yo wimps." He was also just being how he usually was but he was also head locking one of the unrecognizable people. The person who was being head locked looked like a young boy, around 16 or 17. and the other two were both girls, one looked the same age as the boy and the other looked much older, mid 20's to 30 years old. The group walked up and onto the stage where Giyu was.
Giyu: "Hey, what's going o-"
Sanemi: "It's alright intro-nerd (A nickname he came up with for Giyu, he just mixed Introvert with nerd) I got it from here." He brushed the blue eyed teacher off.
Giyu: "..." He just gave up and stepped aside, not wanting to start mini-war like before.
Sanemi: "Alright! Listen up you lame doormats!! Whatever the intro-nerd was gonna make you all do is now cancelled!" He proclaimed. After hearing the last words of which Sanemi said made all the students in the room let out a sigh, a sigh of happiness to be exact.
Giyu: "Wait what-"
Sanemi: "So now.. that I'm in-charge of this class today..."
Giyu: "What-"
Sanemi: "I'll be testing to see how quickly you all react, AND THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS-..."
Murata: "Wait.. I'm not sure you understand sir. You see.. before you came in here we wanted to take a br-" Not even being able to finish his sentence he was struck with a Temari ball to the face. The ball bounced back into the hand of the unknown girl who came in with the others. "We'll be playing dodgeball!" She exclaimed with a nefarious smile on her face. This ticked Sanemi off a little because the girl took his line away from him.
Sanemi: "Don't take my lines!! ehem.. right. As I was saying, we're going to be playing dodge ball to see how fast you all are. So get ready cause I'M STARTING RIGHT NOW!!!" he smirked as he lifted a dodge ball above his head, ready to through it at one of the kids with no remorse.
Mitsuri: "W-wait. Shouldn't we let them relax a bit?"
Sanemi: "Sorry can't hear you. Too focused on picking out a loser."
Obanai: "She said they should take a break." He said firmly grasping Sanemi's arm, stopping him from throwing the ball. Both of them looked at each other with a stern look on there faces.
Mitsuri: "Ah- Don't fight now! Although, if you two wanted to fight over me you could have just asked." She added, blushing after thinking of a dumb love fantasy like she regularly does with every situation anyone is in.
Sanemi: "WILL YOU QUIT IT ALREADY!!!" He exclaimed turning back to Mitsuri quite pissed off that she never stops with this bad habit of hers. On the other hand, Obanai stayed quiet and just sighed.
One curly green haired student with freckles: "Can we please go and relax already?"
Sanemi: "tch- Yeah whatever.." He said as he forced his hand out from Obanai's grasp.
Mitsuri: "You can all go and get some water and chill with your friends, we wouldn't want any of you dying of dehydration or hunger now will we?" She said, accompanied by her smile which warmed the students hearts. "Yes Ma'aaaaam~" The students replied and rushed to either their water bottles or the nearest water fountain and other went straight to eating the food they were suppose to save for lunch.
Time passes by and everyone's nice, refreshing relaxation was a great reward from all the intense training Mr. Tomiyoka had given them. After a while, Mr. Shinaguzawa reminded the youths that their break time was almost up.
The students groaned when he said this, they sighed and some put back on their shoes and others sighed knowing that the best part of the day was going to have to come to an end.
Zenitsu: "I don't wanna go baaack!!!" He cried.
Ozaki: Well, at least we got to relax, right?" She tried to look for the bright side of things for Zenitsu to no complain for the rest of the day.
Zenitsu: "Yeah... You're right... but I still don't wanna do anything for the rest of the day! I'm so sleepy!!" He still ended up complaining anyways.
Aoi: "Oi dummy, wake up. It's time for us to go back to training." She stared at the boar mask Inosuke had over his head. He snored, not hearing her call to him. "..hey... I said WAKE UP!!" She yelled, knocking him on the head.
Inosuke: "ke- AAAAH! wh- He looked up and saw Aoi spin around and look away from him.
Aoi: "Good. Now that you up, I was telling you that it's time for us to go back to tr-" She almost got to finish her sentence but was cut off by Inosuke tackling her. This was almost instantly turned into them play fighting and rolling around on the ground.
Zenitsu: "It's like everything they do ends up in a fight, don't know how they manage to stay on good terms right after.. anyways I wonder where Tanjiro is." He looked around for him.
Ozaki: "I can't remember. But wasn't he with the Kanao girl a minute ago?"
Zenitsu: "Kanao? Tanjiro hanging out with Kanao?? Ha, HAHAHAHAAA!! That's.. that's a good one Ozaki."
Ozaki: "..."
Zenitsu: "There's no way Tanjiro could be that close with of the prettiest girls in the school (and in his diary).
Tanjiro: "Oh, there you are!" He walked up and waved at Zenitsu and Ozaki.
Ozaki: "Hey Tanjiro." She waved back.
Zenitsu: "Hey, heh. Tanjiro.. Wanna hear a joke?" He snickered.
Tanjiro: "Huh? Uh.. sure why not."
Zenitsu: "Alright! Tell him Ozaki!" He kept on snickering.
Ozaki: "But.. but it wasn't a joke..."
Zenitsu: "Okay get this! She really thought that you could be friends with K-"
Kanao: "..." She didn't say anything (like her usual self) and gave Tanjiro back his phone, she had a slight smile and was shyly blushing, not making eye contact with anyone.
Tanjiro: "Ah great! Now we can talk to each other even after school is over!" He showed a heart warming smile towards Kanao which made her blush even more.
Ozaki: "Awwww~" She blushed and covered her smile.
Tanjiro: "Oh yeah, what were you saying again Zenitsu? Sorry I got distracted."
All three of them looked back to see Zenitsu lying on the floor holding his heart and shedding tears from both of his eyes, completely and utterly defeated. He didn't say anything. He just laid there, staring at the ceiling, hoping someone would come and bury him even though he wasn't dead. But to himself... He was....
Tanjiro/Kanao/Ozaki: "..."
Zenitsu: "Why god..? why...?" He was questioning his very own existence at this point. He stared at the roof of the hall, seeing if he could get an answer. And just when he thought it was hopeless, he saw a figure standing above him. His vision quite blurred from the amount of tears in his eyes. He asked.. "God? I-is that you?"
Giyu: "Does god feel like stepping on your face right now?"
Zenitsu: "Wha? OH-! T-T-T-T-TOMIYOKA-SENSEI! SORRY!! IT WAS A MISTAKE-"
Giyu: "Relax.. I didn't come here to kill anyone... I only came to tell you all that we're heading out to the field for the volleyball match." He said this and then went over to Aoi and Insosuke, stopping them from fighting as well.
The entire class made their way over to the field and formed a line horizontally then waited for either one of the teachers that were there to give tell them what to do next.
The teachers stood around and chatted with the new faces then after a while they went back over to the students and told them to walk inside of the large rectangular shaped box on the floor.
(it looks something like this I guess)
Mitsuri: "Maan.. It's a hot day today huh..?"
Obanai: "Yeah, it really is..."
Mitsuri: "So, you think they'll last?"
Sanemi: "Heh. I've seen all these chumps up close, they won't last a minute."
Giyu: "..." He looked at Sanemi for a couple seconds then looked away and closed his eyes.
Mitsuri: "Aww don't say that Sanemi! I'm sure they'll do great!"
Giyu: "They will."
Sanemi: "Eh?"
Giyu: "All of that training I've given them, all that they've went through... They'll make it." He affirmed with his eyes still closed.
Sanemi: "..."
Obanai: "..."
Mitsuri: "Yeah! That's the spirit Giyu!!" She cheered for him for being positive.
Okay, back to the students
Inosuke: "What were we doing again?" He asked himself as he walked over, into the box. The students had also forgotten what was going on, and since none of them went to to ask a teacher, they had been left trying to recollect their thoughts. They didn't need to question themselves or the situation much longer though. The two young and unfamiliar guests made their ways over to them and one went behind all of them and the other went in front, they were both standing outside of the box. The one who was standing in front of them stood out as a girl, she was the one holding the ball. After taking a good look at her. Murata instantly remembered everything that went on a couple hours ago.
Murata: "WAIT- EVERYONE RUN!!!" The students turned to him, not understanding why he was screaming all of a sudden.
One purple haired short student standing next to him: "Hey, Murata you oka-"
Just as the boy asked Murata this. A Temari ball hit him on the side of his face, it had happened so fast it had almost looked like it happened in slow motion for every other student. The boy fell on the ground and never moved again.. Murata witnessed every second of the boy's soul leave his body... The air surrounding them vanished and most of them especially Murata felt uneasy and dizzy. The Temari ball bounced off the boy's head and rolled onto the ground, over to the person who was standing behind all of them.
Zenitsu: "..no... they... we're..." Everything was just coming back to him. The same went for everyone else.
Aoi: "..huh..?" She muttered clinging to Inosuke's arm out of fear and coming to an understanding of what was happening.
Zenitsu: "THEY'RE PLAYING DODGEBALL!!!!"
The fear of knowing what was really happening had clicked with every student there. Most of them began running around and screaming, people were being shoved and screaming at the top of their lungs.
Tanjiro: "Wh- no.. I can't focus on running yet. I have to find my friends and stick together with them first!" He thought as he tried his hardest to stay on his feet as many students were rushing around him. Tanjiro tried his hardest to find at least someone that resembled his friends and but he fell due to all the people bumping into him over and over. While trying to get back on his feet, he saw a boy holding the Temari ball and ready to through it. It was one of the new guests. As the boy aimed the ball, Tanjiro turned in the direction of where he was aiming, hoping it wouldn't be one of his friends he was trying to hit. But after looking around, he realized that the person the boy was aiming at was none other than Murata, who was still standing and looking at the unconscious boy.
Murata: "... We're all going to die..." He thought to himself, completely frozen from fear after what had just went down. Everything was inaudible to him, but as it was coming back to him. he could her someone calling out to him faintly. "..Ur..ta! M...ta!!!" The voice sounded familiar to him, but he still couldn't tell who it was especially with the screaming he was faintly hearing along with the voice.
Tanjiro: "Murata!! MURATA!!! YOU HAVE TO MOVE!!! MOVE MURATAAAA!!!!" He yelled, not being able to run towards him because he was being pushed back.
Murata: "...Tanjiro?" He finally caught on to what was going on and then slowly looking up and saw Tanjiro telling him to move before he gets hit. "Before I get hit?" He turned towards the boy getting ready to through the ball at him. "Oh.. guess I'll die." He accepted the fact that the ball was about to hit him and just like that, he was out.
Tanjiro: "MURATA!!!!" He called out to his friend, who fell backwards with his nose bleeding and had a dumb smile on his face because he was so out of it from being hit. Almost as if he instantly drugged.
Tanjiro tried to get back up on his feet but was pushed back down from all of the people running over and around him. But even though he wasn't able to get back up then, while looking around with his eyes squinted he managed to make out Zenitsu from in the crowd. Tanjiro didn't shout for him, he was just happy with the fact that some of his friends were still in the game.
The girl: "Heh, that's two down..." She grinned and caught the ball after it had bounced off of Murata's head.
Susamaru. A pale-skinned girl with bright hazel eyes with cat-like pupils and black hair with orange-colored ends. She has bangs over her forehead and the ends of her hair appear similar to paintbrushes.
Although she normally has an average build, when fighting seriously, her arms and legs become noticeably more muscular.
The boy: "Ahhh, come on Susamaru. Let's end this already." He smirked with his eyes clothes and readied himself to catch the ball again.
Yahaba. A young boy of an average build with pale, gray-tinted skin and very short black hair. He normally kept his eyes shut or squinted.
He tries to get the attention of his father figure as a main goal in his life.
Susamaru: "HAHAHA! WHAT FUN THIS IS!!" she laughed aloud as she aimed the ball at another student.
Mitsuri: "15 minutes to go.."
Giyu: "..." He kept quiet and continued to gaze upon plethora of his students being swiftly taken out one by one.
Sanemi: "Their dropping like flies, this year definitely won't make the cut."
Obanai: "We'll just have to wait and see.."
Mitsuri: "It seems like the Kibutsuji Academy upped their game since last time." She turned towards the other two people that came with Susamaru and Yahaba. "Don't you think? Tamayo?" She asked a pale woman who wore a dark purple light weight blouse and a long high waist skirt that was decorated with wavy pale purple tree branches and red flowers.
Tamayo: "Yes, the principal of their school didn't take losing too lightly. Ever since that day he's had them training and practicing to make sure that they wouldn't lose again." She said with a gentle tone in her voice, she was also feeding a cat that looked very similar to the one that Tanjiro had helped out of the tree. A young boy, with a similar complexion to that of Tamayo's, stood beside her with arms folded with a scowl on his face.
Yushiro: "When can we leave already, this is boring and the sun is way too hot!" He thought to himself.
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Aoi: "INOSUKE!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" She yelled at the boy, who was just casually sitting on the floor as the chaos was still going on.
Inosuke: "What does it look like? I'm sitting down." He calmly replied to her question.
Aoi: "Wh- H-How can you be so calm? Can't you see what's going happening!?"
Inosuke: "..I have eyes don't I? Of course I can see."
Aoi: "..."
Inosuke: "..."
Aoi: "Oi..." She bent over and pulled his ear. "DON'T PLAY SMART WITH ME ASSHOLE!!!"
Inosuke: "Ah-! Alright! Alright!! Just let go!!!"
Aoi: "Good! Now.." She let go of his ear and stood up straight again. "Where is everyone?" She added.
Inosuke: "I dunno.. where could they possibly be??" He pointed towards the crowd of people running around and trying not to be hit.
Aoi: "Tch.. I said to stop acting like a smartass!!!"
Zenitsu: "How can.. you two be... arguing no matter what kind of.. situation you're in..." He managed to muster those words out still while trying to catch his breath.
Inosuke: "Hey Seneyechu. Wait, where'd you come from?"
Zenitsu: "It's Zenitsu, and I came from over there." He wiped some sweat off of his face then pointed over to bunch of other students running around.
Aoi: "Oh, hey did you see Kanao or anyone else?"
Zenitsu: "I couldn't pick out anyone, we're all wearing the same colored outfits.. remember?"
Aoi: "Oh.. yeah.."
Zenitsu: "Anyways I'm just going to guess that you guys haven't seen anyone but me since this started, also why are you two just standing around here?"
Aoi: "Well, someone didn't feel like trying to find cover with all the others and just wanted to sit out in the open." She said, turning her head slightly into Inosuke's direction.
Insouke: "Never told you to follow me.."
Aoi: "And who else was I supposed to follow?!"
Inosuke: "I dunno." He kept on watching the chaos from a distance.
Aoi: "Ugh" She scoffed and turned away from him.
Zenitsu: "Oh dear.." He sighed. "Look, you guys, we need to focus on staying in the game. Not on who can piss off each other more.."
Aoi: "..."
Inosuke: "..."
Zenitsu: "..You can think about it, I'm going to find Tanjiro and the others. I'll come back if I don't find anyone." By now he had caught his breath and was ready to run again.
Susamaru: "Would you look at that.. Seems like some people ain't taking us seriously."
Yahaba: "What's taking her so long to throw the ball?" He thought, then he turned to where she was looking towards then understood exactly what she wanted to do.
Inosuke: "..."
Aoi: "..."
Zenitsu: "..."
Inosuke: "Aoi-"
Aoi: "Inos-"
Zenitsu: "I wonder if I should go to the left first or the right.."
Aoi: "Ah- sorry, you go first."
Zenitsu: "I know but where?"
Inosuke: "No, you."
Zenitsu: "What?"
Aoi: "... Fine, I just wanted to say sorry."
Inosuke: "...Well so did I."
Zenitsu: "Sorry? Sorry for what-"
Inosuke/Aoi: "NO ONE'S TALKING TO YOU!"
Zenitsu: "O-Oh... sorry hehe.." He blushed and scratched the back of his head out of shyness.
Inosuke stood up and the three of them were ready to go find their friends in the crowd then try to survive until time was up. But just as things were looking a little bit better than before, the same Temari ball that took out most of the students was flying straight towards the three, Zenitsu in particular. And just as it looked like was going to be hit, not even a second went by and somehow Zenitsu managed to dodge it. That wasn't the end though, Yahaba had also thrown a ball their way. They all managed to dodge them but they had to hurry into the crowd or else they'd just be kept in the spotlight until they were out.
Yahaba: "You can't run forever!"
Susamaru: "This'll be over in no time.."
Aoi: "Damn! They started using more than one ball!"
Inosuke: "I know! I know! Just keep running!"
Zenitsu: ".. How.. how did I-.."
Inosuke: "Zenitsu!!"
Zenitsu: "Huh?"
Inosuke: "Look over there! I can see Kokonpachiro!!" He pointed over to Tanjiro in the distance, wiping his face and talking to Ozaki and Kanao.
Zenitsu: "Tanjiro? Wh-where?!" He stopped in his tracks and looked around.
Aoi: "Just follow us!!" Both Aoi and Inosuke ran into the crowd, Zenitsu, not knowing where they saw Tanjiro at, just followed regardless.
Susamaru: "Damn, I lost them.."
Yahaba: "tch.."
Susamaru: "Fine then, we'll just take everyone else out until you get the balls to show yourselves again!" She cackled before hurling another ball towards the students.
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Next chapter: Fast as light, Calm as water, Arrogant as a beast