The Final Selection had begun. The participants are fighting their own battles all around the mountain surrounded by the borders of the wisteria prison.
Kogarashi Nagisa — a user of Wind Breathing — is one of such participants, trying to survive the first night. She is travelling with two boys whom she had rescued.
* * *
NAGISA POV
* * *
A while had passed since.... sunrise was in the couple hours to come.
Nagisa continued to make her way through the dark mountain.
Chasing after the girl was the black-haired boy, Kihara Junpei. He held a katana on his right hand, while his broken left arm was fixed in place with a cloth. Tied onto the boy's back with a rope was an unconscious figure — Sugino Taishi, his fellow trainee who was yet to wake up after getting knocked out by a demon attack.
They were heading east, just like most other participants attending the Final Selection. Because where they stood was a mountain, being on its eastern or western surface changed the time of sunrise by a fair margin: an hour difference at most.
—Those who stayed in the western surface despite this fact, were either sleeping as they fought, were too uneducated to understand such a fact, or were initiatively hunting demons while alluring them with a special aroma.
They dashed through the forest —— Nagisa jumping nimbly between the branches as she scouted for enemies from above in the trees, while Junpei chased after her on the ground, carrying Taishi on his back.
—Back then, Junpei had decided to retire from the Final Selection. But descending the mountain while demons wandered about in the darkness wasn't a good idea — therefore, they were prioritising their survival for the first night until morning came.
Learning that the smell of blood attracted demons, Nagisa had suggested to tend to Junpei and Taishi's wounds, carefully wiping away all their blood in the process. This had a clear effect — the number of demons that attacked them had decreased greatly.
Nagisa paused on a branch and glanced behind her from up in the trees — Junpei's pace chasing after her was falling. The boy was panting heavily as he shouldered the weight of another person and dashed through the uneven footing of the mountain.
She leapt off the branch she had been standing on and lightly landed onto the ground. Junpei caught up to her after a few seconds: he leaned onto a tree, wheezing for oxygen — which was already quite thin in the mountain environment.
Junpei saw that Nagisa barely seemed to be tired despite jumping from tree to tree all this time.
"———you.... you sure can move....."
He could only let out between his heavy breaths.
Nagisa replied while forming a smile.
"——A user of Wind Breathing must be able to move lightly and agilely in any environment. This is nothing much compared to my master."
"I-Is that so....." Junpei muttered, once again recognising his lack of abilities as a Demon Slayer.
Not noticing Junpei's dark expression, Nagisa drew her katana and turned around.
"Let us rest for a while. I will be keeping watch."
Junpei nodded in agreement; he knew he was in no position to argue. He knelt on the ground and focused on getting his breaths together.
A few minutes passed, and they were once again ready to move. Junpei strengthened the bonds tying Taishi onto his back, while next to him, Nagisa stretched her body thoroughly.
——Right as they were about to restart on their way eastward.
Nagisa suddenly stopped her movements, and slowly widened her eyes.
"————a scream."
She had caught a tiny sound in her hearing —— somewhere far away, somebody had released a scream that had echoed through the forest.
——Help all those in need, with everything you can offer.
Nagisa's body was already instinctively moving towards the source of the scream, when her legs froze once again.
With a jolt, she turned around and met eyes with Junpei — an injured boy, who carried with him an unconscious comrade.
Nagisa's mind went blank.
——I have to go help...........
——.....but I can't leave these two behind...!!
"—————Go, Nagisa-san!!"
Junpei's desperate shout snapped Nagisa out of her thoughts. The boy continued, a determined expression on his face.
"I will chase after you!! Don't mind us!!"
Nagisa's eyes widened at those words.
— but she faltered for no longer.
"———Thank you!!"
She called back right as she darted off into the trees, towards the direction of the scream.
* * *
"——Thank you!!"
Junpei released a dry laugh as he watched the grey-haired girl disappear into the forest ahead of her.
".....it's me... who have to thank you."
He remembered the girl's words from a few hours ago.
"——I admire my mentor's spirit, and aspire to become someone like him... someone who can protect other in need with everything they can offer."
"After hearing something like that..... there's no way I can hold her back, huh...?"
He adjusted Taishi's weight on his back, then with a determined expression, dashed after the direction which Nagisa had darted off towards.
* * *
From branch to branch, tree to tree. Nagisa continued on.
More shouts and screams — belonging to multiple people — could be heard by Nagisa as she approached. It seemed that a large group of four to five participants were being attacked by demons... and were fatally about to lose.
"Junpei-sama.... please be safe."
Nagisa muttered under her breaths, thinking about the boy whom she had left behind. But she shook her head, dispelling those thoughts.
She could tell that she was close to where the battle was going on. In a few meters ahead of her, she saw the trees opening up into a wide field.
Without slowing down, she leapt out of the forest into the open air——
——Only to see, with a splash flow of water, two demon heads getting decapitated from their bodies.
A blade that was swung as smoothly as a flowing stream of a river had sliced through the demons' necks with utter ease.
Mid-air, Nagisa met eyes with the person who had slayed the demons... a black-haired boy with a short and small build, wearing a light-blue haori, wielding a navy-coloured sword, hanging two hanafuda-like earrings from his ears.
A unique fox mask was lifted up to the side of his face, revealing his purple-pink eyes.
Nagisa widened her eyes in surprise — so did the boy.
She continued to landed onto the ground, rolling once to break her fall. Quickly getting up, she scanned her surroundings.
Five participants were clumped together in the middle of the clearing. They were all bloodied, with some of them having visibly heavy injuries.
Furthermore, in addition to the two demons that were just slain by the black-haired boy, three other demons were still surrounding the group of injured participants. They were staring shockedly at both Nagisa and the boy, faltering in their motions to attack their prey.
The demons faltered.... giving her and the boy enough time to take action.
——Wind Breathing, seventh form.
——Gale-Force Gusts!!
——Water Breathing, seventh form.
——Piercing Raindrop!!
Nagisa leapt over the injured participants huddled together, and swung her katana in a wide circle as she accelerated forward. In a continuous motion, she sliced off the necks of two demons in her movement's trajectory.
On the other hand, the short boy darted towards the remaining demon in a blinding speed, striking it with a single accurate thrust with his katana. The blade pierced through the demon's throat, and was pushed in the entire way until the hilt of the katana touched the demon's neck.
"————gaah—"
Before the demon could continue its scream, the boy swung the blade he had thrust into the demon's throat, slicing its neck cleanly off.
Three thuds sounded as the demons' heads fell to the ground, then their bodies quickly disintegrated into ash.
A short silence followed as the two of them sheathed their respective katanas.
"——Thank you."
The boy with the earrings and fox mask turned and said to Nagisa — he had quite a high-pitched voice for a man, she noted.
"There is no need to thank me."
Nagisa shook her head while returning a smile.
"More than that...."
Nagisa made a serious expression as she turned to the injured participants who were huddled together on the ground. Each of them were wounded on different areas, but some of them were clearly more injured than others.
Especially the two unconscious ones — a girl and a boy — they seemed to be in critical conditions with massive scars on their bodies.
"W-We need to tend to their wounds....!!"
The boy released a panicked cry behind Nagisa, realising how serious their injuries were. He was about to rush towards them, but Nagisa raised an arm to stop him.
Calmly, Nagisa said in a low tone.
"......please wait."
The boy turned a shocked expression to Nagisa.
"W-Why!? If left like that, they'll....."
".......listen carefully."
Nagisa's low voice made the boy stop talking immediately.
—As they focused their hearing in the silence, they could hear many rustling sounds from the trees around them.
"———The smell of their blood is attracting the demons in the area."
Nagisa explained calmly to the boy, who had widened his eyes in realisation.
——This sound.... it seems that there's quite a number of them after us.
Thinking that, Nagisa turned to the injured participants, facing the three conscious members of the group.
They were conscious, but Nagisa quickly gave up on relying on them for fighting power. More so than their injuries, their expressions and visible trembling showed their clear terror towards demons.
She knelt down next to one of them, a boy who was bleeding from a bite mark on his shoulder.
"Please don't worry. I.... and the gentleman here..... will drive the demons away."
Nagisa told him in a kind, soft tone.
—She didn't notice, however, that the shoulders of the boy wearing hanafuda earrings jumped at hearing her refer to him as a 'gentleman'.
"——I know your wounds must hurt."
Oblivious to the confusion of the hanafuda boy, Nagisa continued in an understanding tone.
"....but while we fight, could you work together to tend to the most fatal injuries?"
The boy's expression twisted into despair as he stammered.
"B-But...... I don't know how to....."
Nagisa widened her eyes.
"....by that, you mean you have no knowledge of first aid?"
".....y-yeah."
Quickly, she turned to the remaining two and asked them the same question, but they both shook their heads.
Nagisa couldn't help but scowl: this was because she knew that first aid was one of the most fundamental components of the corps' training menu. She couldn't hide her anger at the fact that participants were allowed to join the Final Selection with such lacking training regimes.
She looked down at the two unconscious boy and girl..... and a cold sensation ran down her back.
——T-This is bad...!!
Nagisa eyed the short boy with hanafuda earrings standing behind her.
——Even if this boy's really strong... there's a limit to how many demons he'll be able to keep away by himself. If I don't fight alongside him, we might be overwhelmed by their numbers.
She gritted her teeth in anxiety as she heard the rustling sounds closed in from all around them.
"——F-firstly... we need cloths to stop their bleeding..."
Nagisa requested; hearing this, the others hastily started to ready binding cloths with their haori. While she watched, Nagisa's head continued to swirl with thoughts.
—If she decided to tend to their injuries herself, then she would put the entire group under danger by forcing the hanafuda boy to fight alone.
—If she decided to fight alongside him, however, there was a high chance that these two wouldn't survive their injuries.
To prioritise two lives that might not actually survive, while risking all of their lives.
Or to prioritise the majority's lives, practically abandoning two lives in the process.
——What am I supposed to do.....!?
"——!! Something's coming!!"
The hanafuda boy shouted behind Nagisa, interrupting her thoughts. He quickly drew his navy katana and aimed it towards the trees.
However, it wasn't a demon who appeared out of the trees.
"——Nagisa-san!"
Panting heavily, Junpei showed himself from the forest, along with Taishi shouldered on his back.
The boy had his katana drawn, while he himself wore a pained expression — he had received scratches on his shoulder and leg, blood visibly soaking his trainee uniform.
Seeing his wounds, Nagisa realised that Junpei had been attacked by another demon while she had left him behind in the forest — the boy had been forced to fight back with a broken arm, all the while shouldering an unconscious person on his back.
Seeing how he was alive, the boy probably defeated the demon. However......
"——Junpei-sama!!"
Nagisa called, an emotion of guilt rising up within her.
"You're———"
"Don't mind about me!"
Junpei cried as he came limping towards them.
"More than that.... demons are coming!! A lot of them!!"
Nagisa gritted her teeth in frustration.
She didn't want to increase the burden on Junpei anymore. However, she had no choice but to ask.
"——Junpei-sama! Is it possible for you to treat these people!?"
Junpei finally seemed to notice that the individuals huddled on the ground were injured, just like him. And a few out of them were clearly in a dangerous condition.
He faltered for a second — but recovered immediately.
"————leave it to me!!"
Before he had his family slaughtered by demons, before he had started his Demon Slayer training.
—Kihara Junpei's family used to run a local town clinic. From a young age, the boy was taught medical skills by his father, who was a doctor.
As Junpei changed course towards the wounded, something leapt out of the forest behind him.
Noticing the sound, Junpei turned around — seeing a demon pouncing towards him from behind.
"First come, first served!!"
The demon shouted as it readied its arm — which, from its elbow below, was shaped into a long blade — and swung it down right towards Junpei.
But before the blade reached the boy.... a katana intersected the attack.
With a loud metallic ringing sound, Nagisa's uppercut slash was released towards the demon. It managed to react in time to block her swing with its blade-shaped arm, but the impact knocked it back greatly.
Nagisa stepped past Junpei, and called at him without turning around.
"I'll leave them in your care!!"
".....yeah!" Junpei nodded fiercely and rushed towards the wounded at the center of the field.
——All around the clearing of the forest, demons appeared one by one from the trees, circling them from all directions.
Upon a glance, Nagisa could count almost a dozen of them.
Wiping saliva from their mouths, the demons laughed in a vulgar manner.
"Hehehe....."
"Look, most of them can't fight!!"
"Crush those two still standing.... and we'll have a feast."
Nagisa glanced behind her — the hanafuda boy was readying his navy blade on the opposite side, confronting multiple demons on his own.
——It's not long before daybreak.
She thought as she returned her gaze towards the demon with blade arms in front of her.
She breathed out deeply, calming herself. She gripped her katana firmly, and readied it in a battle stance.
——I'll give my all!!
———————————————
NEZUKO POV
———————————
Nezuko continued to fight the enemy furiously.
When suddenly..... the demons all tensed up.
"......tch."
The demon in front of Nezuko clicked its tongue angrily, glaring at the sky.
She too glanced at the sky — it was starting to brighten up into a reddish colour.
"————finally."
She muttered in between her heavy breathing.
Continuing to battle for such a long time against multiple enemies, whilst also preventing them from reaching the group of wounded behind her, had been very taxing on both her mind and body.
The sky was now brightening up at an extremely fast rate. The demons urgently retreated into the trees, turning tails.
Nezuko was about to pursue them.... but stopped.
The sun had not risen perfectly yet, and so demons may come and attack once again. She had to prioritise the wounded peoples' safety.
—Thinking that, she kept her battle stance for a while longer.
A few minutes passed.... and finally, a bright ray of sunlight shone from above.
"...............haaah."
Nezuko sighed in relief as she sheathed her katana, and released the tension in her shoulders.
She eyed the other side of the field, where the grey-haired girl from earlier was sheathing her green katana. The girl — her name was called "Nagisa" by the black-haired boy with a broken arm, if Nezuko remembered correctly — turned and met eyes with Nezuko.
They exchanged a nod with one another.
They retreated to the group of wounded huddled in the center of the clearing.
"Junpei-sama, how are they doing?"
The grey-haired girl... Nagisa, asked the boy who had been treating the injuries of the group.
The boy, who was called Junpei, made a difficult expression.
"I've done the procedures to stop their bleeding." He said.
"—Luckily, none of their wounds were deep enough to damage internal organs... they won't lose their lives immediately. Though, they've lost so much blood already... they need proper care with the right medicines."
"I see." Nagisa narrowed her eyes. "Then........."
Junpei nodded. "I'll take them to the foot of the mountain. I don't know if the Corps have prepared medical care for the retired, but...."
"——————kaaaa!!! ——————kaaa!!!"
Interrupting Junpei's words, a crow came circling in the air, releasing loud caws. It swooped low towards them — Nezuko noticed that the bird's feathers on the tips of its black wings were white in contrast to its black body.
The crow with the white-tipped wings seemed to ponder where to land for a few seconds. Nagisa extended an arm, onto which the bird fluttered down.
It opened its beaks——
"Kaa————!! To the participants attending the Final Selection, we have an announcement!"
——A crow... is talking!!??
The group, including Nezuko, was at a loss of words in shock. The only person who didn't seem shocked was Nagisa, who laughed awkwardly at the group's reaction.
"This... is an Kasugai crow." Nagisa explained, motioning to the bird perched on her arm. "They're used by the Corps as their primal means of communication."
"I've seen one before...." Nezuko said, remembering that Urokodaki had a crow with him whenever he exchanged letters. "But I didn't know they could talk...."
"They've been bred and trained historically by the Corps to be specially intelligent." Nagisa continued her explanation with a smile.
The crow seemed pleased at hearing that; it threw out its chest arrogantly and spread its wings out.
"Kaaah! Flatter me!! Flatter me more!!"
——This one's really arrogant, though.
Nezuko thought, narrowing her eyes in disapproval.
Somehow, she disliked the creature already.
The crow continued, posing proudly on top of Nagisa's extended arm.
"Weaklings! Weaklings who wants to give up from the Final Selection!! You are to descend the mountain by noon!!"
Annoyed at the crow's rude and unthinking words, Nezuko couldn't help herself from swinging her arm at the bird.
The bird released a short, surprised cry, and fluttered out of reach. It continued its message while in the air, stammering a little.
"———k-kaah!! D-Descend the mountain, and the Kakushi will provide medical treatment to the wounded!!"
"The Kakushi?" Nezuko cocked her head.
"They're the Demon Slayer Corps' cleanup crew... they take care of everything outside the actual slaying of demons." Nagisa explained once again.
——This girl sure knows a lot, huh...?
Nezuko thought, and returned her eyes to the Kasugai crow, which had once again fluttered down onto Nagisa's arm.
"Kaaah!! Lowly humans! Inform which one of you will descend!!"
Junpei met eyes with Nagisa, and nodded.
"........seven of us, including me." The boy answered to the crow.
"And.... he and I will remain." Nagisa said, motioning towards Nezuko.
Nezuko smiled awkwardly — she didn't know how to react to the fact that they still thought she was a man.
The crow flapped its wings.
"——Kaah!! Understood!! You cowards who'll run from demons, you will follow——— gaaah!!??"
Nezuko's hand shot towards the crow once again... and this time, she caught it by the neck.
It resisted desperately, but there was no way a small bird like it was able to escape her grip. Nezuko brought the crow near her face, glaring angrily — the bird shivered in her hand.
"Take. That. Back." She threatened the creature in a low tone.
"H-Hey, it's fine... I don't mind....." Junpei said to Nezuko, trying to calm her.
She frowned, but let go of the crow. It hurriedly fluttered away from Nezuko, seeming completely terrified of the girl.
"——Kah..... f-follow me.....!!"
The crow finished its message weakly, and hastily flapped into the air. It stopped on a tree branch high up in the air, where it was absolutely safe from Nezuko's grasp.
Nezuko saw the crow shiver once again from far away.
The retiring members got ready to descend the mountain — Junpei shouldered Taishi who was still yet to wake up, and the two others who were unconscious from their serious injuries were carried by the conscious participants. The remaining one carried all their luggages and katanas.
"...................Then."
Junpei, who seemed to become the group's leader, turned to Nezuko and Nagisa right before their departure.
"Thank you again, Nagisa-san."
The boy addressed the grey-haired girl first.
"Without you, I wouldn't have survived back then. I'll..... attempt the Selection after I've trained myself more."
"I wish for your quick recovery, Junpei-sama." Nagisa responded, making a somber expression. "I hope we can meet again."
"Yeah." Junpei smiled weakly.
He then turned to Nezuko. "Thank you, too. I'm really in your debt."
The boy's tone was more casual than when he spoke to Nagisa — probably because he thought Nezuko was a fellow boy.
Guessing that, Nezuko once again formed an awkward smile.
"Y-yeah, don't mind it. Please take care of the others, too."
Junpei nodded.
"I wish you two luck..... please don't die."
——With that, Junpei took the rest of them down the mountain, led by the rude little bird with white-tipped feathers.
Watching them all disappear out of sight into the forest, Nagisa let out a sigh next to Nezuko.
"——I wonder if they'll be alright."
The grey-haired girl muttered as she stared worriedly towards the direction in which the group had departed towards.
"It looks like they'll be able to get proper treatment... it should be fine."
Nezuko said reassuringly. Nagisa nodded with a weak smile.
"I.... hope so."
A silence continued as Nagisa seemed engrossed in her thoughts, worrying about Junpei and the others.
Nezuko, on the other hand, had a different matter on her head — she was seriously pondering how to bring up the fact that she was not a man, but a woman.
It was Nagisa who broke the silence after a while.
"——Oh, yes. I had yet to introduce myself."
The girl straightened her body and faced Nezuko in a polite manner.
"My name is Kogarashi Nagisa... a fellow Demon Slayer trainee, the same as you."
She extended a hand to Nezuko, forming a soft smile.
"I hope we can get along well."
Nezuko looked down at the girl's hand, a little dumbstruck.
——To think about it.... I've never had a girl acquaintance my age in my life.
She had grown up with her family in the mountains, and by the time she was old enough to interact with other kids, her younger siblings were already born. She never had time to descend the mountain to interact with a local community.
It wasn't that she resented her family circumstances in any way for that fact. However, it would be a lie if Nezuko said she was never interested in forming relationships with other girls her age.
Nezuko clasped Nagisa's hand firmly, a little moved.
"....Nice to meet you. I'm——"
Nezuko was about to introduce herself, when she noticed that the girl in front of her had frozen her expression.
"W-What's wrong, Nagisa-san?"
"Uh........."
Nagisa clenched and loosened her grip on Nezuko's palm a few times, as if checking something. She slowly looked up, a dumbstruck expression on her face.
——Nagisa felt that something was off when she shook hands with the boy in front of her: his palm was strangely small, and despite its rough surface, she found it very feminine.
——She had been focused on other things until now... but now for the first time, she could finally look closely at the facial features of the boy — not in the darkness, but under the morning light.
——As Nagisa looked up timidly — the boy's refined, fair facial features came into her attention. When she observed closely, it was perhaps even more difficult to find masculine features on the boy.
——.......'boy'?
"I...... uh......."
Nagisa stammered, sweat forming on her forehead.
"I'm sorry if I'm wrong...... but do you.... happen to be.... a woman....?"
——Ah, I'm glad she realised.
Nezuko smiled, relieved at the fact that she didn't have to confess the fact herself.
"——My name is Kamado Nezuko. Yes.... I'm a girl."
Opposite to Nezuko who relaxed the tension in her shoulders.
Nagisa's face gradually turned pale as she remembered her earlier conversations referring to Nezuko as a man.
——Her apology echoed in the morning forest.
* * *
Two girls, who had both undergone harsh, taxing trainings to become Demon Slayers. Naturally, neither of them had any existing female friends.
—— It didn't take long before the two of them befriended one another.
* * *
Spending the entire night fighting had drained the both of them more than they realised. They took turns to sleep for a few hours, recovering from their fatigue.
By the time they both had rested, it was still about noon. During the time that remained until sunset, the two of them killed time by training and conversing with each other.
In that time, Nezuko got to know more about the girl, Kogarashi Nagisa.
"You seem to be strangely accustomed to the Corps.... you know a lot about them, don't you?"
Nezuko pointed out during their chat.
"You're correct."
Nagisa nodded back with a kind smile.
"It's because.... I am a former Tsuguko of a Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps."
"A 'Tsuguko'...?"
"It's a title given to someone chosen to train directly under a Hashira."
The girl explained, narrowing her eyes to look at her katana.
"I used to be a Tsuguko of the current Wind Hashira... Shinazugawa Sanemi-sama."
"That's....."
—amazing, was what Nezuko was about to say, before she paused.
".....former?"
Nagisa nodded solemnly.
"Yes... around two months ago, my master dismissed me as a Tsuguko."
"Dismissed....?"
——But she certainly isn't weak... the fodder demons in this mountain seem to pose no challenge to her.
"But you're really strong..... why, would he do that?"
"....................."
Nagisa heaved a deep sigh.
"The reason of my dismissal..... it wasn't because I was lacking in skills. There was a particular incident two months ago....."
Nezuko waited for the girl to continue.... but Nagisa's face slowly turned pale. She turned her face away from Nezuko.
".......I apologie. I don't... want to talk about it."
"I-I'm sorry I pried too much."
Nezuko stammered.
In response Nagisa shook her head,.
"It's me who have to apologise. None of it... is your fault."
".............."
After that, they changed subject and continued to converse with one another.
However, Nagisa's expression didn't improve completely even after a while had passed.
——Sunset, was approaching.
* * *
* * *
* * *
** AUTHOR NOTES **
I couldn't find a better place to cut the chapters before they became too long, so here it is, Chapter 13. Sorry for the long delay on updates.
Notes:
- Not much information about the setting behind "Final Selection" was ever given away in the manga nor in the official character guides. Most of the setting I've used here, such as kids retiring from the Selection and receiving treatment, is purely my imagination. Although, I believe the kind Ubuyashiki family would have spared the lives of those who wanted to give up, so....
- A minor point, but Nezuko is currently 15, while Nagisa is two years older, aged 17. A bit of an age difference where Nagisa is the senior, that's why Nezuko will call her "-san". Nagisa calls Nezuko back "-san" just to be polite.
- Strength wise, I'm imagining Kanao, Nagisa and Nezuko to be on the same level. Two or three steps behind them are Inosuke and Zenitsu, five steps behind is Genya (without eating) and guys like Junpei. Ten steps behind are the rest.
I appreciate your continued support for this story~!!