3rd Person's POV

"Little fox, what year of the Meiji era is it?" the hand demon asks toward Tanjiro.

"I-Its the Taisho era right now." he answers which led the demon to grow bigger and scream loudly to the air, full of rage.

"How long have I been locked up here in this place?! Damn you Urokodaki! Damn you Urokodaki! Damn you! DAMN YOU!!!" in a deafening shout.

"Why do you hate Urokodaki-sensei so much, demon?!" Y/N shouted with a nerve on his forehead but hidden under the mask and gaining the attention of the hand demon.

"Because Urokodaki was the one that captured me, 47 years ago! It was during the Edo period... during the Keio era"

"You're lying!" the examinee fearfully screamed while his whole body trembling. "There aren't supposed to be any demons here that have lived that long! Because they're killed during the Final Selection, and they even eat their own kind!" he continued.

"But I still remain alive. In this prison of wisteria. I've eaten at least fifty of you brats." he explained

"Fifty..." Y/N says as every word that came out of the demon fuels anger to him which he tries to resist to not let his emotions get the better of him.

"Eleven... twelve... thirteen... That makes you Number 14, and you Number 15!" he counted with his fingers

"What are you talking about?!" Tanjiro exclaimed

"The number of Urokodaki's disciples I've eaten, that's what. I promised myself to kill every one of his disciples." the hand demon gleefully says, which is the final straw for Y/N and made him snapped

"That's it! You will die by my blade, demon!" he barked as he dashed towards the hand demon.

The hand demon releases multiple arms towards Y/N as he halts his attack and went to the defensive to which he slices off multiple arms that came close to him but the arms are easily replaced because of the hand demon's regeneration.

Tanjiro joins into the fight and manages to hold off the demon's arms until a huge one came out of nowhere and punches him on his left side. He is sent flying and hits a trunk of a tree. The examinee saw the fighting and chooses to flee, leaving behind Y/N and Tanjiro to fight. Also leaving behind his sword.

"Flame Breathing - First Form: Unknowing Fire" Y/N charges towards Tanjiro's unconscious body and sliced off the arms that would hit Tanjiro. "Tanjiro! Wake up!" Y/N ordered while facing the demon.

Tanjiro woke up, he hears his sibling calling out to him to wake up but realize that it was Y/N. He stands up and stood ready in a fighting stance.

"This demon regeneration is fast. It's no use slicing its arms off, it will only tire us out. I'll be the bait, you'll go for the kill" Y/N explains the plan to which Tanjiro nods.

'Are they that stupid for calling out their plan? Heehee~ No matter, I'll just play along' the hand demon snickers evilly and readies its arms.

Tanjiro's POV

I saw Y/N change his stance clenching the hilt of his sword. I waited for an opening. He dashes forward into a blur, leaving behind a trail of flame. The hand demon releases most of its arms in his direction.

'An opening!' I thought, quickly moving in to get close to the demon.

"Flame Breathing - Fourth Form: Blooming Flame Undulation" he released a form and sliced multiple arms around him.

Then out of nowhere, the demon's attack changed direction to my way. I breathed before-

"Water Breathing - Third Form: Flowing Dance" I swing and bend the blade in a winding motion along with my body and dance in a flowing pattern, slicing everything in my path. Before I caught the scent from beneath the ground.

I jumped high into the air as the ground where I was on brakes to reveal bigger arms that were supposed to finish me off.

Flashback

While walking through the farmlands, Y/N and I were eating the food that Urokodaki made.

"Listen Tanjiro. We should really need a plan if we ever face a formidable opponent in the Final Selection" he spoke up, as I look at him with worry

"Do you have any, Y/N-san?" I ask him to which he looks at me with a grin on his face

"I will tell you that I'll be the bait and you will go for the killing blow, easy!" he said with passion as if his plan is the best he ever thought of.

"Wouldn't that just hear the demon about your call out and lead us to death?" I ask him deadpanned

"Hey! I'm not finished alright! My plan is about confusing the enemy. By hearing that you were a bigger threat than me, it will mostly be focused on you and that will have me an opening to finish it off!" he says while stroking his chin to look smart which made me chuckle.

"And what if that also fails?" I ask him to which his expression turns serious.

"Then I might die. Giving you the last chance to kill it." he says, which scares me. "Whatever, as if we can even fight a demon stronger than us, right?" he laughs, now returning to his joyous expression

'I won't let you die, Y/N-san' I said in my head.

Flashback Ended

"Y/N-san!" I called out to switch

3rd Person's POV

"Flame Breathing - First Form: Unknowing Fire" Y/N charges.

'Wait! What's going on?! I thought he was the bait?!' the demon screams in its head as it sent its huge fist towards Y/N.

He slices the arm along the way and breathes before changing his stance, "Flame Breathing - Third Form: Blazing Universe" swinging his blade in a downward arc to slice off the huge arm of the demon.

'Shit, I need to use the rest of my hands to finish him off' it plan and send the rest of its arms to reveal themselves from below ground, surrounding Y/N

"Now Tanjiro!" he shouted as he swings his blade multiple times.

Before the demon process what is about to happen, Tanjiro appears behind it, "Total Concentration, Water Breathing - First Form: Water Surface Slash" slicing the rough demon's head off.

'Damn it! I can't believe the last scene I look upon before my death is the face of a demon slayer-' It thought as its body started disintegrating slowly, it looks up at Tanjiro to see, 'Why do you have that expression on your face?' seeing Tanjiro's look of sadness and pity.

'A scent of sorrow' Tanjiro thought as he noticed the hand from the disintegrating body is reaching out to him, he grabs it and bids a prayer to the demon before it pass on.

"Finish with your prayer, Tanjiro. We still need to move." Y/N commented, exhausted as he feels like his lungs are about to explode due to how many times he uses different forms of flame breathing. "Damn that guy, he left us to fight the demon instead of helping us. I hope he gets eaten" he noticed the missing examinee.

"Don't say that Y/N-san." he says as Y/N scoffs while resting an arm on the hilt of his sheathed sword.

"There is a difference about demons, Tanjiro! Those who kill then eat human flesh and a demon like Nezuko!" he tries to prove a point but Tanjiro looks at him in the eyes

"What if there are more demons like Nezuko? What if they are only forced to do these things?" Tanjiro says, which made Y/N look away in silence.

===

On the 6th night, Y/N contemplates Tanjiro's words. 'Are there really any demons like Nezuko? Is there really any hope to save demons from their fate?' he thoughts, as Tanjiro has his arm over Y/N's shoulder after the moment where he got sent flying and hit a tree.

"How's your mask?" he asks Y/N which he grabs and removes the mask to examine it

"Still good, except for some small cracks from the edges, yours?"

"I lost mine during our fight with the hand demon" he says sadly

"Well, don't worry about it. As long as we stick together, no bad luck will plague us" he says giving Tanjiro to cheer up.

-=-

The 7th day, morning came, Y/N and Tanjiro slowly walks to the end and were probably the last ones that passed including the other few with them.

'They are only 6 of us?!' Tanjiro thought in shock

'Kanao... I'm glad you made it. Even unharmed? She must have been trained hard for this.' Y/N thought as he saw her gazing at a butterfly on her fingertip. No bruises or tears on her pink kimono.

"Congratulations. We're glad to see that you're safe." The twins say

"So? What am I supposed to do now? Where's my sword?" says the angry looking boy

"First, we shall issue you all uniforms. We will take your measurements, after which your rank will be engraved." they both say, then further explain about the rank system, that they are ten ranks in total.

"Currently, you are at the lowest rank, Mizunoto." the black-haired twin says

"And our swords?" says the angry-looking boy, his patience running thin.

"Today, we will let you choose the ore for your swords, but the swords will take ten to fifteen days to complete." says the white-haired twin

"Are you kidding me?"

'Will he just shut up and listen? Or better just regain his lost strength if he really didn't want to hear it' Y/N thought as he looks how annoyed he is under his mask.

"But first..." the white-haired twin says, as she claps her hands twice. Five crows fly toward Tanjiro, Y/N, and the other three survivors. One lands on Tanjirou's shoulder. The yellow-haired boy is confused about his, instead of a crow, a sparrow landed on his shoulder. Kanao and the angry-looking boy handle theirs easily. 

"We will now assign each of you your own Kasugai Crow. These Kasugai Crows can be used primarily for communication."

"Eh? Did you say 'crow'? Isn't this a sparrow, though?" the yellow-haired boy says as the sparrow chirped on his finger.

The angry-looking boy shakes the crow off his arm and marches toward the twins, Y/N saw this and follows behind him. He grabs the white-haired twin by the hair.

"I want a sword, you hear? Gimme one right now. The Demon Slayers' sword... The Color Changing Sword!" he shouted until Y/N finally caught up and grabs the boy's arm

"Let go. Or else there will only be 5 survivors of the Final Selection." Y/N says with venom in his voice, as the boy looks up and stares at his mask.

"Let's see you try it." he said, letting go of the white-haired before throwing a punch with his other hand which caught Y/N off guard.

Y/N felt like his face stings thanks to his mask taking the full blow, consequently, his mask shattered to pieces. Y/N grabs him by the neck and lifts him up. Before it gets worse, the black-haired twin speak up-

"Are you finished chatting?"

Y/N controls his breathing before letting go as the boy lands on his feet and gasps for air. 

"Now then, please select an ore. The steel for the sword that will annihilate demons and protect you will be of your own choosing." The black-haired twin continues after pulling a cloth from a table to reveal ores of different sizes.

Y/N's POV

I let the others pick, as I rub my nose after being squished by the mask.

'Wait- my mask!' I look down to the ground to see the shattered remnants of my mask, I kneel down to grab the pieces. Until, I saw someone stand in front of me, with a pink kimono.

Cursing in my head, I look up to see Kanao staring at me with that emotionless look. Thinking couple of ways to escape this.

"Y-Yes? Do you need something?" I ask, trying to make it seem like I didn't know her. Like always, she didn't answer and just stares at me.

My feet began to fidget under her gaze. "Hey, you're the last one! Pick one so we can finally finish this!" the angry-looking boy says, at first I'm annoyed but deep inside I'm thankful for giving me a way out. I walk away from Kanao

"Y/N-Onii-chan" a whisper that I heard coming from her. I wanted to look back but that will only prove to her about who I am. With a strong will, I kept on.

The assigned crow landed on my shoulder as I examine the 3 ores in front of me. I grab the big one but the crow peck my neck for it, I let go of the ore and look at it to see the crow shook its head. I then looked down and grab the farthest one, but get pecked. I took the ore nearest to me but get the same results from my crow pecking my neck.

"What do you want me to do?! It's the only option I have!" I shouted, to which the crow looks away and I follow its pointing to see the white-haired twin holding an ore. Glittering under the rays of the sun. "Is that available?" I ask her

To which she nods and gave me the ore and clutch my eyes, waiting for the pecking. I receive none, I open my eyes to see the crow nodding its head to me. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, now place your ores here. Your swords will be made by the people in the blacksmith village. It will take 10-15 days for you to receive the sword." the black-haired twin says as we all place the ore on a different table. I still noticed Kanao still staring at me.

"Let's go Tanjiro." I said and carry him on my back, walking down the steps of the mountain. I'm glad that he didn't ask any questions about it earlier, maybe because of the long nights we've been through.

-Timeskip-

Walking slowly up the mountain. At night, we reached Urokodaki's house. 

"We made it... Nezuko... Mr. Urokodaki..." Tanjiro says as I smile until the door to Urokodaki's house is kicked down from the inside, surprising us. Nezuko comes walking out of the house.

"Nezuko?" I said dumbfounded

"Hey! Nezuko! You... You're awake!" Tanjiro called out. Nezuko turns and saw us before running until I notice she isn't slowing down.

"Wait! Nezuko! Don't!" I pleaded went to deaf ears as she jumps and hugs me on my chest. Tanjiro laughs and pats her sister on the head while on my back as I had a hard time balancing and using the bit of my strength to carry both of them. "Get down, please! I'm injured too, Nezuko!" I said as she looks up at me before rubbing her head on my neck, tickling me.

I laughed and lose balance but Tanjiro got off me quickly as I landed on my back with Nezuko now sitting on my chest. I sat up as we all form a group hug. I saw Urokodaki-sensei comes out of the house with a bunch of firewood. Upon seeing us, he drops the firewood, walks toward us, and joins the hug.

"You came back to us alive." he says. We spent some time outside hugging until we finally went into the house by a fire. Tanjiro tells the story of our journey through the Final Selection, as I play with Nezuko, I noticed she wore the flower hair clip that I bought for her.

"I'm glad you like my gift, Nezuko" I said to which she hums happily in response.

When its time for us to sleep, I noticed Nezuko laying close to my side. I look beside me to see Tanjiro shrugs his shoulder and went to sleep. I sighed and let it be if her brother approves. 

-=-

Author-kun: How is it? How is it?! HOW IS IT?!

Just kidding, ehe~ Comment down below on what you think of this chapter. Bye~