I deserve to be punished, to be castrated for my crimes. I did not, in fact, upload this within the first week of May as promised. I apologize with every fiber of my being.

From now on, (M/N) will be your mispronounced name . . . now seeing as I said that, you can probably guess what happens in the chapter.

Rani_Kriss123uwu drew some moments from the story as comic book panels (they're really funny, trust). In the external link, I've added a Spotify playlist that EnzoRocket on Quotev created for the book, so check it out!

I also highly encourage you to check out this chapter on Quotev because I can't link more fanart on Wattpad, but Frog girl and Demon also provided fanart that I've linked in the Quotev chapter.

———

Inosuke had found a fruit tree. It was obviously the best fruit tree since he'd found it and chosen it to be the source of his meals for the day.

He walked around it, judging the trunk's thickness and the strength of the branch. After a solid punch to the trunk of the tree, he nodded, letting out a harsh breath through his mask.

"Hup!" He swung his arms back and jumped from one branch to another until he reached the one closest to the fruits.

Inosuke took a large bite out of the fruit, cackling to himself as the sweet juice ran down his face.

"HAHAHA! I FOUND THE BEST ONE! AS EXPECTED OF MYSELF!"

Just as he was about to take another bite, the skin on his left arm started to tingle before growing very prickly. It felt like the time he walked through a bush and felt the brambles poking his side. He'd only felt his way when new creatures entered his mountain.

Another opponent to show off my strength!

He threw away the pit of the fruit and leaped into the air, landing on the ground and sprinting to the area with the new weak chump.

As he grew closer, a strange ominous feeling crept over him. His beastly instincts told him that there was something dangerous up ahead, a predator of unimaginable proportions. But what was danger to him? He'll punch danger in the face!

He harshly shook his head and arrived at the location his instincts told him about. He looked around the area, seeing short bamboo shoots and some bugs through the eyes of his boar mask.

There's nothing here?

Inosuke slowly combed through the area, staying close to the ground in case whoever was there tried to attack him. After he smacked the branch of a bamboo tree out of his face, he noticed the smell of smoke and roasting meat. He drew closer to the smell, seeing the glow of a fire and the silhouette of someone sitting right beside it. The feeling of danger increased the closer he got but he ignored it because Inosuke needed to protect his mountain from unwanted creatures. It was his mountain, damn it!

"Huh?" The human's head turned to where Inosuke had hidden. Heart pounding, he had dove head first for the bushes right next to him to stay out of their sight. He couldn't let himself be caught until he commenced his incredibly intelligent plan to get rid of these intruders.

The human blinked, eyes surveying the area before they shrugged and turned back to their roasting meat.

Should I start now?

He shifted in the bushes, readying himself to leap out and take them down.

Wait! They just tried to find me before, so they probably have their guard up. I'll wait for them to relax, then pounce! I'm a genius!

When enough time had passed for Inosuke to start feeling bored, he decided that it was the opportune moment because if he was feeling bored, then they would have definitely let their guard down.

Just as he was about to leave his hiding spot, he felt tremors in the air, dread instinctively pooling in his stomach. He stayed rooted on the spot as a hulking creature emerged from the woods behind the human. It greeted the human with a bob of its head before settling down on the ground beside them.

Inosuke felt his limbs start to tremble, nervous sweat forming on his face.

I have to get rid of that thing first. It's much more dangerous than the human. I am the King of the Mountain! I am the strongest on the mountain!

He immediately switched the target of his master plan to the dangerous predator.

"HYAAA!" Inosuke leaped into the air, his tightly closed fists held high as he approached the predator. The lumbering giant lazily picked up its head, blinking before its eyes widened and it let out a startled yelp. "HAHAHA! YOU'RE GOING DO — huh?"

Out of nowhere, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him away. His vision blurred and spun before he felt himself being slammed down on the ground, all the air knocked out of him. As he wheezed and coughed, a shadow loomed over him, the threatening aura around them reminding Inosuke of the time his boar mother showed him the lair of a wolf and warned him never to approach them until he was strong enough (it took him a few years until he could win in a fight against a wolf).

The sun glinted off the metal at the human's hip as they slowly drew out a sword, eyes glaring down at him.

"You tryna hurt Bearnice?" Their voice was low and — dare he say it — intimidating. "'Cause if you are, then who knows what'll happen?" They unsheathed their sword and Inosuke could finally see her face from the light reflecting off the metal. Jaw clenched, brows furrowed, veins popping. Everything about her from the way she stood and the way she pointed her sword at him oozed anger.

His heart started to pound furiously in his chest as he realized something deep within his bones, something that made his blood rush to his head and goosebumps rise on his skin.

She's strong. Really strong.

The girl gazed at him for a few more moments before sheathing her sword and holding out a hand to him. He stared at her, his gaze switching from her hand to her face.

"I — I — I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" He burst, placing his hands on the ground, pushing off the palm of his hands, and landing on his feet. "GET OFF MY MOUNTAIN!"

The air around the girl cleared up immediately, seeming like she was never angry in the first place. "Your mountain?" The girl asked, sitting back down next to her fire and taking the meat off the heat. "My bad, bro. I didn't know that. I was just stopping by because there's a problem I need to fix." She patted the dirt next to her, indicating that she wanted him to sit down.

Inosuke didn't know if it was just in his imagination, but he swore he saw the predator behind the girl glaring at him, alert and hostile. He shivered, slowly sinking down until he was sitting beside the girl.

He harshly huffed. "This is my mountain! I solve the problems here!"

For some reason, the girl looked like she was feeling sad for him as she said, "Yes, of course, you do." She held out a piece of meat, which he stared at.

No one had ever offered him their food after that old man.

Inosuke snatched it out of her hands and stuffed it in his mouth before he gave her a chance to change her mind.

"That was a good offering, loyal subject!" He proclaimed before jumping to his feet. "But this is my mountain and I want you off it!"

The girl opened her mouth, but he ran away so he couldn't hear what she said.

If she doesn't want to incur the wrath of a mighty being such as myself, she'll leave immediately.

However much he told himself the girl would depart on her own, that didn't stop a strange heat from developing on his cheeks and his heart to beat a little louder than usual.

~~~

Inosuke poked his head out through the leaves, observing the girl. She had ignored his words from the previous day and stayed on his mountain. He clenched his teeth, letting out harsh breaths.

Go! Shoo! Get out!

The girl didn't hear him because he decided to not say that. The large predator beside her turned its head and he quickly retreated to the shadow of the leaves.

Damn it! Why am I hiding like a coward? I AM HASHIBIRA INOSUKE!

Regardless, he stayed in his spot, sweating profusely.

I am Hashibira Inosuke who knows when a creature can kill me in one hit.

As the day dragged on, the girl stayed in the same clearing he met her in, doing all sorts of physical activities. Inosuke watched her run around the clearing, roll a few heavy rocks, and climb trees. She seemed to particularly enjoy climbing trees, laughing to herself, and talking to the bear in some gibberish language. He was so engrossed in watching the girl climb trees that he didn't notice she was about to approach the one he was hiding in.

Oh sh —

Inosuke grasped the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes, trying his best to hide his presence.

Theresnothingheretheresnothingheretheresnothinghere.

Just as the tree started to shake from the pressure the girl was applying to it, the bear let out a growl that almost made him jump out of his skin.

Eek!

Heart beating wildly, Inosuke blinked his eyes open and zeroed in on the girl who was walking away from the tree. He immediately relaxed and his body sagged against the trunk.

Let's not try to sneak up on her anymore.

~~~

Instead of sneaking up on her, Inosuke openly started following her around.

"Hey, human! Leave now!" He emerged from the bushes and pointed in the direction that led down the mountain.

"I can't," The girl replied, squatting down as she tried to make a fire. "I'm waiting for someone."

He huffed. "Another human? I'll chase them away!"

She hummed, bobbing her head. "That's fine too. We should be leaving together anyway." Inosuke faltered.

Well, she said she was going to leave anyway, so is it fine for her to stay here until she meets the other human?

He shook his head so hard his mask almost came off.

"Leave now!"

"Hmm, I'll think about it." The girl had already got a roaring fire going. She scooted closer to it and started to warm her hands. "Come here, it gets cold at night." She patted the ground next to her just like before. "Bearnice should be back with food soon."

"Velmeece? What's that?"

The girl stared at him. "Wow. It's even worse in person."

Inosuke stared at her through the eyes of the mask. "What's a Beatmeesh?"

The girl let out a small 'pfft', covering her mouth and bending over as her entire body shook.

What is wrong with her?

"Ahh," She let out a long sigh and wiped a tear from her eye. "Bearnice is my family bear." She gave him a slightly resentful glance as she briefly tended to the fire. "You tried to attack her when we met."

"The predator?? You named it?!"

"Well, yeah," The girl shrugged, "She's family."

Immediately, the girl's image in Inosuke's eyes became ten times better. Everything made complete sense and all was right with the world.

She has an animal family too! Was she raised by the bear like how I was raised by boars? Did she learn how to talk from humans that lived nearby? How did she get her name?

His eyes sparkled with all the questions he wanted to ask her.

"Hey, human, my name is Hashibira Inosuke! I am the ruler of this mountain!"

The girl bobbed her head. "My name is (L/N) (Y/N). Nice to meet you!" She held her hand out, palm facing the side and fingers pointing at him. Inosuke stared at it.

He wound his arm back and smacked her outstretched palm. His palm stung and grew red, but the girl tilted her head at him, question marks basically floating around her.

"Okay . . . ?"

"(M — M/N)!" He stuttered, his face flushing in embarrassment. Head completely empty, he mindlessly repeated what she said after introducing herself. "Nice to meet you too!"

The girl, (M/N), blinked, looking slightly surprised, before smiling brightly, light almost shining from her as she let out a laugh. Inosuke felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest as his face grew even warmer.

"R — R — Right! How did you get your name?" He asked, turning his body to fully face (M/N), who poked the growing fire with a long stick.

"My name?"

He nodded energetically. "I was raised by boars, but my name was written on my loincloth."

(M/N) hesitated, looking the most unhappy that he'd seen her so far. "My name was given by my human parents."

"But you said Verliese was your family."

(M/N) hummed. "Bearnice is my family now, but I used to have a human mom and dad too. I can't exist without people giving birth to me, right?"

Inosuke grunted. He didn't completely agree with that since he was sure he had always been raised by the boars, but the look on (M/N)'s made him not want to argue with her.

He stayed quiet, but more questions began to swirl in his mind. If she had human parents, why doesn't she live with them? What was she even doing on his mountain so far away from them? If she looks sad just talking about them, why not go back to them?

(M/N) cleared her throat before smiling. "Well, I have Bearnice, Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Urokodaki for my family now! Speaking of which, Bearnice should be back soon." She stood up and looked to the forest just as the ground tremored at the footsteps of the bear, who lumbered in with fish swung from its mouth.

The instant the bear met his gaze, he tensed, frozen in his seat. The bear eyed him before lumbering closer and dropping four fish into (M/N)'s hands.

"You didn't get enough for yourself, Bearnice?" She asked, skewering two of them with sticks to roast over the fire. The bear grunted, swinging her head back and forth before pointing in the direction she came from. From his years living with animals, he'd grown to be able to tell what an animal was saying based on its body's movements. He wouldn't have been able to learn from his boar mother if he couldn't. Therefore, it was clear to him that the bear was saying that she had no need of eating because she caught her fill while getting fish for (M/N).

"You weren't hungry?" (M/N) guessed, "Or you couldn't catch enough?"

The bear sighed.

"HA!" Inosuke huffed in pride, his chest puffing and he sat straighter at the idea of using his great prowess to help (M/N) understand her family. "Your bear mother said that she has no need of eating with you since she caught her dinner before coming back!"

The bear nodded.

(M/N) blinked in astonishment. "You can understand her?"

"Of course!" Inosuke cleared his throat at the look of wonder that grew on her face. "I am the Great Inosuke!"

"That's so cool!" She exclaimed, "You can have full-blown conversations with Bearnice!"

He nodded haltingly, unused to someone praising him like this. Then he got annoyed with himself for feeling so strange and mentally slapped himself

"HA! I'm obviously cool! I am the Great Inosuke!"

"Yes, yes," (M/N) nodded, "Now let's eat."

Inosuke held the stick (M/N) offered, staring at the roasted fish. He wasn't sure if she was going crazy or not. First, she offered him some meat when they first met. Then she gave him roasted fish. Do humans normally do this? Inosuke always hoarded his food and defended it from other animals, but she just readily gave it out. Won't she be hungry?

Despite his thoughts, he didn't say anything and wolfed down the fish.

Whatever! It's her loss if she doesn't want it.

~~~

"Where are you going?"

(M/N) looked at Inosuke like she was caught trying to steal his food (which she technically did, since she was taking food from HIS mountain without asking him).

It was bright and early on the third day and Inosuke had sprinted to the girl's campsite to check if she was still there. To his chagrin (or maybe not? He wasn't sure, so on his way to her campsite, he decided that he was still annoyed with her presence on his mountain), she was. His eyes fell to her figure packing her things up in a sack and cleaning the area.

"M — Me?" She stuttered, pointing to herself. Inosuke blinked.

Did she think I was talking to someone else?

"Obviously."

"Oh," (M/N) awkwardly laughed, avoiding his eyes. "Right. My partner is waiting little ways that way, so I'm going to meet him." She pointed north, but unfortunately, that did not lead down the mountain.

"I'm coming with you!" He immediately stated, stomping his feet. "I can't allow some stranger to wander around my mountain!"

(M/N) stared at him. "No, you can't come." Her response was quick and decisive. She turned around and started walking away, leaving no room for Inosuke to argue.

Leaving no room for Inosuke to argue if he could read social cues. Inosuke could not.

"HEY! DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!"

And so Inosuke followed after (M/N). Every so often, he'd either demand that she stop or yell at her to stop. He was ignored every time. When she met up with another human, Inosuke found himself glaring at the pair.

"Uh . . . " The tall, blue-eyed boy asked, "Who's he?"

"He's my friend," (M/N) replied, "He's been helping me out while I was waiting for you." She punched his shoulder and the boy winced.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You were two days late. I thought you died."

"Pfft, imagine if I did die on the way here. Bro, that'd be so embarrassing."

(M/N) snickered, "Yeah, kinda."

The two wheezed in laughter for a while. Inosuke stared at them.

They're . . . They're kind of weird.

"Anyway, Inosuke," (M/N) turned to him, "This is my friend, Ren. We met a while ago. He has a cute little sister, Sayuri, who's not with him now because she deserves more than taking care of him on missions."

"Not true!" Ben (was that his name? That was probably his name) yelled, "She's just recovering after our last mission. I'm going to meet up with her after this."

"She's injured?" (M/N)'s face changed immediately, her smile falling. "Is she okay? Was it life-threatening?" She held Slem's shoulders and shook them, looking increasingly worried. Inosuke wondered what she was thinking and if it was similar to the time he found one of his boar siblings limping home after getting into a fight with a mountain goat (he made sure he beat up the goat and its family to make sure they never touched his boar family again).

Lehb patted (M/N)'s head. "She's okay. While we were fighting this really strong demon, she stopped midway and got attacked. We managed to kill it, but she kept going on about some sort of epiphany before she passed out." She let out a sigh, her hands dropping to her sides.

"I don't know what 'epiphany' is, but it sounds like she's okay."

Inosuke watched (M/N) and Bleg chatter away as they started walking away. She seemed to behave very differently around the other guy than how she behaved with him. Although, Inosuke thought it was a good thing because it looked like her punches hurt. He allowed them to lead him to the source of all his current problems. They arrived at a clearing that had no sunlight, the trees above him blocking any and all light from seeping through. Ahead of them was a dark cave etched into the surface of the mountain.

"The demon's in there," Temb jerked his thumb to the cave.

"Stupid demon, here I come!" Inosuke took two steps forward before (M/N) grabbed him by his boar mask and harshly pulled him back until he slammed into her. "HEY! LET ME GO!" He wriggled around in her grip to no avail.

"You will die if you go in there now," She stated seriously, "Just let us handle this. We're professionals." She flashed him a smile that made his heart do some weird acrobatics.

What? Why'd she do that? What's happening with my body?

"Ah — okay — wait — " Inosuke stammered, trying to organize his thoughts while (M/N) let go of him and walked into the cave with Bread right behind her.

Inosuke sat on the ground, head empty, eyes blank, wondering if he was going crazy.

It took the cold shock of rain falling on him and the loud 'boom' from the cave in front of him that brought Inosuke to his senses.

"Wait!" He leaped to his feet and stood at the entrance to the cave. "They went in without me!" From the depths of the caves, he could hear the clanging of swords against rock, the swooshing of wind, and (M/N)'s complaining.

"Shit, I don't have space! I wanted to try something really cool!"

"What do you mean 'space'?! Shit would be way worse if this was outside the cave!"

"FUCK! Son of a — WOAH!"

Inosuke hurried to the entrance of the cave and saw the shadows of three figures inside. He recognized (M/N) from the flowy clothes she was wearing, and Cleff was the tallest of the three, but who was the other guy? Was it the demon they were talking about? How did Inosuke not notice it was on his mountain?

All across the floor were wax candles of varying lengths, some longer than Inosuke's arm and others no bigger than his thumb. All of them had flickering flames that did not seem disturbed despite the ruckus. The third shadowy figure looked like it was holding some candles in its hand, but its light didn't reveal its features, only seeming darker and more obscured.

That's weird. Isn't light supposed to make things brighter?

(M/N) and Lenn were careful not to knock over the candles, navigating around them while targeting the shadowy dude. Inosuke couldn't help but be impressed at their skills, especially how they were able to do so in such a cramped space (his head grazed the top of the cave entrance, and although it got a bit larger inside, Ned still had to bend his neck to fit). However, Inosuke almost laughed at the absurdity.

What are they being so careful about? Let's just knock them all down and make that guy pay for staying on my mountain without permission!

"HEY!" He yelled, storming into the cave. "GET OUT OF MY MOUNTAIN!" Inosuke barreled through the first row of candles, knocking them down and earning a loud 'stop!' from (M/N) that he ignored.

Ignorant of Meb's and (M/N)'s cries, Inosuke continued forward until he was almost within touching distance of the demon. However, he froze just inches away. He felt an ominous ripple in the air just before he noticed a strange smile on its face.

"What are you — " His voice was cut off as all the breath was knocked out of him. Arms wrapped around his legs, a shoulder was shoved into his stomach, and he distinctly felt himself being picked up and hauled off like a dead deer. He opened his mouth to protest when he saw Glen sprinting behind him with a panicked look on his face. Behind that, Inosuke could hear the demon cackling as the fire from the candles he knocked over grew larger and larger, the flames licking the roof of the cave.

"Kaboom!" The demon opened its eyes and Inosuke could see the golden reflection of the flames glinting in its eyes. "Die for my leader, humans!" The flames in the candles grew brighter and brighter until Inosuke was forced to cover his eyes so he didn't go blind.

Just as Seck left the cave, Inosuke heard a deafening boom similar to the one he heard before. His vision grew abnormally bright as the heat felt like it was going to burn the fur off his mask. The force of th explosion sent (M/N) and Inosuke tumbling to the floor, Inosuke groaning at the harsh ringing in his ears and the black spots in his eyes. He felt a body cover him as debris from the destroyed cave rained down on them, pebbles and rocks falling to the ground around them. Inosuke slowly blinked his eyes, wincing as his vision grew clearer.

(M/N)'s face was mere inches away from him, blood and sweat and rain running down her face as she panted, arms on either side of his head. When she met his eyes, she gave a small grin and rolled off him, immediately getting to her feet with her twin swords raised.

. . . Huh? What just happened?

Drops of cool water fell on his skin, rain poured down in the clearing, and blood mixed in with the water, running down into the forest.

Inosuke slowly sat up just in time to see (M/N) swiftly move to the demon that emerged from the ruins of the cave, holding a candle in its hand. Her feet glanced off the floor before she was in the air, flipping midair as her swords came down as quietly as rain on the shoulder of the demon, smoothly cleaving through it and slicing off its arm. The candle fell to the muddy ground with a clatter, the flames momentarily glowing brighter before Beck grabbed it and threw it away as far as possible. Meanwhile, (M/N) landed softly and darted at the demon, stabbing its abdomen at least a dozen times. The demon staggered back at the force, coughing blood. (M/N) pressed on, releasing multiple consecutive slashes that made cuts appear all over it's body. It let out a screech of pain and jumped back just to get slashed by Ken's four vertical slashes.

The demon collapsed on the ground, heaving loudly as it struggled to create more candles, its wet hands trembling as Wen approached it.

"No, wait! I have to help my leader with his revenge! Don't kill m — " He didn't allow it to finish its sentence, slicing off its head with one slash. Inosuke saw the body collapse before (M/N) stood in front of him, blocking his vision.

"Are you alright?" He looked up at her, blinking. There were multiple cuts on her forehead and cheek, the collar of her clothing soaked in the blood and the rest of her body drenched in water. Inosuke nodded, getting to his feet.

I . . . I have no idea what happened. What was that thing? Who is this girl? How was she so strong?

He jumped as two cold hands grasped his shoulders and spun him around.

"You don't look injured," She muttered under her breath. "Did your head get hurt anywhere?"

"N — no."

"Good!" She spun him around again and smiled. Then she abruptly smacked his back. "I told you it was dangerous, but you made it out okay!" Inosuke robotically nodded. (M/N) stared at him for a while before grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the remains of the demon (which was rapidly burning away in the rain. He had no idea how and had no intention of finding out). Clend kicked the ashes that were left behind, spitefully muttering something under his breath that Inosuke couldn't quite catch, but (M/N) could hear.

"Hey, stop that! You don't know what their life was like before becoming a demon!" She harshly jabbed his side with her finger and he yelped before rubbing his side and staring her down.

"But what other leaders do demons have other than the Twelve Demon Moons? It probably works for one of them!" He clicked his tongue and glared at (M/N). "I can't believe you're defending a demon."

Even though the glare wasn't directed at him, Inosuke felt a strange rage build up inside him. A part of him just wanted to leap at the boy and claw at him.

(M/N) sighed. "Yeah, I get why you're mad. Demons have hurt a lot of people for a very long time. But I don't want to live my life hating people like that. Honestly, it gets really tiring after a while, and there are always things that you didn't know about them. They could've been turned against their will or had their memories changed. This doesn't forgive their mistakes but they deserve to be . . . " She trailed off, her brows furrowing. "Empathize. What's 'empathized with' in Japanese?"

Nonetheless, Hemb sighed. "Fine. I get it. I don't completely agree with what you said since — " His eyes darted to Inosuke before going back to (M/N). " — Anyway, the mission's done and we need to get our injuries treated. I know a Wisteria House that's pretty close by; we can get there by sundown if we leave now."

"Now?"

"Now."

"Like, now-now?"

"Yeah. Now-now."

(M/N) sighed and turned to Inosuke. "I guess I have to leave. Thanks for helping me out while I was here."

Inosuke stayed silent, staring at the girl through the eyes of his mask. Although her mouth was still moving, her voice seemed to grow fainter and fainter as the ringing in his head grew louder. He swayed on his feet, black spots flickering in his eyes before he lost all strength in his limbs and lost all consciousness.

Inosuke blinked his eyes open to the sun glaring down at him. Getting to his feet, he let his feet carry him wherever they felt. As he walked up the mountain, he recognized the familiar clearing he was approaching.

Why am I here?

Nonetheless, he didn't try stopping himself as he entered the clearing.

All traces of someone staying there had been swept away by the rain.

~~~

Months later, Inosuke found himself following someone who was wearing clothing similar to the girl he couldn't get out of his head. Sometimes, he'd stay up at night and wonder if she would ever come back. Other times, he'd loudly boast of how his strength drove her and her friend away. Ultimately, though, he'd fall quiet, mutter how the girl wasn't going to beat him and moved on.

"HEY, YOU!" He yelled, pointing at them. "LET'S FIGHT TO SEE WHO'S STRONGER!"

So he beat the other guy up.

Afterward, he got some answers about what exactly they were. Apparently, that thing from months ago was a demon who ate humans and these people were demon slayers who killed demons to save others. Something about it sounded strangely familiar to Inosuke, but he brushed it off. To become a demon slayer, he had to pass some test on some other mountain (which seemed simple enough to him. Mountains were his home, after all. There was nothing that could harm him in the mountains).

"Wait!" He demanded just as the slayer was getting ready to leave. "Give me your sword!" The demon slayer had tears in his eyes as he handed over his sword. Inosuke lifted it in his hands, moving it from one hand to another.

It doesn't feel right . . .

The image of a girl flying through the air with two swords came to his mind, rain falling around her as water seemed to be created from her swords. Then Inosuke blinked and he was staring at the sword in his hands.

"Hey, is it possible to use two swords?"

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

Bonus Scene:

The reason why Ren was two days late — "SAYURI!! COME BACK HERE!" Ren yelled as he chased after his eccentric younger sister. The girl pretended to not hear him, sprinting in the opposite direction of the village he was trying to get to. "Goddammit," Ren muttered as he sprinted harder to catch up.

Unfortunately, his sister was a talented genius and he almost lost sight of her had she not suddenly stopped and picked up a few flowers. "Sayuri," He sighed, poking her side once he'd caught up with her. "We need to get you to a doctor." Sayuri glanced down at the roughly bandaged wound on her shoulder. He hadn't had much experience with treating wounds, so he just clumsily disinfected it and bandaged it with the first aid kit they (Ren) carried around.

'But the flowers . . .' Sayuri signed, holding up the clump she picked.

"You can get more later. You bleeding out over some flowers is not something I want to explain to Sensei." Sayuri sighed and nodded her head, carefully tucking the flowers into the pouch on her waist.

As they started walking in the correct direction, Ren's crow rested on his shoulder. "CAW! You should have finished this. Your partner is waiting for you — CA-CAW!" The crow let out an alarmed caw as Ren swatted it off his shoulder in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah, they can wait a little longer. It's not the end of the world if I'm late."

Taisho Secrets:

— The instincts the boars taught Inosuke about being wary of predators became very prevalent when he met Bearnice

— Bearnice could smell Inosuke hiding in the tree, but she wasn't sure if he was (Y/N)'s friend or not since he attacked her but she gave him meat to eat. Just to be on the safe side, she called you over so you didn't get too close to him

— Slight manga spoilers: On the third day of your stay on Inosuke's mountain, sometime before he came to you, you saw the spirit of his mother and talked to her for a bit. You hadn't noticed Inosuke, but his mother, Hashibira Kotoha, started to disappear. You thought Inosuke's words ("Where are you going?") were directed at her and freaked out at the fact that Inosuke might see ghosts

— You didn't want Inosuke to see a demon's head flying in the air because although he'll become a slayer eventually, he was still someone unaccustomed to seeing something die in that way, and you weren't sure what the impact of the experience would be, so you blocked his sight of the body

— The author had fun coming up with random 'mispronounced' names for Bearnice and Ren

— Okay so the author lied and the actual longest chapter is Chapter 25 at 6,699 words. This chapter is the second longest at 6,479 words, beating Chapter 23 by 69 (hehe) words. Is the author cursed or lucky?

~~~

Demon's Corner:

Candle Demon: Their human name was Watanabe Akari. As a child, they were one of those kids who were obsessed with fire. They'd always sit by the fire in their house and stare at the flames for hours upon hours until their parents stopped them. As they grew up, they studied more about fire, how to make it stronger, how to make it weaker, and even how to change its color. They were so fascinated by fire that a part of them wanted to see what the biggest flame they could ever create would look like, but they knew that it was a very dangerous thing to do, since it would most likely be out of their control. So, they decided to teach the people of the village they lived in everything they learned, which helped advance the technology they used and made it safer for coming generations. Akari continued to experiment with fire, to see what else they could do to help the people they lived with. One day while Akari was out collecting different plants to help with their experiments, some adventurers stopped by their village. They couldn't understand how their technology was so much more advanced than their own village, deeming it thievery from the government and selfishly keeping the technology to themselves. When Akari came back, their entire village was up in flames with not a soul in sight. They numbly collapsed in front of their house, blankly looking on as the most magnificent flame they'd ever seen devoured the bodies of their family and friends. They did not move from their spot for ten days, swearing revenge over and over and over again. Kibutsuji Muzan found them on the brink of death severely dehydrated and starved. They continued to mutter their promise for revenge, hatred seeping from their words. When they became a demon, the first thing they did was track down the people who destroyed his village and killed them. After he returned to Kibutsuji, they swore their allegiance to him for helping them carry out their revenge.

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So, I was thinking (oh no!) and I felt like I needed to make it up to you guys for not posting in so long. You may say 'No, it's okay, take your time!' But I made a promise and failed to see it through, so I need to make amends (also I will probably not make any more promises on when chapters will be out, lol). Therefore, I will be posting the special chapter (that I've been trying to find the right time to publish) within a week after this one is published (and I'll do it! You have full permission to hound me for it if I don't!). In addition, because I don't think that's enough, should we do another Q and A? There are a lot of new readers and you may have more questions. Let me know if you guys are interested and I'll update you when the special chapter drops.

Questions of the day: How did you come up with your username?

One more Question of the day: Do you have any suggestions on what else we could do as a celebration/apology?