"Uwaaa!" I squeal from amazement, waving my arms. "This place is so beautiful!! As always, it never changes." My smile widens when I see that we have stumbled into the final selection area.

Seven days had passed by so quickly. Although Kamado and I had minor injuries that weakened our bodies. Throughout our whole journal, we stuck together except for the third and fifth day. We got separated because I got carried away by anger. Again.

"What do you mean by 'it never changes', Fujimura-san?" Tanjiro says with curiosity plastering on his face as we walk in. "Well, this isn't my first time being here, Kamado-san." I sheepishly smiled at him.

"W-WHAT!?" His jaw drops as I scratch the back of my neck out of embarrassment. "Yeah, uh, this is my third time." I look away in embarrassment. "So, how long have you been training?" He asked, his eyes gazing at me with amusement.

"5 years, I think." I whisper, but I guess he heard it since he is being drop-dead quiet."5 years is a long time." He says, quite surprised.

"Yeah. The first and second time, I trained for 2 years, and now I have trained for one year for this." I confidently say, turning to our walking destination. "Ah.."

That's right. I kept coming back because my nichirin blade wouldn't change. The nichirin blade changing its color meant I had achieved a certain level of swordsmanship, but every time it wouldn't change, I'd go and give back the uniform and blade its original owners, and of course Kerozuka-san would get mad every time I'd give him the nichirin sword back.

Because to me. I wasn't deserving of the title of a demon slayer if my nichirin blade wouldn't change its color or if I wouldn't be able to know my breathing style. I wanted to prove that I had reached a certain level of swordsmanship, but that has yet to come.

"How come you kept coming back?" Kamado asks after silence has surrounded us and awkwardness, holding our voice back. "Well, I wouldn't accept the blade unless its color would change the blade, but you know, since I'm here it, uh.." I trail off, my voice cut itself off.

Kamado must've sensed my sadness rotting in. I feel his hand laying on my shoulder. "That's okay, Fujimura-san. Maybe this time, you would be able to finally get your color." He says confidently. "Thank you, Kamado-san."

We reached the final selection area. "Ahh, there's only us five left? There were 21 of us." My eyes widen in shock, and so did Kamado's. That one we had saved didn't survive. The hell was the point of saving him?

"Hello, everyone." Two people say in unison. I look in front and see the same two twins. One white colored hair and the other black colored hair.

"Heyyyy, is that black haired one even a girl? I still wonder if she is." I squint my eyes and mumble.

"Did you say something, Fujimura-san?" Kamado asks with a smile. "Eh, nothing, Kamado-san." My eyes turned its direction towards the left. "Congratulations, everyone." The white one says

"Thank goodness, you're all fine." The black one says. Behind them was a table covered in a purple blanket.

"What should I do next? Where's the sword?" One of the survivors said. He has black hair, and he has an angry expression press deeply onto his face.

"First of all, please accept the distribution of uniforms. We'll take your measurements. After that, the rank will be engraved." Says both twins, completely ignoring the black haired boy. I snicker, "Ignored by the twins."

"There's a total of ten ranks." Says the black haired child.

"Kinoe." "Kinoto."

"Hinoe." "Hinoto."

"Tsuchinoe." "Tsuchinoto."

"Kanoe." "Kanoto."

"Mizunoe." "Mizunoto."

They say in turns. They're still good as the times I've come back to this place. I wonder if they practice every time before they do and present all this.

"Everyone is currently in the lowest rank, Mizunoto, except for one, as they are in Hinoe rank." They say, still emotionless with the same smile as every year, probably.

"Where's the sword?" The black haired survivor asks again, this time with anger persisting in his voice.

"For the steel use in swords-making, please choose an ore. The sword-making process will take 10 to 15 days for completion." The white-haired one says.

"What?" The survivor says angrily. "Before we begin.." The white hair claps two times before crow noises were heard above us.

Five crows fly down, and a crow with a white scarf around its neck lands on my right shoulder (Obanai inspiration?) "Hello, once again, Itsukori." I smile, happy to see the same crow had land to me the first time I was here and didn't find another owner to accompany.

The crow rubs its head against my cheek. "A kasugai crow will follow you from now on." They say. "A kasugai crow?" Kamado whispers, looking a bit startled, but I manage to hear the fear in his voice. "A kagusai crow is a crow primarily used for communication." One says.

"Crow? Isn't this a sparrow?" A boy says with uncertainty. I turn my head to the right side, seeing a boy with yellow hair and orange tips, looking scared.

"Are you kidding me?!" The same boy snaps and harshly shoves his crow off of his forearm, making the yellow boy yelp in fear and surprise.

My heart starts pounding as the guy starts walking towards one of the twins and pulls on her hair tightly. "I don't care about the crow!" He shouts.

"Give me the sword now. I want the demon slayer corps' sword. The color-changing sword." He fumes, looking like he's throwing a tantrum.

The boy's eyes widen in shock from Tanjiro's grip on his forearm and my hand, gripping on his arm tightly as my sharp-tip nails dig into his skin.

"That's enough." I warn him, digging even more tightly on his arm. "Let go of the child. If you don't, I'll break your arm, and Fujimura-san will twist your hand." Kamado says, as calm as possible, but his eyebrows furrow in anger.

"Who the hell are you?" The boy asks, ignoring our warnings. It seems as if he didn't take us seriously. What the hell is wrong with him.

"Do it if you have the guts." His voice challenges us. Kamado and I say nothing but continue to tighten our grip on his arms.

The yellow haired boy who had the sparrow yells in fear. "What should we do!!?" I hear him say, but all I could focus was twisting this bastard's arms if he won't stop.

I could've stayed out of this mess and let Kamado break his arm since he is perfectly capable of doing it, but I couldn't. My body had acted on its without approval from me.

I think it's because it knows what it's like when your hair is harshly being pulled and you can't do anything about it, not even cry.

As I'm about to twist his arm, he suddenly pulls away from the both of us holding his wrist on his other hand. In a sudden swift move, Kamado gets in front of the child as I hug her in assurance.

"It's okay, you can cry now, Kanata. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you last time." I whisper as I stroke her hair back to its formal style. Even though I knew she wouldn't cry, I just had to say it. I just had to.

"Are you done talking?" The black haired one says as she gets the purple blanket from the table, and I finally let go of the white-haired child.

"Uwaaa~" I gawk at the ores set in front of us. They were so rocky, but I couldn't stop thinking about the child as I felt extremely sad because, to me, this is the second time that this has happened.

"The steel of the sword is used to kill demons and protect yourself. Please choose an ore, overyone." We are all in front of the table about to select an ore, as I try to contain my excitement. I know I have done this two times, but I still get excited.

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♣︎•Narrator POV•♣︎

After much thinking, Yashimi and Tanjiro had picked an ore at the same time. Their ores were beside each other.

They both went home and separated from each other after laughing around, promising to see each other soon. Which they would.