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Tomioka Giyuu gave up long ago when it comes to making friends.
He long ago resigned himself to the fact that he is written to be alone. He is aware of the fact that his gloomy character makes people not want to be in his presence.
That didn't change the moment he became part of the Demon Slayers Corps, even if he didn't deserve the position. No matter what rank he held, people avoided him, not wanting to be in his presence, as if they knew he was just a fake, someone who shouldn't be here.
But killing demons is the only thing Giyuu knows how to do, so he can't stop now. It's the only thing he has left, it's the only thing he knows how to do, it's the only way to atone for the death of Sabito, who died so that Giyuu would live - even if it's wrong, so wrong.
So Giyuu kills the demons, one by one. Somewhere along the way, his rank changes. One day Oyakata-sama wants Giyuu to become Hashira. Why and why exactly, Giyuu doesn't know. But this position gives him a better chance to make amends, so he accepts it, even if it is not her hours.
It is Sabito who should be Water Hashira, not Giyuu.
When Oyakata-sama proposes starting Hashira Training, Giyuu refuses to take part.
Someone like him - someone who hasn't even gone through the Final Selection - has no right to teach others.
Someone like him actually should have never be giving the Water Hashira position.
Kamado Tanjirou would be a much better person for the role. The boy is already powerful. He is young, and he has defeated Upper Moons.
Not to mention that Tanjirou is practically everyone's friend, which cannot be said of Giyuu.
When Kamado Tanjirou comes to see him, Giyuu, himself not sure why, explains to him his decision.
Tanjirou seems to understand his decision, at the same time comforting him and stating that for him Giyuu is the real Hashira.
Kamado Tanjirou is a strange person, not for the first time states Giyuu. He is powerful, very close to assuming the position of Hashira, and at the same time he is gentle. He can kill demons without hesitation, even sympathizing with them - and at the same time he treats his sister like a human being.
He contradicts himself, but Giyuu concludes that in this particular case this is not a bad trait.
When Tanjirou leaves, Giyuu is left alone.
Or at least he should be.
“I knew something was wrong with you, but I didn't think it was that bad,” he hears.
Giyuu turns in that direction. He didn't even realize that someone was nearby.
Uzui Tengen is standing in front of him, a blind eye hidden under a shiny band, just as the stump of his left hand is under his cloak. With his hair loose, he appears to be older, as if his wounds have also taken him a few years.
“What is it, the silent treatment again?” Uzui asks. “And here I thought you remembered how to speak. Did someone ever tell you that you speak more in the presence of this boy?”
Was that really the case?
…Uzui might be right.
“It's really hard to talk to you,” Uzui tsks with distaste. “So that's what you've been doing for the past weeks? You sat here and pitied your own fate?”
“I'm not the same as you,” Giyuu objects, unconsciously repeating the words he said not so long ago, before starting Hashira's training.
Uzui bursts out laughing.
“Of course you are not!” he says. “I'm not Hashira anymore, have you forgotten?”
But he was asked to supervise the training anyway. He is doing something that Giyuu is not capable of doing.
“But I see it doesn't change much for you anyway, eh?” asks Uzui, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Giyuu doesn't answer. He is in no mood to have this kind of conversation with a man who doesn't really like him.
Uzui's next words come as a surprise.
“Do you really have some deep conviction in you that you are not the real Hashira just because you didn't kill a single demon during Final Selection?” he asks.
When that is the truth. Giyuu knows this very well. Every day he wakes up dreaming that Sabito is the one who survived. And it doesn't matter how many years pass.
“You are a fool!” proclaims Uzui. “Do you really think that whether you are a fake Hashira or not is determined by whether you passed the Final Selection, then, years ago?”
Giyuu is not going to talk about it. He turns away without saying a word. If Uzui is going to torment him at Water Estate, Giyuu will find some place where no one will bother him. He wants to be alone with himself. That's fine with him. He is used to solitude.
“Besides, you think you're the only Hashira who didn't do anything during the Final Selection?”
These words make Giyuu frown.
What is Uzui talking about?
“It's nothing strange, not being able to kill a single demon during the Final Selection,” says Uzui. “Of course, it's a sign that these are just weaklings that are definitely not flashy, but it's quite common. The only condition to pass the Final Selection is to survive, you know?”
Uzui is right. Well, partially.
Because yes, you can still explain the other Demon Slayers that way. But someone like Giyuu, someone of Hashira's position? That's not forgivable.
“Besides, let's face it, the very idea of Final Selection is pathetic, Uzui states. “Let's throw a bunch of kids on a mountain filled with demons and hope they survive! Really? Half of them have not been properly trained. The entire Demon Slayer Corps recruitment system is up for replacement and rewriting. Too many people die just because they didn't have enough time to train. You have heard, moreover, how things have been going lately. How many people survive, five, ten? And this is how the Demon Slayer Corps is supposed to function? Seriously? Five candidates per year? That's how many one demon can kill in one night!”
Giyuu never thought of it that way, probably because he never questioned Oyakata-sama's actions.
Uzui, who has retired, clearly has no reluctance to do so - even if Giyuu knows that everyone is fulsome in their respect for Oyakata-sama.
“And that's why not every Demon Slayer takes part in the Final Selection,” hearing these words, Giyuu turns to the former Hashira. He hadn't heard about it, but that's not surprising. Not many people share information with him. “Do you think I felt like participating in something like this, huh? It reminded me too much of my family. And so I declined.”
And Oyakata-sama let him do it?
“It seems to me that Himejima-san probably didn't participate in it either,” Uzui wonders aloud. “Shinazugawa, Iguro, Kanroji, Kocho and Rengoku... they definitely went through the Final Selection. But I'm not sure about Tokito. He was promoted so fast that I blinked and he was already Hashira!”
Tokito has talent. Such a great talent.
And at the same time he is so very young. Giyuu would prefer that the boy not fight, that he not be Hashira - but that is just a dream. The world is not a pleasant enough place for them to afford to have one of the stronger fighters just give up like that because he's a kid.
“So don't think to yourself that your Final Selection changed anything. Your friend died, so what?”
“Sabito was better than me,” Giyuu objects, unable to stand how someone insults his friend.
“And Rengoku was better than me, and he's still dead,” pairs Uzui. “Good people die, there's nothing we can do about it. So stop feeling sorry for yourself. We don't have enough Hashira to allow the loss of another.”
There used to be nine of them. Now there are only seven left.
And that is strange, Giyuu states. Months have passed since Rengoku's death, and still no one has emerged to replace him.
Hashira die frequently. Their nine have persevered longer than others, however, it has never happened before that Hashira's position has been left empty for so long.
Perhaps Oyakata-sama really foresees the end of this war. Perhaps he has some reason for leaving the positions of the two Hashira empty for such a long time.
Perhaps Oyakata-sama believes that soon Hashira's position will no longer be needed.
“Never mind,” Uzui croaked. “I don't feel we are getting anywhere with this
conversation. It's getting to the point of being unpleasant.”
Before Giyuu can say anything, Uzui disappears as if he had never been there before.
It was a strange encounter, definitely unexpected. Uzui and Giyuu are not friends; Kocho noticed that a long time ago.
They will probably never become them, but after a while, looking at the empty door behind which Hashira's ex disappeared, Giyuu realizes something: she feels like smiling.
When they meet the next time, both are missing a hand.
It's almost like an irony: those who survived didn't come out unscathed.
Better than them died.
But they did die. They survived.
They probably didn't deserve it. So many pure, precious souls were lost in this conflict. People who should be standing here, and here they are not.
They are surrounded by the spirits of those they lost.
And yet, when Giyuu stands in front of Uzuim, the man is not angry with him. He doesn't look at him with pain in his eyes, doesn't blame him for the deaths of others, doesn't ask him why it was Giyuu who survived and not yet.
No, Uzui merely puts a hand on his shoulder.
“Good to see you back, Tomioka,” he says.
And he is gone. There are other people with whom Uzui prefers to see again.
They are not friends. They will never become them.
But at the moment they are co-workers, the last of the Hashira left.
Perhaps that is what being a Hashira is all about.
You fight. You protect. You bleed. You suffer. You die.
And you survive.