Deku POV
We ate dinner right after the news, then straight to bed. I've always noticed that Iida has been acting weird. He's been a lot more quiet, spacing out here and there. I never knew it had something to deal with his older brother.
I lay in my bed in the dark, surrounded with All Might merchandise. I stare at the ceiling. My body won't let me go to sleep. My mind has been running with thoughts.
I hope Iida feels better soon.
But that's not the only thing keeping me awake. All Might said I have an offer, and that person is his old homeroom teacher and one of the few people that know of One For All. He said his name was Gran Torino. I wonder what he's like.
Tomorrow, everyone will be heading to our hero internship studies. I've got to give it everything I've got! I still have to get my quirk in control.
I lift my hand from under my covers and punch in the air. I know I can do it! My eyelids start to feel heavy. I roll onto my side, facing the wall. Slowly, my eyelids close and I drift off to sleep.
I make my way downstairs to the dining room to eat breakfast, hero costume in hand. Almost everyone in my class and some of the demon hunters are there. Uzui's wives and the butterfly estate girls are in the kitchen making us breakfast. It smells amazing!
I scan the room, my eyes searching though I don't know what I'm searching for. Then I realize, I was looking for Iida-kun. Even so, there was no sign of Iida so I take a seat next to Todoroki.
"Good morning Todoroki-kun!" I say as I take a seat, setting the case containing my hero suit down on the ground.
"Good morning." He replies.
The front doors open to reveal the Pillars returning. Their hair is dishevelled and their posture is slacking. Some let out a couple yawns. They're clearly exhausted. My eyes follow them until they are out of sight, retreating to their respective parts of the basement.
Tanjirou and his friends approach us and take a seat next to us,this time in their demon hunter uniform.
"Good morning Midoriya-kun, good morning Todoroki-kun!" Tanjirou greets while taking a seat in front of me.
"Good morning!" We both greet back.
"Are you guys going off to that hero internship thingy today?" Zenitsu asks.
"Yeah, I'm kinda nervous." I say.
"You guys are in you're normal uniforms, are you going to join us?" Todoroki asks.
"No, we're going on patrol for the daytime so the Pillars can rest. But maybe we'll run into you guys." Tanjirou explains.
We nod.
I then see Genya approaching us with a bunch of wooden swords in his arms. "Since there's a chance we'll possibly be dealing with villains, we have to bring both wooden swords and our normal ones." He says, setting down the wooden swords onto the table.
"Yaoyorozu-san made these for us using her quirk. They're stronger than our old training swords but not sharp enough to actually kill someone." Genya turns and waves at Yaoyorozu-san who's across the room and bows in sign of gratitude. She waves back. "She even went through the trouble of creating them with a small metal rod inside to make it more sturdy."
All the demon hunters grab a wooden sword, stand up, then bow to her. Yaoyorozu-san's face flushes and she turns away.
"Oh yeah, what's with all the Pillars?" I ask, remembering how exhausted they looks as they walked through the front door.
"The Pillars patrol the nighttime for any signs of demon activity. Day time is the only time they can sleep and get some rest, and they can leave everything else to us and the pro heroes until then." Kanao says.
"The duration of the entire night?" Todoroki questions.
Kanao nods, "from sunset up until dawn." She says.
"No matter how rude some of them might be, you gotta appreciate all the hard work they've done." Zenitsu says.
The table is quiet as the demon hunter's kakushi lay out the food that was cooked. While eating our food, I hear loud footsteps approaching us. I turn to the side to see Iida standing near our table, his body stiff and faced towards the entire room. It's all silent. We don't know what to say to him.
Iida then bows and speaks loudly, "I'm sorry for making you all worry, I am feeling much better now. Thank you for giving me time and space." He says while still hunched in a ninety degree angle.
The whole rooms mood lifts. "We got you bro! Tell us whenever something's bothering you!" Kirishima-kun slings his arm around Iida's neck.
"Promise you'll tell us next time your feeling down about something 'kay?" Uraraka-san lightly punches his shoulder. Iida looks at her, smiles and hums in response.
"I will." He says.
"Iida-kun, glad to see you're feeling better!" I say.
"Thank you, Midoriya-kun, and everyone." We all give him a thumbs us before he takes a seat in front of him at our table, at the corner next to Uraraka.
We finish eating breakfast, wave the demon hunters goodbye, and take the bus towards the train station.
The train station is crowded with people. Some of them wear business clothes while carrying a suitcase, some carrying groceries, some are parents, elderly, and children.
"Alright kids, off you go." He waves us off, "be careful not to lose your specialized suitcases for your hero costumes." He says before allowing us to separate.
"Bye Deku-kun, bye Iida-kun! Good luck!" Uraraka waves at us while walking backwards.
"Goodbye! Good luck to you guys two." I say.
"Good luck Uraraka-san, Midoriya-kun." And we all head different ways.
Tanjirou POV
(Here's the best Inosuke x Aoi and Zenitsu x Nezuko I can do for y'all since some of you requested)
Before we leave, Naho, Kiyo, Sumi and Aoi-san gives us some rice balls.
"Good luck!" They say.
"Thank you!" I pat them on the head.
"Hey! You're not! Supposed! To eat those!" Aoi yells through grunts. I see Aoi and Inosuke tackling each other.
Inosuke took a handful of rice balls that were meant for the Pillars and tries to stuff them into his mouth. Aoi manages to tackle him and take the majority away while Inosuke happily munches on the two Aoi wasn't able to take.
"You glutton!" Aoi huffs but Inosuke just laughs it off.
"Ahahaha! You could never beat me! I, Inosuke, am the King of the Mountains!" He boasts.
"Nezuko-chan~! You'll miss me when I'm gone right~?" Zenitsu sits down next to Nezuko who is getting her hair done by Kanao.
Nezuko's eyes are too fixed on Kanao's chipped butterfly hair clip in her hands to actually pay attention.
"Bu....butter...f..fl..." Nezuko tries to speak.
"Are you trying to say 'butterfly'?" Kanao smiles while tying Nezuko's hair into a high ponytail.
"Butterfly! Butterfly!" Nezuko shouts happily while lifting the chipped ornament higher in the air.
I couldn't help but smile to myself.
I won't be long until we finally end Muzan Kibutsuji and turn Nezuko back to human.
"Nezuko-chan is so cute!" Zenitsu inches closer to her, at least as far as I allowed him to go.
Nezuko finally looks at him. She stares at him intently, her pink eyes wide. She stretches her hand and pats him on the head, just like how she used to do with our younger siblings. She moves his yellow hair away from his forehead and smiles widely, showing her sharp fangs, cheeks dusted with light pink.
Zenitsu's face turns beat red. He quickly grasps her hand. "Please marry me!" He begs.
Nezuko removes her hand and gives him a closed eye smile.
"Is that a yes?!" Zenitsu squeals.
Suddenly, my 'Older-Brother Instincts' kick in and I some how teleport right behind Zenitsu.
"No." I put my hand on his shoulder and glare at him intensely.
"Eeek!" He shrieks and backs off. "Tanjirou's scary when he gets mad!" He mumbles.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting. They decided to give me tranquilizer darts as well, in case we encounter villains." Genya walks into the room while putting his gun into his holster.
"Alright, let's go!" I say. "Thank you again for taking care of Nezuko while we're out."
"It's no problem, we actually love having her here!" One of Uzui's wives say, Hinatsuru-san.
"It's like having a daughter!" Suma-san hugs Nezuko tightly.
"You kids take care! We'll see you later." Makio-san waves us goodbye as we exit the front door. We wave back and head off.
Standing on the roof of a tall building, the cool wind brushes against me, lifting hair. My green checkered haori sways along with the current of the wind.
I look down on the streets of the town. It's peaceful. People entering and exiting buildings, moving blocks called 'cars' move along the roads.
Maybe our future would be something like this once we defeat Muzan. Maybe the art of breathing techniques will be long forgotten. I've never thought of it before, but after we defeat Muzan, the Demon Slayer Corps will probably be disbanded. The Demon Slayer Corps was never officially recognized by the government, so even through all the trouble we've went through to keep people safe from demons, the people in the future will probably never hear of us. Or maybe it's better that way. Maybe it's better to be oblivious of an awful past, whether those in the future believes in these stories or not.
(Here's the best Kanao x Tanjirou moment I can give to y'all shippers)
I hear footsteps slowly approaching me. I turn the my right to see Kanao, wearing her gentle signature smile and her chipped butterfly ornament.
"Hi, Kanao." I smile at her.
"Hello." She says nodding.
She looks off into the distance of the city and stares for awhile. I step closer to her and begin to smell something familiar mixed with her perfume...sadness.
"Kanao-san, are you feeling sad?" I ask. She tended up and looks at me surprised, then her muscles relax. She moves her gaze from me to the cement floor of the rooftop.
"When we were in the Infinity Fortress," She starts as she sits down at the edge of the roof and I follow her. Our legs dangling from up high. "When I walked into that room, I saw Shinobu-san being crushed to death and I couldn't do anything. My body refused to move."
"Maybe..."She wears an expression of pain and grief. Kanao looks at me, eyes glassy with tears at the corners of her eyes threatening to fall out. "Maybe if I had made a move a second earlier, I could've saved her. If only I hadn't been so scared or if I was stronger."
Her voice sounds strangled. It's unusual compared to her normal, calm and composed tone. "That Douma person killed Kanae-san and Shinobu-san. When me and Inosuke finally managed to kill him, I still felt like that wasn't enough. I know Shinobu-san is alive again, but I still felt so weak."
Kanao looks away from me and lowers her head so her bangs cover her eyes. Her raven black hair tied to a side ponytail moves with the wind. I move my hand away from her shoulder to top of her head. Her bangs move from the movement of my hand as I rub her head.
I take my hand off her head and I stare into the distance as well. "I think Kanao-san is already really strong. Kanao-san fought Upper Moon Two for her sisters, and kept fighting no matter how injured Kanao-san was."
Her eyes widen and she turns to face me again. I turn to face her as well. I give her a soft and sincere smile. "I think that's enough proof that you're an amazingly strong person."
Kanao's cheeks are flushed as she smiles at me. "Thank you, Tanjirou-kun." She wipes away the tears in her eyes.
I feel my cheeks heat up a bit.
"It's no problem." I say. We stand up from where we were sitting and back away from the edge. The smell of sadness disappears and now I only smell Kanao's flowery perfume.
"Feel free to talk to me whenever something troubles you, Kanao-san."
"I will." We smile at each other once again. Kanao-san's smile looks more bright than ever before.
We say goodbye to each other part ways. I continue hopping to a series of roofs for another few hours. I stop to look at my surroundings. I am somewhere in Hosu City. It's sunset, that means the Pillars must be coming out to patrol again soon.
I'm about to head back, until I smell something malicious and murderous.
Demons.
A few kilometres away from me, I see something that's almost bird like attack a train. The train falls off its tracks and explodes, sending pieces of metal flying and starts a huge fire.
I scale down the building and rush towards the explosion. The closer I get to the explosion, the more clear the scent becomes. There are multiple demons nearby but two of them are the strongest.
These two scents are familiar.
That's right, I've fought them before.
(And end of chapter! Who do you think those two demons are? It's probably not that big of a mystery.
I'm glad to see that there are so many people supporting Gotouge and Horikoshi even through all the hate they've been receiving.
And thank you to the people who've been voting and commenting on this fanfic! I'm trying to add some ship moments like I said I would. I'm sorry if they're not that good :(
See y'all in the next chapter)