Chapter 8

Note at the end of the chap! Enjoy!

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A single person was walking alone through the forest. Little dirty on the face, Zenitsu yawned loudly. A small tears formed in the corners of his eyes. It was early in the morning, the sun had just risen a few minutes ago so he didn't sleep too much. Well, he didn't sleep whole night because of the obvious reason.

It was the seventh and the final day of the Final Selection. It was a day when the new generation of Demon Slayers will be acknowledged by Demon Slayer Corp and the new beginning for those who survived it. They will officially become Slayers, receiving a rank, uniform and what Zenitsu was looking up to the most, their own Nichirin Blade.

Zenitsu: "I wonder what color would it be? Gramps mentioned that it depends on the user... His sword is bright yellow, so as the fellow Thunder Breath user my sword should be the same right? Hmm... I hope it won't be black, I prefer to have luck on my side. But what if I get the Red one?? Oh my, how unexpected would it be hahahaha. " He chuckled at the thought of receiving the legendary Red color.

As he walked along the path, he noticed that the ground suddenly changed a color to much darker. It looked like a dried puddle of water, but it didn't rain for the whole week. Zenitsu stared at the big stain on the ground and sighed soon after. He knew it wasn't because of water, but because of blood. It was a place where someone died, perhaps someone of his age, perhaps someone who had a family waiting for him.

Zenitsu: "I hope it's not a Tanjiro. It would be terrible to lose my first and only friend. Wait, are we considered as friends? Or more like acquaintance?" He placed a finger on his chin and started thinking.

He thought that Tanjiro is a kind guy, someone with whom you can talk easily and freely. Since the incident in his home village, he didn't have a single person with whom he can talk like with someone equal. Sure, there was Gramps, but he was much more like a grandfather to him than a friend. And it's obvious that there are topics you can only talk about with a friend. There was also Kaigaku... At the beginning he used to bully Zenitsu, but when the latter was struck by the lightning, he didn't stand still anymore. There was even a moment when Zenitsu almost broke Kaigaku's nose. To summarize, they didn't get along with each other.

As he was deep inside his thoughts he arrived at the same place where the selection began. He walked under the clusters of wisteria, gently brushing his hand past them, the refreshing scent attacked his nose. Zenitsu was fascinated by the contrast between gloomy and dark forest, and the beautiful and lively barrier of wisteria trees, circling around the mountain. It almost felt like he was walking into another world.

He stepped at the square where seven days ago two children sent them to final selection. Nothing changed at all, the stage was where it always was, the boulders were at their place, the gate still beamed with it's ancient-like and mysterious presence. But one thing changed. In the place where previously over twenty people stood, now only few remain. Including him, only four people were present, the pretty but silent girl, a boy with scar who was looking at Zenitsu as if he wanted to rip him apart, and of course a Tanjiro who was waving his hand at Zenitsu.

Zenitsu returned the gesture and walked closer towards his new friend. The girl didn't react in the slightest, seemingly lost in her thought, but he could swear he felt the scar-boy's stare at his back.

Tanjiro: "Zenitsu! I'm glad you made it!" Said happily Tanjiro, patting him on the shoulder.

Zenitsu: "Same. I thought I'll be first here, haha." He chuckled. "Did I miss something?"

Tanjiro shook his head in denial.

Tanjiro: "We are here only for a few minutes, but the children on the stage didn't say anything at all. Maybe others are getting late..."

Zenitsu: "There are no others..." Said Zenitsu with a sigh. He couldn't hear any other human in the area except their group.

Every participant knew that the end of the selection would be taking place in the early morning on the 7th day, so it was common sense to stay closer to the "border" on the 6th day to avoid unnecessary risk. Zenitsu didn't hear any human on his way and he was pretty sure he was in the deepest part of the forest, he also didn't hear anyone approaching them. That means there was only one possibility, no one else survived.

Tanjiro: "...I know..." He said dejected with clenched fists.

*Clap* *Clap*

Zenitsu and Tanjiro stopped chatting and looked at the duo of white and black children.

Black&White Duo: "Welcome back everyone. We are glad to see you that you are safe." Said children with purple eyes in a little creepy sync. As they were about to continue, the angry guy interrupted them.

???: "Yeah, so? What am I supposed to do now? And where is my sword?" He was seemingly irritated by unknown reason, glaring angrily at the children.

White: "First we will issue your uniforms. We will take your measurements, then we will engrave your rank." She responded calmly, but the guy just clenched his fists and continued to glare at them.

'Yeah, why the rush? You just survived 7 days in place filled with Demons. Relax man and stop bothering them.' Thought Zenitsu.

Black: "There are ten ranks in total..."

White: "Kinoe..."

Black: "Kinoto..."

White: "Hinoe..."

As the duo proceeded to explain ranks to the four survivors, Zenitsu and Tanjiro patiently listened to what they had to say, same as with the silent girl. But the guy with a scar on his face looked like he was boiling inside. Zenitsu noticed a few tick marks appearing on his face.

White: "Right now you are at the lowest rank, Mizunoto. As you slay more Demons-" The girl was again interrupted by the same person.

???: "And our swords???"

Black: "In a moment we will let you choose an ore for your sword. However, it will take ten to fifteen days to complete them."

'Hmmm, so around two weeks before my job as a real Demon Slayer begins.' Thought Zenitsu, thinking what to do in the coming free days.

???: "Haa?? Are you kidding me?" And once again the same guy complained, angry for whatever reason.

White: "But first..." *Clap* *Clap*

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the pack of birds flew towards them. Zenitsu didn't hear them flying earlier, so they probably were waiting on the nearby trees. There were four birds, one for each survivor.

Black: "We will assign each one of you your own Kasugai Crow."

'Does Gramps have it too? No, probably not. He's retired. But wait, something is off...' Zenitsu looked

White: "These Kasugai Crows can be used for communication, mainly between you and headquarters, but also between fellow Demon Slayers." Explained girl in her ever passive voice.

Zenitsu: "Wait a moment! Sorry for interrupting you, but it seems that my Crow is sick! Look! It shrinked and changed color!" He said looking between others who held Crows and towards his hand where there was... a sparrow. The bird was angrily chirping and swinging it's little wings as if it was offended. But suddenly all birds flew away, startled by loud shouts.

???: "Don't give me that crap!" Yelled guy with scar. "Who cares about some stupid Crows?!" He walked past Tanjiro and Zenitsu, heading towards white haired girl. Seeing that he was about to grab the little girl by her hair, Tanjiro wanted to move and stop him, but something flashed past him. "I want my swo-!"

Just when he almost touched the girl, a sudden pull on his collar threw him backwards, making him roll once. First surprised, he looked around to see what happened only to growl in anger seeing a yellow haired boy in the place where he stood previously.

'I didn't even see him move!' Thought Tanjiro, looking between Zenitsu and the spot where he stood a moment ago. 'It was an instant! Amazing!' Even the calm girl started paying more attention to them.

???: "You piece of shit! What the hell you think you doing?!" Yelled man standing up, with hands on his sword. It was looking like he was about to drown it out.

Zenitsu: "Jeez, shut up already. " He said in an annoyed tone of voice. "You are supposed to slay Demons but what the hell do you think you are trying to do? Since the beginning all you did was only complain. What in the world did that girl do to you?" Hearing him, the guy gritted his teeth in anger, holding his sword tighter. Seeing that Zenitsu frowned. "Better don't take it out, you may cut yourself."

???: "You!!"

Tanjiro: "Hey, guys!" Seeing that he was about to dash at Zenitsu, Tanjiro walked between them, keeping both boys away from each other.

Black: "Everyone, please calm down or there will be consequences." Calm voice, although not so loud, spread through the area. Strange thing was that everyone felt unexplainable pressure hearing those words from just a child. Zenitsu glanced last time at the violent guy and apologized to the black and white duo, and the boy with scar just clicked his tongue while mumbling something under his breath. On the other hand Tanjiro apologized to the two without a reason and sighed in relief that the fight didn't break out.

White: "Now, everyone, choose an ore for your sword." She said as she stepped aside, revealing several ores laying next to each other.

Tanjiro and Zenitsu looked at each other, both with excitement in the eyes. As they walked forward the guy and the girl soon followed them, with now four of them standing in front of the ores. No one picked up any of them, even after a few seconds.

???: "Which one I should pick?" Said to himself a guy who was causing problems a few moments ago. Although what he said aloud, everyone was thinking.

'We have to choose? Gramps didn't mention that... But it shouldn't matter right? In the end it's the ores of the same metal. No, if it wouldn't matter then we would just receive our sword after two weeks... But why are they letting us choose? Are these different from each other?' Thought Zenitsu with serious expression. There were several of the ores, no one the same as the other. There was one big, three medium sized and two small.

The silent girl was first to choose her ore. It was the one from the middle of the table, one of the two smallest. She walked towards the children and handed it to them, before she nodded and left with a Crow again on her shoulder.

The angry guy cursed and grabbed the biggest one, at the far right. He basically shoved it into the black haired kid hands and walked away, swearing at his Crow.

Next one was Tanjiro. He, like a Zenitsu, was observing each of the ore. But what Zenitsu found strange was the way he checked them. 'Is he sniffing them?' At that moment Tanjiro opened his eyes and picked the medium sized ore.

Tanjiro: "This is the one. Well, this is it for me. I hope we can meet again in the future. Good luck and take care! " He said to Zenitsu, who nodded in response, and with a smile as he walked to hand it over.

Zenitsu didn't find anything special about these ores excluding the size. 'Maybe it's about the weight?' He took one after another but aside from surprising light weight, there wasn't anything special. Just as he thought of choosing randomly, something strange happened when he touched the last ore.

*Bzzzt!*

Zenitsu: "Ouch! What the...'' Whined Zenitsu in pain, waving his hand. When he was about to touch the ore on the far left, a medium sized, small charge of electricity ran through his hand. Staring at it for a few moments, still surprised at what happened, he poked it a few times to see if it's going to shock him again. Seeing that it's safe now, he decided to pick that one.

As he handed the ore to the children, both congratulated him for passing the Final Selection and reminded that he should expect his sword and uniform in about two weeks.

Zenitsu started walking towards the stairs, wanting to descend down the mountain and travel back home, but unexpectedly a sparrow from before landed on the top of his head.

*Chu! Chu!*

Zenitsu: "Oh. Hi, there! Quite a strange crow you are. You didn't eat well did you? Quite small you are. Ouch! Stop! " He started making fun of a poor sparrow who in response started chirping angrily while pecking his head with its small beak.

Zenitsu: "I was kidding! Jeez!" He picked the small bird and looked at it. "Hmm... They said we will get Crows, but no matter how I look at you you are a normal sparrow, little violent though." The bird chirped as if it was saying 'I'm not violent! And I'm not worse than that Crows! You will see!'

Zenitsu blinked a few times in surprise, he couldn't believe his ears.

Zenitsu: "D-did you speak in a human voice?" He asked the bird suspiciously.

*Chu! Chu!* (Of course not!)

Zenitsu: "Wow! I can understand what you're saying! So that's what they meant by 'They're used for communication'! Amazing!" He smiled as he pett the sparrow. "You have a name?" But the bird shook his head. "Hmm... Name for a sparrow... Name for a sparrow... Hmmm, you always go like *Chu! Chu!* so maybe Chuntaro? How about it?"

*Chu! Chu!*

The bird happily chirped and waved his little wings, landing on Zenitsu's shoulder.

Zenitsu: "Hahaha, glad you like it. Well, we should get going. We have a day and half of a way to get back to home. Let's go." He said as he walked in the distance, wondering how he should have bragged to Jigoro.

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Note!

From now on there are going to be a mission in which Zenitsu participated before he met Tanjiro after the Final Selection. As I don't know what he specifically did, I will just think of something myself. Also he will meet few other characters, so the plot may change slightly (or really much).

Next thing, Romance? Or Harem?

If Romance then of course Nezuko <3! If harem then how many? Two or three? Nezuko, Shinobu and Mitsuri? Nezuko and Shinobu? Nezuko and Mitsuri? Shinobu and Mitsuri? Or maybe someone like Daki?!(Probably not haha) Or Spidermom?!

Just beware that harem in Demon Slayer shouldn't be strange, in the end Uzui had three wives if I remember correctly.

I thought of the next Breathing Form for Zenitsu, it's really simple but I think it's cool.

Just write what you think!

Next chap till the end of the week.