255 My OC Stash #55 - Butterfly’s Tree by BANIX (KimetsuNoYaiba)

-A sweet short story from BANIX~ A lost college student reincarnates into Demon Slayer, with little to no meta knowledge and 0 cheats! Shinobu best girl ofc/

Sypnosis: He is like a huge tree, unmoving and strong. She is like the butterfly, always flitting about. When she gets tired, she would seek refuge and rest in the shade of the tree. She is the butterfly, and he is her tree. (Reincarnated OC)

Rated: T

Words: 20K

Posted on: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13450552/1/Butterfly-s-Tree (BANIX)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1

I never amounted to anything much in life.

Plain, normal, boring, nerd. That's what people used to describe me.

Not like I brought myself to care, I'm too lazy to. It's not that such words don't bother me, they do, but I… am just too lazy to do anything about it.

I procrastinate a lot because I don't have an interest in studying or pretty much anything. I didn't do well in university. I either fail or barely pass my exams. It's not that I'm dumb, I know I'm not dumb even if I'm definitely not the smartest. It's just… it's just…

Studying is so boring, you know?

I don't feel like I'm learning. I don't feel the excitement to learn something new whenever the lecturer goes through a new topic. I find it a drag, a chore. It's tiring. I think that I might have picked the wrong major but on hindsight, I think it would be the same no matter whatever subject I chose to major in.

I just don't find joy in learning anymore.

Maybe it's because I chose my major on the basis that it might make me rich in the future if I specialise in a certain profession? Is that why I don't find joy in learning?

I would never know. I met my end before I had the chance to change my decision.

It came as utterly no surprise that such a boring person like me who had done nothing and contributed nothing to society got reborn as a sickly child in a family stricken with disease and poverty.

The catch?

This is the period of feudal Japan.

I guess this is karma.

I don't know which period exactly, but it's not like it would have made much of a difference even if I do know. I never bothered to learn about Japan's history.

In this new body, I cough a lot as a child. My arms were weak. I caught a flu every month or so. I could barely hold a spoon without my hands trembling.

This new father of mine, if I would ever refer to him as that, is abusive. My new mother is too afraid of him to do anything. I have seven siblings, each of them older than me. Whenever my father left the house, we would all worry if he would come back drunk, for if he does, it means another round of beating for whoever earned his ire.

It doesn't help that in this new body, I have a speech impairment. My words come out slow. For example, if I want to say 'Good Morning', it comes out as "Good…Mor…ning…"

You can imagine the number of beatings I had gotten from my new father because of this. I'm surprised I haven't died a second time.

By the time I was five, my father deemed me to be a burden to the family. My siblings could at least somewhat contribute to the family by doing odd jobs or chores. I could not.

I was sold as a slave.

Some middleclass family bought me at a cheap price due to my sickly body. Maybe they took pity on me. Maybe they wanted to see if they luck out by buying over this sickly boy, hoping that I could be useful and last at least another year or two. If I could, this alone would make their investment worthwhile.

I could care less. At that point in time, I'm just wondering why I am even fighting to stay alive in this kind of shitty situation.

It's obvious that I have no rights as a slave. I couldn't do many jobs. My trembling hands made sure that I could not even serve a proper cup of tea. There's nothing I could do. I have no worth.

I'm just going to die another miserable death. Pathetic.

In the end, the head servant of the house gave up on me and shove an axe into my hands, telling me to just cut firewood until the day I die. Telling me to at least be useful to someone by cutting some firewood that keeps them warm at night.

Of course, I could not cut a single thing. I don't have the strength. I barely managed to lift up that rusty axe. In this sickly body, I have to be smart about it if I ever want to cut a piece of wood with an axe in hand.

No one expected anything out of me. I didn't expect anything out of this either. It's just that I probably would die soon, and I have all the time in the world to figure out how to cut a piece of wood with just an axe and with a body so frail a breeze could knock me down.

I really did have all the time in the world and I have nothing to lose.

I experimented for the fun of it. The angle I want to cut the wood. The force needed. How high I needed to lift the axe. How to plant both my feet. I even experimented if the way I breathe affected my efficiency.

The last part of woodcutting was the most crucial, but I only found that out many years later when I joined the Demon Slaying Corps.

By the end of the month, I made a good enough chip on the wood that is easily visible.

By the end of the second month, I could properly split the wood into two neat pieces in one blow.

By the end of the year, I could easily finish cutting up any amount of firewood given to me.

Suddenly, woodcutting seemed so much fun. I didn't know that such a mundane task could actually be fun. I invented creative ways to use the axe. I could even sculpt with an axe if I wanted to and it would not take much time at all. Such was the expertise I have with an axe in hand because I devoted all my attention and time into knowing how to use it properly.

For whatever reasons that was unknown to me back then, my body started to have visible changes. I no longer cough that much. My body is no longer sickly. I actually started to grow some muscles. I can actually run now.

I spent the next seven(?) eight(?) years cutting wood and playing around with the axe. I could not really tell how long I spent exactly in that backyard of my owner's house. Time passed without me realising it as I cut firewood from dawn to dusk every day, trying to experiment different ways to cut wood by changing the variables. The biggest breakthrough was figuring out that the way I breathe actually has a significant impact on woodcutting during my second year as a slave.

I figured that maybe by changing the way I breathe it affected the amount of oxygen I took in, helping me to surpass my limits. By the third year I was sold as a slave, I am no longer sickly. In fact, I am one of the strongest teens around in the backwater village I am in. Funny thing is, I had never ventured out of the backyard that I did my woodcutting. A slave like me is not allowed to do so anyway.

No matter what profession, people starts to notice you if you are good in your job. I was soon asked by the neighbours to help cut their firewood. My owner didn't mind as long as I did my share for his family. I didn't really mind because I had nothing better to do and finding new ways to use an axe was the only pastime I had.

The first time I really stepped out of the house was when there was a bear lurking on the outskirts of the village and all able-bodied men were called to cull it. I was sent in replacement of my owner. I was given an axe and nothing else. That's it.

It was when I travelled with the hunters did I realise how much fitter I am as compared to them. I ran a lot faster, walked a lot longer, jumped a lot higher. I could hold my breath underwater way longer than anyone could to the point that I found it unnatural. I could even move without making a single sound.

And then we found the hulking monster of a bear. Or rather, it found us in the dead of the night. Caught us all by surprise there.

By the time we realised that the two hunters in our group who were supposed to keep watch during the night were silently killed by the crafty bear, another three had been mauled to death. The bear was going for another two nearby who didn't have time to pick up their weapons. My axe was beside me. In my desperation, I picked it up. With courage I never knew I possessed, I leapt towards the bear and swung my axe with a single arm.

I cleaved the bear into two with one single swing.

I saved the villagers, my fellow hunters. However, whatever I did was clearly unnatural. They already had suspicions of me when we were travelling. I was way too fit to be humanly possible.

Humans fear what they don't understand.

My rusted axe couldn't withstand the force of my swing. It had broken just after I killed the bear. The people who were supposed to be my fellow hunters pointed their weapons at me after witnessing my superhuman strength, asking me if I am human, if I am possessed by some evil spirit or some superstitious nonsense. I didn't want to hurt them, I tried to explain myself.

But I also had a speech impairment, remember? It didn't help my case at all.

It was when someone was about to make the first lunge that the real demon struck.

Everyone was stunned.

It came out of nowhere. I had never seen something so grotesque, so evil, so revolting in my life before. I had never believed in the supernatural despite my reincarnation status, but right then?

We were in hell.

By the time we regained our senses. Five people in our group were already dead, chunks of them being ripped out by that thing and they were being messily gobbled up. It snapped us out of it. People started to fight back in desperation, hoping to kill whatever abomination that thing is.

In just another second, everyone except me fell dead. Only I managed to react and avoid its attack in time.

Correction, that thing has buddies. There were a small group of them staring at me from above the treetops, eyeing me like some sort of caged rabbit about to be hunted.

I saw another axe nearby and I picked it up. A feral haze enveloped my mind. All I see were red. All that was in my mind back then is to fight back, to kill, to survive and not get eaten.

All I wanted was to survive this nightmare and to get out of this hell.

I never remembered what actually happened after that.

When I came to, I was lying on a soft bed, covered by a sheet of warm blanket. The sunrays were actually peeking through the windows. As a slave, I was never allowed to sleep in no matter how ill I felt. I needed to be awake before the rooster crows to chop firewood for everyone living in my owner's house.

Naturally, I jolted out of bed and tried to move, only for a dainty hand to stop me. With a gentle press to my chest, I was pushed back down onto the bed.

To add to my surprise, it was a petite girl my age who did that. I easily towered over her, yet she had the strength to push me down as if squashing an ant.

"Don't move, you are still recovering. You nearly died back there."

The girl with pale skin and large eyes that reminds me of those of bugs looked down at me with a scowl. And her hair… there is a purple tinge to it? Hair dyes are not a thing in feudal Japan, so I assume her hair colour is natural. Is having natural purple hair even genetically possible?

What's going on?

The girl turned around to mix some liquids on a nearby table, not really paying that much attention to me.

"Sorry that we were unable to find the demons in time. If we did, your friends need not have died. How did you kill all of them by yourself anyway? You didn't suffer any superficial wounds, at least none we could find, but it seems as if you burnt yourself out almost to the point of death. You killed them with nothing but a broken axe and your fists."

What? Demons? Oh, yeah, that. I guess its looks combined with its supernatural abilities could qualify it as a demon.

"And where did you even learn a Breath Style from? It's nothing we ever saw before."

Breath Style?

The girl turned back to face me, a cup in her hands.

"Drink this."

I gulped the whole thing down despite how horrible it tasted. At the very least, I'm still alive.

"What's your name anyway?"

This girl is an impatient one. It's like her face is always etched with either a frown or a scowl, sometimes both.

As for my name? I had forgotten my given name a long time ago, both my previous life and this one. I never liked my second family. My owners and the other servants back home simply call me the woodcutter.

"No… Name…"

I really dream of the day when I could speak properly once more.

The girl's eyes widened in realisation upon hearing my words.

"Oh. Slave, right?" She pointed to the mark that was branded on me when I first became a slave. The mark that sits on my right shoulder.

I nodded.

"It's fine now. We don't keep slaves here; you are now a free man."

It's like I struck a windfall.

Me? A free man?

I was able to get out of bed to walk and run normally by the third day. In this period of time, I learnt many new things.

Demon Slayer Corps. Ubuyashiki Kagaya. Pillars. Demon Slayer. Breath Styles. Demons. Kibutsuji Muzan.

It's like some sort of crazy fictional story come to life.

I would only know many years later that this world was indeed a fictional story in my past life. I only remembered after spotting a certain demon girl that carries a piece of bamboo in her mouth all the time.

The Demon Slayers here all claimed that I know how to use a Breath Style. They kept asking me who I learnt it from. I don't know how to answer them, and it does not help that I have a speech impairment. I was never taught how to write in Japanese either, so communicating with everyone else was difficult. Breath Style? I didn't even know such a thing existed until three days ago!

It took some time, but I managed to tell them that it may be related to my woodcutting experience. I did spend a lot of time thinking about the best ways to cut firewood after all. I had everything down to an art form.

They asked me to showcase my abilities. I simply shrugged and went with it. I had nothing better to do anyway.

I remembered that I could easily cut a bear into two with an axe that night, I tried to see if I could replicate that feat. There are no bears here, so I tried it on a few large trees with an axe I borrowed.

I fell them with ease. All I did was to casually swing my arm once at full force. Needless to say, I was taken aback. This is not supposed to be possible.

I felt bad about breaking the axe though. It could not withstand the force of the blow and broke just like what happened when I killed the bear.

The girl who I saw when I first woke up, who I now know as Kocho Shinobu, said that what I employed was definitely a Breath Style. Her older sister and also one of the nine Pillars, Kocho Kanae, said that I could already use Full Focus Breathing, and that I should join the Demon Slayer Corps with that kind of talent and strength at my disposal.

All I could manage as a reply was an unintelligible-

"…Ah?"

Not the most intelligible reply, but in my defence, I was really confused about the whole situation. My entire worldview had been turned upside down in a short span of a few days.

The leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, Ubuyashiki Kagaya, requested an audience with me. People call him "Oyakata-sama" within the Corps. He gave me two choices. I could go a free man and live my life however I please or join his little demon slaying army.

I had heard many things about Demons during my short stay here in the Headquarters. I know what kind of atrocities Demons do on a regular basis. I saw the type of wounds the injured Slayers suffered from their battle with Demons when the Kakushi carried them into the Butterfly Estate. I never did manage to do anything worthwhile with my life in my first life. I was a waste of space. Garbage. Maybe in this life, in this crazy era where Demons run amok, I could make myself useful. Maybe I can be needed.

If I could do something useful for someone, to make a difference somehow, then my life would be worth living.

I chose the second option and went to take the Final Selection. They gave me a katana before I head to the venue. Instead, I asked if it was possible if they could give me an axe that would not break if I swing it at full force.

With a single axe by my side, I passed the Final Selection with ease.

The axe never survived the first swing though, and I felt bad for destroying another axe. I had to survive the rest of the Selection with just my fists.

That was how I officially became a member of the Demon Slayer Corps.

I'm very sure that my blacksmith hates my guts, and rightfully so.

It had been established long ago before my Final Selection that the katana simply doesn't suit me. With the force I swing a weapon, a delicate weapon like the katana will undoubtedly crack. I have been wielding an axe the entire of my second life. I live and breathe with the axe. My blacksmith took this into consideration and forged me an axe, making me one of the few rare Slayers with an unconventional weapon in the history of the Demon Slaying Corps.

However, nothing my blacksmith made for me lasts. Every axe he made for me, regardless of size, I broke it with a single swing. I could not go demon hunting like this.

I'm very used to my blacksmith shouting vulgarities at me by the time I broke the fifth axe he forged for me.

Smithing a weapon takes time. In the waiting period, I volunteered to chop all the firewood that anyone needs in the Headquarters to try and make myself useful to others. I was kindly given a bed to sleep in the Butterfly Estate because I have nowhere to go.

Naturally, I had a lot of chances to talk to the Kocho sisters. The lower ranking Kakushis seemed to be afraid of them for whatever reasons, probably due to their status. I never understood the fear. The sisters don't even bite.

"You really don't have a name, huh?"

I shrugged at Shinobu's words as I continue to chop firewood. Nothing else I can do there.

"Stop chopping. We have more than enough firewood to go around for the next three days thanks to you. If you are so free, help me to mix some medicine."

I looked back at her, who had crossed her arms and is now impatiently tapping a foot against the ground in an impatient manner. She gestured with her head for me to follow her, which I did.

"Wisteria flowers are like poison to Demons. You do well to remember that if you want to be a Demon Slayer."

"Sunlight are also fatal to them. If a Demon is too strong for you to take down and you could not escape, try to delay them until dawn."

"Demons are immortal and while they used to be humans, they already lost their humanity, so there's no need to be kind to them. Kill them whenever you have the chance. If you find out anything about Kibutsuji, you inform the Pillars or Oyakata-sama immediately, understand? Don't engage him on your own."

If there's one thing I found out about Shinobu, it's that she's brash and straightforward despite the permanent scowl on her face. She used it as a way to hide her compassion for others. She is secretly a tsundere.

She also disliked anyone making any comments about her height, and especially hated it when anyone makes a comparison between the two of us. I am one of the tallest and biggest people in the Demon Slaying Corps. My height and build is similar to the Stone Pillar Himejima Gyomei. Since I often helped out in the Butterfly Estate either by chopping up firewood or helping the Kocho sisters tend to the injured, many teasing comments were often made by the other Pillars about the height difference between me and Shinobu since she is one of the shortest person walking around.

It took a few months before my blacksmith returned with another weapon for me to try out. I had nearly thought that I was kicked out of the Demon Slaying Corps for breaking so many of their weapons with my newfound superhuman strength, and my blacksmith also took a long time to make his reappearance.

The new weapon is a gigantic double blade axe. The length of the handle itself is about one and a half times my height. The size of both blades took up nearly half the length of the weapon. There is also a thick and extremely long metal chain at the end of the handle. The entire weapon transformed into a dark black in colour when I first held it in my hands. People say that it is an inauspicious colour for a Demon Slayer because no known users of such a coloured blade lived a long life.

But I loved the colour black.

I can already visualise the number of things I could do with such a unique weapon by my side. I could tell from the first glance, that this is the weapon for me. The weapon didn't break no matter how forceful I swing it. With the chain at the end of the weapon, I could extend my reach and swing my battleaxe however I like at unexpected angles. My blacksmith really outdid himself.

I gave him the deepest bow I could to show my gratitude.

"Thank… you…"

"Just don't go and break this now, you hear me?! And don't you dare die!"

With those parting words, my blacksmith left in that usual grumpy manner of his.

"He… Angry?"

"No, Daiki, he isn't." Kanae said with a laid-back laugh and a hand over her mouth.

My name is now Daiki, which basically means Big Tree. Given my woodcutter status, I guess it's a fitting name that the sisters picked for me.

Shinobu gave the weapon I slung across my back a look over. It is easily taller than her.

"Are you seriously going to swing that thing around? Just how heavy is it?"

Extremely heavy, but I can manage it. My body is now apparently strong enough to match the Stone Pillar in pure physical strength. However, I had long since learnt that my speech impairment doesn't allow me to speak much. I have to heavily summarise my thoughts into a few words to get my point across.

"No… Problems..."

Translation: I have no problems in wielding this weapon.

Shinobu raised a questioning eyebrow.

"If you say so. Good luck out there."

With those parting words, I set out on my first mission as a Demon Slayer.

Wake up, eat, train, eat, sleep, eat, hunt some Demons, sleep, repeat. That's my normal routine whenever I'm out for a mission. Once I'm done, I head back to the Butterfly Estate.

Kanae is very easygoing, inviting me to stay over the Butterfly Estate whenever I am given breaks in between missions to rest. I try my best to help out in the Estate whenever I do so because I feel bad otherwise. It would feel like I am taking advantage of their hospitality.

At least I gain some basic medicine making skills while I'm at it. They even taught me how to read and write in the Japanese language, which I am grateful for.

"You mix that wrong again!"

Shinobu is a really strict teacher when it comes to medicine. Kanae is a Pillar and is thus a very busy person, so the role of the teacher fell onto Shinobu. Most of the medical stuffs are mostly done by Shinobu.

It had been about two years since I was freed from a life of slavery and became a Demon Slayer. Due to whatever accident or natural talent that allowed me to gain my own Breath Style during my woodcutter days, I quickly rose through the ranks. Kanae and Shinobu told me this is because I am easily able to do what they call Full Focus Breathing. According to them, I had already been doing it before they found me.

It didn't really matter to me though. I don't feel like I am actively doing anything out of the ordinary.

My double blade axe is easily the heaviest weapon in the Corps. My style focus on one strike, one kill. Swinging an axe is tough work due to its weight, I need to make every swing count to conserve my strength. I need my attacks to be both destructive and precise. Hence, the one strike one kill motif in my attack style.

Every capable Demon Slayer have their own attacks that suit their style, like how the First Style for the Breath of Water is the Water Surface Slash. So far, I only needed three attacks for my Breath Style. Most Demons fell by my axe within the first strike. The strongest one I met so far lasted till the third strike.

I had no idea how to name my style. Shinobu got fed up with my indecisiveness while Kanae found it fun to think of a name for my style. Soon after, the whole Butterfly Estate were trying to come up with funny names for it.

I let them have their fun. If this can bring smiles to their faces, I don't mind.

Somehow, they decided on naming my breath style Breath of Tree. According to Kanae, it was Shinobu's idea.

Ubuyashiki had his children document it on official papers the existence of such a Breath Style once they learnt about it, classifying it as a branch under the Breath of Stone due to both Breath Styles sharing many similarities. Upon learning about this, Himejima could not stop crying tears of joy for reasons I never understood. I decided that it is better for my mental health if I don't attempt to understand. Each Pillar have their own eccentricity. It's like it is a prerequisite to be weird if you want to be strong in the Corps.

I invented seven different attacks for the Breath of Tree. I only needed the first three so far, but I am sure I would need the other four in the future. I am in the process of inventing the eighth and final attack, but that would take some time. That attack would be my strongest attack.

The fighting style of the Breath of Tree is different from most styles. I don't actively move in battle. Most of the time, I just stand there at my spot. I only react when Demons attack me, which most of them did upon spotting me. I'm like a tree, immovable and strong. Only when attacked did I use my axe to cleave the Demons down. If my axe doesn't have enough range, I swing it around using the long metal chain attached to the end of the axe like how Thor swings his Mjolnir. It gets the Demons ten times out of ten.

To me, no matter how fancy it is, a punch is a punch. A kick is a kick. A slash is a slash. A thrust is a thrust. There aren't much fancy movements to my attacks, just pure unrestrained power. I swung my axe with so much power and speed that any Demons I met only had two choices before they met their end. Either they try to kill me before I do to them, or they try to defend and run. Neither option had worked for them. I'm always faster and more powerful. There isn't anything I could not cut into two with my axe in the blink of an eye.

Kanae jokingly said that I might be at the level of a Pillar already. Shinobu huffed and said that I still have a long way to go and told me not to get conceited.

I honestly don't care if I ever become a Pillar or not, so I just smiled and waved it off.

What I only cared about now is to try and not die a worthless death like I did the first time around. If possible, I want to help do some good in my second life.

Being a Demon Slayer sounds like a good way to do so.

Another year passed. The Kocho sisters adopted a younger sister named Tsuyuri Kanao. She displays close to no emotions. She's unresponsive to pretty much anything that is not an order. Her responses are mechanical, something which you would expect out of a robot rather than of a human.

I don't speak much due to my speech impairment, so when people put me and Kanao together in a room in a last ditch attempt to see if I could trigger a reaction out of the emotionless girl when everyone else had failed, the only thing that filled the room is silence, much to the sisters' exasperation.

There's nothing much I can do for Kanao. The most I could do is to gather her some flowers or craft wooden dolls for her and hope it cheers her up. Even then, I think she is improving. Little by little, the Kocho sisters are slowly getting her to open up.

All is well.

"Here, take some food with you before you go."

Shinobu handed to me a box of riceballs and I accepted it gratefully.

"Thank… you…"

"We are past this stage, Daiki." She crossed her arms and tried to put up a nonchalant attitude. "Just don't die. Nee-chan and I had already saw too many of our comrades die, we don't want to see someone that we are close to dying again. Kanao would probably regress if she heard that you died as well."

"I… Won't… Die..."

I have no plan to die anytime soon with this second chance I was given.

"I will hold you to that."

She turned around and disappeared from view as she entered the Estate. I shook my head in amusement as I exited the Headquarters with the box of riceballs in hand.

I will never say it to her face because she will poison me if I did that, but Shinobu being a tsundere is really cute.

The riceballs tasted really nice too.

"Ara ara, the both of you are mixing medicine again. How sweet! What are you two brewing? Is that love that I smell in the air?"

"Shut up, nee-san. It's nothing like that."

After so many years, Shinobu and I being teased in this manner by Kanae is a regular occurrence by now. Teasing other people seems to be one of Kanae's favourite pastimes. I've built up immunity to Kanae's teasing, but Shinobu is still too easy to rile up.

"Daiki-kun, Shinobu and I will be on a mission for the next two weeks. Do you mind helping us taking care of the Estate and Kanao-chan in the meantime?"

I readily agreed. I am close friends with the sisters at this point, and I've learnt enough from them to be able to perform many types of treatments and mix different types of medicine.

"We will be back before you know it! See you!"

Little did I know, that was the last time I ever saw Kanae.

There is a vacant spot among the pillars after Kanae's death. Shinobu and I were both possible candidates since we are both Pillar-level in strength, or at least that is what Ubuyashiki said. I immediately declined the offer. That position should be Shinobu's. It is only right for her to take up her sister's position.

I still could not believe that Kanae was killed. She was kind-hearted and strong. Why is it always the good people who dies?

Shinobu's personality had a drastic change ever since Kanae's death. Kanae's death was the work of the Upper Moon Two. Shinobu adopts Kanae's personality now that Kanae is gone. Shinobu is now more laid-back, always having a serene smile on her face and is now always teasing people. She also developed a somewhat sadistic streak towards Demons.

All of these didn't hide the anger I know she is feeling. Other people might not see it, but I do. I've known her for a long time after all.

I have no idea what else I can do as a friend. I have no idea what I can do other than to try and be by her side as much as I can, to show her that she is not alone.

"I miss her, you know?"

It was two months after Kanae died. Two months after Shinobu took over Kanae's position as a Pillar. Shinobu was sitting alone on a roof during the dead of the night where she can finally drop her smiling mask after a long day. I kept her company. She didn't shoo me away like she did during the first two weeks after her sister's death, so I guess it's an improvement.

"I don't think I would ever be as good as nee-san. I don't even have the ability to cut off a demon's neck. I don't think I will be a good Pillar."

She was hugging her legs close to her chest, draping Kanae's haori over her, a memento to remind herself of her older sister.

I tried my best to cheer her up and comfort her. As much as someone with a speech impairment could anyway.

"You… can…"

Shinobu let out a silent laugh, face still buried into her knees.

"Thanks, Daiki."

"Your… Welcomed..."

She really did go on to become a great Pillar after that.

A few more years passed. Kanao grew up from a small little girl into a young adult in the blink of an eye. She is steadily reaching the strength of a Pillar. Shinobu is now always smiling and is not wallowing in grief, which is good.

The anger within her heart had never disappeared though. I'm still trying to do something about that.

I perfected my eighth and final attack in my Breath of Tree Breathing Style. I still haven't got around to name it. Nothing sounds right so far. I also haven't got around to using it in battle because things never got to that point.

When not out on missions, I continue to help out in the Estate. Some of the Pillars actively seek me out to do some rigorous training since they claimed my strength is on par with them. However, all nine slots are currently filled, so they couldn't give me the title of a Pillar.

I don't really care much about that title. I'm just glad no other Pillars died within these few years.

One fine day, Shinobu had gotten this crazy idea to kill the Upper Moon Two by turning herself into a living poison capsule. I had never gotten so mad in my life because by doing things her way, she is allowing herself to be eaten by said Demon to take it down.

In both my lives, I had never gotten so mad to the point that my body is physically trembling, not even when I was a slave. She's willing to use her life as the price to take down the Upper Moon Two.

All for revenge.

The worst part was that I could never get my words across thanks to my speech impairment. It made it difficult for me to talk her out of her crazy idea. Since words would not do, I used my bare hands and crushed the bottle of Wisteria Poison she was making and threw it out of the window.

On my end, I just don't want her to die. On her end, she couldn't understand why I am forsaking a good chance for us to take down an Upper Moon Two.

That was the first time we crossed blades.

Our battle was destructive, mostly thanks to me. Shinobu is like a butterfly, employing precise strikes as she darted around while my attack style is like a huge tree, unmoving in face of adversity but capable of utter pure destruction like a force of nature. Even roots can break through stone given time to grow.

After we were both restrained by the other Pillars and heavily reprimanded by Ubuyashiki himself, the both of us were confined and tied to our beds in the medical ward of the Butterfly Estate. We didn't go easy on each other in our violent fight.

Despite the fact that our beds were just next to each other, none of us talked or even faced each other. For the first time since I came to the Butterfly Estate, we said nothing to each other.

Due to my speech impairment, I always had a small piece of charcoal with me that I used to write like a pencil, in case there is a situation that I urgently need to convey a message. Without looking in her direction, I slipped her a piece of paper across the small table between our beds to tell her what I want to say.

If you want to poison yourself, then poison me too.

If I cannot stop her on this suicidal path, the least I could do is to accompany her. At least this way, she won't be alone. Maybe instead of her dying, I could die in her stead so that she can live the life she deserves to live.

She never did anything to indicate that she received my message, but two weeks after we recovered from our injuries, I found a bottle of wisteria-based poison on my table. Attached to it was a detailed note in Shinobu's handwriting on how to safely administer it to myself.

The next day, everything between us went back to normal.

I'm not sure if I'm imagining things, but I think we became closer too.

It wasn't until after a particular Pillar meeting did I realised that I might have been reincarnated into a world which was previously fiction.

The sight of a little girl with a piece of bamboo in her mouth is too unique to forget. I remember that there was a series in my previous life with such a unique character, but I didn't have the time to watch it or even learn of its name. However, images of the series' protagonists were circulating about due to its popularity, and I know enough to recognise the little girl with a bamboo to be a main character. The only other things I know is that she has a brother with a mark on his forehead, some guy with the head of a boar, and some guy with yellow hair.

The description all fits. These are the same four people who are making the loudest din right now in the Estate.

Of all worlds to reincarnate into, it has to be a world that was once fiction. A world that I knew nothing about.

The demon girl's name, as I soon found out, is Nezuko. Her bond with her brother, Tanjiro, is really strong. I had heard from Shinobu that Nezuko had refused to eat or drink human flesh and blood even when faced with the temptation, all because of her love for her brother. I found Tanjiro to be a little naïve, but he has a good heart.

Someone so kind should not be a Demon Slayer, but I trust Ubuyashiki's judgement.

Inosuku and Zenitsu also show great potential, but other than that I don't really want to have anything to do with them. One is a battle-crazed lunatic, the other one is a womaniser.

There were a lot of patients that were sent into the Estate from the recent battle at Natagumo Mountain, so I stayed to help out. Shinobu got the three idiots to go thorough Functional Recovery Training when she deemed them ready to. Personally, I know that her sadistic side just wants to see them suffer a little.

The pig-headed boy kept challenging me the moment he saw the size of my weapon. He even tried to lift it up only to fail spectacularly. That was within my expectations. In the Corps, only Himejima and I could lift this heavy double blade axe with ease. In the Demon Slaying Corps, we both have the greatest physical strength with Kanroji being a close second.

I refused every challenge Inosuke directed at me. For one, it would be plain unfair. Two, I'm not exactly known for being able to control my strength. I might accidentally kill him. However, Inosuke challenged me one time too many and in my irritation, I slapped him away from me and sent him crashing into the nearby forest. I swore that I took careful measures to tone down my strength to not accidentally kill him or send him flying too far away.

Inosuke was still bedridden for the whole of the next one week thanks to my handiwork.

Shinobu scolded me with the usual smile on her face for doing that. I think she was deciding whether she should be mad at me for injuring her patient or to be amused at the outcome. On the bright side, Inosuke stopped bothering me after that while Zenitsu just ran away in fear whenever he spotted me.

I now have my peace and quiet.

"Be careful out there."

She would always see me off whenever I have to go for another mission. It has become tradition for us by now.

We both are too scared of losing anyone else close to us.

She is staying behind to oversee the progress of recovery of the patients from the Natagumo Mountain and to continue with the Functional Recovery Training. Shinobu is a good teacher, I have no doubt that she can beat the three idiots into shape.

"I… Will..."

She smiled at me once more as I turned and began the long trek to the destination of my next mission, my Kasugai crow perching on my shoulder and my gigantic weapon slung across my back.

If this is a fictional world from a popular manga/ anime series, then Shinobu's actions had certainly raised a few death flags, especially the turning her body into a poison bomb part.

I'm really worried about her.

I won't let her die. She had been nothing but kind to me ever since I met her, even if we did fight a few times. Both my lives had been worthless, nothing of note until I joined the Demon Slaying Corps. If I can, I want to use this second life of mine to help make this world a better place, if it is just a little.

If possible, I want the people that I care about to be able to live their lives fully and to be happy. I want to help them do so.

That's the only reason why I became a Demon Slayer.