Nezuko's Resolve

The man closed his eyes and said, "I see. I'm sorry that they have surprised you all." Opening his eyes, the man said resolutely. "I have given my approval for Hiroto, Tanjiro, and Nezuko so I want everyone here to accept them.

All of the pillars widened their eyes in disbelief. The hulking man cried and said, "Ahhh… even though Oyakata-Sama wishes us to do so, I am reluctant to give consent."

The sleeveless man then said, "I also flamboyantly oppose this. I can never accept a Demon Slayer who brings Demons along."

The girl with the pink hair clasped her hands and said, "I will abide with all your accordances, Oyakata-Sama." a blush was on her face.

The young short man with long hair looked absent-minded and said, "Either way's fine for me... I'll just forget right away…"

The girl with the butter ornament didn't agree nor disagree and just stayed silent.

Giyu looked on ahead, giving his silent agreement.

The snake person looked hatefully towards Hiroto and said, "Don't trust them, don't trust them. We all hate Demons, to begin with."

The young man with red-golden hair said, I respect you from deep within, but I can't understand your thinking!! I completely oppose this!!" He kept the same face as he yelled out his thoughts.

The man with the white hair clutched his pierced arm and said, "We are Demon Hunters who annihilate all Demons. I wish to punish Hiroto, Tanjiro, and Tomioka." The white-haired man, however, didn't rely on the fact that Hiroto stabbed his arms due to his pride as a Pillar.

Oyakata looked to the girl to the side and said, "Now, the letter."

"Yes." She replied with a straight face.

Taking out a letter, she said, "We received this letter from the former Pillar, Urokodaki Sakonji-Sama. I will read an extract from it. '-Please forgive Hiroto and Tanjiro for being with a Demon. Nezuko has a tenacious spirit and she retains some Human reasoning.'"

All the pillars started to listen attentively, as Hiroto stayed silent at what Urokodaki had written.

The girl continued, " 'Even when she's starving, she doesn't eat Humans, and she has stayed that way for more than two years. You may find this sudden and difficult to believe, but this is the unmistaken trust. If by any chance Nezuko ever attacks someone, Kamado Hiroto, Tanjiro as well as Urokodaki Sakonji and Tomioka Giyu will cut their stomachs open as an apology.' "

Upon hearing the final words of the letters, everyone stayed silent, Hiroto and Tanjiro both looked towards Giyu who had the same straight face. Tanjiro started to tear up, while Hiroto's face remained calm, however, he silently gave his thanks from the bottom of his heart to Giyu.

The man with the white hair then started to say angrily, "What should I say if they're gonna kill themselves. If they want to die, they can just die and rot away. There is no guarantee is all this."

The man with the golden-red hair then followed up and said, "Shinazugawa is correct here! If she kills and eats someone, nothing can be undone!! The people who got killed will never come back!!"

Oyakata then spoke up, "That is very true. They can't guarantee or prove that she won't attack people. But… You can't prove she'll attack someone either."

Upon saying this, the man with the white hair flinched as he couldn't refute those words.

"The trust is that Nezuko has been living without eating people for more than two years. And because of her, two people are putting their lives on the line." Oyakata continued to say, "And to deny this, the deniers have to present something more than what is here."

The white-haired man gritted his teeth in anger as his veins started to bulge.

"Besides, Hiroto and Tanjiro have come into contact with Kibutsuji." Oyakata dropped a bomb on the Pillars.

"?!" "That can't be…" "We pillars have never even come into contact with him…!!" "And these two had?!" The various pillars started shouting over each other.

"What did he look like!? His abilities?! Where is he?!"

"Did you fight?"

"What was Kibutsuji doing?!"

"Has his headquarters been located?!"

"Hey, Answer!" The white-haired man then yelled and tried to grab Tanjiro's hair, but had to duck as a kick flew towards his face.

"Why you!"

"Shut up! I asked him first!"

"First off, Kibutsuji's powers…" The words of the pillars trailed off, as Oyakata raised a finger to his mouth to silence them.

All the pillars immediately became quiet and once again kneeled. "You see, Kibutsuji has come after Hiroto and Tanjiro, and they both shook their pursuers loose. The reason for this may be simply to just close some loose ends, but for the first time I don't want to let go of the tail that Kibutsuji has shown us."

Oyakata then rubbed his chin and said. "There could also be another reason… Hiroto's Nichirin Blade., can you bring it out?"

"Of course, father." The girl to the side said, before retrieving Hiroto's sword.

Oyakata grabbed the sword as the girl guided him towards it. "You see, Hiroto here has a unique blade color, one that hasn't been seen in decades…" Oyakata took the blade out of the sheath, exposing the crimson and purple blade to everyone.

"As you can see, Hiroto possesses the red Nichirin Blade. I don't think I need to remind you about how significant a blade like this can be?" Oyakata said with a smile.

The pillars lowered their head and contemplated before the red golden-haired young man spoke up after realization. " 'The red blade was said to be able to prevent Demons from regenerating damage done by the blade. Clashing a Nichirin Blade with other Nichirin Blades will also turn them red, and give them the same qualities…' "

After saying this, the pillars instantly realized the significance of this blade. They looked over to Hiroto and all began to go into deep thoughts.

"Just as Rengoku has said, the red Nichirin Blade can stop a demon from regenerating the damage that was inflicted by it, and can transform other blades to the same properties, however, the last is said to be a myth," Oyakata said.

"With Hiroto's blade, we may be able to gain another trump card to use in the fight against Kibutsuji," Oyakata said.

The other pillars started to tense up and feel excited at the prospect of having something that can be used against the Lord of Demons.

The white-haired man then spoke up, "What about that Demon girl then?! I do not understand Oyakata-Sama. We can let Humans live. But Demons must not. I cannot consent." The man then took the sword that was laying on the ground next to him, which has turned back to its normal green.

*shik* The man then proceeded to cut his arm, letting the blood flow into the Nezuko's box.

Hiroto then shouted out, "What do you think you're doing?!" Hiroto tried to struggle out from under the hulking man and Rengoku but was pinned down by the two as they pushed him down.

The girl with the pink hair looked towards the white-haired man and thought in distress, 'Eh? Eh? What're you doing? What're you doing? You're gonna mess the garden up.'

The man then yelled out, "Oyakata-Sama!! I will present to you the ugliness of what we call Demons!"

"Sanemi…" Oyakata muttered at his words.

"Oyakata-Sama, forgive my rudeness." The man said, as he gritted his teeth and disappeared from his position. He then appeared inside the pavilion in a dark corner away from the sunlight.

The man once again took out his sword and was prepared to stab Nezuko inside of the box.

"Nezuko!!" Tanjiro shouted out.

Hiroto's eyes bulged in anger, he then began to concentrate all of the breath in his body to his arms and legs, causing them to bulge.

"Wha-" Before the two people above him could react, Hiroto moved extremely quickly and pushed them off with great force.

"Stop him!" The hulking man said, but before the other pillars could move, Hiroto already appeared behind Sanemi and grabbed the back of his head, before slamming it into the ground.

*BOOM* "What the hell did I say before about touching my family?!" Hiroto then grabbed the man's hair and was about to throw him out of the pavilion, but then Oyakata spoke out. "Hiroto… please forgive Sanemi for his actions. Allow him to continue with his experiment, without him having to stab your sister…"

Hiroto heard the man's calm voice and started to calm down and think rationally. 'If I can prove to them that Nezuko won't eat Humans in front of them, it will solidify our case.' Hiroto then leg went off the white-haired man's head as he started to bleed from his forehead.

"You bas-"

"Sanemi… please continue." Oyakata interrupted.

"Yes, Oyakata-Sama." The man instantly turned respectful and gave a low bow.

Hiroto approached the box and opened it. He looked inside and saw Nezuko's pained expression and her bleeding shoulder. Hiroto's heart ached at the sight, but he had to steel himself.

"Hey, Nezuko… can you come out for a second? Prove to them that you won't kill humans, or eat them in the future. I believe in you. You can do this, you just have to endure for a bit, okay?" Hiroto said, rubbing her hair.

Saliva started to drip from the side of Nezuko's mouthpiece as she started to sweat. She stood up from the box and walked towards the white-haired man, staring at his arm.

*hff pff* Nezuko's heavy breathing came through her mouthpiece as she struggled to contain herself. The white-haired man started to smile at this.

"You can do it, Nezuko." Hiroto's voice came from behind her.

Nezuko looked behind her towards Hiroto, as scenes started to flash in her mind. 'Protect and serve Humans.' Urokodaki's voice came in her mind. 'Don't hurt them.' The faces of her Mother, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, Rokuta and Tanjiro flashed through her mind.

'Never hurt them.' The last scene she saw was her older brother, Hiroto, looking down at her and smiling towards her lovingly.

Nezuko steeled her resolve and turned away. "Hmph, Hmph." She muttered as she turned away from the blood.

The white-haired man stared at her in disbelief.

"What happened?" Oyakata asked as he could not see the situation.

"The Demon girl turned the other way." One of the girls next to him relayed the events. "Even though Shinazugawa-Sama cut himself and was bleeding from his head, thrusting her arm in front of her she still held herself back and didn't bite him."

"And that's," Oyakata concluded, "proof that Nezuko will not attack Humans right there."

Hiroto arrived at Nezuko and hugged her to try and calm her down as she started to fall back asleep in his arms. Tanjiro silently shed a tear looking at Nezuko restrain herself.

"Hiroto, Tanjiro… despite this, there will still probably be other people who won't willingly agree to Nezuko's existence within the Demon Slayer Corps. You have to just both prove that, from this point on that you three can be useful enough to fight with Demon Hunters. Mainly both Tanjiro and Nezuko." Oyakata said, before adding on. "You all saw what Hiroto is capable of, managing to stay toe to toe against other pillars…"

The pillars looked down in embarrassment as they failed to restrain Hiroto before.

Hiroto looked at Oyakata's back and said, "I thank you, for your praise…"

"I…" Tanjiro then shouted out, "Nezuko, my brother and I will defeat Kibutsuji Muzan!! Both my brother and Nezuko! We will wield our swords and cut the chains of agony!"

Hiroto looked away, with a slight embarrassment over what his brother just said. 'Tanjiro… what the hell…'

"You can't defeat him as you are now, Tanjiro, so first, try and defeat one of the twelve Kizuki's," Oyakata said encouragingly.

Tanjiro's face turned as red as a tomato. "Yes, sir."

The girl with the pink hair started to scrounge up her face and shake, 'No, don't laugh… don't laugh.' she thought, trying to maintain her composure.

The man with the sleeveless top tried to contain his giggle.

The girl with the butterfly ornament lightly giggled at Tanjiro's embarrassing display.

"The Demon Slayer Pillars have talents that naturally surpass you." Oyakata said, "They climbed their way up by training to the point they coughed blood, and they survived being on the verge of death. And they may even defeat the Twelve Kizuki."

'The man with the red-golden hair thought with a straight face, 'Yeah, you have some great dedication!!'

The hulking man tried to contain his laughter as well, his face turning similar to a pufferfish.

"That is exactly why the Pillars are to be respected and treated well. Hiroto, you especially should also be careful about how to speak to them and treat them with respect." Oyakata said.

"Yes, sir," Hiroto said, bowing down.

"And Sanemi, Obanai, don't bully the younger ones too much. You especially Sanemi, you saw what happened to you when you cross the line with someone you underestimate." Oyakata added.

Sanemi looked down as he clutched his hands as he kneeled, "As you command…" His pride being hurt.

"As you command." the man with two eye colors, Obanai, said, "As you command."

Oyakata then stood up, making the other pillars kneel. "So we're ending the talk about Hiroto and Tanjiro here. You both may step back now. It's about time to begin the Pillar Meeting."

The girl with the butterfly ornament spoke up raising her hand. "Okay then, let us take care of the two Kamado-Kun at my place." The other pillars, Tanjiro, and Hiroto looked at her blankly.

Hiroto muttered.

"Huh?"