Doom & Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Xover

Chapter 21

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Tanjiro opened his eyes to see the familiar wooden ceiling of the infirmary room inside the Butterfly Mansion. He blinked several times, adjusting to the light before hearing a familiar voice call out beside him, "You're awake, Kamado, my boy!" Tanjiro looked to the left to see Rengoku sitting up in bed, looking more healthy than before but still covered in bandages from the top down. Tanjiro called out to his mentor out of respect before the Hashira continued, "Miss Kanao, there, has been taking care of you while you were out cold." as he used his head to point behind Tanjiro.

Tanjiro quickly looked back to see the young girl sleeping on a chair while resting her head against a wall. She was using her white cloak as a blanket to keep herself warm. That's when Tanjiro remembered that Uzui escorted him back to the mansion and once he was on the bed, he was out like a lightbulb. Rengoku asked, "There's no need to tell me where the other boys are, Uzui caught me up to speed on the entire situation." Tanjiro dwelled on the argument he had with his two friends. He had mixed feelings about what had transpired. He felt guilty about treating them as harshly as he did but at the same time, he's not wrong, is he? Zenitsu's running away from the opportunity to help people and Inosuke was just being prideful as always, that's his problem. No one could blame Tanjiro, right?

Rengoku decided to pry on Tanjiro's situation by asking, "Uzui tells me you've been repressing some sort of deep hatred for the demons for quite some time, is this right?" Tanjiro fell back on the bed, allowing his head to sink into the pillow as he didn't feel like talking about this to his master. "Kamado, I understand how you feel. I think most people feel that same hatred. However, it's times like these where we can't let our emotions get the best of us. I agree that demons are despicable, I don't think there's anything that will change that. Although you can use your anger as a driving force, you can't lose yourself in the process of it, do you understand?"

There was a brief pause as Tanjiro fully processed his master's words and responded, "I'm mad at myself more than anything else. How could I possibly show sympathy towards these creatures?"

"It's because you're a compassionate boy, you don't give yourself enough credit."

"Am I though? I had been repressing this hatred for at least two years, I put my parents' words above my own but those were never my true feelings, it was just window dressing to make me feel good about myself. I've never had any confidence, I had to put up a tough act in front of everyone just to put them at ease but acting confident and feeling confident are two entirely different things, all I have is my rage."

"And that rage will make you reckless if you give into it."

Tanjiro and Rengoku fell silent as the doors to the room slid open. Shinobu walked in, taking note of Kanao who was sleeping and lowered her volume before greeting the other two, "Good morning, it looks like you're awake." Both Rengoku and Tanjiro greeted the woman as she kept her eyes on Kanao, worry plastered on her face. "That girl, she doesn't do enough for herself, I swear." She finally turned her attention to Tanjiro and asked him how he was feeling. He has felt better but at least he's alive.

Tanjiro remembered the promise he made to Shinobu and sat up once more to inform her, "Lady Shinobu, I have something important I have to tell you!" The woman took a seat in front of Tanjiro, curious about what the boy had to say that was so urgent. Tanjiro looked her in the eyes and told her, "Lady Shinobu, the answer to the question you proposed to me is: No, the demons can't be reasoned with. After leaving the mansion, I've encountered two Upper Moons along with various other demons and they're all the same. I apologize for failing you and not getting the answer you wanted me to find, but this is the conclusion I've come to."