Doom & Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Xover

Chapter 40

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Tanjiro tumbled forward inside one of the open rooms of the Butterfly Mansion but managed to transform his tumble into a roll so he could get back up on his feet. Kanao put some distance between her and Tanjiro as she slightly bent her knees in anticipation, waiting for the boy to charge towards her once more. Tanjiro lunged forward, nearly tripping with every step as he rushed forward as fast as he could. Kanao weaved around the boy's attempts to catch her as she ducked and slid past Tanjiro every time.

The boy was determined to catch Kanao. If he was able to keep up with her, that meant he was in an optimal moving condition. He sprung on to his feet as he charged toward Kanao, attempting to think ahead and predict Kanao's movements. He chased behind her, reaching his hand out as he felt he was very close to victory. The girl was leaning towards the right which made him anticipate her dodging in that direction. However, as he jumped forward to make the catch, Kanao bounced to the left, out of Tanjiro's view. Before he could process it, he had lost his balance mid-air and was about to hit the floor until Kanao caught him. Tanjiro was bridled in Kanao's arms like a damsel in distress, a complete role reversal if he had to say so. The girl moved one of her arms so Tanjiro could sit on the floor but kept her other arm up to help the boy sit up at an angle.

Tanjiro complained, "I'm so close! I can feel it! Just a bit more practice and I'll be catching up with you in no time!" Kanao donned a cheerful expression as she commented:

"I believe in you, Tanjiro. You've made incredible progress so far which reminds me: What do you plan to do once you're able to move freely again?" Tanjiro zoned out as he began deeply thinking on the subject, sitting up straight as he delved deeper into his consciousness for ideas. He began talking to himself:

"Well, Mister Flint's taken care of most of the demons so demonic activity has been scarce as of recent… Maybe the Upper Moons? No, too difficult to find and I'm not in any condition to be fighting one. Hmm, that kind of blows Tamayo's idea out of the water…"

Kanao tilted her head out of confusion as she asked, "Tamayo? Who's that?"

A revelation hit Tanjiro as he realized, "Wait a minute, none of you actually know Tamayo, do you? I never mentioned her so I guess it's my fault. Well, you see, I went to Tokyo a little while back and I ended up encountering this demon doctor named Tamayo. She was really nice. Her, Yushiro (her assistant), Nezuko, and Murata are the only good demons I've met so far. She goes out of her way to help other people and she's been looking for a cure to turn demons back into humans for some time now. She asked me to collect the blood of Muzan's demons, especially of the twelve moons that serve under Muan and give them to her for further studying. Unfortunately, I've only ever been able to collect the blood of an ex-lower moon. Collecting the blood of anyone else isn't exactly possible because Mister Flint's already killed them all."

Kanao blinked several times in silence until she responded, "Why don't you try asking for an alternative? I'm sure there might be more than one way to cure a demon."

Tanjiro's expression lit up like a lightbulb as he exclaimed, "You're so right!" He pulled Kanao into a hug after this, excited at the idea of searching for an alternative solution to curing Nezuko. However, Kanao was a bit more skeptical:

"How exactly are you going to contact her and even if you do, where are you supposed to meet up? She's a demon, isn't she? That means she can only move around during the night."