Chapter Text
2009
Tanjiro stood at the airport, looking around in awe at the sights before him. People rushed past him, their faces blurry blurs of motion as they hurried on their way. The noise of the airport was a constant hum, a cacophony of sounds that he struggled to make sense of. He was amazed at how far humans had advanced their technology in nearly 100 years.
It was only 80 years ago that Tanjiro had believed a simple steam engine train was a deity, and now he had just finished flying through the air in a metal bird. As he left JFK International Airport, he couldn’t help but marvel at the city he had arrived in. He had to thank Kiriya Ubuyashiki and his family for giving him the funds and opportunity to travel the world after the events of Muzan.
"It's already been so long since then, huh?" Tanjiro sighed, his thoughts drifting back to the past. It had been about 90 years since the fall of Muzan and since Tanjiro had become a demon king. He still remembered it all so vividly: the fight with Akaza in the Infinity Castle, stalling Muzan to keep him out in the open, forcing him into the sun, and finally, Muzan forcing as much of his cells as he could into Tanjiro and turning him into a demon king.
It was only thanks to Shinobu’s antidote that he was able to keep his human mind. Just the thought of what could have happened if he hadn't regained his humanity kept him up at night back then.
"Snap out of it," Tanjiro shook his head. "Getting lost down memory lane isn't helping right now."
With a quick, "Taxi!" Tanjiro raised his hand at an incoming taxi, signaling it to stop. After climbing in, he gave the taxi driver the address of the apartment he was staying at and was off. The ride was short, but it gave him time to think about things. Almost immediately, his mind traveled to his little sister, Nezuko.
It had been nearly 20 years since Nezuko had died from old age, surrounded by him and her children. Her death was devastating to Tanjiro, especially because his new biology kept him forever in a young adult's body. If it weren't for Kiriya telling him to get out of Japan and see the world, he'd have continued to spiral into sadness.
His thoughts were interrupted when the taxi cab driver came to a stop in front of the building his new apartment was in. After giving the driver a $20 bill, he exited the cab and went into his new apartment. After putting down his boxes, he gave his apartment a look around when he looked at the mirror, revealing a young man with black hair with burgundy tips, his signature Hunafuda earrings, and a mark on his forehead that looked like flames.
He was wearing a green and black checkered jacket with blue jeans and white running shoes. Tanjiro looked away from his mirror to the rest of his apartment. It was a pretty average-sized apartment, one bedroom, one bathroom, and it had a pretty good view of the city. Now that he was finally alone, he was able to get a good smell of the city around him. It was probably the most complex mix of scents he had ever smelt before.
"If only everyone were here to see this," Tanjiro said as he looked at the city. He moved away from the window and went into his kitchen area to prepare a cup of instant noodles. Now, Tanjiro didn’t really need to eat anything now that he was a demon, but it helped him feel more like himself. But while he didn’t need to eat human food, his demon biology still forced him to rely on human flesh in order to survive. While this was a big problem at first, Yushiro was able to help him by developing a blood pill he only had to ingest about once every two weeks.
With his cup of noodles in hand, Tanjiro heads to the living room to eat. He turned on the television to some random news channel and began to eat. He wasn’t really paying attention to the news, mostly having it for background noise, but he did see something about someone named Tony Stark and another prize. No, what he was paying attention to was a small building with a ‘For Sale!’ sign on it.
“Huh, maybe I should check the building out tomorrow.” Tanjiro said aloud. For the past 20 years, he’s been traveling the world to heal mentally from his sister’s death and to broaden his horizons, but maybe it's time for him to settle down. He doesn't know why, but something feels right about staying here.
With his mind made up, Tanjiro cleaned up his dinner and checked the time, it was starting to get late. Even though Tanjiro’s body doesn’t physically need sleep anymore, he was excited to get some with how tiring this day has been. So with one final look out at the city, Tanjiro went into his new bedroom and drifted off into sleep.
***
The next day, Tanjiro got up with a plan in mind. After putting clean clothes on and donning on his green and black checkered jacket, he left his apartment and traveled down the building. At the bottom of the building, he started his walk to the building he saw on sale.
When he finally arrived at the building, he saw it was an old restaurant that was for sale and a phone number on the for sale sign. Now being the oldest among 5 other siblings, he had to learn how to cook in order to help them, plus traveling the world has made him quite the cook. Tanjiro pulled out his phone (the future was wild!) and contacted the number.
After waiting half an hour, a lady showed up. She was of average height with shoulder-length black hair and dark blue eyes.
“Hello,” announced the lady, “Are you Mr. Kamado?”
Tanjiro looked up, “Yes! My name is Tanjiro Kamado.” Tanjiro stretched his arm out to shake her hand. “I'm guessing you’re the one I have to talk to to buy this place, Ms.- ?”
“Oh, my bad, I forgot to introduce myself.” The lady took Tanjiro’s hand. “My name is Lucy Ward.”
The lady, now named Lucy, then pulled out a pair of keys and walked towards the locked door. “Shall we start with the tour then?”
“Oh, yes, please lead the way.” Tanjiro moved out of Lucy’s way, allowing her to lead him into the restaurant. The inside of the restaurant had a decently sized space with a high ceiling and wide windows. The dining area is divided into two sections: a casual bar area with high-top tables and stools, and a more formal dining area with traditional tables and chairs.
The bar had a nice wood countertop with shelves lining the walls, ready to house any liquors you would want. The dining area was empty, but had the ability to have small 4-pearson tables in the center of the room with booths lining the walls and larger tables in the back. In the back, there was a door leading to the kitchen area in both sections. The kitchen had a long cook line with a fry area, grill, skittle, and oven with a dish pit on the left of it.
At the end of the tour, Tanjiro felt pretty good about this place. Tanjiro always enjoyed helping and serving other people when he was younger, so he was genuinely excited to own this restaurant.
“So Mr. Kamado,” Lucy started. “How are we feeling about the building?”
Even though Tanjiro was already set on purchasing the restaurant, he gave one final look. “I love it. I can’t wait to open this place up.”
“Great,” Lucy exclaimed, “If you just give me a minute, I'll give you the paperwork and we can get the process started.”
Lucy then grabbed some papers out of her bag and handed them to Tanjiro. “Just fill these out and I’ll get them filed.”
Tanjiro took the papers and started filling them out. When he got to the name of the restaurant, he stopped. He stared at it for a few minutes, wondering what he should name it. After a few minutes, he felt like he had the perfect name, Fire God. This name was personal for him, due to the Hinokami Kagura he and his father practiced a hundred years ago and to the sun breathing form that he used during the fight against the demons and Muzan, both of which he still practices today.
“There.” Tanjiro handed the papers to Lucy, “Thank you, Ms. Ward, for doing this.”
“No need to thank me Mr. Kamado, in fact, I should be the one thanking you.” Lucy took the papers and gave Tanjiro a key to the place. “I’ll file these and in about 2 months, you’ll be the proud owner of Fire God.”
As Lucy leaves, Tanjiro looks up at the soon to be Fire God and smiles. He truly thinks to himself that, even though he doesn’t know what’s to come, coming to New York was a good idea.