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Tanjiro didn’t know how long he had been pleading and begging, it seemed like he was only awake for a minute before the highest-ranked and strongest slayers started threatening him.
None of the members of his family had hurt anyone! They never attacked anyone or consumed a single drop of human blood! He was on two missions with his new friends and they can attest to at least those two missions at the mansion and on the mountain. His family was nothing like the demons that he had fought on his journey.
And no matter what he said, they would not listen to any word he said. It felt like they were rushing in to kill his family before looking for any evidence. They kept saying either he was guilty and trying to hide the truth from them. Lying? He sucked at lying!
In the middle of his begging, a silver-haired man appeared with his family’s boxes dragging behind him. Tanjiro turned his head to face the man who had a sadistic grin stretched across his face while a person dressed in black and white tried to get him to put the box down.
“Is this the demon slayer who has demons with him?” The silver-haired man asked. “It has to be him, right? Because there’s only one trial planned for today.“
“Shinazugawa, please don’t act out of line this way.” One of the women said her smile slipped at the edges as she reprimanded the stranger. The scent of her anger did not change but it now had a hint of annoyance when he walked up.
Shinazugawa grinned as he ran his sword through one of the boxes. He heard Nezuko’s groan and Takeo’s confused whimper as a trail of blood was left on the metal of the slayer's sword.
His family in the other two wooden boxes started to voice out their concerns at the sound of Nezuko‘s pain.
Tanjiro fought against the hands holding him down until he could stumble onto his feet. He launched himself at the slayer's head first to deliver a mighty headbutt to the man’s forehead as his mother did to that boar that one fateful day in the past.
Tanjiro jumped back from the slayer and looked down at the boxes containing his family. He wasted no time in kneeling and draping himself over the boxes with as much of his body as he could. Shinazugawa sneered in distaste at him while clutching his forehead.
The hashira stomped up to him angrily as Tomioka shouted at him to stop from across the courtyard.
“The master has arrived.” The soft child’s voice interrupted Shinazugawa’s attempt to fight him.
Suddenly, Tanjiro was ripped off the wooden boxes and forced to kneel on the ground with his face pushed into the dirt inches away from Nezuko and Takeo’s box.
“Master, I pray for your good health and fortune,” Shinazugawa said, their hand tightening against his scalp when he tried to move out from his grip. How did he sound so calm now compared to the disrespectful attitude he had before? “Before we start the Hashira meeting, would you mind enlightening us about this situation?”
“Right. I apologize for not informing you all about this discourse of Tanjiro and his demonic family.” The master’s soft voice washed over the courtyard. “I received a letter from a former Hashira, Urokodaki Sakonji. Please read it, my daughter.”
“Please spare the Kamado family. Even in their starved state, the family did not eat humans and this has remained true for more than two years. They have merely survived by resting their bodies and gaining energy through slumber.” The white-haired girl explained in a clear tone to everyone listening. “If any of them consume human flesh, Kamado Tanjiro, Urokodaki Sakonji, and Tomioka Giyuu will atone by committing seppuku.
“We can’t guarantee that all of them won’t attack humans.“ The master commanded attention with his words. “But I have more news to share with all of you concerning young Kamado. Tanjiro has met Kibutsuji Muzan.”
There were exclamations and shouts from most of the slayers around him at this information. People were asking questions like how it happened, where was he spotted, and what he looked like. Then, his face got pushed into the ground hard by Shinazugawa. “What do you know?! What is his stronghold?”
“Shinazugawa, be calm.” The grip on his hair relaxed slightly at the master’s command as the demon slayer’s hand twisted into the locks of his short hair. “Kitbutsuji has previously sent pursuers after Tanjiro. We don’t know the full reason as to why he is a target. But it might have something to do with his demon family.” The master continued as his daughters remained at his side, staring out at the gathered slayers with matching smiles. “I believe something is happening with her that Kibutsuji never saw coming,”
“I apologize, master. But I cannot accept this!” Shinazugawa said while he yanked his head back. “Not after what demon slayers have been through! Not after so many people lost their lives to demons! I cannot trust this boy or the demons he has with him.”
“I see.” The master hummed, lowering his hand to pat his daughters’ heads in the following silence. “What will it take for you to be more convinced to at least relax in their presence?”
Shinazugawa sat up straighter from where he was kneeling. “I believe I can provide the evidence needed to prove that we all have a right to distrust this.”
“Hmm.” The master hummed, considering his words. Then he made a sound of agreement. “Go on. This will provide the evidence many of you need to relax with their presence.”
Tanjiro could only watch as the sadistic smell of the hashira returned as his claw-like grip left his hair. Then another angry scent was right at his back as a set of hands pushed him down while Shinazugawa strutted to the boxes.
He struggled to watch as his family boxes were thrown like they were bales of hay into the room’s shadows. He yelled out as the slayer stabbed into his sister’s box again which made a new wave of concerned groans rumble out of the wooden boxes.
His protest was cut off by a hand grabbing the back of his throat and cutting off his airway. That white snake hissed at him again while he watched that white-haired hashira saunter up to his family boxes with his cocky attitude returning.
“I know you want it, demons.” Shinazugawa taunted as he sliced open his arm. The blood fell onto the wooden floor and the boxes as the hashira backed away from the boxes. “Come out and get it. I know you want it.”
Tanjiro watched as his sibling’s box opened first with Takeo rolling out while Nezuko stumbled onto her feet. His nerves were on edge as the other two boxes opened up and the remaining four members of his family revealed themselves to not only the bleeding hashira but the other eight pillars.
*
Tomioka did not know what he was expecting from this trial.
He knew that none of the hashira could understand him. He knew that they would not trust his words, so he pushed off their questions by telling them to wait until their master got there. But he should have known Shinazugawa would have done something so unnecessary when the master was not present.
Tomioka was pleasantly surprised at how quick Tanjiro was when he retaliated by head-butting his coworker. Although he had to step in quickly to stop Shinazugawa from crossing another line.
Then the master arrived with what should have been compelling evidence. Yet Shinazugawa was still not convinced along with some others. This led them to this situation with several demons staring unblinkingly at the white-haired hashira.
And now he was to watch Kamado’s demon family try to resist freshly spilled mariachi blood while praying that the hypnosis that his teacher performed would hold up.
...
And they were not moving at all. They looked somewhat confused even with the bamboo in their mouths hiding some of their expressions.
“Isn’t this a bit weird?” Mitsuri whispered. Her nervous hands were clenched near her mouth as she watched wearily at the scene before all of them. “Shouldn’t they be making some kind of move by now?”
“Their behavior is very strange,” Tengen said, scratching at the back of his head and readjusting his jeweled headband. “And not very flashy at all.”
Then, there was a sudden movement.
Nezuko, the one he had met on that mountain, was the first one to move, swooping in and lifting Shinazugawa in the air.
The pillars around him jumped to attention at that move. He watched as all of their hands went to their sword as they watched the scene intently. It looked like any of them would jump on the demon at the drop of a hat.
“Hah! I knew it!” Shinazugawa called out proudly with that confident smile on his face. He stared down at Nezuko like he was happy to slice off her head as soon as her muzzle fell. Tomioka watched his sword rise in the air as Shinazugawa continued. “Demons can’t resist their—“
Suddenly, his gloating dropped when Nezuko cradled him like he was a child.
“HAH?!” Shinazugawa yelled. “What is this?!”
Mitsuri immediately covered her mouth with both hands to quell the laughter bubbling out from her mouth. Tengen started to chuckle like a madman while pointing at the scene, then immediately turned around to relay the scene to Gyomei. Tokito was steadily watching the clouds with that blank look on his face, ignoring the entire situation.
Rengoku looked very confused at the scene, staring hard with a fixed smile as he tilted his head. Iguro looked alert yet confused as he backed away from Tanjiro who was stumbling his way to the room’s ledge to watch his family of demons. Shinobu was smiling but he knew she wanted to express how weird the situation was due to how he could see the tension in her forehead.
“Shinazugawa, please be calm,” Shinobu called out to an irate hashira as the demons started to circle him. Tomioka watched as the demon used Nezuko’s haori to wrap around Shinazugawa’s body as the mother pulled his sword away with a slight move of her hand.
“Daughter, what is happening?” The master asked. Tomioka watched the sword clatter to the ground as the mother started to tug the hashira into the hold with one hand while supporting the youngest boy with her other arm.
Shinazugawa was not quiet about his hatred of this situation at all. “Why is this demon trying to carry me? And what are you all doing just standing there?!”
The master’s daughter gave no indication she cared about the pillar’s current situation as she relayed their situation to her father. “The Kamado family ignored Shinazugawa’s blood. However, they are attempting to swaddle him and into a sling to carry him on Nezuko’s back like one would a small child.”
The master smiled, ignoring the sounds of Shinazugawa being wrapped up in cloth. “Ah, so now it’s been proven that the Kamado family won’t attack humans, right? I’m sure that after this, some still won’t accept her. But for now, leave the siblings be.”
Tomioka nodded as some of the pillars called out their support even though some of them still sounded reluctant. Shinazugawa was so busy dealing with the demons that he was too distracted to answer their master.
He looked over to see the Wind Hashira struggling like a rabid dog.
Tomioka turned his head away from Shinazugawa’s indescribable expression while Tanjiro started to laugh in the background. Each of the demons corralled around him with the smallest girl using her haori to mop up his blood as the youngest boy reached out happily with his clawed hands opening and closing in Shinazugawa’s face.
All of the pillars just watched. Tengen clutched at Rengoku as Nezuko started to sway on her feet like she was attempting to calm down Shinazugawa from his tantrum. Even the mother started to pat the hashira’s back like he was an upset baby.
“CAN’T ONE OF YOU DO SOMETHING?” Shinazugawa shouted out as he tried to dislodge from the cradle as all of the demon children tried to keep him inside the sling. “Let me go! I’m not a child!”
Honestly, he feels like Shinazugawa needs this to calm him down, he has been way too irritated lately after returning from recent demon missions.
Tomioka moved his gaze to watch Tanjiro who was injured yet looked so relieved to learn that his family was safe.