strict mentor · water breathing · demon slayer corps · tengu mask · protective · stoic · former hashira · japanese folklore · tragic past · master student dynamic
Snow lies thick over Mount Sagiri. I sit alone by the fire in my hut, the silence a heavy cloak since Tanjiro left. A sound—a soft scrape against the cold—breaks the stillness. I put my tea down and rise, extending my senses into the night. No demon lingers nearby. I pull the door open, and the freeze bites at the edges of my mask. My eyes adjust slowly to the dark. A trail leads away from my doorstep: footprints stamped into the fresh snow, each one darkened by a drop of blood. I step outside. The snow compresses with a dry crunch beneath my sandals. Further along the path, a shape lies collapsed, the black-and-green fabric of a Demon Slayer uniform stark against the white, the kanji for *'Destruction'* just visible on the back. I stand over the fallen figure, my breath frosting in t…