“Y/N!” A female kakushi suddenly slammed the door open in the morning.

“Huuh? What…?” Y/N drowsily got up from the futon, her hair messy and her face similar to a zombie.

“AAAAAAH! YOU'RE STILL SLEEPING!?!”

“Well, I'm not asleep now, so…” She yawned.

“Okay! No matter! Come here!” The kakushi quickly approached her, setting down a makeup case on the floor and pulling her sleeves up. “Don't worry! I will make you look as pitiful as possible for the trial!”

Y/N stared blankly at her, proceeding to grab her shoulders and say with a determinate expression : “Kakushi that I don't know the name, I will face that trial and the consequences of my actions by myself.”

The kakushi's eyes sparkled, as she dramatically teared up. “Y-Y/N! How admirable!”

“.....with that said, I'm going back to sleep, bye.” And she nonchalantly laid down again, snoring one second after.

'….she just said that because she wanted to sleep more, didn't she?' Despite her momentarily disappointment, the kakushi got closer to Y/N and started to shake her in panic. “Y-Y/N! Even so, you should show up as soon as you can to show the depths of your regret to them!”

“… I'm not regretting anything, though?”

“Please don't say that in front of them!”

“Zzzz-”

“DON'T GO BACK TO SLEEP-! YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE TRIAL!”

After a while, the female kakushi managed to drag her to the room where the trial would be held, there were other kakushi in the way that would stare at her with pitiful expression as soon as she walked through them.

“It's here, good luck.” The kakushi stopped beside a specific sliding door, politely bowing before leaving Y/N on her own.

Y/N took a deep breath to calm herself and slowly opened it, peaking inside.

“Ah! Y/N! Hiiiii!” Mitsuri waved excitedly to the girl, her smile looked so bright that Y/N almost forgot she was there because she was a criminal (again.)

As soon as she took a step inside, she immediately got swarmed by people.

“Really! What were you thinking?!” Shinobu approached her.

“Why do you keep doing dangerous things?” Muichiro asked, frowning.

“Y/N, if you like demons that much, I can capture more for you!” Mitsuri brightly said.

“Please don't do that, Kanroji.” Giyuu commented.

“You really are something! In a trial for the third time! Haha!” Kyojuro laughed.

Y/N was starting to get dizzy, their voices kept overlapping each other as they drowned the girl in their worries.

After a while, they stopped when a new voice interrupted them. “YOU.”

“Eek-! S-Sanemi?” Y/N slowly turned to see him standing behind her, she gulped at how scary his face looked.

“I'M GOING TO KILL YOU-!”

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

He started to run after her while she escaped, crying loudly and getting goosebumps from his murderous aura.

“COME BACK HERE!!”

“LET'S RESOLVE THIS PEACEFULLY! PLEASE-!!!”

“PEACEFULLY MY ASS-”

At some point, they started to run in circles around Gyomei, it could be a comical scene if Sanemi wasn't trying to murder her.

Sanemi suddenly stopped running, making Y/N harshly bump against his back. “Eeek!” She tried to run away again, but he was able to grab her this time.

He grabbed her neck, chocking the girl while shaking her like a maraca. “Got you, brat! Do you have any last words?!?

“Uh…. can you do it harder?”

“I'M GOING TO KILL YOU-!”

“AAAAH! I WAS JOKING! IT WAS A JOKE! NOOOO-!!!”

The others were staring at everything taking place in complete shock, and after a while, Obanai decided to stop him before his friend got in trouble.

“...Sanemi, maybe you should calm down and-”

“Iguro is right!” Mitsuri interrupted him. “I can't marry her if you kill her!”

“…marry…. her?” Obanai questioned while pointing to the dizzy Y/N, his eyebrows twitching in annoyance.

“Yeah!” She nodded.

Obanai turned back to the two fighting and blurted out : “I changed my mind. Sanemi, you can kill her.”

“WHAT?! YOU TRAITOR! NOOOO-!! Eeuuhk-”

“Sanemi, her face's getting purple!AAA-”

After noticing that she really was going to die like this, the others exasperatedly tried to separate them, Lady Amane ended up arriving in the middle of it, and was quite surprised at the chaotic scene in front of her.

Everyone stood there in an awkward silence, nobody sure on how to move on now that she already saw them.

Amane cleaned her throat to recuperate herself from the shock, and elegantly sat down on the tatami. “Thank you for waiting so long. I am Amane Ubuyashiki, and I will represent Kagaya Ubuyashiki at today's hashira meeting. Due to master Kagaya's worsening illness, he is no longer able to appear before you, he extends his heartfelt apology.”

After this, they quickly sat down in front of her, Gyomei being the first one to talk : “Understood. I pray from the bottom of my heart that the light of the master's life continues to burn even one day longer, and that Lady Amane's spirit remain stronger.”

“I am deeply grateful to all the hashira. I believe you have already heard, but a demon has appeared who can withstand the sun. This means Muzan Kibutsuji will come for her with renewed vigor so that he too may conquer the sun. We'll soon find ourselves in a full-scale war…[…]”

“Y/N, here, you can sit beside me if you want-!” Mitsuri whispered to her.

“I would….if I could.” Y/N blankly responded, Muichiro had his arms wrapped around her neck, his chin resting on top of her head while he listened attentively to Amane's instructions.

“Wah! Why's he doing that?”

“He's been like this ever since we came back from the village, I think he hit his head or something-” Y/N wasn't complaining, but again, she was so used to him being mean to her that when he showed affection like this, it scared her a lot.

“Hey, Muichiro-! Can you do your big sister a favor and move a bit?” Mitsuri whispered to him, who gave her a side glance and then bluntly turned away. 'Wah! He ignored me!'

"Hey- pay attention, you three!" Shinobu scolded them, who jolted in response and brought their attentions back to Amane's.

The thing is, Y/N can't pay attention to long discourses even if her life is on the line, so she was fighting the urge to sleep from the start.

“Hssss….”

She looked down to see Kabamaru slithering up to her, with a bright expression, she quickly extended her arm for the animal to curl themself around it.

After playing around with the snake for a bit, she glanced over to notice Obanai exasperatedly looking around him, seems like he already noticed his friend is missing.

His eyes finally settled on Y/N, his eyebrows furrowing in irritation with the sight.

“…heh.” Y/N smugly smirked at him, an irk mark appearing in his head in response, she's lucky he can't leave his spot for now.

"[…]....The only clear records we have say : 'When the marked one arrives, the mark will appear on others around that person as if in resonance.”

“Those words appear in notes left by a swordsman who used the first breathing.” Kiriya added, showing the old book to them.

“Now, at this time, the first to manifest the mark did not have the rank of hashira. Tanjiro Kamado was the first marked one. However, it turned out he had no idea what caused the mark to appear, so we didn't pursue it. But now two hashira had this awakening… so, please teach us how it was done, Kanroji and Tokito.” Amane politely requested.

“S-Sure!” Mitsuri jolted. “Oh! That one time? Well… My body was super light! Um… um… it hit me like waaaaah! Like whoom! Fwaaah! My heart and stuff was all ba-dump ba-dump, and my ears rang like ping! Crick-crack-pop!"

An awkward silence started, everyone present in the room staring at Mitsuri like she was an alien, even Obanai looked down and facepalmed.

“…. I'm deeply sorry. I'd crawl into a hole and disappear if there was one.” She bowed in shame.

Muichiro then finally let go of Y/N (much to his dismay) and said : “I wasn't aware of receiving the mark. When I think back to that fight, what comes to mind are a few unusual things. I guess doing those things could cause the mark to appear on anyone, I'll tell them what they are.”

Everyone turned to stare at him, waiting for his explanation. “In the recent fighting, I was poisoned and couldn't move. I used breathing to slow my blood circulation and the spread of the poison, a boy who tried to help me almost got killed, and my lost memories returned. I was so angry that I couldn't control my emotions. I think my heart-rate was more than two hundred beats per minute, and my body felt hot, like it was burning. And I think my temperature was over thirty-nine degrees Celsius.”

“?! You could move in such a state? That could have been deadly!” Shinobu said with a surprised expression.

“You're right, it was like being put through a sieve. Survival… Is what separates those who manifest the mark and those who don't.”

“A heart-rate over two-hundred beats per minute… what makes you think your temperature was thirty-nine degrees?” Amane questioned.

“Well… once, when I was sick at Kocho's mansion, I had a fever and the thermometer said my temperature was thirty-nine. I felt the same way when my mark appeared.”

“Tsk, can it really be that simple?” Sanemi asked.

“I envy your simple mind for thinking that is simple.” Giyuu coldly commented.

“What?!”

“Nothing.”

“It's urgent that all the hashira manifest the mark.” Shinobu interrupted them, smiling.

“Agreed.” Gyomei complied with the butterfly. “I will achieve it somehow. Please tell our master to rest assured.”

“Thank you.” Amane politely bowed. “But I do have one thing to say regarding your mark.”

“What would that be?” Mitsuri confusedly tilted her head.

“Those who have manifested the mark must participate. No matter who it has appeared for. And there will be no exceptions…[…]”

After a while of more talking, Amane reached out to a new subject. “Now, about Y/N's condition…”

Some of the hashira visibly tensed.

“The master asked me to relay this message. He wishes for you to pardon her once again, and he apologizes for the selfish request.”

“…you're kidding, right? You guys are just letting her do whatever she wants at this point!” Not surprisingly, Sanemi was the first to speak up.

“Also, she's not even taking this seriously! She was sleeping during the whole reunion!” He exclaimed, angrily pointing to Y/N at the other side of the room, and just like he stated, she was somehow sleeping while sitting.

“Y/N- hey…” Muichiro placed his hand on her shoulder and slight shook the girl.

She jolted, waking up instantly. “Huh? What?”

“See?! She doesn't even know where she is-!”

“Even so, both upper moon 6 and 3 seem to be attached to Y/N, we can't tell what would be the consequences and how they would react if something happened to her. And right now, we aren't in the condition to take care of causalities that can be avoided.” Amane stated. “If they are willing to fight for our cause, even if it's just for her sake, then so be it. Anyone else has an objection?”

Silence.

“YAAAAAAY-!!” Screams from commemoration could be heard from outside. “Wait, the door is going to open like that-!” Just like the outside voice stated, the door ended up opening and a pile of kakushi fell down into the room. Were they hearing everything from the outside?

“WE ARE VERY SORRY-!!!” They started to run away one by one, embarrassed.

Amane cleaned her throat, and proceeded to give her goodbyes : “… With that said, I will be leaving. I sincerely thank all of you for your attention.”

“Now that Amane-dono is gone, I will take my leave.” Giyuu started to get up.

“Whoa. Hold it, don't leave just yet, man. We oughta make our plans for the future now, am I right?” Sanemi stopped him.

“Then your six can talk about it, it's got nothing to do with me.”

“What do you mean 'nothing to do with you'? You don't understand your position as a pillar here. Or what? You're planning on getting a head start on training without us? You didn't say a thing during the training.” Obanai joined sanemi in insulting him.

Giyuu just ignored them in response, walking away. “HOLD IT! DAMMIT!”

“Tomioka-san, please just tell us why. You're leaving out a lot of details.” Shinobu frowned.

“They won't understand your feelings if you don't tell them, Tomioka.” Kyojuro also tried to argue with him.

“...... I'm not like you guys.” It was all that he said in response.

“Wow… you're pissing me off… you said the same thing before, Tomioka, are you making fun of all of us?”

“No-no fighting! You guys-” Mitsuri exasperatedly tried to stop them.

“You understood it wrong!” Y/N suddenly exclaimed. “Giyuu meant that he thinks-”

“I DIDN'T ASK FOR A TRANSLATION TO YOU, DIPSHIT!” Sanemi interrupted her, harshly pushing the girl away. “I WILL TALK TO YOU LATER TOO, SO STAY PUT!”

“Eek-!” Mitsuri held her by her shoulders before she could fall to the ground.

“Hey. Did you…. did you just push her…?” Mitsuri asked, a scary aura floating around her.

“M-Mitsuri? Your voice sounds kinda-” Y/N sweat-dropped, scared at how her grip on her shoulders suddenly tightened.

“You pushed… my baby… unforgivable…” She started to take out her sword.

“Mitsuri?!?! No fighting!!! No fighting-! Remember?!”

Gyomei suddenly clapped his hands, making an extremely loud sound that interrupted all of them.

“Take a seat… let's talk a bit more… I have a proposition…[…]”

They finished setting up the new training plan for the swordsman, Y/N sighed from relief after realizing that it was finally over.

'Ah! Tanjiro probably already woke up! I'm so excited to see him-' She was about to leave the room when someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

“Hey. I told you we would talk, didn't I?”

“So, the thing is, I'm exhausted right now! Can't you just punch me once or twice to subside your anger a bit and then leave me alone? I can even let you choose with side you want to punch! I recommend the right one-” Y/N started to ramble.

“Can't you just stop joking for five fucking minutes?!” He grabbed her collar.

“I think that's enough. Shinazugawa.” Kyojuro got in between them while staring at Sanemi with a serious expression, the hashira who were about to leave the room turning to look at the scene.

“So, you're siding with her too.”

“You're a dear friend that I hold in high regard, Shinazugawa. So if possible, I would rather not have to fight with you.” Kyojuro responded, his voice stern.

“…” Sanemi sighed, annoyed. “Anyone who sides with that thing isn't my friend.” And he left, purposely bumping against both Kyojuro and Y/N's shoulders.

After this, Rengoku turned to her and gently placed his hand on her head. “Are you okay? Please don't take his words to heart, you know how he is when he is mad.”

“I know…”

'I don't really care about what he says to me, but I don't like to see him pushing away his friends for something that is my fault.... and in his anger, he even said cruel things to Genya in the future... and he regretted it… for the rest of his life…'

“Kyojuro, it was really nice to see you again, I'm looking forward to training with you and everyone else, bye-!” And she quickly left the room, leaving a bunch of confused hashiras behind.

'Where is he?! Ah! Right here!' She ran through the corridors, approaching Sanemi.

“Shinazugawa!” She suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“What?! Just so you know, there isn't anyone here to save your ass!” He angrily said.

“What punishment do you think I should receive?!”

“What do you mean?! Of course, you should die together with those demons you brought!”

“And is that honestly what you think? You aren't saying this just because you're furious right now?”

“Obviously!" He slapped her hand away from his wrist.

She stepped away from him, looking down at her feet. “… Understood. Even so, I can't let Akaza, Daki and Gyutaro die, and for that, I am truly sorry.”

“So?!”

“In the training, I will do my best. And in the full-scaled war against Muzan, I will do my best too. And so, if by any chance, I survive, then you can kill me.”

And for a second, Sanemi's anger finally subsided. “What?”

“I agree that I should repent for my sins, and I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, don't care about what happens to me after Muzan is dead. So if you think that death penalty is the only way for me, and if it makes you hate me a bit less, then it's okay with me.”

Sanemi… was confused. Sure, this is what he wanted, right? But now that he finally got it, his mind is blank.

Did he really want her to die? Or was he expecting something else?

What did he want from her in the end?

…. Right. What he wanted was for her to at least feel sorry for what she did. Because at some point in the past, they did were friends.

“Now that this matter is solved, let's try to get along again, okay?” She smiled sweetly, and extended her hand to him.

But she doesn't feel sorry or regretful at all, and it pisses him off.

“Whatever.” He turned away from the girl, leaving.

'Well… At least he didn't scream at me again.' Y/N blankly watched him go.

Are you sure this is what you want?

'I don't know.'

Then why did you say those things to him?

'I don't know.'