16 End of the Final Selection

After a few days had gone by, Hiroto currently was roasting some food over a fire he built. It had currently just turned nighttime. Since the goal of the examination was to survive in the forest for 7 days, his schedule had been to sleep during the day and continue during the night, since that is when Demons roam.

Having been roaming around for a couple of the days, the amount of Demons that Hiroto had killed up to this point has already surpassed a dozen.

'I wonder how Tanjiro is doing. He should be capable enough to handle whatever the forest throws at him.' Hiroto thought to himself, eating the cooked rabbit he caught.

As he was eating, Hiroto could feel that something felt wrong in the area around. Standing up slowly he started scanning the treeline. 'For the past few days, it feels like someone was staring into the back of my head.'

Resting his hand on the hilt of his katana, he stays cautious, preparing for a possible ambush. As time goes by, nothing happens yet as Hiroto is still standing in the same place.

'Hm, nothing then I guess.' Hiroto thought, before relaxing and, just when he was about to sit back around, a pink streak rushed towards him. Raising his katana quickly to block quickly he managed to avoid being hurt severely but was still grazed on his arm.

Raising his leg and kicking the figure a way to make some distance between the two, Hiroto backed off. Getting a better look at the figure, his eyes squinted. It was a Demon with pink hair and a loosely dressed bright pink kimono. The Demon's eyes were similar to the past Demons that Hiroto saw the past few days, but somehow this one felt more dangerous compared to the others.

"Well, aren't you quite cute?" The Demon said suavely, eyeing Hiroto up and down with his eyes. Ignoring what the Demon said, Hiroto got into a low posture and put his katana out in front of him to prepare.

"Now now, that isn't so cute." The Demon said sarcastic tone, resting a hand on his chin.

"Why waste words while talking?" Hiroto said, eyeing the Demon with caution.

"Eager to get a piece of me aren't you? Worry not dear, we'll have plenty of time to play together in the coming future. You see, I've been following you for the past few days, and I must say. What I saw made me feel so attracted to it. I could tell you're much stronger compared to the other lovelies running around the place." The Demon said, swaying its hips.

Narrowing his eyes, Hiroto asked in a demanding tone. "What did you do to the others?"

"Oh, don't worry I didn't do much. Although that girl was annoying, she was quite persistent when I was having my meal." The Demon responded in a sad tone.

Hearing this, Hiroto's felt that flags were raised by his statement. 'Meal? He must have gotten one of the examinees.'

"Hmm, there was this one kid that I took a fancy too. You know, he looked quite similar to yo-" Before the Demon could finish I launch myself at him in a fit of rage, swinging to slice his head off.

*boom*

"You had better not touch touched a hair on him, if you did I would make you wish that you could kill yourself," I said as he dodged to the side.

"Now now, let's not be hasty. I didn't touch him, I left him for another one of my acquaintances. Big fella, I have to say." The Demon responded dodging my strikes.

Hiroto narrowed his eyes, "Then what's the point of telling me all this?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see your response and how you are in general, and I do have to say you met my expectations. Ufufufu. I can't wait to just devour you, but just like fruit, some things should be ripe before being enjoyed." The Demon said, displaying an intoxicated face.

Hiroto propelled himself to the Demon again before saying, "You won't have the privilege of waiting for your next meal when I'm here." Hiroto said, before thinking to himself, 'I need to deal with this quickly, he's dangerous. Other examinees might not be able to handle him'

'Water breathing, *suuuu* fourth form: Striking tide.' Hiroto began swinging his sword from behind, as a trail for water was built up.

"So impatient." The Demon said before defending itself.

As Hiroto's katana reached the Demon, before it could defend itself Hiroto had already seen through its defenses and chose the path for his strikes. *swoosh*

With one fluid movement and the water leaving a long trail in its path, the blade started from the Demon's two legs before moving to the arms. Severing them, and just as about to the Demon launched it's moving away by using its hair to grab onto a tree.

"Haha, at your current level you won't be able to defe-" Before the Demon could finish, Hiroto had already started his next move.

'Seventh form: Piercing Rain Drop - Curve.' This move was similar to the original seventh form where you thrust at a target but changed to a curved start.

*shiing* The blade glides through the Demons head before flying into the air.

"Wha… but how…" The Demon said in disbelief before it started to decay.

Hiroto thought to himself, 'If I didn't notice small movement in his eyes, I would have missed my chance to finish him off. Better to deal with a potential threat now than to leave it to fester and grow.'

As he sheaths his katana and was ready to eat again, he could see some movement in the bush from in front of him. Getting ready again, Hiroto prepares himself.

Upon seeing who it was, Hiroto opened his eyes in surprise. "It's you…"

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[Hiroto POV]

Recognizing the person who came out of the bush from all the running, I said in surprise. "It's you… Kanao. What are you doing here?"

She didn't respond but just looked at me with her slight smile once again. I stood there awkwardly waiting for an answer, but she just kept staring at me until her eyes moved to the Demons corpse on the ground that is almost fully decayed.

Looking at her eyes I could tell that she was reluctant to speak, with her hand clutching on something. I assume that was the coin. 'So she's still using it? Must have been heads then the other day.'

Kanao looks back towards me and her clenched hand, before deciding something internally to herself. Looking up, I could see a little glint of decisiveness coming from her, although minuscule it was still something in her vacant eyes.

"I… was chasing down this Demon. It killed many other examinees and tried to attack me. You have already killed it, so I thank you. Farewell." She said before running off again.

"Umm, you're welcome? I said to the air. Is this what it feels like to be stood up?" I thought, before shaking my head in amusement and going back to eat.

"Aghh! Noo!" I yelled in anguish and sorrow.

"It's burnt!!!" Looking at the pieces of meat that had fallen into the fire he built from the fight before.

"God damn Demons, It's bad enough they eat Humans, but why do they have to disturb my eating time? *sigh* Hello berries, my old friend." I said looking sad towards a handful of berries I collected before.

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[Third Person Perspective]

And like so, the days flew by and the examination has come to a close.

Standing in a different area surrounded by the wisteria trees once more. Standing beside Hiroto was Tanjiro who could be seen to be covered with dirt, but doesn't seem to be that heavily damaged.

Hiroto released a sigh of relief before hugging him and waiting for the other examinees to arrive.

Hiroto then saw Zenitsu walking down the steps as he was muttering something under his breath. Ignoring this Hiroto kept waiting, and minutes later Kanao came down once more with a butterfly on her finger.

Standing relatively near Hiroto, she continued to wait. Waving his hands to Kanao, Hiroto smiled seeing her unscathed.

Kanao seeing this slightly raised her hand before lowering it again and turning away to wait.

'Must be tired' Hiroto thought.

"Do you know her," Tanjiro whispered towards Hiroto, slightly pointing towards Kanao.

"We are acquainted," I responded in a whisper.

Then after her came the angry squint guy. 'Seemed he also survived' Hiroto thought.

A few minutes passed but still, no one else had come down from the mountain.

'Was this all of the people that survived from at least 20 examinees?' I thought about looking around.

Looking in front, Hiroto could see a table in between two red pillars that had a cloth covering some things.

"Welcome back/Congratulations. Being safe and sound is better than anything else." The two black and white-haired girls said coming from the side.

"So? What am I supposed to do now then? Where's my katana?" The angry eyed kid said impatiently. 'Arrogant.' Hiroto thought.

"First, we shall issue you all your uniforms. We will take your measurements, after which your rank will be engraved unto it." The white-haired girl said.

"There are ten ranks in total…" The black-haired girl continued. "Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoe, Hinoto, Tsuchinoe, Tsuchinoto, Kanoe, Kanoto, Mizunoe, Mizunoto."

"Currently, you are at the lowest rank, Mizunoto."

The angry eyed kid said out loud again, "And our swords?"

"Today, we will let you choose the ore for your swords." The girl replied. "However, the swords will take ten to fifteen days to complete."

"Tsk, are you kidding me?" The kid said, looking irritated.

"But first… *clap clap*" The white-haired girl clapped. After she did so, 4 crows started flying down towards the group.

Perching itself onto Hiroto's outstretched hand, he looked on curiously at what these were for.

"We will now assign each of you your own Kasugai Crow." The girls said.

"Kasugai Crow?" Tanjiro asked.

"These Kasugai Crows can be used primarily for communication." One of the girls said.

"Did… you say crow?" Zenitsu asked reluctantly. Looking over Hiroto had to contain himself from laughing looking at what was on Zenitsu's hand.

"Isn't this a sparrow, though?" He said looking towards the two girls.

"Don't give me that crap!" The angry kid shouted again, throwing the crow on his arm off to the side. He stared angrily towards the girls and started walking towards them.

Hiroto tensed himself, seeing what he was going to do as he walked past me.

"Who the hell cares about some stupid crows?" The boy yelled before grabbing onto the white-haired girl's hair.