Fight in the Drum House

*Dum*

The moment the drum sounded, Hiroto tense and got ready for the room to flip, however this time he saw that a formidable wind pressure was coming his way at an increasing pace.

*SLASH* Hiroto and Tanjiro quickly jumped to the side to dodge, as the spot he was previously standing on had three long slashes through the tatami mats and floor.

'The floor was ripped apart. At the same speed as the sound of the tsuzumi drum.' Hiroto thought as he looked towards the drum type on the Demon's body.

*Du,* The Demon hit the drum on his stomach again, sending another slash towards Hiroto alone this time. Hiroto quickly jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit.

*Dum* The Demon then hit the drum on his right shoulder, causing the room to start flipping instead of sending out a slash. 'Spinning right.' Hiroto memorized, looking at the Demon's hand movement.

*Dum* The Demon proceeded to hit the tsuzumi on his left shoulder, causing the room to once more flip. 'Spinning left.' Hiroto once again memorized the pattern as he studied the Demon.

"Damn insect." *Dum* The Demon muttered, as it hit the tsuzumi on it's left shoulder. "You damn miserable insects!" *Dum Dum* it then proceeds to hit the drum on its stomach and left thigh at the same moment.

This time the room flipped in a different manner, causing the wall at the far back where the boar headed person was laying to become the ground. Hiroto didn't have the wall to land on as he broke it while kicking the boar person through it. Looking directly up, Hiroto could see the Demon standing there. 'I'm starting to get the hang of it.' Hiroto thought, he looked over to Tanjiro with Teruko is his arms, and saw him starting to understand the pattern as well.

The Demon started muttering something, but the two were too far away to hear what he said.

*Dum* Another beat was heard, but this time the room changed once more. Looking around, Hiroto noticed that instead of being in a room, he was the hallway outside of the room he was just in. The room that was in just then disappeared as a new one replaced it, being empty as well. Looking around, Hiroto couldn't find anything significant, except for the boar person who was laying on the ground.

*Grnnnn* the person sounded out. 'Look's like he'll wake up soon. I better leave before he gets any bright ideas.' Hiroto thought before having to decide which way to run.

*sigh* 'Look's like I can only rely on my secret technique to find the location of the tsuzumi Demon...' Hiroto thought, before taking his shoe off. Hiroto then threw the shoe with a flip into the air. As it spun, the shoe landed on the ground pointing down the hallway.

'Leave it to fate to decide where I end up.' Hiroto thought as he put his shoe on and started running down the hall the shoe pointed.

Running down the hall, Hiroto came upon a dead body of a boy who seemed to have had his arms torn off. Looking into the lifeless eyes of the boy, Hiroto felt sympathy and frustration within himself.

*Thud thud* Loud footsteps could be heard, as a large, fat horned Demon turned around the corner. "You seem to be a pretty fresh human." The Demon said, putting his hand onto the side of the wall and crushing it.

"Your flesh will be well worth gouging out!" It said, rubbing its fat stomach with its bloated stomach.

Hiroto looked at the Demon and saw blood on its face and chest.

*Fwoosh*

*Splurt*

Hiroto disappeared from his position and stood behind the Demon with his katana to his side.

*Thud!* The body crashed into the floor lifelessly, with its Demons head rolling away.

Looking down at the Demon expressionlessly, Hiroto started running down the hallway once more.

[Tanjiro's Position]

As Tanjiro was once again transported to a different room, he looked around and saw a boy carrying a tsuzumi in his hand about to hit it. "Brother Kiyoshi!" Teruko cried out as she ran to her brother and hugged him.

"Teruko!" The boy cried out as Teruko dove into her arms. "He... he is..." the boy, Kiyoshi, asked who Tanjiro was.

"I am Kamado Tanjiro, I came here with my brother to defeat Demons. Come here, let me take a look at your wounds." Tanjiro said, kneeling down in front of the scared Kiyoshi.

Softening his eyes, Tanjiro looked at Kiyoshi and said, "You've already worked very hard by surviving on your own. Good job."

*Hic* Kiyoshi started crying after having to survive on his own for so long.

Taking out an ointment from his pocket, Tanjiro said. "This ointment here is amazing! My master gave it to me!"

Tanjiro started applying for the medicine on the Kiyoshi's leg and chatted with him to calm him down. "My master always wears a tengu mask, never taking it off. My brother even once called him Demon Instructor after having been beaten in a fight against him. Hahaha, I still remember how I had to apply this ointment on him after he got beat up even harder."

[In a hallway]

*Achoo!* "Sniff, is Nezuko missing me? Don't worry, big brother will be with you after I'm done here!" Hiroto shouted as he turned the next corner.

[Back to Tanjiro]

After applying the medicine, he asked Kyoshi. "Do you think you can tell me what happened here?"

Kiyoshi started shivering as he thought back to what happened to him. "A monster dragged me away, a-and I nearly got devoured. But just then, another monster showed up out of nowhere, a-and they started fighting to the death over who would eat me..." Kiyoshi was shaken with fear.

Tanjiro thought to himself, 'Multiple Demons...'

"The one with the tsuzumi growing out of him was attacked, and dropped this tsuzumi I have here from his back. I took it and hit it, it moved the rooms around and that was how I was able to getaway. He... called me marechi..."

"Marechi?" Hiroto muttered.

"CAWWW!!" Tanjiro's crow appeared out of nowhere and started shouting. "What is Marechi? It refers to the owner of rare blood!" The crow shouted.

"Ahh!" Teruko cried out after being startled by the crow, while Kiyoshi had the most confused look on his face, not knowing how to react properly. "Gahahahaann. You little brats! I'm going to peck you now." The crow teased.

"Cut it out!" Tanjiro grabbed the crow.

*Sniff* Tanjiro smelt the air, and remembered the scent to have been from the tsuzumi Demon.

"I'm leaving this room now," Tanjiro said, looking towards the two kids. "Keep calm. It's alright." Tanjiro comforted the boy. "I'm just going to take down that Demon." Tanjiro turned to Teruko and patted her head. "Right now, your brother is terribly exhausted. So, you gotta look after him, okay? As the younger sibling, you also have to look after your eldest, he shoulders the most."

"As soon as I leave the room, strike that Tsuzumi and move out. Just like Kiyoshi's been doing until now. Whenever someone tries to open the door or you hear something, strike that tsuzumi right away and make a run for it. I promise to come get you. I'll follow your scent. I'll call out your names when I open the door." Tanjiro then stood up as he finished and prepared for the Demon to come in the room next to them.

*thump thump* The sounds of stepping could be heard, and the body of the tsuzumi Demon showed itself. Tanjiro launched himself out of the room towards the Demon. "Strike it now!" He yelled out.

*Dum* The room behind Tanjiro changed, as Tanjiro runs to the room with the tsuzumi Demon. "Damn insects!" The Demon shouted out.

[Back to Hiroto]

*Dum* Hiroto heard the drum once again, but since he was in a hallway, his position hadn't changed. ' Hiroto thought. 'Tanjiro is still injured from the previous fight, so he can't exert himself too much or else he would cause permanent damage. I knew he was lying to me when he said it didn't hurt. *sigh* why does he try to shoulder so much responsibility on himself.' Hiroto thought, shaking his head.

As Hiroto kept running further, he heard the strikes from the tsuzumi once more *dum dum* This time they seemed to be faster. 'Is he fighting someone? Tanjiro?' Hiroto thought, his eyes narrowing and started running at an even faster speed, kicking up the dust around the hallway.

In the distance, he heard Tanjiro shout out. "I have what it takes! And not today... or any time in the future! Even if I'm broken! I'll never give up no matter what!"

"You insect!" The Demon shouted as it started to hit his tsuzumi's with an even faster speed. *dum dum dum*

Not wasting any more time Hiroto sped up and arrived at the room they were fighting in. Tanjiro was currently crouched next to a piece of paper, holding it. The Demon seemed to be shocked for a second, seeing the pile of paper on the ground. 'I got it.' Tanjiro thought to himself after seeing what was on the paper.