Chapter 14 : 14th Stance
After a few days of walking through several villages and passing some rivers, Takeo finally made it to Fujikasane Mountain. 'Finally here', he said, before he walked up. Looking around him, there was trees full of wisteria, used to ward of demons and also keep them stuck at the top of the mountain so aspiring Demon Slayers could be tested.
Anyways, walking up the mountain whilst he observes the wisteria, suddenly Yuko came out from his pocket, "Wow! Those flowers look so tasty", he said, before he tried jumping towards one and eating it, but he was quickly stopped by Takeo.
"I heard that if you eat this plant, you die immediately....Do you wanna test the rumour?", he asked Yuko with a cold expression.
"Ok... I understand", he replied before he sighed..."Haa! Why are you always so cold?", he asked to which Takeo didn't reply, putting Yuko into his pocket.
After another 2 minutes of walking, Takeo finally saw a set of steps, 'It's just over this', he thought, before walking up.
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<5 Minutes Earlier>
A boy wearing a blue, cloud-patterned jinbei-styled kimono and black pants with hanafuda earrings and a hand-carved fox mask on the left side of his head arrived at Fujikasane Mountain. Climbing up a set of steps he saw multiple aspiring Demon Slayers already waiting. There was a boy with yellow hair covered in dirt, wearing a yellow kimono....another with large, inward-slanting eyes. The space where his eyebrows were constantly furrowed, which gave him a permanently angered appearance and a large, jagged scar that ran over his right cheekbone from his ear and to over his nose. And finally a young girl with large, gentle eyes of a pink-lilac colour that are framed by thick eyelashes and thin black hair, worn tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head and fastened by a pink and green butterfly ornament.
After looking around some more, he saw two little kids, one boy and one a girl : the girl had pale, light skin and a set of large, dark eyes with her hair shaped into a blunt white bob haircut, wearing a wore a purple, flower-patterned kimono and a wisteria headpiece of her left.
And the boy, who had light, pale skin and large eyes but was also dressed like a girl for some reason, wearing a purple kimono with patterned flowers and a wisteria head-piece on his left as opposed to his sister.
Whilst the boy was staring at the two kids, some stated, "Huh? Isn't he the last one?! When is this going to start already?", his question caused others to voice out their annoyance, as some of them had waited for more than an hour.
The two little kids didn't say anything and just watched as the aspiring demon slayers continued voicing their concerns.
That was until the boy of the child pair, Kiriya Ubuyashiki, said, "Please wait and be patient. There is one more person to join us before we start.", in a robot-like voice, which made everyone be quiet and wait.
Only 30 seconds after Kiriya Ubuyashiki made that statement, one of people in the test said, "That bastard! Who does he think he is!? Wasting our time!", directing his swears at Takeo who hadn't even arrived yet.
The more inpatient ones starting riling up once again, the boy in the blue kimono tried to stop them but couldn't....but before they could continue, they all heard loud footsteps...
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
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Right before he walked up the steps, Takeo heard people shouting, from what seems to be out of anger, "That bastard! Who does he think he is?! Wasting our time!", he heard. Realising they were probably talking about him, Takeo didn't really care, all he did was adjust his mask and had his right hands palm on his blade, ready to take it out at any time, before he started climbing the set of steps with a cold expression to greet the others.
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
His heavy footsteps alerted the others, and stopped them from continuing. Everyone had eyes on who 'dared' to waste their time by coming late.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
And with that last step, everyone could see Takeo clearly....
Wearing a black and white kimono and a black mask that covered his chin to his nose, his palm on his sword seemingly ready to take it out, and his short white hair that fluttered in the wind and extremely cold purple eyes not befitting anyone the same age as them, which surprised them.
After seeing his appearance, everyone who was previously angered at his lateness, quickly shut their mouths.
Moving to the corner, all by himself, under the watchful of eye of everyone, Takeo closed his eyes and waited for the Final Selection to begin.
As if it was timed, the two kids then spoke, "Everyone, we thank you for coming here tonight, to the Demon Slayer Corps Final Selection", "There are demons imprisoned here on Mt. Fujikasane, captured alive by the Demon Slayer Swordsmen, and unable to leave.", "That is because Wisteria, which demons hate so much, blooms even out of season from the bottom to halfway up the mountain", "However there is no wisteria from this point on, and demons abound. "You'll need to survive here for 7 days, to pass the Final Selection". They both took turns explaining each part, before they stated, "And now, be on your way", signifying the test had now begun.
And so everyone made their way up the mountain, whilst Takeo stayed for a few seconds before he stared at the two kids : Kiriya Ubuyashiki and Kanata Ubuyashiki. His cold stare didn't affect them, as they both had the same smile present on their face from start to end.
Takeo smiled under his mask before he went onwards, up the mountain.
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Everyone had already went their separate ways, leaving Takeo at the entrance. Instead of running, he took his time, and walked into the lion's den....