Chapter 3: The Trial of the Dummy Blade

"AHHH!"

Takeshi bursts up from his coma like sleep. Into another unrecognisable ceiling. "What did the demon say before i fainted?" He remembered, what the demon had said. Takeshi looks around. The place he was laying almost looked like a hospital. Beds surrounding him, even some injured people lay in the beds near him. A sudden burst of pain hit through him. His arm and his head. He was severely bandaged up head to toe and his arm and head was killing him with pain. "Where am I?" he questions. Hearing his voice the lady caring for him came in. "YOUR AWAKE!" She ran to him. Startled he said back, "Yeah… I am. Now where am I?" "Your in Astral Hana Shimizu home." "Whaaa. And you are?" "Aoi. Aoi Kaneko. I work here."

In confusion Takeshi leans back. "Why am I here? And why is

my arm throbbing. And where is Mr. Kaien?" "Woah slow down on the questions." She gave a stop gesture. "Kaien is in the Astral ward, he is recovering. You were- well I say you it was Mr. Arakaki's mission to slay the demons there. I don't know why you went along but you were injured and you almost lost your arm. Maybe head as well."

"wow…. I'm so… STUPID." He goes on a rampage and Aoi was

there trying to shut him up before he waked any of the other demon slayers. "SHUSH. Okay you think you're stupid. You're going to wake up the others!" Takeshi slaps his mouth.. with his bad arm. "OWOWOWOWOW!!!" He practically wails. Aoi was now slapping him to stay quiet. "Shut up moron!"

During this chaos, a woman was walking past and happened to hear what was going on, she popped her head in to see. She saw Aoi on top on Takeshi holding his mouth and arm while repeatedly telling him to shut his mouth. "Shut your gob!" The woman heard alongside the shouting Takeshi was doing. "Is everything alright?"

A soft voice came from her, very quiet and subtle, but somehow it silenced both Takeshi and Aoi. Both heads turned faster than lightening and Aoi jumped off Takeshi. Aoi bowed and said, "Oh.. Miss Shimizu. Everything is alright." Aoi then turned to Takeshi giving him a death glare. Takeshi took it as warning and replied. "Yeah everything is okay." Takeshi put on a fake smile and looked at Hana. "If you say so." Hana walks off smiling.

Aoi turns back to Takeshi. Takeshi just smiles. "Ah what a lovely day." Aoi just scoffs and goes to walk out.

"Hey Aoi? I think that's your name." Takeshi calls out.

"What? And yes that is my name." She says with attitude. "Was that the owner? The Astral?"

"Yes it was. Why?" "What breathing style does she have?" He questions. "She has Haze Lotus Style. Now bye I need to get your medicine." She walks off letting Takeshi drown in his thoughts.

The next few Takeshi stays bed bound, with nothing, with no

one. He still thinks about-. A knock on the door. The door slide open and

enters a man with bandages, in a wheelchair. It was Arakaki. "Hello young boy Takeshi, I have came to see you. I heard you were in a much more worse condition than me."

"ARAKAKI! YOU'RE OKAY!" Takeshi shouts. Unfortunately for him if he got up he was risking losing a limb so he just sat in his bed waiting for Arakaki to come near. "Shush boy, how many times do I have to tell you." Aoi scolds him, again.

As Arakaki came closer, Takeshi could see the already healed

scars on his face, they looked fresh. I'm guessing those are the ones the

demon gave him.

"So how did you survive?" Takeshi asks with curiosity. "I barely did, I had run away with you cause you were going to die. However I did kill two demons." Arakaki said with fear in his voice. This man a former Astral but still fighting, no matter his status he was still scared. "I-I'm sorry." Takeshi says putting his head down in shame. "Hey it's alright kiddo. You only tried to help." At this point he was touching his face reassuring him. "But I slowed you down." Takeshi replied to Arakaki's act. "Yes. You did, but I would have died if I fought any longer. My stamina has gone weaker since I stopped fighting more." Kaien Arakaki was bold, he knew not to let emotions get in the way. Always be bold. And from this, Takeshi followed.

After a few more days Takeshi got up, and started to train again. He trained with Aoi and mostly Arakaki. He just did what he did before being sent to fight.

They trained every morning, fought wooden dummies, lifted stones, ran through snow, ran down from mountains.

By this time they had returned home, well to Arakaki's home. A few months had also passed. It was time for final test, to see if he could enter the final selection.

The dummy sword test.

It was a test every pre demon slayer had to go through to earn the title. Takeshi had to fight a dummy, and break it's four arms without getting hit. First the dummy will have wooden swords, then as Takeshi will progress it will have real swords.

FUN FACT: Takeshi Hasegawa has a very good taste sense. He

can taste anything emotion or feeling and even smell! Pretty cool huh?

The first month: Takeshi failed fifty-two times, to break the arms. The dummy was too quick and Takeshi wasn't used to the Tide Serpent Style breathing so it made it harder. "Come on Takeshi, you need to do this, mankind needs you." He motivates himself. As he lunges to strike again…

BANG!

Takeshi lays on the floor as Arakaki looks down on him. "Fifty-six." Arakaki counts, keeping

track of his fails.

The second month: Takeshi had gotten used to the strikes and

learned to dodge them, but still no strike or a single sign of the dummy's arm breaking. Takeshi still couldn't master the Tide Serpent Style. He was struggling. At this point Arakaki had enough of counting his failovers, he just watched and taught him. But Takeshi had failed two hundred and thirty two times. As he lands for a strike the dummy backs away dodging the attack. "I CAN'T DO THIS!" Takeshi shouts throwing his sword into the ground. "Don't give up Takeshi, you're only in the second month. Keep your concentration on your goals." "To save mankind from these demons." Arakaki didn't even need to say it. Takeshi just knew. "Come let's prepare for dinner."

The sixth month: By now Takeshi had gotten used to the strikes of the dummy, he had landed strikes but it wasn't enough to break the dummy's arm. Takeshi had also almost mastered the Tide serpent Style, of course there was some hiccups here and there. "There's no point of me doing this, it's too hard." Takeshi complains. "You just don't have the right motivation." A voice came out. And then, from beyond the bushes, a small boy, about the same age as Takeshi emerged from the bushes. "Hello the boy said." He wore a mask, with a demon slayer outfit on and over it was a black and blue haori. He had a scar on his neck and forehead and his yellow hair was messy.

"Hello, my name is Satoshi and I am a demon slayer."