When Tanjiro regained consciousness, he found himself kneeling in a courtyard covered in white gravel.
His hands were bound behind his back with coarse rope. The injuries he had suffered on Mount Natagumo sent waves of agony through his entire body, making even straightening his back difficult.
The sweet fragrance of wisteria filled the air.
The sun shone brightly.
But Tanjiro's heart sank to rock bottom.
Because a group of people stood before him.
They wore different clothes and held different postures, but the powerful, almost tangible presence radiating from every one of them left him struggling for breath.
He needed no introductions.
His instincts, his intuition, were screaming frantically at him.
These people were the Demon Slayer Corps' strongest fighters.
-the "Hashira."
A tall man with magnificent, long, golden-red hair stood with his arms folded across his chest and a hearty smile on his face. His voice boomed, "There's no need for a trial! Harboring a demon is already a grave violation of Corps regulations! We should simply behead him along with the demon!"
The Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku.
Beside him, a man even taller and more powerfully built, dressed in an extremely "flamboyant" fashion with gemstones adorning his forehead, curled his lip and declared theatrically, "Exactly! Let me execute them flamboyantly! It'll be the most flamboyant spectacle imaginable!"
The Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui.
Beneath the shade of a tree, a cute girl whose hair faded from pink to green held her palms together beside her cheek. A hint of distress and a blush colored her face as she murmured to herself, "Oh dear, we're going to kill such a cute boy? I couldn't do that..."
The Love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji.
Not far away, a blindfolded man with the most imposing build of them all, tears streaming down his