They both took a breath. The muscular demon charged at them. Before the demon could attack them, they bolted to either side of it. Denki got low and took in as much breath as he could, as did Kyoka.

"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!" Denki said.

"Music Breathing, Fifth Form: Fortissimo!" Kyoka said.

They both zipped toward the demon, who put his arms out to its sides. They both cut the arms at the shoulders and took another breath, massive exhaustion hitting them. Neither had used this many breaths this frequently. But now that they are right by the demon, they could possibly decapitate it.

"Thunder Breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit!" Denki called out.

"Music Breathing, Eighth Form: Choir!" Kyoka shouted, swinging her sword from right to left in standard grip.

Muscles had immediately reinforced the neck of the demon, causing both attacks to be relatively harmless. It grew its arms back and reached to grab both of them. They jumped back, minds racing for how they could decapitate the demon. The demon began running after Kyoka. Denki took another shallow breath, an idea coming to his mind.

"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning!" He said.

He shot straight at the demon. Kyoka seemed to get the idea that he was trying. Denki landed on the demon's back, planting his sword into its chest. Kyoka took a breath, fully intending to decapitate the demon.

"Music Breathing, Second Form: Crescendo and Decrescendo!" She called.

The demon was so single mindedly focused on getting Denki off his back, that Kyoka's attack caught him completely off guard. Her sword glided through half of its neck on the upswing and the other half on the downswing. The head fell and Kyoka kicked it away. Denki was able to draw his sword from the demon's back and put it back in its sheath.

"Huh?" The demon's head asked.

Both of them took a deep breath and immediately doubled over, clutching their chests. They also began coughing as exhaustion hit them.

"Was I beheaded? How the hell did I lose to you two? You're not even Hashira!" The demon asked.

The demon was slowly turning to ash. Denki and Kyoka's coughing fit wasn't stopping, but Kyoka managed to cough out a reply.

"We... Both... Are... Going... To... Be... Ha... Shi... Ras..." She coughed out.

The demon let out a scream as it attempted to have its body go on a rampage, but the legs and arms had already disintegrated. All the body could do was flop around like a fish on land.

By the time the entire body had disintegrated, Denki and Kyoka were upright again. Their breathing was still shallow, as it hurt to breathe deeply.

"Nice to hear you believe in me to keep up with you," he said.

Kyoka didn't dismiss him. Unlike on their trip there, she actually responded.

"At how long it took us to defeat that muscular demon, a mere former Lower Five, I don't see either of us making Hashira for a while," she said, "so, you know, you might be able to catch up to me within the next two years."

Their crows began circling down through the thick tree cover. They landed on the ground and told the two of them to follow. They slowly got to their feet and began following them out of the forest. Once they got out of the forest the crows took to the sky, leading them elsewhere. After several minutes, walking down a road with a forest around them, they ended up walking side by side.

"Hey, Kyoka?" Denki asked.

"Hm?" She actually responded.

"I've been wondering: why were you disowned?"

"Tell you what... I... I actually wrote why I joined the Corps and what led to it in my journal. If you tell me why you joined, I'll tell you," she said.

"Whoa, who are you and what did you do to Kyoka? I mean, last night and on the way to the mission, you were about ready to kill me."

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't want to. But in the event we do run into each other again, I don't want you to bother me about it. Especially after we get to... Wherever we're going."

He smiled. He was slowly breaking through her stone exterior. As they continued on, night was coming fast. If they didn't get to wherever it was soon, they would undoubtedly be killed because they were injured and unable to fully utilize their breathing. They finally came to a stop at a large mansion's gates. On the gates was a crest of two swords under a head with horns.

"Why are we here?" Denki asked.

"I think I remember my teacher saying something about a family earlier this period being rescued by Slayers. Their home would be open as long as one of their family members remembers the Corps," Kyoka said.

Their crows flew down and rested on their right shoulders.

"Rest here. Rest and recuperate," the crows said the two sentences at the same time.

"Come to think of it, we did slam into trees. Hey, Kyoka, did you also feel something crack?" Denki asked.

"Yeah."

The door opened to reveal a short old man. He wore a white yukata with a yellow scarf. He also walked with a cane.

"Good evening. My name is Sorahiko Torino. Can I presume you two are Demon Slayers?" He asked

"Yes..." They both said at the same time.

"Come on. We have fresh clothing, bedding, and food for you two."

They followed him through the front garden. On either side of the path way were wisteria trees. The house itself was two levels tall. They stepped into the first level and just to their left was a room set up with one large bed and two sets of pajamas. On the other side was a room set up with food in the center. They both stepped into the room with the bed. Denki picked up both of the sets of pajamas and handed one to Kyoka. He shed his haori and began to remove his uniform. He had his top removed when he caught a sound from Kyoka he almost didn't expect. He turned around and saw that Kyoka was blushing.

"Are you going to get changed? I won't watch," Denki stated.

Kyoka was originally trying to figure out just how they were going to share this bed without resorting to a cliche from a romance song she had heard. Then she was handed her new clothes by Denki, who immediately began changing. The second his top was removed, she saw that he was rather ripped. His back alone had quite the physique. She felt her face grow red and she almost choked on her spit. She grunted a surprised cough. He turned around and she blushed even deeper. If she thought his back had a muscular physique, then his from was almost like it was sculpted from marble. He told her to go ahead and get changed after he had turned around.

He turned back around and Kyoka slowly removed her own haori. She also turned around and began removing her uniform. As she was putting on her pajamas, she was genuinely wondering why she was blushing around him when he was changing. After what had happened between them, on their mission, she was slowly, reluctantly opening up to him. But why was she... she actually knew why. It was part of why she joined. She finished putting the clothes on and turned around, seeing Denki already dressed. She poked his shoulder. He turned around and almost imperceptibly quickly looked her up and down.

"Let's eat," she said.

Denki left first and sat on the table's left, the furthest from the door. The meal they were given consisted of pork, shrimp, and multiple types of breads, rolls, and even some sweet cakes. They began eating in peace, but also pain, as every swallow added an ache to their chests. After they had eaten, Sorahiko came into the room with an elderly nurse next to him.

"One of our town doctors to see to your conditions," Sorahiko said.

They sat back to back about a yard apart. The nurse went to Denki and, using her medical tools and general touch, hummed out a not good. She then moved around to Kyoka. She turned her head to make sure Denki wasn't looking. He had his head slightly turned towards her.

"Don't look," she said.

"S-sorry," he said.

He turned around. She did as well and removed her top. The doctor did the same things she did to Denki. She placed a stethoscope on her chest as she breathed normally. When the nurse went around behind her, she heard a slap as well as a male "ow".

"She told you not to look at her," the nurse said, "your lucky she has that binding covering her chest. Otherwise, I'd probably make you one eyed."

Kyoka was about to turn around to punch Denki. But as soon as she began to turn, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She nearly doubled over. The nurse quickly began feeling her back. She hummed out another not good. Kyoka put her top back on.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. Good news, you're not sick. Bad news, you both have a couple broken ribs," the nurse said, "I prescribe nothing but bedrest for you for at least two weeks."

They both went into the bedroom and laid down on opposite sides of the bed. Kyoka was fuming. She wanted to slap him, punch him, and poke his eyes out. Not exclusively in that order.

"Broken ribs. No wonder we weren't able to fully use our breathing techniques," Denki said.

Kyoka remained silent.

"Still though, it was nice that we were able to kill that demon," he continued.

Kyoka stared at the ceiling, refusing to acknowledge him.

"Are you not going to say anything?"

"What should I say to you? 'Hey, it's great that we survived with only broken ribs, by the way what do you think of how I look?' Seriously, Denki, I told you not to look while the nurse was looking me over and what did you do? You had to turn around and gawk at me!" She snapped.

"I wasn't gawking! I just--"

Kyoka punched him in the side, aggravating his broken ribs.

"What were you doing then?"

"I... was... re...tur... ning... the... fa... vor... from... when... we... were... change... Ing," Denki coughed out.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You... o... gled... me..." He coughed.

She wanted to argue the point with him, but couldn't. He was right. When she saw him changing she thought he looked pretty hot. She did ogle him, but it was purely accidental. Was what Denki did accidental? Maybe not, it was more than likely curiosity, but she couldn't really blame him now.

"Sorry," she said.

"For... For which?" Denki asked, finally catching his breath, "Punching me in the chest or looking at me?"

"Yes."

They laid in silence for a little while until Kyoka spoke again.

"Y-you have a nice form," she said.

In her peripheral, she saw Denki look over to her. She could tell she was blushing. It was embarrassing, admitting that he looked good.

"Thanks. You... You have a nice form, too," he said.

She looked at him and saw he had slight blush on his cheeks. After a couple moments he got out of the bed and went over to his haori. He pulled out his journal and gave it to her. She looked at him confused.

"If you're eventually going to tell me why you joined the Corps, I figure it's only fair I let you know why I joined," he said.

She took his journal, sat upright, and read through the first entry. To say that she was surprised would be a lie. She knew most people joined the Corps to avenge their loved ones who were killed by demons. So, to her, while she sympathized with him now, he was still not much different from other Demon Slayers. The biggest difference was that he actually tried to fight before he was saved.

"So, why did you join?" He asked after she closed and returned his journal to him.

She looked over to her haori, where her journal was. She shook her head and looked at him. She would tell him the story herself. Besides, her journal was filled with specifics about Music Breathing and only the occasional report on her day. She took as deep a breath as she could, and began her backstory.