After she had separated from Denki Kyoka immediately got into a low stance.

"Music Breathing, Fifth Form: Fortissimo!" She shouted.

She shot forward and cut off Dabi's arm just before he could slash Tsuyu at the shoulder. Dabi was not expecting it. His arm shot out of his wound and quickly grabbed the sword before it could hit the ground.

"You think you have a shot against me, no rank?" Dabi asked.

"This 'no rank' shares the defeat of Lower Six and former Lower Five with the other no rank," Kyoka said.

"So you admit you're helpless without him," Dabi said.

That pissed Kyoka off.

"Music Breathing, Seventh Form: Woodwinds!"

She shot at him. He raised his sword over his head.

"Incineration Breathing, Third Form: Fires of a Forge," he said.

On the downswing, Kyoka's sword clashed against his, knocking it off course from its intended target. On her second swing, Dabi attempted to duck away. Her sword deeply slashed him from his lower right jaw to his left temple. Blood flew from the gash. It began to spark blue.

"Blood Demon Art: Crematory Flames," Dabi said.

The blood burst into blue flames. Kyoka jumped back from the intense heat. She wondered if she had been singed from the heat. She looked at the hand that was holding her sword. She saw a couple red spots. They hurt. They burned.

"Don't worry about that right now," Tsuyu said, "just focus on trying to beat him."

It was then that she noticed that Tsuyu also had several burns along her arms and hands. Though the burns looked like they would be painful, Tsuyu paid no notice or mind to them. Kyoka nodded. Dabi was standing upright, pure malice burning in his eyes. He held his sword in the right hand and held his left hand up. Tsuyu acted quickly, throwing her short blade into Dabi's chest.

"Frog Breathing, Second Form: Prehensile Tongue," she said.

She pulled the cable connected to it and pulled Dabi toward her. Dabi brought his sword up to protect his neck when Tsuyu went to decapitate him. His sword burst into flames again.

"Incineration Breathing, Fourth Form: Raging Wildfire!" Dabi called out.

His sword burst into flames and he began alternating swift diagonal slashes. Tsuyu silently used her third form to keep the flames from singing her too badly. Once the flames let up, Tsuyu had many minor burns on her skin. Kyoka immediately went for another attack.

"Second Form: Crescendo and Decrescendo!"

She cut off Dabi's arms at the shoulders. Before he could activate his Blood Demon Art, Kyoka took another breath.

"Sixth Form: Big Brass Band!"

She swiftly spun around, slicing off Dabi's head. His head toppled off of his body. Kyoka breathed out a sigh of relief. Tsuyu did the same.

"What? You slashed me?! You beheaded me?! A NO RANK?!? BEHEADED LOWER FIVE?!? YOU WON'T ESCAPE ME!!! INCINERATION BREATHING, LAST FORM: SUICIDE BOMB!!!" Dabi screamed.

All the blood in Dabi's body burst from him in an enormous explosion of blue fire. Tsuyu responded fast. Her blades attempted to push back the onslaught of heat, but it was nowhere close to enough force to repel the flames. The flames licked their skin. Kyoka cried out in pain. Tsuyu just grunted. After only seconds the flames died down. His body began fading away. Despite the pain, Tsuyu turned around to see if Shoto and Denki needed help. They saw them running from the falling debris. Behind them, the body of Lower Four was disintegrating.

When the two of them had managed to get away from the debris, they looked them over. Denki approached Kyoka with a hand outstretched.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Not really. I think I'm going to be out of commission for a while," she said.

"The Kakushi should be here soon," Tsuyu said, "They have a special cream for fast burn relief."

"This has happened often enough for them to--" Denki began to ask.

"Demons will do a lot to keep from being killed, even torch an entire forest," Shoto said.

A few minutes after the fight had ended, the Kakushi did arrive. They began cleaning up the debris released from Compress and putting out the fires from Dabi. They also gave Kyoka a jar of ointment that they said would heal her of her burns in a week's time, provided she applied it daily. When she went to grab it, pain shot through her body. The adrenaline that was dulling the pain she was in had fallen and now it felt like every move she made caused her skin to catch fire.

Denki noticed her pained reaction to just reaching for the ointment. He took it from the Kakushi's hands and was about to rip a section from his haori when the Kakushi stopped him.

"Do you want to aggravate the burn more? Use this," the Kakushi said.

He was given a white cloth. He dipped it into the ointment and, as gently as he could be, applied it to Kyoka's exposed burned skin. When the cloth and ointment made contact with her skin, Kyoka flinched.

"Sorry," Denki said.

"No, it's not you, it just hurts," Kyoka said, "can you... can you keep applying it?"

Denki nodded and continued to gently apply the ointment. After ten minutes the ointment was on all of her burns. She thanked him and asked the Kakushi if she had to return to duty tomorrow. To her relief, they said she could take a couple days off. Kyoka and Denki turned to say goodbye to Shoto and Tsuyu, but were shocked to see only Tsuyu was still with them.

"Well, I guess he's always going to be rude," Denki said.

"He told me to tell you guys that you did a good job standing against the two Kizuki. And he would be honored to fight alongside you again," Tsuyu said.

"What about you?" Kyoka asked.

"I've got to be going soon. But I'm glad I fought alongside you. Keep up the good work, and I know you'll be Hashira in no time."

She jumped high into the air and landed on a nearby roof. Denki and Kyoka began to make their way out of the city and back to the Todoroki estate. They didn't make it that far out of the city when Kyoka stopped.

"Everything okay, Kyoka?" Denki asked.

"No. The air is hurting my skin," she said.

Denki nodded, trying to think of how he could help alleviate the pain. A single idea came to mind. He took off his haori and draped it over her front. He then picked her up and carried her as he began walking. Her face turned redder than it was from the burns from him doing that.

"Wha!? What are you doing?!" She asked, flustered.

"Well, air can't sting your skin if the air doesn't touch your skin," Denki said.

Kyoka looked aside.

"F-fine."

He walked on. The Todoroki estate was several hours away. Despite asking him several times, Denki told Kyoka he was fine and didn't mind carrying her the whole way. About two hours into the trip, Denki heard rhythmic breathing from Kyoka. She had fallen asleep. He looked down at her face and he felt his heart squeeze. She looked cute sleeping like that, he thought.

He had come to terms with the fact he thought she was beautiful about a month ago, when they were just finishing their recovery from the fight against the Muscular Demon. He was only shy to admit he had a crush on her to her. If someone were to ask what he saw in her, he liked the fire she had. Her take no shit attitude, her ferocity, the fact she could stand up for, herself. And if someone asked what he saw in her looks that endeared him to her, he could answer that, too. Her gorgeous dark eyes, her hair, but most of all, her voice. Her voice was like that of an angel to him. And in general, she was beautiful.

Seeing her asleep like this, he wanted to kiss her. But he knew what would happen if he did. He'd get punched, kicked, maybe even castrated despite her probably being in pain from her burns the entire time. When they had nearly kissed almost a week ago, he was really disappointed. But also a bit relieved. He didn't know if she felt the same, but the fact she had also been moving to kiss him gave him hope. The fact that she also willingly let him pick her up gave him hope. The fact she trusted him enough to sleep while he held her gave him hope. He didn't want to ruin that trust by taking advantage of her being asleep. He wouldn't even entertain the idea of kissing her forehead.

And even though he was tiring out, he kept journeying back to the Todoroki estate. He wouldn't let the girl he liked be put in more agony by forcing her to walk. He finally reached the estate when the moon was just about to dip below the horizon, signalling the fast coming morning. To his shock someone was up to greet them.

"Oh, poor thing, what happened?" Fuyumi whispered.

"Fought Lower Five and Lower Four," Denki said, "Lower Five had some sort of fire based Blood Demon Art, and she got burned."

"Do you have the ointment that the Kakushi give people suffering from burns?"

"Yeah, they gave it to her. Should be in her haori."

Fuyumi handed Denki his haori back and took Kyoka over to the ladies side of the estate. Denki went to the male's guest room and collapsed on the bed. He just stayed in that position, hoping to get a nice long rest.

Not even two hours later, his crow flew into the window and landed on his back.

"South! South! A demon has been sighted to the south!" The crow said.

Denki groaned in tired annoyance and frustration.

*

Shigaraki found himself back in the infinity castle. Lower Two and Lower Three were already there. When they had their last meeting almost a month ago, Lower Six had been killed. Another one had yet to rise and replace Himiko. Lower Two and Three looked around in mild concern.

"No new Lower Six and now Lower Five and Four are late?" Lower Two said.

"Don't tell me they're dead, too," Lower Three said.

"If they are, I know our Master won't be too pleased," Shigaraki said.

"When is he ever?" Lower Two asked.

Shigaraki nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't let Him catch you saying stuff like that," they heard from an alcove nearby.

The biwa demon had overheard everything they had said. She struck a chord on her biwa and instantly they were in the presence of... a child.

"This kid is the new Lower Six?" Lower Two asked.

Shigaraki was about to similarly mock the child when he saw the eyes. The left one didn't read Lower Six. They were instead a familiar red with a slit. In a feigned display of fear, he prostrated himself.

"Has he lost it? And here I thought I was the crazy one," Lower Three asked.

"Despite his own hatred of me, he is the only one who could recognize who I am," the child said in a surprisingly deep voice.

The other two immediately recognized who it was and similarly prostrated themselves.

Oh, shit! I didn't even recognize him! Lower Three thought.

The one standing before them, the one they were bowing to, it was Muzan. He had somehow managed to change his bodily appearance to that of a child. It unnerved them and took them all off guard.

"Now that you seem to recognize me, I have a simple question for you: why should I not just purge the Lower Moons now?" Muzan asked.

"Master?" Shigaraki asked.

"You see, Lower Five and Four are dead. And they weren't killed by someone of Hashira equivalence. So I ask again: why should I not just purge the Lower Moons now and start these ranks all over?"