As she arrived at the gathering place, many participants had already gathered before her.
Her presence drew subtle attention, a few glanced her way, others whispered quietly, and some didn't bother to look at all.
It wasn't admiration she felt from them, but curiosity.
After all, they weren't here for beauty, for friendship, or for chance encounters.
They were here to survive.
Even if Kanae was a rare beauty, what meaning would that hold if she didn't endure the seven-day ordeal that awaited them?
Kanae understood that better than anyone. Her gaze swept over the other participants, young faces, some pale with fear, some burning with determination, others utterly blank.
This was no simple test.
For some, it would be their first time facing a demon.
For others, it was a confrontation with past trauma, a final attempt to reclaim what fear had taken from them.
And for a few… perhaps it was just a challenge, a desperate act to prove their worth.
Different reasons. One goal...To survive.
Kanae was no different.
She, too, had come to face her fears... to turn the memory of loss into the strength to protect.
She nodded faintly to herself, feeling both pride and sorrow as she looked around. These were her future companions, fellow warriors who would one day stand beside her against the darkness.
Or perhaps…
Among them was someone whose path would one day intertwine with hers in ways fate had not yet revealed.
But then-
Her eyes stopped.
Among the sea of anxious faces stood one that did not belong.
A young man leaned lazily against a tree at the edge of the clearing. He looked calm, far too calm for a place like this.
There was no trace of nervousness in his expression, no tension in his posture.
What caught Kanae's attention even more, though, was the small plume of smoke curling upward from his lips.
He held a kiseru in one hand, as if he were enjoying a quiet evening rather than waiting to face death.
The faint scent of tobacco drifted in the wisteria-scented air.
For a moment, their eyes met.
And in that quiet exchange, Kanae felt something… unsettlingly familiar, not in the face itself, but in the stillness behind it.
The young man before her had dark gray hair that caught the moonlight like fading steel, and eyes of silver ash, calm, unreadable, almost too quiet for someone so young.
He gave her a small nod, nothing more, before turning his gaze away.
As if losing interest entirely, he exhaled another thin line of smoke from his kiseru, eyes half-lidded as he admired the view of the glowing wisteria under the night sky.
The pale petals reflected in his eyes, yet there was no wonder in them, only quiet indifference.
Kanae blinked once.
And then, to her own surprise… she felt irritated.
It wasn't like her to care about such things, not here, not now, not on the eve of the Final Selection.
But still...
'... Am I that unattractive?'
Kanae sighed inwardly. It wasn't vanity; she simply couldn't remember the last time someone had looked at her like that, or rather, looked at her and then looked away without a trace of interest.
Whenever she went, people noticed her. Her grace, her calmness, her beauty. Even here, amid fear and tension, she had caught a few glances.
But this one boy…
This one infuriatingly calm boy with smoke in his lungs and moonlight in his eyes... didn't even care she existed.
Her brow twitched slightly as she tried not to frown.
Out of curiosity, or maybe irritation, she looked around again.
That was when she noticed something else.
Many of the other girls in the clearing had their eyes on him too.
Whispering softly, sneaking glances, watching him from afar, some with admiration, some with curiosity.
And that only made Kanae even more annoyed.
'…Just because he's a little popular… he treats me as if I don't even exist,' she thought bitterly.
Her jaw tightened. She wasn't angry for being ignored, not really, but there was something about his composure that bothered her.
The stillness. The quiet. As if the chaos of the world had nothing to do with him.
Kanae took a breath, steadying herself.
She wanted to walk up to him, just to ask.
To ask why he was so calm when everyone else was tense. Why did he seem so detached, so utterly out of place?
But before she could take a single step, a sudden shift rippled through the crowd.
The chatter stopped. The air itself felt heavier.
All eyes turned toward the small wooden podium at the front of the clearing.
And standing there... was the man every Demon Slayer, and even those who aspired to become one, revered.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki, head of the Demon Slayer Corps.
His presence was gentle yet absolute, like dawn light brushing away darkness. Even the wind seemed to be still in his presence.
Kanae straightened instinctively, hands folded at her side. Around her, the candidates bowed their heads in respect.
Kagaya's calm gaze swept across the gathering. His voice, soft and melodic, carried effortlessly through the silence as he offered words of encouragement, words that reminded them of duty, of courage, of compassion even in the face of demons.
But then...
Kanae noticed something.
For the briefest moment, Kagaya's gaze paused, just slightly, at one spot among the crowd.
And though it lasted less than a heartbeat, Kanae didn't miss it.
A faint smile curved Kagaya's lips before he continued speaking, his eyes moving on.
Curious, Kanae followed that gaze.
And there he was.
The same young man.
The one who had ignored her.
Leaning against the tree, smoke trailing lazily from his kiseru, looking utterly indifferent even in front of the Corps' leader himself.
While everyone else bowed their heads, he didn't move an inch.
Even now, his expression hadn't changed, calm, unbothered, as if nothing in this world, not even Kagaya Ubuyashiki, could stir him.
Kanae felt her irritation return… but this time, something else mixed in with it, a flicker of curiosity deeper than before.
Who exactly… is he?
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#A/N: "Just a little bit of personal experience, a relationship, maybe not all, but most of it started from curiosity, from the question... 'Who is he/she'? That's what i'm trying to apply here"