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"Ah there you two are," Shinobu says as she finds Tanya and Kyojuro, who bowed to the master who was now gone. "HELLO OLDER KOCHO!" Kyojuro shouted ecstatically. Tanya sighs "hey Shinobu, I-" Shinobu leaned in and Tanya only now noticed "so how long were you going to pretend you knew nothing about Kamado and his younger sister being a demon?" before Tanya can answer Kyojuro cuts in "it took her a while to tell me, basically when I had found out! But I understand why, it would take time to figure out a way to tell us since it breaks corps rules!"
Tanya cleared her throat "yes, thank you Kyojuro. But let me be clear Shinobu" she stared up at her "I did not say anything because it was none of your business." a vein physically popped on Shinobu's head, and in a sweet voice she says "it is an elder sisters duty to know what their younger siblings are up to." Tanya crossed her arms "hmm, I don't see how that is my problem. But if it is any consultation, there is nothing else I have hidden from either of you." she was lying a little. Still, she never planned to tell anyone about her previous lives or either of the Beings.
"If you say so, where are you two heading?" Shinobu asked with a smile. "We received a report about a demon attacking people on a train, the slayers sent thus far have been defeated. So the two of us are sent out of worry it could be a ranked demon" Tanya explained. "We are losing people left and right, we have to act! It might even be an upper rank!" Kyojuro shouted this excitedly. Shinobu nodded "I hope you two will be safe then."
The two went to leave but Kyojuro turned back to Shinobu "that boy you took in, I hope you weren't planning on taking him on as another Tsuguko." he points to himself and gleams "I am already planning on making him my Tsuguko! I have been for a while!" Shinobu shook her head "of course not, Kanao is more than enough for now, I admit her being away more than usual has left me missing her." Tanya adverted her gaze 'maybe I should get a Tsuguko. But who?' she had no one in mind at the moment, so she would think about it later. "Before we go, we could stop by the butterfly mansion so you can talk to Kamado." Kyojuro gives a firm nod to her suggestion.
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Tanjiro was laying in his bed, the gown provided by the butterfly mansion covered his body. He was healing slowly but surely. "You doing okay?" this was asked by one of the three kids who work in the butterfly mansion, Sumi. "yeah i-" Tanjiro was cut off by Zenitsu shouting "OH it's SO BAD! AHHHH!" he had forced down more of his medicine, the cup being half empty in his sleeve covered hands. "You have to finish all of it! Or else your limbs will always be half their actual size!" Aoi berated him.
"Shut up kids," Inosuke said to Naho and Kiyo who was just trying to offer him a hot towel. "They are just trying to help!" Aoi shouted over at Inosuke who rolled over to not face her "shut up other moth woman, I am hungry, get me food!" Aoi was not happy not to hear that "I already told you my name is Aoi Kanzaki! And I gave you a whole tray of food only thirty minutes ago!" Inosuke growled a little "well I need more now Uoi!" Aoi pointed at him "it's A-o-i! And maybe if you didn't eat like a pig you would not get hungry that quickly!" poor Naho and Kiyo backed away so they were not in the middle of them.
Tanjiro smiled nervously "guess another day here." there was a knock on the door, it quickly slide open with Kyojuro's widely grinning face meeting everyone, and Tanya entering. "HELLO YOUNG KAMADO, AGAMATSU, AND HASHIBARA!" he shouted loud enough for everyone in the mansion to hear. 'Why does he have to yell so loud?' Zenitsu holds his ears, as his hearing was even more sensitive than Tanya's. "Mister Rengoku! Tanya! I thought I wouldn't see you two while I was here" Tanjiro had a wide smile on his face. "Bug eyes…hi" Inosuke said in a defeated tone. "Yes hello again!" Tanya sighed as Kyojuro grabbed a chair to sit in between the beds, "we are about to leave on a mission, so I figured we would stop by first."
Aoi came up to Tanya "hey, I think you need to talk Kanao. She looked like she needed someone to talk to but she won't talk to me." She had whispered this, but Tanjiro heard a few words specifically 'Kanao'. He wondered what was wrong 'is she okay?' Tanya nodded "very well, I will see you, boys, later. Don't take too long Kyojuro." her partner nodded, still staring ahead, not even at Tanjiro or Inosuke. "Come on Sumi, Kiyo, Kaho." the girls all said "okay!" as well as Aoi followed behind them "when you're done here let me know so I can take Hashibara and Kamado to rehabilitation training now that they have healed." before either boy could ask what rehabilitation training was Aoi was gone, leaving Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke with Kyojuro.
Tanjiro was wondering if he should speak first, it has been almost a full minute and Kyojuro said nothing, just staring ahead. "What are you even looking at?" Tanjiro asked as Kyojuro was really just staring at a wall. "Young Kamado!" Tanjiro sat up straight when Kyojuro suddenly called out his name. "How are you!?" he asked loudly, "I am good!" Tanjiro responded as Kyojuro turned to Zenitsu and Inosuke, well looking in their general direction. He was waiting for them to answer as well but neither thought the question was also for them. "I-I am good, well besides the disgusting medicine I have to take" while Zenitsu answered Inosuke looked at his hands "I am too weak to care."
Kyojuro laughed hard "but you will regain strength!" Inosuke just turned his head away, shameful. "Mister Rengoku, Inosuke is feeling down because he could not beat a demon on his own, and feels he can't measure up to Tanya" Tanjiro explained, looking over at Inosuke sympathetically. "Don't be ridiculous boar-headed boy! You are quite strong!" Kyojuro reassured but Inosuke just huffed in response. Suddenly Kyojuro hit Inosuke's chest "AH! What the hell bug eyes!"
the flame hashira would cross his arms "you should not compare yourself to Tanya! She is amazing no doubt, a hashira must be! But she has trained hard to get that strong! But with enough time you could be that strong!" he talked about Tanya with admiration, Tanjiro could smell the same scent he did before when Tanya talked about Kyojuro. Suddenly though he as well was smacked on the just which caused him to spit out. "You as well Kamado! You have a great fighting spirit." Zenitsu was not going to say anything, but then also found himself smacked in the chest "WHAT THE HECK!" Kyojuro shook his head at Zenitsu "holding yourself back is terrible! I heard you took down a demon all on your own! You should feel proud! And take your medicine as it would be a waste to not let yourself be healed!"
Zenitsu was not expecting this praise, and neither were Tanjiro or Inosuke. "All three of you should heal up and train hard! For the three of you are excellent demon slayers!" with a fire of passion in his eyes Kyojuro proclaimed "I will train all three of you when I return from my mission!" Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu all thought the same thing 'this is what it's like, to have a big brother like that?' it filled them with confidence, even Zenitsu grabbed his cup of medicine and gulped down what remained, though he did nearly spit it out and regretted it. "Now!" Kyojuro shouted loudly "take care of yourselves and focus on rehabilitation! And train hard as well!" all three nodded "yes sir!"
Meanwhile out by the gardens, Tanya had approached Kanao who watering some of the flowers. "Hello Tanya-nee," she said with a smile, Tanya had noticed Kanao was starting to talk more. Normally she would have to start the conversation, which means her hunch about working with others to make Kanao come more out of her shell was working. "Hey, I heard from Aoi you were having problems." Tanya sweats, even Shinobu was better at this, it should be her talking to Kanao, not Tanya! Kanao looked down and stopped watering the flowers. Tanya adverted her gaze "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." she saw how saying that made Kanao even sadder 'crap!' she cleared her throat "what I meant to say was I am here to help if you want it." she really needed to get better at this consoling thing. 'Or maybe I don't? eh.'
"I…I abandoned Inosuke on mount Natagumo, and he got hurt and almost died." Kanao said in a shaky tone. "Yeah but the good news is I saved him, so it's fine. You could have been just as bad as he is now if you stayed." Tanya would have left as well if she found herself overpowered, no point in two people dying fighting a stronger foe. "But what if you didn't? What if my being there could have saved him? Imagine if you and Rengoku were in that situation." Tanya smirked "I doubt we ever will be, besides, that Idiot is too stubborn to die. I know he never would." Kanao smiled "you really believe in him that much?" Tanya's face went pink at the cheeks.
"Listen, all I am saying is just because you made what feels like a bad decision doesn't mean you have to feel bad. People make good and bad decisions all the time." Tanya said this logically, though she was certain the only bad choice she has made thus far was letting so many people know about her relationship with Kyojuro, she has been teased way to many times by Shinobu! Kanao shook her head "but…I don't want to make those bad decisions. I wonder if I would have if it was Tanjiro there instead."
Tanya could see a blush on Kanao's along with a look of doubt, likely in herself. She sighed "I prefer giving orders than advice, better at it." she then took out the coin that Kanao entrusted to her. "But making your own decisions is important as well, the good choices and the bad choices. What matters is you made them." she handed the coin to Kanao. "But I will not order you to, that defeats the purpose." Kanao nodded and went back to watering the flowers.
Kyojuro and Tanya after leaving were now almost an hour away from the butterfly mansion. Kyojuro told her enthusiastically about his talk with the three boys. "So…you said you train them?" she asked with a perturbed look because it felt like something was missing. "YEAH! They will make wonderful students!" Tanya sighed before saying "but you forgot to ask them, namely, Tanjiro, to become your Tsuguko?" Kyojuro opened his mouth to reply but was silent. After a few seconds, he said "yes! I forgot!" Tanya rolled her eyes.
Back at the butterfly mansion Tanjiro and Inosuke were making their way to rehabilitation training when the realization hit Tanjiro as well 'I forgot to ask Rengoku about Hinokami kagura!' he would have to ask the flame hashira or another hashira later. For now, it was time for training.
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Zenitsu was waiting in his bed, it was sundown now. "Tanjiro and Inosuke have been gone for a while." he was wondering what was taking them so long. 'Is rehabilitation training really that rough? Or long? Shouldn't it be easy?' he wondered this because it has been hours since the two had left, and he has basically been stuck in here by himself aside from the one time someone checked to make sure he had taken his next dose of medication.
The tatami door slide open, and both Tanjiro and Insouke groggily made their way inside. They both look beat, tired, defeated, and depressed all at the same time. Zenitsu sweated. "How was it?" he asked but Inosuke did answer, and Tanjiro looked at him and only said "terrible…" both stumbled over to their bed and laid down. 'IT WAS THAT BAD?!' Zenitsu shook, worried about when he would start rehabilitation training.
It happened day after day, Inosuke and Tanjiro would leave for their rehabilitation training. When the two of them returned they looked just as defeated as the previous day. 'Crap crap, I don't want to go!' Zenitsu feared the rehabilitation training even though he had no idea what it was. When he was told it was his time to go, he was terrified.
"Here is where your training is," Aoi said as Inosuke and Tanjiro were beginning, also for visual examples for Zenitsu. As Aoi described it Inosuke was stretched by Kiyo, Sumi, and Naho. literal tears fell from his boar mask's eyes "so painful." then came to a small table with many cups filled with off-smelling medicine water.
Kanao versus Tanjiro, at first Kanao, got him instantly. She hesitated because she felt bad, but won a second time. The third time she hesitated because when she stopped Tanjiro from picking up a cup she was technically holding his hand. Tanjiro was also distracted by this for too long to take advantage and Kanao splashed the water in his face a third time. Finally, there was a chase, that Aoi described as similar to "tag", which would be done with either her or Kanoa. Inosuke tried to reach for Kanao, but he actually got close once again due to hesitation by Kanao who looked regretful, but much like many times over the past few days of rehabilitation training, Kanao managed to get out of the way before being touched.
"Seems simple right?" Aoi said as Zenitsu's head slowly creaked as he looked around. He looked a mixture of anger and happiness. "Would you excuse me for a second, I need to talk with my compatriots" he said with a very thin veil of calm. Inosuke huffs "I don't want to" Zenitsu grabbed both him and Tanjiro dragging them out while shouting "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"
After running down the hall with them Zenitsu, filled to the brim with anger, grabbed them. "YOU BASTARDS! HOW COULD YOU!" he started shaking them. "W-why are you shaking us?" Tanjiro said as Zenitsu slowed down "because of how the way you two looked coming back from training made me fear the worse." he gripped his hair "but all you've been doing is having fun with cute girls?!" the other two boys looked at each other and then back at Zenitsu. Confused Inosuke asked "eh? What do you mean?" Zenitsu backed up a bit "oh you poor boy Inosuke, not knowing the joys you should be experiencing!" he then pointed at Tanjiro "you're even worse, I hate the looks you and Kanao give each other during it all!" Tanjiro was even more confused than before.
When they returned Zenitsu went through all three points. Sumi, Naho, and Kiyo tried stretching him all the ways they knew how, but he enjoyed every single one having a large dopey smile the entire time. Next was the water splashing contest, he managed to grab it faster than Aoi, who was taking over for Kanao for a little while. "I would never splash water in a lady's face," Zenitsu thought he seemed cool and impressive, but it just annoyed Aoi. finally, the chase, catching Aoi quickly, hugging her "oh how gre-" before he could finish Aoi punched him, hard in the face. He still thought it was worth it.
'I underestimated that guy.' Inosuke thought as he looked over at Tanjiro, who both knew if Zenitsu could do it they could as well! They quickly were able to do the same, Tanjiro being more respectful of Aoi. but when Inosuke had his go he, unnecessarily, splashed two cups of medicine water at Aoi. and then when he caught her in the chase, he held her upside down. "Ahahaha! I am the greatest!" he shook Aoi, still hanging upside down in his arms "let me go pig boy!"
Meanwhile, Kanao had gone and found Shinobu, the insect hashira had been out with the Kakushi to get supplies needed for making her ointments and medicines. "Master…" Kanao approached Shinobu, who smiled at her. "Hello Kanao, I hope the rehabilitation training is going….well," she noticed Kanao had an odd look on her face. "What is wrong? I am free to talk." Kanao nodded, she took out her coin "Tanya-nee gave me this back, and now I am wondering if I should go back to only using it." Shinobu was not even aware Tanya had taken the coin, but it was not an important detail to focus on.
Shinobu walked up and calmly placed her hand on Kanao's shoulder "it is more than that, isn't it?" Kanao nods, telling her everything. "I see…so you left Inosuke to fend for himself? That is not great, even if he did tell you to do it" Kanao nods, she understands that. Shinobu smirks "and you did it because you were worried about Tanjiro? That Doesn't mean it was justified but that is adorable Kanao." the girl blushed heavily. With Kanae gone it was up to Shinobu to tease the younger ones about crushes or relationships.
Shinobu stood up "Kanao if you want to, return to only using the coin." she then smiled brightly at the girl, "but I am proud of you for finally making your own decisions, no matter how bad one was." after dealing with Kanao's inability to make decisions on her own, Shinobu was happy to see her actually start to make her own ones. 'Seems you were right Kanae' she thought about what her older sister had said about Kanao and opened her heart. Kanao nodded, it did not make her feel better, but she understood Shinobu would rather her continue to make her own decisions, but that was the same thing Tanya had told her.
When Kanao returned to rehabilitation training, that was when things got real. Despite occasional hesitation around Tanjiro and Inosuke, none of the three boys were able to outdo her in either the coordination training water splash test or catch her in the chase. She outdid them each time. Days went by them, but the only reason they ever came close was once again due to minor hesitation from Kanao which almost immediately went away each time. "Guys, come on we can't give up! What about what Mister Rengoku said?" despite Tanjiro trying to convince them otherwise, eventually Inosuke and Zenitsu stopped coming. This furthered Kanao's guilt.
After another few hours of training, Tanjiro decided to head back to his recovery room. "Kanao is amazing…" he muttered, she still outdid him at every turn. He thought back to every quick hand movement followed by him being splashed by water. And every smooth movement, every quick dodge. 'She is…' he found himself thinking about her, and after a while blushed when he realized he was focused on her face in his thoughts for a while. "Tanjiro!" he was snapped out of it by Sumi, who along with the other little girls were smiling up at him. "Oh hello," he said with a small smile to them. He would soon come to learn something from them, total concentration constant.
"Kanao broke this?!" Tanjiro exclaimed staring at a gourd half his height. While Giyu had brought gourds for Tanjiro to practice his breathing in harsh conditions, he had not broken one quite like that. Earlier the three girls explained Total concentration constant was a skill many highly skilled slayers, like Kanao and the hashira, mastered. It was the act of keeping up your breathing all the time, even when asleep. Tanjiro decided he would have to master it as well! He was able to break the two smaller gourds with his breathing, but he was still far off from breaking the largest one.
He trained to keep up his breathing while running, doing so on the fence of the mansion. While lifting heavy objects like rocks, and even while sleeping. "Sumi, Kiyo, Naho, can you hit me with those if I stop total concentration breathing when I am sleeping," he said referring to the rods they used for clothes. They happily agreed, despite it being the dead of night they waited for Tanjiro to stop during his peaceful rest, and then immediately started hitting him with the hard wooden objects.
He started repeating the process over and over again, trying to get as far along in breaking the gourds while mastering the total concentration constant. Zenitsu and Inosuke watched him do so a couple of times while outside, they had no idea what he was doing but they had given up on training anyways.
"You are getting better Tanjiro." Kanao said after she and Tanjiro finished with another day of training. "Yeah, its thanks to the advice from Sumi and the others, I'm going to master total concentration constant!" Kanao loved his enthusiasm, "I am sure will." as she went to leave Tanjiro called out to her "Kanao if you don't mind me asking, you hesitate around me a lot during training. You did it as well when Inosuke used to be here. Why is that?" Kanao sweated a little, as she turned to face him. "You have different smells for each of us, for Inosuke, it smelled like you felt guilty."
Kanao sighed, and she looked at him woefully. "Don't remember on mount Natagumo? When did I tell you I left Inosuke? He got really hurt. My sisters keep telling me even if it was a bad choice, it was still mine to make." she held her hands to her chest "but, I don't want to make bad decisions, for a while I was incapable of even making my own decisions." Tanjiro gave a small smile "that is why you used to use a coin right?"
Tanjiro walked up and took Kanao's hands into his, making the girl blush. "They are right, but you want to know what you do when you've made the wrong decisions?" Kanao nodded, holding to his words "you own up to them" he became more firm in his grasp, "I think you should talk to Inosuke, apologize even. What matters is you followed your heart, and made a choice." Kanao's nodded again, he was right. "Oh hey, there's that scent I picked up during training when you hesitate with me. Speaking of-"
in one sequence of events, Kanao became too embarrassed to hear the rest, she closed her eyes as her face became redder, she pulled her hands out of his, and without thinking took one of the cups by the table and splashed it into his face before running off while thinking 'no, no, no! Not like this!' Tanjiro was left to wonder what that was about as his hair was soaking wet. He stared at his hands, sniffing them, they smelt like the medicated water but also a little like Kanao. He smiled a little, but he still was confused by why Kanao did that.
At night time, while meditating on the roof Tanjiro heard a sweet voice say "hello there Kamado." He yelled a bit, breaking his concentration. Shinobu smiled down at him, while she was outside she saw him on the roof and figured she should talk to the boy who made Kanao's heart flutter. While she had met him before, this was her first one-on-one time with him.
"H-hello miss Kocho. Should I not be on the roof?" Tanjiro was nervous because she smelled angry, but he then realized every time Shinobu was nearby he smelt a faint scent of anger. "No, it is quite alright, whatever helps with your training." she down and hugged her knees, "just came to check on you." Tanjiro stared ahead "Miss Kocho, are you mad about something? Was it my sister or that Tanya and Tomioka kept it from you?" Shinobu was surprised Tanjiro could tell, "oh that's right, you can 'smell emotions' odd." she joked.
Shinobu stared ahead, hugging her knees closer, "yes I suppose I am always a little mad at something. That is to say demons as a whole." Tanjiro did not speak, he was not sure how he could even respond, to begin with. "My older sister Kanae was killed by a demon. She was the flower hashira. And despite this, even as died, she felt bad for the demon that killed her. She had always felt sympathy for all demons." she griped her uniform "when she died I opted to be more like her since I knew Tanya would never, and Kanao and the other girls needed a happy influence like Kanae."
her smile had dropped a bit into the conversation "I can never forgive demons, but thanks to you it means Kanae's dream of getting along with demons may actually happen. I hope I can pass that dream onto you." Tanjiro nodded, unsure if he should speak. Shinobu's smile returned, even if it was not a real one she had gotten used to forcing it "i'll leave you to it, oh and don't worry about your friends falling behind, they will join you soon enough." just as Shinobu was about to leave the rooftop, she said in a sweet yet terrifying tone "oh, and just so we are clear, Kanao means a lot to me. Got it?" as she left Tanjiro was still shaking in fear 'I don't know why she told me that, but that scent makes me too afraid to ask.'
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Zenitsu and Inosuke found themselves being dragged into the rehabilitation training room. "Come guys, I know it seems tough, but it's worth it! Total concentration constant will make us stronger!" Tanjiro tried to convince them, but they both shook their heads. Tanjiro frowned, but he knew this was a long shot anyways. Shinobu however, had a plan. She had been observing them for a while and read Tanya's reports. She knew exactly what to do.
Shinobu started patting Inosuke on the back "there, there,I understand, only the best of the best can master it. I suppose you're too weak." Inosuke started grumbling but turned his head away. "I suppose you will remain where you always were, at the bottom. Nowhere near Rengoku, Tomioka, or Tanya." with this pissing him off enough, Inosuke stood up, and pumped his fist in the air "I will overtake Bug-eyes and all the rest! AHHHHHHHHHHH!" While Zenitsu was silently judging Inosuke he felt his hands gently grabbed. His face went pink as she leaned in "I know you can do it Zenitsu, I will always believe in you!" Zenitsu was excitedly inspired by the mere thought of a female believing in him "YES MAM!"
Inosuke and Zenitsu joined Tanjiro in training. Zenitsu ran along the fence posts while Inosuke pulled on a rope attached to stones, and Tanjiro mediated. They switched off each day and continued with their training hard.
Kanao was getting water from the well with Shinobu when she looked over at the three boys training. "Why don't you join them? You could be a boon to their training." Shinobu was sure the girl wanted to train with them, having already trained with Tanjiro and Zenitsu, and having been on a couple of missions with all three it was obvious she had gotten close with them. Kanao was hesitant and reached for her coin, but stopped as she looked at them, now taking a quick water break. She needed to talk to Inosuke anyways, she bowed to her master and adoptive older sister before heading over to the three boys.
"Hey kanao!" Tanjiro welcomed the girl, who nodded back at him. "Come to join us for training?" Kanao adverted her gaze, before looking at Inosuke "yes, but first." she collected her courage and said "Inosuke, I am sorry. I left you to fend for yourself against a demon stronger than both of us, I know you told me to but if I stayed perhaps you would not have been near as hurt." she bowed to him after saying that. Inosuke tilted his head "eh? You were there? And what do you mean stronger than me?! I am the strongest there is!" everyone stared at him, had he forgotten? "well….I am sorry nevertheless" Kanao said in a plain voice, trying to process that he had forgotten about most of it.
"Fine, I, Inosuke hashibara forgive you…if you'll help us master that total constipation constraint thingy!" he said proudly, Zenitsu flatly stared at him "its total concentration constant." Kanao nodded, but then Inosuke added "and get the other moth girl to get me more food!" he was referring to Aoi. Kanao chuckled and decided she might as well "I will be back with lunch, train after we eat?" the three boys nodded "can't wait for you to join us Kanao, this will be great!" Tanjiro was excited, while Kanao left Zenitsu seethed at the look she gave Tanjiro as she left.
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A strumming noise was heard, and lower six, Kamanue found himself inside a distorted castle of sorts. 'Huh? I recognize this place, it's been a while since I've been here.' thought as he looked around, and soon saw three other figures appear. Lower four, Mukago walking on a set of floors that from Kamanue's perspective looked like it should be a wall considering how she is defying gravity. Such was the nature of this place. Lower three, Wakuraba was walking around as well looking confused as well. Finally, seeming walking upside down was Lower 1, Enmu, looking dazed but not confused.
'Why is it just the lower ranked demons of the twelve Kizuki here?' Kamanue quickly noticed no upper ranks were there, he also noticed the absence of two demons 'where are lower 5 and lower 2?' suddenly another strumming noise was heard and the four demons were now on a platform, and in front of them were two demons. One was a demon holding a Biwa instrument, the same one they have been hearing.
Finally a woman with bright red eyes, she was a demon and a strong one no doubt. 'Who is she?' Kamanue thought to himself, a thought shared by lower moon demons 4 and 3. She stared at them and opened her mouth to speak…