Chapter Text
“The demon said: you have nothing to offer me,” Uzui Tengen repeats quietly and all the Pillars exchange grim looks.
For months now they have felt that they were on the losing side of the war with the Demon King, but to hear Ubuyashiki-sama confirm it with a somber finality still rattled them to the bone. What unsettled them even more was their Master’s plan to bargain with a demon—to ask for help in defeating the Demon King.
“He is strong, one of the strongest demons out there,” Ubuyashiki-sama explains. “He could beat even the mightiest Upper Moon out there.” He speaks with full confidence when he reveals the plan barely a day before the demon is meant to show up. “Tamayo-san assured me that he has no love for the Demon King, never had. He might help us change the tide of this war. But it won’t be easy to convince him.”
The protests and doubts are patiently listened to, but get smoothly disputed with Ubuyashiki-sama’s strategic insight and ice-cold logic.
Even Giyuu feels disbelief upon hearing of a demon mightier than the mightiest Upper Moon. But when the sun sets, the demon who appears outside the Ubuyashiki Mansion carries such presence that Giyuu hears shocked gasps around him. One of those gasps might come from him.
Ubuyashiki-sama plans to negotiate with the demon alone, but Giyuu and the other Pillars refuse to say away, so they all end up gathered in the courtyard, tense and impatient. Most of them can’t hear the conversation, but they stay alert and observe Uzui Tengen’s facial expressions; he is the only one whose hearing is sensitive enough.
The reactions are mixed when they hear Tengen’s words. Some look relieved that they won’t have to ally with a demon, others seem mournful. Giyuu is not certain which group he belongs to. He does want to win the war.
Shinazugawa spits on the ground in disgust. “Nothing to offer him? How dare he!”
The door suddenly opens and the demon steps out, meeting their eyes cheerfully. He pays attention to Shinazugawa a significant second longer, and Giyuu has a feeling Shinazugawa would gladly suck that spit back if he had a choice. But the second passes and the demon’s eyes move past the white-haired slayer, as if he hadn’t heard him at all.
Giyuu feels a lot of things upon seeing the demon right before him, most of which he can’t name. But the air feels heavy and all his senses heighten as if he were in the midst of a battle.
The demon has long and unruly blonde hair with bright red strands peeking on the sides. Curiously, he is wearing a western-style suit; black tailored trousers and a well-fitting jacket. A dark red button-down shirt peeks from underneath it. Somehow, it doesn’t look mismatched with the katana hanging at his hip. The sheer power emanating from him makes Giyuu’s skin tingle, like he is standing in front of a monster who could swallow him whole and not even break a sweat—and he fights man-eating demons for a living, so he had gotten used to a similar feeling a long time ago. But this is different.
Giyuu’s breath hitches when he realizes that the demon is looking straight at him, and has been for a while —way longer than he let his gaze linger on Shinazugawa. The demon’s pupils dilate and he takes a deep inhale through the nose. Nobody has any doubt whose smell he is focusing on. Giyuu’s heart skips.
The demon takes a step towards him and in that instant Giyuu unsheathes his sword. He holds it in front of himself threateningly, as if to say come on, give me an excuse, even though he feels it deep in his bones that in this battle he is doomed to lose. Other Pillars also reach for their weapons and shout at the demon to stop. Giyuu appreciates the gesture.
The demon does freeze and forgoes taking more steps towards Giyuu, but Giyuu doubts it’s because of the Pillars. The demon’s nose flares as he takes yet another deep breath in, his face turning pensive. He looks like he is trying to confirm something. Giyuu’s fingers tighten on the handle of his sword.
The demon pivots on his heel, disregarding the furious Pillars and their weapons. He turns towards Ubuyashiki-sama who has appeared in the door.
“I will help you defeat the Demon King,” the demon announces, though that sentence is clearly unfinished. Giyuu stops breathing when the demon points right at him, “but that Slayer is mine.”
Giyuu doesn’t remember making a choice to start breathing again, but he must have at some point, because the silence stretches for so long that he would have gotten light-headed otherwise. Though maybe he did wait too long; his head feels off. There’s this weird rhythmic sound in his ears and in his chest. It occurs to him that he’s hearing his own heartbeat, and it’s rapid. In the meantime, the demon turns back and locks his eyes with him again, almost like he is being steered by a powerful magnet that he doesn’t even try to resist. Giyuu realizes that his sword is still out and in front of him.
“Out of the question,” Ubuyashiki-sama says once the demon’s request has reached everybody’s understanding. “I will not negotiate with the life of one of my own.”
The demon’s lips widen in a cheeky smile. “Shouldn’t that decision belong to him?” He is still not taking his eyes off Giyuu as he says it.
What Ubuyashiki-sama has said—that was the right thing to say. And Giyuu is glad to have heard it. It makes his choice easier.
“Don’t do it, Tomioka-san!” Kanroji pleads, covering her mouth with the palm of her hand, eyes wide and scared.
“We don’t need him!” Shinazugawa scoffs, narrowing his eyes as he looks at Giyuu. He already knows what Giyuu is about to do. Giyuu suspects a lot of them would do the same if they’d been put in his position.
The smile doesn’t slide off the demon’s face even for a second. He also already knows and that arrogance makes Giyuu detest the idea of simply rolling over for him. If Giyuu needs to sell himself off for the cause, so be it. But he doesn’t need to sell himself off cheaply.
He lowers the sword and slowly slides it back into the sheath at his hip. The air feels loaded, as if the storm was right around the corner. Everyone is waiting for his reaction, for his words. Giyuu realizes they don’t even blink.
Except for the demon, who looks entirely at ease.
“I will listen to the details of your proposal,” Giyuu says finally. He doesn’t let the demon out of his sight either, so he immediately notices that the smile on the demon’s face gets even wider.
The hairs on the back of his neck raise in alarm, but Giyuu ignores them.
“Let’s talk!” The demon claps his hands together cheerfully.
Giyuu insists the Pillars let them discuss it in private. It sparks another wave of protests, which gets quickly stifled by none other than Ubuyashiki-sama himself. He insists they respect Giyuu’s will—and putting it into words like that makes all the objections die down. Giyuu has truly picked the right man to follow. The Pillars knowing that he is to give himself to a demon is bad enough; they don’t need to know the details.
Barely forty minutes later Giyuu, with the demon following right behind him, emerges from the furthest corner of the mansion. Every Pillar’s eyes rest on him, and they all carry the same question. The tension could be cut with a knife.
To break it, Giyuu announces quietly: “The deal is done. He will do his best to help us defeat the Demon King.”