Screen 1 – Captured by the Hashira (Dark Version)
The smoke of Rui's ashes fades into the night air like dying embers.
The forest goes still—unnaturally still—like it's holding its breath.
Everyone bleeds.
Everyone limps.
Everyone is moments from collapse.
Tanjiro carries Nezuko on his back, her body twitching with hunger she refuses to act on.
Blood drips down his arm.
His sword is cracked.
His breathing is ragged.
Sans walks beside him, quiet, hands in pockets…
but his usually lazy posture is tense.
His blue eye flickers erratically—like a dying flame.
Each step shakes him.
Papyrus shoulders Inosuke's weight.
Inosuke's mask is broken in half, revealing one terrified, furious eye.
His breaths sound like rattling metal.
Zenitsu staggers behind them, legs trembling.
"I… I can't feel my heartbeat… am I already dead…?"
Papyrus tries to cheer him up, but his voice trembles too.
"FEAR NOT! I… I SHALL… CARRY YOU—IF YOU STOP SCREAMING."
Zenitsu only sobs harder.
A crow descends from above, black feathers drifting like funeral ash.
"ATTENTION! TANJIRO KAMADO AND COMPANIONS! RETURN TO HEADQUARTERS—IMMEDIATELY!"
Its screech cuts through the silence like a blade.
Sans squints up.
"Dude… lower your volume. We're dying."
Tanjiro frowns.
"Why would they call us back now…?"
They don't get to wonder long.
A figure drops between the trees without a sound.
Shinobu Kocho.
The Insect Hashira.
Her smile is gentle.
Her eyes are anything but.
"Oh… my. What a strange little parade," she says softly.
"A half-dead boy… a demon girl… two skeletons… and three broken children.
What an unpleasant sight."
Papyrus raises a hand, trying to stay cheerful.
"HELLO! YES! WE ARE STRANGE! BUT WE ARE—"
Shinobu's eyes slide over him like he's an insect pinned to a board.
"How polite. And how irrelevant."
Inosuke roars and charges despite being half-conscious.
Shinobu moves once—just a breeze—and he's already on the ground, throat pinned by her foot.
"Please… don't struggle," she says, voice calm as poison.
"You'll only embarrass yourself."
Tanjiro's hand tightens on the hilt of his broken sword.
"Why are you doing this? Why arrest us?"
Shinobu looks at Nezuko with a smile too sweet, too wrong.
"You are traveling with a demon.
Demon-slayers who protect demons…
are no different from demons themselves."
Sans steps forward, eye sharpening.
"She's harmless. She hasn't hurt anyone."
Shinobu tilts her head.
"Are you asking me to trust a monster's word?
Or two skeletons born from who-knows-what abyss?"
Papyrus gasps loudly.
"WE ARE HEROES, ACTUALLY!"
"Mm. Adorable," she replies coldly.
"Still irrelevant."
She flicks her fingers.
Figures drop from the trees—
Silent. Armored. Blades drawn.
Dozens of Demon Slayers encircle the group.
Zenitsu collapses into the dirt.
"THIS IS IT—THE END—THEY'RE GOING TO EXECUTE US—!"
Inosuke tries to rise, but Papyrus holds him back while he coughs blood.
Tanjiro lowers his head.
"We don't want to fight. Just… let us explain."
Shinobu bows lightly.
"You may explain everything—to the Master.
If he chooses to hear you."
Two slayers seize Tanjiro's arms.
Another clamps shackles on Sans, though the metal trembles under his power.
Papyrus refuses to be restrained until a dozen slayers rush him at once.
Even then, he doesn't fight back.
He just looks hurt.
Sans whispers to Tanjiro as they're pushed forward:
"They're scared of us.
Dangerously scared."
Tanjiro answers quietly:
"We'll face judgment together.
No matter what."
Nezuko remains silent in her box…
but her fingers claw the inside.
Softly.
Helplessly.
The path down the mountain feels long.
Cold.
Hopeless.
The Hashira have summoned them.
Judgment is waiting.
And mercy is not guaranteed.
Be continued