Y/N blinked a few times.

She was somewhere completely different, and the periphery of the world was covered with a hazy white light, as if it was a part of a movie film — old, frayed, worn throughout the years. Beneath her feet were wooden floors, perfectly polished and shiny, yet she recalled vividly that just a few seconds ago she stood on forest floors with debris scattered all over. The Mugen Train had disappeared plainly from view too, and so had Rengoku, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu.

Nothing felt real. Not even her own skin did. It was like this was a sort of fabricated reality — another horrifying discovery or occurrence that did nothing but add to the shock of the night.

How convenient.

"Please. You're my only hope, Akaza."

The girl whipped around, searching for the source of the sudden voice — which turned out to have came from a hallway nearby. She crept nearer, hand flying to her beating heart to calm her nerves.

There were two boys in the room. The first, the very demon she had met a few seconds ago: yellow-eyed Upper Moon Three... and the second, a young boy, one who looked so oddly familiar to her. So familiar, yet so distant, like a forgotten memory.

"I'm begging you. Tell me where I am. Tell me how to get back."

He was a mess. Tears cascaded down his face in tumbling waterfalls, his shirt was bloodied and torn, and his eyes had lost all shine. And Akaza's eyes did not hold the misery that the boy's did, but instead a hint of guilt — certainly unexpected for an Upper Moon like him. It looked like as much as he wished he could do something, he could not. It would be life for life, blood for blood, and in the end, no one would gain except for Muzan Kibutsuji.

"No. I can't," the demon sighed, making his way out of the room.

"Why? All you need to do is tell me the way out of this maze. I need to return. My breathing style — my work — the stars —"

Y/N's eyes widened.

My breathing style? The stars?

So that was why he looked so similar.

"I can't!" Akaza replied sharply, and the boy's face crinkled up. "Listen to me. You'll find a good life here. Our master is a powerful leader, and he will treat you well... he doesn't like weaklings. And you are nothing of the sort. Your agency knows nothing."

"No."

The boy turned around furiously, storming into the endlessness of what was the Infinity Fortress.

"You've ruined everything."

And judging by the look on Akaza's face, not once in his 200 years of living, had the demon heard such a thing.

The world swirled around her, and at that moment, she knew: she was experiencing a memory.

♱

Change of location. She was somewhere else now.

Cherry blossoms lined the roads around her in nostalgic reminder of the time before the battle at the Mugen Train. Bright neon lights lit up their surroundings and the smell of grilled food wafted through the air, giving it the exciting sensation that a city's most crowded area normally possessed. Night markets, that's what they were. Downtown Japan's most popular sightseeing spot.

Yet Akaza had decided to take a silent seat next to the same boy from the last memory on a secluded bench, completely far away from the buzz of energy. The white paint on it was peeling off.

"Hey." the Upper Moon began.

"Hey."

"How are you?"

"Not too well. You?"

"Fine. I came here to... apologize. Master Kibutsuji would never forgive me if I let you escape from his clutches. But I know you weren't in too good of a state after that." 

"I understand."

The two boys sat in silence.

And Y/N watched them in shock, in amazement, in a million different emotions at once.

♱

Another place. A dimly lit restaurant. Akaza wiped blood off his hands quietly.

"So you just kill people mercilessly?" the boy asked in shock, gaping at Akaza from a corner where the light of LED did not grace. He nudged the lifeless body of a dead shop owner.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"What's the point in that?"

"I don't know. There is no point, I guess. I mean, you can only get so strong as an Upper Moon. Lower ranked demons kill and eat people to get strength, but for us higher ranked demons, it doesn't do much."

"But.. can't you do anything about it? How do you feel every day knowing you've climbed your way to power stepping on the bleeding bodies of people you've killed?"

"I don't feel anything. And there isn't a but. You know, sometimes, you gotta admit that you can't shape life to your liking. You get what you get. You deal with it. And I got what I got."

"What you get can always change, Akaza."

"Change requires sacrifice. A lot of it. What if there's people who aren't willing to sacrifice that much?"

"Then they don't get the change they've hoped for." the boy replied.

"If there's a cause, a concept, a reality you want to change for the better, you must sacrifice as much as you can for it. Because in the end, no one's gonna do it for you. You need to do it yourself. Even if it means losing yourself in the process.

Y/N looked on as Akaza searched for words and the boy started cleaning up the restaurant's chairs and putting them in place like they were before, like nothing had ever happened.

Blood stained the threadbare carpets and dust settled down on the tables, but nothing had changed from like what it used to be.

You need to do it yourself, she thought, staring at the boy in curiosity.

Even if it means losing yourself in the process.

♱

Now she stood in the Infinity Castle and watched the two boys talk, arms hanging lifelessly off a barrier and into the abyss of rooms, staircases and doors.

"You know, in another life, we would've been good, normal friends."

"We are normal."

"We're literally demons, Akaza. You kill people for a living."

"Maybe a little less normal then."

Laughter echoed through the fortress.

"Anyways, I agree. It's too bad we can't head outside during the daytime. We could go to the lakeside. It's quite beautiful there."

"I've seen it before. Cohome Lake, right?"

"Yeah."

Silence.

"If I left this place... would you miss me?"

Akaza's eyes widened. "Leaving? You can't possibly—"

"Dumb question. Sorry."

The demon's statements had become more harsh now. "You're not thinking of leaving, right?"

"No. Not after what you told me about Lord Kibutsuji. I'd be in a lot of danger, right?"

Upper moon Three's eyes softened. "Right. Shouldn't have doubted you."

"But to answer your question, I'd miss you. A lot."

The boy smiled. "I'd miss you too, Hakuji."

♱

Y/N's eyes burst open as she rose, gasping for breath.

Akaza — the real, non memory Akaza — stood above her, looking down at her and frowning. Y/N glared back — and she would admit, compared to the soft, friendly version of him she had seen in the memory, she was a little taken aback by his hostility.

"Muzan told you to bring her?" he asked in disbelief, pointing an accusative finger at her. "Nakime, are you sure?'

Nakime, a demon with pitch black hair framing her face and obscuring her eyes completely, shrugged as she played with the strands of her four-stringed wooden biwa. "I listen to Master Kibutsuji's orders only."

Upper Moon Three looked back at her. "You're the girl from the Mugen Train, right?"

The girl gave no reply. To her, this demon had been bathed in an entirely new light.

"My brother," she muttered, to Akaza's shock. "He was a demon."

"What..?" he said, staring at her in absolute bewilderment. "What'd you say?"

Y/N stood up. Answers. She had answers to a few of the million questions that had haunted her mind for what seemed like eternity.

"You knew my brother," she said. "You guys were friends. He was a demon. So are you."

Akaza shook his head. "I don't know what you mean."

A smile upturned the corners of her lips. "You're Hakuji."