Opening my eyes was a struggle. My eyelids felt heavy, as if I had just woken up from one of the best naps I had ever had, something I never did quite often before I got to wherever I was with a…

A large hand was stretched out directly in front of my face.

“Who are you?,” a familiar voice said from behind the hand.

After a moment, my vision focused once again and I was able to see who was reaching out toward me.

Holy crap.

A teenage boy with a checkered black and green kimono stood above me. He had short dark red hair and a unique mark on the left side of his hairline. His wide round eyes were slightly narrowed from a small smile.

I closed my fingers around one of the straps he wore around his shoulders, testing his presence. The cloth had texture. I can feel it.

“Tanjiro Kamado.”

Following my saying his name, his expression changed into a puzzled look.

“Y-yeah,” he said. “How do you know my name? What are you doing out here alone? It’s dangerous.”

My mouth failed to respond, short-wired by awe. I finally managed to find my voice and said, “I-I-I’ve heard of you. And I… I don’t know why I’m out here. Where am I?”

“Fujikasane mountain. It’s not safe out here,” Tanjiro replied, giving me the urge to laugh deliriously. But then the words sunk in and my heart skipped a beat. Fujikasane mountain, the place where you are tested to become an official demon slayer. There must have been at least a hundred demons out here!

I stumbled over words, but my tongue decided to settle on something close to, “dawut?”

My face felt hot. I was in the presence of a LEGEND. Unfortunately, nothing kills the mood better than the sudden reminder of your current condition in a simulation that could kill you. How relatable, right??

Tanjiro helped me get to my feet. My knees gave out like I had an iron deficiency and my body dropped back down to the ground.

I got up again and had to hold my arms out to keep myself from falling again. When I got steady, I turned to look at Tanjiro and felt embarrassed at the concerned look on his face.

I hid the embarrassment with the fakest grin ever and stuffed my hands into my pockets.

“We need to go,” Tanjiro said, turning around as the words left his lips.

That’s when there was a blue flash in front of me which expanded into some sort of small chart that was hardly solid through the transparency of the display. I didn’t bother to count the number of boxes entirely, but the chart was about 3x3 and two boxes in the top left corner were filled with miniature icons.

I reached out with my pointer finger until it hit the surface of the display. A click sound emitted but nothing happened.

The word simulation jogged through my mind again.

An inventory?, I wondered.

“What are you doing? Are you okay?,” Tanjiro called from several yards away. He must have begun to walk off while I was occupied with whatever was in front of me.

I jogged over to him. I asked, “Can you see this?” and pointed to the display in front of me.

When I took my hands out of my pocket, the display vanished.

“What?,” he responded.

I put my hands in my pockets and the display popped up again.

Yeah. Definitely an inventory. Sick!

His eyes narrowed. “I need you to do the best you can to control yourself,” Tanjiro said. “It’s dangerous out here, but I promise you I’ll get you to safety as soon as possible and then we can find some help. Okay…,” he trailed off.

“Hideko,” I filled in for him.

I deflated at the same time with my excitement and my finger dropped to my side along with my hand.

Am I crazy? I kind of hated myself at the moment for appearing so weak in front of Tanjiro.

What are you doing, Hideko?! Characters in Anime and Manga are supposed to be badasses!, my mind screamed.

“Come on, Hideko, we’ll get some help for you soon” Tanjiro said, a gentle smile on his face which I could have sworn he had donned to disguise pity.

I let out a small “Okay,” and followed behind him.