Guess what lies ahead!

in finnish, the '@' symbol is sometimes referred to as 'kissanhnta' [cat's tail] or 'miau', 'miau merkki' [meow marks]. in the pokemon universe, i thought it might be cute if the '@' symbol were called 'the mew' or 'mew symbol'

I really liked the Akaza fight. I particularly liked the Akaza fight from Giyuu's perspective.

You are Giyuu. Upper Demon Three shows up. This is the guy who killed your dear friend (or guy you worked with. relationship is unclear). Every blow he deals is a blow to kill. You dodge and dodge and strike back. The demon wants to know your name. You say, "I don't like talking." Akaza says, "Great, because I don't shut up."

You save Tanjiro's skin a few times. Akaza decides to blast you 100 kilometers away so he can have a plot-relevant conversation with Tanjiro without you ruining it. You're too late-20's for this. You run 100 kilometers back to the scene of the battle. Your back hurts.

You start duking it out with Akaza now. REALLY full-throttle. Your mark appears which is gonna cut your lifespan or whatever. If Akaza doesn't cut your lifespan first. But he's matching your new power and speed! This is bad! Where's Tanjiro? He's--Tanjiro is just standing there. Like he's JUST standing there. He looks like he's thinking about something--and thinking is NOT this boy's strong-suit--but FUCK Kamado get IN HERE. HELP. DUDE. You can't keep carrying this team on your back, your back hurts.

Tanjiro's gone full NPC. Whatever. Guess he can betray you in death. Not worth your concern, because your full concern is on the demon who is beating you to hell. Like you are holding your own but this guy regenerates all his limbs!! That's not fair!! You're too many broken ribs in and too many quarts of blood-loss deep to waste time on the fairness of it all. Not when you're about to waste the rest of your time on the dyingness of it all.

Cuz yeah, you're done for. Spent. Akaza snapped your sword. You are deader than dead. You're pre-dead. You're alive enough to know just how dead you are. Akaza comes in for the final blow and--rather than wondering if you have any regrets--you wonder if you have anything in life you don't regret.

But wait, Tanjiro's up. He's not only not dead, he's different... somehow. And Akaza can't seem to sense him. You have a chance, maybe. If you can stall, maybe. If Tanjiro can get this sneak attack in, maybe.

Tanjiro yells "Akaza hey I'm gonna cut your head off now!!!!!" And you go back to counting your regrets.

Akaza spins around on Tanjiro. Tanjiro waltzes up to death's door and cuts Akaza's head off.

Wait what.

What.

Like he did a little spin flip and just. Clean off. One strike. Where did that come from. How. What the fuck.

Okay. Okay okay. Great. Awesome. I mean you loosened it, but whatever. Great. You did it. You won.

How the fuck did Tanjiro do that.

You consider asking Tanjiro but he like rolled over, threw up, and passed out. Fair.

But wait. Why the FUCK is Akaza's body still moving. Jesus fucking christ that's gotta be against the rules. Tanjiro's out cold. It's all you can do to distract the body from Tanjiro by getting your ass firmly kicked. You go back to counting your regrets.

You only manage to stall long enough for Tanjiro to wake up, but there's little else you can do. You and Tanjiro get to die conscious, against this body that cannot be killed--or at least not at the hands of two half-dead and bled-out swordsmen. Is this better? That both you and Tanjiro get to die conscious.

Akaza's headless body is regenerating its head. Akaza's headless body is preparing the same attack that killed your friend-coworker-situationship guy. You've read this book. You know how this ends. You die here, now, finally. Good, maybe. The back and forth was getting a little whiplashy. You can get back to finishing counting your regrets.

But Tanjiro has recognized the devastating attack too, and he's shouting a warning to you. You tell him to leave you behind. He doesn't. With the last of his strength, he runs and tackles you in a effort to save you from the blast radius. But it's futile. You're both within range. 10 kilometers is probably in range. You know what power lives inside that attack.

You brace. Akaza's body unleashes his final attack.

...Which Akaza uses to repeatedly punch himself in the head and the torso and the arms and legs and all over he punches himself punches himself punches himself stop hitting yourself stop hitting yourself stop hitting yourself.

Akaza's head is gone again. His body is full of holes. He's just standing there.

The body is still regenerating. Akaza doesn't have a face but you somehow understand he's upset about this. Maybe embarrassed. You consider looking away, to be polite.

The body walks away. Stands there for a second. Kneels on the floor. Seems to be thinking about a lot of stuff. You don't want to be rude and interrupt. The body finally makes up its not-mind about something and just.... dies.

You and Tanjiro are alive.