Hairo

## Familial Status

**Hairo** (佩狼, *Hairō*?) is the primary antagonist of Kyojuro Rengoku's Story within *Kimetsu no Yaiba Reishoki: Meiji Stories*. He is a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, having formerly held the position of **Lower Rank Two** (下弦の弐, *Kagen no Ni*?).

## Etymology

* Hairo's name contains the Kan-on'yomi reading of the kanji for both "to wear (a sword)" (佩, *hai*?) and "wolf" (狼, *rō*?).

## Appearance

Hairo is a relatively tall young man with an athletic build. He has incredibly spiky black hair with two chin-length bangs. As a member of the Twelve Kizuki, he has the kanji for **Lower** (下, *Ka*?) and the daiji for **Two** (弐, *Ni*?) etched on his left eye. Hairo also had many black spike-like patterns framing his face.

He wears an western light suit with a black buckled belt with saggy pants and black boots. Over this, he wears a black cloak similar in appearance to a cape with protruding collars. Finally he wears a white sailor hat with a wolf emblem on its front center.

## Personality

Hairo appears to have immense anger management issues, coming to the point of him being "suicidal": shooting himself in the head to contain it. The main cause is presumed due to mistreatment from his human life when being a member of the Shinsengumi. Despite his near constant anger, he has shown humbleness, seen when he venerated Kyojuro Rengoku's swordsmanship before his death.

## History

Not much is known about Hairo, but it is known that at some point of his life, he mastered the art of Bushidō but was harassed by a group of marksman who insulted his swordsmanship. At some point when he became a demon, he was nearly killed by Shinjuro Rengoku, but was either spared or escaped, and gained strength, becoming Lower Rank Two.

## Synopsis

Hairo, a demon with a grudge against Shinjuro Rengoku, recalls the event that caused his anger and his eventual decision to kill him. In a fit of anger, he shoots himself in the mouth in an attempt to calm down. He sighs, claiming that the shot in the mouth had calmed him. He remains determined to kill Shinjuro, believing that it will bring him satisfaction. He loads up his gun and prepares to find Shinjuro.

Kyojuro arrives in Tokyo along with Mitsuri Kanroji to complete his Hashira trial mission, and comes across a child who trips in front of Mitsuri. The child's mother assumes that Mitsuri was at fault, and noting the katana at her waist, threatens to call the police, but Kyojuro intervenes, explaining that her son had tripped. The mother insults Kyojuro's hair, to which he replies that his ancestor ate tempura shrimp. Kyojuro tells Mitsuri that she needs to lighten up, but the building in front of them suddenly explodes. Hairo, who was revealed the have placed the bomb that blew up the building, appears and shoots at Kyojuro.

Hairo misses and swears, but tells himself to calm down, and readies his gun again. He realizes that Kyojuro has gone. Kyojuro suddenly appears in front of Hairo, and uses **Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire** but misses him. Hairo grows excited upon the sight of Kyojuro, thinking he is Shinjuro, and exclaims that he will have his revenge today. Kyojuro notices the mark on Hairo's eye and realizes that Hairo is the demon he was looking for. Hairo claims that this fight would be their final fight, however Kyojuro tells Hairo that they have never fought before. Hairo becomes enraged, still thinking that Kyojuro was Shinjuro and shoots himself in the mouth, to Kyojuro's shock.

While Kyojuro is distracted, another bomb explodes, and he realizes that bombs have been planted all over the city. Hairo notices Kyojuro's distraction and shoots at him. Guns burst from Hairo's stomach and he repeatedly shoots at Kyojuro, who dodges most of them, but as he leaps away, more guns burst from the ground. Kyojuro uses **Flame Breathing, Fourth Form: Blooming Flame Undulation**, breaking Hairo's weapons and causing an explosion that forces Hairo to protect himself with his arms. Kyojuro runs towards Hairo and swings his blade, aiming for his neck. Hairo laughs at Kyojuro's poor aim, before revealing that the blade has cut into his jaw, which he can recover from.

Hairo summons dynamite from his cloak and throws it towards him, causing Kyojuro to be heavily wounded. Mitsuri runs towards the explosion, worried about Kyojuro. Hairo appears behind Mitsuri and calls presses his gun agaisnt her head. He says that Kyojuro won't back down, then he will torture Kyojuro's comrade. He then says that he was quite good at toruturing when he was a human, scaring Mitsuri. Kyojuro appears with **Flame Breathing, Fifth Form: Flaming Tiger**, which Hairo leaps away from. Kyojuro says that he will always fight for those who can't fight for themselves, causing him to remeber a conversation he had with his mother as a child. His mother told him to light a fire in his soul, and to make sure to burn all evil demons to a crisp. Kyojuro, lit with new energy, vows to end Hairo's grudge now.

## Abilities

### Overall Abilities

As the holder of the second highest position among the Lower Ranks of the Twelve Kizuki, Hairo is an exceptionally powerful demon. Combined with his marksmanship and swordsmanship skills, he is an extremely formidable foe. As Lower Rank Two, it can be safely assumed that his power exceeded that of the Lower Ranks Kamanue, Rui, Mukago, Wakuraba, and rivaling Rokuro. He was able to stand his ground against Kyojuro Rengoku, dealing great damage to the Demon Slayer and nearly killing him multiple times, albiet Kyojuro was a Kinoe at the time, which is the highest non-Hashira rank of the Demon Slayer Corps. Hairo was also able to immediately subdue Mitsuri Kanroji, who was an inexperienced Demon Slayer at the time. The Lower Rank put up an extremely good fight against Kyojuro, evidently pushing the latter to his limit as he collapsed after the battle, only being defeated when the Demon Slayer unleashed his **Rengoku** technique.

**Skilled Torturer:** As stated by Hairo himself, when he was human, he was extremely experienced in torturing people using a variety of methods. Hairo instinctively knew when someone was about to hit their breaking point as long as they are alive. He even has the mindset of someone who enjoys inflicting pain and suffering on others.

### Demon Abilities

**Enhanced Regeneration:** As a member of the Twelve Kizuki, Hairo possesses great regenerative abilities, shown when he regrew his entire upper body in a matter of seconds after having it completely destroyed in an explosion.

### Physical Abilities

   **Enhanced Speed & Reflexes:** Hairo possessed decently great movement speed and reflexes, being able to keep up with a Kinoe-ranked Kyojuro, evading many of the Demon Slayer's techniques. He was also able to travel from a building far from Mitsuri to right behind her in an instant, even subduing Mitsuri before she could react.

## Fighting Style

**Expert Marksman:** With the nearly infinite supply of weapons at his disposal, Hairo has displayed the ability to be extremely proficient in his plethora of firearms and ranged weapons, using them to great effect against Kyojuro.

**Expert Swordsman:** After depleting his supply of firearms, Hairo switches his combat stance and uses his Bushidō sword technique. His sword skill can even match the likes of Kyojuro, albeit that was when his skill wasn't as polished as when he became a Hashira.

### Blood Demon Art

   **Umbrakinesis:** Hairo's Blood Demon Art allows him to create and manipulate shadows with special properties and characteristics from his flesh and blood. His shadows have unique shapes and designs on them, ranging from white triangular patterns to eyes. These shadows contain a suction effect with not only absorbs damage from physical attacks, but also makes it extremely difficult to escape when in contact with them. Furthermore, the shadows also have a special property that seemingly gives even a dimensional pocket to store countless items and he can conjure these items from anywhere his shadows occupy. Hairo usually opts to shape his shadows into wolf-like creatures to increase his attack potency and striking range. Otherwise, he would turn parts of his body into his Blood Demon Art to nullify attacks and trap his enemies.

* **Artillery Manipulation:** Hairo's shadows contain a countless number of weapons, ranging from pistols to bolt-rifles to shotguns and sub-machine guns, even containing a rotatory mini-gun, molotovs, dynamite and other explosives, and also a large katana. He can command these to fire at will, whether it be from his own body or from shadows he has sent out in the environment as traps, or even from the shadow wolves he creates. However, these guns are real and not mystical, having a significant but limited amount of ammunition. Thus if he runs out of bullets, the guns become useless.

### Techniques

* **Capture Cavity** (鹵獲腔, *Rokaku-Kō*?) - These techniques involve shaping his shadows into wolf-like entities and using his countless supply of weapons to attack his targets.
	+ **Shadow Wolves** (影狼, *Kagerō*?) - Hairo creates multiple shadowy wolves from his blood that emanate from his cloak, these wolves have the same vortex effect as his regular shadows and thus can absorb a plethora of physical attacks and make them exceptionally hard to kill. These wolves can also conjure guns and other weapons.
* **Warwolf of Horror** (戦禍陣狼, *Senka Jinrō*?) - Hairo gathers all his shadows to him and cloaks himself in them, transforming into a large shadowy wolf standing on its hind legs, akin to a werewolf.

## Equipment

**Weapons Arsenal:** Hairo has a huge arsenal of weapons, both melee and ranged weapons used for combat purposes found around that time period. Ranged weapons include pistols, bolt-rifles, shotguns, sub-machine guns, even containing a rotatory mini-gun, molotovs, dynamite and other explosives. The only close ranged weapon is a standard katana.

## Battles

Hairo Battles

**Pre-Series Battles**

* Kyojuro Rengoku vs Hairo

## Trivia

* Hairo would usually collect Demon Slayers's Nichirin Sword tsubas as trophies for him killing them.
* Judging from his flashbacks and period of events in the story, Hairo was likely a member of the Shinsengumi, a special police force organized by the Bakufu (military government) in Ezo, "now known as Hokkaidō", during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863 the very end of the Edo Period.
	+ Based on the visual factors of Hairo's flashbacks with him interacting with his opponents, it seems that he has participated in the Boshin War and has taken side of the Republic of Ezo. It is unknown which battle he has partook/lost in whether it was the Battle of Toba–Fushimi or the Battle of Hakodate.

## Quotes

* (To Mitsuri Kanroji) "*I will subject you to the limits of human suffering... in ways you could never even imagine! You are a victim of my revenge! But it's your fault for joining the Demon Slayers! How pitiful! You corps members die such pitiful deaths... yet no one admires or even knows you!*"
* (To himself, then Kyojuro Rengoku) "*My wounds may have healed since that day, but I cannot control my fear and anger. I cannot stand to live in fear of him! My rage will kill me! Revenge! I will have my revenge... Kyojuro Rengoku!*"
* (To himself) "*Impossible! I shot him with bullets... and caught him in multiple explosions... so why won't he fall?! Why face me with nothing but a katana? He's just a pathetic **human**! Why is he coming at me with a mere sword? How can this human stand up against me? That guy... Is the warrior before me now... really the one I encountered that day?*"
* (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "*I admire... your swordsmanship.*"