“I made tea.” Sumiyoshi said while bringing a tray with two cups of tea and some biscuits.

“Oh….thank you.” A gentle voice responded back.

“Whew! He's sound asleep! It appears my wife also fell asleep, I'm sorry! I really am sorry, to ask a visitor like you to watch my child…” He said with a bright smile, looking at Yoriichi carrying a baby in his arms.

“It's no trouble, she must be tired, bearing and raising children is hard.” He replied, giving the baby back to the man and taking one of the tea cups from the tray.

“Y/N was the name of your daughter, am I right? How old is she?” Sumiyoshi asked, a bit awkward thanks to his short answers.

“… Nine.”

“HEY DAD! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS BEETLE I FOUND!” Their conversation was interrupted by a loud and childish voice.

“There she is.” He said calmly, taking another sip of the tea and gently settling the cup down to look at the so-called beetle.

“Are you going to give a name to him?”

“Nah, I'm going to take him back to where he belongs, I just wanted to show it to you!” She responded with a happy smile, he patted her head with a fond expression in response.

After she finally let the poor beetle go, she turned to look at Sumiyoshi, approaching him to look more closely at the child in his arms.

The baby, like he noticed a new presence, sleepily opened his little eyes, staring at her. “Oh, he has red eyes, just like you! How pretty!”

“Aw… I'm so jealous! I wanted to have red eyes like dad too!” He just giggled at her small fit.

“I will just drink this and leave, if we don't, she will eat all the biscuits again.” he commented.

“Don't worry about it! We owe you our lives, if it weren't for you, my child wouldn't have been born!”

Yoriichi just silently took a sip of his tea, not responding to him at all.

“I understand. But I'll tell my children and grandchildren about you guys!”

“That isn't necessary.”

“But, I want someone to remember you, even if I'm just a mere charcoal seller, someday someone will…”

“It's not necessary.” 

He turned to look at the man with an expressionless face. “Sumiyoshi, those who master their trade all arrive at the same place, even if the times changes or the way that place changes, they are certain to reach the same place. You seem to think that I am someone special, but I'm not. I cannot protect anything that's important to me, and I was unable to accomplish even one thing that I should have in this life.”

'aw…please don't…. I don't want you to talk like that, please… I beg you, don't talk about yourself like that, it's sad… so… very… sad…'

Tanjiro slowing opened his eyes, seeing the very recognizable ceiling of the butterfly mansion.

'Was that…. a dream? I think Y/N was there for some reason too-…. Where am I?'

A crashing sound echoed, Kanao was standing by the door with a surprised expression, seemed like she dropped the vase she was holding from shock.

“… Are you alright? Since the fight, you've unconscious for two months.”

“I… was?”

“I'm glad that you're awake…!”

A kakushi (Goto) was bringing some castella for Tanjiro, but entered the room to see a broken vase in the floor. 'Clean this up-'

'Seriously Kanao? She leaves everything undone! She's a weird girl, she doesn't talk at all. It's because they made her a demon slayer at such a young age! But she outranks me, so I can't say anything even though I'm 23.' He sighed as he collected the shards in the floor.

“Um, I'm putting the castella here, if it looks like it's going bad, you can throw it away or eat it…” 

“Th… thank you…” Tanjiro weakly responded, making Goto drop the tray with the castella in shock.

“He- HE'S AWAKE?! YOU SHOULD BE MORE EXCITED! YOU REALLY ARE SPACEY!! YOU SHOULDA CALLED SOMEONE AND SAID HE WOKE UP! DUMMY!” He started to scream at Kanao, who panicked in response.

“oh no! oh no-”

“EVERYONE IS WORRIED! RANKS DON'T MATTER! NOT AT TIMES LIKE THIS! KIYO! SUMI! NAHO! AOI! TANJIRO HAS REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS!”

“WAAAAAAAH!”

They all ran to the room, swarming Tanjiro. “I'm glad!”

“I'll bake you some anpan!”

“The castella is falling-”

Someone covered by a blanket suddenly ran through the door. “GYAAAA! A GHOST!”

“Ah! It's Aoi tangled up in the laundry-”

“I'M GLAD HE WOKE UP! THEY WENT INSTEAD OF ME, SO THEY GOT HURT! WAAAH!”

“Thank you… everyone else… are they all right?” Tanjiro weakly asked.

“The yellow haired one, was it two days ago…?”

“Yep, Zenitsu woke up the next day”

“He's active again, he's on a mission, but reluctantly. The sound hashira was walking but leaning on his wive's shoulders, all the kakushi were shocked at how durable he is.”

“Oh… and Inosuke?”

“Inosuke's condition was really bad, the poison got deep in him, so he was slow to use breathing to stop the bleeding and…” Aoi said, cleaning her tears.

“Oh. In that case… I must be hallucinating him clinging to the ceiling.”

Everyone looked up to see Inosuke in the ceiling like a spider.

“UWAAAAAAAH!”

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Gwa! Ha! Ha! Good job noticing me, Tanjiro!”

“Well. I'm lying on my back, so…”

Inosuke then lands in Tanjiro's bed, saying proudly and pointing to him. “I woke up seven days before you!”

“Good job, you're amazing… Inosuke…”

“Heh! Heh! Tee! He! he! Praise me more! And you're weak! Don't make me worry!”

“And…. what about Y/N? How is she?”

“Oh.”

The atmosphere of the room suddenly turned heavy with just the mention of her name.

“What… happened?”

“She's fine, but-” Aoi was about to tell what happened, but a low scream coming from the corridor interrupted her, everyone looked at the door to see what was coming.

“ᴛᴀᴀᴀᴀᴀᴀᴀɴJIROOOOOOO!”

Y/N ran through the door, she was about to jump in his direction, but her legs gave in before she could even get remotely close to his bed, she immediately face-planting to the floor in response.

“L-Lady Y/N! We already told you that can't run with your legs like that!”

A kakushi appeared, putting her hands under the arms of the girl and lifting her up from the wood floor.

“Sorry, my bad-” 

“Did she ran away again?!” Another kakushi entered the room, his breath heavy, signalizing that he ran after her as fast as he could.

The kakushi that was holding her helped her get close to Tanjiro, making her sit in his bed close to his feet.

“Tanjiro! I'm so glad to see you awake!” She happily said to him with a bright smile.

“I'm… glad… to see that you're fine too… But, what's up with all these kakushi after you…?”

“Oh….” Her happy face immediately dropped to an awkward expression, she forced a nervous smile and said while fidgety playing with her fingers. “So… I'm kind of am…. under house arrest? Ha… haha-”

“Eh?”

“It's because she brought that demon girl with her!” Aoi commented, sniffing. “Normally, she would've had been tied up and locked up in the basement or just straight up sentenced to death, but we managed to just let her under supervision until a hashira trial is done-”

“WAAAAH I DON'T Y/N TO DIEEE!” Sumi started to cry loudly, clinging to Y/N's clothes, who just patted her head with a fond smile.

“I'm not dying, Sumi. Oh, by the way, that Kakushi is Hana! And that one is Kou! One is supposed to watch me, so I won't commit any crimes again, and the other is supposed to help me move around!” Y/N happily introduced the two kakushi to Tanjiro like they were long-lost friends and not two people supposed to watch her.

“If you wanted to go see your friend, you should have told me! You couldn't even stand up two days ago, you can't run around like this!” Hana said, putting her hands in her hips angrily.

“I'm sorry Hana, I didn't know you wanted to have me in your arms so much-”

“THAT'S NOT THE POINT! YOU IDIOT-” She started to pull her ear, her flushed face couldn't be seen thanks to the kakushi uniform.

“Hana, she's just provoking you, you should already be used to it at this point.”

“Don't be so boorish, Kou! Are you jealous because you don't have a cute girl to take care of you? It must me so sad being alone and single-” Y/N mockingly said, soon being interrupted by his screams :

“YOU BRAT! YOU'RE SINGLE TOO-”

“HEY! DON'T CALL HER A BRAT!”

“WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING HER?! YOU WERE PULLING HER EAR ONE SECOND AGO-”

'Y/N said that they were supposed to be watching over her, but to me, it just seems like she's having fun by messing with them-'

Y/N ignored the two kakushi fighting in the background and looked back at Tanjiro :

“Ah, now that I remember, I woke four days before you, Tanjiro! So, I guess that I also lost to Inosuke-” 

“THAT'S RIGHT! Since I'm the strongest, it's only natural that I am the first to wake up!”

“But you aren't normal, Inosuke! Shinobu said that too, right?!” Naho exclaimed, Kiyo showing a book with a picture of an animal to Tanjiro.

“Oh, right, look at this book, Tanjiro! It's a weasel from another country called a honey badger! Its thick skin is like armor, its fine even if a lion bites it! Poison doesn't affect it, so it even fights poisonous snakes, and eats them! Shinobu said Inosuke is the same way!”

“Lady Shinobu can be careless.” Goto commented. “Maybe she got tired of worrying about him?” Aoi said, trying to pull the boar, who was still sitting in Tanjiro's bed. “get down here!”

“In other words, I'm immortal!”

“No, you're not! Are you dumb?!” Inosuke lunged at Goto, grabbing his clothes. “KYAAA! STOP THAT!”

“WHO'S DUMB? YOU JERK!”

Aoi then exclaims while trying to pull him away from the kakushi : “Poison doesn't work well on you but neither does' medicine! So be careful! Shinobu told you that too, didn't she?! But you already forgot!”

“Stop pulling me, you shrimp!”

“What?! We aren't that different in height!”

Kanao silently approached Y/N in the middle of the screaming. “… Y/N, are you feeling better?”

“Well, besides the fact that I can't feel my legs at all, I'm fine!”

Since the poison got directly hit to her legs, they were the most affected part.

“I- If you're feeling tired, I can carry you back to your room-” She flustered said, but was interrupted by Inosuke. “HEY! She's my underling, so I'm obviously the one who should take her back!”

“You just recuperated from the poison, I suppose it would be better if I were to take her-” Aoi cut him, but the three kids also started to exclaim : “I will do it!”

“No, I will!”

“No, me!”

“You three mouses doesn't even have enough strength to lift a leaf! I'm the one who's strongest, so I'm the one who should do it!” Inosuke proudly said, but received three punches to the gut from the girls at the same time.

“Yay! We won against the honey badger!”

“THAT ONE DIDN'T COUNT, YOU GUYS TOOK ME OFF GUARD!”

Everyone started to scream at each other, Y/N soul just slowly disintegrating in the middle of the chaos she accidentally caused.

“This… bunch of idiots are really fighting over something as silly as that?” Goto commented at Tanjiro, but the burgundy boy was already deep asleep.

☆

After what happened, Y/N has been receiving treatment to be able to walk again, but she couldn't go outside.

She hasn't been able to see nor Daki nor Gyutaro ever since she passed out, apparently they were detained in the basement, but the kakushi watching over Y/N didn't even let her get remotely close to the place.

It seems like a trial is supposed to be held when she recuperates enough to be able to walk, so she will probably have to prepare a very convincing speech for them to let her keep Daki and her brother.

Aoi later told her that the one who brought her back was actually Obanai, he was even carrying her and everything! It must have been a astounding scene! She was kind of thankful that she wasn't awake, since it would probably be very awkward.

Some kakushi did try to detain her too, but Shinobu looked at them very menacingly, so they ended up letting her be, so basically, the reason why she can move so freely around the mansion even though she supposedly is a criminal is thanks to Shinobu.

Is it fair that she can break serious rules and get away with it so easily? Definitely not, but she's basically the butterfly mansion official mascot, so who cares.

Currently, she was supposed to be eating lunch, but…

“Y/N! You're picking the carrots out again!” Hana exclaimed.

“I'm…. allergic to carrots…” She said with an awkward smile, avoiding eye contact with the kakushi.

“That's not true! I saw you eating a carrot cake Lady Mitsuri brought the other day!”

“Ah-”

Since she still was under arrest, she was now staying in a room separated from the kamaboko squad, and to be honest, she missed them a lot.

Though she wasn't very fond of carrots, Tanjiro would often encourage her to eat them, he really was like a caretaker-

But now that she has to eat alone, she doesn't really care about her eating habits anymore, damn, she didn't even notice how dependent on them she had become-

Kou and Hana just looked with pity at the girl gloomily staring at her food.

“…hey, will you feel better if I bring more tempura for you?”

“… Not really…” 

“… Just bear with it until your legs heal, okay? The hashira seem to like you, so I'm sure you will be pardoned.”

“Thanks…” She weakly smiled at them, but she wasn't sure about how to feel.

Sure, she did was friends with a big part of the hashiras, but this didn't erase the fact that most of them had deep grudges and traumas against the demons, even if she escape the death sentence, will it really be worth it if Daki has to die instead?

What If they say that if she wants to stay alive, Daki will have to killed? What will she do?

Ether still haven't contacted her, so this meant that she still was in danger of dying for real. If she were to choose to save Daki, that would mean sacrificing the chance of saving all the other hashira that will die later…

She shook her head. “I'm definitely going to convince them!” Y/N exclaimed, taking a big portion of rice and stuffing her mouth with it.

'Ugh- I miss eating with everyone so much-'

She sadly thought while chewing the food, though it had no taste to her.