𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 "𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈" 𝑖 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒.

¡𝑆𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎!

𝑾𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔:
－𝐷𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒
－𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ

The battle was over, Muzan had been defeated, and everything had turned out well.

Yet Sanemi couldn't feel satisfied; he couldn't rejoice the way everyone expected him to, nor could he feel that warm sense of relief filling his chest that others seemed to experience.
Too many had died in a single day; all his closest friends had sacrificed themselves for the cause, and he couldn't just move on as if nothing had happened.

And yet everyone else seemed to manage—even Tomioka appeared happier now.

He felt so selfish.
They had given their lives for this very reason, so that everyone could live in peace and serenity, and yet he refused to do so.

He struggled to adapt to this new life where demons were no longer part of it.
Before, he had a purpose: protecting Genya. But now?
Now that Genya was gone, what was left for him? What was his purpose?
He had fought his entire life with the sole goal of protecting his younger brother, and in the end, he had failed.
He couldn't, wouldn't, accept living when his little brother—the only person he had desperately tried to save—had died before him.

Genya would never live the peaceful life Sanemi had so desperately tried to give him. He would never again be the brother he had always wanted to be.

His time was over; his place was no longer on this earth, by Genya's side as he had always dreamed, and he still needed to come to terms with that.

Sanemi had embarked on an endless journey, seeking himself while distancing himself from everyone else.
He had left everything behind, taking with him only a few coins, some food, and his katana, which he couldn't bring himself to part with.
Even though demons were no longer a threat, he convinced himself that he still needed it.
He hadn't used it in a long time, but just having it with him gave him a sense of reassurance and calm. If something got in his way, he would be able to fight.

Sanemi found himself walking along a stone path, where the cold sunlight barely illuminated the road up the mountain.
The high altitude made the air cold and damp, but it was oddly refreshing to breathe.

He stopped by a stream, drinking the clear water. It was icy, almost like drinking melted snow, and tasted completely different from what he was used to. It was so refreshing that he drank it in great gulps, soaking his clothes in the process.
He even washed his spare clothes with a fragrant bar of soap, scrubbing the purple fabric of his pants vigorously.

After preparing himself, he set off again, following the trail that wound deeper into the forest.
He climbed the mountain quickly—his well-trained body was still strong and resilient—and soon found himself at the entrance of a small, secluded village.

It was tiny, the number of houses could be counted on one hand, and it appeared very old.

As he entered, he could hear the murmurs of the villagers, who eyed him with suspicion and fear.

"A stranger?"

"What's he doing here?"

"Should we send him away?"

"Look at all those scars—he must be strong!"

Sanemi seemed entirely unaffected by the whispers, which quickly spread throughout the village. Soon, everyone knew about his arrival, and people even peeked out of their windows to get a look at him.

He entered a tavern, the jingling of the entrance bell drawing the attention of the woman behind the counter to his muscular figure.
She adjusted her round glasses with a finger and greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome."

Sanemi muttered a greeting, placing some money on the dark, slightly chipped wooden counter.
"A room for one night."

The woman didn't flinch, clearly accustomed to customers far ruder and more aggressive than him. She took a numbered key and handed it to him.
"You'll need to return this at the end of your stay. I hope you rest well."

Sanemi let out a small grunt, grabbing the key before heading to his assigned room. He placed his few belongings—which had slightly increased since his departure—inside and went back out to find a decent place to eat.

Walking through the streets, with his katana wrapped in cloth and slung over his shoulder, he glanced into every place that smelled remotely appetizing.
But after just one look, he would always grimace and move on, disapproving of the kitchens that were too dirty for his taste.

Eventually, he reached the end of the road, where a small, modest stall caught his attention. He entered, pushing aside the dark green curtain at the entrance.

A strong smell of spices and meat filled the air, making his nose twitch. Drawn in by the aroma, he decided to sit on one of the worn-out stools.

He was immediately approached by a young woman in her twenties. Her long, wheat-colored hair was elegantly tied back to keep it out of her way, save for the small bangs she kept flicking aside with a tilt of her head.
The young woman's brown eyes settled on the stranger, whom she had momentarily mistaken for a ghost.

"How can I help you?" she asked with a clear and friendly voice.

He didn't flinch, placing some money on the counter.
"Two bowls of ramen."

The young woman smiled and took the money.
"Coming right up."

She turned to the cook, holding up two fingers. The cook nodded slightly and began preparing the food.

Sanemi rested his cheek on his left hand, leaving his right hand on the counter, drumming a little tune with his fingers.

The small stall was nearly empty, occupied only by four other people eating in peace, though it was likely too small to host more than that.

After a few minutes of waiting, a steaming bowl of food was placed in front of him, accompanied by wooden chopsticks.

"The second one will be ready in a few minutes." the young woman informed him as she returned to washing dishes.

Sanemi gave a small nod before beginning to eat with gusto. It had been days since he'd had a proper meal, having grown used to eating game he hunted in the woods or fish caught in rivers. He had to admit, he had missed this.

He quickly finished the first bowl, setting the empty dish in front of him with a sigh.
Barely a moment later, the second and final bowl was served.

Maybe I shouldn't have ordered two.

With difficulty, and only to avoid wasting food, Sanemi forced himself to eat every last drop. With his stomach full to bursting, he left the stall silently.

He didn't want to go to sleep right away—he wouldn't be able to, thanks to the nightmares that plagued him every night—so he sat on a bench by the roadside, gazing at the stars.

The village had grown quiet and empty; the inhabitants had likely all retreated to their homes for the night. A fresh mountain breeze filled the air.
The stars were brilliantly visible, casting a gentle light over the young man's face.

Sanemi remembered sitting in the garden with his siblings, gazing at the stars, just as he was doing now.

The soft night breeze gently brushed his face, stirring the long, silver strands of his hair.
The chirping of crickets was the only sound breaking the silence, but it had a strangely soothing quality.
Sanemi lost himself in the moment, where everything seemed frozen in time, where he could once again look at the stars without worrying about a monster sneaking up on him.
And yet, he felt incredibly lonely; no one was sitting beside him to watch the sky.

That precious silence was broken by shouting.

His instincts as a hunter took over his body, and in an instant, he grabbed his katana, still wrapped in cloth. He ran toward the source of the noise as fast as he could, but instead of seeing a demon on the hunt, he found only the young woman from the stall arguing with a man on the porch of a house.

The man was yelling loudly, a vein bulging on his forehead, his brows furrowed in rage.

The young woman didn't look much better, her fists clenched at her sides, her eyes narrowed into slits full of venom.

"Do we really have to go through this again!? I only asked you to do one thing, you ungrateful daughter!" the man shouted, pointing a finger at her.

"And I already told you that money is for your other kids! You can't seriously expect me to go buy you alcohol when we have a family to feed!" she said with disdain, looking at the man as though he were scum.
"Nao is even sick—do you know how much his medicine costs!?"

"Don't you work for this!?"

"If you worked instead of spending all day drinking and impregnating the first woman you see, your family would be far better off!"

"Shut up!"

The man, at the end of his patience, pushed his daughter off the porch, making her fall to the ground. The girl wasn't fazed - perhaps far too accustomed to such situations-and quickly got back up.

"You're upset by my words because you know they're the truth!"

"I've spent all these years raising you, and this is how you repay me?!" the man snarled, his face red with rage.

He approached her with large strides, raising a hand to strike.
The girl closed her eyes, bracing for the pain of the slap that never came.
Before her stood a tall, muscular young man holding her father's arm in a firm grip.

Sanemi, already in a foul mood, tightened his hold on the man's wrist, hearing the bones creak under his grasp.

"I can't stand people like you."

With a shove, he sent the man sprawling into the dirt road. The man tumbled in the dust, dirtying his clothes and face.
He scrambled to his feet quickly, his fiery gaze fixed on the boy.

"What do you want?! Get out of here, this isn't your business!"

"Considering you're fighting practically in the middle of the street, l'd say it is my business since you're disturbing me with your yelling."

The man flinched at the aggressive tone of his voice, taking a slight step back. He'd noticed the boy's imposing stature; this wasn't someone he could easily quarrel with.
He bit his tongue, turning his gaze back to his daughter.

"Don't even think about coming home tonight." he hissed before entering the small, ramshackle wooden house and locking the door behind him.

The girl's eyes widened in horror, and she ran to pound on the door, hurting her hands on the splintered wood.
"Hey! Open this door right now! I won't leave my siblings with a piece of trash like you!" But no answer came from inside.
"If you lay a finger on
them I'll kill you! Did you hear me? I'll kill you!"

The girl caught her breath, letting out an exasperated sigh, and then turned sharply toward Sanemi, who stood off to the side. She ran at him, hitting him on the shoulder.

"Why did you do that?!"

He frowned, letting her hit him.
"Huh? I saved you! In case you didn't notice, he was about to hit you! Maybe you could thank me instead of yelling!"

Her eyes widened even more as she hit him again. "Thank you?!
Oh, please! I would've preferred to be hit! If you hadn't interfered, l'd still be inside taking care of Nao and the others!" She stepped back slightly, putting her hands in her blond hair.
"Oh God! What do I do now?! I can't leave them alone with him; he'll never know how to take care of them! And what if something happens?!"

Sanemi seemed to understand her concern and managed to quell his irritation.
"How old is your oldest brother?"

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, slowly lowering her hands from her hair.
"Twelve."

"Then nothing will happen. He's old enough to take care of himself and the others."

The girl bit her lower lip, feeling the storm in her chest slowly calm.
Now that she was thinking more clearly, she could reason.
Yes, Haruka would be able to take care of Nao and Akito; after all, he
was a sharp kid.

She let herself drop to the ground, sitting on the edge of the road
with her back to her house. She hugged her knees, resting her head on top of them.
When Sanemi saw her close her eyes, he frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"Sleeping, obviously."

"Yeah, but why here?"

She opened her eyes, looking at him with a small smirk.
"I thought you were smarter. I have nowhere else to go, and I can't book a room if I don't have any money."

Sanemi let out a loud huff.
"Well, I can't leave you out in the cold either; my conscience won't let me."

"I already am." She raised a hand in a farewell gesture. "See you, stranger."

Sanemi felt his irritation grow; this girl was testing his patience.
He gritted his teeth and turned abruptly.

"If that's what you want, I guess I can't do anything about it. Too bad
I happen to have a nice, big room to sleep in, but I guess mountain folk prefer the freezing cold of the night. Hope I don't find you frozen solid tomorrow morning."

The girl stared at him for a few seconds, unsure of what to do, and for a moment, she really thought about sleeping on the street.

Sanemi smirked when he saw her walking by his side.
"Changed your mind?"

"Shut up." she muttered, pursing her lips and pouting.

He let out a huff, very similar to a laugh, and decided to say nothing more.

After crossing the village, they entered the inn where he was staying and headed to his room.
The girl's eyes sparkled slightly, clearly accustomed to smaller, shabbier places, and she threw herself onto the bed.
She inhaled the scent of the clean sheets, burying her face in them.

"It had been so long since I last saw a bed."

Sanemi unstrapped his katana from his back, placing it in a corner along with his belongings. "I can tell." he said, raising an eyebrow.

She sat up, composing herself. "By the way, you still haven't told me your name. You don't want me calling you stranger, do you?"

Sanemi slid open the wardrobe door, pulling out an old futon. "You haven't told me yours either." he pointed out.

She tilted her head slightly, a corner of her mouth lifting into a small smile. Her long blond hair cascaded to the side like molten gold. "My name is Chiaki."

"I'm Sanemi."

The boy spread the futon on the floor, a few inches away from the bed, and gave her a quick glance.

He'd never been good at making conversation with people and wasn't sure what to say. The idea of silence seemed very appealing, but he couldn't help feeling a bit of pressure lingering on his shoulders.

Chiaki broke the silence, lying under the soft blankets. "Anyway, sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have been so rude to someone who saved me."

"It doesn't matter. You were just worried about your siblings. I get it."

Sanemi lay down on the futon without even arguing over who got the bed, placing one arm behind his head. The room was dark, the only light coming from the moon streaming through the window.

"I still am, but I'm trying to distract myself somehow." she murmured, pulling the blanket up to her lips.

Another silence fell, during which Sanemi kept staring at the ceiling. "I don't understand something."

"What?"

"You don't seem that young—probably just a little younger than me. Why don't you take your siblings and leave?" He turned his head slightly toward the bed. "You keep putting up with that waste of a father of yours, and let me just say it—he's a real bastard."

She chuckled. "Yeah, he's a real bastard," she whispered. "Honestly, I don't know why. I guess deep down I still care about him. You know, he wasn't always like this. Before my mom died, he was a respectable man."

"He seemed anything but respectable to me." the boy muttered.

"And yet, he used to be my hero." Chiaki lay on her side, watching him with a hint of worry. "Have you ever felt like you wanted to protect something with all your heart, even if it meant getting hurt?"

He frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"I... want to protect the memory I have of him while also protecting my little brothers. They've been through so much since their mothers abandoned them, and I want to be there for them. If anything ever happened to them, I'd never forgive myself." she said, biting the inside of her cheek thoughtfully.

Sanemi remained silent for several long seconds. Opening up to a stranger was the last thing he wanted to do right now, but maybe it would help quiet the noise in his head.
Besides, she seemed so much like him.

"If you want to protect his memory and your siblings, you should let him go."

She stared at him, the moonlight illuminating the profile of his face. "You look like someone who's been through a lot."

"Then my face shows more than I'd like."

She chuckled softly, hugging the pillow beneath her head. "Sometimes I think about giving up everything and running away."

"Running won't solve anything."

When those words left his mouth, Sanemi felt his chest tighten. It was bold and hypocritical of him to say such things, considering he'd been running for four years.

"Why are you traveling?" she asked in a gentle tone.

"To find myself."

"Don't you have someone waiting for you?" the girl asked with a yawn, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Go to sleep."

Sanemi turned, giving her his back.
He was still struggling to adjust to this life, even after four endless years since his death, and he kept seeing him in everything.

His chest tightened every time his smiling face appeared in his mind. He could still hear his voice, calling out for attention.

He wished so badly to go back and give it to him.
To give him so many hugs that they'd make up for the time he spent watching from afar.
To tell him that he was the most important person in his world and that the only thing he ever wanted was to protect him.

"I do have someone to go back to." he whispered into the silence of the night, certain that Chiaki wouldn't hear, already deep asleep.

Sanemi turned over a couple more times before falling asleep, his chest heavy.

The next morning, at sunrise, Sanemi was already awake.
He hadn't managed to sleep much that night, constantly woken by nightmares and memories of the past, which kept him from finding peace.

Chiaki, on the other hand, slept in late, exhausted from her endless hours of work. It was up to Sanemi to wake her, or she'd have slept until noon.

He accompanied her back to her home, where her father had disappeared to who knows where, as usual. Chiaki reached for the door but paused for a moment, turning toward Sanemi, who waited patiently for her to enter before setting off on his journey again.

"You should go back to that person. I'm sure they'd be happy to see you."

He stiffened. She'd heard him. She hadn't been sleeping the night before. His Demon Slayer senses were really starting to dull.

"Don't make that face. I won't tell anyone about your soft heart." She smirked, opening the door, where the laughter of children could be heard.

"You should try letting go of that bastard."

"Sanemi," her smirk softened into a gentle smile, framed by her cascade of golden hair. "thank you for everything."

Sanemi scratched the back of his neck, where his slightly long hair was tied into a low ponytail, averting his gaze from the girl and instead focusing on two old women chatting nearby.

"You don't have to thank me so many times." he muttered.

She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "I hope to see you again someday."

Sanemi simply stayed silent, watching her enter the house and close the door behind her.

He was alone again.

He ran a hand over his face, trying to push away the sadness, and turned toward the village's exit.

He didn't know exactly what had driven him to turn back—Chiaki's words or his own. Maybe it was just the desire to apologize for failing to protect him or to finally give him a proper goodbye.

He traveled for days, retracing paths he had sworn never to take again, until he finally found himself home after four long years.

Everything was just as he remembered, the only thing that had changed were the people.
He didn't visit any of the comrades he'd fought alongside, not wanting to disrupt their lives now that they had moved on.

The night was cold, dampened by the earlier rain, and the stars were nowhere to be seen, hidden behind dark clouds.

The cemetery exuded a nostalgic, somber air, so quiet that Sanemi could hear his own heartbeat thudding in his chest.

He walked past countless graves, gripping the colorful flowers in his hands anxiously. The last time he'd been here was for the funerals of his friends. After that, he'd never set foot there again, too afraid of the emotions that overwhelmed him whenever he entered.

He visited every single one of his friends' graves, placing a flower on each, skipping none, even if some were quite far apart.
Finally, he found himself in front of his grave.

That stone had never looked as sorrowful as it did now, with his name carved into it and fresh flowers resting on either side.

Tanjiro must have been here recently.

Sanemi knelt down slowly, adding his flower to the others, and said a small prayer.
When he lifted his head, already filled with pain and dark memories, he found himself staring at the engraved letters.

𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒚𝒂 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒛𝒖𝒈𝒂𝒘𝒂
𝑭𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.

Sanemi let himself fall backward, sitting cross-legged on the damp ground, soaking his pants.

In that moment, he felt small and powerless in front of that piece of stone. He knew there was nothing beneath it—his little brother's body had vanished like ash—but somehow, he needed to have a place to come and empty his thoughts.

He rubbed his hands on his pants in an anxious gesture. "It's been a while since I've been here... I'm sorry it took me so long."

The moonlight reflected off the stone, illuminating it for a brief moment, almost as if in response. Sanemi felt all his muscles tense as a strange, warm breeze tousled the strands of hair left loose from his ponytail.

He swallowed hard. "Okay, that was weird..." he muttered, touching his neck. "I came here to apologize—apologize for everything: for being a failure, for pushing you away, for being a terrible older brother, for not being able to protect you, and for breaking our promise. I'm sorry. I never should have kept you so far from me, making you suffer so much. I just... I just wanted a better life for you. I fooled myself into thinking that if you hated me, you'd leave the Demon Slayer Corps. But you never would have done that. You would have kept that promise to the very end."

Without even realizing it, thick tears began streaming down his cheeks, falling to the ground below. He covered his face, wiping them away as best he could, but it was useless.
Every time he thought about his little brother, it was impossible for him not to cry.

"Damn it, I didn't want to cry now..." he growled, trying to hold back the sobs rising in his throat, making it hard to breathe. "Genya, I just wanted you to know that your big brother actually loves you so much. And even though I'm not doing a great job, I'm trying to move on—I really am, with all my strength, because... because I love you."

The air around him grew inexplicably warm again, wrapping around his trembling body.

Sanemi could almost feel the warm arms of his beloved family comforting him in his loneliness, and he couldn't help but smile softly at the sensation of bliss that filled his chest.

In that moment, he felt truly at peace after confessing what he hadn't been able to say for so many years. He let out a sigh of relief.

It was truly over.
Finally.

Sanemi slid his katana from his belt, removing the white cloth that covered it, and placed it gently on the grave.

It's over.

And as the clock struck midnight, marking his twenty-fifth birthday, Sanemi collapsed to the ground, motionless, with a smile on his face.

It was over.

I finally translated it!

You guys can't imagine how many days I've worked on this one shot😭

I hope you like it, even with this end (really sad)
This is maybe one of the best stories I ever wrote.

I'm sorry for Chiaki and Sanemi, they really have potential, but sometimes things don't go right, and it would also been too cruel to have them put together and then just get to the end, Sanemi would never brought her this pain🤷🏻‍♀️

Plus, I didn't want this being a romantic os, so i like it like that:)
(I cried out all my tears writing the end)

Anyway, if you notice any mistakes in my grammar tell me, English it's not my first language and I'm not really good at it.

𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕: 4375