Hi! Author here!

I'm back! Well- maybe it's a bit awkward to say "I'm back" since my last update was only nine days ago but- Anyway, I really missed you guys!

I don't know how to feel about this chapter, but I hope you guys like it anyway!

Hope you have a good day/night!

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“Y-Yuki?” Ichika called out in a weak voice, unsure of what to do.

Y/N quickly ran up to the girl, taking a handkerchief from her pocket and pressing it against her mouth. “Cough in this, and keep your head low!”

“cof- cof-” She did what she was told, the white cloth quickly starting to change to red.

What are you supposed to do when someone is dying in front of your eyes?

you can't cry. you can't panic.

Because if you fail in saving them, you will have to think about it for the rest of your life.

Y/N already learned that.

She can't even count how many times she saw this exact scene, and even so…

She doesn't know what to do.

Why?

It doesn't matter how many lives she goes through, she always doesn't know what to do when it matters the most.

If only she was better…. if only she-

“Y/N!”

She snapped out of her thoughts, looking down at Ichika crying while hugging her leg.

“Yuki! Will she be fine?”

“I- I-”

'I don't know.

I don't know what to respond.

I'm sorry.'

“Y/N! Focus!” Kyojuro's voice made her, once again, snap out of her thoughts.

'Right! This isn't the time to be dramatic!' Y/N shook her head, picking up Yuki's weak body in her arms. “Shinobu! We have to take her to Shinobu!”

And they did that, they took her to Shinobu.

Y/N never stopped to think about it before, but she never went to the place where the sick were staying.

It's horrible.

There's barely space for all of them, some are lucky enough to be laying on a bed, but most are on the floor.

The smell of blood. The smell of death.

Right, she should have expected that it was going to be like that. She should have known that a poor village like this wouldn't be able to give all the infected a proper place to stay.

Right…. right.

All of this was happening while she was fooling around.

While she was happily playing with the kids, how many people died there?

Why didn't she think about that before? Why didn't you?

Maybe she really is a bad person.

Akiho wouldn't have acted like that. Akiho would have wanted to help them all as quickly as she could. The first seraphic breathing user was a righteous person after all, someone that Y/N wouldn't ever even dream to be similar, so much that sometimes, she couldn't help but compare herself to her in times like this.

Poor demons. Pitiful demons.

These are things that both Tanjiro and Akiho seemed to think all the time, perhaps it's because they are so similar that Y/N felt draw to him, even before she discovered who Akiho was.

But as she looked at Yuki breathing heavily in the bed that one of the other infected were kind enough to spare, she couldn't feel that way at all, towards the demons, in this moment, she could only feel one thing…

“…i want….my…mom…” Yuki said in a weak voice, her small hand grabbing Y/N's sleeve.

'What is this feeling?

I don't understand.'

“mom…”

What could she have done differently? If she had put more effort in finding the demon, then Yuki wouldn't have ended up like this?

Giyuu has a hard time finding the right words, so most of the time, he ends up not saying anything, and he accidentally comes through as cold thanks to that.

This time though, seeing as how distressed Y/N seemed to be, he took all the courage he could gather to say something, carefully approaching the girl and resting his hand on her shoulder :

“Y/N, it's oka-” But he froze when he took a glance at her expression.

'That… it doesn't look like it's her.'

She covered her face with both hands, mumbling things that he couldn't understand.

'so this is how it feels to be mad, it has been so long since last time I felt like this, so long that I don't even remember properly how it was. I guess that Muzan was there…? But it doesn't matter now.'

“right… I need to find it.” She finally looked up. “I'm sorry! I'm going outside for a bit!”

And she left, without even giving the two guys time to process what just happened.

'I need to kill it fast. The demon. If it's gone, then everyone will be fine again, I was too negligent before, but I won't let it happen again.'

Y/N was ready to leave the temple, but Ichika suddenly tackled her into a hug. “Y/N!! What about Yuki?! How is she?! Is she going to be fine?!”

Hiro and Kota appeared just after, seems like they were running after Ichika, judging by their sweat and their erratic breathing.

“GYAAAAH A DEMON-” The two boys quickly hugged each other in fear after looking up at Y/N.

'… Demon?... Oh, right, I guess I forgot to fix my expression.' Y/N thought to herself, taking a deep breath and doing small slaps to her cheeks.

“You guys don't need to worry. Yuki will be fine.” She said after her face went back to normal, crouching to Ichika's eye level and wiping her tears with her fingers.

“But- But just now, you didn't look like you were fine!” Ichika exclaimed back, starting to cry even harder.

“You don't need to worry. You don't need to think about nothing.”

'Everyone else fears. Everyone else worries… I will take all of them to myself, I guess that's why I'm here, after all.'

“But-”

“As I said, she will be fine, and you believe in me, don't you?”

“I… guess… So…?”

“You don't?” Y/N tilted her head, faking a pitiful expression.

“…Yuki… you know, after she left in the first day, she said that you're a really nice person.”

“Huh?”

“She said that you lied about being a doll just to make her happy. If Yuki believes in you, then I believe in you too! So don't be sad, Y/N!”

Y/N was shocked with this statement, mostly because she got comforted from where she least expected to be.

'….you don't even know me.' Y/N hugged her. 'Silly thing.'

“I will be leaving for a bit, but don't worry, okay?” She let go of her, getting up.

“Okay! Come back fast! Yuki will sad if she stays all alone….”

“Sure.”

It was already sunset, and when the night falls, it will be the perfect time to start to look for the demon.

And what if there is no demon?

Y/N doesn't want to think about that possibility.

Because if there's no demon, then that means there's nothing she can do.

People dying while she can't do anything to stop it is one of the things that scares her the most.

There's a forest around the village, it's the most obvious place to look around right now.

Maybe she's exaggerating, who knows what's going on in her head right now.

As she walked aimlessly, the sound of the flapping of wings distracted her.

“… Shiro?”

The white crown landed on her shoulder, tilting its head curiously.

“… Don't look at me like that. You know why I'm doing this. I just have to find something to blame.”

She doesn't why she's venting to her crow right now. Maybe it's because she knows it can't understand her, so it can't judge or feel pity for her.

The crow didn't react to what she said, only flying off instead.

“W-wait!” She exasperatedly exclaimed, running after the animal.

Why was she going after it? Does she just not want to be alone? Or it's just this gut feeling? This weird feeling that says that she HAS to follow it.

“Shi-…ro?” The crow seemed to have disappeared from her sight, the silhouette of something- No, someone, in the distance.

She was too far to go back right now.

Gulping, she carefully started to approach the person, it was hard to see its appearance in the dark, so she unsheathed her sword for precaution.

The closer she got to it, the clearer she could see its features.

Why would a mission require three hashiras?

“Huh? You?”

And why was she assigned too?

Him… upper moon three...?

“Aka-” Before she even finish saying his name, he started to… run away?!

She stood there in complete shock for some seconds, before realizing that she isn't supposed to let him get away.

“Why are you running?!” She started to chase after him. “WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?!”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!” He exclaimed back, wasn't he the one with the upper hand here…?

“COME BACK HERE! YOU-” His speed really was no joke, he was getting further and further from her by the second.

'This is no good- He's way faster than me, I won't be able to reach him by running-' Y/N sweat dropped, looking around in her pocket for anything that could be of use. 'Pepper spray? No, he's too far to use it, and it probably wouldn't work on an upper moon anyway…

Huh?'

In her pocket, Y/N recognized the acorn Inosuke gave her, she once again looked up to check where Akaza was, and he's that far already?!

Without options, she threw the acorn at him, it hitting his head and pathetically bouncing off.

When he turned to ask why the heck she threw an acorn at him, he tripped on a rock that happened to be in the way, face-planting on the ground.

And he just… stayed there, with his face buried in the grass. (probably from the embarrassment of the situation. )

And in what you could call the worst timing ever, a strong rain started to fall, Akaza still on the ground, and Y/N frozen from shock some meters away from him.

Really… just what is this situation?

'… Did I… just defeat upper moon three… with an acorn?' Y/N just stood there, perplexed.