'You are an idiot….'

'But… I guess I expected it would come that.'

'I know you enough. So i kind of expected that you wouldn't keep your promise at all.'

'I wish I could be mad at you. But I can't.'

'Are you okay? Does it still hurt? I hate seeing you in pain.'

'I can just reincarnate you back again, but you would probably be mad at me, right? Because in all of your lives, this is the first one that you actually managed to change something. There's no guarantee you will be able to do it again if I restart it.'

'So… I have a proposal.'

'I can use my powers to heal you, just like in the Natagumo Mountain. But…'

'I still haven't recuperated properly from that time..... If I heal you without reincarnating you, I won't be able to reach you again for a long time.'

'Do you know what that means?'

'It means that if you die again in that period, I won't be able to reincarnate you. You will die for real.'

'Even so, do you still want to do it?'

......

.....

…

'I see.'

'Then, good luck.'

'And please….don't die. You're all that I have.'

◇

That sound......birds….? Am I alive? I think…. I was talking with Ether but… I can't remember…

As I open my eyes, I saw the familiar ceiling of the butterfly mansion.

Wha-

I can't move-

I look around, noticing that my bed was quite…full.

Tanjiro, Inosuke, Zenitsu, Kanao, Naho, Kiyo,Sumi…. Jeez, even Aoi is there!

Everyone was sleeping in different edges of my bed, there was barely any space to move. They all look sick, for how long was I out?

"Everyone, I brought food, you guys have to eat, you know?" Shinobu says as she enters the room with a tray, when she saw my awake figure in the bed, she froze and dropped it, the crashing sound awakening everyone.

They all jump in a panic, confusedly looking around before their eyes settled on me.

"Uh…hi?"

"Y/N!"

♡

It took a while for them to calm down.

"I'm so glad you are awakeWAAAAAAAH-"

Okay, maybe they are not exactly 'calm.'

"I- If you had died, I would-''

"Please don't ever scary us like that again!"

"I'm so-"

Before she could properly apologize, Y/N was tackled into a hug by Tanjiro.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you!"

"Wha- What do you mean?"

"In that mansion, in the Natagumo Mountain, even now, I failed you so many times! I'm so sorry, Y/N!"

Y/N silently hugged him back, patting his back in a comforting way.

"None of this was your fault. The one who made the decision of following you and fighting demons was me, so please, don't blame yourself for it."

"No! My inability to make a decision fast made you almost die numerous times! I couldn't do anything when you needed it the most, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

He says as he nuzzled against her neck while crying.

"Shhh, none of it was your fault, there's nothing you could have done, and I wouldn't do it any different as well."

Y/N raised her eyes to look at the others, she smiled gently as she opened her arms, being crashed into a group hug soon after.

♡

It has been some weeks after I woke up.

"Now, say 'aaah."

"Aaah!"

What changed? Well, everyone was overly protective of me.

Luckily, Shinobu noticed that I was feeling suffocated and sent everyone away, and now she was currently feeding me soup.

"I can't take only eating soup anymore!"

"My, you suffered awful internal injuries, you have to eat easy to digest foods until you completely heal!"

But-"

"If you eat your meals properly, I promise that when you feel better, I will take you out to eat lots of tempura and mochi okay?"

"Really?! I will do my best then!"

"Pfft-" She suddenly turns away, making me unable to see her face, her shoulders were going up and down and her hand was covering her mouth.

… Is she…laughing?

"Eh? You broke character just now!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She says as she turns to me with her plasticized smile already back.

"No, you totally did! I saw it!"

"No, you did not, now say 'aaah." She says as she takes another spoonful of the soup.

"Feeding Y/N like that, this lucky moron-"

"I also want to spend time with her-"

"What are you guys doing here anyway?! You should be training!"

"For the same reason you are here apparently!"

"I can hear you guys whispering from behind the door, you know?" Shinobu comments with a menacing aura, the door was hastily closed, and fast footsteps could be heard from outside.

They ran away.

"Shino-san, I wanted to ask you something!"

"Shino?"

"Yeah! It sounds cute, right? Anyway, I wanted to ask you about Rengoku, is he okay?"

"Oh, him? He woke up some weeks before you, you should probably talk to him when you get better, he was feeling really bad about letting you get hurt, he was even considering retiring as hashira!"

"Eh?! No way!"

"The others stopped him though, how unexpected of him to act so harshly, are you two close?"

"Uhh… I don't know? I guess we talked a bit in the train."

And maaaybe I asked him on a date, but that part probably doesn't count-

"Oh well. Ah! I forgot! Sanemi also came here earlier! He left some mochi for you."

"Oh, how nice of him, it's a shame I can't eat it."

"Don't worry, I will burn- I mean, I will take care of it."

"….? Sure."

Though I would rather to not have a hole in my stomach, I'm glad I got to become closer to Shinobu in the meantime.

And Tanjiro, I didn't expect him to react so badly to it, I wonder if he is still blaming himself…?

Rengoku… I know he takes his responsibilities as a hashira pretty seriously, but acting so harshly like this… I should probably apologize to him later.

Sanemi, though we did get quite close with all the training thing before, to think he actually came to visit me and bring me food…it makes me happy.

Seems like my hands will be tied for a while.