Muichiro's pov

I woke up due to the cold once again, it was the like sixth time this night I woke up and I was sick of it, not even talking about that I feel terrible. My head was spinning terribly "ngh.. stupid fever" I thought, being sure that the fever came back.

I sighed and took out some water from my bag, drinking it slowly. I sighed and closed the bottle, thinking "maybe I should go back… I feel terrible and who knows if I'll even find them.."

I stopped myself from thinking all those negative things and slapped myself "pull yourself together Muichiro! You are not giving up!"

I stood up and grabbed my bag, walking out of the bathroom and out of the house. I looked around the town for Taniiro and Genya, trying to keep my hopes up as much as I could, trying to ignore the dizziness and freezing weather.

Shinobu's pov

"He's gone! He went outside! I knew it! I knew he would do it! I should have stayed with him!" Mitsuri yelled out in panic "Genya will murder me! He told me to look after Muichiro and the first day they left I already messed up!"

"Mitsuri calm down, it's not your fault, okay? It'll be fine, Muichiro is strong, he can take care of himself" I said, trying to calm Mitsuri down a bit.

"B-But those things o-"

"I know I know, but there's nothing we can do now, we can only hope… don't worry, I am sure he'll come back soon on his own or with Genya"

Mitsuri nodded slightly and looked down "you know how I feel about him, even though he thinks I have no connection with him.. I do! I take his as my so-"

"Mitsuri calm down, it's fine, I am sure he'll be okay, don't worry" I said, trying to calm her down. Mitsuri took a deep breath and nodded "okay… he can do it, he's strong"

"There you go.. that's the spirit" I smiled and grabbed Mitsuri's cheek playfully. Her cheeks turned red immediately "s-stop!". I chuckled and let go of her cheek, looking away shyly.

Muichiro's pov

I sat in an alley on a small bench, trying to cool down. Those things were everywhere, they were fast and I could barely run away. I drank some water suddenly realizing this was the only water bottle I grabbed.

"How stupid! How could I even think this will last!" I thought to myself, being mad at myself for thinking such stupid thing.

The water bottle wasn't even half full anymore. I sighed and put the water back into my bag. I took a deep breath and stood up, peeking out of the alley to see if those things were still surrounding the place.

They were, and there was more of them. I turned around and tried to take the other way of the alley. It was getting darker and darker eventually making it hard for me to see properly.

I rubbed my eyes and tried to make my eyes adjust to the dark which seemed impossible for a while. At the end of the alley was a way to another part of the town.

I looked around, suddenly seeing someone in the distance. "Muichiro… Muichiro!" I heard someone calling my name.

"T-Tanji.." I said quietly and ran to where the person was standing. I immediately hugged Tanjiro and started to sob "Tanjiro!! Ta-Tanjiro!" I repeated while sobbing.

He didn't say anything though… it was all somehow odd. I looked up at him. My heart dropped. It was one of the monsters just taking Tanjiro's form.

I immediately pushed him away and started running. He opened his mouth wide and with his large tongue he grabbed my leg, making me drop down on the ground.

He kept on pulling me closer and closer as I tried to get out of his grasp, crying uncontrollably. Eventually I heard groaning once again. It was the thing from before, the one with no eyes and big ears.

It jumped on the monster that was holding me, thinking that the thing was making the crying noises even though it was me. The thing let go of me and I ran away as fast as I could.

My legs were not stopping, I couldn't stop. My lungs felt like they were about to burst but my legs kept on moving, moving me deeper and deeper into the town.

Eventually I tripped on something, falling back down on the ground, breathing heavily. My vision was all blurry from the exhaustion. I closed my eyes for a bit, feeling like passing out but something immediately stopped me from doing so, it was the unbearable pain in my leg.

I looked over at my leg to see my bandages ripped and with a huge cut on my leg. I looked around, trying to find out what could possibly cut my leg this badly.

I eventually found out it was this iron thing that had probably fallen off of some building when the earthquake hit.

I tried to stand up but the pain immediately stopped me. I winced in pain and sat back down, biting my lip so I wouldn't scream.

Minutes later when I managed to calm down, I tried to stand up again, now forcing myself to actually stay on my legs. The pain in my leg was terrible but I forced myself to walk anyway.

…

Step by step I felt myself getting weaker. My legs were feeling weak, I was sweating but shivering at the same time. I knew if I kept walking more I would eventually pass out somewhere.

I looked around to see no monsters around so I sat down on the ground and leaned against the wall, trying to cool down a bit and calm myself once again.

Two days later

I ran out of food and water, my state was getting worse day by day and there were signs of Tanjiro or Genya. I was starting to lose hope, I was miserable, I failed.

The worst thing was, I've been walking around Tokyo for days now and the shelter was really far from the place I've been in.

I looked at the cut on my leg that wasn't getting any better, in fact it just got worse. "I give up… I am going back to the shelter" I thought to myself and began to walk once again, feeling like I failed, I felt terrible about myself.

The constant walking made me exhausted, I needed to drink some water.

I then remembered I walked past a small grocery store yesterday so I decided to go check it out there.

…

I walked into the small store, looking immediately for some water or really anything I could drink. Inside the store it smelled terrible, it was probably because of the rotting food.

I walked into the isles and I saw it. My eyes lit up as I ran over to the water bottles. I picked up one but… it was empty "what?.. there must be at least one.." I thought, grabbing all the bottles, seeing them being.. empty.

"No no no, come on!" I yelled out and pushed the empty bottles on the floor. I leaned against the wall and buried my face into my hands.

Suddenly I heard loud footsteps. They were getting closer and closer, eventually to the isle came one of those monsters.

I began to back away before trying to run away but it grabbed me by my hair. I winced in pain as I tried to get away from it but it held me tight by my hair, pulling me close.

My bag fell on the floor and opened. A knife fell out of it. I grabbed it and stabbed the thing over and over again, staining my clothes with blood but it still didn't let go.

It kept on holding onto my hair tightly. I eventually realized what I need to do if I want to run away. I grabbed my hair and slid it with a knife, leaving half of my hair in its hand.

I quickly ran out of the store as fast as I could, not looking back.

…

I stopped after some time to catch my breath. I placed my hands on my knees, breathing heavily.

I looked at my hair, sighing. It wasn't that short which was good, it was close under my shoulders. It wasn't that bad, it didn't bother me much, I needed a cut anyway.

I grabbed the knife again and tried to make it look a bit bitter and not so choppy. Eventually I came out with something, it wasn't looking good but not terrible too, I was just glad that I was alive.

I wiped some sweat off of my forehead and pulled my knees to my chest, resting my head on them. I let out a quiet sigh, taking a quick look at my leg.

In the wound there was mud and ash from all the running and falling. I tried to brush it off with my hand but I immediately stopped myself due to the sudden pain.

I groaned and buried my face into my hands, being done with everything. Everything went into shit, Tanjiro and Genya are probably dead and I am here trying to find them, starving and dehydrated, with a huge cut on my leg.

I stood up with tears in my eyes, giving up, heading back into the shelter.

Tanjiro's pov

"That should be enough, what do you think?" Genya asked me, showing me a full bag with groceries. "Did you check if it's expired?" I asked.

He slightly opened his mouth and stopped "uhh.." was all he let out before taking a look at the groceries once again "well… expired… expired… exp- is there something that is not expired?!"

I laughed slightly and helped him pick out the expired groceries.

"What do you think Muichiro is doing right now?" I asked, wanting to start some kind of conversation.

"He's probably laying on our bed, crying or being forced to eat by Mitsuri," Genya replied, chuckling slightly.

"You shouldn't look down on him like this, I know he has been crying a lot for the past days but maybe he's holding himself up" I said.

"Yeah I know but you kn-"

"Okay I just need to say it, you've been treating Muichiro like this for a while now and he's not taking it well, those are the reasons he's been crying too you know"

"...I guess.. I'll talk to him when we come back"

"Alright.. well j-"

"Stop talking and get groceries! I smell like shit, I want to go back to the shelter and take a shower!" Sanemi yelled out from another aisle.

"Shut up!" Genya yelled back at him.

I chuckled and thought "it feels weird, I feel like something's wrong with Muichiro… maybe I am overreacting?... I can't stop thinking about it"

"Alright, let's go now, we have enough food to last us a couple more weeks" Sanemi said and we both nodded, walking out of the store.

Muichiro's pov

I kept on walking through the town, wanting to get to the shelter as soon as possible. The weather got worse, it was raining heavily.

My clothes were soaking wet but I at least got some water I could drink. Suddenly I saw people in the distance.

I didn't know who it was, I was scared it was those monsters but I wasn't sure. Then I heard voices, familiar voices.

"It's them… i-it must be them" I thought. "T-Tanjiro!?" I yelled out as loud as I could. "Tanjiro!" I yelled out again. The person now turned towards my direction.

"It's them!" I thought and started to run towards them and they did too. I ran as fast I could, ignoring the overwhelming dizziness and pain in my leg. Tears were streaming down my face as I got closer, realizing that it actually is Tanjiro.

My vision suddenly started to blur. I got closer and closer but without realizing everything suddenly went black.

Tanjiro's pov

Suddenly Muichiro stopped running and fell down on the ground. "Muichiro!" I yelled out loudly. I kneeled down next to him and picked him up. "Muichiro! Muichiro, wake up!" I yelled out.

Genya immediately ran towards me "Muichiro?! Hey, wake up!" He yelled out. His leg had a huge cut on it, his clothes were all soaked and his hair was cut.

"How long has he been out here?! When was the last time he ate or drank something?!" I thought in panic.

"There is a building over there, let's go there and wait for him to wake up"

"Are you serious?! No, we are going immediately to the shelter!"

"Genya, the shelter is still really far! It would take the whole night of walking to get there!"

I yelled out and picked Muichiro up, walking towards the building. Sanemi sighed and followed behind me without any complains while Genya was clearly annoyed.

...

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