Shinobu's pov

"Shinobu, I have a little job for you"

"A job? Wha-" before I could finish Mitsuri appeared behind me with a slightly taller lady next to her. "Who is she?" I asked.

"A lady we saved, she was banging on a door with her son, she feels a bit ill so I thought you would check on her"

"Oh I see, of course, lay down on the bed right there"

"Thank you Shinobu, you're the best," Mitsuri said and ruffled my hair, making my cheeks burn. "Ugh, get yourself together Shinobu, stop blushing" I thought to myself and rubbed my eyes before turning at the lady.

Genya's pov

"Gen... Gen! Come on, wake up!" I heard Muichiro calling out for me while shaking with me. "What is it?" I said, still with my eyes closed. "Sanemi let some people in.. I have a really bad feeling about it"

I sighed "Mui.. come here" I pulled Muichiro down and laid his head on my chest "you are just paranoid, don't worry about it, okay?"

"No no I can't just not worry about it... it feels odd, when I saw that lady she doesn't seem right"

"She's probably traumatized from all those things she saw outside, what do you know what's happening there right now"

"I guess.. but still.. I don't trust her"

"Mhm... there's also something I need to tell you"

"What is it?"

"Me and Sanemi talked yesterday and we decided to go out tomorrow"

"What?! You can't be serious!"

"I am, I am sorry, Sanemi wanted to get outside since the second day of this and I don't want to let him go alone"

"B-But what am I going to do here without you?!"

He yelled out, gripping onto my shirt tightly as if he was panicking, about to break down again

"You can't go! You can't! What if you die?!! I can't l-live without you!"

He immediately bursted into tears, sniffling and sobbing hysterically, I felt my shirt getting wet from his tears.

"Mui... shh calm down, I'll be fine, I promise"

"Pl-Please just don't leave me here alone... I can't deal with all this without you.."

"Shh Mui it'll be okay, I promise I'll come back as soon as possible, alright? You have mitsuri here and you seem to get along with well"

Muichiro just wrapped his arms around my neck, sobbing "please just.. come back"

"I will, I promise, you need to stay strong, okay? You will be the only one here who will be able to fight so please, don't let yourself breakdown again"

Muichiro nodded and looked at me with eyes full of tears "I-I'll try..." he said quietly before I pulled him into a kiss.

Tanjiro's pov - Next day

"Hey! Tanjiro!" I heard someone yell at me, it was Genya. "Yes Genya?" I replied.

"So me and Sanemi are going out of shelter today, please can you take care of Muichiro for me?" He asked and I of course nodded "of course! It's no problem, just be careful"

Genya slightly laughed "yeah, the time we found you and I stayed outside longer I barely survived.. well I'll be more careful now, I am going with Sanemi too and he's more skilled so it'll be fine"

Suddenly he looked at me seriously "but if I don't make it here and die.. make sure at least Muichiro survives, got it?"

I nodded "of course I will... Do you have any tips? Like how to take care of him and stuff?" I laughed.

"Oh yeah, when he's feeling down just spend time with him, mostly just hold him close to you, he normally calms down when he's hugged by someone.. I am sure he will refuse to eat when I'll be gone, just give him some time and if he will still refuse just force him into it, he will eventually like the taste and eat it himself"

"Alright, thank you"

"No no, I thank you! Thank you so much for being able to do this for me, I really appreciate it... also please don't let him get close to Yuichiro, okay?"

I nodded and smiled.

"Alright, I'll go get ready now"

He said and left the room. On one hand I was feeling sad but on the other I was happy to spend some time with Muichiro, maybe I will develop a deeper connection with him.

...

"Don't worry, I'll come back as soon as possible, alright?" Genya said, wiping off Muichiro's tears. Muichiro just nodded and sighed, holding onto Genya's hands tightly, looking up at them as his tears fell from his cheeks onto the floor.

"Move your ass Genya, we need to go" Sanemi said and Genya nodded. He kissed Muichiro one more time before leaving the shelter together with Sanemi.

When the door shut, Muichiro just stood there, staring at the door. I came over to him and grabbed his shoulders. "I am sure he'll be fine, wanna go back to our room and do something? Maybe read something? Genya said you like reading" I said.

Muichiro looked up at me, I expected him to refuse but he leaned his head against my chest and nodded. "Alright, let's go" I said and led Muichiro into our room.

He sat down on their bed and sighed. When I picked up a book he stood up and grabbed Genya's hoodie and put it on.

Muichiro then sat down and pulled the hood over his head. I sat down next to him and pulled him closer just like Genya said, to keep him close. I opened the book and we both started reading in silence.

He leaned himself against me and laid his head on my shoulder "I am sorry I am acting like this.." Muichiro said quietly.

"Hey don't apologize.. it's okay, it's understandable" I patted his head and he nodded. "I am glad at least you stayed," he sighed.

I smiled "maybe he does trust me" I thought to myself. "Thank you.." he said and looked up at me, forcing a little smile.

I smiled as well "it's no problem, no one deserve to go through so much in just couple days, you deserve someone close to you at such a rough time"

He slightly nodded and wrapped his arms around my arm, continuing to read the book. I continued reading as well before the small boy came into our room. "Kotetsu, what do you need?" I asked.

"Mom is not feeling well, the purple haired lady told me to come here" he said, closing the door behind him. "Alright, come here" I said and pulled my arm away from my body, signaling him to get close.

He smiled and got on the bed, leaning against me as well. "Tanjiro, I am cold.." Kotetsu said quietly, looking up at me. I chuckled and I pulled a blanket over him.

He snuggled into the blanket and closed his eyes, leaning against me.

Soon after, both Muichiro and Kotetsu fell asleep in my arms.

Shinobu's pov - next day

"This is so weird... her fever is not going down, she keeps getting worse.." I thought to myself as I took her temperature once more. My eyes widened "48°C?!" (118.4 Fahrenheit)

"B-But this is impossible! This thermometer must be broken" I thought to myself and grabbed a different one, putting it in her mouth this time.

I waited for some time before hearing a beeping sound from the thermometer. Now the number was even higher.

The lady opened her eyes and looked at me, she looked exhausted. "Miss, how are you feeling?" I asked.

She shook her head "so hot... so si-sick" she managed to say. My eyes immediately widened, remembering something.

~~~

Yuichiro grabbed onto the sheets, sobbing in pain. "Calm down Yuichiro, it'll be okay, here, I'll help you sit up" I said and helped Yuichiro slowly sit up. His temperature was really low now, although he was sweating uncontrollably.

I took his temperature one more time with a different thermometer just to make sure that the other one wasnt broken or something, it wasn't, both of those thermometers gave the same result.

Yuichiro looked at me and grabbed onto my arm tightly "please... s-stop this pa-pain" he stuttered out and I tried my best to at least give him some relaxation but without success.

Everytime the medication touched him he just yelled out in pain, grabbing onto the wound. Not being able to stomach any medicine, just vomiting it out immediately.

~~~

The temperature differences, not being able to stomach anything, medicine not being able to even touch her body without her being in even more pain.

I backed away and quickly ran out of the room, running right into Muichiro's and Tanjiro's room.

Tanjiro's pov

"MUICHIRO! TANJIRO!! TH-THE-" Shinobu yelled out in a panic. I quickly sat her down and tried to calm her down. "Shinobu calm down, what happened?" I asked right away.

"T-The lady... I-I think she's infected too.." she stuttered out, making my eyes widen. I looked over at Muichiro who was still asleep, he must have been extremely tired.

"W-What will we do?" She said, crying "S-She has the same symptoms like Yuichiro b-but I found no wounds.."

"Maybe we should just..." I stopped. Shinobu looked into my eyes and then looked at the sleeping Kotetsu next to me. "We can't kill his mother," she said.

"I know but... we can't keep her here too.. there's no other room to keep her in.."

Shinobu nodded "alright then.. but I can't do it.. I can't kill someone even if they turn"

"I can't too... Muichiro is skilled with katana, am I right?"

"Yes, he is," Shinobu said quietly. I lightly shook with Muichiro, waking him up. "Sorry to wake you up Muichiro but... we need your help"

...

While Muichiro was looking for his katana, me and Shinobu were talking.

"He's already not doing great, we can't make him kill her, I doubt he would even want to do it in a first place"

"I have a little idea how to make him do it... but it's pretty.. how should I say it."

"Just tell me what you came up with"

"Maybe.. telling him that Genya left because the woman infected him.. and he didn't want to be here when he actually turns so.. he left"

"We can't do this to him! Do you even know how he would react to it!?"

"Calm down! He will just tell him before and after he does his job you'll tell him that Genya is actually okay"

"I have a bad feeling about this.."

Before we could talk any more Muichiro came from one of the rooms with a katana in his hand "are you sure she is infected?"

"Yes, I am sure," Shinobu said and Muichiro nodded, taking a deep breath before unlocking the door. He peeked inside to see the lady laying there, shivering in pain..

Muichiro came closer to her and the lady just looked at him. Her neck veins already turned black, being clearly visible. Muichiro grabbed his katana tighter as he looked into her eyes.

She was crying, tears streaming down her face "pl-please.. don't" she said quietly. Muichiro backed away and shook his head "no.. no I can't do this! I can't kill her!"

The lady started groaning, grabbing onto her neck in pain. "Muichiro, you need to hurry!"

Shinobu groaned and grabbed him by his shoulders, making him look into her eyes "are you just gonna let her turn?! Infect more people than she already did?!"

Muichiro's eyes widened "w-what do you mean?"

"Genya left because the woman infected him!! He knew he would turn soon and didn't want to hurt anyone here! He didn't want you to see him as an undercontrolled monster!"

Muichiro's eyes filled with tears "w-what.. n-no.. G-Genya promised h-he would come back.."

"I am sorry Muichiro.." Shinobu said. Muichiro grabbed his katana tighter, his expression changed from sadness to anger.

He walked over to the lady "I-I didn't do anything like that! I didn't i-infec-" before she could finish, Muichiro stabbed the katana in her neck.

He kept on stabbing her over and over again until she laid there unconsciously, tons of blood dripping down on the floor from the bed.

Muichiro didn't care, he kept stabbing into her until I pulled him away. He had tears streaming down his face when he dropped the katana on the floor.

When he realized what he did he completely broke down, crying hysterically, not able to calm his breathing.

...

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