Muichiro's pov - next day

I peeked into a room where Mitsuri and Obanai were. Obanai was lying on a bed covered in sweat and shaking violently while Mitsuri sat next to him, crying and stroking his hand.

"How's he doing?" I asked and walked into the room. Mitsuri shook her head "not good.. in fact, he's getting worse.. he was just fine yesterday, I don't know what's wrong with him" she said and covered her mouth, starting to sob.

I sat down next to her, trying to comfort her. "Maybe he's just really sick, he was outside for a while, no? When we were outside, it was really cold there so he might have gotten sick from the cold weather?" I said and she looked at him again.

"I don't know.. I hope that that is the case but I am not sure.." she sighed "can you please go ask Shinobu for some medicine or anything?"

"Of course" I said and quickly stood up, walking towards Shinobu's room. I knocked on the door and when I didn't get a response, I slowly opened the door "Shinobu?" I said quietly, not seeing her in the room.

I walked in and looked around, the whole room was a mess. I sighed and walked around carefully, making sure not to step on anything before getting to the table and looking through the drawers.

I opened the second drawer and saw the cloth Shinobu put on Obanai's wound.. It had an odd black liquid on it and there was a needle filled with more of it next to the cloth.

As I thought more, it all began to add up. Yuichiro was bleeding from his neck.. it looked like someone shoved a needle there.. it's in shinobu's room and the liquid is on the cloth.. did she.. infect Obanai? No no.. she wouldn't do that right?

"What are you doing here?" I heard and immediately turned around to see Shinobu. I quickly shut the drawer and looked at Shinobu "o-oh I was just looking for some medicine for Obanai, he's not feeling well"

I saw her smirk once again "well, I can look for something, I don't know if I do find something that could help him though"

"W-What do you mean?" I asked and she smiled "don't worry about it" she said and grabbed a small box of pills "this is all I have now, In this mess I am worried I won't find anything else"

"O-Oh okay, well thank you" I said and she smiled again "of course!"

I forced a smile and quickly walked out of the room. The thought of her.. infecting Obanai on purpose.. wouldn't leave my mind, I wanted to convince myself that she wouldn't do something like this but.. I couldn't stop thinking about it.. it was almost impossible not to think about it..

I didn't want to blame her.. but it just.. seemed so.. real that she did something like that.

I walked into the room where Mitsuri and Obanai were. The second I walked in I saw Obanai vomiting into a bucket. I immediately rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water before going back.

I sat down next to him and handed the bottle to Mitsuri. Then I saw it, the vomit was fully black, making my heart sink. "Come on, drink some, it'll help" Misturi said and helped Obanai drink some water but he choked on it and immediately spit it into the bucket.

I stood up and ran out to find Tanjiro. I walked into Nezuko's and Sanemi's room where I found Tanjiro. "Tanjiro! I think O-Obanai is infected! H-He v-" before I could finish Tanjiro immediately stood up and rushed out of the room to look at Obanai.

The second we got into the room, Tanjiro saw it, and he was sure that Obanai was indeed infected "Mitsuri, get away from him!" Tanjiro said and pulled her by her hand away from him.

"What?! Why?! He's sick. I have to take care of him!" She yelled out and tried to get closer to Obanai again but Tanjiro held her tight "he's infected! Can't you see it?!"

Her eyes widened. "Wh-what..?" She said quietly and turned to look at Obanai. It was bad.. really bad.. I could see the veins on his hand already turning black.

"Tanjiro, we have to do something!" I yelled out, being scared of what will happen if he loses control right now.

Before Tanjiro could answer, Obanai shakily stood up and walked towards us. Tanjiro immediately pulled me behind him as Obanai walked past us "I k-know I am i-infected.. that's why I-I am leaving.." he said and walked towards the shelter door.

He was shaking, stumbling over his feet and barely keeping himself up but he managed to get there. "Wait, no! We can tie you up just like Yuic-" Mitsuri yelled out but got interrupted by Obanai once again.

"N-No... I-I don't want you to see m-me like that.. I-I am leaving a-and that's final.." he said and Misturi started to cry harder "pl-please, Obanai, I beg you, don't leave me again!"

Obanai's eyes softened and with the last bit of strength he had left, he stumbled towards Mitsuri and hugged her.

"I l-love you Mitsuri.. pl-please promise m-me to be happy even if I-I am not here.." he said and Mitsuri slightly nodded "I-I love you too.."

Obanai then pulled away from the hug and walked towards the door. By now his veins in his whole arm were black, the infection was spreading fast and he knew he had to leave now.

Tanjiro opened the door and Obanai's stumbled out. He gave us a small wave before walking away. Tanjiro shut the door and the whole shelter went silent, only Mitsuri's sobs were audible.

I moved close to her and tried to soothe her but she pushed my hand away and ran away. I sighed and looked at Tanjiro who was walking closer to me "poor Mitsuri.." he sighed "how did that even happen.. he was just fine yesterday, no? And the infection is spreading fast so if he got infected yesterday when they came here, he would already turn by now"

I nodded, not wanting to say what I thought about Shinobu, thinking it might just be my mind playing tricks on me and that I am all wrong once again.. but my mind wouldn't give me a break.. everything added up perfectly but I still refused to tell anyone... until one evening when I couldn't handle it anymore.

Two days later

"Mui, can you go get Mitsuri? I'll set it up myself" Tanjiro said, preparing the dinner for all of us. I nodded and stood up, walking towards Mitsuri's room. I knocked on the door and got no response. "Mitsuri? Can I come in?" I said quietly but there was still no response.

I slowly opened the door and peeked in to see Mitsuri laying on her bed, on the same spot like this morning. "Mitsuri, the dinner is ready" I said quietly and she still didn't respond.

I understood how she felt.. I felt like this before when Genya died.. it was a terrible feeling of emptiness and sadness.. nothing more.. no motivation to do anything and feeling like there's no one here for you.

I closed the door behind me and sat down on her bed, pulling her into a hug. Her eyes were swollen and red from all the crying, she barely ate anything for the past days and refused to talk with anyone.. this wasn't Mitsuri I knew.. this was a whole nother different person and I hated seeing her like that.. it broke my heart that she was going through so much pain.

"I know it's hard, Mitsuri.. I know how much it hurts but I promise it'll be okay.. I thought it wouldn't when I was going through it too but I am better now... and we are all here for you, okay? We'll help you get over it too" I said and she slightly nodded "thank you, Muichiro, thank you so much.." she mumbled and I patted her head "of course.. let's get you something to eat now, okay? You didn't eat for a while"

Mitsuri thought about it for a second but then nodded "okay.." I smiled "okay, let's go" I grabbed her hand and led her to the kitchen where everyone was already waiting.

"Mitsuri!!" Kotetsu said excitedly and hugged her. She smiled and picked him up "hi there little guy.." "how are you feeling?" Kotetsu asked worriedly and Mitsuri nodded slightly "better, don't worry, I'll be okay soon"

Then they both sat down at the table and Tanjiro put our plates with food in front of us. I sat down next to Tanjiro and started eating my food. I looked at Shinobu and immediately thought of what she did, I was convinced she did it by now.. I knew it was true and I had to tell everyone..

"Guys.. there's something I need to say" I said after a while of forcing myself to say finally get the words out. "What is it, Mui?" Tanjiro asked and I took a deep breath.

"I know.. who infected Obanai..." I mumbled quietly and the whole room fell silent, mainly Shinobu who was just staring at me with wide eyes, holding the fork in her hand tighter.

"W-who?" Mitsuri said coldly as she looked at me. "...Shinobu" I said quietly while looking at the table in front of me, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.

"What?!! How could you even say that?! Me?! Kill Obanai?! You can't be fucking serious?!" Shinobu yelled out in anger.

"I saw it.. the needle filled with Yuichiro's blood and a cloth you put on Obanai's wound also had the his blood on it.. it was pretty obvious.." I mumbled quietly and then the room fell silent once again, everyone was just staring at Shinobu.

Suddenly Shinobu grabbed the fork tighter, stepped on the table and jumped at me, making me fall back on the floor with her. Once my back hit the floor I couldn't take a full breath "you ruined everything!!! I almost had it!! You know what my intentions were and you ruined them!!" She yelled out before Tanjiro pushed her away from me and helped me sit up.

"I-I can't breath" I said, unable to take a full breath "it's okay, Mui, it's okay, try to breathe, your breath just got knocked out" (is that how you call it? I am sorry if not, I don't remember and Google translate is not helping-)

"So it's true?!! You killed Obanai?!" Mitsuri yelled out. "I did it for you!! I love you, Mitsuri!!"

"Huh.." Mitsuri hummed quietly, looking at Shinobu in shock. "That doesn't change anything! She still killed Obanai!" Tanjiro yelled out.

"Everyone stop fucking yelling!!" Sanemi slammed his hand into the table "okay! She did what she d-"

"Are you going to defend her now?!" Mitsuri yelled out and looked at Shinobu again "she killed my boyfriend!! I am not gonna let her get away with this!"

Mitsuri yelled out and charged at Shinobu, pushing her into the floor and wrapping her hands around her neck. "Mitsuri let go of her!!" Nezuko yelled out and tried to pull her away from Shinobu.

I watched in horror as everyone just yelled at each other. I grabbed onto Tanjiro's shirt and just buried my face into his chest. He covered my ears and held me close. I knew it would end like this, I didn't want them to find but I knew it was a right thing to tell everyone...

...

Word count : 1981