Muichiro's pov

It has been two days now.. I've been stuck in this small room for hours.. not knowing what to do anymore, I felt like I was going crazy.

Everytime I heard someone coming close to my room, my whole body started to shake violently, i started to cry and crawled under my bed, trying to hide myself but it never helped.

Everything was hurting at this point, I could barely move my shoulder, it hurted so much from all of the needles that pierced through my skin due to how much I was moving while I was trying to run away.

Suddenly the lights went out and only a small light in a room was on. Ah.. the day has come to an end.. It's night now..

I had no idea what time it was most of the time.. and it was honestly the thing I was most worried about. At night I wanted to sleep.. I wanted to sleep so bad but every small noise made me wake up. The fear of someone walking in was unbearable.

I laid down on my bed, hugging my pillow, imagining it's Tanjiro like every other night I slept without him.

I wanted to calm myself down a bit and get at least a bit of sleep but then.. I heard footsteps. Loud and quick footsteps that were getting closer and closer to my room.

I immediately started to shake, tears freely streamed down my face as I immediately got up from my bed and hid under it.

I covered my mouth and the door slowly opened and then closed right after "Mui..? Are you here?" The person said. The voice was similar, extremely similar.

I peeked out from under the bed and saw Mitsuri. "Mitsuri!" I yelled out and rushed over to her, crying hysterically.

She immediately wrapped her arms around me, holding me close "shh, it's okay, I am here.. I am here now" she said and sat me down on my bed.

"Mui.. you need to listen to me now, okay? I don't have much time to talk" she said and I nodded, trying to calm down my sobs and I still clung onto her arm.

"Okay.. first you need to tell me, how many times did they inject something into you?" She asked and I thought for a bit before saying "o-only two times.."

She nodded "okay, they won't do anything to you tomorrow, okay? Or at night. The injection has three phases and it should make your pain tolerance a lot higher.. after third injection.. they will do tests and if anything they'll do to you will hurt.. they will kill you.. so if the injections won't work on you, I need you to act like nothing hurts, okay? Can you promise me that?"

I nodded and little, wiping my tears again "H-How did you even ge-get here.. there's so many people ou-outside.."

"I manipulated Shinobu, she's working for them so I am allowed to walk around"

My eyes widened "s-she… works for them? She knew about all th-this?"

"No no, after she ran away, someone brought her down for testing but because of her smartness, they decided to spare her and make her one of them.. she told me everything about this so I promise, I will get us out of here but you need to cooperate with me, alright?"

I nodded once again "ok-okay.. i-is Tanjiro okay..?" I asked and she smiled "yes, don't worry, he's alright, everyone is okay"

I sighed in relief "thank god.."

She nodded and looked at me more closely "geez.. Mui you look messed up.. what have they been doing to you.. have you been sleeping at all?"

I shook my head "I-I am scared.. I-I can't sl-sleep, I am worried that if I do.. they'll do something.." I stuttered out, more tears sliding down my cheeks.

She took my hands into hers and said "Mui, I promise they won't do anything at night, okay? They never do, I promise, once the light is turned off, everyone is allowed to sleep.. so get some sleep tonight, alright?"

"A-Are you sure..?" I mumbled and she nodded once again "yes don't worry, everyone is working hard here throughout the day so I doubt anyone would want to work throughout the night as well" we both chuckled a little.

Suddenly we heard a voice calling out for Mitsuri. "Shit I need to go" she said and stood up, about to leave but I stopped her by grabbing her arm "pl-please.. don't leave" I stuttered out and her eyes softened. She pulled me into a hug and said "Mui, I promise to come here every night, okay? We all will make a plan to get out of here.. I promise"

I nodded a little and hugged her tighter "thank you.."

"Of course, Mui.. now go to bed, okay? Tomorrow you can sleep longer, there will be no tests tomorrow" she said and I smiled a little "o-okay.."

She patted my head and quickly rushed out of the room. The room fell silent again which made me tear up a little bit. I just laid down on the bed, hugged my pillow and closed my eyes, trying to keep in mind what Mitsuri said.. not too long after, I fell asleep.

Mitsuri's pov

"Ah.. you're here.. what took you so long? Did you get lost?" Shinobu said and I nodded "yeah, sorry" I chuckled awkwardly.

"It's okay, let's go to our room now, hm? Or is there anything you'd like to do instead?" She asked and I nodded slightly "yea ehm.. I am a little hungry.. I know it's l-"

"I'll cook you something! There's plenty of food in storage room! Is there anything specific you'd like me to make?"

"No no, cook me anything we both like, hm? You've been working hard and I haven't seen you eat not even once" I said and she chuckled "yea you're right"

She then happily walked away. I groaned and crossed my arms, already being sick of her, I couldn't stand her but I had to keep the act.

I quickly walked away, looking for the room where Tanjiro and others are locked in. Once I was in front of it, I put a code in and the door opened. I peeked in, immediately making eye contact with Tanjiro "did you find him?! Is he okay?!" He yelled out and I nodded.

"Don't worry, he's alright, he was really scared and.. yea they already injected something into him but don't worry, tomorrow there will be no tests so he'll get some rest" I said and Tanjiro sighed in relief "thank god.."

"So.. do you have any plan? Or how we escape?" Nezuko asked and I nodded once again "somehow.. there's one part of the lab that is very unstable and no one can go in because there's a high chance the whole thing would collapse of just a smallest rock would drop in that room.. once I somehow get keys from your chains and find how we can get outside, I think we can try to escape… but it'll be really hard.. because of how many people are everywhere.."

They all nodded "do they have any weapons?" Sanemi asked and I nodded "yes, some people who walk around to check the hallways have guns.. beside that I haven't seen anyone having them"

"Okay.. so tomorrow try to get as much information as you can and please.. if you'll be able to.. bring Mui to me, I need to see him" Tanjiro said desperately.

"Don't worry Tanjiro, if I'll be able to, I'll bring him here.. but I can't promise anything" I said and he just slightly nodded "thank you.."

Next day - 9am

I put my clothes on and immediately walked out of our room. The second I walked out, I heard screaming, Muichiro's screaming.

"What's going on?! They shouldn't do anything today, right?!" I thought to myself and immediately ran towards his room, his screams and cries getting louder and louder.

Once I got to his room, I saw Shinobu standing there with four more people, surrounding Muichiro who was desperately trying to get away.

"What's going on here?! There should be no-" I tried to say but Shinobu inturupted me "five test subjects died this morning, there must be something wrong with the injections.. we had to move to another point so we are sure no more of them die"

I looked over at Muichiro, my heart aching. I couldn't bear to see him like this, it hurted so much, watching him suffer like this.

Muichiro kicked one of the guys and bit someone's hand which made them let go of him. He stood up and ran towards me, refusing to let go of me, crying hysterically.

They tried to take him away from me but I refused "I'll do it, okay? I know how to work with him" I said and grabbed the needle from one of the guys "now leave, I'll inject it into him"

They all turned to look at Shinobu and she nodded "I trust her, let's go" they all skeptically looked at me but eventually left together but before Shinobu could leave, I asked "hey Shino, what does this do?"

"Oh.. it's the third phase, after this one we will do the testing for pain tolerance. If there's something really wrong with the last injection, this will save him" she said and I nodded. She then left.

I sat Muichiro down and he yelled out "y-you sa-said they won't come here! Y-You promised I-I can rest without a-any pr-problems!" He cried out.

"Mui.. I really didn't know they will come.. something just.. happened and they have to do this to apperentaly save you.. I don't know if it's true but if yes.. I need to inject this into you.." I said and Muis eyes widened, he shook his head, grabbing his shoulder "N-No please! M-My shoulder hurts so much, I can't take it anymore!"

"Hey hey.. shh, listen to me.. I will be careful, okay? I am so sorry, I really don't want to do this but if what they said is true, I need to do this before it's too late, okay?"

He eventually nodded and showed me his other shoulder that was undamaged so far. I really didn't want to do it.. I didn't know if what they said was true.. I really didn't know what I was really injecting into him but.. I had to do it.

Once I injected it, he yelped in pain and grabbed his shoulder tightly. "It's okay, Mui, it's done" I put the needle aside and hugged him "I am so sorry, I really didn't know this will happen.. now I don't know when they will do more tests but.. once I hear something about it, I'll warn you, I promise.."

Muichiro nodded and hugged me once again "I-I hate it here.." he mumbled quietly, his voice cracking slightly. "I know you do but.. hey.. if I get a chance to.. maybe you could go see others for a bit"

Muichiro's eyes widened, his eyes filling with tears of joy and disbelief "r-really?!!" He said excitedly. "Only if I'll be able to.. I can't promise anything but.. I will try my best"

"Thank you.. th-thank you so much, Mitsuri.." he hugged me even tigher. I returned the hug and kissed the top of his head "I have to go now, okay? But I promise I'll come again in the evening if I'll be able to, alright"

He nodded and pulled away from the hug. I quickly stood up and walked out of the room. I only took five steps and immediately was faced with Shinobu who was waiting for me.

"Took you a lot of time.. was he being annoying?" She said coldly and I forced a small smile, nodding "mhm, it took some time but I injected it"

"Good, we don't want another test subject to die, no? That would mean that we would have to pick someone from.. your 'friends', am I right?" She said, making my heart drop "what do you mean?"

"If more of them die, we are running out of people to test on.. monsters they send outside barely bring anyone because they kill them first.. so we have to pick one of your friends" she smiled and grabbed my hand "but that's okay, right? All that matters is that we have each other!"

I nodded and smiled "y-yea but.. why are they doing this..?"

"Ohh, well I don't know that but it's okay! It's nice here, no? We don't need to hide in a shelter, worry about dying 24/7, we can just stay here, work, even take over the whole world! Isn't that fun?" She chuckled and I forced a small smile once again "M-Mhm.. it.. it is.."

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