Nezuko sat up on her futon and saw her master. She smiled to him and opened her arms to ask him for a hug non-verbaly. Instead of him, Tanjiro was the one to come. She sigh but it was still okay. Suddenly, the boy took a bigger -still smaller than his normal height but taller than his "toddler" form- and gave her headpats. She seemed surprised but accepted it. Mister Tsugikuni slightly laughed before joining the hug. He whispered "I'm happy you're alive..."

The girl suddenly remembered what had happened on the fourth day she might ruin the mood but she had to ask the Hashira this. So she did. "Sir... Do you perhaps know kids named Yuichiro and Kotetsu...?"

The man looked shocked and sad at the same time but was silent. So she was right, huh ? The man then spoke "Where did you learn those names ?"

He was trying to calm down but it still looked like he was about cry at any moment.

"They told me.

-How...? They died years ago....

-May I ask you who they were to you ?"

The silence felt awkward. It lasted for around a minute before he answered "Kotetsu was my first student... He died before the final selection because... he... fell from a cliff....

-Oh my.... I'm so... so sorry. But what about Yuichiro ?

-He died there. Protecting many others from a shapeshifting demon. That's what the crows told me, at least. He... was my adopted son..."

The man then cried out loud. Both Nezuko and Tanjiro tried to comfort him. She was surprised by the news but it wasn't a reason to not help him. Losing a family member is already hard, she knew that pretty well. But losing a child seemed even worse. Even if he was adopted.

Some minutes later, Mister Tsugikuni stopped the hug but seemed to feel better, which made Nezuko happy. He cried a lot and it's good. If all those tears came out of his eyes, it's because they needed to. The man then whispered "Thank you....Nezuko..."

The girl was surprised to hear her master calling her by her first name but she did no comment about it. "You're welcome, Master..."

There was an awkward silence before Tanjiro talked "So... Nezuko saw.... gh- ghosts...?"

The girl smiled, happy to hear her brother speak a little bit more fluently but wondered about what he said. She didn't answer but nodded. It must've been it. The Hashira didn't answer either and smiled at the boy slightly.

Two weeks passed and Nezuko was ready to get her uniform and nichirin sword soon. When it finally happened, she happily opened the door. An old man was there but his face wasn't visible, hidden by a red mask. He was also wearing a blue yukata with little clouds on it.

"Hello. I am Sakonji Urokodaki and I came to give a sword to Nezuko Kamado."

Nezuko looked at him with a big and quickly answered "Greetings, sir ! I'm Nezuko Kamado, you can come in."

The man followed her inside without complain while Mister Tsugikuni joined them with three cups of tea. He surely had made them in advance. Tanjiro was watching from inside of a box. The three humans sat down and started to drink. The hashira then suddenly spoke "So you still work as a swordsmith, old man ?"

Urokodaki ignored him and handed a sword to me "Normally, the sword should change color. If it doesn't, it means you are not worthy to become a demon slayer."

Nezuko didn't look really confident when she heard that. Well... She survived the final selection so she should be worthy right ? She took it slowly while closing her eyes. She only opened them some seconds later. She had an amazed look on her face, seeing her sword becoming black "Mister Urokodaki, does it have a special meaning ?"

The two men looked at her for a moment before the masked one answered "It usually has a meaning but... black is so rare that there's nothing known about them. It's said that the slayers in possession of that kind of blade are destined to disappear from people's memories."

Nezuko didn't know what to say so she smiled nervously. Mister Tsugikuni then started talking. "I am sure Nezuko won't be forgotten. She's a talented girl. One day, she might even have the potential to become a hashira."

The girl seemed shocked "Really ?! You really think so, sir ?!"

No answer came from the man. Mister Urokodaki started to talk again to stop the awkward silence. The three of them kept on talking for long hours.

He then had to leave after giving Nezuko her uniform. She was very happy. Each day seemed closer to the moment she'll save Tanjiro. The latter joined his sister and Mister Tsugikuni. "Congrats... Nezuko ! I'm proud.. of you !"

Nezuko smiled when she heard that. She took her brother in her arms like he was a toddler. As an answer, he grew bigger to make the girl remember she was the youngest here. Tanjiro was her older brother so he felt like he had to make her understand that he wanted to keep that role even if he was unable to speak correctly and that he needed to keep a small size to keep energy.

The situation made Nezuko laugh as he started to pat his sister's head. Mister Tsugikuni decided to leave the hug to let Tanjiro and Nezuko have their moment. The girl tried to protest but ended up accepting the hashira's choice.

The youngest suddenly felt something weird. She didn't what it was but she hated it. She looked at her brother intensely and surprisingly saw some hints of sadness. She started to be worried for him but knew he must still be very sad about the massacre. He slept for three years so it must seem like it was yesterday.

The girl took an initiative. She knew he had a very hard time lying so it would be visible if he did. She hugged him tight and whispered "Big brother... do you feel alright ?"

He went silent for long seconds before answering "I feel... guilty... Nezuko..."

When she heard that, she got away, smiled sadly, put her hand on her brother's shoulder and tried to comfort him "Why even do you feel guilty for... ? Yoriichi would've been way too powerful even if you were the strongest human on earth...

-I... I should've been... able to... to protect... at least one... of them....

-N- No, Tanjiro...

-I... I remember... their screams... the smell... of the blood... I feel dirty.... I feel like.... I'm still all... all bloody..."

Tanjiro's face changed a lot. He looked traumatized, eyes wide opened, after remembering all of that. Nezuko took him in her arms as he started crying. "I'm sorry, big brother... I shouldn't have made you talk about this. Let's talk about something else, alright ?"

The demon boy cried for a long moment. All the pain he felt from their family's death came out in tears. His body felt extremely hot but he didn't want to answer anything when Nezuko asked him about it. The two of them changed subject and kept on talking for hours. At some point, the girl got tired and went to sleep after making sure her older brother was feeling better. She thought it was good for him to vent about all of this but was still worried about his body temperature. She would check the next day.