Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Tap! Tap! Tap!
The storm rages without restraint as the wind picks up its intensity, crashing the droplet rain to the beaten wooden house at the foot of the mountain.
Creating a symphony of notes against the old planks.
The cold, damp air seeped through the cracks, causing a seriously uncomfortable atmosphere for the woman in the futon.
"Cough cough! Cough cough!"
Her face was flushed from fever, she was coughing constantly, and her consciousness came and went. "...so...so cold..."
"...Mom! Are you okay...?"
Her child, dressed in a light blue summer kimono with cloud patterns, lying next to her, called out worriedly. "Dad... Dad went to collect herbs for you; he'll be back soon!"
"So..."
He looked at his mother's closed eyes and the way her eyelids trembled. Her mouth opened slightly, trying to gulp as much air as possible since her nose was stuffed, even though it hurt her throat.
The child was flustered and didn't know what to do in this situation. A suffocating sense of helplessness washed over him.
He began looking around, trying to find his brother for help, but his brother still hasn't come back from the kitchen.
'I... what can I do?' He asked himself as anxiety and panic clouded his mind even more.
Drip, drip.
Without him noticing, bean-sized tears flowed from his eyes and dripped down onto the blanket of the futon.
In the end, he could only close his eyes and hug his mother. "Mom...! Sobs...sobs."
"Don't cry, Muichiro!" Yuichiro's voice came sharper than usual.
He just got back from the kitchen after failing to ignite a fire in the stove. He hugged his arms and rubbed in an attempt at preserving body heat as he looked to the shaking wooden door of their house.
"So noisy!"
Yuichiro looked exactly like Muichiro, with the exception that his eyebrows were tightly knitted together. His eyes were showing his worries for their mother while his face settled into a scowl to hide them.
Yuichiro turned his back to his brother and mother to rage against the noisy wooden door. He was also hoping that their father would open the door any moment now.
"So annoying..."
'Why haven't you come back yet...?'
His fingers tapped incessantly on his arms, and he took a deep breath and exhaled hotly.
"Tch!"
He had long told his father that going out in such awful weather would just be useless.
Yet his father was stubborn and went out, ignoring his advice.
His mother tried to cook and do chores around the house while still being sick, leading to her collapsing and being bedridden now.
'Both of you need to take care of yourselves! Who's gonna protect us when you're gone!?'
"...Damn it!" Yuichiro gritted his rattling teeth, trying to stay strong in the cold. His eyes were suspiciously moistened.
As a child of ten years old, it was not the first time Yuichiro thought adults are stupid.
Their disobedient manners really irked him to his bones.
"...Nii-san." Muichiro's crying slowly turned into sobs as he sat up to look at his brother.
Seeing that Yuichiro had no intention of turning around to face him, he sniffed his nose and wrung out a new towel and placed it on their mother's forehead.
Minutes passed by; the only things heard inside the house were coughs and gasps of pain from the mother and the sound of heavy rain pitter-pattering on the roof.
Yuichiro was getting impatient in this waiting and was about to get up and get ready to chase his father.
Squeak... Bam!
The wooden door suddenly slid open, and cold air immediately rushed in over the standing figure holding the opened door.
Soichiro appeared at the door soaked to the bones, with droplets of water dripping from his dark bluish hair that was tied into a small braid at the back of his head.
He was panting from exhaustion and anxiousness as he forced a smile.
"Yuichiro! Muichiro! I'm back!"
As he spoke, he quickly stepped inside and pulled in Kokushibo from behind him.
Sreek...
Only... Kokushibo was unmovable, and Soichiro accidentally pulled apart the sleeve off of Kokushibo's arm.
"..."
"..."
Soichiro's smile stiffened. He quickly glanced at the fabric with a strange feeling in his heart. "Um... Sir, if you would... please come in quickly."
He couldn't care less about the fabric right now. His wife's sickly form is the upmost priority!
"The cold wind is blowing in... and my wife... won't be able to stand it."
Kokushibo seems to have not heard Soichiro's pleas, as he took his time observing the occupants of the house from the door.
He has seen the woman lying on the futon the moment the door was opened.
He had been a demon for such a long time that he had forgotten how fragile humans actually were.
Fortunately, his observation was swift, and he took a step inside and closed the door.
Bam.
Afterwards, Soichiro ensured that there was no gap for the cold wind to penetrate and breathed a sigh of relief.
Soichiro took off his raincoat and hung it by the door; he wiped his wet forehead and turned around to see his eldest, Yuichiro, staring at their guest in shock and horror.
Yuichiro's light blue eyes gaze directly at Kokushibo's six glowing golden eyes as he feels his scalp tingling and a chill other than the cold runs up his spine.
'This...!'
'What the hell is this... thing!'
He looked to his father, standing aside this creature.
'...Dad? Did you really lead this thing home!?'
Yuichiro's face was paler than ever as fear seized his very being. Just one look at the creature was enough for him to have nightmares.
Even though he thought that adults were stupid.
It was only on the clumsy, hard-headed, stupid kind.
Not the 'lead a strange creature to our house' kind!!!
Yuichiro looked back at Kokushibo's pupils.
He noticed there are words written in the eyes.
'What's that wor—NO! No! Don't look at his eyes!' Yuichiro immediately looked down to avoid triggering this creature, but then he noticed the sword pulsing like it was made from... flesh and blood?
'That's not right! I don't know what it is!! But that's not right!!!!'
'Idiot-Dad!! @$#^@' Yuichiro cussed and called his dad every degrading word in the mountain. He pinched his thigh to force himself to calm down.
Gulp...
"Hey, Dad..." Yuichiro's voice was shaky as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva that had accumulated due to nervousness.
"...You."
"What did you bring back...?"
Seeing his son's reaction, Soichiro frowned. He took two steps forward and gently patted Yuichiro on the shoulder.
"Don't do that." Soichiro's voice was soft.
"This is our guest; be a little more polite."
ಠ_ಠ???!!!
Polite!?!?
Yuichiro was stunned at the words coming out of his father's mouth. He looked incredulously at his father's face, as if he was trying to determine that those words were really said by his father.
Soichiro put his hand on Yuichiro's back and smiled apologetically at Kokushibo.
"I'm sorry about that; my child hasn't met many people, so he is used to being blunt."
After that, he pulled Yuichiro with him and settled down at his wife's side.
Muichiro finally moved his head to acknowledge his father and subconsciously looked at the door.
He saw Kokushibo take to standing and crossing his arms and not much else.
He nodded at the man and turned his attention back to his father.
"Dad! The herbs... did you bring the herbs back?"
Yuichiro frowned in disbelief as he saw Muichiro's nonchalant attitude at the creature, acting as if he wasn't seeing a monster.
He quietly turned his head to glance back at Kokushibo's face.
Only...
The six eyes have turned into two eyes!!
Yuichiro saw a line, like a scar, above and below the two opened eyes of Kokushibo.
If you ignore the written kanji, Kokushibo looks to have a birthmark on his face.
Yuichiro was questioning his sanity. He swore he saw this man had six eyes before!!!
And what's with the relaxed and detached sense of danger at having a stranger in your house?!
With a sword!! That could kill them all!!
Yuichiro turned away as his face turned blank and his brain shut down.
In his heart, only one sentence repeats itself.
'We're doomed.'