Chapter Text
June, 1, 2020
It’s been a few days since Onii-Chan attacked me. Mother doesn’t know the exact story, I told her I got kicked in the eye during soccer practice which seemed the most reasonable answer. I can’t help but get the feeling my big brother is a demon. The way his teeth grow sharp whenever he’s furious, same goes for his nails that grow into the shape of talons, his eyes transforming to a scarlet red during the night, and not really part of this but the way he murmurs in his sleep likes he’s talking a whole new language and the seizures he’ll have around three or four in the morning. Demons in the families are becoming more common but people would rather execute them than rather try to support their family members. I really . . . don’t want to give Onii-Chan up.
“Good morning.” Her mother smiles at her daughter who walked out of her room.
“Morning.” Nezuko lets out a yawn stretching her arms above her head.
“How is your eye?” She touches Nezuko’s cheek.
“It’s fine, mom.” The raven moves away from her. “I really need to start getting ready for school.”
“Where’s your brother? He needs to be up as well.” Her mother fixes her daughter a cup of tea.
“Oh um. . . he’s getting ready. You know, Oni-chan takes a really long time to get dressed.” She chuckles recalling the sleeping redhead who hasn’t been up for the last fifteen hours.
“Tanjirou has almost eight tardies the beginning of this school year. I don’t know what’s gotten into that boy.” The woman shakes her head in disbelief. “He better get down here this instant, he can’t have another a tardy.”
“Right, mom.” Nezuko nods her head before running upstairs to grab her older brother.
In the bedroom was Tanjirou in the same sleeping position he was fifteen hours ago the last time she was here. Damn, she has to do something. If their mother doesn’t see him, she’ll know something is up.
At least he was in a pair of sweatpants and a decent t shirt that didn’t have stains on it. She grabs a pair of sunglasses from his closet and places it on his face.
“Alright, you’re going to school like this.” Nezuko pulls the sleeping boy up to his feet and drags him down the stairs letting his arm wrap around her neck.
“What in the world?” Their mother gasps at the sight before her.
“Can’t talk mom, we’re gonna be late. See you tonight.” Nezuko shortly cuts her off walking out the front door before she can give her an explanation.
The girl was glad that her brother and her were assigned the same classes. There was no way she could’ve pulled this off if they had been separated.
“Good morning.” Her friend Kanao greets her once they made it to the school.
“Morning.” Nezuko smiles pulling the limp boy beside her.
“Morning, Tanjirou-kun.” The girl glances at the redhead who didn’t respond. “Is your brother okay?”
“Of course he is! Onii-Chan is just really tired, chemistry has been kicking his butt and he was up all night studying for the test today.” She pats the back of his head which rolls forward but she pulls his hair to keep his head up.
“Okay.” She raises an eyebrow. “I’ll see you two at lunch, then.” The girl waves goodbye before strolling away in the opposite direction.
Nezuko sighs in relief. That was a close one.
Lunch time for Nezuko consisted of eating a small snack while she did her homework. She didn’t like using her free time at home to do it. She was the type of girl to get everything and anything done before she walked out of school.
Their lunch table included Kanao, Genya (one of Tanjirou’s friends), the twins which was Muichirou and Yuichirou(Muichirou was more of Tanjirou’s friend while Yuichirou’s was Nezuko’s), Senjurou( who was a year younger than them) and lastly her brother. Tanjirou sits next to her sister, his head resting on her shoulder.
“Tanjirou-kun, what is up with you?” Muichirou tries to take off his sunglasses but Nezuko shooed his hand away.
“Please, he doesn’t want to be bothered. He just took his chemistry test and he wants to sleep for the lunch period.”
“Are you sure he’s asleep? He looks dead.” Genya makes a face at the girl and she glares at him.
“He’s not dead! He’s just really tired, okay?” She defends her brother touching his forehead.
“Now that I think about it, Tanjirou-kun is a snorer. If he was asleep, you’d hear him miles away.” Muichirou gives Nezuko a suspicious look inching closer to the redhead.
“Why is he wearing sunglasses? We’re inside.” Senjurou politely holds up his hand raising an eyebrow.
The bell rings signaling that lunch time was over and Nezuko has never been so happy to leave the cafeteria. All the interrogations about Tanjirou left her homework unfinished. That’s the least of her problems anyway. The thing is getting her brother out of PE. She did fake a doctors note for her brother saying that he had a twisted ankle and to avoid all physical activities for the day hopefully the gym teacher would allow it. The girl worked so hard to forge their doctor’s signature.
They both enter the gymnasium and she hands the gym teacher the doctor’s note. He nods his head allowing Tanjirou to sit out for the period and she sets him on the beach letting his head rest against the wall so that he wasn’t slumped over. Thank god no one else was sitting out to disturb her older brother.
The rest of the day had eased by smoothly. After gym class was study hall which is really nothing. Nezuko used the time to finish her homework and Tanjirou sits beside her his head on her shoulder like always. What if Genya said was true? What if Tanjirou was dead?
No way, he couldn’t be. He was so warm, he wasn’t cold yet. She wouldn’t believe it not even for a second.
The bell rings and school was over for the siblings. She pulls her limp brother from his seat dragging him out of the building. Usually their friends would wait for them under their favorite spot under the cherry blossom tree to meet up for after school shenanigans. She glances over her shoulder to find that no one was there yet. Nezuko picks up the pace hoping she won’t run into anyone. She needed to bring Tanjirou back home as soon as possible plus she wanted to be home before her mother catches them.
“Hi mom.” Nezuko says to her mother who was in the living room watching tv. Her bad luck kicked in not expecting her mother to be home early.
“Sit down, I want to talk to you two.” She orders patting the empty spot on the couch next to her.
“Mom, I have a lot of homework to do and Tanjirou has to do some studying for a couple of tests-“
“Now, Nezuko!” The woman cuts her off and she strolls over to the couch dragging her unconscious brother with her.
“What’s going on?” Nezuko questions raising an eyebrow.
“I left work early because I got a call from some of your teachers.” She states crossing her arms against her chest. “They said that Tanjirou has been acting weird. He was very unresponsive in class today and that you did everything for him. Is that true?”
“Mom like I said, Onii-Chan is exhausted for studying so hard for our chemistry test. I was doing what any good sister would do.”
“Honey, Tanjirou can do his own work, he doesn’t need you to do stuff for him.” Her mother places a hand on her shoulder. “I thank you for being a good sister but Tanjirou needs to deal with his own consequences.”
“I’m sorry, mom.” Nezuko pouts.
“Also, why is my son wearing sunglasses?” She makes a face at Tanjirou.
“You know, sunglasses are trendy now. We’re gonna do our homework!” The raven grabs her brother by the arm dragging him upstairs.
She sets him on his bed resting his head on a pillow.
“Onii-chan , please wake up. I can’t keep covering for you.” Nezuko whispers touching his forehead. “Please, if something is wrong with you, I want to help.”
The redhead doesn’t reply and Nezuko lets out a sigh. She leaves the room to give the boy some peace and quiet, deciding to do the rest of her homework. The girl did feel awful lying to all her friends but she couldn’t tell them that her brother was unconscious for a whole day. What would they think of that?
Maybe she could tell Muichirou. He was a very close friend of Tanjirou’s, the two have been together through everything. They knew each other since they were toddlers. Muichirou and Yuichirou lived a block away from them in the opposite direction. All four of them were inseparable as kids. Nezuko has Yuichirou and Tanjirou has Muichirou. Every Saturday, Tanjirou and Muichirou carried a ritual of sleepovers at each other’s house. They did have a weird phase where they dated for six months until they realized it wasn’t working out but that didn’t stop them from being best friends.
Maybe she could talk to Kanao about it. The girl’s sisters were demon slayers so they must know about them. They should be able to tell if Tanjirou is a demon or not. Then she thinks about it again. If he was, they either had to execute him or evacuate him out of their home and she didn’t want that to happen.
What to do? What to do? She rocks back and forth in her chair.