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There’d been a somewhat concerning lull in activity from demons lately. Perhaps the death of Upper Moon Six had spooked Muzan and his minions. It had been over 100 years since the last death of an Upper Moon. That was bound to have an effect on how the most dangerous demons on earth operated.
The demon slayers corps was, overall, happy with the slowdown of activity. The children were able to both rest up and train more, a privilege that usually only came with some incredible time management skills between missions and the acceptance of constant, deep exhaustion.
But disaster had its own funny way of striking.
There was a reason Sabito, the Storm Pillar, was a favorite among the demon slayers who hadn’t yet worked their way into a seat next to him as the best of the best. He was one of the nicest, rivaled only by Mitsuri, the Love Pillar. He was one of the strongest, second only to Gyoumei, the Stone Pillar, and maybe third to Sanemi, the Wind Pillar. He was strict and a good teacher, like Obanai, the Serpent Pillar. He was exceptionally smart, like Shinobu, the Insect Pillar. He was funny and he was protective, like Tengen, the Sound Pillar, and Kyoujurou, the Flame Pillar.
And he was always with the Water Pillar, Tomioka Giyuu, who was known among the corps for being pretty, talented, and nice to children, albeit a bit muted and scarily deadpan sometimes. Many of the corps members followed his tail like ducklings—particularly Tanjirou and his friends, who looked up to Giyuu like he was their older brother. Sabito and Giyuu took it in stride. They welcomed all of the corps members into their estate with open arms. “Your duties as a demon slayer come before everything else. That’s the world we live in. But you need time to just be kids. When you’re not busy on missions, come to the Water Estate. We’ll take care of you.”
That’s exactly how Sabito and Giyuu ended up with seven kids to watch over in the middle of an otherwise peaceful day — which wouldn’t be an issue, if only three of them weren’t high out of their minds.
“Um.” Giyuu looked around the group. Tanjirou was standing at the front, eyes unnaturally wide as he looked up at Giyuu. His arm was still extended, as if to knock on the door even though Giyuu already opened it. His other hand was firmly placed around Zenitsu’s ankle, who was face-down on the ground, covered in dirt. Had Tanjirou dragged him all the way there?
Behind Tanjirou and Zenitsu were Inosuke and Genya. Inosuke was weakly trying to fight his way out of Genya’s hold, but Genya had his arms firmly cemented behind his back. Kanao’s presence helped; she was sitting on the ground with her arms and legs wrapped around Inosuke’s legs, not letting him move.
And then there was Muichirou, standing right next to Tanjirou. He was the one to reach out, press Tanjirou’s arm down, and give Giyuu at least half an explanation as to what was going on: “They ate the funny forest mushrooms.”
Oh, shit.
Giyuu turned to call back into his estate, “Sabito!”
Sabito was similarly stumped on what to do as he took in the scene and the same, brief explanation from Muichirou.
Sabito leaned into Giyuu. “Do you think they ate the same mushrooms Himejima ate that one time?”
Giyuu really hoped not. “I thought the kakushi got rid of them.”
“They must have grown back.”
The “funny mushrooms” grew near Gyoumei’s estate, and they sent him on a terrible spiral the single time he ate them. He was hyperactive, paranoid, and seeing things, and it took nearly 24 hours for him to recover. Sanemi, Sabito, Giyuu, Tengen and Mitsuri had to watch over him just so he didn’t accidentally hurt himself or run off into the woods or something.
And now, Sabito and Giyuu alone had a whole group of mushroom-infected teenagers to wrangle.
The first step was getting them all into the Water Estate, which was a battle in and of itself. Inosuke was the hardest of the bunch to handle. He was hyperactive naturally—add mushrooms to the mix, and he was about to jump right out of his skin. Despite his kicking and squirming, though, Sabito managed to pick him up and carry him into the estate, which left Giyuu to deal with the rest of them.
“How many of you ate the mushrooms?”
Tanjirou raised his hand. Everyone else pointed at Zenitsu, who was still face-down on the ground.
“Is he breathing?”
Kanao crouched down, touched his neck for a moment, and nodded.
“Okay. Everyone inside.”
Muichirou walked in first, putting the gas on at Sabito’s call for help handing “this boar of a teenager.” Kanao was the next to move; she helpfully wrestled Zenitsu’s ankle out of Tanjirou’s hand and pushed him inside, a slow-moving process, as Tanjirou appeared to have forgotten how to use his legs, but it was progress nonetheless.
And then there were three.
“Okay,” Giyuu whispered to himself. He eyed Genya. “You’re good?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good.” As carefully as he could, Giyuu dragged Zenitsu into a position from which he could pick him up and carry him inside. Genya hovered, his arms stretched out just in case, but Giyuu had no problem balancing Zenitsu over his shoulder. He was steady enough to let Genya walk into the estate first, and to close the door behind him.
Sabito, Kanao, and Muichirou were busy in the common space. Muichirou had himself wrapped around Inosuke, much like Kanao had been when Giyuu first greeted them. Sabito was at the tail end of trying a rope around Inosuke’s torso, effectively pinning his arms to his sides. Kanao was carefully taking the box off of Tanjirou’s back to let his sister crawl out. One of them had already drawn the curtain so she could safely leave the box, though she didn’t stray far from her brother anyway.
Sabito and Giyuu made brief eye contact. They were both thinking the same thing, and they both knew it, too. What the fuck?
The unanswered question of why the kids came to the Water Estate instead of the Butterfly Estate was only up in the air for a moment.
“We were heading there, but Tanjirou started crying so hard he threw up,” Genya said. “I think he doesn’t want to disappoint Ms. Kocho.”
Tanjirou wasn’t able to confirm nor deny; he was eerily silent and still. Giyuu would think he had passed out, like Zenitsu, if only he wasn’t still standing straight up with his eyes wide open.
“How long have they been like this?” Sabito asked through his teeth. He was still somewhat wrangling Inosuke, who was putting up a damn good fight, considering he was up against two of the strongest pillars.
“Like an hour?” Genya estimated. He gestured to Muichirou. “We were training with Mr. Himejima, and then Inosuke ran into the middle of our fight.”
“Yeah,” Muichirou said. “He was talking about mushrooms, so we followed his blood trail back to Tanjirou and Zenitsu.”
“Blood trail?” Giyuu asked warily.
“Yeah, he was bleeding,” Genya said. “I don’t know from where, though.”
Kanao politely raised her hand and tapped her shoulder when Giyuu looked at her.
“He was bleeding from his shoulder?” Sabito guessed. Kanao nodded.
“But he’s fine?”
Kanao nodded again.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“She didn’t say any words,” Muichirou pointed out.
“Kid, shut up.”
With Inosuke tied up, the situation was (mostly) under control. Giyuu had put Zenitsu down, with his haori folded under the poor kid’s head. Kanao convinced Tanjirou to sit down, while Sabito forced Inosuke to sit next to him.
The five sober people in the room (plus one demon, cradled in Kanao’s arms) stood in a circle around the three mushroom-infected boys—one passed out, one zoned out, and one still fighting his restraints.
“What should we do with them?” Giyuu looked to Sabito for answers.
“Make sure they don’t die, I guess?” Sabito said. “I’ll get them some water.”
Sabito left the room for a few minutes. Giyuu collected a little more information from the others.
“Did they throw up?”
“Only Tanjirou, I think,” Genya said. Kanao nodded.
“What were they doing?”
Genya and Muichirou both looked at Kanao, which meant Giyuu wasn’t about to get an answer to that question. Instead, he asked her, “Were you with them?”
She nodded.
“Did you eat any mushrooms?”
She nodded. Giyuu frowned, concerned, “Are you okay?”
She nodded again.
“. . . Are you sure?”
“Kocho’s her sister, I’m sure she’s accidentally gotten high before,” Sabito said. He handed her water anyway. He poured some water into Inosuke’s mouth (and, yes, he did spit about half of it right back at Sabito) and waved his hand in front of Tanjirou’s face until he focused for long enough to sip it, too. Tanjirou managed to say, “I’m sorry,” before he zoned right back out.
Zenitsu wouldn’t wake up. He was alive, Sabito assured, feeling his pulse beneath his fingers.
“Did Tanjirou drag him here?” Giyuu asked. Kanao and Genya both nodded, and Giyuu sighed. “Why did you let him do that?”
“Kanao and I had to handle Inosuke,” Genya said. Everyone looked at Muichirou, who shrugged, “I don’t like him.”
“He could have brain damage,” Giyuu concluded, truly only half-joking. “We should take them to Shinobu.”
“I don’t think there’s much she could do,” Sabito said. “They’re confused. We’ll let them sleep it off, and we can take them to her in the morning.”
That was simple enough — a chore, but simple enough. It was a good thing only three (well, four, actually) of them had eaten the mushrooms. Giyuu didn’t even want to begin to imagine what a demon or a Shinazugawa on mushrooms was like. At least Muichirou would be a lot like Tanjirou and Kanao—quiet, confused, and lost, as he always was.
“Go get blankets, please,” Sabito said to Giyuu. “I’ll figure out how to set them up for the night.”
The two of them needed every single pillow and blanket in the house, since Kanao, Genya and Muichirou wanted to stay. That would make Giyuu’s and Sabito’s jobs a little easier. They never slept at night — no demon slayer did — but it was a boring thing they were tasked with: sit in the common area and chat quietly while the kids slept, and occasionally get up to make sure they (with a special focus on still-passed-out Zenitsu) were still breathing.
“This should be enough.” Giyuu dumped the final blanket into the pile on the ground. Sabito had Kanao, Genya, and Muichirou move the mushroom trio to the corner of the room so he could stare at the ground and think about how to arrange everyone.
In the meantime, Giyuu ruffled through his and Sabito’s clothes to find something for the mushroom trio to wear. He also gathered a few wet cloths and tasked himself with wiping all the dirt off the boys while Sabito and the other kids arranged the pillows and blankets. (Sabito and Genya did all of the work; Muichirou just stood there and held Nezuko in his arms, and Sabito had Kanao sit and relax with her back facing the boys so Giyuu could re-dress them.)
The arrangement was strategic. Kanao slept on the very end, closest to Sabito and Giyuu (after Sabito asked her a dozen times if she was comfortable, or if she would rather him walk her back to the Butterfly Estate). Next to her was Tanjirou, who was still sitting up and staring at nothing—but at least he was partially under a blanket. Then there was Inosuke, still squirming, and Genya, who could handle the hyperactive beast breather. Next to Genya was Muichirou, and next to Muichirou was Zenitsu.
“I don’t like him,” Muichirou complained.
“Too bad,” Sabito said firmly. “He’s asleep anyway.”
The peace lasted for about 10 minutes. Kanao played with Nezuko, and Tanjirou only moved to glance at his sister. Inosuke finally stopped squirming, and he stared at the ceiling silently in defeat. (It was actually quite ominous. Inosuke was never that quiet.) Genya and Muichirou talked quietly. Zenitsu continued sleeping—until he slowly started to sit up, unprompted, like a zombie rising from the dead. Strangely, he didn’t open his eyes.
Sabito stood up. “You alright, kid?”
Zenitsu didn’t respond, and he still didn’t open his eyes. He shifted onto his knees, then into what looked like the start of a running stance. He reached for a sword that wasn’t there, but he gripped the air around his hip like he had his weapon.
“What is he doing?”
“Is he the one who fights in his sleep?” Muichirou asked.
“Fights in his sleep?!”
“Thunder breathing,” Zenitsu said. Kanao immediately stood up, with Nezuko, and moved to Giyuu’s side.
“Oh no.”
“Kid.” Sabito bravely stepped forward and placed his hands on Zenitsu’s shoulders, shaking him lightly. “Hey. Wake up.”
“First form.”
“Oh shit.”
Sabito shook Zenitsu a little harder. “Kid, wake up!”
“Thunder clap and flash!”
Zenitsu escaped Sabito’s grip in the blink of an eye, a rush of wind blowing everyone’s hair into their vision. No one knew where Zenitsu went until Inosuke yelped, and the two of them were suddenly engaged in a physical fight on the other side of the room.
“Dammit,” Sabito muttered. Tanjirou finally some signs of life, springing to his feet and rushing over to where his friends were fighting. He wasn’t much help, considering all he did was fall twice and then crash into them, which led them to start fighting him, too.
Of course, as luck would have it, Zenitsu had ripped the ropes enough that Inosuke wriggled free. The two of them were throwing punches at each other; Inosuke was kicking, too. It was almost comical, except Sabito and Giyuu were the adults in this situation, and they both had to be worried about and responsible for the kids’ health.
“Alright. Pillar duty. Everyone grab one,” Sabito commanded. He went for Inosuke, plucking the screaming boy right out of the pile and pinning him to the ground. Giyuu went for Zenitsu, the second-most difficult to handle, though he calmed down considerably as soon as Inosuke was out of his proximity. Muichirou obediently dragged Tanjirou away from the mess.
“Everyone okay?” Sabito asked, sounding, possibly, the least okay of everyone in the room. Giyuu looked around. Tanjirou was back to staring straight ahead, unmoving and unblinking. Genya and Kanao were laughably unaffected. Only Nezuko was concerned, trying to wriggle out of Kanao’s arms and go to her brother.
“Maybe we should separate them?” Giyuu suggested. Inosuke was fighting for his life to get away from Sabito, his body pointed toward Zenitsu in a frantic attack stance. Zenitsu had begun to sway, likely, actually asleep once again. Giyuu leaned Zenitsu’s body back against his own, letting him rest for (hopefully and ideally) the rest of the night.
“We need to watch over them,” Sabito argued. He stood there and thought about what to do for a moment. Then Muichirou stood up, silently, walked over to Inosuke, and squeezed a portion of his shoulder closer to his neck. Inosuke went limp a second later.
Muichirou walked back to Tanjirou without another word, guiding him to sit down under the blanket again.
“What was that?” Sabito asked. He checked Inosuke’s pulse.
“He’s fine,” Muichirou said. “He’ll sleep now.”
“That was creepy, kid, don’t do that again.” But it was exactly what they needed—Zenitsu and Inosuke both calm, ready to be put right back into their spots on the blanket line-up. Kanao returned to her spot next to Tanjirou, laying Nezuko down to rest between them.
“Everyone go to sleep,” Sabito pleaded. Zenitsu and Inosuke were far ahead of everyone else, but Kanao, Muichirou, and Genya all laid down obediently at Sabito’s command.
“Tanjirou?” Giyuu called. Tanjirou’s only response was a slow blink. Kanao sat up, slowly pushed his shoulder until he was laying down, then laid down again.
Sabito finally relaxed where he was sitting, again, next to Giyuu. His head thunked against the wall, and he heaved a deep sigh.
“How did we get involved in this?” He asked out loud, a whisper just for Giyuu.
“Beats me,” Giyuu mumbled. They stopped talking after that, enjoying the silence that came with Genya falling asleep, followed shortly by Muichirou, then Kanao. The only sound in the room was the steady breathing of all the kids, staggered, some more peaceful than others, but it was relaxing nonetheless.
“Mr. Sabito?”
That was Tanjirou, who was at such an angle that neither Sabito nor Giyuu were sure if he’d closed his eyes to fall asleep in the time it took everyone else to finally settle.
Sabito sighed, but he responded with patience, “Yeah, kid?”
“Are we outside?”
“Um. No.”
A good 10 minutes passed before Tanjirou spoke again.
“Why can I see the sky?”
“You can’t. Just close your eyes, you’ll be fine.”
Tanjirou was quiet for long enough that Sabito and Giyuu assumed he fell asleep. When he did sit up, it wasn’t as alarming as Zenitsu’s zombie-like movements. He didn’t even stand up completely; he started to crawl clumsily toward Giyuu.
“You alright?” Sabito asked without looking up. Tanjirou said nothing. As he got closer, Giyuu realized why he’d crawled away from the rest of the group. He shifted so his legs were outstretched, comfortable enough for Tanjirou to lay on. Nezuko followed him, springing up on her little toddler legs and climbing right into Giyuu’s lap, next to her brother’s head.
Sabito smiled. “They look like your kids.”
Nezuko made a noise, something happy that made Sabito smile even wider.
“More like siblings,” Giyuu mumbled. He rested his chin on top of Nezuko’s head. “They’re too close to my age to be my kids.”
“They’re all our kids, in a way,” Sabito said. He brushed his fingers through Tanjirou’s hair, soothing him. He finally closed his eyes, and all of the tension bled out of his body.
“Even Muichirou?”
“He’s even younger than Tanjirou,” Sabito said. “They come to us when something’s wrong. Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. It does,” Giyuu said. He scanned the room of sleeping teenagers, and he was happy. He and Sabito were the safe house, the safe space. They were the trustworthy ones, able to protect all of them from the world’s dangerous wonders.
“I want to find Muzan as soon as possible,” Sabito said. He, too, was looking at all of the kids, eyes scanning back and forth. He shook his head, tense, “I don’t want them to go on missions anymore.”
“I know.” It wasn’t a new sentiment, not for the two Water Pillars, nor any of the other pillars. They all knew what it was like to be child soldiers. They knew what it was like to get injured, almost gravely so. Final Selection nearly killed them both—Giyuu, to the first demon he saw, and Sabito, to the hand demon who ultimately blinded him in one eye, above the scar already on his cheek. They’d seen dozens of children die at demons’ hands.
“We should look out for them,” Sabito said. “All of the slayers, but these ones . . .”
Giyuu carefully reached over to touch Sabito’s hand, where it was resting on Tanjirou’s relaxed shoulders. “We do. And we will.”
Sabito nodded. Giyuu let him breathe. He knew Sabito needed to. He was deeply committed to justice, and he’d always wanted a family. He admitted, once upon a time, that he wanted a family with Giyuu—one day, when there were no demons, when the world was safer and better.
Giyuu was certain they’d live out their dream one day. Sabito, not so much, just because of how much he wanted it, and how scared he was not to have it. But, at the very least, they had this moment, and they had whatever other shenanigans the kids would get up to.
That included Muichirou waking up in the middle of the night, disoriented, and staring off into space for a while. Sabito had just moved over to check on him and fix his messy hair when Muichirou finally vocalized the issue he seemed to be having with his surroundings: “The floors and walls just switched.”
“. . . What?”
Muichirou didn’t elaborate. He stared at the wall — the floor? — and said nothing else until Sabito asked, “Did you eat the mushrooms?”
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Giyuu whisper-yelled, cognizant that he still had the Kamado children in his lap.
“I eat them all the time.”
Sabito and Giyuu shared a look. Sabito voiced their collective thought after a moment, “Is that why you act like that?”
“Act like what?”
Sabito chuckled. He finished smoothing out Muichirou’s hair and carefully led him to lay down again. “Nothing. Just go to sleep.”