Can't I See You One Last Time?

Chapter 37: Overwritten by Nothing

Shinobu looked at the last page, and found it was painted black. It seemed as though something was supposed to be drawn on the page, but it looked like ink was spilled all over the page. For some reason, out of the whole letter, this page seemed to hold the most importance. After all, Shinobu had inspected the page and found miniature shards of glass mixed in with the ink. It was like someone had smashed a pot of ink all of the paper and tried to clean it up. It was like someone was purposely covering up the most important part of the letter, but Shinobu didn't have the time to worry about that. She now had a time limit set and they had already wasted so much time.

Clatter! Dinner was dropped on the floor. The dishes clattered into the floor and the food stained the wooden floor boards of the Water Hashira mansion.
"...Giyuu...!"
Tanjiro turned his attention away from the conversation he was having with Giyuu.
"Good afternoon, Tsutako-san!"
When Giyuu saw this small interaction between the two of them, he wanted to hide behind Tanjiro, but also shield the teen from the other person. He wanted to cower yet protect the other. In the end, he just sat closely to Tanjiro reaching for his hand like a little child. Tsutako noticed this change in her brother and composed herself. Tanjiro also noticed the feelings between the two and looked to Giyuu.
"Giyuu-san this is your older sister, Tomioka Tsutako."
The stress and tension in Giyuu's body lessened when he heard that the lady who had just walking into the room was his sister.
"Sis...ter...?"
Tanjiro smiled and nodded his head,
"That's right Giyuu-san. She's your sister!"
Tsutako wanted to cry. Her brother had lost his memory. It was like his memory was overwritten by nothing. She wanted to cry, but she held it in. Her brother was in a bad condition. She needed to act calm and composed for her brother's sake.
"I brought dinner, but I was being clumsy and dropped it. Tanjiro, if you could help me?"
Tanjiro got what Tsutako was pointing to and gently moved away from Giyuu's side. He got up and started walking away from Giyuu leaving him reached out to him. Tanjiro didn't leave him reaching out. Tanjiro lightly grabbed his hand and smiled,
"I'll be back with dinner."
Then he let go nd continued to walk away. Tanjiro told Giyuu that he was going to come back, but the older didn't want to let go of him. Even though that was the case, Giyuu had no choice but to watch him walk away. For some reason, he felt that nothing he would do could permanently stop Tanjiro from leaving.

Everyone had expected that Tanjiro was going to be the one that woke Giyuu up. No matter what turn they were in, they had all expected Tanjiro to wake Giyuu up. What they didn't expect was that Giyuu's memory was going to be completely wiped. It was completely written over with nothing.
"So he remembers...nothing...?"
Tanjiro shook his head with a saddened face,
"Yeah..."
The two had already made another dinner plate for Giyuu, but Tsutako needed time to acknowledge that her brother had memory lose. She needed to accept that her brother would only rely on Tanjiro until he got to know her. She had to accept that her brother needed Tanjiro more than he needed her. Tsutako handed Tanjiro the dinner plate for Giyuu and smiled sadly,
"Please take care of my brother."
Tanjiro already knew of Tsutako's feelings and didn't want to hurt her anymore than the situation already did. Tanjiro took the plate and smiled back at her, acting like he was completely naïve about her feelings.
"Of course, he saved my life after all."

"Giyuu-san, I've brought you dinner."
Giyuu, who was sitting in the room like an abandoned puppy, had his ears perked up as soon as he heard Tanjiro call to him behind the door. When the door opened and Giyuu saw his face, Giyuu's eyes started to shine. Tanjiro just smiled and sat down next to Giyuu. The older took the opportunity to snuggled closer to Tanjiro. Of course, Tanjiro didn't mind it. He just put the food down in front of Giyuu and continued on with his smile. He didn't want Giyuu to feel uncomfortable with the new substance in front of him, so Tanjiro pointed at Giyuu's dinner.
"Your sister made sure to makes something you would easily be able to digest, so she made rice porridge."
Tanjiro even showed Giyuu how to eat with the spoon that was placed next to the bowl.
"Make sure to eat slowly so you don't burn yourself."
Tanjiro watched Giyuu as he slowly got used to eating food with utensils. At first, Giyuu was confused, but he carefully followed the example Tanjiro showed him making it easier for him. After a few spoonful's of porridge, Giyuu suddenly stopped and made Tanjiro worried. 
"Is something wrong Giyuu? Are you full?"
Giyuu looked at his food then at the spoon in his hand. He didn't know how to talk perfectly. He could only say a few words from coping Tanjiro and didn't necessary understand the meaning of each word. If he couldn't use words, then he would have to se his actions. Giyuu spooned up some porridge from the bowl and shoved it into Tanjiro's face. 
"What do you need?"
Giyuu hmphed and pushed the spoon closer to Tanjiro's mouth. From then on, it didn't take long for the younger to know what Giyuu wanted from him. Tanjiro opened his mouth and and ate the porridge Giyuu had in front of his face. Giyuu smiled when he saw Tanjiro eat from the spoon he had in front of his face. Tanjiro smiled,
"Thank you, Giyuu-san!"
With his reaction, Giyuu smiled as well.

Giyuu had fallen asleep, and it was finally time to have a conversation with all of the Hashira. They had to know of Giyuu's current condition and Shinobu had something to say to everyone as well. Everyone felt as though they had something to say and each bit was important.