Infinity With You | T. Muichiro

3

Chapter 3
LILY OF THE VALLEY

He did not come back, he never did.

You stare at the two graves before you, sadness overtakes your features, and the tears fall down on your face. Beside you, the twins stayed quiet, but both have solemn expressions on their faces. You can't imagine the pain they're enduring at the moment.

Your head hung low, thinking how everything went wrong.

The sun was already long gone from the sky, this night was loud and cruel.

"I wonder if dad's okay... The storm is pretty harsh tonight."

Muichiro worriedly paced around the living room. Their mother's fever hasn't calmed down either, and their father being late caused an uneasy feeling inside their stomach. You look at Yuichiro to see him trying to distract himself with making porridge, you get a feeling he was pretty worried about his father himself.

You dutifully dip a clean cloth in the water and squeeze it out. With gentle precision, you put the damp cloth on the mother's forehead. Your stomach churns as you felt the worry gnawed at you.

"Aunt's...going to be okay right?"

Both you and Muichiro did not sleep from the sheer worry you were both feeling. Constantly checking on her temperature, you hope a miracle would happen.

However, the gods did not listen to your prayers. Seeing her so still and lifeless, it made your heart clenched painfully in your chest and you immediately felt tears streaming down your face.

Muichiro knelt beside the bed, his small frame shaking with sobs as he clung to his mother's lifeless body. The room, dimly lit by a single flickering candle, was filled with a profound silence that seemed to press on him from all sides. Tears streamed down Muichiro's cheeks as he buried his face in her chest, his cries muffled against the fabric of her blanket.

"Mother..."

He whispered, his voice breaking with each word. The reality of her death was a cold, crushing weight on his heart, one he wasn't ready to bear. He stayed there, sobbing into the night, the grief and loneliness overwhelming in the face of his loss.

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Sensing the shift from your side, you turned around. Yuichiro leaves first, without saying a word. Staring at the retreating figure of his and Muichiro beside you, you lightly bit your lip in frustration.

You want to tell them that if they're sad, it's okay to cry too.

Ever since that day, Yuichiro's attitude changed. He became meaner to Muichiro and ignored you most of the time. It made the two of you sad and confused.

"The 'Mu' in Muichiro means 'nothingness', just like you. A useless thing."

Muichiro looked hurt at his brother's words. You saw the tears in the corner of his eyes as you bit your lip in frustration. Seeing him like that, managed to strike a nerve.

"Stop saying things like that!"

You yelled at the boy, surprising the twins. Muichiro looks at you with wide eyes at your sudden outburst.

"Stop being so mean! Uncle died trying to save aunt, so what? That's because he really loves aunt that he wanted to treat her illness no matter what! Don't make fun of him! You're not the only one who's sad about it! It doesn't give you the right to be mean to Mui-kun or me."

Tired of the mean remarks and harsh attitude towards you and Muichiro, you finally exploded. You did it, you finally gave him a piece of your mind. Seeing the strained relationship between the three of you is really making you unhappy, you're sure it's the same for Muichiro as well.

Yuichiro however gave you a cold, harsh glare that made you freeze on spot, before turning around.

"Stopping butting in all the time. It's a family business, not yours."

Hic

His hurtful words elicited a choked sob from you, as tears gathers in your eyes. Hearing something like that, was very painful. The implications were clear— he did not see you as part of the family. Your heart ached at his cold words.  Clenching your fists, you try not to cry at his harsh words.

Muichiro quickly tries to defend you. He was shocked and angry on how far his brother has gone.

"Brother! That was very insensitive! Apologize to (Name)!"

His voice shook with unspoken emotions, but Yuichiro ignored him and went on his way.

As soon as Yuichiro was out of sight, you let the tears fall freely. You never expected him to say something so...harsh. He was not like this before, what happened to the kind Yuichiro?

Muichiro looks at you sadly before quietly engulfing you into a hug, which you lean against him, crying all your heart out and damping his kimono with your tears. Letting the vulnerability take over, Muichiro also let his tears flow quietly.

"I'm...I'm so mad...What's his problem..."

"It's okay, (Name). Even if Yuichiro says otherwise, you're part of our family."

Muichiro gently brushed away your tears. He beamed at you, hooking a small strand of your hair on your ear while you return his gentle smile. You nodded; your pain slightly eased by his comfort.

"As long as I am around, you will never be alone, (Name)."

The following days aren't much better either. Because of yesterday's argument, you feel the distance between you and Yuichiro grew further than before. You can't help but feel guilty, in an attempt to help, you just feel like you made it worse.

Yuichiro's harsh personality didn't stop. You tried to intervene as much as you could, acting as a mediator between the twins. Sometimes it worked, leading Yuichiro to ignore you both completely or...it gets worse. Like this one for example.

Feeling the tension in the air, you nervously look at Muichiro who seemed to be happy and excited about becoming a demon slayer. You could tell his brother was not having it. And then he exploded. Yuichiro slammed the matchet on the wooden board, effectively silencing Muichiro as you tense up. Wanting to help, you open your mouth but shut it again. You didn't want things to escalate.

"WHAT COULD YOU DO!?"

The two of you jumps at his loud voice.

"You can't even cook rice on your own! And you want to become a swordman and help people!? Quit talking nonsense!"

"Yui...stop-"

"You're just like them! Mom kept working until it ruined her health, even after I told her to rest countless times, and dad just foolishly went out during a storm! Even though I told him to return! He ignored me and went on anyway!"

The enraged boy ignored your attempt to stop him and continued to yell at Muichiro. The whole house was quiet after he finished.

"This conversation is over! Let's just make dinner!"

Before you can say anything, you felt the darkness blind your vision.

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Taisho Rumors

Later, only Muichiro went to the village to run errands because both (Name) and Yuichiro were banned from entering the village due to physical assaults towards the kids that made fun of (Name). The parents complained that Yuichiro threw a machet at their kids! Scary!

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Author Notes

Emotional scenes are so hard to write sighhh, it's worse with fight scenes, hope I can get through this nightmare started by me. Anyway, I was worried that (Name) will be a boring character but I've figured out what to do with her so I hope y'all can be patient and wait for her steady development.