I Feel You - Gyomei Himejima

Chapter 19

"Shinobu!" Gyomei cried in desperation as he barged into her clinic carrying my body.

Shinobu, who has been tending to Tanjiro's wounds, stops what she is doing and is shocked to see my unconscious form, immediately preparing to check my body as Gyomei sets me on the bed.

"Please... all of a sudden she won't wake up... she's just breathing heavily...."

The insect hashira nods as she cuts my shirt open, cutting through the bandage on my shoulder. The large scar had reopened, and blood continued to gush out.

"It's my fault... it's all my fault." Gyomei ran his hands through his hair.

Tanjiro stood next to the bed, his nose twitching as he picked up an unfamiliar scent, "No... this is..." He began to sweat, his face turning into fear, "Something smells wrong."

Gyomei freezes, confused as to what the boy is talking about. He turns towards my body, and indeed, now that Tanjiro mentioned it, something smells off.

"Is that the smell of a demon?"

"Quick, go inform Master Ubayashiki! This is urgent." Shinobu yells, and Gyomei snaps out of his thoughts, nodding with determination.

She grabbed my jaw and pulled it open, revealing the fangs that began to grow out of my teeth. She pulled up my eyelids as well; my iris began to change color, and my pupils dilated into a slit. I was slowly transforming into a demon. Time was ticking and they were at a race with it.

---

"How could this have happened?" Ubyashiki asks as he slowly limps closer towards my direction, accompanied by his loving wife.

"What should we do? We don't know if she'll turn into a demon like Nezoku or... a demon that we kill." Shinobu says.

"Nevertheless, the answer lies in the injury on her shoulder. Perhaps when she went missing, she might have encountered... Muzan." Ubyashiki concluded.

"But doesn't that mean Muzan now knows where our headquarters is?" Shinobu asks.

Tanjiro shakes his head, "But it's been two days since Kuza-sans returned; why hasn't Muzan attacked yet?"

"Perhaps it's because she hasn't turned into a demon yet that he's unable to track her," Ubuyashiki answers.

"Hamito..." Gyomei began praying.

"Then... why hasn't she turned into a demon yet?" Shinobu asks.

Something clicked in Gyomei's mind, "I think it's because of the wisteria incense I put up every night... it wards off demons... they hate it. I didn't put up a wisteria incense last night..."

"That's the only way to explain it." Ubuyashiki approves, "I doubt wisteria incense will turn her back to normal in this state... let us try feeding her wisteria drink instead."

"Wait... but it's poisonous to drink isn't it?" Gyomei was reluctant, doubting Ubuyashiki.

"We have no other choice. Kua's condition is full of mystery, and unless we act, nothing will happen." Ubuyashiki says firmly.

Shinobu took Ubuyashiki's advice and began making the drink. She finished up quickly and made her way towards me; Tanjiro initiated and pulled me up just enough to sit up so that I could intake the drink. Unbeknownst to everyone, the scent of wisteria filled the air, making its way to my nose. With one sniff, my eyes shot wide open, revealing eyes that of demons. With the tip of my fingers growing sharper, transforming into claws. I threw the drink across the room, smashing the vile into pieces before I grabbed Shinobu by the throat.

Gyomei reached out and grabbed my wrist, hesitating to take action against me, "Hamito, snap out of it!"

"Step back!" Ubuyashiki's wife pulls him away.

Tanjiro grabbed me by the collar and headbutted me; I lost consciousness for a few seconds before regaining it right away, letting go of Shinobu and lunging at Tanjiro, tackling him to the ground.

"Gyomei tie her up!" Shinobu yells in a cracky voice, coughing as she forces herself to stand up and search through the cupboards for medicine.

We wreaked havoc across the room, dragging Tanjiro up across the wall and throwing him into furniture, helpless under my inhumane strength. I turn and catch the sight of Ubayashiki, who stands idly with his wife standing in front of him, acting like a shield.

In just a blink of an eye, I appear, landing right from above them, yet before I can react, chains wrap around my body, and Gyomei pulls me back and throws me across the room.

"I'm sorry."

Shinobu stabs a syringe on my neck, injecting the liquid through my veins. I slowly stopped struggling and passed out.

"What did you inject her?"

"Sedative... She'll be unconscious for a while." She heaves a sigh of relief as she remakes the drink once more.

"Are you okay, Tanjiro?" Ubuyashiki comes up to the young boy. Tanjiro merely offered a smile, standing up from the pile of broken furniture he was in.

"All fine." He tries to hide the pain behind his voice.

Gyomei gently picks me up, his heart tearing apart as Shinobu forces me to drink the wisteria. Gyomei felt my heartbeat returning to normal along with my eyes, becoming human once more; my fangs, however, remained. A symbol of the revelation today.

"She just turned into a demon..." Tanjiro says, watching Gyomei cradle me in his arms as tears streamed down his cheeks.

"No one speaks of what happened today." Ubuyashiki orders, "Let's move her location, Shinobu may you be able to lend us your Butterfly Mansion?"

"Yes, of course, Oyakata-sama. She should keep drinking wisteria day and night, make sure she won't transform."

"But it's poison..." Gyomei held me tighter, "Don't we have any other choice?"

"You saw what she did." Shinobu defends.

"Maybe she was scared!" Gyomei argues back.

"We can't risk the lives of other slayers! I get your concern, Gyomei-san, but Kuza is different from Nezoku no matter how much you look at it."

"We'll settle this once we've transported her to the Butterfly Mansion," Ubuyashiki says.

---

I remembered everything from when Muzan had toyed with me for three days straight to when I went on a rampage and attacked Tanjiro. It was like I was watching from inside my body, a hollow hell that I couldn't control any longer. The fear in his eyes mixed with the hatred he bore against demons. Seeing them scared of something that's become a part of me caused me anguish that reminded me of how the people looked at me during my trial for the murder of my parents.

The thought alone of causing chaos to my loved ones shattered me.

Once they had transported me to the Butterfly Mansion, it took me another day to regain back control over my body, surrounded by Shinobu, Kanao, and Aoi, at the condition of drinking wisteria drink to suppress the cells of Muzan who can break out, take over, and rampage at any moment.

"You're like a ticking time bomb." Gyomei chuckles, trying to lighten up the mood. Sitting next to my bed with a soft smile.

It's already the next day since I was locked in this room, drinking wisteria day and night, eating the meals that they prepared me.

Shinobu enters the room and hands me my wisteria drink.

As I took it, my gaze avoided her, my thumb rubbing along the rim of the vile, "I'm sorry..."

His eyes widened a bit as she still kept her smile, "It's alright. Let's do our best so that won't happen again, okay?"

Although I was years older than her, she spoke to me like a motherly figure I didn't have.

"Ubyashiki-sama and I have theorized that you and Nezoku are similar but still different in many ways." Shinobu says, "We don't know why, perhaps that's just how it is."

"So, what am I?" I ask.