Characters react to: Demon Slayer Dawn of the Sun

Chapter 26: Roll goes the train

Ubuyashiki knew that everyone wanted to talk to Hikaru but he decided that he would interfere before they could all overwhelm him.

"Hikaru, would you mind coming with me for a talk?" He requested. Everyone looked shocked but they didn't argue so Hikaru got to his feet and walked with Ubuyashiki a little away from everyone else with Himejima following them. Hikaru didn't say it out loud but he was rather happy to be able to get away from everyone else at the moment.

"B-But we wanted to talk to him about this as well," Kanroji whispered. She wasn't protesting Ubuyashiki's actions, she was simply stating her own wants.

"We can speak to him when they get back" Obanai was quick to offer her comfort.

"It's better that we just leave this to Oyakata-sama and not mention it to Hikaru again," Sanemi huffed.

"What is that meant to mean?" Uzui's eyes narrowed. He got along rather well with Sanemi and didn't want to think that he would just ignore someone's mental health with such dismissal.

"The more that you try and talk to Hikaru about this, the more he will clam up about it. He will insist that he is fine and then talk circles around you until you forget what you are trying to talk to him about" Sanemi sighed. He was sure that over the years of not seeing him, Hikaru had probably gotten more stubborn.

"He's actually right, and if Hikaru doesn't decide to do that he will simply get quiet and not talk at all. The best thing that we can do is wait for him to approach us to talk" Tanjiro agreed.

"But we want to help him, he is always helping us so we should be able to help him" Zenitsu protested.

"The best thing to do is to simply act if nothing has happened and move on," Giyuu said and they all looked at him in shock at his words. They would have expected it from Obanai, Sanemi (if it wasn't about Hikaru or Genya) or even Uzui in one of his more ruthless moments. But not the dull water hashira who had shown to be protective over Tanjiro, Nezuko and especially Hikaru.

"That's just mean! Hikaru is hurting and as his friends we should be trying to help him" Kanroji didn't know what he was thinking but she knew that they couldn't just abandon Hikaru.

"Eerk" Sanemi made a disgusted sound that had everyone tensing, it was sure to turn into a fist fight between him and Obanai if Sanemi tried to rip into Kanroji. "I can't believe that I'm actually saying this but I agree with him."

They all looked at Sanemi like he had just announced that he and Kibutsuji had fallen in love and were eloping. They never thought they would see the day he agreed with Giyuu. Even the younger slayers had picked up on the dislike and were shocked. If any of them had glanced at Giyuu they would have seen him shocked before a small, almost non-existent smile appeared on his face. Maybe he and Sanemi could be friends after all?

"With all due respect to both of you, neither of you are doctors," Shinobu pointed out. In her professional opinion Hikaru needed as much help and support they were able to give and that didn't include having the problems simply pushed away.

"How would you feel if someone kept bringing up your dead family memories and trying to force you to talk about it?" Giyuu's question hit close to home for nearly all of them.

"Hikaru has already lost his parents once and mourned them. I have no doubt that he will mourn them a second time but us trying to talk to him about it will make it worse" Sanemi scowled. It was the same for himself, he mourned his lost family but it was a private mourning that no one should be privy to.

"If you try to force him to talk, Hikaru will simply lock down and shut everyone out. He has already opened himself up to you guys quite a lot so I hope you will think really hard about how you are going to act when he comes back," Tanjiro warned. It was clear that it wouldn't just be Hikaru shutting them out, Tanjiro would do the same. After those words were said, they stayed in silence as they thought about what had been said.