The Beginning of A New Era (DKT AU)

Rehabilitation training (Part 1)

(Nezuko POV):

Two more days passed, and finally, Akira, Ishiyo, and I were able to stand and walk a little. The wound on my back was almost healed and didn’t hurt anymore, and the same was true for Akira’s arm and Ishiyo’s leg. 

On the third morning, we were all woken up early—not by Aoi, but by three girls with butterfly hairpins in their hair and Demon Slayer uniforms. 

“Get up!” shouted the first girl, the one with her hair down. 
“It’s time for your rehabilitation training!” 

“I’m not moving until my leg fully recovers,” Ishiyo replied coldly, turning to the other side. 

At that moment, Aoi entered the room. She quickly explained a few things about the training and left, saying she had to prepare breakfast. Apparently, we really had to go. 

The three girls led us somewhere. Ishiyo and I supported Akira, who looked like he’d fall asleep at any moment. Before long, we reached a spacious room with three mats laid out. We sat down on them. 

“In this room, you’ll have your rehabilitation training!” the girls said in unison. 
“First, you’ll do stretching exercises, then play the cup game, then chase us, and finally try to break gourds by blowing into them. Any questions?” 

The three of us exchanged glances. So, we’d have four types of training. 

“No questions!” Ishiyo said, secretly nudging Akira, who had dozed off again. 

“In that case, let’s start with the exercises!” the girls announced enthusiastically. 

We each chose a mat and lay down on it. The girl with the pink hairpins came over to me, introduced herself as Kiyo, and pointed out the other two girls—the one with the green hairpins was Naho, and the one with the blue ones was Sumi. 

“Ready?” Kiyo, Naho, and Sumi shouted simultaneously. 

Before we could say anything, the three girls grabbed our arms and stretched them back with all their strength. I almost screamed in pain. Now I understood why we needed rehabilitation training. We had been lying down for so long that even the lightest exercises were excruciating. 

Akira’s tears flowed freely, and Ishiyo barely managed to maintain her stony expression. I clenched my teeth and tried not to react. Thankfully, after a while, the girls let go and allowed us a few minutes to rest. 

“These exercises are awful!” Akira whispered, rubbing his shoulder. “I think they broke my arm again.” 
“Stop complaining!” Ishiyo scolded him. “It’ll only hurt at the beginning. After a few days, it’ll get easier, and the exercises won’t be as painful.” 
“Very reassuring,” Akira muttered sarcastically. 

The training continued. The next exercises weren’t any less painful, so the three of us sighed in relief when Kiyo, Naho, and Sumi announced it was time for the next activity. 

“Now it’s time for the cup game!” Kiyo said. 
“You’ll play against me one by one, while Naho and Sumi will take turns with you in the other activities!” 

Akira went first. He sat across from Kiyo at a table with cups. I heard her explain something quietly to him, and he nodded. 

“Ready... start!” Sumi shouted. 

Kiyo grabbed one of the cups and splashed its contents in Akira’s face. He yelped in surprise and stepped back. Ishiyo and I exchanged glances—the cup was filled with some green liquid that resembled the medicine we’d been drinking. 

“Next!” Naho called out. 

Ishiyo decided to go before me. She sat across from Kiyo, and as soon as Sumi announced the start, Ishiyo tried to stop Kiyo, who grabbed a cup. But the girl with the pink hairpins instantly snatched another cup and splashed its contents in my friend’s face. Ishiyo shook her head and retreated.