Our Halcyon Days || Reader x Tanjiro | RESUME 2022!

* s i x *

You wanted to smack yourself on the forehead.

Heck, you kind of even wanted to slap Tanjiro -- and that never usually happened.

"You're traveling with your sister. Who is a demon." This was about the fourth time you repeated that.

Tanjiro seized your hands, almost as if begging you, and you took a step back in surprise. His injuries were healing up little by little, you noticed. He wasn't moving like an old man anymore.

"(Y/n). I swear it. Nezuko hasn't eaten a single bit of human flesh!"

His earnest eyes were alight, locked right onto yours. They pleaded.

"In two whole years," you said.

"Yes!!"

The desperation in the way he clutched your hands, his voice imploring you to believe his words...

He's not a liar.

That, you'd known for a while now. The notion of what he'd been saying was just so... ludicrous, you had to second-guess your own judgement. You sighed heavily.

I suppose it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for him to do something like this. Refusing to kill his demonized sister...

"Got it," you gave in, and he perked up like an excited puppy.

"You believe me," Tanjiro said, relieved, and you raised your eyebrows.

"Yes, but... that doesn't change the fact that we have no idea what's going on with your sister. This is the first case anyone has heard of where a demon has the willpower to resist its feeding urges... Not to mention there is nothing guaranteeing she will continue to do so in the future."

The boy scrunched up his face. "You believe me, and yet you still say all of that."

You nodded.

"Of course. I take my precautions. Just be grateful that I'm a reasonable person, and that I know what type of person you are. The others, well, I can't say the same for them."

"You're right. I should be more careful, too."

Silence overcame the two as you kept forward.

"The truth is..." he started, and a look of grief and pure tiredness washed over him. "Nezuko fell asleep two years ago, and she's been that way since."

You held back your astonishment. No wonder he sounded broken. This whole time, he's been worried about her.

"It was after she became a demon, and after..."

He paused, and finally, it dawned on you. The full truth about his story.

When he first told you about his sister, you had thought,

If his sister wouldn't eat any human... why didn't Tanjiro just leave her with his family? Why is she traveling with him, when he is a Demon Slayer?

But you already knew the answer to that question. You just didn't want it to be true. It was wishful thinking on your part, for you to believe he still had a whole family to return to.

Nezuko was demonized. The demon who did that to her also killed the rest of his family.

I've been such an idiot.

You lightly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I understand what happened," you told him, and he wavered. "You don't have to force yourself. Save your strength for when you see her again."