Don't Leave (Kimetsu No Yaiba)

Candy 11

Tomioka's childhood house, a few hours before...

The sun was as bright as ever. You shut every windows and doors, and even covered them with old blankets and every bedsheets you could find in the house. The house was dusty, dirty, and very old. Most of the tables and futons were small; belonged to little kids, and the cabinets were short. You roamed around the house curiously, looking around as you wonder what have Mr. Urokodaki usually do in the house. He mentioned that he has a student, Tomioka Giyuu, but based on the amount of futons and pillows in the house, you started to believe that Mr. Urokodaki has more than one.

You wandered around to find more clues, opening the children's desks and wardrobes, only to find a lot of blue yukatas and kitsune masks; a famous Japanese fox mask. Moreover, Tomioka is a boy, why would he need girls' yukata as well? It was suspicious. You summoned your butterflies out for more research as you continued to rummage through the children's old belongings. Suddenly, you heard a soft whisper behind your ear, "that's mine." You glanced around to see a young little girl with black short hair, wearing a kitsune mask. Her complexion was pale, and her green eyes were lifeless. You stared at the child for a minute before you smelled her air, then gasped in shock. "You're not alive..." you spoke, "did you die?"

The girl nodded with sadness, "brother Tomioka is the only one left. He's one of us."

You fully turned to her and sat with your knees and feet close to your chest. Glueing your vision at the ghost girl, you raised a brow and asked. "What do you mean "the only one left"?"

"We took the Demon Slayer exam." Replied a boy's voice.

The ghost girl and you traced your eyes to the left to see a young boy, around Tanjirou's age, walking up to the both of you. He was wearing a kitsune mask, so you didn't know what he looked like, but his hair was vermillion red in color. The ghost boy sat beside the ghost girl, facing you. "I'm Sabito. This is Makomo —"
"Nice to meet you." Makomo bowed.
"We were taking the Demon Slayer exam and fought a powerful demon which lead us to our deaths." Sabito explained, "Giyuu was with us... Tomioka Giyuu... and he's the only survivor of Urokodaki-sensei's children."

The story was horrible. You felt really bad for the ghost children. The three of you talked about how the house used to be so loud and happy, until the Demon Slayer exam took everything away. Sabito and Makomo admitted that they regretted taking the exam for it saddened Mr. Urokodaki a lot. They said that they saw everything afterwards, and even told you that they hated how Tomioka had changed because of trauma. Almost constantly hating himself and crying about how he was so weak and useless. Sabito was Tomioka's best friend, and family. It hurt Tomioka very much to know that his brother was murdered. You sat silently afterwards, and apologized to them.

Makomo smiled, "you're so kind despite being a demon."

"Makomo, that's rude." Sabito furrowed his brows.

You waved your hand up and down, giving them a small giggle. "It's okay, it's okay. I know how it feels to be killed by a demon." You averted your eyes to the floor, "I was once a human."

At that moment, Makomo gasped and leaned forward, "perhaps... are you that Pillar, Kanae Kocho?"

You widened your eyes in amazement. "Y-Yes, yes I am Kanae Kocho."

Sabito nodded understandably, "no wonder you looked very familiar to me. Your story has been really popular ever since you passed away."

You blinked in aghast, and scanned the ghost children's faces to check if they were bluffing or not. But based on their stoic expression, you could tell that they weren't making anything up. "R-Really?" You asked, slightly blushing.

Moments later, you ended up cleaning the house and playing with Sabito and Makomo. They were very friendly and cheerful. Sabito was mature and hardworking, he likes protecting the people he loves while Makomo was the sweet little girl who would-do-anything-for-her-beloved-brother type. They were definitely perfect siblings, plus, they treated you like their own mother, and it made you think of the first time you adopt Kanao into the household.
Oh, how you miss Kanao a lot.

Without your realization, it was almost dawn. Sabito was leading you to a room where sunlight shouldn't penetrate, so you should be safe. You followed Sabito while Makomo freely ran around you, until suddenly, a voice of a man shouted, "trash this place! There's a demon inside, i'm sure of it!" followed by manly cheers afterwards. Sabito glared to the source of the voice, angered. "What the heck?!" He exclaimed, before looking at you. "Miss Kanae, you better hide!" He turned his back to you and started to run. You and Makomo followed Sabito in haste as you began to hear loud noises of furnitures being knocked down, and doors being barged open.

"Find that demon!"

"Trash this place!"

"Kill it! Kill it!"

<To Be Continued>