"Miss Kochou, you're here. Eh? What are you all doing?" Tanjirou pushed open the door and saw this scene.
Nezuko was pressing down on Yoizumi-nii, protecting him like a cub, while her eyes were fixed on Shinobu, who was sitting gracefully on a chair nearby.
"Ah! Nezuko, you can't press down on Yoizumi-nii!" He stepped forward and pulled Nezuko away.
Nezuko stood on the bed, waving her two short arms, pointing first at Yoizumi's face, then at Shinobu, who wore a polite smile, as if she was accusing them of something.
"Nezuko, you can't point at Miss Kochou like that." Tanjirou didn't understand his sister's meaning and turned to Shinobu, apologizing.
"I'm sorry, Miss Kochou, Nezuko didn't mean to do that."
"Don't worry about it, Tanjirou. If you don't mind, just call me Shinobu."
"Okay, Miss Shinobu." As a polite child, Tanjirou would, of course, not directly address an older woman by her first name.
Shinobu looked at Tanjirou and Nezuko's faces for a while. Yoizumi's family members were interesting people.
"To be honest, I already knew Yoizumi before this."
"Eh? Yoizumi-nii never said anything!" Tanjirou exclaimed in surprise.
Yoizumi-nii actually knew a Demon Slayer Corps Pillar!
Before their reunion, he knew absolutely nothing about Yoizumi-nii's experiences during those two years.
He hadn't even tried to understand. He knew Yoizumi-nii was not good at expressing himself, and if he didn't ask proactively, there were some things he would definitely never talk about in his entire life.
As Yoizumi's family, Tanjirou understood his personality.
Yoizumi-nii, before he met him, was he bullied?
The Demon Slayer Corps' first reaction when facing a demon would definitely be to slay it.
Although he was alive and well now, it didn't mean he hadn't been hurt.
Tanjirou pondered for a moment and then said to Shinobu.
"Miss Shinobu, I'd like to understand how you two met."
"Could you tell me about it?"
"Of course, I'd also like to know what kind of person Yoizumi was before he became a demon." Shinobu readily agreed, or rather, this was what she wanted to know.
"Actually, Yoizumi-nii was someone I found and brought home." Tanjirou recalled.
Found and brought home?
Shinobu was a little stunned, as the other person's expression didn't seem like a joke.
In Shinobu's eyes, Yoizumi was like a small cat. Every step closer might make him wary, the kind of cat whose paws you could only touch after countless feedings.
Thinking of this small cat, huddled in a corner, trembling, waiting for someone to take him home, Shinobu unconsciously chuckled.
?
Why did Miss Shinobu suddenly laugh?
Did he say something funny?
Facing Tanjirou's bewildered expression, Shinobu waved her hand, signaling him to continue and not mind her.
"That day, after I finished chopping wood on the mountain..."
It's so cold.
These logs are enough; let's hurry home.
I'm so hungry.
Tanjirou, carrying a bamboo basket full of wood on his back, walked through the snow-covered pine forest. His eyes saw nothing but a vast expanse of white, making it impossible to distinguish the path. However, Tanjirou, who had grown up in the mountains, knew his way home.
After all, his nose was very keen.
He sniffed his nose, which was red from being exposed to the cold, and marveled at how heavy the snow was.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of gold. Curious, he looked over and found a person collapsed under a tree.
"Eh? Why is there someone here! Please, hold on!"
He rushed over, swept away all the snow covering the person, and without a thought for the wood he had worked so hard to chop all morning, he hoisted the person onto his back and hurried home.
He ran home at the fastest possible speed.
"Mom! Someone collapsed in the snow!"
..."That's how I brought Yoizumi-nii home."
Whenever he thought of that heavy snowfall, Tanjirou was immensely grateful that he had found Yoizumi. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gained an older brother; he would have lost a unique family member.
"Yoizumi-nii never told us why he was in the snow. Since he didn't say, I stopped asking."
In the beginning, Yoizumi at that time was like a soulless puppet, exuding an empty aura everywhere. It took their family a long time to finally make Yoizumi-nii look somewhat like a living person.
But now... Yoizumi-nii had become a demon, and everything had returned to its original state. However, at least he no longer had that empty look.
Tanjirou smiled gently.
"How did Yoizumi get along with you all?" Shinobu inquired. Although she was curious about why Yoizumi was in the snow, it seemed that no one except Yoizumi himself at that time would ever know.
Tanjirou rested his hand on his chin, deep in thought.
"Yoizumi-nii would take care of everyone, play with his younger siblings, and accompany Nezuko to the mountains to gather wild vegetables. Even though he didn't like crowded places, he would come with me to town to sell charcoal."
"In short, everyone relied on Yoizumi-nii a lot!"
"Right, Nezuko!"
Nezuko lay on Tanjirou's knees, wiggling her small feet. Hearing her brother's words, she nodded vigorously.
"Mm!"
"Oh, right, once my younger siblings played hide-and-seek together, but by nightfall, they still hadn't found Yoizumi-nii. Everyone worried for a long time."
"It wasn't until noon the next day that Nezuko looked up and found Yoizumi-nii in a tree."
"Nezuko even cried. I'll never forget Yoizumi-nii's flustered expression at that time, no matter how long it's been."
"That night, Nezuko received many konpeito."
"I even asked, 'What if we hadn't found him?'"
"Yoizumi-nii said with a serious face, 'Then I'd keep hiding.'"
Tanjirou spoke with a gentle expression. His father had passed away not long ago, and everyone was very sad. Because Yoizumi-nii was there, Tanjirou could occasionally catch his breath.
"That's really his style!" Shinobu listened and merely imagined it, and she could picture Yoizumi crouching in a tree, hearing his younger siblings' worried calls, hesitating whether to come down, but also wanting to follow the rules of hide-and-seek.
However, a flustered and helpless look, huh?
She was really curious what kind of expression Yoizumi would make with that face.
"When I met Yoizumi, it was in a dilapidated wooden house in a mountain forest within my territory."
"He completely disregarded me, not dodging or avoiding my attacks."
She didn't know whether to be glad that her poison hadn't killed Yoizumi, or frustrated that her poison hadn't worked.
"Attack..." Tanjirou said worriedly.
He understood that encountering a demon meant immediate execution. If Yoizumi-nii had eaten humans, no matter how sad or unwilling he was, he would kill him, because he was his brother.
He couldn't let him make another mistake.
"Tanjirou, I'm sorry," Shinobu sighed softly.
"It's okay. At least Yoizumi-nii is still alive now."
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