“I’m sure you’ll be able to make up with your brother.” Her words were endlessly kind, but also held real weight.
Right.
Sumi would never have the chance to see her parents or siblings again. You couldn’t clear up misunderstandings if the other person was dead. You couldn’t talk with them and reminisce about the people you had both lost. This girl had lost everything, and here he was talking like this when he still had his older brother. He was angry at himself.
“Sorry,” he muttered, his voice rough with regret and self-loathing.
“Don’t say sorry, Genya,” a gentle voice chided him. When Genya looked to the side, Tanjiro was smiling warmly from where he lay in the bed next to Genya’s. “At times like this, you have to say ‘thanks.’”
“Tanjiro. You—” His face turned red. To hide his mortification, he yanked on Tanjiro’s cheek. “How long have you been awake? Were you pretending to be asleep?!”
“Ow ow ow,” Tanjiro complained. “I just woke up a second ago. I heard you and Sumi talking. Your scent was saying ‘thanks.’”
“Ngh!”
“G-Genya.” Sumi frowned and tugged on Genya’s arm. “Tanjiro’s very seriously injured, so … Please, that’s enough.”
Genya reluctantly let go of the other boy as he turned to the girl.
“Thanks,” he declared curtly.
Sumi’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she smiled. “Sure.”
Tanjiro was also grinning.
Genya pulled his blankets up over his head in his great embarrassment and desperately pretended to be asleep.
“Oh! Aoi!” Sumi said as she stepped out of Genya’s hospital room.
Aoi was coming down the hall, arms heaped high with freshly laundered linens. “What’s going on? You’re grinning your head off.”
“Tanjiro’s finally awake,” Sumi told her. “I thought I’d go get him something to eat.”
“Oh! That’s great.” Aoi’s face brightened. “In that case, it’d be better if I changed his sheets later.”
“Yes.”
“How’s Genya?”
“He took his medicine, and he’s sleeping now,” Sumi said, unable to stop a laugh from slipping out.
She remembered how Genya looked as he turned red up to the ears and hid under his covers. Genya Shinazugawa was not nearly as scary as they had thought. He was a truly good person. Yes. She would have to tell Naho and Kiyo about this.
Aoi looked at Sumi curiously and said, “That reminds me. I saw the Wind Hashira this morning. I wonder what he was doing here.”
“What?” Sumi was startled.
“Maybe he got mad and left because Shinobu wasn’t here,” Aoi mused. “If that’s the case, I do feel bad for him.”
“The Wind Hashira …”
“Oh, right! For Tanjiro’s lunch, start with a thin rice gruel. If he keeps that down all right, you can give him some onigiri and umeboshi right away. The Love Hashira and the Mist Hashira were able to keep down solid food not long after they woke up, so … Although, those two are special.”
Sumi watched Aoi walk off with her load of sheets and stared back at the door she’d just come out of. She felt like she could picture the figure of an older brother peeking in on his little brother sleeping heavily after being injured on a mission. Obviously, there was no way to know for sure. Perhaps it was just her desire for that to be true.
As long as they were both alive, they could start over again any number of times. They could make up over and over.
Good luck, Genya.
Sumi cheered him on in her heart and headed toward the kitchen on light feet.
“No, Genya. You have to actually eat!”
“Nah. Really. I’m good.”
Since then, Genya had been strangely attached to Sumi, and even now, as he sat up in his bed, the girl trying to get him to eat stew flustered him.
Finally, Aoi chimed in next to them. “You have to eat. Those are Shinobu’s orders, you know. Please chew slowly and take it down a little at a time. We have to get your stomach back to normal working condition.”
They were keeping a very close eye on Genya’s eating, treating him almost like a baby. Your average boy might have been pleased with the situation, but Genya, in the throes of adolescence, would honestly have rather faced a demon.
On top of that, not only did Tanjiro not try to float Genya a lifeboat as he struggled with being surrounded by the girls, the other boy was even happy with Genya’s suffering.
“You’re totally getting along with everyone now, huh, Genya?” he remarked. “That’s so great.”
This guy’s as optimistic as ever, or maybe actually just off on his own.
He couldn’t even get angry about it anymore.
“Now, Genya. Please open wide.”
“You can take a sip of tea while you eat.”
I wish they’d hurry and give me a new mission, he thought earnestly when, outside the window, he heard an idiotic exchange.
“Inosuke!”
“Imofuke.”
“Inosuke!”
“Imosuke.”
“Boss Inosuke!”
“Broth imosuke.”
“I! No! Su! Ke!”
“I. Mo. Su. Ke.”
“No! It’s Inosuke!”
“It’s imosuke.”
“Eeeeeaaaaaaaaaah!”
“What’s all that?” Genya asked no one in particular, and Tanjiro laughed.
“Oh,” he said. “Inosuke’s teaching Nezuko his name.”
“Inosuke?” Genya frowned. “Who’s that?”
“He was at the Final Selection with us,” Tanjiro told him. “He always wears a boar head and no shirt. And he always wants to compare strength with anyone and everyone with his headlong rush. He’s a good guy. I’m sure you’ll be friends with him in no time, Genya.”
“Uh. From all that, he sounds like a total weirdo,” Genya protested in an exasperated voice.
“Come on, Genya!” Sumi said. “Don’t try to change the subject. You have to eat. Everyone’s worried about you.”
“That’s right,” Aoi joined Sumi in ganging up to scold him. “Even just one bite. Please eat.”
“Okay, say ‘aaah.’”
“Genya.”
“Seriously. Give me a break already,” Genya complained, face lobster red, but Aoi just giggled, as did Tanjiro. And Sumi.
The room at the Butterfly Mansion was filled with gentle laughter. Eventually, even Genya’s face softened into a faint smile.