Chapter 24: A Wounded Little Brother

Suddenly,Tanjiro's gaze shifted towards his back, and desperation filled his voice as he pleaded, "Please, don't kill her."

Mitsuri, seemingly innocent, questioned, her blade held dangerously close to Nezuko's neck, stopped just in nick of time. "Huh, but she's a demon." While maintaining the same stance, considering the situation.

Tanjiro quickly refuted, "No-no, she is my sister, and she hasn't killed anyone. I've made sure of that. Please, just don't do anything to her." While shielding his sister, behind his back.

Just then, a figure adorned in a butterfly haori leaped down from a nearby tree. "Oh my, a human protecting a demon," Shinobu said as she turned her attention to Tanjiro, while carrying Yuki's unconscious body.

"You know it's against the Corps rules to protect or hide any demon, right?" Shinobu stated with her usual artificial smile.

"Please," Tanjiro said, his voice filled with pleading, "she hasn't killed anyone."

"Huh! Even if she hasn't killed anyone, who's to say she won't in the future," Shinobu stated, her tone resolute and directly unsheathed her blade, intent on beheading the demon without further discussion.

"Stop"

CLANG

Shinobu's blade came to an abrupt stop, halted by the shaft of golden glaive just before it could cut Nezuko's neck.

"Huh? Why are you getting in my way, Ace? Shinobu questioned with a frown in her face.

"Sigh, can't even rest for a while" Ace mumbles while holding back Shinobu's sword, who was increasing her strength with each second.

"Can you stop for a second, Shinobu "

Shinobu looked at Ace for a moment, before retreating her sword back. "Okay, I will trust you on this"

Ace smiles "Thanks, just wait for some minutes and you will understand it"

After that they all waited in silence for minutes ,

while Tanjiro gulped in nervousness. But Ace was already laying down to rest as already knew what was about to happen.

CAW ,CAW, CAW.

"I Have Message From The Headquarters!

Bring Them Back! Bring Them Back!

Tanjiro Dressed In Chequered Haori, With A Scar On The ForeHead!

Nezuko A Demon Girl With A Bamboo Muzzle

Bring Them Back! Bring Them Back!"

"So your name is Nezuko , it's Beautiful" Mitsuri says while clasping her hand as she also sheathed her sword back.

"Hmm, How did you know this would happen? Shinobu asked, puzzled as she couldn't think how he would know about this girl or that the headquarters would ask to bring a demon back.

"I just do," Ace replied mysteriously.

Seeing him not answering, Shinobu shook her head.

"Why do you have to act all mysterious every time?" She said, in little frustration.

"Of Course , because being mysterious is charming to girls."

"I am not charmed though"Shinobu deadpanned.

Ace only rolled his eyebrows to the other side making Shinobu look towards it.

She saw Mitsuri mumbling "so cool" with stars in her eyes , making her deadpanned.

Seeing Mitsuri's starry-eyed expression, Shinobu flicked her on the forehead.

"Huh?" Mitsuri snapped out of her trance, as she looked at both Shinobu's deadpan face and Ace's amused smile. It was then that she realised she had mistakenly spoken her thoughts aloud.

Blushing with embarrassment, Mitsuri quickly hid her face in her hands.

"Haha , You are cute Mistsuri " Ace complimented, causing her to flush her even more.

Soon, more and more people gathered at the scene, some carrying small spiders with human-like faces, limbless individuals, and or some half-dissolved victims.

'Eww, These are much more horrible in real life, especially the human-faced spiders, those are some nightmarish type shit' Ace thought, while Shinobu instructed them how to handle them and used emergency treatment for them.

Shinobu returned after giving them instructions on handling the patients while giving Yuki to one female member to care for.

Ace asked about Yuki's condition as she lay unconscious, to which Shinobu replied, "She's just tired; a good night's sleep is all she needs. And for some good news, she passed her test."

"Hmm" Ace nodded, happy that she passed.

" Inouske, Zenitsu! " Tanjiro shouted as he ran towards them as they were being patched up.

"Gonpachiro , I knew you were alive, Haha of course you are ." Inouske laughs seeing Tanjiro alive.

"H..e..lp me Tanjiro , I don't want to become spider" Zenitsu said while crying.

"Don't worry , it's over, we are saved" Tanjiro says with tears in his eyes as he hugs them.

"Lets go, Our mission here is finished" Shinobu declares.

"Yes"

"But please, someone will have to carry me. "Ace weakly says.

- x - X - x -

"Aaah, a good rest after work is always appreciated," Ace said as he reclined on the wall, adopting a casual sitting position.

"But why are there no chairs in the house? Seriously, you people need to relax sometimes and not be so rigid with everything," Ace complained, his voice filled with frustration at the lack of chairs or beds in the house. He didn't sleep well for the first few nights because of that.

"Sitting in the Seiza position brings discipline to behaviour," Shinobu simply said.

'That's why the Japanese are losing their sex drive in the future,they need to relax sometimes' though he wisely kept that thought to himself..

"You need to chill sometimes, Shinobu, and be more like Mitsuri," Ace said with a playful grin.

Shinobu sighed, "I am chill enough; it's just she who is too enthusiastic."

Ace simply tched in response and changed the topic.

"So, what happened to those three ,and the demon girl? Are they okay?"

Shinobu replied, "Well, the girl is currently bound beneath this house."

Ace raised his eyebrow hearing that but didn't interrupt her.

Shinobu continued with her explanation, "And... as for the three of them, the brother is currently unconscious. He pushed his body to the limit, causing severe organ damage and nearly bursting his air canals in an attempt to use total concentration."

"I see. It sounds like he's in rough shape. What about the others?"

Shinobu added more details about Inosuke's injuries, "The boy with the boar head suffered multiple head injuries and has several broken rib bones. Thankfully, he's not moving anymore, as one of those broken bones was dangerously close to piercing his heart. The other injuries should heal in due time, but the head injury will take a bit longer."

She continued with Zenitsu's case "And the one with orange hair, Zenitsu, was in the worst condition among the three. Fortunately, we managed to give him the antidote before he could mutate any further. However, his case was more severe. Half of his body had already started to mutate, so it will take time to fully drain the poison from his system and accelerate the regrowth of his limbs. But..." She said with an expression while clearly trying to stop her laughter " unfortunately, some parts won't be able to grow back to their original size."

"Huh"Ace's expression was blank for a second before it filled with a full blown laughter.

"Hahaha"

"Don't laugh, Ace-kun. It's serious. You don't laugh at something like this." Mitsuri tried to admonish Ace.

"But..his …Hahaha" Ace's laugh didn't stop.

" I've instructed our medical team to provide him with the best treatment. But the chances are small"

Shinobu said with a hint of exasperation.

"Okay, okay, I will stop," Ace said between his laughs.

"So, when is the meeting happening?" Ace asked.

"They will reach in a week, so the meeting will happen at that time?" Shinobu said.

Ace leaned back, satisfied with the update. "Well, it seems we've accomplished quite a bit today. So, I'm going back to sleep; I'm exhausted."

"Good Night"

"Oyasumi"

"Oyasumi"

Mitsuri suddenly asked Shinobu "Do you know what Good Night is?".

Shinobu only shrugged her shoulders.

****

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