Chapter 5

Trigger Warning: self harm (very mild)


"Um, d-did you mean no as in not now or…?" Yuki looked at the Insect pillar with worry. He truly thought she'd be open to the idea of him being her student.

"No" Shinobu repeated herself and shook her head.

"Are you still mad at me, K-kocho-sama?" Yuki asked timidly for he had no idea what changed in this conversation.

"It's nothing you done wrong, but, I don't teach students anymore. Besides, I'm a doctor for the entire Demon Slayer Corps. I don't have time to teach on the side when most of the year this estate has patients running around. You're quite lucky we haven't had many patients here lately, gives me more time to look after Haruno-san" Shinobu looked at the lanky teen.

"What about Miss Kanao? I think it's safe to assume she's your student, right?" Yuki said anxiously.

"That's because she's my little sister. Of course I had to teach her our ways. If we're done with this conversation, enjoy the rest of your day" The insect pillar said calmly. She was beginning to lose her patience as she stood up to open the door for the dark-hair teen to leave.

"Please, Miss Shinobu. I wanna be a demon slayer just like you and everyone else here" Yuki pleaded to the lavender-eyed woman. Shinobu scoffed.

"Let go of me! What do you think you're doing, Subachi-kun?" Shinobu asked angrily. This was the first time Yuki had seen the petite woman with a scowl on her face, but with reason. He was so desperate to make his case he unintentionally grabbed hold of her wrist. He immediately released her and stepped back.

"I..I didn't mean to do that." Yuki covered himself with his arms, bracing himself for what was to come.

"No, you listen to me. I have no issue with you and your friend living here these past few days. In fact, I've rather enjoyed our conversation from last night's dinner. But this, crosses the line. You think just because your family is wealthy you can just buy your way into anything? You can't buy swordsmanship, let alone become a hashira. It can't help you kill demons. Most of us don't have that luxury but you do. On top of that, based on how I've seen you behave around here, it doesn't look like you've seen any hardships in your life. You get spooked easily and you're nervous even around my girls who are by and large not intimidating. These attributes may be okay at home or even in the West, but here, these are not traits of an aspiring or noble demon slayer. All this has shown me is you're still a child, even with your abnormal height. If I were you, I'd return to your family. Enjoy what you have and make changes institutionally. That seems to be more suited to you rather than risking your life to our cause, especially since you aren't speaking from the heart or soul." Shinobu vented at Yuki. She mulled over what to say next, since he was on the verge of crying.

"W-Will that be all, K-Kocho-sama?" the dull-eyed teen said to the Insect pillar. He choked with every word he said. Shinobu took several deep breathes before continuing.

"I'm sorry for taking my anger out on you. I've been dealing with personal matters before you arrived. But, please understand, it's not appropriate to over familiarize yourself towards anyone right away. Let alone grab someone without their permission. I'd hate for you to get hurt. I promise, you're not in any more trouble, Subachi-kun" The insect pillar looked down at the dark-hair teen since he was on his knees, placed her hands gently on his shoulders and gave him a small smile.

"You mean it, Kocho-sama?" Yuki looked at her with hopeful eyes.

"I do. Now, please stand up, you are heir to the Subachi family. A noble shouldn't be on their knees this early in the day. Feel free to stay by Haruno-san or take a stroll around the butterfly estate. While you're at it, go over your decision carefully. Should you go with your family, I wish you the best in life on behalf of the everyone in the Butterfly mansion. I'll see you later, Subachi-kun." The lavender-eye woman opened the door for Yuki to head out.

"Thank you, for your lesson on mannerisms, Kocho-sama." The dull-eyed teen smiled softly at the Insect pillar before heading out.


The kakushi arrived around noon with a cart full of various supplies from ingredients to equipment. Yuki joined with Aoi and the triplets with bringing the ingredients inside the mansion. The Subachi heir had a big smile on his since Aoi explained to him moments before that the reason behind Haruno-san feeling cold was because he was in a coma and with time and proper care, he would possibly wake up. Yuki was hopeful and wished to see Haruno-san wake up soon.

"Yuck, what is that smell?" Yuki flinched and pinched his nose. Everyone in the area was confused. The male and female kakushi went inside first with the raw meats.

"This is how pork smells like when its not cooked. Have you never brought in food before?" Aoi looked up at the lanky child.

"No, it was the servants' jobs to handle the shopping and bringing the stuff in." He covered his nose using his arm.

"Well, now you're going to get an idea on what they went through every day. I won't make you your cookies if you don't help out today." The raven-haired girl commented.

"I want a chocolate chip cookie." Sumi said.

"I never had one before." Kiyo said.

"Please help out so we can have cookies." Naho said.

"Alright, I'll pretend to be a servant so we can enjoy some delicious cookies. Aoi's cooking is just that good." Yuki scratched the back of his neck.

"You're the best, Take-kun" The triplets said in unison. Both Aoi and Yuki looked at each other with a deadpan expression.

"I'm not going to use to this nickname anytime soon." The lanky child sighed.

"Good luck, who knows when those girls are going to drop it." The blue-eyed girl said.

Eventually, the last product Yuki needed to bring in was the flour. This was the first time he seen a bag of flour that required two hands to carry around. Unfortunately, he was not used to manual labor and by the time he crossed the stone path, he dropped the bag of flour and was now covered with it. He coughed to the flour within the air.

"You okay, Subachi-kun? Good thing the flour didn't spill all over" Aoi stated.

"This is true, Aoi-chan" the dark-hair teen nodded.

"We just came up with a new nickname for you. How about Yuki daruma-kun? The triplets said simultaneously.

"That's a little on the nose, don't you think, Yuki." The blue-eyed girl looked at the lanky child. Yuki on the other hand looked up at the sky, going over the meaning of the name. He knew his name in Japanese meant snow, but forgot what 'daruma' meant. He then remembered the time when he and his sister played in the snow.

"Wow, real clever, Sumi, Kiyo, Naho. I agree, it's way too on the nose." Yuki rolled his eyes. The triplets giggled and ran inside with several gourds. Aoi herself was carrying a box full of bandages and various herbs and medicine. Yuki then picked up the giant bag of flour and followed the others. Shinobu observed them all from a distance in the midst of a stroll and was pleased that everyone was getting along just fine, with the exception of Kanao who was exempt from bringing in the supplies. She smiled briefly before returning to her office.


It was now evening and Yuki found himself walking with a blindfold because Shinobu and the other girls told him they had a surprise for him. They had finished dinner and were eager to hear his thoughts what they were about to show him.

"You may remove your blindfold now" Shinobu advised the lanky child. Normally someone else is supposed to do this, but since no one came close to Yuki's height, they had to trust he kept his word about not peeking until now. When he opened his eyes, a big storage appeared in front of him. He had a shocked look in his face, then stared down at the women who were waiting for his response.

"Is there a reason why we're in front of the storage." Yuki tilted his head.

"Actually, this used to be our spare storage" Aoi said.

"This is your new room, Take-kun" Sumi, Kiyo, Naho said happily

"I was tasked to set up your bed and essentials, Subachi-kun" Kanao bowed politely.

"It may be further from Haruno-san, but I believe everyone deserve their own space. Sooner or later this place will be filled with patients." The Insect pillar looked up at Yuki.

"In that case, thank you. You didn't have to go through all this trouble for me" the dull-eye teen hunched over and smiled.

"How about you get a feel of the room first? We'll give you your space, Subachi-kun." Shinobu turned to the rest of the girls and led them back inside the mansion.

On his part, Yuki was able to enter with ease and looked around. He spotted a big window on one side and found a decent size coffee table in the middle along with two cushions and a futon that appeared to be the perfect size. He laid on his futon and made himself comfortable, and contemplated on life by looking up at the roof. Yuki was really thankful spending the past few days in the Butterfly mansion and got to meet nice people. However, staying inside this storage reminded him of the one he lived in back in his family's inn. The same estate he was supposed to look after and failed. As much as life had been fun and relaxing, deep-down Yuki knew he couldn't hide himself from the world forever. He needed to take accountability over his failure to protect the family inn and was responsible for the well-being of the last survivor of the incident. His dear friend Haruno-san. Feeling tired from his first day of manual labor around the house, the lanky child fell asleep for the rest of the day, with his mind made up.


Two days have passed and Yuki waited until night to be accompanied by the two kakushi had was warming up to bit by bit. He was still unfamiliar with their names, but he was much more open to them compared to their first interaction. The dark-hair teen left a letter to Shinobu, he was going to miss her and all the girls, but he needed to return home and resume his role as heir to the Subachi family. He nodded at the two kakushi and placed the blindfold on his face, waited to be carried to his destination by two people holding onto his arms and legs.

They had arrived with little difficulty aside from occasionally stopping to get the blood circulating onto Yuki's limbs. The kakushi told him he was on his own from here on and said their goodbyes just before retreating. The dark-hair child thanked them and went ahead to the site where his family's inn once stood. Yuki was horrified over the sight he was witnessing: debris found from all over the entrance, parts of the stairs crumbled from big footsteps and the entrance of the inn destroyed. Yuki finally reached the stairs when he turned his head to the right and stared into the distance. To everyone else, all that stood were a pile of rubble but for him, lied the storage he once lived in. The memories of his past felt like a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a week at most. He walked back down the stairs and waited by the entrance in hopes to meet his parents. The dull-eyed kid found a wagon carried by horses but couldn't see anyone inside. He then heard footsteps coming his way, yet due to his last encounter this late at night, he got scared and hid inside a big bush.

"Yuki! Where are you? We're here" A man yelled.

"Come on out, son." A woman shouted in the night. Yuki managed to get a better look of what was out there and he let up a smile on his face, for his parents were finally in reach. He was ready to announce his presence but wanted to hold out in order to surprise them.

"He's out there, I just know it, Mizuho" Yuki's father said to his wife.

"Enough. We've been searching for a week now. It's time to call off the search. Our son is dead, Hugo." Yuki's mother with a firm tone. Everyone was speechless.

"Honey, you can't be serious. Surely, we can call it a night and continue tomorrow, right?" Hugo couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"We've searched every village in this region. We gave him explicit orders to keep our estate safe. And he couldn't even do that." Mizuho continued. Yuki was horrified from what he was hearing. There was no way his own mom would disregard.

"D-don't say that. I'm right here, mom" Yuki muttered, unable to raise his voice any higher.

"Do you hear yourself, my love? this is our son, heir to the family." Yuki's father argued.

"We already have another child, a perfectly beautiful daughter who has mastered both of our languages. A daughter with talent and a bright future ahead of her." Yuki's mom placed his hand on her husband's cheek. The husband gave her a sad smile and said nothing.

"We will honor him with a ceremony three days from now. Okay, dear?" Yuki's mom wrapped her arm around his back and he did the same to her.

"I miss him, Mizuho." Hugo spoke softly.

"I know, but let's be honest. Yuki never possessed the traits of a leader, he'd mess up over the most basic things, and frankly, he was never able to adapt, and that's no place for someone like that in this family." Mizuho retorted as she and her husband stepped away from their former estate.

The dull-eyed kid waited until his parents entered the wagon and went back to the village before stepped out of the bush. He took a few steps onto the dirt path and fell onto his knees before bawling. The tears ran down his face uncontrollably and his nose was clogged with snot. No matter how often he rubbed his eyes, the tears wouldn't stop.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you, mama…I'm sorry for letting you down and losing our inn…I'm sorry for being born the way I am. PLEASE, TAKE ME HOME WITH YOU AND PAPA!" Yuki wailed for anyone to hear. He found a shard of glass and slit both his arms, waiting for some blood to ooze.

"If you demons are out there, eat me. I'll at least have a purpose. I HAVE NOTHING TO LIVE FOR! I HAVE NO ONE TO FALL BACK TO!"

He waited and sure enough, several demons made their way to Yuki thanks to the scent his blood gave off. He didn't bother looking up for he knew the end was inevitable. He never imagined in his life this was how he'd go out: eaten by demons. Unloved and unwanted.

The lanky child looked confused because when he looked around. The demons shrieked and wriggled on the ground and became corpses. He then remembered this same outcome in his first attempt to venture beyond the forest. Meaning only one person could've pulled this off.

"Yuki-kun. Are you okay?" Shinobu expression softened as she kneeled to his level. For once, Yuki wasn't thrilled on seeing the Insect hashira.

"Wh-what do you want, Miss Shinobu?" The lanky child asked with a confused look.

"I read the letter you slipped under my room. I had the kakushi you travelled with lead me here so I could see you off. But, I'm so sorry for what happened just now. I can't believe your own mother abandoned you. A parent is supposed to love and protect their children at all times. Not write them off as dead. You were so happy talking about them and seeing them again, Yuki-kun." The insect pillar reached for him when the dull-eyed kid moved away from her.

"This is what you suggested, isn't it? You said I should go home to my family and riches. You said I should make institutional changes. You said I had luxury waiting for me. Did you not, Miss Shinobu?" Yuki replied to her harshly.

"Yuki-kun, I-" the lavender-eyed woman replied calmly.

"What else did you tell me? That's right, you said I was timid and weak, that I didn't have the traits of being a demon slayer. You said I never faced any hardships. Now look at me. I have no home, no friends, all but one of my servants died, and now my own parents abandoned me. You know what's the worst part, Miss Shinobu?" Yuki announced.

The violet-haired woman, who shook her head in return. She knew Yuki needed this time to vent his feelings.

"The worst part is, they didn't even mention the servants who sacrificed their lives to protect me. Haruno-san is a family friend and not once was his name brought up. Yet, Master Kagaya learned the names of all my servants despite being a complete stranger. Who else will remember them? I don't want any more people in my life to die from the demons." Yuki blew his nose with his sleeve and rubbed his eyes. It broke the Insect Pillar's heart to see someone whom she gotten to know as a sweet and pure person become broken. Yet, she was happy to hear his resolve delivered from the bottom of his heart. She knew what needed to be done.

"I…accept you as my student. I'll teach you Insect Breathing, Yuki-kun." Shinobu spoke with a gentle tone and gave him a soft hug. To her surprise, she felt no pressure when Yuki wrapped his arms around her back. In fact, it was one of the softest hugs she had ever received and couldn't help but hold him closer.

"Thank you…Miss Shinobu." Yuki voice sounded drained from the yelling he done moments ago. His eyes were heavy and was on the verge of passing out.

"Shh, please don't say anything else. Close your eyes and relax. Leave the rest to me" Shinobu patched Yuki's arms with spare bandage before picking him up in her arms, then retreating to the Butterfly Mansion without hesitation.


"Welcome back to...World... Wide... Wonders...As Yuki-kun would call it. Taisho Era Secrets just fits better. Anyways, I'm filling in fro him since he's being looked after by Shinobu-sama. What bug do you all think suits Yuki-kun?" Aoi sighed

"He can always be a spider. He'd easily deal with demons the moment you learn to use poisons" Kanao suggested.

"I don't he likes spiders, Kanao. He can't even kill a bug" Aoi said bluntly.

"How about a Rolly Polly? Theyre cute. Naho said.

"Or a water bug since he lived near the ocean" Kiyo said

"What about a walking stick? They're tall" Sumi said.

"All of these are unique picks but I think we'll need to wait until we hear back from Yuki-kun on this topic. Next time on Chapter 6, what will it mean for Yuki-kun to be the newest student of the Insect Hashira? If there's any unresolved matters he'd like to take care, he better do it now or never." Aoi waved goodbye while eveyone else groaned in disappointment for they never decided which bug the lanky teen should by affiliated with.


Hey everyone, Wanderingtree here

Um, this has been a unique chapter where I never thought I'd use a trigger warning but here we are. I wasn't even sure if it was needed because while Yuki does cut himself, i imagine it was very small cuts and with Shinobu being a doctor, she'd patch him up easily. But, I wanted to be on the safe side.

Moving on, I learned recently that I now have third follower and I am so thankful this story is getting noticed bit by bit. Thank you Starshredder.

This chapter also marks the end of the first arc. I wanted to give my OC a unique approach to a backstory, where he slowly lost everything within a week instead of losing it all at once. If anyone can pick up which story from the Bible I used as a reference they will get a shoutout.

In all seriousness, these past two chapters have taken a toll on me. I can't tell you how emotional I'd get from imagining theses scenes on my head. So, while I do have more content in the future, I will be taking a month break. Two at most. I promise there will be wholesome and more lighearted moments in this story. Yet, I stand my the concept of when you are at the absolute bottom, the only direction you can go from there is up.

I wish you a good day and a Happy New Year's. Someday, I'd like to see fanart of my OC and Shinobu. For now, I'll focus on making these chapters as best as i can. Feel free to leave a review or follow and I'll see you all next time.