Dream

Hiroto stood back in the familiar forest of his old home. 'Wait… isn't this…' "Brother? What's wrong?" Tanjiro's voice came from beside him.

Hiroto looked at Tanjiro who carried the same empty basket on his back as Hiroto did. Hiroto shook his head and said, "Nothing, it seemed that I spaced out for a second there."

"Then let's keep going," Tanjiro said, walking in front of him. Tanjiro seemed to have his old ponytail back.

Walking through the forest, Hiroto went down the old familiar path that he has walked down more than a hundred times.

The house of his old home appeared in a clearing. Hiroto saw two kids carrying a basket of vegetables, and halted in his footsteps, his breathing getting uneven.

"Ah, Brother!" "You're back!" Shigeru and Hanako shouted as they ran to him. Hiroto dropped his basket to the ground and ran towards them and hugged them. His tears streamed down his face as he cried, muttering.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Hiroto muttered over and over again as he hugged them.

"What are you sorry for, brother?" Shigeru asked?

"Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" Hanako asked with concern.

Hiroto wiped his face and said, "I… I think I just woke up from a bad dream…"

Hanako hugged Hiroto again, and said, "It's alright, brother, if you have a bad dream then let us calm you down."

Hiroto hugged her back and just nodded silently. A moment later, Hiroto stood up and went back inside the house. As he entered, he saw his mother and Takeo drinking some tea.

"Ah, what's wrong Hiroto? Why are your eyes red? Are you sick?" Hiroto's mother asked with concern. "You two should rest today, and don't push yourself too hard."

"Ah, I'm fine, It's probably just the weather," Hiroto said back.

Rokuta then came waddling over to Hiroto and tackled him, shouting, "Brother! Did you bring me any gifts?"

Hiroto patted his back, laughing and said, "Haha, sorry but I didn't get anything this time. Next time though, I'll go and buy a toy just for you."

"Yay!" Rokuta cheered.

Hiroto smiled as he watched his family talk to each other. His eyes wandered over to a mirror, and in the reflection, he saw himself. 'Why are the clothes in the mirror different to mine, and why is there a sword next to me?' Hiroto thought to himself, as he looked at the mirror. He looked down at himself and saw that he wasn't wearing what he saw in the mirror. Looking back up, the previous reflection seemed to have gone, as it was just showing the current him this time.

'I might have an illness.' Hiroto thought, thinking that he was now seeing things.

"I'll go and check on the firewood, for now," Hiroto said as he stood up.

"You don't have to, Hiroto, you and Tanjiro just came back, you should rest." His mother said.

Hiroto waved his hands and said, "It's fine, I'm just going to check." Hiroto then left the house and went to the back. As he went around the back of the house, he saw someone staring back at him from the treeline. The shadows of the tree's obscured his face, but Hiroto could recognize the Hanafuda earrings he wore, as well as the familiar bracelet of his.

"Who are you?" Hiroto said, being on guard.

The man didn't say anything, as his long red hair, tied into a high ponytail, swayed in the wind.

The man then opened his mouth and spoke up, "Open your eyes." As he finished his words, the wind picked up, causing the leaves and some dust to be kicked up, obscuring Hiroto's view of the man.

"What?" Hiroto said, confused at what the man meant.

As the wind cleared, Hiroto looked back at where the man was but he seemed to have disappeared. 'Who was that?' Hiroto thought to himself. Deciding that it was probably due to him seeing things earlier, Hiroto put the issue to the back of his mind as he went to the stack of firewood.

Picking up a log, he noticed that there was a wooden box sitting on top of the pile. Hiroto froze. 'What… Why is this so familiar…'

*rustle* The bushes seemed to be moving, as Hiroto looked to the side, but didn't see anything. Turning around, the box seemed to have disappeared.

'What's going on? Did I get a concussion somehow?' Hiroto thought. Hiroto reached out to pick up another log that fell, but his eyes fell onto the bracelet on his wrist.

'Wait… This doesn't feel right…' Hiroto began to have doubts in his mind as his eyes drifted around his surroundings. 'No… this isn't right… Why am I here?'

----

In a different part of the forest, a man was walking through, anxiety could be seen all over his face as he seemed to be searching for something.

"It should be here somewhere… I just have to find the 'wall' and destroy the 'spiritual core' and after that, I can finally sleep." The man said as he began to feel agitated.

Reaching his hand out, he came across a tree and stabbed through it with his knife. Instead of the knife sticking into the tree, it started to wrap around the knife, as it tore apart as though it was a paper backdrop.

"Found it." The man said, elated.

He stepped through the gap and came across an open space that seemed to be in the middle. "What… What is this unconsciousness area…" The man said anxiously.

The man looked around and saw an open field. However, in the middle were flames of different colours and sizes that seemed to resemble certain people. The man didn't know, but each of the flames represented Hiroto's family members. His Mother, Takeo, Shigeru, Hanako, Rokuta and his Father were all there.

"What… I've never seen an unconscious area like this before…" The man said, dumbfounded.

The man ignored the swaying flames and went up to a sphere that was coated with a purple flame as it floated above the ground. 'This is the first time that I saw a 'Spiritual Core' covered by something.

The man proceeded to raise his knife, but just as he was about to bring it down, the flames swerved and appeared in front of him. They surrounded the core and seemed to be protecting it.

The man looked into one of the flames that gave off a warm purple hue. He could feel a sense of sympathy and a soft plea to the man. The man began to shake in his place, as he observed the flames, ranging from small to adult size, that seemed to be protecting what was the most important thing in the world to them.

The man's mind completely broke down, as he collapsed onto his knees and held his head while crying. "I'm sorry… I didn't want to do this… I'm sorry…" The man cried.

At that moment, he felt something touch his head, as he looked up and saw one of the flames extend out towards his head. However, it didn't feel hot or scorching to the man. 'It's so warm, and gentle.' The man's eyes shook as he was reminded of his own mother who passed away from sickness, and him not being able to afford the medicine.

*step step* The man heard steps behind him, and as he turned to look he saw Hiroto standing at the entrance of the unconscious area.

"You… How did you get here… You're supposed to be at the center of the dream, it shouldn't be possible for you to end up in your unconsciousness." The man said with some fear in his voice.

Hiroto didn't say anything but walked into his unconsciousness. He saw the flames surrounding his core family, as though protecting him. Hitoto then realized that their heights were exactly similar to his parents and siblings, causing him to smile sadly. "Even here, you're all protecting me…"

The flames just swayed back and forth, observing him. Hiroto looked at the man and said. "I can tell that you're not a Demon, but you came in here looking to destroy that sphere. I'm guessing that destroying it would kill me."

The man flinched at Hiroto's words, as each point he raised was spot on. "I… I had no choice… If I didn't then that sleep Demon Enmu wouldn't let us sleep." The man said with his quivering voice.

"How do I leave this place? I know that this is all a dream, but since you're able to come in you should know of a way to leave right?" Hiroto said.

"I… I don't know. Whenever we destroyed a spiritual core, the Demon would pull us back out." The man replied.

As Hiroto began to think of other alternatives, he remembered the man's word from before. 'Open your eyes…'

Hiroto closed his eyes for a moment, as he focused his breathing. He pushed all of his focus into his eyes, going further than he could ever. The edges of his eyes started to bleed from the pressure, and the pain was almost unbearable for Hiroto. 'More… I need to focus more…' Hiroto kept pushing on, and then he opened his eyes.

A red and purple shine came out of them as he opened his eyes, scanning around his surroundings. He saw that he could look into his hands and see the blood vessels flowing through them. Looking up, he started to search for something and saw a floating ticket that was above his spiritual core.

'That's the ticket that the conductor punched…' Hiroto confirmed the ticket and ran to it. He jumped up and grabbed the ticket from the air, ripping it apart. In the next moment, the area around him started to warp and break apart.

'I should be waking up now.' Hiroto thought. He then looked towards the flames and smiled. "Although you were gone, you were always with us…" Hiroto said.

As his vision began to fade, he thought that he saw the flames flicker with emotions, as he woke up. "Ahhh!" Hiroto yelled out, as he sat up from his position.

*hff pff* Hiroto breathed out heavily and looked around, he saw Nezuko crouched beside him with her forehead bleeding. "Ah! Nezuko, what happened?! Why is your head bleeding? Who did this to you?"

Nezuko had a complicated look as she stared back at Hiroto's forehead.