Tanjuro lay on the bed, breathing heavily the entire time, coughing violently every now and then.
Each coughing fit lasted a long while, as if he were about to cough up his lungs.
He was quite a quiet and composed man.
In his son Tanjiro's impression, he was like a plant.
Yet now, he was making such violent sounds.
Nezuko and Tanjiro stood guard beside him, carefully tending to him.
Their faces full of anxiety.
They couldn't even spare attention for the two strangers, Lin Chen and Chika.
Meanwhile, Lin Chen's gaze swept to the side.
Through the gap in another room's door—
He saw a woman lying in bed with a hot towel on her forehead.
Only then did he understand.
Why there had been no Kamado family members watching when Tanjuro was dancing in the snow.
It turned out their mother had also caught a cold.
Kamado Kie had fallen ill.
The others were all small children, so as the eldest siblings, Tanjiro and Nezuko couldn't accompany their father outside.
If they could have accompanied him, at least Tanjuro wouldn't have been so distracted.
All these coincidences had converged together, ultimately creating this rather terrible result.
Lin Chen could only wait anxiously alongside Secretary Fujiwara at this moment.
Especially Lin Chen.
He watched helplessly as Tanjuro's condition grew worse and worse.
As if his death would come today.
Could it really be impossible to reverse Tanjuro's fate of death?
Logically speaking, given this world's mysterious destiny—
This world's fate should lean toward killing Muzan.
Tanjuro, someone of great help in killing Muzan, should be favored by fate.
Yet now—
"You two go out first. Let Dad talk to these two for a bit."
Tanjuro suddenly stopped coughing, his complexion improving considerably, as he spoke to Tanjiro and Nezuko.
Then, with Tanjiro's support, he managed to sit up against the wall.
Lin Chen watched Tanjuro's complexion improve.
But there was no sign of relief on his face.
Because given Tanjuro's physical condition—
Even if he improved, it couldn't possibly be this fast.
The current situation had only two possibilities.
One was the final rally before death.
The other was that he had already sensed his impending death—
So he was using the Transparent World's ability to forcibly raise his bodily functions for final arrangements.
Either situation was extremely bad—the only difference being dying immediately versus dying a few hours later.
Tanjiro and Nezuko didn't have such keen senses.
Seeing Tanjuro's condition improve, the anxiety on their faces lessened somewhat.
After bowing in thanks to Lin Chen and Secretary Fujiwara, they left the bedroom.
"Can you tell me where you come from?"
Tanjuro looked at Lin Chen, his expression gentle, asking directly.
"Um, ah..."
Secretary Fujiwara beside him opened her mouth, thinking about how to fabricate a reasonable lie to explain their abnormalities and origins.
But Lin Chen had already spoken.
"We are people from another world."
"Yesterday, we happened to be swallowed by a fragile spatial rift and arrived in this world."
Lin Chen made no attempt to conceal anything, leaving Secretary Fujiwara beside him with her mouth agape.
Lin Chen looked at Tanjuro.
He knew that before Tanjuro, who possessed the Transparent World, lying had no meaning.
It would only raise his guard.
After all, this was likely Tanjuro's test of the two of them in his final moments.
Despite Tanjuro's current state, he definitely still had the strength for one final strike.
With Tanjuro's abilities, he could absolutely kill both him and Secretary Fujiwara instantly.
Although Tanjuro was fundamentally kind, Lin Chen didn't want to test the limits of a dying father.
"So it's not a lie."
Tanjuro, usually as calm and peaceful as a plant, showed a surprised expression.
Words that sounded very much like lies turned out not to be lies at all.
This made the statement quite remarkable.
Guests from another world—this answer was truly something Tanjuro had never considered before.
"Actually, besides us, there should be quite a few people from our world in this world as well."
Lin Chen continued, dropping another bombshell.
"This world has long been connected to ours."
"You should have noticed already, Mr. Tanjuro—the breathing technique I used initially was different from but extremely similar to the one you use when dancing that ritual dance."
"The breathing technique I learned actually came from this world."
Tanjuro nodded slightly.
Then more confusion appeared in his eyes.
"Fujiwara-san, please step outside for a moment."
"I have some important matters to discuss with Mr. Tanjuro."
Lin Chen spoke to Secretary Fujiwara before Tanjuro could continue.
The information revealed so far was fine, but some of what came next wasn't suitable for Secretary Fujiwara to know.
Despite Secretary Fujiwara's seemingly carefree and scatterbrained exterior—
She was actually quite intelligent, being a young lady from a political family after all.
Treating her as a fool would definitely lead to trouble.
"Alright."
Secretary Fujiwara was already surprised by Lin Chen's directness.
Now hearing Lin Chen ask her to step out, her expression actually calmed down.
Curiosity flashed in Secretary Fujiwara's eyes, but she said nothing more and tactfully got up and left.
Tanjuro watched Secretary Fujiwara leave, then looked at the calm-faced Lin Chen, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.
The relationship between these two didn't seem as close as he had imagined.
But for him now, these were just minor details.
He had more important questions that needed answers from this young man before him.
"You seem to know me quite well."
Tanjuro continued.
From the moment Lin Chen arrived, he had felt something strange.
This unfamiliar young man seemed to know him.
And when he collapsed in the snow and this young man rushed forward to help, the name he unconsciously called out confirmed his suspicion.
Also, his name—he had clearly never told this young man.
Yet this young man had still spoken it.
"Yes."
Lin Chen nodded. "Although this may be your first time meeting me, it's not my first time seeing you."
"And I do know quite a lot about you."
Apart from the slip when helping him up in the snow, Lin Chen had deliberately called Tanjuro by name afterward.
After thinking it through, he realized he truly had no way to save Tanjuro.
Facing a dying Tanjuro, he couldn't be bothered to hide so much anymore.
Besides, he had already revealed quite a few flaws earlier—this extremely intelligent man had probably already noticed.
"Also not a lie."
Surprise showed on Tanjuro's face.
At this moment, he was even beginning to doubt whether the Transparent World he was seeing had developed some kind of problem.