Empathy

Emotionless

   The faint cries of a newborn echoed across the infirmary of the Paradise cult. As the umbilical cord was snipped off and the child wiped clean of blood, Akaza picked up the child, swaddling it in a warm cloth. 

   "Remarkable." Akaza stated to the mother while cradling the crying baby. "I thought that it would be a stillborn after that repressed attacked you, but looks like your child survived! And on top of that, he seems perfectly healthy." 

   But something was wrong. Muzan could sense an emptiness within the child. A lack of that certain subtle warmth, the bright spark that was, by now, oh so familiar to Muzan. 

   The child had been robbed of his emotions. 

   Muzan theorised that this had happened during the repressed attack. The repressed had probably fed off the emotions of the developing baby instead of the mother. 

   There was still a small spark of emotion left in the child, though. There was still hope that one day, the child would regain his feelings. And because the child was not completely devoid of emotion, that meant that he was not a repressed, although he likely would not show emotions. 

   Muzan tried to explain this to the mother, but once she heard the words "lack of emotion", she didn't want the child anymore. No matter how many times Muzan emphasised the positives, that the child was not a repressed, the mother would not listen. She refused to keep the child. 

   This infuriated Akaza. This woman should be grateful she even got a chance to bear children. Any hope of Akaza raising a child with his fiancee had turned to dust. The pink-haired demon would have loved to have children with Koyuki, his now deceased fiancee. This woman just took having children for granted. 

   The woman still refused to take the child, so Muzan did the most logical thing: adopt the child. That night, the demon king left the Paradise Cult with Akaza trailing behind him and a silvery-blonde haired baby in his arms. 

   Muzan stared down at the child's prismatic eyes. He recognised those eyes from his previous life. 

   Muzan also realised that the child had not yet been named, so Muzan named him. 

   "Welcome to this world, young one." Muzan whispered to the sleeping newborn. "I hope I can help you experience the wonders of emotion... Douma."