𝑀𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ✿ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

*＊✿❀ 𝓔𝓷𝓳𝓸𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻!❀✿＊*

༺♥༻❀༺♥༻༺♥༻❀༺♥༻༺♥༻

I was off to visit Tanjiro today, Zenitsu and Inosuke have already awakened now we were all waiting on Kamado. It's been two months since upper moon six's defeat, Muichiro and I have been hanging out when we could. Pillar business has got me all tied up. He would've accompanied me, but he looked so exhausted while asking. I told him just to go rest; I would be back later anyway.

"Anyone home?" I called out while slipping my shoes off

"Y/n!!"

"She's here!!"

"Is the mist pillar with her again!?"

The three butterfly girls clung to my side once again, leading me down the hallway. They told me all about how Zenitsu and Inosuke had gone back to work and threw so many questions about Muichiro, they thought of us as a fairytale couple from overseas, and I only laughed at their words.

"You three shouldn't go around saying that.. you'll start rumors!"

"But we've only told Shinobu, Kanao.. and some others.."

"You are all lucky you're adorable." I sighed

"KIYO, NAHO, SUMI, AOI!! TANJIRO'S AWAKEEE!!!!!!!"

The girls and I quickly turned the corner, running into Tanjiro's room, to find him with his eyes open, talking, and somewhat moving. I took a seat across from Kanao beside Tanjiro's bed. The trio of girls were sitting on the bed all of them began talking.

"I'm so happy!"

"I'll give you some red bean bread!!"

Then the kakushi started complaining, "The castella is falling off!"

I only smiled at their antics, turning my gaze towards Tanjiro and placing my hand on his, "I'm glad you are awake, everyone's been so worried."

He mustered up a thank you, his voice extremely weak, It ached my heart to see him in this state, how scary it must've been to fight for his life.

"KYAHHHH!! MONSTERRRR!!"

The door flew open, and a ghost ran in.. well Aoi covered in a white sheet. I bite back a laugh as the sheet falls off her. Aoi began sobbing. I rubbed her back soothingly and gave her my handkerchief to dry her tears.

"I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE AWAKE.. YOU GUYS WENT IN MY PLACE SO.. WAHHH!!"

"Thank.. you. Are.. the others.. doing... okay?"

"Zenitus left the day before yesterday, apparently he made a huge ruckus like he always does. Uzui is doing just fine." I answered Tanjiro's question

"What.. about Inosuke?"

"Inosuke was in terrible condition from the poison!!" Aoi choked out

"Oh, then.. I must be.. imagining him on.. the ceiling."

All of our eyes moved up, finding the beast clinging to the ceiling.

"INOSUKE. GET THE HELL DOWN FROM THERE! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?"

The boar fell down onto Tanjiro's bed, knocking the girls off, I caught the trio and set them down. Making sure to slap Inosuke on the back of the head. He started to brag about how he woke up earlier than Tanjiro, also mentioning he was worried about him.

"Kiyo why don't you show the animal Shinobu compared to Inosuke too?" I smiled down at her

She had pulled out a book. An animal called the honeybadger is what Shinobu had compared the beast to. I laughed at his reaction as he took it as a compliment.

"You're a moron." The kakushi blurted out

Inosuke attempted to attack him, with Aoi holding him back. I swear the beast gets more amusing with each second passing. I glanced over at Kanao, her small voice attempting to silence them as the sun child had just fallen asleep.

"Qu.. quiet! Quiet!!" A short pause in her protest, "TANJIRO FELL ASLEEP SO BE QUIET!!"

I sent her a thumbs up, she's been making decisions without Kanae's coin, I'm proud of her. I peered over at Tanjiro's once again resting state.

"Hopefully, he wakes up again." I frowned

Inosuke butted in, "AHHH!! HE FELL BACK INTO A COMA!!"

"DON'T SAY CRAP LIKE THAT. YOU'LL JINX IT." I slapped him again

"JUST BE QUIET!!" Safe to say Aoi was fed up

Before leaving, I had made the butterfly girls some Uiro. It's my specialty, my mother's favorite, as she enjoyed making the steamed rice cake. I took some back for Muichiro to taste, putting the cake in a teal gift box, and taking my leave.

"Muichiro!! I brought back some Uiro if you want to taste it!" I slipped off my shoes in the genkan before stepping into the house

"You're back?" The boy had walked out of the dark hallway with a yawn, his hair untidy and bags under his eyes.

I smiled at the sight. It wasn't every day we pillars get to live so normally like this. "Did I wake you?"

He covered his mouth while letting out another big yawn, "Not at all, I want to try.. what was it?"

"Uiro, steamed rice cake, it's in the teal box." I pointed at the table where I had set down the treat

He made his way over, sitting down while I made tea. I hadn't really spent this much time with him in a while. Patroling my region was a big-time thing since I took over Uzui and Kyojuro's. It's quite the area to cover.

"You won't believe what happened when I went to visit Tanjiro!" I exclaimed while setting down the teacups

"Hm? Tell me." He spoke with his mouth full of the rice cake

I sat down across from him, trying to contain my excitement, "Tanjiro awoke! Everyone was very happy. Not too long ago, they were all extremely worried, me included obviously. Inosuke clung to the ceiling, though. He's.. well.. Inosuke." I let out a small laugh

Muichiro hummed, feeling his own lips betraying him, and once again, a small smile took over his face hearing your laughter, "That's good.. who's Tanjiro?"

"A friend of mine, he's been in a coma for two months, remember?" I began sipping my tea

A short pause as he furrowed his brows, "I can't recall.."

"That's alright, Muichiro. By the way, I was talking about whales at one of the dinners we went to right? Kiyo had finished reading the book I had on them, so I want to show you the pictures!" I scooted next to him, placing the book on the table, opening it to a page where a picture of a blue whale had covered the entire thing.

"Are they really that big?" He questioned

"Isn't it so cool! I want to see one in person, that'd be my dying wish!!" I admired the beautiful creature in the photo

"I want to remember it.." Muichiro muttered

I paused for a moment, "You can have the book,"

"Really? You're just going to give it to me??" His eyes slightly widened

"Of course! So you can read it from time to time, and It's not because I have more in my estate, I really want you to have it, as a gift." I slid the book closer to him, a sincere smile taking over

He glanced at the book, then returned his gaze, "You need to stop being so nice, someone will take advantage of you.. but, thank you."

A breathy laugh escaped my lips, "Your welcome, but even if someone does, that's alright. I can't help wanting to put a smile on everyone's faces, hearing that wonderful sound of joy makes everything worth it."

"I don't want to forget you."

I snapped my head to the boy, blurting out "Huh?"

"I'm.. scared. One day I might forget your name like.. I do with everybody else, I don't want that. I don't want to forget anything about you." He lowered his eyes

My eyes softened, "Muichiro, even if you did forget me, forget all about me, I would just introduce myself again, as many times as I need to."

"Really?"

"Really."

I placed my hand on his cheek, lowering my head to meet the gaze he tried to avert. "Muichiro.. I don't think anyone could carry the burden you do. The amount of blood, sweat, and tears that have left your body. How nervous do you get because of your memory loss?"

Those eyes, I understood now how much darkness the minty orbs held. They started to well up with salty tears. I opened up my arms for him, and his eyes closed, allowing himself to spill tears in front of me, crashing into my embrace.

"I understand," I whispered while holding the mist pillar in my arms.

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I literally poured my own blood, sweat, and tears into this chapter help.

word count 1399

edited 5/30/23