Hashira's happiness

Sakura mochi

It was a rainy day at school, all students must be inside. I walked around the school building aimlessly. I could not think of a way to get Mitsuri to remember. 

Today I saw Inosuke talking with Aoi. I remember the promise I made with him. I was happy to see him talking to Aoi. Aoi has an inferiority complex. Honestly I have no idea where she gets it from. She's capable of lots of things.  Inosuke makes her joyful though, probably because he thinks she is amazing.

"Aoi!" I call. She looks at me and waves. Inosuke copies her. "Hello Inosuke." I say to him. "Where's Kanao?" I ask. I don't know if Kanao and Aoi get along these days. I hope they are.

"She's with Nezuko." Aoi says avoiding eye contact. Clearly something happened. As their older sister, I'll sort it out at home. "Alright, have fun." She nods and I walk away.

I walk towards the door. It's raining a lot. We aren't allowed outside but I went anyway. I couldn't help myself, I saw something green and pink swinging side to side. I was quite curious.

Within seconds, I was drenched. However, I noticed it was Mitsuri. She was running towards the shed. I follow her, hoping she isn't doing something stupid.

The shed is very old. They painted over the wood but by now it was peeling. Mitsuri was inside but it's very cramped in there so she must be sweating a lot. I peek through the door. I sigh as I realised what she was doing. 

She was hiding and eating mochi. I smile as she hasn't changed at all.

"Whose there?" She asks frightened. I open the door and reveal myself. "Sorry, it's me." That was stupid of me to say, after all I don't think she knows me.

"Ahh I know you!" Her voice is high pitch. I flinch as her voice startled me, but not enough for her to realise.  "You're that girl with lots of sisters!" That comment was a little weird. I only have 1 older sister and like 5 younger ones. Though the younger ones aren't actually related to me.

"S-sorry! I don't mean it like that. You're Shinobu Kocho. A year younger than me. You're quite popular in school! It's understandable. You're pretty, smart and people say you are amazing!" MItsuri kept rambling on. Once she starts she wont stop.

It reminded me of 100 years ago. She thought I was amazing but really she was the one who was amazing.

"T-thank you." I reply, trying to get her to stop. Mitsuri smiles but quickly stops after seeing the mochi in her hands. She hides it away quickly and turns red. "I-I'm sorry! It must be weird seeing a girl eat so much.!" She seems a little flustered.

I look at her confused but I think she thought I was criticising her. "I don't think it's weird." I say quickly to avoid confusion. "R-really. Other people say it is. P-plus, I see you at lunch. You  barley eat." 

I chuckle nervously at the comment. The reason I don't eat much is because I didn't in my past life. Having wisteria didn't mix well with food. It made me feel sick. The remembrance of it still makes me feel sick and sometimes I even vomit.

"T-that's because I have a small appetite. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with eating until you're satisfied." I say.

Mitsuri bursts into tears. "W-what's wrong!" I say concerningly. "You're so nice Shinobu-chan!" I smile at Misturi. 

"Do you want some Sakura Mochi?" She asks excitingly, "We can eat together!".

I stopped myself from saying no. Mitsuri always asked if we could play with each other but I always said no. I had no time between being a Hashira, a doctor and my duties as the girls' guardian. I felt sorry when I saw Mitsuri's sad face.

"Sure.." I say. I sat down next to her. This place was cramped indeed...

"You remind me of someone Shinobu-chan!" Mitsuri says whilst engulfing her mochi. "Oh really? Who?" I ask.

"There is this girl sometimes in my dreams." Misturi says as she studies me. I ignore her stare and continue to eat the mochi. "What does she do?" I ask a little intrigued.  Misturi answers, "I think she is a doctor. I don't know why I'm hurt though,  but sometimes I see her fighting with me against some super scary monsters too. And sometimes we're just talking. She's super adorable like you too!"

I blush at her comment. I decided to change the subject. "How come you're in here eating alone?" I ask. When we were Hashira, Misturi never ate alone. Most of the times she was with Iguro, Rengoku or me and sometimes the other Hashira.

Her smile fades a little, "People say it is abnormal and say I'm weird." I forgot how insecure Misturi is. Especially since she is always smiling. "Don't worry about what others say. You can eat with me at lunch if you want. I'm sure Tamayo wouldn't mind."

She smiles at me and we continue to talk until lunch ended.

As I head to class, I see Tamayo. "Hey!" I say to her. She looks at me annoyed. "W-what is it?" I ask confused. She mumbles, "where have you been going off to these days?" I realise I've been avoiding her. I'm trying to reunite my old friends that I'm forgetting my best friend in this era. "S-sorry..." I say. I don't have an excuse. She sighs and puts her hand on my shoulder, "whatever you're doing seems important. You have me too. But remember, tomorrow we're sneaking into the science lab to dissect a frog." She smiles at me. I smile at her back. "You have an evil smile Shinobu." "Says you.." And we walk to class.

It was the next day, I was walking to school with Tamayo. "Shinobu-chan!!!" Misturi screams, she jumps and hugs me which almost causes me to fall. "M-Mitsuri! What's wrong?" 

"Hashira!" She shouts. Tamayo looks at us strangely. I put my hand over Mitsuri's mouth and drag her away whilst shooting some apologetic look at Tamayo.

"You made friends with a demon!" She shouts energetically. "She's human in this era..." I say . Mitsuri has way too much energy for the morning.

"So you remember?" I ask her sounding joyful. She nods excitedly. "I had this dream where all my memories came flooding! I think it was because we talked yesterday! I want to talk to all the other Hashira now!"

"Calm down.." I say to her. She looks like she is going to explode. "I was the only person who remembered. Sanemi began to remember yesterday. So now it is only us 3 plus the master."

Misturi looks at me confused, "not even Tamayo or your sisters?" "The master told me to only make the hashira's remember, so there isn't a point trying to get everyone else." 

MItsuri suddenly hugs me. "It must of been so hard knowing all our sad memories by yourself." She doesn't stop hugging me. "It wasn't too bad, there were good memories..." 

Mitsuri then walked over with me to Tamayo. I introduced them to each other.

Tamayo whispers in my ear, "Is this going to affect our frog dissection." I smile and shake my head. She smiles back. Misturi left to go to class whilst we went to ours. "How come she started to talk to you?" Tamayo asks intrigued. I say, "We've known each other for a while actually."