TO SEE YOU SMILE

Chapter 8: Recall

[Weeks Passed]

Time passed so quickly. 2 more days and I'm going back to Canada. But before I leave, I want to become friends with Tokito first. I want to see him smile.

"Do you like running?" I asked Tokito after he finished feeding the birds.

"Why did you ask?"

Instead of answering his question, I held his hand and started to run while dragging him with me. I brought my small backpack and didn't let go of his hand so he had no choice but to run as well.

"Hey, I still have lots of works to do," He told me, but I didn't listen to him and just continued running until we reached far.

Muichiro's POV

Tanjiro and I were both catching our breath.

The last time I'd ran like this, it was the night before my seventh birthday. The night before I lost my mother and Yuichiro.

I look around and noticed that we're kilometers away from the village. What are we going to do here? What about my work? I still have a lot of things to do.

"Doesn't it feel nice?" Tanjiro asked me after a couple of minutes. My forehead crumpled.

"What?"

"Ditching your works."

I looked at him in disbelief after hearing his answer. What's so nice about it? And why did he bring is backpack with him? What is he really scheming to do here?

"Now that we are here, you don't need to worry about those works anymore..."

"I'm sorry, I'm going back now," I told him and was about to leave, but he held my wrist quickly to stop me.

"Please don't leave, Tokito-kun." He pleaded. I look at him with confused look.

"Why not?"

"Because we haven't played yet."

"Huh?"

Did he just say, play? He wants to play with me?

Tanjiro removes his backpack and silently opens it to get two papers.

After that, he started folding the paper to make something.

"We're going to play today and you can't say no to me." He stated.

I shut my mouth and remained looking at him.

He continued folding the paper until he make a paper airplane.

He did it to the other paper as well and gave the first one to me.

"Look, both of us has the same paper airplanes! That means we can play together, right?" He asked.

I got speechless.

I remembered what the kids told me before. They told me that I can't play with them because my toy airplane has only one wing. But now, both Tanjiro and I have the same paper airplanes.

I felt my heart suddenly leap.

"Why? Why do you want to play with me, Tanjiro? Why are you so nice to me?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Because I want to be your friend." He averted his look at me and smiled.

"And I want to see you smile..."

Bowing my head down, I bit my lower lip to prevent my tears from falling.

"But I am just a lowly slave." I mumbled.

Tanjiro held both of my cheeks that made me startled. The action felt very familiar to me.

"Muichiro..." He calls my name. The tone of his voice is the same like Yuichiro's. "Muichiro..."

Out of nowhere, I suddenly recall Yuichiro's last words to me.

"Your hands aren't handcuffed, your feet aren't chained. You're free to do whatever you want. You can choose whatever you like. You are not a slave,"

"You're not a slave,"

"You're my friend..."

"You're my treasure..."

Tears fall down from my eyes while my lips parted. All this time, Yuichiro didn't think of me as a slave. Just like Tanjiro and the others...

I am not a slave anymore. I am free.

Tanjiro looks at me for a few seconds before he pulled me closer for a comfortable hug. I hugged him back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say those words to make you cry." He apologized.

I continued sobbing.

"Nii-chan."

Tanjiro's body froze because of what I called him, but he didn't mind it and only pat the back of my head with so much gentle.

He waited for me to calm down before he asked me again to play paper airplanes with him.

This time, I agreed with Tanjiro while wearing a genuine smile on my face.

##

Third Person's POV

It's getting dark and the rain starts pouring down heavily. Tanjiro and Tokito sheltered on a small cottage as it's the only cottage they've found on the area.

On the other side, the people at the village are all worried about them because they can't find them anywhere and the rain won't stop falling.

"I think my hunch is right. Tanjiro had kidnapped Mui." Mitsuri said. She looks like she's near of crying any minute.

"If he won't be able to bring him back safe and sound, I will kick him on his ass." - Obanai.

He doesn't want to see Mitsuri crying.

"Are you going to cry too?" Giyu asked Shinobu who's currently sitting beside him. "I've prepared a tissue for you if ever," He added.

He lent the tissue to Shinobu so he only got bitten again.

"Stop joking around. Aren't you worried about Muichiro?" Kocho asked while glaring at him.

Giyu shakes his head twice.

"Nope. I believe in Tanjiro." He said.

The last time that he would ever doubt Tanjiro was that time when he found him with Tokito on a bathtub. It was all just a misunderstanding and they ended up hurting Tokito's feelings because they got mad at Tanjiro... He decided to trust the guy more. Especially when it comes to Muichiro.

"You guys are only worrying about Muichiro... You all should worry about Tanjiro too." - Rengoku.

"I only worried about my son." Obanai replied using a matter of fact tone.

"No, he's my son." Giyu corrected him.

"No, my son." Obanai fought back.

"He's my son!"

"My son!"

And the two continued fighting while others scattered away.

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