SUMMER BREEZE | t. muichiro

𝐬𝐢𝐱

( — SIX ; MINI LOVE HASHIRA )

WATCHING Iguro-san beat the poor kid's gut out onto the pristine pebbles made me cringe in sympathy. The kid wasn't even fighting, and yet. . .

I saw Mitsuri just standing there, a fist pressed onto her lips as her eyebrows laced with worry. She wanted to speak up, but I knew it was out of her league to do so.

I left the meeting early, and the second I got to the Butterfly Estate I puked behind a small group of bushes, trying to erase the picture of blood splatter against white.

° • ° • ° • °

"YOU'RE supposed to call her tsuguko."

I glanced at the two kakushi members who had just entered through the side door. I noticed a dark-red haired boy with hanafuda earrings, and I knew this was the boy at the Selection. He was the one accompanying a demon?

"Kanata-sama, we would like to ask permission if we may put this slayer into the hospital."

I stared at them as a squirrel ran up to my shoulder with a walnut, and a bright orang baby fox settled itself onto my feet. Many birds tweeted and flapped their wings behind me, vying for my attention. The boy being carried looked at the animals with awe, and the way they clustered around me sparked his interest more.

"Of course."

Aoi came in and wrapped things up, and I was left alone with my animal buddies once more. I laid down on a soft patch of grass as the baby fox scurried to my stomach, lying there.

"It tickles," I murmured at the fox, with a small smile forming on my face. I instinctively kicked my legs up as I lifted the fox up in the air, and I couldn't tell whether or not I imagined that it had laughed.

"Ara, Mila-san, you shouldn't play with wild foxes, y'know. You might get rabies."

I stood up quickly as I spotted Shinobu standing in front of me, a herd of butterflies surrounding her, just like Kanao.

"Apologies, Shinobu-sama," I mumbled, letting go of the fox, which scurried about trying to capture a butterfly for itself.

"If you are not busy, Mila-san, would you like to join in some training?" Shinobu asked, her sweet smile never faltering, never fading. "Aoi and Kanao are training the three demon slayers from Natagumo to their feet."

"As you wish."

° • ° • ° • °

BOYS. Why did it have to be boys?

I tried not to fidget too much in place, at least, fidget unnoticed. But with this blond kid's continuous strings of proposals, this boar-headed boy declaring a duel with me, and earrings guy saying he was glad to train with a tsuguko, it was chaos.

Finally, Aoi got them to shut up, and I stood next to Kanao, who was watching the events unfold with a smile. She flipped her coin and tugged at my haori upon seeing the result.

"Are you sure...you want to train?"

"Yes, please."

Aoi assigned for me to train with boar-head, and I reluctantly agreed to do so. I stood a few feet from him; it seemed as if he had running training first.

"The rules are simple," Aoi explained the mechanics. "Whoever tags the other wins."

"FIGHT ME, YOU SEEM WEAK." The boar boy growled under his mask as he attempted to scream, instead what came out was a voice with a raspy scratch.

If there was one thing that I hated, it was being called weak. This boy had no idea what I went through to become a demon slayer, and he sure as hell was going to find out now.

"Begin!"

The boy immediately ran towards me, his feet making thuds resonate through the room. I twirled my hair with my finger, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

I dodged as he tried to reach for my wrist, and I flipped him over on his back. He landed with a thud, and I stood up, never even once panting.

"You seem weak."

Was all I said as I stepped back next to Kanao, who looked at me as if she knew what was going to happen from the very start.

° • ° • ° • °

GLANCING at this 'Tanjiro' boy and Kanao interacting, I had to smile. Kanao kept repeating her farewell, and Tanjiro kept pressing about Kanao's coin. This scene was a keeper.

"What're you doing?" A voice behind me asked, and I didn't flinch when I saw that it was Muichiro, who was resting his chin on my shoulder as he watched too.

"Nothing." I answered, peeling my eyes away from the two. They needed their privacy, and we had to leave. "Walk?"

And so we did, walking the lovely stone path set in the Butterfly Estate. There were so many butterflies that I wondered if this was partially a farm that held these magnificent insects.

"How's your day?" Muichiro spoke, batting a butterfly away from his nose, which I found to be extremely adorable. "Do anything interesting?"

"I found a b-baby fox," I replied shyly, twisting the ends of my skirt. Surely he didn't want to be briefed about what animals I met, right?

"That's cool." He said it in absolute monotone, but there was no mistaking the sparkling I saw in his eyes.

"Do the geta sandals not bother you when you go on missions?"

I shrugged. It was a bother to walk around in high heels for missions, but they looked so cute and I couldn't resist wearing them. Plus, I'd worn sandals practically my entire life. I was used to it.

"Mitsuri-sama said it was g-good training," I stammered, not meeting his eye contact. I always called Mitsuri formally in public; I didn't want to be seen as a bad tsuguko.

Muichiro tugged at my wrist, and I curiously followed, wondering where we were going. But since I trusted him, I willingly let him drag me to kami knows where.

Pretty soon, we had exited from a shop, with a pair of light-pink knee-high socks in hand. It perfectly matched my geta sandals, which had green straps.

"I l-look like M-Mitsuri-sama now," I said happily, twirling in my new outfit.

Muichiro shook his head. "No," he began, and I turned to look at him hesitatingly. "You look so much better."

And I swear, that day was the day I saw fireworks.