"Your eyes look familiar." Muichiro tilted his head again as you let out a light sigh; continuing to gently dab disinfectant on his cheek.
Logically, when a person enrolls as a demon hunter, their title would be a demon hunter itself. The same goes for a kakushi. They both have their own different roles to play, as well as different duties to fulfill. You, on the other hand, decided to take both responsibilities of both titles upon yourself.
People would think of that as an absurd decision. A tiring one, too. But the agonizing boredom that engulfs when no mission was around, made the idea of being an occasional kakushi not seem to be a bad option. Which explains your current position right now; face to face with the Mist Pillar, tending to his wounds from his recent mission.
"Have we met before?" his deep yet soft voice spoke up with curiosity.
"No, we have not, Tokito-Sama." Your tone was put up with formality; keeping composure despite the untruth that came with it. As a demon hunter, you've been acquainted with Muichiro more than once. Either by accidentally bumping into him, walking past him during his cloud gazing sessions, or doing a friendly gesture by sharing food with him once in a while.
Although he was in a way higher rank than you, in terms of age, you were only 5 days younger than him. Thus, you wanted to take the opportunity to befriend someone of your age; considering most demon hunters as of now were around 16 and older. Moreover, you were bewildered the moment you found out about a Pillar that was only 14 years of age.
Despite the interactions you've made with him as a demon slayer, you never dared to do the same when taking your secondary role as a kakushi.
"Were you the one who gave me furofuki daikon?" he questioned further as he looked at you tending to his arm.
"I'm afraid I could not recall doing such a deed. You must've mistaken me for another kakushi, Tokito-Sama," you replied calmly as you kept focused on healing his arm.
"No, not a kakushi. You were a demon hunter."
And with that, your heart skipped a beat.
A kakushi have always had to keep their identities undercover; wearing a beanie-like hat to cover their head and hair, and a mask covering the back of their heads and half of their faces. Of course, wearing those complete attributes already made you feel safe.
But never did you expect Muichiro- a young boy with short term memory loss -out of all people, could easily suspect your true identity despite it being hidden.
"I don't understand what you mean, Tokito-Sama. I am a kakushi, not a demon slayer," you continued further as you tried to keep composed and unfazed; a contrast to the rapid increase of your heart beat you felt inside.
"Your wounds are fully taken care of. There'll be tea brought here for you soon, I shall take my leave." You stood up from your kneeling position and quickly bowed your head, turning away to head for the exit before a hand suddenly pulled you down; bringing your eyes to meet with a pair of mint green ones.
In a matter of seconds, another hand tugged at the hem of your mask; pulling down the whole thing along with the hat as it revealed your whole face.
"I was right," was all the culprit could mutter as he stared blankly into your eyes; only a few centimeters of distance between your faces. Immediately, pink sprawled across your face as you pulled back and looked away in embarrassment.
"Tokito-Sama, please refrain from doing such actions. And h-how come you remember me? No offense, but usually you easily forget things."
"You just seem... familiar." His words piqued your curiosity as you took a glance at his stoic face.
"Familiar? What do you mean?"
The young Pillar then raised his hand, pointing a finger at you.
"You... You keep showing up in my head."
"... What?" you questioned as your brows furrowed in deeper confusion.
"Your face. It shows up in my head... a lot."
That face of yours that once had a pink-tinted surface, rose to a warmer shade of red.
"In a good way or a bad way?"
"Don't know... What was your name again?"
"It- It's not important. You should inform that issue to Kocho-Sama, maybe she'll know what's wrong," you quickly spoke due to being flustered, as you immediately left and brushed it all off; not wanting to get your hopes up further.
Muichiro was then left alone with his thoughts; considering to talk to the Insect Pillar.
---
"My, my. Stuck in your head, you say?" a soft and gentle voice spoke in amusement.
The youngster then replied with a nod, not seeming to be expressing anything apparent.
"Let's see. How does your stomach feel when you see her in your head?"
"It feels... weird.. Like I'm getting tickled on the inside," he stated with a blank expression.
"Well would you look at that. I think we'd better talk this out with Kanroji-San," the woman with a purple butterfly hairpin stated with the same remaining smile; leading the young boy to head to the Love Pillar's residence.
