SUMMER BREEZE | t. muichiro

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

( — FIFTEEN ; NEW FRIENDS )

SURPRISINGLY but not so, Giyuu-san became one of my close friends after he accompanied me to Oyakata-sama's house. So did Uzui-san, who helped me listen for sound waves so that I didn't need a cane to walk around.

As for Mitsuri, she did her best to send me some food whenever she had a gap in her missions. It seemed as if since the Hashiras were slowly lessening at a fast rate, Oyakata-sama had to assign them with more missions. She often took care of me whenever the girls or Kanao were busy.

Meanwhile, with Muichiro, I couldn't exactly classify what our relationship was. We weren't lovey-dovey like a couple would be, but we weren't exactly in the friend zone either. Whenever I asked him this, he'd ignore me and just look up at the clouds.

Today, I was with Giyuu-san, who had just come back from a mission. I was tending to a medium-sized wound in his side, and my hand shook to try to cut the bandage short.

Sometimes my blindness was being a hindrance in my job, especially in the part where I use sharp objects. I had to be super careful not to injure my patient even further.

I felt the scissors being taken from me, and I heard the satisfying snip! of the bandage being cut. I looked up at the twenty-something man, and tilted my head.

"You still can't hear where you're supposed to place the scissors?" Crap. Giyuu-san has surely heard of my training with Uzui-san. "You're lucky I'm here."

"Thank you, Giyuu-san," I breathed a sigh of relief, putting a hand on my chest. "Well, do you need me to walk you to your room? That cut looks pretty bad."

"No need," Giyuu-san answered. "You should take your time to polish up your hearing. Maybe you'll earn your slayer role again, like Gyomei-san."

Okay, now that just sounded plain rude.

I could feel an irk mark brewing in my forehead, so I immediately dismissed Giyuu-san before I could lash out at him. I let out an exasperated sigh and went back to measuring the medicines.

I was taught this by Uzui-san. He told me that if I was pouring liquids, I should first measure it in a glass, and strike the glass with a pencil. I did that, and a high-pitched ring echoed in my ears.

High-pitched. That means the liquid is in the area of 0-5 milligrams.

To find out where it was, I simply did a few mental calculations. Finally, I had a dose of painkiller ready for Giyuu-san, and a couple more for the Breath of Thunder user named Agatsuma Zenitsu.

Well, my second meeting with Agatsuma was a certainly interesting one. I'd met him the first time when Kanao and I trained them from the Natagumo Mountain mission, and I didn't really notice him that much. But now, after hearing Aoi's stories and the way he was acting, I was starting to wonder if this guy was an absolute idiot. . .

Aoi came stomping into the room, muttering incoherent things under her breath. I turned to look at her, and saw that she had a frustrated look on her face.

"Oh? Aoi, are you alright?" Aoi was one stern girl, but she never really looked like it unless she really was pissed off. Now, she was radiating so much bad energy that I was afraid my glass would shatter.

"It's that stupid blond slayer! He's been getting on my nerves a lot lately, and I don't know how Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi handle it at all! Geez, I'm so mad!"

"Wahh! Mila-chan, please, you have to marry me! I'm going to die!"

"We're all going to die soon, Agatsuma-kun. Please, take a drink — "

"No! It tastes so weird! Why does Tanjiro get the delicious medicines?!"

I bit my lip in annoyance to stifle my groans. I thrust the cup towards Agatsuma's mouth, and tilted his head upwards so that the liquid slid down his throat easily.

"Yuck! Mila-chan, it tastes so weird!"

"What're you doing?"

I turn, and I immediately notice that one, the air in the room was suddenly so tense, and two, that it was Muichiro's voice who had spoke.

"Agatsuma-kun here wasn't taking his meds," I answered, turning to the slayer with a smug grin. I shifted myself towards Muichiro. "You're okay? Do you have any injuries?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I felt warm and soft lips press on my forehead, followed by a choked sound coming from Agatsuma as he (probably) drank water. "Is he bothering you?"

"NonononoItotallywasn'tAHAHA — " the slayer rambled, completely flustered.

"Good." Muichiro took my hand in his and led me outside, where I could hear tiny footsteps by my feet.

Suddenly, I felt a warm and fluffy thing being placed in my arms, and because of the movement and the feeling of a tail I gasped in surprise.

"Mui, is this a fox?"

"Yeah. Mitsuri told me you used to play with a baby fox all the time when you were a tsuguko, and I asked Tanjiro to help me sniff him out."

"Oh my kami, this is the nicest surprise!" I emphasized my words by fluffing the fox's soft fur. The last time I remembered, this fox was white with a small orange birthmark on its forehead, just above the left eye. "I can't believe you actually looked for it."

"Of course." I could almost feel the happiness that radiated from Muichiro. He was just so joyous. "Can you give me a hug as a reward?"

I chuckled and gently laid the fox down. I gulped for a moment, and wrapped my arms around his torso, and I felt his hands pat my back softly, humming a tune that was carried by the wind.

"Muichiro? We're so close to Kibutsuji, right? What if we...lose?"

"We won't ever lose. So long as there's me, the Hashiras, and the entirety of the Corps, especially Oyakata-sama. We'll be fine."