To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

69 • Confessions

"It's no problem." Aoi combed through her tangled waves, careful not to pull too hard. "We added a few embroideries, so I hope you don't mind. We tried following the constellation patterns we saw in books. Did we do good?"

"It's pretty." Inori shrugged off her haori, noticing the many patches of golden threads. "Thank you...ah...by the way...what happened to...Kanamaru?" If her memory served her right, her crow was also severely injured.

"He's...taking physical rehabilitation right now," Sumi answered, exchanging nervous glances with the other girls. "Kanamaru's right eye got cut and so were his wings. He woke up two weeks ago, but couldn't fly at all, so Shinobu-sama asked a specialist to rehabilitate him."

"Inori, are you going to keep Kanamaru?" Muichiro asked. "I heard that even if he can fly, he won't be able to fly for long or as quickly anymore. Are you going to replace him with another crow?"

"Of course not!" Inori coughed harshly after forcing herself to raise her voice, but her expression remained indignant. "Kanamaru protected me...I don't care if he can't...fly quickly or...see in one...eye...he's my crow...I won't replace him."

Muichiro opened his mouth but forgot what he wanted to say as Inosuke had barged into the room, destroying the door in the process. "Inosuke-sama is here! Oi, Inori! I am the man who woke up five days before you did! I'm stronger than you! Praise me!"

"What do you think you're doing? Get out!" Muichiro seethed, shielding Inori from the pieces of wood that came flying at them.

His voice went unheard as Inosuke and Aoi proceeded to argue. Inosuke's sudden appearance surprised Aoi so much that her hand accidentally slipped and cut off the wrong portion of Inori's hair. Now Inori's hair would have to be cut even shorter than necessary.

Meanwhile, Inori was back asleep, slumped against Muichiro while the other girls were trying to drag Inosuke out.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚☆.｡.☆.｡.:*☆ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

Shinobu hummed as she took the bandages off Inori's face, checking her wounds. She traced the line going from her left temple, past her left eye and the left corner of her mouth, and down to her jaw. "It's going to leave a scar," she stated. "You won't be able to see with your left eye anymore. Not to mention, your left index finger and right ear."

"It's fine." The words sounded strangled and forced, but Shinobu made no comment in respect toward Inori. "It's just a shame that I'm matching Uzui-san now. But at least I can still swing my sword. I'll just ask for permission to go to the Swordsmith's Village so I can make some adjustments."

"Please don't forget to take care of yourself, Inori-chan," reminded the Insect Pillar. "No training or fighting until your shoulders are fully healed. Tokito-kun was really worried for you. He would visit you every chance he had and even slept by your side, so please consider his feelings." Shinobu chuckled at Inori's reddening face, pulling out a wrapped bundle to spare the younger girl more embarrassment. "By the way, these are what the kakushi manage to scavenge from your fight."

Inori unwrapped the bundle, coming face to face with her destroyed butterfly hairpin, one of her earrings, her two tsubas, and Kanamaru's crown. The hairpin was sliced into two clean pieces by Kokushibo's sword, but the rubble must've broken it into tinier pieces, same with Kanamaru's crown. She was somewhat glad her right earring looked mostly unscathed, just bent. Her tsubas sustained the least damage.

"I'm really sorry about the hairpin, and you gave it to me and all."

"Inori-chan, I can give you another hairpin. You don't need to apologize."