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☆.｡.:* "WHERE!" Arata screeched at the top of her lungs, "WHERE'S MEEEEWWWW?"
"Arata! Calm down!"
"I THINK I LEFT MEW BACK AT JAPAN'S SEA! I NEED TO GO OUT AND FIND HER!"
"ARATA, NO, IT'S DAYTIME, YOU'LL DIE!"
"I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NIGHT! WHAT IF - WHAT IF A CAT-NAPPER TAKES MEW?"
"It'll be fine! Gyomei is still busy with Hashira duties!"
"I-I NEVER TOLD YOU THAT GUMMY WAS A CAT-NAPPER?"
After a tearful reunion between Arata and the many residing at the Butterfly Mansion, the air was soon hectic and chaotic again, as Arata was losing her head over the fact that Mew was missing.
Shinobu was trying to calm Arata down, Obanai was heavily contemplating on whether to leave or not, and Mitsuri, who had finally arrived after waiting in the long line at the sakura mochi street stand, was holding the mountain of sakura mochi she bought, watching Shinobu and Arata, awkwardly.
"I'M GOING OUT TO FIND MEW RIGHT NOW!" Arata declared, starting to head for the exit, "SNAKE MAN, GET THE UMBRELLA!"
"I'm not your damn servant, all I said is that I would be nicer!" Obanai hissed back.
Arata hurried out of the room, and into the hallway, where all the blinds were pulled over the windows, blocking the shimmering gold sunlight from touching the space. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, as she faced Muichiro, who was leaning against the wall, his long hair flowing over his face, with his usual blank expression.
"Oh," Muichiro and Arata both said at the same time, noticing each other.
"Arata, are you leaving already?" Muichiro questioned, slightly cocking his head.
"Yeah! I need to go look for Mew!" Arata said, frantically, "Want to help?"
"Mew..." Muichiro closed his eyes as his misted memory stirred, then opened his dulled, mint-green eyes again, "Oh, you mean this cat?"
Seemingly pulling it out of thin air, Muichiro held out a familiar-looking battered cardboard box. From inside, there was the sound of a quiet purr. Arata's face lit up with surprise and relief, as her mouth stretched into an uncontrollable smile.
"MEEEEWWW!" Arata shouted, beaming, taking out Mew from the box, "MEEEEWWW! I'M SO SORRY I LEFT YOU AT JAPAN'S SEA! I WAS JUST SO HAPPY TO SEE MITSI!"
Mew purred in response, looking a little disgruntled from staying in the dark and beat-up box for so long, but licked Arata's hand gently in a reassuring manner.
"That tickles, Mew!" Arata giggled, then turned to Muichiro with a glowing smile, "Thank you, Moo!"
Muichiro's usual unfazed, blank and empty expression softened the tiniest bit at her words. With a jolt and a small gasp escaping her lips, Arata turned and headed back into the room where everybody was.
"I need to tell Butterfly Lady that I found Mew!"
The first thing she saw when she entered the room again was a horrendous mountain of pink, cherry-blossom-patterned boxes, towering over her, carried by the most familiar-looking figure with pink-fading-to-green braided hair.
"Mitsiiii!" Arata gasped, slightly perturbed at the sight of the colossal stack Mitsuri was carrying.
"Arata! Look!" Mitsuri beamed, setting down the boxes on a nearby table, then gesticulating with a wide smile, "Sakura mochi! I bought lots, so we can all share, just like you asked!"
"MITSIIIIII!" Arata jumped up and down excitedly, "MITSI BROUGHT YUMMY BREAD!"
"It's not bread," Mitsuri corrected, smiling, "It's called sakura mochi!"
"Mitsuri..." Shinobu chided, looking apprehensively at the boxes, "I think you bought a little... too much..."
"Don't worry! I'll take the leftovers,"
"Butterfly Lady!" Arata walked up to Shinobu, holding out Mew, "Look! I found Mew! Moo gave me Mew!"
"Oh, I see," Shinobu smiled, massaging Mew's head, "That's good. She's a very adorable cat. Let's hand out the sakura mochi Mitsuri bought,"
"Okay!"
Mitsuri and Shinobu, along with Arata, distributed boxes of sakura mochi to the numerous Kakushi working at the Mansion, to Aoi, Kanao, Naho, Kiyo, Sumi, and the two other Hashiras that were hanging around.
"Let's send some to the Hashiras by crow," Shinobu suggested, "Like we did with the donuts we made,"
Arata perked up, "Ooh! Can I write a note to them?"
"Sure,"
"Here you go, Iguro!" Mitsuri gently placed the flowery box into Obanai's hands, with a bright and sweet smile.
"I'm going to give this to Moo!" Arata announced, holding the box above her head, and exiting the room.
When she came back, smiling broadly, the sweet, fragrant smell coming from the sakura mochi flooded the air. The scent aromatic scent was particularly strong for Arata, a demon, as her senses were heightened. Licking her lips eagerly and taking in the flowery aroma, she wanted to try one of the sakura mochis as well. An idea lit up in her head, and she made her way toward Mitsuri.
"Mitsi!" Arata tugged on the hem of Mitsuri's sleeve, "Mitsi!"
Mitsuri, who was engrossed in a deep conversation with Obanai, looked down.
"Yeah, Arata?" She smiled.
Behind her, Obanai was glaring, irritated, at Arata, who was interrupting them. Arata grabbed a sakura mochi out of the box she was holding with her other hand, then placed it into Mitsuri's hand.
She pointed at her mouth, "Feed me!"
"Can't you feed yourself?" Obanai hissed.
Arata stuck out her tongue at him in reply.
"Awww! How adorable! It's fine, Iguro!" Mitsuri gushed, patting Arata's head, and fed her the little pink ball that was enveloped with a green leaf, "Here you go!"
"Mmmmmm!" Arata beamed, her eyes lighting up, "Ish yummy, Mishi!"
"Riiiight? It's delicious! Here, have another~!"
"Yummy!" Arata repeated, smacking her lips with a bright grin.
Behind them, Kaburamaru let out a small hiss, rising from Obanai's shoulders.
"Do you want some too?" Arata asked, handing out a mochi to the white snake, "Here, Snakey!"
Kaburamaru's ruby, slit eyes blinked curiously down at the delicacy, and licked it with its forked tongue, but didn't eat it. Arata giggled and patted the white snake.
"Kanroji," Obanai said, after a period of time had passed, "We should go,"
"Aww, can't we stay a little more?" Mitsuri cried, braiding Arata's hair.
"Yeah! Mitsi! Banana! Stay!" Arata pouted.
"... We can stay for a bit, I guess. But, we still have Hashira duties to attend to, Kanroji,"
"Boring," Arata huffed, "What's a hashy-washy anyway?"
Mitsuri giggled, caressing Arata's head briefly before continuing to braid her hair, "I thought you would know by now, Arata! We're Hashira!"
"I know that, Mitsi, but what do you guys do?" Arata questioned, curiously.
"We're the pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps, the strongest and most capable," Mitsuri explained, smiling proudly, "We slay evil demons and protect civilians!"
"I'm not evil!" Arata protested, looking indignant, "I just like doing bad things like stealing!"
"Oh - I didn't mean to say that you're evil..." Mitsuri apologized, "I meant the other demons. We'll never slay you since you don't eat humans. And stealing is bad," She added.
Arata pouted, then recalled, "Oh, I think I asked Cat-napper what a hashy-washy was before... he said something like you did,"
"Then why did you ask what a Hashira's role was if you knew?" Obanai said, irritably.
"I forgot what Cat-napper said,"
Obanai mentally facepalmed, desperately wanting to leave, but Mitsuri, on the other hand, smiled and laughed.
"I like your nicknames for the Hashira," Mitsuri giggled, "Even if they're funny and make no sense,"
"They do make sense!" Arata huffed.
"You call Himejima 'Cat-napper'," Obanai pointed out.
Arata blinked, looking completely bewildered, "Who's heeby-jeeby?"
"PFFT-" Mitsuri choked, holding back her laughter.
Ah... I shouldn't laugh, I shouldn't laugh... Mitsuri told herself.
"I-Iguro means Gyomei Himejima..." Mitsuri clarified to Arata.
"Ohh! That's because Gummy is a cat-napper!" Arata said, waving her hand impatiently as if she was stating the obvious, "He cat-napped Mew once!"
"When?" Mitsuri questioned, curiously.
"Uhh... mmm... well..." Arata racked her memory desperately, faintly remembering a connection to the event, and blurted out, "Salami's bandaid trial!"
"... What?" Obanai and Mitsuri said, blankly, at the same time.
The three stared at each other for a moment, each with an equally perplexed and dumbfounded expression. In the background, the crowd in the room was starting to thin, and only Obanai, Mitsuri, and Arata were left; many of the Kakushi left, Aoi, Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi exited the room to tend to their chores, Shinobu went to deal with her duties, and Kanao mysteriously disappeared.
"Oh!" Mitsuri said, finally, breaking the awkward silence, "Did you mean the Hashira trial? That's when you gave Shinazugawa a bandaid..."
"Yeah! At the bandaid trial, Gummy saw Mew and cat-napped Mew!" Arata exclaimed, "That's why Gummy is a cat-napper!"
"Then why do you call Shinazugawa 'Salami'?"
"Because... that's his name...?" Arata replied, puzzled, "Salami Shigga-wagga...?"
This time, Mitsuri couldn't hold it back and burst into laughter. Her voice echoed in the spacious room as though it was amplified tenfold. Her cheeks flushed as she arched over, holding her stomach. Arata blinked, concerned and confused, patting Mitsuri's back awkwardly.
"A-Arata..." Mitsuri coughed, tears in her eyes, "That's not his n-name, silly..."
"It's not? Oh, yeah... I think he said it's not..."
"I don't want to hear the reasoning behind the other nicknames, anymore," Obanai sighed.
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"OWL! KAN-KAN CAN DO MAGIC!"
"Aoi, not 'owl', Arata..."
"Magic?"
"Arata, that's not magic, haha,"
"Kanao's just blowing bubbles,"
"Do you want to try?"
In the late evening, around an hour before midnight, several people were sitting on the porch at the Butterfly Mansion. Kanao was blowing bubbles, which was a hobby of hers, Arata was watching her, amazed; Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi were accompanying them as well, and Aoi had come out to collect the laundry.
"Yeah! I wanna try! Kan-Kan, can I try doing magic too?"
Kanao smiled, said nothing, and handed the bubble-blowing pipe to Arata, who was practically vibrating and glowing with excitement. She brought it to her mouth, took a deep breath, and blew. Breathtakingly beautiful rainbow-tinted bubbles emitted from the pipe, floating high in the air, as though it was reaching for the twinkling stars above, and disappeared.
Arata's eyes shined with elation, "So cool! Kan-Kan, I'm doing magic! Like you!"
She breathed in heavily and blew again; a jumble of colorful bubbles raced out of the end of the pipe, like sparkles of glowing fireflies escaping into the sky or glittering fish jumping from the waves and waves of the endless sea, pouring into the late evening air. To Arata, it really did seem like magic.
"This is so fun!" Arata beamed.
"It's my hobby to blow bubbles," Kanao said, softly, with a smile, "Because it's relaxing and fun,"
"I wanna try!" Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi exclaimed, at the same time.
They took turns blowing bubbles, each beaming as if it was the most delightful thing to do. Aoi and Arata started a conversation about the latter's adventures during the time she ran away from the Butterfly Mansion. Afterward, Aoi started to talk about her day-to-day life at the Butterfly Mansion.
This had led to an enraged Aoi chasing Arata around the porch, due to the recently discovered fact that Arata was the culprit to most of the messes and accidents around the Butterfly Mansion that no one knew caused.
"I HAD TO CLEAN EIGHT ROOMS!" Aoi yelled, angrily, "IN A DAY!"
"Eight? But I accidentally messed up nine rooms!"
"WHAT?"
"Did you check Butterfly Lady's room? I accidentally left bread in there!"
"YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED IN SHINOBU'S ROOM! AND YOU LEFT BREAD AGAIN? TELL ME IT'S NOT GROSS AND MOLDY LIKE LAST TIME,"
"Uhhh..."
"ARATA, YOU LITTLE-"
"I'M SORRY, OWL! I DIDN'T MEAN TO GET CRUMBS ALL OVER INOSI'S MASK-"
"DID YOU KNOW HOW LONG THAT TOOK ME TO CLEAN? NOT TO MENTION HOW MUCH HELL HE CAUSED BECAUSE OF THAT!"
"- OR BREAK ZENI'S MEDICINE-"
"THAT WAS ALSO YOU?"
"AAAAAAAAHHHH! I'M SORRYYYYY!"
"Uh... is this a bad time...?" A voice came from the entrance to the Butterfly Mansion.
Aoi and Arata both paused, momentarily, to see who it was: a messy, black-haired individual with dark, sapphire-blue eyes, wearing a haori that had two different patterns.
"GIIIII-GIIIIIIIIII!" Arata cried, hiding behind him, "HELP ME!"
The moment Arata returned to the Butterfly Mansion, Shinobu immediately sent a crow to Giyu Tomioka, informing him of the news, as he was heavily worried and searching intensely for Arata (in his own way). With Shinobu's permission, Giyu has planned to spend some time with Arata during the night, like they had used to.
However, what awaited him, when he arrived at the Butterfly Mansion, was the chaotic sight of Arata ran for her life and Aoi chased her in a frenzy all around the porch, both screaming at the top of their lungs; Kanao watching the two, awkwardly, while Naho, Kiyo, and Sumi were undisturbed and blowing bubbles.
"GI-GIII! LET'S GO TO JAPAN'S SEA AND STEAL BREAD!" Arata exclaimed, running away from the Butterfly Mansion and pulling Giyu with her.
They were heading their way to the busy street where the restaurant 'Sea of Japan' and bakery the two so often visited was. In the sky, the moon and sparkling stars were shrouded by wispy clouds; it was a cloudy night. The air was cool, with the wind scarcely blowing through the air, yet the trees and bushes still rustled here and there.
Arata started sharing her stories about what happened when she was away from the Butterfly Mansion, and Giyu listened, slightly surprised that she had met Sanemi, Gyomei, and Muichiro on her adventures. When they reached the bakery, Giyu bought Arata a red bean bun and a couple of other pastries the latter wanted.
Biting and chewing the red bean bun, it was Arata's turn to listen to Giyu talk, as he told her about some of the things he did, after giving into Arata's pestering requests. Giyu, who didn't enjoy talking a lot, left out a lot of details and kept his stories short and simple, but Arata still enjoyed their conversation nonetheless.
At 'Sea of Japan', the old waitress seemed to recognize Giyu and Arata due to how frequently they came, and had a brief but nice chat. She seemed to be still under the impression that Arata was Giyu's child, and Giyu and Shinobu were a couple. The two ordered salmon daikon and numerous bread rolls, ate their respective food (occasionally, Arata stole from Giyu's bowl), and left.
Some time later, when the two were on their way to headed back to the Butterfly Mansion, Arata fell asleep and Giyu had to carry her the rest of the trip. During that time, the two bumped into the middle-aged man from chapter twelve, who seemed to be in a bad mood.
"IT'S YOU!"
"Do I know you...?"
The middle-aged man proceeded to yell and insult Giyu with a foul range of words, spit flying from his mouth like a rabid dog. Giyu, who was unfazed, merely looked at him with his usual cold expression:
"Please be quiet, Arata's asleep,"
And walked away, back to the Butterfly Mansion.