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If her brother was happy then she was happy. Which was funny since Giyuu rarely showed any emotion so it was hard to tell (not for Tsutako though).
She practically raised him since their parents were never home for whatever reason. Ever since she was 11, it was just her and her little brother. Back then she would angrily grumble about how unfair it was that she had to give up time to look after him. Walks home weren't spent talking to her friends discussing their crushes and whatever 5th graders talked about back then, they were spent walking home with a shopping bag in one hand, and Giyuu's in the other as she pondered about whether or not she could make dinner with the amount of rice they had left at home. (Not only did she not bring enough money for a new bag of rice, she was not sure how she would be able to carry it with the already heavy bag of groceries in her hand.)
Saturdays weren't break days, they were days she hoped it wouldn't rain so she could hang the laundry up to dry on the balcony of their small apartment, as she tried not to fall off the laundry basket she used as a little makeshift step ladder because she just wasn't tall enough to hang it up herself.
Sundays were used to finish up any homework late in the night, given to her by the teachers who tried to understand her situation, while also trying to get a 7 year old Giyuu to fall asleep so he could go to school the next day since he just would not tell her what was making it so hard for him to sleep.
But she wasn't mad at Giyuu. She was frustrated, sure. She had to admit that, yeah, she was tired at having to think of new ways to get Giyuu to eat the daikon in his dinner, or how she constantly pricked her finger on the stupid needle trying to mend the clothes she hopes will last for another month or so. While wishing Giyuu would stop asking about when their parents would come home because she didn't know, and just wished they wouldn't have to show their sorry faces to Giyuu and just continue to send them money every month through the mail
No matter how many 6th graders she would have to beat up for picking on Giyuu. (To which Giyuu was able to sleep more soundly the nights after, because Tsutako realized the reason behind her brother's bad sleeping habits were because he was too nervous to go to school, a problem which Tsutako fixed at the cost of getting suspended for a week but that wasn't important.)
And if it meant Giyuu could go to school without having to wear hand-me-downs from her she would gladly fork over the money, in exchange for wearing shirts with faded logos and loose threads.
While not hesitating to cut her hair short because it was easier to do the chores without it getting in the way and without the hassle of tying it up. Even though he insisted she didn't have to since he knew she liked to make hair ornaments and would have no way to use any if she cut it to the ends of her ears.
And did not care when she missed a day of high school to attend parents day for Giyuu. (She knew their parents wouldn't come) Because the way his face lit up and he smiled when she walked into the classroom and stood behind his desk in the very back, was worth missing a day of school. Because it meant Giyuu could introduce her to the Sabito and Makomo he talked about so much at home.
She would still worry about him.
Even if he could eat daikon without Tsutako having to struggle to put it in his mouth.
Even if he grew taller than her and could hang up the laundry with ease without having to stand on a stupid stupid old laundry basket.
Even if he could hold 3 bags of groceries and a new bag of rice on their way home from a shopping trip. Displaying the strength he most likely got from participating in the kendo club.
Even if he graduated college, had a job, and enough money to buy her new clothes so she didn't have mend those old ones she wore all the time. (Look, she bought those a year ago and was going her moneys worth)
Even if he insisted that there was nothing for her to worry about after he moved out, after Tsutako told him she was getting engaged as he wanted to make room for his in-law.
She's his older sister, you can't just stop her from worrying about her awkward, dummy, of a little brother.
-
And lately she's been noticing he's been acting...strange. Giyuu brushes it off as nothing but she can tell.
"Giyuu, tell me, did something good happen?" She asks him on one of Giyuu's weekend visits.
"No, nothing in particular, why?" Said Giyuu.
"Well, I just noticed you've been looking rather cheerful lately." She states.
"How can you tell?" He asks, genuinely curious since only Tsutako and one other person can tell how he's feeling behind that deadpan expression.
"It's just-" Tsutako says but is interrupted by the vibrating noise Giyuu's phone makes. He turns it on and his face immediately lights up with a small smile appearing on his face as Tsutako wonders just what was on his phone that is making her little brother so happy.
Giyuu realizes he's probably smiling like an idiot and quickly shuts his device off to look at his sister who gives him a look of suspicion.
"Giyuu..."
"Yes?" He says and tries to sound as calm as possible, luckily his expression barely gave anything away.
"Are you, dating someone at the moment? Is that why you were smiling? Because you were checking a text they sent you?" Tsutako probes and hopes to tease him a bit. However, she did not expect for him to actually nod and let out a quiet 'yeah'. "Wait! Are you serious?! My brother found himself a partner?"
"Even if I tried to lie you'd find out eventually." Giyuu says in resignment as he sees the excitement on his sister's face that looks like she'll start yelling for the whole neighborhood to hear. Then his phone vibrates again and his eyes light up when he turns it on. Giyuu quickly gets up and grabs his jacket, "I'm gonna head home now Onee-san. I just remembered I...have to do something." To which Tsutako only nodded and watched as her brother hurriedly walked out the door and didn't hear it when she tried to tell him he was wearing his right shoe in his left foot, and his jacket inside out.
-
She decides that Giyuu could introduce her to whoever he was seeing when he was ready. She was curious of course, they had to be someone special if Giyuu smiled just by looking at a text. (He usually seemed slightly annoyed when he got texts from people like Shinobu)
But still, she needed to make sure he was getting the proper nutrients.
So on a Sunday Tsutako stood in the chilly autumn morning infront of Giyuu's apartment, the breeze made the strands at the front of her face move as the rest of her was tied in a braid and kept in place with a hair tie attatched to a little plastic radish (which she made herself). She held a bag which contained a large box of tupperware filled with simmered salmon with daikon.
She knocked at the door but there was no answer. She didn't have her phone with her so there wasn't any way to call him, and she really did not feeling like yelling through the door for him to open it so early in the morning. (Last time she did that, Giyuu's neighbor Rengoku took that as a challenge for a screaming contest). Was he asleep? Well she wasn't going blame Giyuu for sleeping in on a weekend, so she lifted up the doormat to reveal her brother's spare key before unlocking the door and quietly taking off her shoes at the genkan.
His shoes were there so at least she knew he was home. Except, there were another pair of shoes placed neatly beside Giyuu's. A pair of bright red sneakers with a symbol of the sun on them. If she didn't know any better she would say they belonged to Giyuu as well but the size was smaller than his and she knew for a fact that her brother either wore sandals and socks or sophisticated dress shoes.
She shuffled along the floor and hoped not to make too much noise and placed the bag of food on a nearby table. Tsutako was going to write a little note for him to see when he woke up. But she heard footsteps coming from behind her and just assumed that it was Giyuu.
"Ah, Giyuu, I brought you some food so go ahead and eat it-" She said but clamped her mouth shut when she turned around and saw someone who was, in fact, not Giyuu.
Instead there stood a teenage looking, burgandy haired boy, with a scar on the right side of his forehead wearing a hanafuda earring on each ear. His hair was a mess as he stood in a pair of shorts, and...a sweater that said 'Kimetsu Gakuen kendo club of 2010', so it undoubtedly belonged to Giyuu since it looked 2 sizes too big on the one wearing it. When they locked eyes she could tell he was equally just as suprised as she was.
"Uh-um, are you, Giyuu-san's older sister?" The boy asked nervously.
"Yes, are you...my brother's friend?"
"Friend? Well, I guess you could call me that." He said. And scratched the top of his messy hair awkwardly.
Giyuu appeared out of the hallway, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants which made Tsutako even more confused. Her brother rubbed at his eyes and yawned a bit, did he just wake up? "Tanjirou, who are yoy talking to?" He said. Wait, what are those marks all over him? They look like...no, no way. Are he and that boy...it can't be...
The three stood in silence, while the boy (or Tanjirou, as she heard her brother call him) and Tsutako waited for Giyuu to be fully awake.
"Oh, Onee-san? Is that, " He yawns again, "you? What are you doing here?"
"I came by to drop off some food I made for you." She answers, her eyes moving from her brother, to her little brother's "friend".
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Wait, Onee-san?" Giyuu says with a bit of suprise this time. (Okay, so at least he was fully awake now) he looked at his sister, it was hard to tell but he was definitely suprised. He looked down at his half-naked figure with red little marks all over it. "Could you...give me a second? I'd like to go put a shirt on." He left the room and Tsutako swears that those were scratch marks on his back (and she knows he doesn't own a cat, but decides to pretend she never saw a thing), which left her and the burgandy haired boy to face each other awkwardly.
"So, you're Tsutako-san right? Sorry if you don't like me using your first name, Giyuu-san told me you were married so I have no idea what your last name is. I'm Tanjirou Kamado by the way, it's nice to meet you." The boy said.
"No, no, it's alright. It's nice to meet you as well." He didn't respond so she took that as a chance to keep talking. "So, how long have you known Giyuu?"
"Oh! I've known him since I was a freshman in university! Giyuu-san was my senpai, I was in the kendo club with him. We became close after he beat me in a match! So...I've known him for..." Tanjirou brightened as he seemed to be recalling a pleasent memory and started to count his fingers. "I've known him for 3 years! As you can see, we still hang out even after he graduated." Tsutako sighed in relief, she thought Tanjirou was a highschool student. Well at least Giyuu wasn't hanging around minors.
"Well thank you for treating my brother so well. It's not often that he lets people into his home, so you must be a very important friend to him." Which was true, Giyuu was already pretty hesitant letting even Makomo and Sabito come over to his home. (A fact she knows because Makomo sent her an overdramatic text followed by a string of emojis, detailing how Giyuu was unwilling to allow his dearest and closest friends into his humble abode the first time he moved into his current apartment).
"what? Oh not at all! If anything, I'm the one being treated so well by Giyuu san!" He states.
"So I see that you've become rather acquainted with Tanjirou now." Giyuu says and motions for all of them to sit around his dinner table, Tsutako sitting infront of the pair of Tanjirou and Giyuu.
Tanjirou tugs on Giyuu's shirt sleeve, for him to lean down. He whispers something in Giyuu's ear. And then they both look at each other.
"Do you want to let her know?" Giyuu says softly to Tanjirou, this seemed like a bit of an important talk but Tsutako couldn't just get up, leave, and wait for them to finish. So she pulled out her phone and pretended to scroll through the instagram feed she never opened up with an ear listening in on her brother's conversation.
"I mean, I'm fine with anything, but she's your sister Giyuu-san." Tanjirou says in an even softer voice.
"I'm willing to if you're ready." Giyuu replies to Tanjirou. Normally, Giyuu was pretty nonchalant with most people. He didn't hesitate to third-wheel on Sabito's date in highschool (well, they cheated on Sabito later on so maybe it was for the best?). Or how he did not hesitate to barge into Makomo's home and grab the phone charger she took from him (while Makomo was in an important zoom call for work). And don't get her started on the he showed no remorse when he got suspended for fighting with Sanemi in middle school. ( Which, to this day he claims was just him and Senami practicing kendo, at the back of the school, with their fists, after kendo practice ended for the day, after Sanemi called him a weakling.)
But this time he seemed to be putting in more thought and care into the way he talked with Tanjirou. (Not to say Giyuu didn't care about his friends, she just never saw his expression so, soft? Kind? She wasn't sure to how to describe it)
Giyuu stared into his "friend"'s eyes for a while before nodding at him and turning to Tsutako.
"Onee-san, I wanted to introduce you to him soem other time, in a more formal way." Giyuu says. "But, I have a feeling you already caught on."
"So...you and Tanjirou-kun are..." She says calmly.
"That's right, I'm Giyuu-san's boyfriend." Tanjirou says and flushes a soft shade of red at his own words.
"Does anyone else know?" She asked.
Giyuu shook his head. "No, I wanted you to be the first one to know. You've always been there for me. So I just wanted my sister to meet him before I tell anyone else."
Tsutako smiles and sees how Giyuu puts his atop of Tanjirou's. He looks a bit nervous, wondering if Tsutako will accept their relationship.
"Well, I'm just glad that my little brother is happy. If you're happy, then I am too." At those words, they both smile (Tanjirou's smile a little bigger than Giyuu's but the amount of happiness is just the same).
"I, well, thanks. I mean it. Thank you for everything Onee-san." Giyuu says.
"What kind of big sister would I be if I don't accept my little brother's relationship? Especially when the two of you look so happy."
"Thank you as well Tsutako-san." Tanjirou says and can hardly contain the grin on his face from growing wider.
"Hehe, Tanjirou-kun, feel free to call me Onee-san if you like." She grins.
She spends the rest of the time getting to know Tanjirou. Learning that he's the oldest with 5 siblings in his family, and that he, similar to Tsutako, took care of and helped to provide for them. That Giyuu asked him out after he won an award in kendo to prove he was "worthy" pf being Tanjirou's boyfriend. (To which Tanjirou said he proabably would have accepted even if he hadn't won). And that he was an excellent cook that knew better than to let her brother near a stove.
The honest look in his eyes made it very apparent to her that he would most definitely be able to look after Giyuu.
So now,
Tsutako knows,
She doesn't have to worry anymore.