Chapter Text
“Are you lost?”
In the garden of the Butterfly Estate, on a morning sunny day in spring, on a bench underneath a beautiful tree in bloom with a pack of her favorite sakura mochi, Mitsuri meets Muichirou.
He’s a short boy in a modified rendition of their Demon Slayer Corps uniform, wandering through the halls with this dazed sort of expression. She must have seen him at least seven times before she had to say something.
The child doesn’t glance at her, just continues walking down the hall, and Mitsuri gets up from her seat, tucking her lunch away.
“Hello? Are you okay?” she asks, strolling right up beside the boy.
The little boy comes to a stop and looks up at her. He tilts his head to the side, wordlessly staring at her with a blank, dazed glint to those turquoise eyes like he’s sleepy or bored.
Mitsuri kneels to one knee so they can be at an even height.
“Are you hurt? Is that why you’re here? Where’s your mama and papa?”
“My mother? My father? Hmmm.” The boy crosses his arms and tilts his head to the other side slowly as he thinks. It’s actually… kind of adorable! How cute! It takes all Mitsuri has to not smile giddily and squeeze the child to her chest.
“I don’t know,” is the delayed response. Then eyes stray to her abnormally vibrant hair. Before the familiar insecurity can take over and she starts making excuses, the boy speaks first. “Your hair. It’s really pretty.”
Eh? Really? Seriously?! But there’s no fear, no scorn or mockery, only honesty in the boy’s face and Mitsuri beams. What a first!
“Thank you! Not many people like it. A lot think I’m a hoodlum or a bad person for having such a wild color. You’re one of the few strangers who don’t think so! Do you want candy? Maybe some sakura mochi? I have a whole—”
Wait, wait, wait. That’s not the issue at hand. There’s a lost child! She can’t leave him be. Rengoku will surely understand why she’ll be late for their lunch and training session afterward. Mitsuri smiles gently and takes the boy’s hand with hers, standing back up.
“Big Sister Mitsuri is going to help you find your mom and dad, okay? Come on, let’s go for a little walk! They can't possibly be far.”
The boy hums again, shaking his head as he follows along with her whims.
They walk all over the compound, hand in hand, Mitsuri pointing to any adultish-looking person and the boy squinting at them in thought before shrugging.
I don’t know. I don’t think that’s them. I don’t remember, are the boy’s answer.
Does he need glasses? Can he just not see his parents? He’s squinting at everybody a lot and taking his time answering, Mitsuri ponders worriedly, unaware of the passing kakushi and other slayers staring at them with varying degrees of shock and wonder. They whisper amongst themselves as Mitsuri debates on what to do next.
Walking around just hoping they’ll come across the parents doesn’t seem to be working out. What should she do next?
The Master knows every corp member. He should know who this child belongs to! But what if he’s too busy and sick to be bothered with?
Shinobu also knows a lot of people. Plus Shinobu is smart. The smartest person she knows. She’ll know what to do! But what if she’s busy too?! Running the main healing center, inventing new medicine and poisons, slaying demons. Is it alright for her to put more work on top of Shinobu’s already mountainous load?
“Kanroji, there you are!”
Mitsuri perks up, turning around to find her former trainer, now a colleague, coming towards them. Rengoku! Rengoku also knows a lot of the corps members! Bright, red-yellow eyes fall to the boy beside her and they flicker with recognition. “Oh, Tokito, you’re here as well! I see you two are already acquainted! Would you like to join us for lunch?”
Huh? Does Rengoku know this child? Even better! Then together they can find this child’s parents and go about their day like planned.
Wait.
What did Rengoku say?
Tokito?
It was Tokito, right?!
The Tokito?! As in the Tokito Muichirou the Mist Pillar?! As in the youngest demon slayer to become a Pillar in history?! As in the incredibly talented swordsman Rengoku has been telling her about for the past couple weeks? That Tokito Muichirou?! No way this cute, adorable child can be him!
But Rengoku is patting Muichirou’s back with familiarity and Muichirou isn’t correcting Rengoku.
“You’re… Tokito the Mist Pillar?” Mitsuri mutters, knees weak as the little boy looks up at her and nods.
Oh.
Ah.
She sees.
How silly of her!
What a big, grand mistake she has made!
An unforgivable crime as some may put it!
“I’m so sorry!” she says, falling to one knee and bowing her head, red-hot embarrassment flushing through her. Her cheeks burn in shame. “Please forgive me for speaking so casually with you. I didn’t mean to distract you and pull you away from your original destination. And, um, I’m sorry for treating you like a child, holding your hand and guiding you around. I—um—didn’t know and, um—”
Shut up already! You’re making this a thousand times worse!
Okay, but, why hadn’t Muichirou said anything to her?! Why hadn’t he stopped her?! Why did he allow himself to be treated like some lost child??? Wait, why is she blaming him? She’s the one that completely messed up here! What kind of slayer doesn’t know who the Pillars are? Especially considering you’re friends with half of them! Stupid, stupid, stupid.
How embarrassing. Super embarrassing! She’s going to die from this shame. And worse yet, worse than all of this, is how silent Muichirou is. He hasn’t said a single word nor a scold. Not even a sound of disdain! This deafening silence is definitely worse! She’ll really die if nobody says anything soon!
Ages must have passed before Mitsuri gains the courage to peek a glance upwards. Rengoku has his arms crossed, a clueless smile on his face as he looks between her and the Mist Pillar. Muichirou for his part isn’t glaring at her (Yay!) but staring at the sky.
It’s a few more minutes of painful, awkward silence before Mitsuri blurts out hesitantly, “Um, hello?”
“Hm?” Muichirou lowers his eyes, crossing his arms, head tilting to the side like earlier. It’s so cute. It takes all Mitsuri has not to grin. You must resist! If you smile now, you’ll make this a thousand times worse. Don’t screw up more than you already have, Mitsuri! So Mitsuri waits with bated breath, struggling to breathe with how hard she’s holding back her grin. She really hopes it doesn’t show on her face.
Muichirou hums again, head tilting to the other side.
“Do I know you?”
…
Huh?
“Tokito suffers from short-term memory loss,” Rengoku explains, offering a hand to help her up. “Don’t let it get to you. He also doesn’t remember me.”
Mitsuri blinks in confusion.
What?
“Tokito, we’re about to go have lunch at this new shop. Want to join us?” Rengoku says to Muichirou, turning away from her.
The danger has passed. It looks like Muichirou isn’t angry at her. But Mitsuri’s still trying to wrap her head around all this, around the fact that—
“I can’t. I had…something to do. Something important.” Muichirou frowns for a bit before his face smooths over. “I don’t remember though.”
That someone like Muichirou with his condition is in the organization much less one of the highest ranking positions there is.
Rengoku and Muichirou are talking more about arranging a lunch date. A simple, mundane topic that’s safe and acceptable. And if she wants to maintain this cordial atmosphere, then she should follow suit but her curiosity overrides her. Mitsuri tries not to let her unease show in her wavering smile.
“Um, sorry to intrude and sorry for such personal questions, but do you really not remember your mom and dad?”
“No,” Muichirou says emotionlessly.
“Where are you from? Maybe I can help you look for them , ” she offers, but Rengoku is shaking his head slightly. Gone, he mouths and oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
Gone? So they’re dead?
Does this mean Muichirou is all alone in this world? He must be if he’s allowed to be here. It took a lot of effort just to convince her mom and dad to let her go train. And she was much older than Muichirou is now when she finally went through the final selection.
To have nobody stop him. To have nobody fret over him or patch his wounds. To not have a warm house to go back to. To have no one to share a meal with. To have no one to welcome him home.
How horrible. How awful.
The tears come despite her efforts to hold them back. She apologizes and struggles more to bite back the tears, stepping back to let Rengoku and Muichirou progress the conversation to a different topic as she composes herself.
But just the thought of it, the picture of it, of Muichirou alone in an empty house or a table, to come home without someone to greet him or see him off, makes her eyes water again.
It’s just too sad to think about.
Mitsuri isn’t blind. She knows the majority of the Demon Slayers Corps are made of members who lost some or all they hold dear to the demons. Then there are those who’s family has been in the business for generations. She’s a bit of an outlier, finding them by mistake, rather than from grief or duty.
She tries her best for her small talk not to center around family. The weather is always safe. ‘How are you?’ can be dicey especially when she asks someone as gloomy as Tomioka or as snarky as Shinazugawa. ‘What are your dreams?’ is usually fine too.
Rengoku would love to travel and organize his family’s library, maybe spend an afternoon or two going over their history. And of course, traveling and eating good food! Just thinking of all the stalls they’ll visit is making her mouth water.
Uzui’s is to start a family and settle down with his three beautiful wives! Mitsuri has no doubt their children will be beautiful. Who knows, maybe she can be their Fun Auntie and take them out for a few outings!
Tomioka’s dreams are a mystery. It’s hard to catch a moment with the person. And whenever she manages to do so, Tomioka is a man of few words and very hard to converse with. But that mysterious aura is what makes him so cool! And plus he’s not as scary as Shinazugawa so Mitsuri isn’t too bummed out by the lack of participation.
Muichirou is kind of similar to Tomioka in that fashion. Hard to talk with and not good at keeping the conversation going. At least Muichirou just wanders off lost in thought compared to Tomioka’s attempts to run from her.
Not that any of that will deter Mitsuri!
Maybe Muichirou and Tomioka are just shy. Whatever the case, Mitsuri will break through that grumpy layer. She just knows Muichirou is a sweet soul underneath even though he always looks a little lost and a little sad.
She knows he’s capable. He has to be if he’s a Pillar. But it’s just so hard to remember that when he’s so small and unassuming. It’s a horrible habit, she knows. She’s doing her best to break that line of thought. If Muichirou wanted, he could beat her blindfolded.
Worse yet is her desire to braid his hair. It just looks so smooth and flowy. Rengoku let her do it once to his hair. Uzui and Shinobu too. But their hair isn't as long as hers so their braids end much, much shorter. Muichirou though… his braids might be as long as hers!
Well, Mitsuri will work her way up to braiding, and if that never happens, then she’ll ask Shinobu to consider growing her hair out.
And even worse than her habit of forgetting Muichirou’s rank or wanting to braid Muichirou’s hair, it’s her inability to remain professional.
They haven’t come across each other much after their initial meeting. Maybe once or twice? And it is always from afar with a road separating them with her swinging her arm back and forth and yelling her greeting. Muichirou would give her a slight tilt of his head with a little wrinkle in his forehead as he thinks before giving her a small wave back, no recognition behind his eyes.
This is the first time they’re a couple meters from each other and Mitsuri rushes to finish slurping her udon, waving her hand frantically to catch Muichirou’s attention. But the boy continues to walk past the restaurant and Mitsuri panics, swallowing the noodles without chewing and almost choking. But she manages to sputter out his name just in time.
“Muichir—” Wait! He might be younger, but he’s still a higher rank than you! “T-Tokito!” she stutters out the correction.
The slayer pauses, glancing over his shoulder and taking in her Nichirin Blade resting on her belt and her Corps uniform, before fully turning to face her.
“Muichirou is fine. I don’t care which one you use.”
Oh. Mitsuri beams. Hooray! “Well, Muichirou, then! Come in, come in! Are you busy? Do you want anything? My treat!”
Muichirou nods his head and sits down on the seat across from her, not commenting on her stacks and stacks and stacks of finished bowls. Mitsuri orders for him, the Pillar stating he’s fine with whatever.
And while they wait, Mitsuri fills the silence, “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
A head tilts to the side and arms cross over his chest as her superior hums in thought. “We met before?”
“Yes.” Couple times already, but there’s really no point in saying that and there’s really no way she’ll tell him how they first met. “I’m Kanroji Mitsuri.”
“Ah. Okay.” But there’s no familiarity behind his words. Turquoise eyes drift to her pink hair with its green tips and he stares at it for a moment longer before stating, “Your hair is a pretty color.”
The warmth that fills her is not any dimmer than when Muichirou first complimented her hair.
Muichirou said the same thing when we first met. He’s being honest. Then that must really be what he thinks.
“Thank you! If you can believe it, my hair was actually completely black — almost like yours — but somewhere along the way it started changing. Probably because of all the sakura mochi. They’re my favorite food so I eat a whole bunch of them a day. Your hair is very pretty too, Muichirou. Has it always been like that?”
“I don’t know,” Muichirou answers, rubbing the tips of his hair with their pretty turquoise hue in between his fingers, “I don’t remember. But … probably.”
Mitsuri holds back her frown and does her best to not let any pity leak into her smile. “Then do you have a favorite food?”
Muichirou shakes his head. “I don’t remember.”
“What about a favorite color?”
Another shake of the head. “I don’t know.”
“Then what about a dream? When the demons are gone and Muzan is defeated, what would you like to do afterward?”
And another shake. “I don’t have one, I think.”
It’s absurd. It’s like Muichirou has nothing outside of this corp and without meaning to, Mitsuri blurts, “Is there anything you like about life?”
But Muichirou isn’t particularly repulsed by her forwardness, simply crossing his arms and tilting his head back to look at the ceiling.
“Life… there’s more to life than getting stronger and killing demons?”
Mitsuri’s heart breaks and she’s in danger of crying again. It’s nothing but horribleness all around. Before the tears can come, however, the food arrives first. It’s not sightly to cry, especially in a setting such as this when they’re supposed to be enjoying their food.
And what kind of person would she be? Crying when she’s not the one suffering? Crying when she has no right to? That would be ridiculous of her. Ridiculous and weak.
So instead Mitsuri channels her inner strength and keeps her face straight. She thinks of Shinobu with her warm gentleness and Rengoku with his vibrant enthusiasm.
To let the young buds blossom, Rengoku had said once upon a time to her.
To let them flourish. To help them grow. To support them against the hardships of life.
Mitsuri is going to do exactly that.
“Let’s find something together, Muichirou,” Mitsuri declares as she leans across the table and wraps her hands around Muichirou’s, “Something that’ll make you love life. Let’s find that thing together.”