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“Alright Mitsuri, you’re all good to clock out!”
“Wha? But we’ve still got a couple more hours until the sun sets!”
“Yeah, but it’s your birthday! Plus you’ve been putting a lot of work in! Go ahead and take tomorrow off kid, happy birthday!”
“Really?! Thank you Mr. Warren!!” Mitsuri chimed, before taking her leave.
The Love Pillar sighed happily as she left the job site. She loved her little modern life! It had been a few months since they made their move, and she was finally settling in. Although she wished she could help by fighting demons, construction was important work too! Plus, everyone liked her! That made working on her birthday much more tolerable. And now she got to go home early? It was a dream come true!
As Kanroji drove back to her house, she began to try and call her fellow hashira, to let them know she was on her way back. Then…she didn’t. Her mind began to run wild with ideas of a birthday surprise the Hashira could put together! So she put her phone aside, and kept driving along,“Oooh I’m so excited!!~”
The closer Mitsuri got to the hashiras’ mansion, the more ecstatic she got! Maybe Shinobu would make a cake, like she did for the butterfly mansion girls! Maybe Tengen would get fireworks again! She could hardly stand her own excitement. Finally, Mitsuri arrived home, and happily rushed into the house.
“I’m home!...Hello?...” Mitsuri called, trying not to snicker.
The Mansion was quiet: Way too quiet for a nine-person home! There had to be a surprise!! She kept on moving along, until…
THUD!
“Ow!” An unfamiliar, manly voice grunted.
“Whuh?” Mitsuri turned around. Somebody was in their house!! “WHO ARE YOU?!”
“Don’t freak out, I’m--” As the man began to speak, Mitsuri’s instincts took over.
Mitsuri dashed forward, grasping a weapon in her hand. Thankfully, the Love Pillar and the other Hashira didn’t bring their swords in public often, and instead opted to use nonlethal items when necessity arose.
Love Breathing, Seventh Form: Heartthrob Taser!
Mitsuri pressed an Iphone-shaped taser against the intruder, sending a shock through his body. “ACK!!” The man shortly fell to the ground, unconscious from the pillar’s powerful attack.
“Mitsuri! Hey--”
“EEP!!” Mitsuri promptly swung her fist, decking the familiar voice square in the jaw.
“Oomph! Relax! It’s me! It’s Tengen!...ow…”
“Tengen?!” Mitsuri flicked the lightswitch on and rushed over.
Tengen Uzui also laid on the ground, clutching the red spot on his cheek slightly. “Man, that was a flashy hit!”
“I’m so sorry Tengen! T-there was a burglar, and--”
“Burglar? OH! Uh…about that…” Tengen chuckled awkwardly, glancing to said ‘burglar’.
The Stranger was certainly strange in appearance. He was dressed from head to toe in armor! He had short blonde hair, and as he came to, his yellow eyes fluttered open. As he moved, his sword, laying on the ground, began to…shake??
“Mitsuri, this is…what was your name again?”
“Laios,” The Knight rubbed his head. “Uh, I thought you would be back a bit later?”
“Well…who are you, and what are you--”
“SURPRISE!!” The familiar, friendly voice of Kyojuro Rengoku boomed.
The Flame Pillar hurried over, pulling Mitsuri into a tight hug,“Happy Birthday Kanroji!”
Before long, Shinobu Kocho, and Obanai Iguro hurried over as well.
“Happy Birthday, Mitsuri!” Obanai greeted, in a rare instance of sounding happy!
“You’re home Early!” Shinobu chimed, approaching her fellow pillar with a smile.
“Yeah! Boss let me off early!” Mitsuri giggled. “But uh, who’s this??”
“Laios!”
“Yes, but why is he…” Mitsuri trailed off when she realized it was another unfamiliar voice.
A blonde girl hurried over. She was dressed from head to toe in blue robes, and had peculiarly long ears! She carried a staff made of wood, and hurriedly looked the knight over. “You need to be more careful! You look like you’ve been hit by a lightning spell!”
“Yeah, kinda…uh, Mitsuri! This is Marcille. She’s a friend of mine.”
“Mitsuri! You mean…” The Elven woman turned, her frantic expression quickly becoming a forced smile. “Hi there! It’s so great to finally meet you!”
“Uh, hi!” Mitsuri smiled.
“We were hired to cater for your birthday party!” Laios chimed.
Admittedly, this peculiar party wasn’t exactly designed for this type of career. But after a certain mad mage sent them to this peculiar place, they’d been picking up odd jobs in order to keep cash coming in. Including party-catering.
“Wha? Really?!” Mitsuri gasped, her eyes watering. “...WAAAH! Thank you! I’m sorry I tased you!!”
“No no it’s fine…” Laios sighed, finally getting back up on his feet. “Anyways, we’re still kinda setting up, so just give us about five to ten minutes and we’ll be ready!”
“Okay! I’ll go wait in my car, it’ll be like I never got back!!” Mitsuri declared, rushing back out to her car.
“Marcille, go let the others know that she’s outside! I’ll finish setting the banner up.”
“R-right!” Marcille hurried off.
Kyojuro and Obanai staying behind to help, Shinobu followed after the sorceress to the backyard. “We can’t thank you enough for the help, really!”
“Oh please, this is a piece of cake! You don’t wanna know what Laios has put me through back home…” Marcille groaned.
The two women went into the back yard, where everything was being set up.“Okay everyone! Mitsuri will be here sooner than expected, so we’ll have to wrap things up!!~”
“Dammit, Tomioka hurry up!” Sanemi Shinazugawa groaned.
How the Wind Pillar got roped into this was beyond him. Especially after how crazy Kyojuro’s party was, he swore off putting together Uzui’s absurd ideas. But, somehow he got roped into this, and worse yet, he was working with his ‘favorite’ fellow pillar…
“You can’t rush perfection.” Giyu Tomioka responded, finishing the last couple touches on a massive Pinata.
The Water Pillar had been very helpful with getting everything ready, mostly because he’d do whatever Tengen told him to. This included working with Sanemi, again…
“Alright, it’s finished. Now for the candy.” Giyu spoke softly. “Tokito, do you have everything?”
“Yes, we’re finishing right now.” Muichiro Tokito nodded, adding a back of gummy worms to a bowl.
The Mist Pillar was a part of a small group assigned to a very particular job: making the Candy Salad. A Flashy Idea Tengen got from Tiktok, the idea was to load a bowl of candy with an assortment of sweets, each picked by the partygoers! However, Tokito’s only duty was pouring candies in, sorting them fell on the others.
“Alright, let’s see…” Tanjiro Kamado looked over his list. Him and his sister were enlisted in this party planning. “Those Gummy Worms were from Miss Shinobu. We got Peach Rings from Mister Rengoku, Gummy Bears from Mister Himejima, Licorice from Mister Shinazugawa, a Gummy Snake from Mister Iguro--”
“You can just call him by his name, you know.” Genya Shinazugawa answered. He was also enlisted in this. “Here’s my cut. Bag of Sour Punch Bites.”
“Sweet! Muichiro, what were you adding?”
“Hm? I got…oh yeah. Sour Patch Watermelons.”
“Nice choice!” Tanjiro checked it off the list.
“They look like her hair.” Muichiro stated bluntly.
“...Yeah I guess so. Looks like that’s the last of the bags!”
Tanjiro and Muichiro helped to pour candy into the pinata, all the while, the cake was brought outside. Gyomei Himejima puffed, and carried it out cautiously. He was on heavy lifting duty, the cake having been baked by Shinobu, along with the help of Nezuko, and Gyomei’s Tsuguko.
“You got it, just like that!” Genya Shinazugawa spoke, leading Gyomei along towards the main table. He’d heard of Miss Kanroji’s appetite, but this just seemed ridiculous! The Cake was so big! “...Jeez, did it really need to be this size?”
“Yes,” Gyomei puffed. “It has three separate flavors. Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry.”
“Only the best for our Kanroji!” Shinobu beamed.
“Surprise!” Nezuko Kamado declared, practicing for the big moment. Her hands were messy with frosting, but she’d done a good job decorating the cake!
“Chil! Senshi! Where are you??” Marcille called, searching the backyard.
Before long, she received her answer, when a Unicorn neighed and ran towards her! The Sorcerer yelped and braced for the worst, but thankfully the horse came to a stop. Keeping it at bay was Senshi, a small, helmeted Dwarf, who grunted as he held its reins,“Sorry ‘bout that. Just trying to rein her in…”
“Uh…Senshi, are you sure this will go over well?”
“Of course! This is good eatin’, nothing better for a birthday dinner!” Senshi declared, followed by their party’s beast-man.
“Yeah, plus those Unicorn Skewers were really great last time. We still have the surplus horns anyways.” Izutsumi stretched. The Catgirl was mainly there to help track the Unicorn, which they had miraculously achieved.
“Here’s hoping they give us a good tip, these people must be rich if they can throw a party like this!” Chilchuck puffed, wiping sweat from his brow. The Halfling initially was helping decorate, and once that was done, he helped Senshi & Izu to bring the horse in.
“Okay…well, how long will it take to cook?”
“I can get it done in no time.”
“Okay…I’ll give the signal.” Marcille sighed, preparing a spell.
In the front yard, Mitsuri was excitedly waiting in her car, as she’d declared she would. Then, suddenly, a flash of light bloomed into the sky! It was like a firework, blooming to spell her name in the sky! Taking that as the sign to head in, Mitsuri happily dashed inside…
“SURPRISE!” Everyone, including Nezuko exclaimed. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITSURI!!”
“Whaaa?!” Mitsuri acted surprised; which wasn’t hard thanks to her delight. “You guys!!~”
The Hashira greeted Mitsuri happily, Tanjiro, Genya, and Nezuko with them! She was overjoyed, the pillars bringing her to the living room, where a pile of gifts were waiting! They started small to big--jewelry, accessories, another pair of stockings (Thanks Obanai), and plenty more gifts!
“Thank you guys so much! I…” Mitsuri paused, then gasped. “IS THAT A UNICORN?!”
“Yep! It sure…huh?” Tengen stalled. He thought his makeup palette would be her favorite gift.
Mitsuri dashed outside, the other slayers following after her. Indeed, there was a Unicorn in their backyard! “What’s her name??”
“Dinner.” Senshi stated bluntly.
Mitsuri’s face went pale, before Chilchuck hurriedly intervened. “He’s kidding! Uh, this is buttercup.”
“Buttercup! She’s adorable! Thank you young man!!”
“Haha, yeah…” Chilchuck snickered, repressing the urge to correct that he’s almost thirty.
Marcille shot a glare over to Senshi, who let out a small sigh, and tied the Unicorn’s reins to a nearby tree. “Be gentle with her, she’s a little finicky.”
Mitsuri approached, before gasping,“Woah! She’s so cool!”
“Uh, yeah, she is…” Izutsumi nodded, suddenly needing to act like an animal care specialist.
Laios sighed sadly, Marcille wandering over to the hashira. “We’re having some…unexpected issues getting dinner ready, give us just a little longer.”
After the Party figured out their plan, the hashira still got an exceptional meal! They had plenty of Golem Field Veggies, Treasure Insect Snacks, and Roast Basilisk! Mitsuri loved it, even though she thought the party was just a well themed party planning group! As she sat with everyone, watching them play games, and having a great time, Obanai sat with her.
“Are you having fun, Mitsuri?” Obanai asked.
“Mhm! This is great! Thank you Iguro!” Mitsuri looked back to the serpent pillar and smiled.
“I’m glad. We all are. We wouldn’t be who we are without you, Kanroji. Happy Birthday.” Iguro spoke, his face gradually reddening.
Kaburamaru slithered towards Iguro’s cut of basilisk, sniffing at it, and backing away in fear. Right as Obanai and Mitsuri moved closer, the serpent coiled around his face. “H-hey! Buddy, get off!!”
Mitsuri giggled happily, smiling thankfully for all her friends. It was a great birthday, without a shadow of a doubt.