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It’s been.. What, a month? Maybe longer, since Giyuu has seen his estate. After the final battle, he had to stay at the Butterfly Estate to heal from the insane amount of injuries he’d sustained.
But the pain—dulled by pain meds—was practically nothing to the ache in his heart.
He had watched Michi being decapitated.
He watched him disintegrate.
Giyuu’s expression was dull, almost just as stiff as it always used to be as he walked through the estate gate, up towards the front door.
He slid the door open and stepped in. The air was stale, it hadn’t been inhabited for awhile.. all his food has probably gone bad by now.
But that’s the last thing on his mind right now. He’s positively exhausted, stumbling towards his bedroom.
Those drugs Aoi gave him must’ve made him drowsy.. he’s really tired.
He pushed the door open to his bedroom, and was about to move to grab some night clothes.. before he was met with something he didn’t leave there.
Right on top of a perfectly made futon—which he does not remember doing himself—is a kimono he doesn’t recognize.
From here, he can tell it’s a dark blue, but it’s folded. He can’t make out any patterns.
Giyuu meanders closer, noticing a paper folded atop the fabric. He kneels, lifting the paper first and unfolding it.
My love, Giyuu.
That’s the first line. And reading that alone makes his heart clench, because who else but Michikatsu would call him ‘my love’?
He can already feel the tears welling in his eyes, threatening to spill. But he forced himself to remain calm and continue reading.
My love, Giyuu.
I’m sorry I did not get to say goodbye, and I am sorry that I did not get to tell you I love you one last time.
I told Nakime to keep you away from me as much as she could, and I can only hope she succeeded. I don’t want you to have to witness me die, for I know it will happen.
But if you do, if you do find me. I only hope that I die to your blade.
Nothing would satisfy me more than my final breath being taken while looking at you, but it is wishful thinking.
You are and always were the center of my world. Since the moment I saw you, I knew I was obsessed. Obsessed in a way I knew was unhealthy for both of us, but I was selfish. I desperately wanted you by my side at all times, and I got what I wanted.
But by getting what I wanted, I have doomed you to suffer yet another loss. And for that, I am sorry. Please, do not mourn me for too long. I know asking to not be mourned at all will not be fulfilled, but I will ask you to live on without me.
I love you, Giyuu Tomioka. You were the light at the end of my life. I know we will never meet in another life, for I will go to hell and you will go to heaven. But at least I knew you in my last life.
This kimono I’ve left you, I spent months learning how to sew before I ever approached you, and the day I learned your favorite color, I started making it.
I even learned how to embroider just to make it perfect, just for you.
Because you deserve nothing but perfection.
By the time I finish making this and finish writing this letter, we’ll have been taken to the Infinity Castle. For the first time in my life, I prayed. I prayed that you’d be spared, even if it meant fortiting my own life in exchange for yours.
I love you, Giyuu Tomioka.
Please, keep living. Do not let my death weigh on you.
- Sincerely, your biggest admirer, Michikatsu Tsugikuni
Giyuu doesn’t know what he’s feeling right now. He can’t tell if he’s crying or not, he can’t tell if he’s even breathing.
Because what do you mean Michi knew he was going to die? What do you mean he kept Giyuu away from him to spare him the sight of his death?
Clearly, ‘Nakime’ didn’t work hard enough to keep Giyuu away from Michi. He still saw it.
Tears drip down his face onto the paper, causing a little of the ink to run. He tossed it to the side as if it burned him, not wanting to ruin it any further.
His eyes now focus on the kimono. He reaches his hand out to it, unfolding it.
It was..
Perfect.
It was a deep blue, almost the exact shade of Giyuu’s eyes, with beautiful ocean waves embroidered into the bottom of it, all the way around as well as the ends of the sleeves.
On the back was an embroidered moon, and Giyuu notices that some of the stitches on the moon are a little sloppy.
‘By the time I finish making this and finish writing this letter, we’ll have been taken to the Infinity Castle.’ That line in particular popped into his head.
He rushed to finish it. He rushed to get it done before the battle started.
Giyuu pulled the kimono to his chest, a harsh sob ripping from his throat.
How can he be so.. so.. perfect?? Even when he knew he was going to die he still thought of me. What did I ever do to deserve him?
Giyuu starts finding it harder and harder to remain composed, tears falling like rivers from his eyes, his hand—and the rest of him—shaking like he’d just been drenched in ice water.
The last thing Giyuu can remember before he woke up the next day laying with the kimono still clenched tight to his chest was..
I promise, Michi, Amor. I’ll live for you.