Chapter Text
The next day, Giyuu was sitting on his porch cleaning his sword when he saw a small figure approaching him. The small figure had a tiny white cloud plush in one hand, named Kiri, and a sword in the other. The small figure’s face was devoid of any emotion, just like Giyuu’s. He had long, lustrous hair, even better than some girls, perhaps. Someone had kept their promise. In front of Giyuu, stood Muichiro in absolute silence. Giyuu stared back at him for a few seconds.
Muichiro held his Kiri up forward, towards Giyuu. Giyuu had no idea what he was supposed to do. He had seen Himejima pat the head of a few fellow demon slayers and hence supposed that he should maybe do the same. He brought his hand forward and gently patted Kiri’s head. Muichiro gave an approving nod. Giyuu then stood up and went inside. Muichiro followed him. They both reached the kitchen; the supplies were already there on the table.
Giyuu had indeed prepared in advance for Muichiro’s visit. There was one big daikon, just the appropriate amount of salmon, sauces and seasonings, and some rice. Giyuu picked the daikon up and gave it to Muichiro. Muichiro’s eyes glimmered at the sight of the radish.
“Cut it into pieces,” Giyuu said.
Muichiro kept Kiri on the nearby shelf and then held his sword up.
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!!”
Muichiro paused for a moment and looked at Giyuu with a look of suspicion.
“Not with a sword.” Perhaps he shouldn’t have asked a thirteen-year-old to cut a radish. That is definitely a more difficult and dangerous task as compared to fighting a demon who had killed hundreds of humans.
Muichiro just looked at him with a questioning look. Giyuu took the radish from Muichiro’s hands.
“Listen, I am going to give you a very important job to do Muichiro. You have to properly look after these ingredients. You have to make sure that no demon steals any of these.”
That made sense. Demons are bad. They take away all the good stuff and salmon daikon is something really good. No wonder that they were after it. It was now Muichiro’s job to protect all the good food. Within about 30 mins of Muichiro’s extremely powerful vigilance, the kitchen got warm and misty. Steam curled from the pot and fogged the lower part of the kitchen window. The smell of simmering salmon and daikon filled the room, warm and familiar. Muichiro wasn't entirely sure why, but it made the knot in his chest feel a little smaller.
Giyuu finished off the dish with the last dash of some seasoning and then plated it with some rice. He then sat down with Muichiro to eat. But before eating, Giyuu rolled Muichiro’s sleeves up again and asked Muichiro to go and wash his hands.
“NO!!”
“Why not?”
“NO!”
Muichiro's fingers tightened around his sleeves. His lower lip trembled almost imperceptibly. His eyes were glossy now, the kind of tears that appeared before he even seemed aware he was crying. Giyuu had no idea why he had tears in his eyes. He had seen Muichiro cry before, but to be fair, those were more vulnerable circumstances as compared to this one. Did Giyuu make him too soft? Or somehow, did he offend Muichiro by asking him to wash hands?
“Muichiro…”
“NO!”
“Do you not like washing your hands?”
“……”
“Is that why you are mad?”
“No”
“Does your tummy ache?”
“No” Meanwhile, Muichiro is extremely depressed.
“You forgot….” Muichiro said with a shaky voice.
Giyuu is still confused. The kid with amnesia remembers something that Giyuu forgot.
"Forgot what?"
"You should know."
"I don't."
"Yes, you do."
Giyuu genuinely has no idea what this kid is going on about. There was only one method left to solve this life crisis. Replay the events in your mind.
“Wait…”
Muichiro looks at Giyuu with his hopeful big mint blue eyes. Giyuu doesn’t say anything. He picks up the chopsticks and starts feeding Muichiro. Muichiro wiped away his tears and happily began eating.
Last night, while leaving, Muichiro had asked Giyuu to "FEED" him salmon daikon. Apparently, they had interpreted that sentence very differently.
This was Giyuu's life now. Feeding children. Ugh. He hated this so much. Being the babysitter. Of course, he hated it. It wasn't like he liked Muichiro being there or had arranged the ingredients in advance for him. It was just routine to make salmon daikon. There was no way he liked being a father to a thirteen-year-old with memory problems. There was absolutely no way he thought Muichiro was cute, and his heart certainly didn't swell with affection every time the kid did something endearing. Definitely not.
After they were both done with dinner, Muichiro looked satisfied. The sun had almost set, and it was dark by now. Giyuu didn’t want Muichiro to go away. Muichiro didn’t want to leave Giyuu and go home. He picked Kiri up from the shelf where he had placed it before and gave it a squeeze.
“It’s dark”
Muichiro looked outside the window for a moment...“Yeah.”
“Wanna stay?”
“kay”
They bathed together again. It just happened spontaneously. Like routine. Then Giyuu put Muichiro in the smallest Yukata that he had. Though it was still loose, it did the work. Muichiro looked absolutely adorable in that Yukata, probably all the other kids would too… right? …. RIGHT?
There was a guest room right next to Giyuu’s room.
“You can sleep in that room. I’ll be right over here if you need me”
Muichiro went to the room and laid down on his futon... holding kiri in his arms tightly… He always thought of Giyuu as an ornament. He looked good but he barely made any movement or said anything. But in the past few days he had been more useful. He was a lot like Kiri. He talked less, he was useful and he was warm.
Muichiro stared at the ceiling for 5 mins, then 10, then 30, then 60, then 120. The guest room was quiet. Too quiet. The futon smelled faintly of clean cotton and sun-dried fabric, unfamiliar in a way that made sleep impossible. Outside, cicadas buzzed. The house creaked occasionally creating a melancholic atmosphere. He was very tired, but couldn’t sleep at all. He then carefully got up, walked to Giyuu's room and quietly peeked inside. Giyuu was already asleep. He silently entered the room and laid down right beside him on the floor, still clutching Kiri tightly.
The sudden movement, and the presence of another in the room, woke Giyuu up.
“Mui?”
“hm?”
“Why are you sleeping on the floor? ..... Did you have a nightmare?”
“No... I was not able to sleep.”
Giyuu had no idea why it affected him so much, but he really felt bad for the kid. Maybe the unfamiliar room made it a little difficult for Muichiro to sleep, or maybe the futon was uncomfortable.
“But then, why are you sleeping on the floor? Come sleep with me on the futon, like normal people do”
Muichiro didn’t reply. He just rolled onto Giyuu’s futon as he shifted a bit to create some space for him. Muichiro immediately cuddled onto Giyuu, shoving Kiri in the space between both of them. It surprised Giyuu a bit, but he was willing to provide the child with the warmth that he sought.
Giyuu's futon was still warm from sleep. Muichiro immediately noticed it. The steady rise and fall of Giyuu's breathing was comforting in a way he couldn't explain. Kiri was soft beneath his fingers, and for the first time that night, his shoulders relaxed.
A few moments later, Muichiro asked Giyuu.
“Do you know a lullaby?”
“I do, but I don’t remember the words…”
“Could you still maybe try?”
“I could try”
Giyuu started humming the soft lullaby. His voice wasn't exactly very melodic but its low hum vibrated through Muichiro's chest. It felt like the ocean gently washing over his feet on the beach at dawn. The rhythm was slow and steady, like distant waves. Tsutako used to sing it for Giyuu when he was little. The lullaby meant a lot to him. He somehow knew the meaning, the stories, everything this lullaby held, except the words. Soon after, Muichiro drifted off to sleep as the humming calmed his racing heart down. Not long after, Giyuu did too.
The night was peaceful…. Until it was early morning
Sanemi Shinazugawa had been losing his mind. Giyuu fucking Tomioka was the one who had asked him to spar early morning in the first place, and now this egoistic, self-absorbed, “Oh my god I am so much better than you all” piece of shit had ditched him. There was no other option than to drag his ass out of his house at this point.
Sanemi who had absolutely no idea about Giyuu’s babysitting habits, burst into his house. He looked around at the place. Considering how empty it was, it looked like as if this whole mansion was depressed. He stomped through the dark hallway, his eyes scanning the quiet, pristine rooms. The sheer lack of decorations or personal belongings made the entire mansion feel like it was actively mourning. It was completely silent, save for the heavy thud of Sanemi's sandals on the tatami mats. When he reached the main bedroom, he absolutely, with zero filter, opened it.
“Oi Tomioka, get your lazy ass-”
There was the sight, Muichiro cuddling into Giyuu’s chest and Giyuu holding him protectively with a plushie stuffed between them.
Without another word, Sanemi closed the door. A few moments passed. He opened it again
Closed it
Open
Close
Open
Close
Sanemi had no idea what he was looking at. All the slamming of the door woke Giyuu and Muichiro up.
Giyuu took one look at Sanemi, and it dawned on him. Oh god, Is amnesia communicable?
“…”
“Tomioka…”
“hm..?”
“What is this?”
“This is a Muichiro…”
“I am a Muichiro”
“I KNOW THIS IS MUICHIRO. YOU DON’T NEED TO TELL ME THAT. JUST NEXT TIME—” Sanemi paused mid-sentence. Giyuu was already sitting up, groggily, rubbing his eyes. Muichiro was doing the same. It could have been a false assumption but it seemed as if Muichiro was only rubbing his eyes because he was trying to copy Giyuu. Kiri, unfortunately, was still perfectly wedged between them like something sacred.
Sanemi pointed at both of them.
“Explain this”
“…Muichiro couldn’t sleep”
“Tch, that doesn’t answer anything”
Muichiro looked at Sanemi as if he were personally responsible for every inconvenience in the world.
“You are too loud.”
“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU BRAT... Actually, you know what, I don’t even want to know what is going on over here. I came here to SPAR because SOMEONE HERE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO KEEP THEIR WORD”
“…oh”
“I forgot”
Sanemi’s soul left his body. Muichiro held Giyuu’s hand.
"... You forgot?”
Sanemi snapped his head at Muichiro.
“DON’T YOU DARE START TOO”