Dark. The sun had yet to drift onto sleep, the clouds painted the sky in oranges and reds, and yet, it was dark inside the mist estate. Muichiro tried to look around, he could make out the shape of most of the house's blankets hung up to cover all the possible sources of light. He did not question why his dear tsuguko would do something like that. He already knew how weird you could be sometimes, so why bother being surprised?

Months had passed and the calendar hit august. The time for the final selection was inminent, you would have to go face demons all on your own soon. The last few months, Shinobu, Mitsuri and Giyuu had offered to help you train by petition of Oyakata-sama, while Muichiro caught up with the number of mission he usually did before training you. They never mentioned the sleeping together thing, and neither did you and Muichiro, because you got so flustered that words refused to come out of your throat, and the mist pillar could feel himself getting overwhelmed and he didn't like that.

Going back to that strange august noon, Muichiro sat on the floor, both arms tapping the wood of the table in front of him, where you two usually ate. His eyes drifted towards the empty spot in front of him, where a single cushion rested. He would usually sit on a navy cushion while you would sit on that light blue one.

Looking around the house, which was a bit hard due to the darkness, he noticed how familiar you had gotten with it; the plants looked healthier, there was no dust anywhere, the kitchen was usually packed with food and different cutesy plates and cups that he had bought you...

The place felt alive.

People say that someone's environment is the reflection of their own mind, so was his house so dull before because his mind felt "dead"? Then, was his mind alive now?

He closed his eyes. There was the same image inside head as always, it haunted him. It was the image of his tsuguko, smiling brightly at him like the rays of the sun or the beauty of the moon or the endearing twinkle of the stars. It was always there, along with your vanilla scent, all over the mist mansion.

Footsteps snapped his eyes open. He heard a thud and a fading whimper, and he immediately knew that you had hit your pinky toe with the corner of one of the chairs that faced the kitchen, likely due to the darkness.

The boy had questioned so many times why he remembered your strange antics and behaviours. He had relocated various furniture items because he remember how much you had stumbled with them, or got annoyed when passing around the house with multiple things in hand.

Why were your actions so clear in his head? Why was it so easy to remember every little thing you said to him?

Why did he remember the long list of food that you liked and the ones that you hated? Why did he remember that you felt bad even after killing the spiders or snakes that you hated so much? Why did he remember your favorite book's name? Why did he remember such useless information, and yet he would forget important details about his missions or the pillar meetings?

Why did everything become clouds and mist and the only thought that remained inside his mind was you?

He observed the light blue pillow getting occupied. His eyes travelled all the way to your face, which was decorated with a wide smile and pink-colored cheeks, and then down again, to the table, just to meet a strawberry cake with fourteen candles lightened up.

"Surprise~!" you sang, eyes shinning like at little kid in hopes of seeing Muichiro's reaction "Happy birthday, Tokito-sama!"

His unamused expression didn't change.

"Who told you it was my birthday today?"

"Oyakata-sama told me! I figured you'd forget about it, so I wrote it down for you"

It's true. He had forgotten. He looked at the cake again, which seemed to have been baked with lots of love and care, completely different from the one you had baked him months ago.

"Oh! Don't worry about food poisoning, I asked Kanroji-san to bake it"

Mitsuri got so excited to be able to help the mist couple out, that she had spent the whole night baking a perfect cake for him, even going out of her way to make three variations and having Obanai taste them to figure which one had the Heaven's blessings.

It took him a couple seconds of pure staring until his brain finished processing the scene before him.

Then there were roses, daisies and sunflowers blooming inside his chest, embracing his heart. A tender fire burnt them off, and yet they became butterflies instead of ashes, fluttering with their colorful wings around his rib cage.

His right hand travelled to his heart, clenching the fabric of his uniform above it. It was strange; like tasting the spring's sweet honey and melting into the summer sun.

His eyes were vivid, they lit up so brilliantly, as if they had just discovered what true joy was, as if they had been charged up with pure bliss. His lips parted slightly as he let out a short gasp.

You were taken aback by his reaction, entering in a state of panic equal to that of a bunny in the wilderness.

The closest emotion Muichiro had shown to happiness was the ghost of a smile, so the sight of his eyes glowing was something completely new and somewhat worrying.

It wasn't like he was smiling widely at you or showing a lot of emotions, but the minimal change of his face's features to something a little bit more surprised and confused was very noticeable now that you had been living with him for almost a year.

Nonetheless, you tried to not make too much of a big deal in case he noticed and went back to his normal self. You reached out from your lap a small navy blue box decorated with a light blue ribbon on top, extending it to him over the candles of the cake.

Muichiro's heart distress got worse when he saw the box.

«Nobody has ever done something like this for me...»

Not that he remembered. Not in the years he had been in the Corps, and he was completely fine with it, he didn't care. However, how much you cared for him to go out of your way to celebrate such an unimportant event of the year felt foreign to him.

As he began opening it up, you began mumbling about the gift itself, fidgeting with your fingers and looking down at your lap.

"S-Shinobu-san helped me pick it up, since, well, I can't go to where they make them..."

It was a handguard for his sword; a rectangular shaped one with hollowed rectangles at each corner. Since you had noticed that his handguard was the standard for most of the demon slayer's swords, you wanted to get him a personalized one, and asked Shinobu to get it for you from the swordsmith village.

Muichiro examined the piece of metal between his hands. It was as if he was holding something so precious, was it because it was the first time he had been given something?

His hand reached your head, patting it softly, just as a small smile reached his lips and his eyes narrowed slightly due to his expression becoming gentler.

He didn't know what to say. He just wanted to let you know that he liked it.

"I'll... treasure this..."

«Because you gave it to me, I'll treasure it forever»