Chapter thirty-one:

"The sword that changes color"

Twelve days from the selection were filled with bliss, just you and Muichiro goofing around because he didn't have any missions and you didn't have to train as hard as you were used to. For the first time, it actually felt as if you two were a normal family living together doing normal things, like laundry, cooking, running around the estate with mops to clean and doing silly competetions on who could clean faster, etc.

When you two weren't doing those things, it was common to be cloudgazing, taking naps together, doing memory games to help him improve it, and he even tried to teach you to bake —the first time you baked cookies, he almost chuckled when you tried to open a flour package and accidently got covered in it—.

The morning of the thirteenth day, Muichiro was sure his ears were going to explode. You were excited to get your sword and uniform already, and coincidentally, they came in the same day.

"Tokito-sama! Tokito-sama! It's finally here!" you exclaimed, shaking him by his shoulders without being able to contain yourself from showing excitement.

Muichiro let himself be rocked back and forth and simply patiently waited until the young kakushi and the old man wearing a hyottoko mask came inside the estate. As they got closer, your heart started beating faster while a feeling of unease clung onto you, to the point in which your anxiety ate your happiness away and you had to hide behind Muichiro.

They both bowed before Muichiro, who was too busy thinking about the meaning of life to pay any attention to them.

The female kakushi batted her eyelashes rapidly just staring at your master and then back at you, while her eyes were smiling.

"Good morning, Tokito-sama, [Y/N]-sama, I came here to deliver the new uniform!"

«Ah... we're all alive to die, aren't we...?»

He then blinked his thoughts away when he felt a gentle tug on his sleeve. He directed his attention towards you, who were blushing and pointing at the other two people. He was a bit lost, but after a long silence, he took the small box into his hands and let the kakushi return to the Ubuyashiki estate. Usually, they would stay to make sure it fit appropriately, but the way you shied away so much made it impossible for her to even ask you to get changed and show how it fits.

Besides... they went to so much painful trouble to make you one.

The swordsmith came into the living room and took out a sword from a velvet box, while you tried your best to pour tea in his cup without making a mess due to all the shaking.

"My name is Tetsuido, I forged Tokito-sama's blade, and yours as well, miss"

"O-Oh, okay..."

You held a trembling smile as you placed the teapot in the center of the table. Your fingers wrapped around your cup of tea, guiding it to your lipd.

Muichiro was focused on a fly, his pupils dancing at how fast it moved.

«What is the meaning of life to a fly? Is it different than what a human thinks?»

Tetsuido cleared his throat before continuing, hoping to be done with the awkwardness in the room.

"The nichirin blade's raw material are iron sand and ore from the highest mountain close to the sun, those metals absorbed the sunlight. The blades change color depending on the user's aura and the breath style... I wonder what kind of blade you'll have."

He handed you the sheathed katana, and, hesitantly, you took it with both hands. You looked over at Muichiro, who wasn't paying attention at all. Then your focus came back to the sword as you took a deep breath and took it by its handle. With a determined look, you uncovered it, silently trying to decipher what kind of color yours would have.

"W-WAAAH~!" your eyes became stars just as the blade changed to a white color similar to your master's, but a different shade of it.

"Ah, vanilla-white...?" Muichiro mumbled in a bored tone. Once his empty eyes drifted towards your face beaming with happiness, his expression softened.

«Or... maybe we're alive to be happy...?»

You quickly shifted your attention to the mist pillar, your hands were still shaking because you were nervous just receiving the sword in your hands. It felt great, different. After a whole year of training, you fully were a demon slayer.

Tetsuido nodded to himself, analyzing the scene. Whereas Muichiro's blade was a snow-white shade, signifiying his absent-mindedness, calm, distant and cold personality; your blade was a vanilla-white shade, representing the rich, sweet scent of vanilla, and specially the strong, consoling, soothing and purifying goodness in your heart. They were both white, but seemed to be two different colors altogether.

He stood up, ready to leave now that he had delivered the blade. Both you and Muichiro bid your farewells as he left the estate, and you could finally feel more at ease.

Admiring your sword brought tears to your eyes, specially when you couldn't stop smiling at the handguard. It was a simple mokko shape (which is four lobes like the surface of a melon), but it was designed with infinity-like symbols all around it. Muichiro had probably asked them to make that design for you.

Before you had the crazy idea of hugging him like there was no tomorrow, his monotone voice snapped you out of your daydreaming. He was standing there with his usual bored expression and the box that the kakushi had brought before.

"Try them on."

You nodded excitedly. With that, you rushed inside the bathroom to get changed into them. It was a little bit odd since your heart was beating super fast, it was just too surreal to be true. It was absolutely perfect; the dark-purple standard long-sleeved shirt that served as the upper part of the uniform, with a pleaded skirt that was longer than the standard of the organization, reaching below your knees. The whole uniform was overall a little bit oversized, most likely due to the mist breathing style of fighting, it needed to be flowy. You also wore knee-length white socks and your usual zori.

When you shyly came out of the bathroom, Muichiro was there, supporting himself on a wall while his arms were crossed. His mint eyes narrowed, but he nodded affirmatively.

See, both Shinobu and him had pressured the kakushi to do your uniform decent enough. Their aura was agonizingly deadly when they witnessed the first sample of it, which was very revealing in the chest part, like Mitsuri's. The second sample had a much shorter skirt, and the third showed too much skin in the arms and thighs areas. They literally almost killed the poor kakushi. Shinobu had burnt all of the failed uniforms in front of their eyes, while she smiled at them with the toxicity of a thousand Wisteria flowers.

This one was decent enough, and comfortable to fight with. He approved.

Just when he was about to say something, your crow came in flying and rested on top of your head.

"Caw! Caw! [Y/N]-sama, head to the south-east town! (Taken) men have been disappearing lately!"

Muichiro glared at the crow, who began to sweat and hid behind you in search of protection.

"H-head there immediately! Caw!"

You placed your sword on your hip's belt, then smiled brightly at Muichiro, whose severe expression vanished at the sight of you. He wouldn't say it, but he was a little bit disappointed because you two were going to fold paper planes and see which one could fly longer, but with the mission his plan crumbled.

He shook his head and shrugged, going back to the table to finish drinking his tea.

"Okay, then! I'm going now, master!"

"Yeah, yeah, take care..."