Old Friends

"Mui, I thought you forgot about me. You didn't even send a letter, not one!" The girl stumped over to him with a deadly glare.

Muichiro put a hand on his chin and fell into deep thought. He kept staring at her and squinting his eyes.

"Ma... Mu.... No. Hm." Muichiro hummed ignoring the guy that stood next to her. "Makomo! That's it, ha, and people say I'm forgetful."

Muichiro closed his eyes and nodded completely ignoring the looks he was getting. Makomo smiled and giggled in front of them.

"Ah, so you did remember. I took a bit of time through." She tried to tease him but it was Muichiro, she wouldn't go very far with that.

"Of course I did." Muichiro said opening his eyes.

"Well look at you, Mr. Hashira." The boy said. "And I half expected you would of died by now."

Muichiro stared at him and frowned a bit. He pushed his lips and hummed, looking the boy up and down.

Mitsuri definitely recognized them from when she had first seen Muichiro, back then they didn't really speak since he was unconscious.

The last time she saw them was when Muichiro became a Hashira. She knew they were pretty close so she didn't want to intervene.

Mitsuri was happy that Muichiro didn't only have two close friends.

As for Makomo, she wished she had a snack knowing full well what was about to happen.

Muichiro pointed at the boy and stood up getting ready to hide behind Mitsuri if needed.

"Do I know you?"

Makomo snickered but covered her mouth looking away from the two. The boy just stood there, rethinking a few decisions in his life.

Muichiro looked at him and patted his head. "It's okay, maybe you should try being more... uhm, relevant? Yeah, that's the word." Muichiro nodded taking his hand away from the boy who was about to erupt into a blizzard.

Muichiro sat next to Mitsuri and went back to eating his fruit sandwich. Mitsuri and Makomo shook their heads for the same reason.

Mitsuri stood up and cupped her heads looking at the two. "Hi! I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Kanrogi Mitsuri, the Love Hashira."

"Don't worry, we definitely remember you. I'm Makomo and this is Sabito. It's good to see someone taking care of Mui." Makomo said and leaned in. "I know he can be a handful but he's nice when he wants to be "

"Who said she's taking care of me?" Muichiro said with his face still stuffed.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Mitsuri said sitting back down. Muichiro gulped and looked at her.

"You're not helping here."

Mitsuri and Makomo sat to the side laughing at the boy while Sadito contemplating on how to become more relevant, according to Muichiro.

• • •

"So, why are you two here?" Muichiro asked, going back to his usual self. He looked at Makomo and Sadito wondering why they showed up, ruining his moment.

First it was the small human, now them. He had to wonder if Tengen and his wives were going to show up next.

"Well, we were just finished with our own missions and decided to met at the nearest town, which is this one." Sabito said.

"Okay, and how did you find us?" Muichiro blinked, not wanting to believe it was coincidental. Maybe some God was trying tell him something.

"It wasn't on purpose." Sabito said. "We agreed to meet up at this park since we passed through this place after leaving the base."

Makomo nodded to his statement. Muichiro sighed, he was about to tell them to get leave, but Mitsuri didn't seem to want that.

"You guys should help us with this mission!" Mitsuri said.

"Huh." Makomo, Sabito and Muichiro said at the same time. The three looked at her wondering why should would ask the two to accompany them, two Hashira.

Exspecualy Muichiro. He blinked a taking only a second to snap back to the present.

"Mitsuri, we are Pillars. We don't need their help." Muichiro knew that wouldn't get to her, so he was going to try something else. "Plus, they just came from a mission of their own. You don't want to sent them into the demon's jaw already, now do you?"

"O-Oh." Mitsuri said looking down a bit sad. She had hopped she could talk to them about a few things but she didn't consider that. "W-Well, there will always be another time, I guess."

Muichiro sat there frozen in place. His mind worked overtime to think of a way to lighten up her mood. He definitely wasn't used to this. The boy had been around many woman in his other life.

Yet, he never felt another towards them. So he never really put any effort into trying to comfort them. Now, it was different. He felt guilty for trying to manipulate the situation just so he could have her to himself.

This is what he meant by he's very selfish. However, he still needs to learn to consider her feelings.

"Uh, or, hear this, or they could tell us if they want to join us or not." Muichiro said. "If they don't want to come, they don't have to. If they do, nothing bad will happen. We are both Hashira and they aren't weak."

Sabito felt like smacking the boy upside his head, while Makomo paid close attention to their conversation. Both were quite bewildered at the scene unfolding in front of them.

They didn't know Muichiro that long, but they knew he didn't care for anyone's feels. So seeing him try to please this girl meant that he cared for her deeply. He wasn't even trying to hide it either.

"Good idea!" Mitsuri beamed making the Mist Hashira sigh in relief.

'Am I turning into a simp?' Muichiro thought. 'Wait, how do I even remember what that is. Hmm, well, that's a question for later. Will probably forget later though.'

"Sure, we can tag along." Makomo said. Sabito looked at her but she just ignored his expression completely.

Mitsuri threw her arms up smiling. Muichiro could have of sworn his good eye went blind for a second there. However, the boy wad curious as to why she was so happy.

Mitsuri had only met them once and that could barely even count as meeting each other. He doubted they had talked on any other occasion as well. Of course, Muichiro could just ask, but it wasn't really his business.

"Well, let's go spy on some people's conversations." Muichiro said getting up.

"What?" Mitsuri said. "I usually just ask the locals and they tell me."

Muichiro looked at her then at the ground. Wondering if he was stupid even when he wasn't with Tengen or Kyojuro. The chances of it are pretty high.

"Huh, let's try that out." He said. The boy hid his sword away inside his haori and walked forward with the other slayers in toe.

• • •

After walking into the city, Muichiro ducked into an ally to get away from preying eyes. He leaned on a wall and closed his eyes.

"What is he doing?" Sabito asked Mitsuri since she seemed to be used to Muichiro's weird habits. After living with him for an extended period of time, she had adapted to almost all of the random things he did.

Despite this, he still did the most random things that felt her questioning what lead to this.

"I don't know." Mitsuri whisper.

"If she doesn't know, we have no hope if finding out." Makomo said causing Sabito to nod.

Muichiro ignored the three and opened his eyes. He walked over to Mitsuri taking off his haori.

"Let's make you look like an innocent young lady so you can get information faster." Muichiro said.

Before she could process his words, he had already taken Mitsuri's sword and white haori. He buttoned up her uniform and put his haori around her.

"There, no one will think you are a girl who decapitates demons for a living." He gave her a thumbs up and nudged her out of the ally before she could protest. "We'll be on a roof somewhere, when you are done, come look for use."

Then she was swept away by the crowd of people.

"Was that necessary?" Makomo asked.

"Nope." Muichiro shook his head putting Mitsuri's sword on his waist. "I just did it for my own amusement. Let's go find some food."

He wasn't even being sarcastic this time around. Seeing the girl's flustered face made him proud of his work. He wished he could take her on missions all the time.