To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

35 • Child Hazard

"Inori." Muichiro poked her cheeks that had grown less chubby. "You're small now, so you should sleep." If he were to guess, she looked about seven right now. "You haven't slept in three days, right?"

"I'm fine." Muichiro would like to point out that the bags under her eyes claimed otherwise, but knew she would only brush him off. "And I slept two days ago. I'm completely fine. I still have lots of paperwork to do." Despite the other pillars telling her to just take it easy, Inori was still adamant about at least finishing her written work. She even forced Kyojuro to share half of his paperwork in exchange for the Flame Pillar taking over her district.

"You have a meeting with the lower-ranked members today. Something about the patrol teams and training revision on." Muichiro skimmed through her schedule for the day. The meeting was on behalf of Kyojuro who had to take a mission in her stead, but Muichiro failed to see how it was a good idea. "Can I come with you?"

"Why? I thought you hated the juniors." Inori knew that out of the ten of them, Muichiro probably ranked second from below when it came to friendliness, especially towards someone other than his fellow pillars. The Ubuyashiki family was the only exception, but they were respected by everyone, including someone as brash as Sanemi. "You don't want to stay here and feed the fish like usual?"

Muichiro shook his head, pulling Inori in for a hug, feeling like he was hugging a doll instead of a person. He didn't want to tell her that he was worried and wanted to come with her so he could make sure she wouldn't get into any trouble, especially in her current physical state.

"Alright, just don't be too harsh on them."

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚☆.｡.☆.｡.:*☆ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

"What is wrong with you, you incompetent nincompoops?" Inori pinched the bridge of her nose, watching as Muichiro grilled the juniors with his words. So much for not being too harsh. "This is the basics of the basics, and you're saying this is too much? Just how did a weakling like you even pass the Final Selection?"

Muichiro didn't want to admit that the reason he was being extra spiteful was because these low-classed scums were talking bad about Inori's condition, all when he knew that those same scums wouldn't be able to make it out alive against that battle with Lower Moon Two.

"Mui, that's enough." Inori flipped through the list of patrol teams and schedules. "We're done with the training revision, and I don't see any problem with the current patrol arrangements. However, if you have any problem, feel free to give me suggestions."

As expected, a pillar is still a pillar, even if she's turned into a child. Murata would've been in awe with the Star Pillar if the Mist Pillar wasn't glaring at them as if they were trash drenched in puke. And a nickname? I've heard the rumors, but I still can't believe these two are best friends, borderline lovers. They even have matching rings and all. And they're only twelve or so. That's so unfair.

"I want to change teammates." What is wrong with this guy? And what's with that informal tone? You're talking to pillar, dude, a pillar. Murata was silently glaring at the reckless rookie who dared to question a pillar, as was the rest of the slayers present.

"And what seems to be the problem, Kaigaku-san?" Inori narrowed her eyes. She really didn't like him. She couldn't explain why, but there was something inside her screaming to say away from him. "I said feel free to give me suggestions. Don't just demand things, explain the problem and figure out the solution yourself."

Muichiro spared Inori a glance, mildly surprised by the tone she was using. That wasn't something she would usually say to someone, even if they were ranked lower. After all, Muichiro remembered asking why she called the lower-ranked slayers with honorifics, and he remembered Inori mentioning something about etiquette lessons.