To The Stars | Tokito Muichiro x OC

69 • Confessions

The first thing she saw upon opening her usable eye was the familiar ceiling she instantly recognized belonged to her room at the Butterfly Estate. Inori tried to open her mouth, but found no voice coming out of it. Her throat felt dry, and her entire body hurt. She felt exhausted despite just waking up. Just how long have I been unconscious this time?

"Inori?" She turned her head as best as she could, seeing Muichiro standing in the doorway. His minty green eyes stared into her sole violet one. She blinked, and the next thing she knew, Muichiro was already beside her futon. His hand hovered above hers as if he was unsure. "Are you...okay?"

Inori decided to make the first move, lifting her heavy hand to lace her fingers with his. Her aim was off, and she missed his hand, but Muichiro was quick to clasp hers, squeezing it as if to reassure himself instead.

Inori tried her best to flash him a beaming smile, though it came out weak and small instead. She opened her mouth, voicing out the words she wanted to say despite how her voice resembled breaths more than words.

"I love you, Mui."

As if a dam had been broken, tears spilled out of his eyes. Muichiro gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, lifting her so delicately as if he was holding the most precious gem. He cradled the back of her head as he buried his face into the crook of her neck. He felt Inori chuckle, lifting her arms to embrace him back, a few droplets of tears falling onto his uniform as he continued to repeat the same words over and over again.

"I love you. I love you...Inori, I love you too."

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

It took Muichiro a few minutes of just holding her to realize that he needed to inform the other girls of Inori's awakening. As reluctant as he was to break their hug, Muichiro finally relented after Inori began coughing harshly.

Needless to say, the girls all barged into her room with tears running down their eyes, even Kanao unconsciously let a tear or two slip. Naho, Sumi, and Kiyo crowded around the futon, burying their faces into her lap as they bawled their eyes out.

"Hm. You seem to be fine." Shinobu checked her temperature. "You had a very high fever when you were unconscious, but it's gone down now. I'm glad." The Insect Pillar patted her head with a relieved smile. "Thank you for surviving, Inori-chan."

"Well...I can't...just leave...now...right?" Inori smiled back, patting the girls' heads even as she herself was forced to lie back down. Her eye already felt heavy again, but she forced it to stay open. "Still....a month is...shorter than...I thought."

"Yes. Considering the severity of your injuries, and that you were on the verge of death at some point, I'm surprised you woke up before Tanjiro-kun did." Shinobu then excused herself, nearly crashing into Aoi who suddenly came bounding into her room with a box and her folded haori on top of it.

"My haori...did you...fix it...thank you." Muichiro helped Inori drape the haori over her shoulders. "What about...my hairpin...and, um, my...I think I ripped my bag, and, uh...my earrings and...oh, my ring is...still here."

The girls exchanged nervous glances, not knowing who should break the news to her. "Well, Kanao and I fixed your haori. It was ripped a lot, but it should still fit you, and here's your bag." Opening the box, Aoi pulled the waist bag out. "You only ripped the belt, so I just changed it, and, um"—Aoi tried to delay the inevitable by taking out a pair of scissors from the box—"oh, how about I trim your hair? I didn't want to mess up, so I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Thank you, Aoi-nee." Naho, Sumi, Kiyo, and Muichiro helped her to a sitting position. Inori hugged her haori. She could somewhat guess what happened to her hairpin and earrings, so it was comforting to know that she still had her haori. "Thank you...Aoi-nee...Kanao-nee...for fixing this."