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( — FIVE ; FIRST-NAME BASIS )
TIME never stops, and it seemed to me as if it was only yesterday that I was a young child. I am now thirteen years old, a year under Tokitou Muichiro, the boy me and Mitsuri took care of.
Speaking of Tokitou, in just two months, he had joined the ranks as the Mist Hashira, just like Amane-sama said he would.
I was jealous and happy. Jealous, because a boy only a year older than me managed to pull of becoming a Hashira in just two months. Happy, because we had bonded over the two months and became sort-of friends.
But now here he is, at a Hashira meeting, barely looking at me in the eye. Mitsuri insisted on bringing me over to the counseling so that I could get my new mission, but I could not listen without taking small glances at Tokitou.
His eyes did not hold the same aquamarine spark I saw whenever he trained or talked to his crow. They held the memories of me serving him tea, of me reprimanding him to rest, of me tucking him in, but it seemed that he was. . .trying to forget them all.
After the meeting concluded, a woman with a butterfly haori and pin approached me, a soft smile on her lips. This was Kochou Shinobu, Kanao's master and the Insect Hashira.
"Mila-san, you've been glancing at Tokitou-san for quite a while," she said in her usual gentle voice, with a hint of mischief this time. "Ara, don't tell me, you like him?"
"Pardon, Shinobu-sama," I mumbled, bowing and tucking a stray strand of onyx hair to the back of my ear. I had no idea what I was apologizing for, but I might as well divert the conversation away from the Mist Hashira. I didn't feel like hearing his name.
"Kanao just came back on a mission." Just like that, my endeavor was successful. "Would you like to see her?"
