It was supposed to be a quiet evening. The kind where the cicadas buzz low in the trees and the breeze barely stirs the grass. You had only stepped outside the Butterfly Mansion because your room felt too still—too clean, too suffocating. You hadn’t slept well the night before. Dreams of blood and the cries of dying comrades had kept you curled under thin blankets, wide awake.

You wrapped your haori tighter around your shoulders as you padded quietly down the porch steps, hoping just to sit under the sakura tree that bloomed near the courtyard.

But you paused when you heard shouting.

“YOU CAN’T JUST TAKE HER!”

Zenitsu’s voice rang out like a dying bird being stepped on. His body stood in front of Aoi like a shield, though his knees were clearly trembling.

Tengen Uzui stood tall—too tall—arms crossed, jewels glittering, and a smirk on his lips that screamed confidence.

“I’m not taking her,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m recruiting her. For a mission. That requires beauty, elegance, and flashiness. Which none of you three seem to understand.”

“She said NO!” Zenitsu wailed.

“I DIDN’T ASK YOU,” Tengen snapped.

Meanwhile, Inosuke had climbed halfway up the porch post and was shouting down at everyone, shirt half off for no reason at all. “I’LL GO ON YOUR MISSION! I’M THE FLASHIEST HERE, I’M THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!!”

“You’re not even a girl!” Aoi yelled, her face red.

“That doesn’t matter!!” he shouted back. “FLASHINESS IS GENDERLESS!!”

From where you stood, hidden just behind the corner of the building, you blinked. Your plan to get a moment of peace had clearly gone down the drain.

Standing awkwardly to the side of the chaos, completely uninvolved, was a boy with maroon hair and a kind, quiet face—Tanjiro Kamado. He looked like he wasn’t sure whether to intervene or disappear. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed as Zenitsu attempted to grab Aoi and pull her back inside, only to trip and land flat on his face.

Tanjiro didn’t speak. His eyes were calm, though tired. You noticed how still he stood compared to the others, like a moment of silence in the middle of a hurricane.

You didn’t step forward. You didn’t make a sound.

Instead, you just… watched.

And, for now, that was enough.

Your gaze stayed on him even as the others argued like siblings on festival night. Even as Tengen declared he was being generous. Even as Aoi yelled something about reporting him to Shinobu.

Tanjiro hadn’t noticed you yet. But somehow, you had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time your paths crossed.