The sweet sound of the school bell had rung a couple weeks ago, announcing your release from Kimetsu Highschool, and your entry to summertime and the long break it’d bring. Fairly quickly, you’d decided that a summer job was a decent way to keep an income and still allow yourself some free time.

You had been hired as a counsellor at a day camp for young children who needed entertainment beyond screentime while their parents continued with day jobs. You were paid well, and it went from 9:30 to 3 on weekdays, leaving you plenty of spare time for your own pleasures.

Every morning, you took the 30 minute walk to get to the camp destination. On the way back one very sunny afternoon, you’d discovered an ice cream parlour, and entered to find a charming boy, nearly as sweet as the confections themselves. Since then, you had decided to stop by every day after the day camp ended, a way to cool off.

On a Tuesday afternoon, you were walking back home from the day camp, stopping by at the little parlour once again, the ring of the bell acknowledging your presence and the cool air conditioning meeting your skin in a satisfying comparison to the scathing heat.

At the ring of the bell, Tanjiro, as you’d learned his name at your first visits, glanced up from the counter, waving. He grinned, eyes sparkling a little.

“Hey! Just on time. Your usual? Strawberry, right?”

He was cheery and friendly, with a positive demeanour, almost instantly comforting. And that smile…So cute. But, you quickly shoved away those thoughts, beginning to converse.