'You're being surprisingly quiet, Ether. I thought you would already be cussing Sanemi out by now.' Y/N thought as she walked over to her room, she had to grab her things to be able to finally leave this dreadful place.

You told me to not curse in your head, remember?

'Did I?'

Well, if you insist…. this stupid, low being, no wonder his mother is dead-

'OKAY, OKAY YOU CAN STOP-

Ether acts so meekly around Y/N that she often forgets how he really is.

Because he's a god, humans are like ants to him. He can't find himself to feel empathy for them or their deaths, so he also doesn't understand why Y/N wants to save those people so much.

Still, she said to him that it was the only way she could ever be happy, and if that's the case, then so be it. (even if he still doesn't comprehend why)

“Y/N!”

“Huh?” She looked over her shoulder, seeing Muichiro running over to her, she didn't know if she should feel happy or run away for her life.

“Here, I wanted to give this back to you, but you suddenly ran off, so…”

“Ah! My haori, thank you!” Y/N had forgotten she had left it with him when he fell asleep back at the swordsmith village.

“It was completely tattered, so I tried to fix it, it's not that good though…” He sheepishly said, scratching his cheek.

In response, Y/N silently glanced over the cloth, it was very obvious which places he tried to fix, and even though the stitching looked very sloppy, she couldn't help but smile widely at it.

“IT'S PERFECT, I REALLY LOVE IT-!”

“You're exaggerating.”

“NO WAY!” She started to cry dramatically. “I WILL ALWAYS WEAR IT NOW! I WILL EVEN SLEEP AND TAKE BATHS WITH IT! WAAAAAH-”

“Please don't do that-”

“Sniff- it is the best- sniff- sewing I have ever seen- sniff- it's a piece of art-” Y/N said in between sobs.

“Did you finish crying?”

“I'm trying! It's just that I'm so happy! Sob-”

He tilted his head, a confused expression in his face. “I'm glad you like it. Though I still don't understand what's so great about it.”

Y/N ignored him, happily humming a random song while putting the haori.

Muichiro sighed when he noticed that she simply wasn't paying attention to what he was saying now. “Well… Whatever makes you happy, I guess.”

“Ah! That makes me remember!” Y/N suddenly jolted. “How are you feeling? I mean, you look fine now, but your condition was still pretty bad until a while ago…”

“I'm feeling better now, I recuperate faster than normal people, you see.”

“Is that so?” She smiled happily. “I'm really glad, then!”

Muichiro stared at her smiling, slowly reaching out to touch his head…

'You did a fantastic job, Mui! I'm really proud of you! I will be sure to help Tanjiro and the others, so don't worry anymore and rest well…okay?'

He remembered those words vividly. At that time, he noticed that Y/N was way more than just an oddly optimistic person.

So, with his cheeks a bit pink from embarrassment, he said : “Though I know that we will see each other again pretty soon because of the training program, I'm going to miss you. Y/N.”

Y/N's eyes widened from surprise in response, she immediately approached him, exclaiming loudly : “I will miss you too! A lot!”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah! Even a second far away from you will be like a thousand stabs in my heart-!”

“I'm glad, but there's no need to be so dramatic.”

“Still…” She gently cupped his hands, smiling. “I hope you live a very long and filled with happiness life, Muichiro.”

“…huh? Why… Why so suddenly?” He tilted his head.

“Oh-! Sorry.” She awkwardly let go of his hands and stepped away. “I guess I was just blurting out what was in my mind! Haha…”

“Is that so? Then… I also hope you live a very long life, Y/N. And with lots of happiness in it too.” Muichiro flashed a gentle smile at her.

Y/N found herself without words. Even so, while looking straight at Muichiro's sweet face, she forced herself to smile again and said : “Let's do our best to survive together then!”

He nodded, still smiling sweetly at her.

Y/N felt nauseous. She hated herself for lying in his face like this.

“I have to go now, thanks again for bringing my haori back!” The girl exclaimed, leaving while waving goodbye to him.

“Goodbye…” He awkwardly waved back as she slowly disappeared in the corridor.

“AKAAAZAAA, ARE YOU HERE??” Y/N aggressively opened her room's door.

“Hah?! What?!” He grumpily got up from her futon.

“Jeez! Stop sleeping on my futon while I'm out!” She complained as she walked over to him with a big box on her hands.

“You're the one who said I should sleep instead of eating humans, and no way in hell I'm sleeping on the hard forest ground.” He said, yawing.

“Yeah yeah, whatever, look at this!” She violently slammed the box down on the ground besides him. “I asked the kakushi to bring here! This is the box I carry Daki around, you will be borrowing it for now!”

Akaza stared blankly at it in response, pointing at the box with a frown and commenting : “Hey… you do know that I don't fit inside that thing, do you…?”

“Well, not in that form, of course!”

“…what do you mean?” He asked, looking at Y/N like she was an alien.

“It's time to go mini, Akaza!”

“What?”

“You have to get smaller and then enter the box!”

“What?!”

“You have to shrink!”

“WHAT?!”

“You have to-”

“I GOT IT ALREADY! And there's no way in hell I'm doing that!” He laid down on the futon again, turning away from her.

“No way! I have to take you back to the butterfly mansion with me! Akazaaaa!” She started to shook him. “Come on!”

“Complain as much as you want, I'm not taking a child form!” He slapped Y/N's hand, shooing her away like she was a mosquito.

“That's not very feminist of you-!”

“….” He ignored her, his back still facing the girl.

“Jeez!” She crawled over to the other of the futon to face him. “Don't be so mean, can't you do this small, silly favor for me?”

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he still couldn't give in. “Look, taking such a pathetic form would be a massive blow to my ego-”

“BWAHAHA!” Y/N interrupted the demon, laughing loudly while pointing at him. “Why do you still care about your ego? Weren't you defeated by an acorn some weeks ago?!”

“SHUT UP! WE ALREADY AGREED TO NOT TALK ABOUT THAT!” He grabbed the pillow and harshly threw it at her, hitting the girl's face. “Argh!”

“Sniff… you're being so mean…” Y/N said with a crying voice, covering her face with her hands while her shoulders twitched.

Akaza exasperatedly approached her, he gets incredibly nervous when a girl cries around him, and when that girl in question is Y/N, he panics even more. “H-hey- don't cry, I didn't mean to throw it that harshly-”

“Is that so? Sniff- then… Then please go mini-”

“WHAT?! I already said I'm not-”

The girl cut him off : “AAAGH! My face hurts so much, I think you broke my nose!! How could you be so cruel?!”

“FINE-!”

After a while of silence, Y/N silently peeked in between her fingers, seeing an adorable kid version of Akaza in front of her, who was staring at the girl with a frown.

“GOSH! YOU'RE SO CUTE, AKAZA! WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER TOOK THAT FORM BEFORE?!” She pounced on him, hugging the demon while squeezing him tightly.

“HEY, WEREN'T YOUR FACE HURT?!”

“STAY LIKE THIS FOREVER!”

“NO WAY- GET AWAY FROM ME!!”

He kicked her away, going inside the box while grumbling angrily and shutting the door close with a loud thud.

“Don't worry, Akaza, it will be easy for you to socialize since Daki will be there!” Y/N commented, while putting the box on her back, she still could hear faint complaints coming from inside.

She opened her door, coming face to face with someone who was waiting for her outside.

“Y/N!” Kiriya exclaimed, suddenly hugging her.

“Whoa! What's all that for?” Y/N asked, awkwardly patting his head.

“It's just… You're leaving today… so, I… I came to see you off.” He blurted out, Y/N noticed that he had difficulties in expressing his real feelings.

“Thanks! You know, despite the circumstances, I'm kind of happy I got to get closer to you, Kiriya.”

“I-I see…” He said, slowly letting go of Y/N and tilting his head to look at the box on her back. “I suppose this is the demon?”

“Yep!”

“You're taking it with you? Isn't it dangerous?” Kiriya frowned.

“Naaah, he wouldn't hurt a fly! Besides, I have to take him because he gets very lonely without me! He immediately starts crying and throwing tantru-OUCH!” Akaza kicked the box from inside, making it harshly hit against the back of her head.

“Well… I suppose that you two seem to get along just fine.” The kid sweat-dropped.

“Ah, Now that I remember, it's a good thing that you came to talk to me, Kiriya…” Y/N commented, suddenly looking over her pocket. “Here, I wanted you to keep that!”

“Isn't that your ONU game? I thought you said that you spent the whole night making it?”

“The name is UNO, and it's okay, I can make another. You see, I want you to be able to play a bit even when I'm not here, and since most of the kakushi know how to play it now, if you ask them, you can play anytime!”

“I see. Thank you, Y/N. You're a very kind lady.” He politely bowed.

Y/N felt a bit awkward at the compliment, but still reached out to pat his head with a gentle smile. “And you're a very courageous and cute boy, Kiriya. See you later!”

And she quickly left, leaving the kid behind.

He slowly looked down at the sloppily painted cards in his hands, only to suddenly realize : 'wait- she knew I am a boy?!'

Even after speaking with Kiriya, it still took a while for Y/N to finish her farewells with all the kakushi from the house.

“Sniff-! You- you can come visit us any time, Y/N!”

“I will fry a lot of tempura for you! WAAAAAH-”

“THAT'S SO SAD, CAN'T YOU JUST START TO LIVE HERE INSTEAD???”

The difference in treatment from when she arrived at this mansion and from when she is about to leave is still quite a shock.