“I’m also with them,” he said. “That guy makes every-thing weird.”
“Whaaat?” Mitsuri looked around nervously at her colleagues. “No, we caaaan’t! We all have to be friends!”
Impressive, Tomioka. You’re even more disliked than I thought. Now, now, what to do here, Shinobu wondered, and an explosive clap shook her eardrums.
“Quiet.” Himejima had clapped his hands.
All her hair was standing on end. She had goosebumps from the shock of the sound.
They all snapped their mouths shut, and Himejima glared at the assembled Hashira with his sightless eyes. “He is not being dismissed. I want you to make Tomioka smile when he comes. That’s why I set aside this time for discussion.”
The only one not stunned by these unexpected words was Muichiro. He did not have a thimbleful of interest in any of the goings-on. His eyes had been chasing the little bird in the garden this whole time.
In contrast, Shinazugawa was the most upset by Himejima’s demand, and he lunged toward their unofficial leader once more.
“Huh? Make Tomioka smile? Why would we do something as stupid as that?!”
“Because that is what Master Ubuyashiki wants,” Himejima replied in an even voice. He then conveyed to them what Kagaya Ubuyashiki had told him.
“… which is why I called you here.”
“Master Ubuyashiki … would like to see Tomioka smile?” Shinobu cocked her head to one side. “Did he really say that?”
“Yes.” Himejima nodded. “He’s concerned that Tomioka doesn’t smile at all. And he said to me, ‘How wonderful it would be to see Giyu truly smile.’”
“Now that we’re talking about it,” Shinobu mused, “I’ve never seen Tomioka smile. I wonder what his smile looks like.”
“I’ve never seen it either,” Mitsuri chimed in.
Uzui jerked his chin at Muichiro staring out into the garden. “But why just Tomioka?”
“True.” Shinobu nodded.
Muichiro Tokito was also famously expressionless.
He’d witnessed his sole blood relation, a twin brother, being killed by a demon, and had been so badly injured he was half dead. He lost his memory, and was basically an empty puppet except for the times when he was hunting demons. Rengoku tended to look out for him, perhaps because he had a younger brother the same age, but Muichiro didn’t open up even to him.
Given all that, Shinobu did feel a bit strange that only Tomioka was up for discussion now. Himejima apparently felt the same way.
“I had the same question.” He furrowed his brow ever so slightly. “Master Ubuyashiki said that if Tokito can remember his true self, he’ll definitely be able to smile again. But Tomioka has deliberately cornered himself. He looks backward because that’s what he wants.”
“Cornered himself?” Shinobu said. That made sense to her.
She didn’t know if it was limited to this current generation, but the various Hashira were relatively idiosyncratic. Except for Rengoku, Mitsuri, and Shinobu herself, they weren’t very personable. While Tomioka and Tokito stood out for their expressionlessness, Himejima, Shinazugawa, and Iguro were plenty unsociable. Uzui wasn’t particularly unfriendly, but he was fairly moody.
When it came to the relationships between the Hashira at least, they all did well in their own ways. Their pride over their abilities and being the Hashira that were the foundation of the Demon Slayer Corps forced them to get along.
Tomioka was different. He was a bit too selfish, Shinobu thought. He really needed to talk to them more. Shinazugawa in particular, as well as Iguro and occasionally Uzui and Himejima, quarreled with him about everything. That was probably what Ubuyashiki was concerned about.
Basically, he wants us to pay more attention to Tomioka as part of our Hashira group because he tends to stand off on his own.
This was very much the way Ubuyashiki would think. But Himejima, in his overly earnest way, had taken this request at face value. Shinobu wrestled with how to tell him this.
“We just have to make Tomioka smile? That’s the request of none other than Master Ubuyashiki! Kyojuro Rengoku, at the ready!” Rengoku declared loudly, leaping to his feet.
Shinobu nearly lost it. Here was another man taking the instructions at face value.
“Um, Himejima, Rengoku. I think what Master Ubuyashiki was trying to say—” she started.
“I’ll do what I can too!” Mitsuri stood up as well, her cheeks red as she made her declaration. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, eyes glittering. “I wanna see Tomioka’s smile, and anyway, it’s for Master Ubuyashiki!”
“No, Kanroji. That’s what I’m—”
“That’s the spirit, Kanroji!” Rengoku slapped her shoulder.
“Rengoku …” Mitsuri brought her hands to her cheeks with a squeal as she reddened even further.
Iguro immediately wriggled his way between the two of them. “If you’re doing it, Kanroji, then I guess I could lend a hand. Although the idea of doing it to make Tomioka smile is impossibly unmotivating.”
“Iguro!” Mitsuri squealed. “Really?”
“Mm.” Rengoku nodded sharply. “Let’s fight together, Iguro! Kanroji!”
“Rengoku, if you get it, then get your hand off Kanroji already,” Iguro snarled.
Shinobu cradled her head in her hands.
With Iguro on board, this was an issue for the whole group now. Mitsuri had once been Rengoku’s Tsuguko apprentice. In the end, she’d been too different from him and gone off on her own. But for a time, they had been master and apprentice. Given that fact, and how Kanroji still felt her heart beat faster in the presence of her former master, she had probably voiced her agreement without thinking too deeply about it.
Shinazugawa yanked himself to his feet angrily.
“Tch! This is ridiculous. If that’s what we’re doing here, then I’m out. You all have fun making him smile,” he spat, thorns in his voice. He started toward the open doors.
“Shinazugawa!” Himejima called out to the back with the word kill carved into it. “Are you going against Master Ubuyashiki’s will?”
Shinazugawa’s feet stopped.
“If you’re prepared to trample all over his request, then go ahead and leave right now.”
“Ngh!”
“I won’t stop you. Whatever else, you’re free to do as you please.” Himejima’s voice was quiet. Because of that, it had an unspeakable power in it.
For a moment, Shinazugawa silently resisted, and then he finally threw himself back down into a sitting position on the floor.
“Now then, shall we think up ways to make Tomioka smile? I’m not very good at making others laugh. Please give me your unreserved opinions,” Himejima said very seriously as he looked out over the group.
No one raised their voice in objection. It seemed that, other than Shinobu, they had all failed to pick up on Master Ubuyashiki’s true intentions. Before the bizarre discussion had even begun, Shinobu was already forced into resignation.