Monocle? Tentacle?

"Alright, steady does it. You don't have to push yourself so much, brother." Tanjiro said worriedly, as he supported his Hiroto up.

It's been a few weeks since the fight against the Upper Three Moon Demon, and at this moment Hiroto was attempting to get up and walk around to stretch his legs.

His left eye was still bandaged up but was recovering slowly. Shinobu advised him to keep it covered for now to avoid straining it too much when it is still recovering.

Except for sleeping in his bed and being bored to death, Hiroto didn't have an eventful few weeks. There was that one incident when Tanjiro came back from visiting Senjuro at his home. He met Kyoujurou's father there, and to say that Tanjiro was frustrated is the understatement of the century.

Apparently, the same event happened where Tanjiro was tackled, but it seemed to not be as forceful as Hiroto's encounter. But, when Tanjiro brought up Kyoujurou's condition to his father, that was when things took a turn. From what Tanjiro told Hiroto, his father didn't care what happened to Kyoujurou and said that he deserved it since he was an untalented swordsman in the first place.

After that, well… Tanjiro headbutted the man… Although Hiroto reprimanded Tanjiro for attacking a senior, he still praised him secretly.

Tanjiro was supposed to find Senjuro when Hiroto woke up but didn't get a chance to bring it up in the end as he stormed away angrily.

With Tanjiro supporting him, Hiroto went out to the garden and sat down on the edge of the steps.

"I'm fine here, you should get back to your training. Make sure that Zenitsu doesn't skip out. If he continues to whine then just tell him that I'll tell bad things about him to Nezuko." Hiroto said, as he leaned back and relaxed in the outside air.

"Don't worry brother, we'll get stronger and catch up with you. So the next time you fight Akaza we can help you." Tanjiro said, before running off.

*sigh* Hiroto sighed as he looked around the serene garden and basked in its silence. Behind a tree was Yushiro's cat that would always appear and stare at him. Ever since the battle with Akaza, the cat had been giving Hiroto a passive-aggressive stare since he didn't manage to collect the blood from him.

"Shoo, go away." Hiroto gestured with his hand towards the cat.

"Is there something there?" Kanao's voice came from behind him.

"Ah, um…" Hiroto looked back at the cat and saw that it had disappeared. "Nothing, I was just… practicing what to say when I meet that Demon again…" Hiroto's face twitched, as he tried to keep a poker face through this absurd lie.

Kanao kept the same smile and just stared at him. There was one thing that Hiroto and Tanjiro sucked at the most. That was trying to keep a straight face when lying.

Kanao brushed off what he said and sat down next to him, staying silent and just playing with the butterflies that floated around her.

"So, how was your mission? You came back quite quickly this time." Hiroto said.

"Mmm, it was a success," Kanao replied straightforwardly.

'At least she responds back to questions now, an improvement.' Hiroto thought to himself.

"Did Shinobu go to headquarters to give in her report?" Hiroto asked.

"Mhm." Kanao nodded, still keeping her same smiling face.

The two sat silently together in the garden, just watching and enjoying each other's presence. Sometimes, a conversation doesn't need to have spoken words.

"Kanao, how about we have a little match?" Hiroto said suddenly.

Kanao turned to Hiroto and tilted her head questioningly.

"Remember that game we did a little while ago? With the cups?" Hiroto said.

"Mm, you said the loser had to do whatever the winner said. You never brought it up yet." Kanao responded.

"Let's do this then, I'll toss a coin and you'll have to guess what I toss. If you're right, then you can ask me to do whatever you want. The same goes for me if I win." Hiroto stated.

"But… I'll have the advantage. I have good eyes." Kanao said.

"It's fine, it's not like I'm going to lose." Hiroto beamed with confidence.

Kanao gave it a thought and nodded her head.

"Alright, pass me your coin," Hiroto asked, as Kanao passed her coin over to him.

"Here we go." *ting* Hiroto flipped the coin high up into the air as it flipped countless times, and when it reached its apex, it started falling back down.

Kanao stared intensely at the coin as it fell, and said confidently, "Tails."

*tap* Hiroto slapped the coin as it landed on the back of his palm. Revealing it slowly, Kanao didn't see a coin but a small butterfly that flew out.

Kanao stared at it, and then said, "Oh, Hiroto you did a trick."

Hiroto almost fell off his seat as he didn't expect her reaction. "Haha, don't worry about it. I was just playing a trick on you. But, you still guessed wrong."

Kanao stared blankly at him, "Eh?"

"Well, I asked you to guess what I toss, and not what side of the coin it was," Hiroto stated, waving his finger around as though he was a scholar.

"...I don't like this game." Kanao stated.

"Haha, you're so gullible it's adorable," Hiroto said while laughing.

Kanao's eyes widened as her face began to feel hot. She got up and walked up, saying back to Hiroto. "I need to go see meet Shinobu-san." Kanao stuttered as she walked away.

Hiroto scratched his head and said, "But you forgot your coin." he waved the coin in the air.

Kanao paused, and then moved extremely quickly, grabbing the coin that Hiroto waved and ran off.

'She seems to be opening up more at least.' Hiroto thought, feeling happy for her.

----

And like so, weeks turned into months, as Hiroto was still recuperating along with Rengoku. Hiroto visited him a few times and chatted with him. From what Rengoku said, he could still occupy the Flame Hashira position until Hiroto took over. Although he lost an arm, he still had one more.

Hiroto started to recover and was almost back to his full strength. Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu would receive orders from their crows/sparrow every now and then and went out to defeat Demons. When they were done, they would come back and train at the Butterfly Estate.

Hiroto started his training when he was physically able to, but the one thing that hampered him slightly was his eye. Although he wasn't blind, he couldn't see normally out of it again. When he only used his left eye, everything would seem blurry and out of focus. One thing that was pointed out to him by Shinobu, was that his eye seemed to have lost it's red shine to it and was a bit grayer, but there was still a tinge of purple around the iris.

Shinobu suggested for him to get what was called a 'monocle.' When Hiroto first heard this, his response was. "Is that a different way of calling an octopus's tentacle? Why would I need that?"

After what he said, Shinobu gave him a 'light' punch. Yes, it was light. No, she didn't threaten me to say that.

Apparently, Shinobu had already put in an order for this monocle and it was supposed to arrive on this day. Hiroto was practicing with his sword in the garden at this moment, as he heard a knock at the front door.

"Excuse me! I have a delivery for a… Kocho Shinobu and Kocho Hiroto!" A woman's voice came from outside.

"Dammit, Shinobu's tricked them again." *sigh* Hiroto stopped his practice and rubbed his head. Whenever there was something addressed to Hiroto that Shinobu ordered, she would always put her family name under Hiroto's like a prank.

Walking to the front door, he opened it up and saw a middle-aged woman standing outside with a box in her hands.

"Yes, I'm K… Hiroto. Is that for me?" Hiroto pointed at the box.

"Yes, here's the monocle that was ordered. I was told to give you some instructions. 1, Make sure to always keep it clean. 2, Make sure not to drop it, it's very fragile. 3, No refunds if you break it. That's about it." The woman said, handing the package over to Hiroto before walking away.

Hiroto went back inside and opened the box up. Inside, he saw 2 similar glass circles with a chain attached to them separately. Hiroto picked one up and inspected it.

"How do I use this?" Hiroto muttered, as he raised it up to his eye and looked through. He was in disbelief when he realized he was able to see with his left eye through the glasses.

"Whoa! It works?!" Hiroto was ecstatic, as he lifted the chain up and played with it. 'How am I supposed to put it on? Do I have to hand one hand holding the monocle at all times?'

Hiroto began playing around and trying to see how to have it sit on his face without him needing to touch it. He pushed it to where the bottom of the monocle rested on his cheek and the top of it was held down by his eyebrow.

"Like this?" Hiroto let go, with the chain dangling down below him. The monocle jittered for a bit but managed to stay in place. "Haha, of course, I would be able to figure it out!" Hiroto laughed, thinking that he solved the puzzle.

"Hey Hiroto, I heard that the monocle cam-"

*crack*

"..."

"..."

Shinobu slowly looked down at the monocle that fell onto the ground, shattered into pieces.

"Umm… it was like that when I got it." Hiroto said.

Shinobu gave a wide smile to Hiroto and said slowly. "Is that so, Kamado-Kun?"

'Oh no… she used my family name and not my given name… Tanjiro, look after Nezuko for me. Nezuko, make sure to live a fulfilling life from no-' *Thud*

"Oh my, it seems to me that you slipped, how careless of you. You should be more careful, or something might just fall onto your head." Shinobu said, leaning over the fallen Hiroto.