Pink Sapphire

Two days after Giyuu’s birthday, his friends come by for his belated birthday party.

Well, the word “party” doesn’t quite fit the chill atmosphere of the situation. More accurately, Giyuu’s friends visit to give him a few presents and eat his favorite food with him, which is more than enough to make Giyuu happy.

From the bedroom, you hear Giyuu open the front door, and an elderly man’s voice greets him. Giving yourself one last glance in the mirror to double-check your appearance, you tuck your button-up shirt into your jeans, and put on a belt. Now you look ready.

Leaving Giyuu’s bedroom, you glide down the hallway to meet the owner of the new voice...only for a red tengu mask to pop out from around the corner and startle you.

“What the hell?” you shout, stumbling back.

Giyuu’s face appears next to the man wearing the tengu mask; his hand covering his mouth to muffle his laughter.

“Sorry about that,” the elderly voice speaks from behind the tengu mask. “Giyuu insisted on pranking you.”

“Payback for ditching me yesterday,” your boyfriend adds.

You glare at Giyuu’s satisfied grin for a few seconds before you dissolve into a fit of giggles. “Okay, you got me.”

The man in the tengu mask holds out his hand. “I’m Sakonji Urokodaki. It’s nice to finally meet the woman Giyuu won’t stop talking about.”

You shake Urokodaki’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

You remember what your boyfriend told you about the elderly man. Urokodaki lived next door to the Tomioka family back when his parents were still alive. One day, Urokodaki adopted Sabito, a kid whose parents were killed in a robbery gone wrong. Sabito and Giyuu became quick friends; Giyuu often went next door to Urokodaki’s to see Sabito, and vice versa. After Giyuu’s parents died, Urokodaki showed his concern by taking a more active role in the Tomioka siblings’ lives. He would drive Giyuu (and Sabito) to school on days when Tsutako had to leave early for work. He always made enough dinner for Tsutako and Giyuu on nights when Tsutako had to work late (which was most nights), and he always made it clear they didn’t owe him anything—he helped them out because he cared.

And that was how Urokodaki became Giyuu and Tsutako’s honorary father-figure.

Honestly, you feel a bit nervous meeting such an important person in Giyuu’s life. Scratch that, you feel nervous meeting almost every important person in Giyuu’s life on the same day. It’s not the same as yesterday with Giyuu’s coworkers; he’s not close to them, so their opinions about you don’t matter. But the people coming over today are like family to Giyuu—his brother-in-law actually is family—so naturally you want them to like you.

The words of the elderly man bring you back to the present moment. “Giyuu made a point to mention how beautiful you are. I must admit, he isn’t wrong.”

A warm feeling erupts in your chest; you feel happy that Giyuu speaks so well about you to the people he loves. “You’re too kind.”

Before anybody can say anything else, someone knocks on the door.

Giyuu goes to answer the door, and when he sees who’s on the other side, immediately pulls the person into a hug. “Hello, brother.”

The older man gives Giyuu a tight squeeze. “It’s good to see you.”

The word “brother” tells you that the new arrival is Giyuu’s brother-in-law. You take in the new man’s appearance as he takes off his shoes; light brown hair, green eyes, taller than Giyuu by maybe an inch or so, a pleasant expression with dark circles around his eyes. A rush of sympathy flows through you at the sight of the man’s eyebags. He probably struggles to sleep due to the situation with his wife’s coma. Poor guy…

“Urokodaki! It’s been a while,” the green-eyed man greets as the elderly man walks up to him.

Staying quiet, you watch as the three men interact. It seems Tsutako’s husband has a friendly relationship with Giyuu and Urokodaki. It makes sense, you think, that Tsutako would choose a man that could get along with the important people in her life.

“Let me introduce you to my girlfriend.”

As Giyuu tells Tsutako’s husband your name, you put on your friendliest smile.

“I’m Kazuto Nanami,” Tsutako’s husband introduces himself. “Giyuu told me a lot about you.”

You look at Giyuu from the corner of your eye. “All good things, I hope.”

Nanami smiles kindly at you. “Very good things. They can all be summed up as: she’s pretty, she’s great, I really like her. I have never heard him sound so enamored before.”

The friendly smile on your face turns into an extra wide, giddy grin before you can stop it. “I don’t know if I can live up to the hype, but I’ll try.”

Everyone chuckles at your comment.

The door rattles as someone else knocks.

Urokodaki opens the door, revealing a man with peach hair and lavender eyes, and a woman with black hair and blue-green eyes.

“Sabito! Makomo!” Giyuu welcomes them with the most enthusiasm you’ve seen from him today.

“Giyuu!” Sabito and Makomo return with equal excitement.

The two most recent guests toss the food bags they’re carrying at Urokodaki. Sabito gives a quick greeting of “Hi, dad!” as he and Makomo rush to envelope their friend in a three-way hug.

There’s a childlike joy to the embrace that makes you think the three friends look adorable; they’re acting almost like siblings who haven’t seen each other in a while. Then again, maybe they haven’t.

You walk into the kitchen to help Urokodaki organize the food on the table. “It’s clear who Giyuu’s two favorite people are,” you whisper conspiratorially to the elder.

Urokodaki tilts his head in the direction of the aforementioned three. “Tsutako is Giyuu’s favorite person. Sabito and Makomo are tied for second place. If I had to guess, I’m somewhere near the bottom of his favorites list.”

You pat the elderly man on the shoulder in playful camaraderie. “I’ll gladly keep you company at the bottom of the list.”

“I appreciate that,” he snickers behind the tengu mask. “It’s rather lonely down here.”

Nanami pops up at the opposite side of the table with plates and chopsticks. “It’s not a bad thing though. It means we get first dibs at the food while they’re distracted.”

You cover your mouth to muffle your snort. “True. And if Sabito eats like Giyuu does, there won’t be any food left for the rest of us if we let them stuff their plates first.”

Urokodaki nods his head in agreement. Though you can’t see his face behind the red mask, you get the feeling he’s amused.

Two arms wrap around you from behind. “What are you three gossiping about?”

You look over your shoulder at your boyfriend. “How rude you are to spend five whole minutes talking without introducing me to your best friends.”

Giyuu turns with you in his grip, making you face the only other couple in the room. “This is Sabito and his wife Makomo. Sabito, Makomo, this is my lovely girlfriend.”

Wife? Giyuu mentioned his best friends are a couple, but he didn’t say they were married.

Before you get the chance to think more about it, Makomo starts talking to you. “You can call us by our first names.”

“We’d prefer that, actually,” Sabito insists. “It would get confusing real fast with three Urokodakis in the room.”

You lean back into Giyuu’s embrace. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet the legendary Sabito and Makomo.”

Makomo bursts into a fit of giggles. “Legendary?”

You nod. “Giyuu told me about the shenanigans you three got up to in high school. I’m surprised you three didn’t burn the place down.”

“These two,” Makomo says, pointing at her husband and Giyuu, “were the resident troublemakers. I was simply dragged along for the ride. And since everyone knew we were close, the blame always ended up on all three of us.”

“Lies! It was your idea to put worms in Mister Takami’s desk,” Sabito corrects.

Giyuu shakes his head in mock disapproval. “And to break into the teacher’s lounge to steal the answers for the midterms.”

“And to release the air in Miss Arata’s car tires to make them flat,” Sabito adds.

“And to hack into the principal’s computer to email the students that school was canceled so we could have a day off,” Giyuu states.

“And—” Sabito and Giyuu say at the same time.

“Alright! That’s enough!” Makomo blurts out, her face redder than a tomato.

Nanami and Urokodaki don’t bother to hide their laughter at the kitchen table.

Your eyes water as you fail to hold in your cackle. “You three were straight up chaos gremlins!”

“We’ve calmed down since then,” Giyuu defends his current self.

You pat Giyuu’s hand. “Good thing, too. I could not handle being your girlfriend if you were the same menace you were back then.”

Giyuu tightens his hold on you. “Even if I was still that bad, I would keep myself in check to make you happy.”

The entire apartment goes silent for a moment as everyone takes in Giyuu’s comment.

Then the teasing started.

Sabito wolf-whistles. “Someone’s trying to get laid tonight.”

“Giyuu, when did you become so smooth?” Makomo asks in genuine confusion.

“Tell her you love her, without telling her you love her, why don’t you?” Nanami jokes.

Urokodaki doesn’t say anything; he simply adjusts his mask and starts eating. With his mouth revealed, you can see a tiny smirk on his face

Despite the light-hearted humor, you only feel a warm, swirling sensation in your chest. Giyuu truly has no idea what his words of loyalty and devotion do to you. Include the fact that he has zero qualms about showing his romantic affection for you around others…

It makes you grin like a giddy fool.

You reach up to lay your hands on your lover’s muscular forearms. Giyuu responds by kissing you on the cheek. The others continue to tease, but you can’t hear any of it. All you hear is Giyuu’s content sigh as he rests his chin on your shoulder.

You want to correct your previous statement from two days ago.

You’re not falling in love with Giyuu Tomioka.

You are in love with Giyuu Tomioka.

And you couldn’t be happier about it.

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

February eighth is Giyuu’s birthday.

Since his birthday is on a Wednesday, he’s going to postpone celebrating with his friends until Friday night, which means you won’t have to deal with any awkward first meetings when you drop by his place in the middle of the week.

In the time that you’ve known Giyuu, you’ve learned that he is a simple man; he’s not one to want extravagant gifts or over-the-top gestures. So you know that he will appreciate you bringing his favorite food (with a side of birthday cake) and a single gift.

And you’re completely right.

When Wednesday night comes along, you show up at Giyuu’s door. He seems surprised that you decided to come by, since he expected to see you on Friday, but he’s pleased to see you nonetheless.

He reacts to the salmon daikon with the same adorable smile as always, but there’s an extra spark in his eye when he sees the box of blueberry cake.

“There’s more,” you tell him, revealing the gift box from behind your back.

Giyuu’s smile widens just a bit, a small but clear sign of his excitement. He takes the box from your hand, untying the ribbon and peeling off the tape to reach the cube-shaped object underneath.

Giddy, you watch him closely, hoping for a happy reaction for him.

Giyuu’s face changes to shock when he discovers a box for the Apple Watch SE 3 under the wrapping paper. He gapes at the box in his hands for a moment like he can’t believe it exists.

“I couldn’t possibly—”

“Don’t you dare,” you cut him off, “tell me you can’t accept it.”

“It’s too expensive—” he tries to insist.

You cover his mouth with your hand. “If it makes you feel better, you can buy me something equally expensive when my birthday rolls around—or more expensive—feel free to one-up me in the gift giving department.”

Giyuu nips at your palm to make you remove your hand. He looks between you and the box in his hands like he doesn’t know what to do, before his face relaxes in what you can only identify as a resolved expression.

“Twelve-nineteen,” he blurts suddenly.

Confused, you blink at him. “What?”

“The code to my apartment lock.”

You realize immediately where the numbers come from—Giyuu was twelve and Tsutako was nineteen when their parents died—but you know better than to bring that up right now.

You look over your shoulder at the front door, eyes honing in on the ten buttons and keyhole that form the electronic lock. “You don’t think it’s too fast? This is the equivalent of you giving me a key.”

Giyuu shrugs. “We’ve been moving too fast since the day we met.”

He has a point. When you consider how you slept with him before even going on a date first, the idea of him giving you a key after six months of dating is slow in comparison.

“Besides, I have no intention of slowing down with you.”

How does this man say the sweetest things with a straight face? There’s no hint of a blush nor smile, just the same impassiveness he wears most of the time.

And yet…

The way Giyuu verbally expresses his affection in such a matter-of-fact way makes you believe there’s nothing but honesty behind his words. It makes butterflies erupt in your stomach each time he does it.

“Before I know it, you’ll ask me to move in with you,” you giggle.

A smirk dances at the edge of Giyuu’s lips. “Careful, I might get ideas.”

A warm sensation spreads from your chest all over your body. “I would have been happy with a simple ‘thank you,’ you know.”

Giyuu’s eyes turn soft. “A simple ‘thank you’ isn’t enough to show how much I appreciate having you in my life.”

If this man doesn’t stop giving you the warm and fuzzies! Your heart can only take so much.

Your boyfriend places the box on the kitchen table next to the food and pulls you into a hug. “You can come over whenever—you don’t have to ask. You’re welcome here anytime.”

You melt into his embrace.

It’s this moment when you realize that you’re falling in love with Giyuu Tomioka.

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

The day after Giyuu’s birthday, you meet his coworkers.

You stayed over the night before. While that’s nothing unusual, you typically spend the night on weekends since he has work on weekdays. But your boyfriend didn’t want you to leave last night, which led to a pleasurable night in each other’s arms before you both fell asleep, not to mention the early morning quickie before he left for work. He reluctantly pulled out of you when his morning alarm started beeping and told you to go back to sleep, so you snuggled into the covers and allowed yourself to drift off again. You didn’t fall back asleep until after he left, which was why you felt his kiss on your cheek before you heard the apartment door close.

Now, after waking up and taking a shower, you put on some clothes, and make your way to the kitchen for some brunch…only to spot the bento on the kitchen table.

Did Giyuu make this for you? Or did he forget his lunch?

Glancing at the clock, you see that it’s a few minutes until midday. If you remember correctly, the lunch period at Kimetsu Academy starts at noon. If Giyuu did forget his lunch, you better take it to him soon. But first, you want to double-check, so you walk back to your boyfriend’s room, grab your phone, and give him a call.

The line rings a few times before he answers. “Hello?”

“Hey. Did you buy lunch on the way to work?” you ask him.

“No. I made a bento this morning. Why?”

“Because you left said bento on the kitchen table.”

You hear shuffling from his side of the call. He’s probably looking through his bag. “Damn.”

“It seems I’m making a lunch delivery today,” you giggle.

“You don’t have to—”

“Too late!” you cut him off, “I’m already on my way. I’ll see you soon.”

You hang up before he has the chance to reply.

After fixing yourself up to look decent in public, you put the bento in your tote bag, slip on your shoes, and head to Kimetsu Academy.

The journey to the private school doesn’t take long, maybe fifteen minutes or so. Giyuu should have a comfortable amount of time left to eat, given the hour-long lunch period in the school’s schedule.

Once you arrive at Kimetsu Academy’s front entrance, you text Giyuu to come meet you. The school doesn’t allow uninvited visitors, so you play it safe and stay on the sidewalk. You check out the section of campus that you can see from the gate; two three-story buildings stand tall beyond the barred boundary. The whole campus takes up a whole city block, so you know there are more facilities behind the two structures you can see. You feel curious about your boyfriend’s place of work, wondering what other features this large campus has.

After three minutes of waiting, you see Giyuu jogging out of the building on the right. You smile, happy to see him again even though you saw him earlier this morning.

He greets you with a hug, which you happily return. “Hey you.”

Angling your face, you press a kiss to his neck. “Hi.”

He smiled against your temple. “Thank you for this.”

You sit your chin on his shoulder. “It’s no problem. I was mostly lounging in your bed anyway. I needed a reason to stretch my legs.”

Giyuu hugs you tighter. “If you’re still there when I get home, I’ll give you plenty of reasons to stretch your legs.”

“You still have enough energy for more after this morning? You’re insatiable, you know that?” you giggle.

“You know you like it,” Giyuu whispers against your lips.

“Of course, I do,” you murmur before closing the centimeter between your lips.

You don’t intend for the kiss to last long, maybe a few seconds, but Giyuu places a hand on the back of your head, deepening the lip lock, and you can’t resist twirling your tongue around his.

“What the hell?”

The shout startles you and Giyuu out of the kiss. The both of you look off to the side to see a group of people staring at you and your boyfriend with shocked expressions.

When did they get here? Were you that caught up in the kiss that you couldn’t hear seven pairs of footsteps come up next to you?

“What? The? Hell?” a man with white hair and scars on his face yells again; his disbelief obvious.

The frown on Giyuu’s face gives you the impression that he’s annoyed with his coworkers for interrupting his time alone with you. “Why are you all here?”

“We saw you and your girlfriend from the window,” a woman with two butterfly clips in her hair explains, “so naturally, we all wanted to meet her!”

Sighing through his nose, Giyuu releases his hold on you, allowing you to face the seven people waiting for you to properly introduce yourself.

Giving the teachers a friendly smile, you tell them your name. “It’s nice to meet you.”

One by one, the seven strangers tell you their names and what classes they teach at the high school. A couple of them, whose names you now know are Sanemi Shinazugawa and Obanai Iguro, give off a hostile vibe; they keep eyeing Giyuu with disdain, and you don’t like it. Why did they come down here just to glare at your boyfriend? Giyuu doesn’t seem to feel bothered, so you’ll keep quiet about it for now.

“So, how did you two lovebirds get together?”

Uzui’s question brings you out of your thoughts. You glance at Giyuu with a teasing smirk, making him sweat-drop.

“Don’t tell them!” his eyes scream at you.

Chuckling at Giyuu’s panicked micro-expression, you glance back at the teachers. “We met at a bar, I asked him out on a date, and we’ve been together ever since.”

You watch Giyuu release a breath of relief and suppress your laughter.

“How long ago was this?” Rengoku chimes in.

Tapping your chin, you do some quick counting in your head. “Six months ago as of last week.”

Shinazugawa snorts scornfully. “You’ve had a girlfriend this long and never said anything, Tomioka? Are you that stuck up to think we don’t deserve to know?”

Giyuu’s confused face informs you that whatever problem the angry-looking man has with your boyfriend, it is likely one-sided.

Time to tell off a prick.

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” you start before Giyuu has the chance to speak.

Feeling everyone’s eyes watching, you cross the short distance to stand directly in front of the scarred man.

“I don’t know what your problem with Giyuu is—and I don’t really care—I will not tolerate anyone badmouthing my man in front of me, so you will either check your tone, or go back inside. If you don’t like Giyuu, why are you even here?”

Switching your glare to the heterochromatic-eyed man on Shinazugawa’s left. “Same goes for you too. You may not have said anything yet, but I can feel your hostility from a mile away. Knock it off, or leave.”

Turning on your heel, you walk back to Giyuu’s side.

Stunned silence echoes through the group as they gape at you. It crosses your mind that they may not like you after this, or think you’re rude, but you don’t give a damn; you’re fine if you don’t make friends with Giyuu’s coworkers.

Then again, Giyuu told you he isn’t close with his colleagues. Maybe Shinazugawa and Iguro are the reason for that?

A loud snort drags you out of your inner monologue.

“She sure put you two in your place,” Uzui laughs.

“Shut up!” Shinazugawa snaps at him. Iguro simply glares at the flamboyant man.

Goto snickers beneath his mask. “The looks on their faces—they were not ready!”

Himejima tilts his head in the direction of the scarred man’s voice, a reproachful frown on his face. “An unfriendly demeanor does not give a polite first impression, Shinazugawa, Iguro.”

The aforementioned men wilt slightly at the words, causing Uzui and Goto to crack up even more.

Amongst the humor, you feel a hand on your back. Looking up at Giyuu, you’re met with the most enamored expression you’ve seen on him outside the bedroom.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Giyuu whispers close to your face, making sure the others don’t hear.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Uzui stop laughing and angle his head to watch you and your boyfriend curiously. You ignore him.

Bumping your nose against Giyuu’s, you murmur, “You would do the same for me. Plus, you need to learn the art of checking your peers when they have a nasty attitude. I might as well give you an example to follow.”

Giyuu’s lips quirk up. “Thank you.”

“Tomioka’s smiling!”

Yet again, Uzui’s loud voice breaks you out of your personal bubble.

Rengoku’s eyes blaze with enthusiasm. “A rare sight indeed! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile before.”

“If anyone can make Tomioka smile, it would be his girlfriend,” Kocho muses.

Shinazugawa huffs irritably, and Iguro fixes his venomous glare off to the side. You narrow your eyes at them, but don’t say anything since they’re staying quiet.

Your gaze floats over the other teachers. “Why exactly are you all so interested in me and Giyuu?”

“Though Tomioka has worked here for many months, we don’t know much about him. He tends to not talk about himself,” Himejima answers.

“Maybe that’s because some of you show blatant hatred towards him? I wouldn’t talk to you more than necessary if I had to deal with such malice all the time,” you accuse with a falsely polite tone.

The teachers sweat-drop.

Goto waves his hands placatingly. “Besides Shinazugawa and Iguro, the rest of us have no problems with Tomioka. We just want to know him better.”

They make it seem like Giyuu is a complete stranger to them. Is he truly so closed off at work?

Turning to face your boyfriend, you ask, “Do they even know that yesterday was your birthday?”

Exclamations of shock follow your question, telling you what you need to know.

Rengoku’s smile falters. “Tomioka’s birthday was yesterday?”

You nod at the flame-haired man. “It was, we’re going to celebrate tomorrow with his best friends, his pseudo-dad, and his brother-in-law.”

More cries erupt from Giyuu’s fellow teachers, this time confused ones.

Apparently, they don’t know that info about Giyuu either. No wonder they wanted to interrogate you, they probably thought it would be the only way they could learn about their sullen-looking comrade.

Even still, dealing with all these eccentric personalities at once is a bit much. “And that’s my cue to leave!”

Reaching into your tote bag, you hand Giyuu his bento, give him a kiss on the cheek, and hightail it back the way you came. “Bye! I’ll see you after work!”

“Don’t you dare!” Giyuu shouts.

You cackle as you dodge Giyuu’s attempt to grab you, leaving him to deal with the nosey group of teachers on his own.

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Link to Chapter 6