“hehehe- hot springs- I'm so glad I got to come-” Y/N was almost melting inside the water.

Mitsuri smiled gently at her, but her smile dropped as she squinted her eyes to see the mark in her neck more clearly.

She silently swam up to Y/N from behind, poking the hickey with a curious expression.

“W-W-W-WHAT???!!” Y/N jolted with the poke, shying away from Mitsuri so quickly that water splashed everywhere.

“Hey, what's that thing?” Mitsuri asked, tilting her head while pointing to Y/N's neck.

“I-It's nothing- Just a bug bite, yeah! An ugly and very gross bug bit me!” Y/N internally apologized to Akaza for that.

In response, the love hashira stared with a serious expression at her, before suddenly puffing her cheeks in frustration. “You're so mean, Y/N!”

She swam even closer to her, Y/N shaking her head quicker the closer she got. “I let you leave my sight for some weeks, and you already go have fun with someone else!”

“H-have fun??” She gulped. “I don't know what you're thinking, but you're wrong-” Y/N quickly tried to get rid of any misunderstandings.

Mitsuri hugged her when she got close enough, as soon as she wrapped her arms around Y/N's neck, the calmness she got from the hot water was completely throw out of the window.

“Haaah-” She sighed, resting her cheek on top of Y/N's head. “Hey, Y/N, what should I do for you to look only at me?”

'Ether, I'm so sorry-' Y/N thought while trying not to cry, her heart was beating so loudly that she was afraid Mitsuri could hear it.

“Huh? Why aren't you saying anything?” Mitsuri frowned, confusedly letting go of the flustered girl to take a better look at her face.

In response, Y/N slowly reached out to touch her nose. “Phew, it's not bleeding-” she whispered to herself.

“Ugh- You're so cute, I really can't stay mad at you!!” Mitsuri squealed and once again pounced at her. “WAIT! MY HEART IS NOT READY YET-”

.

.

.

“Wow! Is dinner almost ready?!” Mitsuri asked as soon as they both entered the house, Tanjiro was already waiting there.

“Yeah! They said they were going to bring it!” Tanjiro gently responded while nodding.

“Oh! I'm going to help! You can sit down Y/N!” Mitsuri said to her before running off, mind filled with food.

In response, Y/N walked over to the table with a dazed expression, silently sitting beside Tanjiro.

“Tanjiro.”

“What?” He asked, surprised at her cold tone.

“I love boobs.” She blurted out with a serious expression.

“….why?” He didn't ask out of curiosity, it was more from utter surprise.

“Honka honka.”

“Wow, I can hear the words from your heart-” He sweat-dropped.

Mitsuri came running with food just after, they immediately started to eat, but after a while, Tanjiro and Y/N stared in utter surprise as empty food bowls started to quickly pile up on Mitsuri's side of the table.

“Impressive! You even beat Y/N!”

“what do you mean beat me-”

“Really? But I didn't eat THAT much tonight…” Mitsuri said, but the worker exasperatedly taking back the empty bowls thought otherwise.

“I'm gonna eat a lot and get stronger too!” Tanjiro said, holding his own bowl of rice. “Oh yeah! Kanroji, the boy you met at the hot spring became a demon slayer at the same time as me, his name is Genya Shinazugawa.”

“Oh! You don't say! He must be Shinazugawa's little brother, but Shinazugawa said he doesn't have one! Maybe they're not on good terms, that's too bad.”

“Oh, really? I wonder why…” Tanjiro said with a sad expression, as Nezuko and Daki peeked out their heads from under the table.

“There are five kids in my family, and we all get along, I don't really know why, but I find both of the Shinazugawa's brothers scary.” Mitsuri commented while tickling Nezuko, who squirmed on the floor while giggling like a child.

Daki stared blankly at them, before turning back to Y/N and resting her head on her lap, immediately dozing off.

“Genya hasn't come yet, huh?” Tanjiro commented. “It would be nice to talk to him at least a little.”

“I don't think he will come, one of the villagers said he doesn't take meals at all. Maybe he brought his own food.” Mitsuri said while patting Nezuko's head.

“I wonder if he's all right, I'll take him some rice balls later.”

“Yeah! Let's do that!”

They all happily set off to Genya's room, Mitsuri singing while Nezuko held her hand : “Didn't you know it's a brocade standard, saying conquer the emperor's enemy, hey-ya! Hey-ya-hey!”

“Kanroji, why did you join the demon slayer corps?” Tanjiro asked her as they walked.

“Who? Me? It's embarrassing… do ya really wanna know? Uh…” She started to fidget, suddenly putting her hands on her cheeks and exclaiming with a red face : “To find a man to marry!”

Tanjiro looked….shocked.

“It's good for a girl to find someone stronger to herself, someone to protect her! You see? Many boys don't understand-” Mitsuri interrupted herself, and then completed : “But it's fine now! Because I already found someone to marry! She's not stronger than me, but it's okay because I can protect her myself instead!”

“Huh?” Daki, who was hugging Y/N by her waist, looked up at her.

Mitsuri started to flusteredly shake her head to a side to the other. “I came here to find a man, but it ended up being a girl instead, who would have thought that it would turn out like this? Haha! She's so cute that I really want to keep her by side! Right, Y/N?”

“M-me?” Y/N pointed to herself with a red face, she wasn't expecting such a sudden and bold declaration.

Tanjiro stared at Mitsuri in complete confusion, until finally realizing what she meant and hugging Y/N's right arm with a pout, Nezuko imitating her brother by running over to Y/N and hugging her free arm, Daki also strengthening her grip on her waist. “g-guys, I can't move-”

“Oh my, seems like there's still a lot of obstacles to overcome, love sure is hard-” Mitsuri said, letting out a sigh.

They then finally reached Genya's room, opening the sliding door and checking inside to see it completely empty. “Genya isn't here…”

“Lady Kanroji.” A kakushi called the attention of the group. “Your sword will soon be finished being sharpened. Please, come to the workshop for final adjustments.”

“Oh, my! Looks like I have to go!”

“Don't worry, we'll see you off!” Tanjiro said, Y/N nodding beside him.

“No, I'll probably leave late at night….”

“No, but… really?”

“Tanjiro, Y/N, I don't know if we'll ever see each other alive again, but let's try our best to do so!” She smiled gently at them.

“You all fought an upper-rank demon and survived, that's an incredible experience! What you gain through actual experience is more valuable than anything, it's comparable to five or ten years of training.” She crouched down to pat Nezuko's head. “Tanjiro, Y/N, you're both stronger now than you were before.”

She stood up again, flashing a bright smile at them and saying: “Mitsuri Kanjori is rooting for all of you!”

They all looked in awe at her, Tanjiro smiling and responding : “Thank you. But I still have a long way to go! Uzui and Y/N just let us win, I'll try harder and harder to beat Muzan Kibutsiji himself!”

It was Mitsuri's turn to be surprised, the smile on her face suddenly turned smug as she said : “That's the spirit! Work hard and survive, after all, if you die, I will just take Y/N all to myself!”

Tanjiro jolted in response, Mitsuri is so friendly that he momentarily forgot that she's also a rival!

“By the way, you two have permission to stay for a long time, right?”

“Uh? Yeah, basically.”

Mitsuri sent a glance at the kakushi waiting behind them, approaching Y/N and whispering in her ear : “I hear this village has a secret weapon that makes you stronger, you and your friend should go look for it, okay?”

“Okay!” Y/N responded, smiling happily at her while nodding.

Mitsuri only stared at the girl, suddenly letting out a squeal.

“You sure are cute!” She approached her and kissed her cheek, pulling away just after and commenting : “I will stop right here for now, since your devoted followers will be mad if I go any further~”

She then ran over to the kakushi, excitedly waving goodbye. “See ya!”

The group of four watched the hashira go in complete shock, Y/N's nose suddenly spurting a bunch of blood.

“Y-Y/N!!” Tanjiro held her before she could hit the ground. “D-DON'T DIE!!”

“I think I'm seeing my dad waving at me-”

“Y/N! Don't follow the light!!!” He exasperatedly shook her weak body.

'If this keeps going on, I'm going to die before the demon even appears-' Y/N thought, a single tear running down her cheek.

                          『••✎••』

It was already nighttime, the villagers showed the room where they both would stay for the night.

Maybe it's because of what Y/N said to the chief before, but they didn't show much of a reaction when she asked if they could share a room, in fact, she could even hear their giggles from behind the door.

They both set down their boxes on the floor, but Daki and Nezuko didn't come out from them.

“Huh?”

“They are probably sleeping- Don't worry, they will come out later!” Tanjiro reassured her.

“I will trust you, since you're a pro of box-demon-keeping!”

“Ahaha-” He laughed awkwardly at that title.

There were two futons on the floor, though they were right beside each other, the villagers really were taking the whole couple thing seriously-

“Good night!” Y/N nonchalantly got under the covers, preparing to sleep.

“G-good night-” Tanjiro meekly said, laying beside her.

He stared at her back for a little bit, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Ever since Y/N came back from that mission with the hashiras, he feels like there is something wrong. The small melancholic smell that she always had with her got a bit more noticeable than before.

But… last time he tried to confront her about it, it ended terribly. Even so, he doesn't think he should leave it alone.

“Ah! Now that I think about it-” Y/N suddenly commented, turning over to look at him. “It's the first time we are sleeping together in a long time-”

“T-that's right-” He averted from her gaze, why did she have to say that? Now he's getting nervous-

Tanjiro side-eyed her, she didn't look flustered or anything close. “Aren't you nervous?” He decided to be blunt about it.

“Huh?” Her eyes widened.

He shook his head. “No, forget about that question, good night-”

“Jeez, why are you like this? I was trying to act naturally so this wouldn't be awkward- Aw man, now I'm getting nervous too-” Y/N sighed, mumbling to herself.

“S-sorry?” He said, though he was not exactly feeling sorry, in fact, he was a bit happy that he was not the only one nervous like he thought.

He could smell her nervousness now, but, as he thought, the faint sad smell was also there.

Sure, it ended up badly before, but they are a bit closer now, right? He will immediately back down if she gets upset, so-

“Y/N… in that mission you went with the hashiras, did something happen? You don't need to tell me if you don't want to, but-”

“Haaah- I hate when this happens…”

Tanjiro got confused at affirmation, when she noticed his confusion, she explained further :

“When someone gets worried about me… I hate it. I can't help but feel like I'm wasting their time. Why worry about me when you can just be happy instead?”

He exasperatedly approached her in response. “Of course I would worry about you! You're really important to me! In fact, when you bottle up your feelings like this, it just makes me more worried!”

“…Then, if you really want to help me, can we hold hands for a bit?” She offered her hand to him.

He quickly nodded while immediately taking her hand, she giggled at his earnestness.

“….Thank you.” She smiled.

“But, are you sure that is enough…?” It's not like he hated this situation, but he still felt like he should do more.

“Of course it is! The best way you can use to cheer me up is to smile and hold my hand, so drop that frown, okay?” She said, poking the frown in between his eyebrows.

“Oh, sorry- I didn't realize I was frowning-” He flusteredly said, covering his forehead with his free hand.

“Pfft- you're really adorable-” Tanjiro's face got dark red at that affirmation.

The boy looked down, suddenly having a hard time looking at her in the eyes. “Hey, Y/N, is it fine if I hug you?”

“Oya? What's that? You're getting bold all of a sudden!”

He puffed his cheeks, not because he was angry at her, but from the frustration of being teased.

“Pfft- I'm sorry, so don't do that cute squirrel face-” Y/N said, gently letting go of his hand and opening her arms.

He shyly approached the girl, hiding his face on her neck as he wrapped his arms around her, Y/N held down the urge to call him cute again.

“Good night, Tanjiro.”

“Good night, Y/N.”

In that night, it was the first time Y/N had a good sleep in a while.

      •────────✦❅✦────────•

[ Just discovered that the name of village chief is actually 'Tecchikawahara Tecchin' i'm the one who can't read 💀

I'm on school break btw! Now that I have so much free time on my hands, I can't help but want to update this book all the timeAAA  So if you were wondering, that's why the updates suddenly got more constant!

I promise I will slow down after this one ok? Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Have a good day/night! ]