“Hello there. I am the chief of this village, Tecchikawahara Tecchin, very nice to meet you.” A small old man said. Like, minuscule, so small that if it wasn't for his grizzled hair, Y/N would've had confused him with a six-year-old child.

“I may be the smallest in this village, but I am also the best at my craft, now, bow your heads so low that it touches the mat.”

“Kamado Tanjiro, very nice to meet you!!” Tanjiro enthusiastically said, bowing so fast that his forehead harshly hit against the mat.

“Uh- L/N Y/N!!” The girl exasperatedly imitated him.

“What good kids. Now come over here and take some dough cakes.” He said, showing them a basket filled with the snack.

“Thank you so much!” Tanjiro exclaimed, happily taking the basket. “Here, Y/N!” he immediately offered it to her.

“Oh, thanks!” She said, excitedly starting to eat.

“Hoho, you two look very close, aaah, young love really is a beautiful thing-” The old man commented at the same time Tanjiro was about to swallow the cake in his mouth, making the boy choke and starting to cough loudly.

“I- cof- cof, I-It's n-not like that!” His eyes were going back and forth at looking at Y/N and at the floor, he was a bit worried about what she was going to think regarding this statement, what if she hates being seen that way with him?

“Huh? Yeah, of course we are close! I like Tanjiro a lot!” She said without an ounce of embarrassment or shyness, and went back to munch on the dough cakes like it was nothing.

“I see, I see!” Tecchin said, nodding with a pink aura around his head while cooing at how cute they were, although Tanjiro himself was as red as a tomato.

Even though the burgundy boy knew that the type of 'like' Y/N was talking about wasn't the same as the one Tecchin was thinking, it still made him happy to hear her say that….

But, as he thought, Y/N is as slow as ever, and…

He narrowed his eyes as he side-eyed the hickey on her neck, it was hardly visible now thanks to the collar the corps uniform has, but still could be seen if you paid enough attention.

Someone has been beating him to it, and he doubts Y/N will willingly tell who they are, she will probably only distract him again if he asks-

He shook his head, he will think about that later! Now he needs to concentrate in getting a sword!

“Hotaru has gone missing right now. We're doing our best to look for him, so please be patient.” Tecchin said.

“Hotaru?” Tanjiro stopped eating to question.

“Yes. Haganekuza Hotaru.”

“What a cute name!”

“I'm the one who gave it to him, but he keeps badmouthing me since he says it's too cute.” 

“That's pretty sad…”

“He's been that way since he was small, he throws tantrums and goes off to sulk, sorry.” He commented, sighing disapprovingly.

'What an annoying personality- He's lucky he is hot.' Y/N thought, blankly staring at the ceiling as she munched on the dough cakes.

“No, No! It's okay! It's all because I do things like break my sword and chip the blade!” Tanjiro quickly started to defend Haganekuza, but the old man interrupted him :

“No… That's wrong. It's HIS fault for making dull blades that break.”

The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy, even Y/N, who normally stays inside her own world while eating, started to feel uncomfortable.

“We will bring him back as soon we find him, so don't worry.” One of the swordsmith beside Tecchin said, making a punching motion with his hand.

“Well- don't be too rough-” Tanjiro said in response, sweating nervously.

“I heard you both haven't recovered enough to go demon slaying. If Hotaru doesn't forge Tanjiro a new sword by the time he's ready, I'll appoint someone else to be your swordsmith.”

“Huh? Me too? But I still have my sword-” Y/N said, but just like Tanjiro, was interrupted.

“No. We can't let you both stay with an unreliable swordsmith.”

'But- NOO- I WANT THE HOT GUY TO BE MY SWORDSMITH-' Y/N panicked, Tanjiro sweat-dropping as soon as he felt her smell, did she like Haganekuza's work this much?

“Our hot spring is good for healing the body, so just relax there.”

After he said that, another swordsmith guided them until the entrance of the hot spring.

“I hope they don't fight…” Tanjiro commented with a sad expression.

“Don't worry, they are like family, so there's no way something like that would be enough to harm their relationship!” Y/N was quick in trying to appease his worryings.

“The hot spring is up this hill, I'll be down there preparing your meal.” The man pointed at the hill before leaving.

“Yay! Hot spring!” Y/N exclaimed, happily grabbing Tanjiro's hand and pulling him along as she ran up the hill.

“Careful to not slip Y/N.” Tanjiro said, smiling gently at her.

In the middle of the way to the spring, the two suddenly saw Mitsuri running up to them while wearing a very loose yukata. “Oooh! It's Y/N and Tanjiro! YYYY/NNNN! TAAANJIROOO!”

“Whoa! Be careful, your boobs are about to spill out!”

“Listen! Listen!” Ignoring Tanjiro's warning, she quickly grabbed Y/N's clothes while crying loudly. “He ignored me! I said hello, but he ignored me!”

“Who did?” Tanjiro asks, while Y/N awkwardly tried to pat her back in an attempt to soothe the girl.

“I don't know! I asked his name, but he ignored me! Isn't that mean? I'm a hashira! The calm I got from the soak is completely shattered!!”

After she said this, she suddenly stopped crying, her face lightening up like she just had a great idea.

“Y/N! You didn't go to the hot springs yet, right?!” She hugged Y/N's arm. “Let's go together then!”

“Eh?! But didn't you just came out from them, Mitsuri-san?” Tanjiro frowned.

Mitsuri smiled at him. Even though she didn't say anything out-loud, it was clear that this smile meant 'shut up'.

“Let's all go together then! Hot spring! Hot spring! Yay!” Y/N happily hopped over to the springs, leaving Mitsuri and Tanjiro behind.

“UUGH! Y/N is so cute!! Look at her, she really wants to go to the hot springs!” Mitsuri gushed over her, you could almost see the little hearts floating around her head.

“I agree, but we should probably follow her before she slips somewhere…”

“Ah! That would be a big problem!” Mitsuri jolted. “YYYY/NNNN! WAIT FOR MEEEE!” She started to run after her, Tanjiro exasperatedly following.

.

.

'Wow! It's huge!' Tanjiro thought with a surprised expression, looking at the massive pool of water.

“Let's enter, then, Y/N!” Mitsuri said, smiling happily at the girl.

“Yay!” She reached out for her uniform button's, but Tanjiro stopped her. “W-Wait! You're going to undress here?!”

“Oh- Sorry Tanjiro, I was so excited to go that I forgot you were here-” Y/N said, awkwardly scratching her head.

“Uhm, but there's only one spring, maybe it's better if you guys go first, and I come back later…” Tanjiro commented.

'Wait! He will lose his interaction with Genya if he does that!' Y/N thought in exasperation.

“I-It's fine! You can go first if you want Tanjiro, I- I didn't even want to go that much-”

“Y/N, you don't sound believable when you look as if you're about to cry-” He said in response, sweat-dropping.

“It's okay Y/N! We can just use towels!”

“But, even with towels, I feel like entering together is a bit-” Tanjiro frowned.

“But Y/N really wants to go, and she would feel sad if you didn't get to enjoy the springs too!” Mitsuri said, grabbing Y/N's shoulders while she earnestly nodded.

“Don't worry, we will stay all over to the other side of the spring, and there's a lot of steam here too, you will hardly be able to tell we are here at all!”

“But-”

“Bye bye!” Y/N quickly dismissed him, hugging Mitsuri's arm and dragging her around the spring.

Tanjiro sighed, though being an oblivious idiot is one of the characteristics that makes Y/N cute, it's also the one that makes him worry about her the most.

Though he felt bad for lying to her, there's no way someone as respectful as him would be able to enter the hot spring while knowing that she was also there, so he was planning to go back and just say that he did enter in it if she asks him about it.

That was, until something hit his head and fell directly on his palm.

A front tooth.

'Someone lost a tooth!'

He exasperatedly looked back at the springs, seeing…

'His head is shaved on the sides! Sumi said that his name is….'

“Genya Shinazugawa!” He exclaimed out loud without even realizing.

Genya looked back at him, immediately saying : “Die!”

Tanjiro looked at him, puffing his cheeks in frustration as he slipped out of his clothes and jumped in the water. (Honestly, what happened to all the 'being respectful' talk?)

“Long time no see! How have you been??” He asked while swimming up to Genya. “Your last name is the same as the wind hashira!!”

“DON'T TALK TO ME!” He exclaimed in response, grabbing Tanjiro's head and burying it into the water.

“Hey, you're going to drown him like that-” Genya froze as soon as he heard the female voice, automatically letting go of Tanjiro's head from shock.

“Y/N! You said you were going to stay on the other side!” Tanjiro raised his head from the water, completely unfazed at the drowing attempt.

“…. Did I?” She tilted her head.

Even though she had a towel wrapped around her body, Tanjiro's face immediatly turned completely red with the sight.

While Genya turned into rock. Literally.

“Hey! Hey! What happened to your teeth? It's missing one! Does it hurt?” Y/N asked, waving her hand in front of his frozen face. “Oh! You shaved your hair, it looks cool! And you got taller too! Hey! Hey!”

Tanjiro sweat-dropped as he stared at the poor boy being nagged by Y/N, though he was grateful that he didn't try to drown her too-

Instead of responding to her, Genya suddenly dipped onto the water until only half of his head was outside, shyly swimming to the edge of the spring, quickly grabbing a towel and quite literally running away.

Y/N stared at him disappearing in the distance, noticing his red ears and cheeks. “Cute.” she blurted out with a serious expression.

“You have a weird definition of cuteness-” Tanjiro commented.

“Is that so?” She turned to him, her lips curving into a small grin. “Well, I think you're cute too!”

He averted his gaze from her, mumbling with a pout : “Even so- being called 'cute' as a guy is kinda-”

He suddenly stopped his ramblings, his eyes widening from realization. Maybe the reason why Y/N doesn't feel embarrassed in the slightest right now is because she doesn't see him as a man at all?? Or because she doesn't have any kind of feelings for him??

The boy exasperatedly looked back at the girl, who only tilted her head with a unsure smile on her face, she was confused at his sudden attitude change.

“H-Hey- Y/N-” Their current state was a bit awkward, but they hardly have time alone, so now is the best time to ask her…

How does Y/N feels about him after all?

That was, until he came to the realization that he wasn't using any clothes right now, and stopping in his tracks to go to her.

He robotically turned back, swimming up to a random corner and, just like Genya, shyly diving onto the water until only his head was visible.

“Tanjiro?”

“S-stay there! Don't move-!” He exasperatedly exclaimed as soon as he noticed her trying to swim up to him.

“Huh?” The girl slowly blinked, before realizing what was going on. “oh. I'm so sorry, Tanjiro!” She turned her back to him.

“I-It's okay-”

“No.” Y/N interrupted him, shaking her head. “If I was in your place, I would be uncomfortable too, I'm sorry that I came here after I said that I wouldn't- I promise I won't do it again!”

His eyes widened in surprise. It's weird how Y/N is so oblivious to some things, but so sharp to others.

“Now that I think about it, I should probably apologize to Genya later too- It was my fault that he left-” She mumbled to herself. “Anyway, I'm going back to Mitsuri now, sorry again, and I swear I didn't see anything!!” And she quickly left, just like that.

Tanjiro sighed. What was this feeling? Relief? Disappointment? It's not like he wanted her to leave, but it would be embarrassing (and probably awkward) to ask her to stay now.

His mind went back to his 'talk' with Genya, even without Y/N's interference, it was very clear that his attempt to befriend him was a complete failure from the beginning.

“I thought soaking together would bring us closer, but…. human relations are difficult.” He commented to himself, while Nezuko happily swam to a side to the other.

“YYY/NN! YOU'RE GOING TO SLIP!”

“I WON'T SLI- WHOA!” A loud splash could be heard from the distance. “AAAAAH! DON'T DIE YYY/NNN!!”

Tanjiro sweat-dropped at the loud screams coming from the other side of the springs.