● heey! look who's back after disappearing for almost a month-

I will start by apologizing. My reasons are a mix of being busy and feeling very unmotivated to write.

This chapter is a bit longer than the others, as an apology for not updating in so long! So, I hope you like it.

       •────────✦❅✦────────•

“Akazaa! Are you there?” In the next day, Y/N spent the whole morning looking for Akaza, he didn't show up anymore after Douma hinted that he hurt him badly.

“That gay-eyed bitch, how dare he hurts-” She mumbled to herself as she walked around the corridors, a dark aura filled with anger emanating from her body.

“E-eek! Y/N is in a bad mood today!” Kiyo jumped after Y/N walked through her.

“Did something happened?” Naho asked, frowning from worry as Sumi hugged her arm, the three kids watching in silence as Y/N turned the corner in angry steps.

“Akazaaaaa! If you are hearing, give me a signal or something!”

Silence.

“I knew it, instead of slapping, I should have punched his face.” She started biting the nail of her thumb.

“… That's a bad habit, Y/N.” Daki approached her from behind, gently taking her hand and pulling it away from her mouth.

“Oh, sorry. I didn't realize I was doing it.” Y/N responded, awkwardly scratching her cheek with her free hand.

Daki didn't seem to have heard her excuse, since she kept looking down at the blood forming under the girl's nail with a sad frown. “You're hurting yourself again, are you anxious with something? You've started doing that a lot recently.”

“Oh!” Y/N harshly pulled her hand away from Daki's gentle grasp, hiding it behind her back and forcing a smile. “Do you know where Akaza is? I haven't seen him since yesterday.”

Daki jolted with the question, suddenly starting to fidget and avoid eye contact with Y/N.

“What's with that face?! What happened?”

“… After you left, Douma stayed quiet for a bit, surprisingly. But when some hours passed, he got bored and wanted to leave the room.” She then huffed, like just remembering it annoyed her. “Then Akaza, who seemed to predict that was going to happen, tried to stop him, and then…”

“And then?” Y/N gulped.

“He froze him solid.”

“….what?”

“I mean, he got out of the ice a bit later, but I think he was embarrassed because he left just after, and I haven't seen him at all since that happened.” Daki completed, sighing.

''That- that sounds like something he would do." Y/N sweat-dropped. 'I mean, when I defeated him with the acorn, he got in such a shocked state that he even let me drag him to that cave without fighting back at all.'

“…sorry, it seems like you suffered a lot.” Y/N awkwardly said while patting Daki's shoulder, she didn't know how to exactly comfort her, since she kind of was the one to blame for all this situation in the first place.

“It's fine, if it's for you, dealing with annoying and stinky upper moons is nothing!” She exclaimed in response, pouncing on y/n and hugging her arm while nuzzling against her.

“Haha- stop! It- bwahaha! It tickles-”

                          『••✎••』

'Ughhh…. I didn't sleep at all last night…. my head is spinning…'

Y/N still had to go to training, Unfortunately.

“Y/NNNN!” Suma happily ran up, only to suddenly freeze after taking a glance at her face. “GYAAAAAH- A ZOMBIE!!”

“What are you saying!? Idiot!” Makio appeared just after, angrily slapping the back of Suma's head.

“Ack! Y/N TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE!”

“Are you stupid?! She's not a-”

“Y/N, I WILL STILL LOVE YOU, EVEN IF YOU ARE A ZOMBIE NOW! WAAA-” She ignored Makio, crying even more loudly.

“She's not a zombie, Y/N is just tired today, see?” Hinatsuru interrupted Suma, approaching Y/N and gently patting her head. “Are you not sleeping properly? Is that why you're always skipping the training to nap?”

“Well….” Y/N bit her lip. '… How can I say that I couldn't sleep at all because I kicked upper moon two on the balls and slapped his face in the same day, and depending on how he's going to react to this, I might have brought doom to everyone in the corps?'

“So?” Hinatsuru tilted her head, frowning in worry as she waited for Y/N to respond to her question.

“There was some stuff.” She mumbled a random excuse, avoiding eye-contact.

“… If you say so…” Hinatsuru sighed, stopping patting her head and backing away.

“T-then, I'm going to train! Bye-” Y/N turned, ready to leave, but suddenly stopped.

“What's wrong, Y/N?”

“… I think that person is doing something illegal.” She blankly said, pointing to a specific spot where a female member of the corps was hiding behind a tree, seemingly spying on someone.

“Whoa! A stalker in plain daylight?” Suma commented.

“Maybe calling her a stalker is an exaggeration, Suma…” Makio responded, sighing. “Even so, it's better if you leave her alone Y/N-”

“She's gone.” Hinatsuru interrupted her.

“What?!”

“HEEEEEEY! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT???” In the split second that they got distracted, Y/N already ran up to the mysterious girl.

“Gyah! I'm not doing anything, I-I swear!” Despite her words, the way that the girl trembled while speaking made it clear that she did was doing something.

“Hummm…” Y/N looked over the girl's shoulder, trying to see whatever she was watching in secret. “Oh, why are you watching the boy's training? Are you a pervert?”

“Wha! I'M NOT A PERVERT, OKAY?!” The girl got mad, well, anyone would be if they were suddenly labeled like that by a stranger. “I was… you see. I was…”

“You were…?”

“T-that guy- His name is Fujio…” with a completely red face, she shakily pointed to one of the guys in the middle of the training. “I- I like him, so I was just… watching him…”

“…oh! So, you're a stalker?”

“I'M NOT A STALKER- I'm just too nervous to confess, okay?!”

“Nervous? Why?” Y/N tilted her head, confused.

“What do you mean, why?! It's hard for anyone to say their feelings out loud!”

“I see, but why don't you write a letter then? You won't have to talk to him directly if you do that, right?”

“… I… I don't know how to write….” She mumbled in response, shamefully looking down.

'Oh. Right. Taisho era.' Y/N sweat-dropped, and then smiled gently : “It's okay, Suzuki, I will help you!”

The girl jumped at hearing her name being mentioned, saying with a blank expression : “…. Are you Y/N?”

“Huh? You know me?”

“Talks a lot, is loud, skips training and knows everyone's names, there's not many people that fit in that category.”

“…oh.”

Suzuki then suddenly started to fidget, proceeding to nervously ask : “uh… Y/N, how would you like… For someone to confess to you…?”

“Confess? Uh- let me see…” She put her finger on her chin with a wondering gaze. “Hmmm… I guess … if they gave me food, I would be very happy.”

“…food?” And at that moment, Suzuki lost any hope of Y/N being helpful. 'Now that I remember, Master Tengen's wives have been bribing her to stay here with onigiris, weren't they? Is someone so simple-minded really able to help me?'

“Maybe you could cook something for him! Like cookies! Or- or a whole bento!” Y/N exclaimed, her eyes sparkling in excitement.

“It sounds like you are the one who wants these things-” Suzuki sweat-dropped.

“You guys are going to make a bento? I will help!” Suma suddenly popped out from behind Y/N, making Suzuki shriek from fright.

“Hey! You're not supposed to sneak in other people's conversations! You idiot!” Makio appeared next, angrily pulling her cheeks.

“Since we are responsible for the lunch, we can help you two meanwhile.” Hinatsuru decided to explain what Suma had in mind properly, while the other two fought in the background.

“Wow! That's great, Suzuki, everyone will help you!” Y/N smiled brightly, grabbing the girl's hand.

'…. I feel like… I got tangled with some weird people-' Different from her, Suzuki wasn't feeling that happy.

.

.

.

“So… do you guys even know what goes inside a bento…?”

“Ah! I know! I know!” Y/N excitedly raised her hand. “Tempura!”

“Well, I suppose it can be managed…” Suzuki said, thoughtfully staring at the ceiling.

“What about mochi? Can we put mochi in there?!”

“HEY! YOU'RE JUST SAYING STUFF YOU WANT TO EAT, AREN'T YOU?!” She exclaimed back as soon as she took notice of the girl's true intentions.

“Oh, I was found out…” Y/N dejectedly slumped her shoulders.

“Let's start with the simple things, like the sausages cut in octopus format…” Hinatsuru stepped in. “Y/N can do that, as long as we don't her get close to the cooking process, I'm sure everything will turn out fine, ha…haha…”

“Are you saying this to us or to yourself?!”

Hinatsuru, Makio and Suma had bad memories from the time they asked Y/N for help with the onigiris, let's just say that numerous members of the corps lost their teeth on that day.

“Anyway!” Makio shook her head, like she was trying to get rid of the traumatizing memory. “Let's make a sandwich! It's quick and since it doesn't require cooking, Y/N can do it without killing anyone!”

“Killing?! What do you guys mean?! Did she kill someone while cooking?!”

“Wow! This is going so well, I can already tell it's going to be perfect!” Suma cheerfully said.

“Are you guys listening to me?! Hey! Is Fujio going to be fine?!”

“Firstly, let's cut the ingredients!” Suma once again ignored Sukuzi's panic, happily taking out a kunai from her pocket.

“Isn't that a weapon?! Are you going to cook or assassinate someone?!”

“Suma, catch!” Makio suddenly took out countless vegetables, throwing them all at once at the girl.

“Watch this!” She cut all of them while they were still in midair with ease, making the vegetables explode in minuscule pieces and fall perfectly lined up on the table. “Ta-da!”

“Oooooh!” Hinatsuru and Y/N clapped.

“HEY! LISTEN TO ME YOU FOUR!”

They all jolted, turning to look at Suzuki.

“What are you guys doing?! Look at the size of these vegetables, you literally minced them! How will we use it on the sandwich now?!”

“Uh-”

“From the start! We will make a perfect bento, and it will be today! Y/N, cut the bread, and make it into a cute shape! Hinatsuru, help her put it together!” Suzuki seemed to be suddenly possessed by the ghost of cooking.

“Huh?! Uh- okay!!” Y/N jumped, running to grab the bread.

“Okay, octopus sausages, tempura, we should probably make some tamagoyaki too! Everything will fall into shape!” Suzuki was pretty fired-up now.

After a while, the kitchen got surprisingly quiet, everyone was pretty concentrated in their task.

'Uh… cute shape… I wonder what shape I should do…' Y/N thought to herself, staring at the bread with an earnest expression.

After a while, Y/N happily ran up to Hinatsuru, showing the bread she cut. “Hina, look!”

“…what's that?”

“Snail.”

“… Y/N… why a snail?” Hinatsuru asked.

“You know, when Suzuki said 'cute shape', she meant something like a heart or a star…” Suma carefully said.

“No, even if Y/N absolutely wanted it to be in the form of an animal, why not a cat or something? Why a snail?” Makio whispered to them.

“Y/N….” Suzuki approached her. “How did you know?! Snails are Fujio's favorite animal!”

“Oh… Is it?”

“As expected, not only you know everyone's names, you also know their interest! Your dedication is really admirable!” She grasped Y/N's hand.

“Ha….ha…” Y/N gave her a blank smile in response, awkwardly avoiding eye-contact.

'IT WAS JUST DUMB LUCK?!' The three exasperatedly thought as soon as they saw her expression.

After this, they went back to concentrate in their tasks.

“Y/N, can you bring more vegetables? There aren't any left after Suma minced them all-”

“I-it wasn't my fault! You guys never specified the size of the cut!”

“Okay!” Y/N smiled as she ran to the door. “I will be back in a while!”

As was requested of her, she went to grab the new vegetables, and as she was going back to the kitchen with a basket in hands, she noticed a new figure standing on the place Suzuki was hiding a few minutes ago.

'Wow, another stalker?' Y/N sweat-dropped, however, her curiosity once again made it impossible for her to ignore the person.

“Hello!” She popped out from behind the mysterious human, making them shriek from fright.

“Aaaargh!” They got scared and ended up instinctively trying to punch her, she grabbed his wrist so quickly that he jumped, his hand dangerously close to her face.

“Whoa! That was pretty dangerous.” Ignoring the traumatized look the guy had, she let go of him and acted like nothing happened : “So, why are you sneaking around here?”

“I-I'm not!”

“You aren't?” Y/N tilted her head. “Well, I'm leaving them, sorry for scaring you-” She nonchalantly started to leave.

“W-wait! Have you seen a girl around here?”

Y/N froze, turning back to him. “What girl?”

“It's just-there was a girl who is always here, but she wasn't today, so I got worried…” The boy said, scratching his cheek while blushing.

“Do you perhaps like that girl?! Is your name Fujio?!” She approached him in quick steps, sparkling floating around her as she pressured the poor boy for an answer.

“W-what?! Yeah, Fujio is my name-” He exasperatedly responded. “And- and… well, does it even matter if I like her or not? She doesn't even like me anyway…”

“She doesn't?”

“She comes here every day to observe Arashi anyway…”

'Oh- so he thinks Suzuki is observing another guy? What a big misunderstanding!' Y/N thought.

At that moment, things would have been solved if Y/N just told him that it was a misunderstanding and that Suzuki liked him, but…

“What do you mean, why?! It's hard for anyone to say their feelings out loud!”

Right. Suzuki was working really hard in making that bento. She probably would want to confess to him herself.

And also, this Fujio's guy is such a wimp! He simply made an assumption and didn't bother to sort things out at all! If he has no attitude, how will things work out after Suzuki confess to him?

“Hey! What are you lacking around for?! Did she ever say she liked this Arashi guy?!” Y/N exclaimed.

“Huh? No, but-”

“So why are you just assuming and immediately giving up, huh? Take action!” Y/N seemed to be suddenly possessed by a coach.

“It's easy to say that- whoa!” Ignoring his complaints, she started to push him.

“Get her flowers and confess to her! You have 1 hour!”

“WHAT?! YOU ARE FORCING ME NOW?! WHO EVEN ARE YOU ANYWAY?!”

“A CUPID OF LOVE! AND I WILL GET HER TO STAND IN THIS SPOT WHEN THE TIME COMES, SO YOU BETTER SHOW UP!”

“I'M NOT-”

“Think about it! If she refuses you, then you will be able to move on knowing that you already did what you could, if she accepts, then you can go out with the person you like! You don't lose either way!”

“W-what are you saying? Don't you understand that it's hard to say what you feel out loud like that?!”

“…but…we are preparing for a full-scale war. If you don't do it now, there's a chance you won't ever be able to do it.” She responded, a serious expression in her face.

Fujio bit his lip. Despite the bead of sweat from nervousness dripping down his forehead, his expression slowly got more determinate. “You… are right.”

“So, are you going to confess?”

“Yes.”

“Say it louder!”

“YES!”

“THAT'S THE SPIRIT! NOW GO GET THE FLOWERS!”

“I AM!” And just like that, a completely fired up Fujio left in a terrifying running speed.

After this, Y/N went back to the kitchen with the vegetables, laughing creepily to herself while she cut them (in an acceptable size this time)

“Is she okay?” Suzuki whispered to the others.

“Huh? Oh, it's fine, she always does it when something interesting happens.” Suma responded, smiling at Y/N like she was beautiful and not giggling like she was planning a murder.

'I knew it, these girls are not right in their heads at all!' Suzuki thought.

For the next hour, they all concentrated in their tasks.

“Well… With this, I think the bento is done! All you need to do is put it together in the box now.” Hinatsuru responded, staring at Suzuki.

“Wow…”

“We even made sure to not let Y/N get close to any of the cooking process, so it's 100% edible!” Makio added, doing a thumbs up.

“I still think the minced vegetables were useful…” Suma mumbled with a pout, seems like she was still hurt about what Suzuki said.

“We have work to do now, but you guys can finish it with no problems, right?” Hinatsuru commented.

“Sure thing!” Y/N nodded.

“We will be leaving them, good luck Suzuki!” Makio responded, waving goodbye to her as the three left the kitchen.

After they left, Y/N and Suzuki stood there in silence.

“Y-you know… I think I judged you guys too much, I'm sorry…”

“Ah, it's fine, I know that I don't really exude reliableness or anything-” Y/N responded, shaking her hand like it didn't matter.

“You guys are really messy, but it was fun.” She smiled. “It… It may be a bit presumptuous to ask, but can we still be friends even after I finish confessing to Fujio?”

Y/N smiled brightly, grabbing her hands. “Of course, if you ever need help again, don't hesitate to ask! Now let's finish this bento, shall we?”

“Okay!” She nodded, happily running turning back to the table, though, as they decorated the box, she kept giving side-glances to Y/N.

“Hey… Y/N… what do you think about love?”

Y/N froze. Sudden question.

“Ha… aha-” She laughed a bit, feeling awkward at the fact she didn't know how to answer. “This… This might sound a bit weird, but I don't really understand love.”

“You don't?”

“Maybe it's because I've always been concentrated on…. other things, so I didn't ever have time to think about it.”

“But… there's a lot of people who likes you, are there not?” Suzuki was sure about it. People are always gossiping about Y/N, the kakushi from all the different states even bet on who she's going to go out with.

For a recipient of so much love say that she doesn't even know what love is… It's simply a weird concept to Suzuki to understand.

“Do they? I don't really know. I mean, there are countless different types of love, right? Even if someone says they love me, it's hard for me to tell which kind of love it is. Maybe it's because I only have half of my heart, who knows!” She cheerily said, turning her attention back to the bento.

“Half a heart…?” Suzuki frowned, was this another one of her jokes? But she said it in such a weirdly serious way…. Perhaps it was some kind of metaphor? After all, no human can live with only half of their heart.

“Ah! But don't get me wrong, Suzuki! I understand your love, so I'm cheering for you with all my heart!” Y/N turned back to her with a bright smile.

With this, Suzuki felt a slight blush creep up in her cheeks. 'It's funny. If I hadn't met Fujio first, then maybe I would have had a crush on her.' Was what she thought, as she started to finish her bento.

“Hey, if you'd like, I can help you differentiate the types of love-”

“No.” Y/N interrupted her, Suzuki slightly shivered at her sudden dead-serious expression.

“But… you just said-”

“It hurts when I love, so I rather leave things as they are.”

Suzuki saw her in a different light now.

Y/N was actually a pitiful person, right? Because she was pushing those who loved her away to not get hurt.

                         『••✎••』

“Ugh…this is so nerve-wracking…” Suzuki whispered to herself in the spot Y/N made her stand, she had that creepy smile from before as she left, which made Suzuki even more nervous.

“Suzuki!”

“H-huh?!” She jolted, seeing the person she has been s̶t̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ observing running up to her with both of his hands hiding behind his back.

They stood in front of each other, staring at their eyes before suddenly handing what they had in hands and exclaiming at the same time “I like you! Please go out with me!”

“Huh?”

They froze. That was… well, they didn't really expect it would go like that.

“I- In fact, I wanted to say what I feel properly, but I never had an opportunity, and actually, even with this bento, I had to do it with someone's else help, I'm sorry…” Because of the nervousness, Suzuki ended up babbling randomly.

“D-don't be! I actually had to receive someone's else help too, so I guess we are the same, ha…ha-” Fujio responded, laughing awkwardly.

“You were lucky though, the person who was helping me really made a mess…” Suzuki sighed.

“Yeah, my helper also was really loud…” He also let out a sigh.

That was, until both of their eyes widened from realization. “Wait! Was the person who helped you Y/N?!”

“How did you know?!”

They stood in silence for some seconds, that was, until Suzuki suddenly covered her mouth with her hand, muffling a laugh. “Pff… she totally played us, right?”

Fujio was still in shock, but also started laughing. “Pffft- I guess that's the punishment from accepting help from such a weird person in the first place.”

If you want to know, it worked. They are laughing together now.

Y/N recognized Ether's familiar gentle voice.

'Is that so?' She was sitting under a tree, the same one she always takes her naps. 'I'm glad.'

If one of them die in the war, it's going to hurt them a lot. Why did you help them anyway?

'I think it would hurt more if they never got to tell each other how they felt.'

Is that so?

'That's just my opinion, though. Each human thinks differently, after all.'

Well, I only trust your opinion. You are my heart, after all.

'Yeah, sure.' Y/N sighed, hugging her legs close to her chest as the memories of the previous night flooded back in her head.

Douma.

What if he shows up again?

“Ugh, I don't want to go back go the butterfly mansiooon-” She whined.

“You don't?” Suma popped out from behind the tree, making her jump. “Sleep in our state then!”

“Uh-”

                           『••✎••』

“Thanks for having me…” Y/N awkwardly said as she entered the mansion.

“Don't be shy, don't be shy~” Makio said, hugging her while happily resting her head on the top of Y/N's head.

“Oh, right! We have to decide where Y/N will sleep.” Hinatsuru said, looking at the four futons on the floor.

“I don't think we have an extra futon.” Uzui said, scratching his head with a troubled expression.

“Oh, no!” Suma jumped.

“Let's do a vote on who sleeps in the couch, then! I vote for master Uzui!” Makio exclaimed.

“Ah! Ah! Me too! Me too!” Suma jumped.

“Me as well.” Hinatsuru elegantly raised her hand.

“WHAT?!” Uzui exclaimed.

“Good night!” The three said as they pushed Y/N inside the room, closing the door.

“My wives-” A single tear ran down Uzui's cheek.

Even though there were four futons, it was almost like there was just one, since the three tried to sleep as hugged as humanly possible with Y/N, she could barely move in the end.

'I guess… This is better than sleeping alone and fearing for my life…' Was what Y/N thought, as she closed her eyes and got ready to sleep.

GRUMBLE

Y/N opened her eyes.

What time is it? She was hungry.

She slightly sat up, looking around.  Suma had rolled off the futon and was sleeping on the hard floor now, Makio was somehow sleeping on the opposite side of futon and had her foot on Hinatsuru's face.

Y/N sweat-dropped. She didn't take them as the type that trash around while they sleep.

She silently approached Hinatsuru, moving Makio's foot out of the way and asking : “Uh… Hina-san, is it fine if I go find something to eat…?”

“Uuuh…? Yeah… go on…” She sleepily mumbled in response, going back to sleep.

She did her best to get up without waking them up and opened the door, immediately finding Uzui snoring on the sofa. Now that Y/N sees him like that, she felt kind of bad for him.

Even so, she went to the kitchen. They wouldn't be mad if she just grabbed a piece of bread or something, right? She didn't have time to eat since she spent the whole day playing cupid.

She crouched while searching around the cabinet for something edible. “Ah! I found it!”

She was about to grab a piece of bread, but then…

“Why are you always on the floor when I see you?”

“AAARGH!” She screeched and instinctively threw the bread at the mysterious voice, and Douma, the person in question, grabbed it easily.

“Oh, it's you.” Her expression immediately dropped to a glare, as she turned back to the cabinet to grab more bread.

“Wow, you don't look happy to see me at all, that hurts my feelings…” Despite his words, the way that his face was beaming made Y/N's eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

“I don't care, leave.”

“Aww, but I came all the way he-” She stuffed one bread in his mouth.

“Stop talking and leave.” Y/N said, glaring at him as she got up to go back to the room, seeing his face made her lose all the appetite.

She reached the living room, once again seeing Uzui sleeping on the sofa.

“Why are you sleeping on a different place today? Do you know how troublesome it was to find you?” Douma once again suddenly appeared behind her, making Y/N jump.

'I-If Uzui wakes up!' She turned back to the hashira, there was a frown in his face, but he was still sleeping. Maybe it's because Douma didn't show any hostility yet.

“Ugh-” Y/N groaned, harshly pushing him outside the house and bringing him to the garden.

She closed the door behind her, glaring at him. “We already had this talk! Leave!”

Douma tilted his head, feigning innocence.

“Don't pretend to not understand! Ugh- I want to punch you so much right now-” She face-slapped, trying everything to control her anger and not strangle him.

“Okay then, do it!” Contrary to what she expected, Douma approached her until his face was dangerously close to hers.

“Why do you sound excited for it?”

“I'm not, at all!” He was smiling pretty widely, though.

“… Forget it.” Y/N deadpanned at him. “It's no fun if you offer it first.” She huffed.

“Oh.”

'Why does he sound disappointed about it?! No, more importantly-' Y/N shook her head. “Hey, why are you here in the first place?!”

“To see you, why else?” Douma said, like it was obvious.

“To see me? Did you hit your head?”

As expected, he only smiled happily at her rude answer. “In fact, I really like you, Y/N!”

Silence. Y/N had frozen in the spot, the sound of the crickets signalizing that her ears were still working just fine, and that they did not fail just now.

“What the- no you don't!” She exclaimed back.

“Eh? But I do!”

“We met, like, yesterday! You don't even know me!”

“Oh- Now that I think about it, you're right…” Douma crossed his arms, his expression in deep thought.

“Good, now that this is sorted out, can you leav-"

“Then I want to know you better, Y/N!” He interrupted her.

'This annoying fucker-!' This time, Y/N couldn't control her glare.

“That expression you're doing is very fascinating.” He responded, smiling in a way that made her shiver.

“Ugh.” She sighed, sitting down on the grass to try to calm herself. How does she get out of this ridiculous situation?

“Are you annoyed?” Douma crouched beside her, continuously poking her cheek with a smile. “If you are angry, you can hit me as much as you like!”

“As I said, it's no fun if you're the one offering!” She angrily slapped his hand off.

The demon looked down at the hand she just slapped, and then smiled happy at her. “Thank very much!”

“Your thanks don't make me happy at all!” Y/N grabbed her head, she was so annoyed! And she can't even hit because it seemed like that was what he wanted in the first place. (though she was no idea why)

Douma tilted his head, staring at her.

“What? What are you going to do now? If you're going to do something weird, letting you know that I can break your nose in a second-” Y/N trembled, moving away from him with a cautious expression.

“You see, I was never treated with such rudeness before-”

“…And?” She deadpanned.

“It's a weird feeling…” He commented, more like it was to himself, as he reached out to grab a strand of her hair.

“Eek! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!” He ignored her panicked threats.

“You only like demons that don't kill humans, right?” Douma asked, smiling at her. “If I stop killing humans, will you like me more?”

Y/N stared at him in awe, surprised for a second, after a while, her panicked face dropped to a cold expression : “If you want to change, you have to do it for yourself. If you only do so to please me, then you're just putting on a mask. When you get tired of me, you're just going back to kill people, right? I have no need for an emotionless doll.”

Y/N knew well that he could kill her right now with this response. Sure, she could say something like 'okay, I will like you if you stop killing', but she felt no need to indulge that man.

Unexpectedly, Douma smiled even more brightly at her response, he grabbed her hand, nuzzling against her palm like a cat. “As expected…. I really like you, Y/N!”

“Wha-”

“Haah, what should I do? It's like my empty, non-existent heart just started to beat. Is this that love thing? Oh, you're so cute, Y/N.”

'I- I recognize that line! I recognize that lineeeee!! This can't be real! THIS DEFINITELY CAN'T BE HAPPENING!' Y/N cried internally.

“If possible, I really want to be your dog, Y/N!" He leaned even more against her palm, the way that he was smiling so innocently made it didn't even look like he was offering to be her pet.

'THIS GUY IS TOTALLY NUTS-' The poor girl panicked even more.