'It's okay Y/N, everything will be okay, reporting to the master will be easy, I defeated upper moon three with an acorn, there's nothing to be afraid of-'

They stopped right in front of the entrance. “Y/N, be sure to stay close to us!”

“.....mochi.”

“And please relearn Japanese-” Shinobu sighed, approaching Y/N to pat her head. “Don't worry, I will make sure that the death of the yellow thing will be quick and painless.”

'…. Yellow thing? Is she talking about Zenitsu?'

Shinobu starting walking again before Y/N could question how serious she was about that assassination plan.

As they walked around the main house, Y/N started to zoom out, and when she finally realized she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, Shinobu, Kyojuro and Giyuu were already nowhere to be seen.

'N-No way- There's no way that I got lost-'

Y/N definitely got lost.

'What do I do?! Will I be punished if I show up late?! Why does this place have to be so big?! AAAAA-'

She was about to cry from panic when someone suddenly tugged at her haori.

“Huh?” She looked down to see : “oh, hey.....kid.”

Kiriya Ubuyashiki was coldly staring up at her.

'Now that I remember, he is a boy, right? A boy dressed up as a girl, though I don't remember the reason-'

“What are you doing?” He tilted his head.

“I'm lost!” She smiled brightly.

“Who says that they are lost so happily?” The kid frowned.

“Aha- Uh- Do you know where your father is?” Y/N asked, awkwardly scratching her cheek.

“I do. Follow me.” He started to walk, Y/N quickly walking behind him.

After some minutes of them walking in awkward silence, Y/N recognized the three hashiras standing in front of a sliding door, by the exasperated look in their faces, seems like they already noticed she was gone.

“Y/N! Where did you go? I told you to stay close to us-” Shinobu quickly ran up to her.

“Sorry, I got lost! Then this kid helped me-”

“Y/N, please don't call her 'this kid', that's your superior-”

“It's fine. I still didn't inherit the corps, so I have no need for formalities.” Kiriya coldly said.

'The way he talks is so fancy! How old is this kid?!'

“You all should hurry instead of worrying about these things.”

They nodded, entering the room one by one, when it was Y/N's turn to go inside, she suddenly ran back to Kiriya.

“Here!” She gave him a candy. “Thanks for guiding me here!” She patted his head before running back to follow the others.

Kiriya awkwardly touched his head. How weird, it's the first time someone treats him like a kid.

“Master, we are here to make our report.”

They were all bowing on one knee, Y/N quickly coping them.

“Welcome, my children. Great weather today, isn't it?”

After this, the report went smoothly all the way to the end, he attentively listened to every detail they told with a gentle smile in his face.

And after they finished, he delicately tilted his head, saying something that caught all the four by surprise. “Great work. Though, I'm a bit curious about something…. I don't recall Y/N being assigned to this mission.”

“Huh?”

'No way- We were all there when Shiro said that I was-'

“They all seem not to know the reason for it, either.” A white-haired kid said to him.

“Is that so? Then, Y/N, what did you think when you were called to go?”

Y/N gulped, she side-eye the three, who just signalized her to respond.

“I- Uh- I did think it was a bit weird that I was assigned together with all these high-ranked people, but I figured that there was probably a reason to it.”

“It's great that everything worked out in the end, but it still doesn't change the fact that someone else purposely made her go in that mission.”

'Who could it be? Someone I don't know? Or did Shiro act in her own volition? Now that I remember, she was also the one who guided me to Akaza, wasn't she?'

“But why's that? What would they gain from making her go there?” Kyojuro looked quite confused.

'It doesn't make sense to suspect my own crow- I must be going crazy.' Y/N shook her head.

“I don't know what they could gain from that, and the crow also refuses to tell. I do recommend you all to be careful, though.” He said. “And Y/N, from now on, it's better if you confirm with the kakushi first before setting off to a mission.”

“I will keep that in mind!”

“Very well. You all may leave.”

They politely bowed, leaving the room.

After everyone was gone, Kiriya silently peeked inside, Ubuyashiki, like he immediately felt the new presence, spoke up :

“You talked to her before, didn't you? What do you think?”

“….Very mannerless. But she doesn't seem like a bad person.”

“I will trust your judgement.”

“Phew! It's finally over! I thought that the pressure would kill me-” Y/N stretched as they all walked to the exit.

“You did very well!” Kyojuro said, patting her head. He always does that.

“Now that this over, you only need to concentrate in recuperating from your wound.” Shinobu added, gently taking her hand.

“Don't put yourself in harm way again.” Giyuu commented.

'I feel like our relationships improved a lot after this mission-' Y/N thought, smilling happily at the three.

“Hey, Y/N, when your shoulder gets better, why don't we-”

“She refuses.” Shinobu interrupted Kyojuro.

'Okay- Maybe it improved TOO much-'

Meanwhile, the kakushi around watched in complete disbelief at the scene in front of them, who is this girl, and why the hell the hashira are all over her?

No way- If she got all of them wrapped around her finger, then that means that she's even stronger than then?!

Y/N wasn't aware of the misunderstandings that were starting to form around the kakushi from the main house.

“We should leave now, Y/N.” Shinobu said, gently pulling her, so she would be outside Giyuu and Kyojuro's grasp range.

“Yeah!” She nodded. “Bye Kyojuro, Giyuu, I had a lot of fun!”

“I feel the same way! Though it wasn't intentional, I'm happy that you came with us in this mission!”

“I'm leaving. Goodbye, Y/N.” Giyuu spoke up, turning to leave.

“Bye Giyuu!” She happily waved to him.

“No goodbye to us?” Kyojuro playfully commented, Giyuu only ignored him as he left.

“Goodbye Kyojuro, it's always a pleasure to work with you.” Shinobu politely said, tugging Y/N for them to leave.

“Bye Kyojuro!” Y/N waved at him from the distance, he slightly waved back with a gentle smile.

As soon as the two girls were out of his sight, his smile dropped as he let out a tired sigh.

How to explain this small feeling of emptiness now that he knows he won't see her again for a long time?

When they finally got back to the butterfly mansion, Y/N quickly went to look for the others, she really wanted to spend time with them now that she was back.

However, the scene that she saw when she entered the training room was Tanjiro reading something with a distressed expression.

“Tanjiro? What's going on?” She looked over his shoulder to see…

A creepy letter in a gloomy and violent handwriting was on his hands, things like “No sword for you.” and “I will never forgive you.” were written all over it.

“Oh- Did you make Haganekuza mad again, Tanjiro?” Y/N asked, sweat-dropping.

“It's been two months, but no katana came…” Kiyo commented.

“Oooh- this time it just got chipped, but I broke it once before!” Tanjiro said in panic.

Y/N was so grateful to Daki right now- If she hadn't taken her sword back, she would probably have been in the same situation Tanjiro is-

“Swords often get damaged, but Haganekuza can be a bit touchy…” Kiyo tilted her head.

“Y/N, here, eat rice crackers!” Naho and Sumi started to push several crackers onto her.

“How about going to the village?” Kiyo said to Tanjiro. “Maybe it's better to talk to him directly.” Naho completed.

'Oh! Swordsmith village arc! Looks like I arrived just in time for it, lucky!' Y/N thought to herself, munching on the rice crackers.

“Village?” Tanjiro confusedly asked.

“The village with all the swordsmiths.” Naho said while stuffing her mouth with one cracker.

“Huh? Can I go?”

“Can I go too?” Y/N asked.

“But aren't you hurt, Y/N?”

“It's fine, it's not like we are going there to fight, right?” Y/N commented, even though she knew very well what was going to happen.

“Actually, Y/N going there can be a good idea! The thermal fonts are perfect for relaxing, and Y/N looks like she hasn't slept properly for a while!” Kiyo nonchalantly said.

“Ouch. Is it that obvious?” Y/N mumbled, almost offended.

“Don't worry Y/N, you would look cute even if you didn't sleep for a whole month!” Tanjiro said, smiling brightly at her.

“You think I'm cute?” She pointed at herself with a smug smile, probably intending to tease him.

Different from the reaction she was expecting, Tanjiro only smiled gently and said without even think twice : “Yep! The cutest in the whole world!”

Y/N jolted in her spot, her face exploding in red from embarrassment, when did he get so bold?!

'Good luck Tanjiro, we are rooting for you!' The butterfly kids thought.

.

.

.

'We will be going tomorrow… I'm so excited! My queen Mitsuri will be there, and Muichiro too!'

Y/N giggled to herself as she prepared to go to sleep, though she felt like she was forgetting something…

“Hey.”

“AAAAHGY WHAT THE HELL-” She immediately threw a vase at the unidentified person, Akaza easily grabbing it.

“Oh- You scared me!” She glared at him sitting on the window.

“Your reaction time improved a lot.” He nonchalantly said, entering the room and putting the vase back on its place.

“Thank you. Be careful, though! It would be bad if someone saw you here.” She said, approaching him.

“That was a weird reunion you had with your friends, what's up with all the kisses?”

“You- You saw that-?” Y/N awkwardly asked.

“Obviously.”

“Ugh- I can't believe you watched all that-” She covered her face with her hands in complete embarrassment, you could almost see the steam coming out of her head.

Y/N could feel his presence getting closer to her, jolting in surprise when his hands suddenly gently grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face.

“What is it?” She asked, confusedly tilting her head as his hands remained on her wrists.

“Well, since you are giving kisses to everyone now-” His face got dangerously close to hers, making her heartbeat immediately increase to an abnormal speed.

'Is he going to kiss me?!' Her whole face felt like it was burning, she squeezed her eyes shut from exasperation as soon as his face got close enough.

Nothing happened for some seconds, she was about to open her eyes and lecture him about teasing her like this, however, the girl choked on all the words she prepared when she suddenly felt a sting on her neck, she gasped as she exasperatedly opened her eyes, Akaza was already on the window again.

“Someone is coming, lucky you.” He said, childishly showing his tongue to her and jumping down, leaving Y/N's sight.

“Y/N, I heard voices, were you speaking with someone?” Zenitsu said, entering the room while sleepily rubbing his eyes.

“N-not really?”

“…EEEH?! WHAT'S THAT ON YOUR NECK?!” He suddenly exclaimed, completely waking up in a second.

Y/N exasperatedly looked at the mirror on the wall at her right, seeing the very obvious mark on her skin.

'So… the sting I felt was-' She grabbed her head in embarrassment. 'THIS CRETIN LEFT A MARK ON MY NECK, KWJBFAKJAKA-'

How will she explain that hickey to the others tomorrow?! Next time she sees Akaza, she will be sure to punch him!

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Hi! Author here! I finally got enough time to update, yay! I'm sorry for taking so long (T^T)