𝓝𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓼 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷 𝓞𝓾𝓻 𝓖𝓻𝓪𝓼𝓹𝓼 || кαмαвσкσ тяισ χ яєα∂єяѕ

Chapter 26 : His Number One Underling

"Give me your hand."

You were jolted at the sudden voice calling out to you in the midst of your train of thoughts. Looking up, your eyes surprisingly met with a pair of emerald-colored ones. Similar to how rare the actual emerald stones are that you read about in the books, it's not often that you get to see Inosuke without his mask on.

Has he been awake this whole time? It can't be helped if he was struggling to fall asleep. He literally took a longer nap than usual today and was fully awake as dinner was served.

Still, you were a bit bewildered by his sudden words just now. Why would he ask for you to reach out one of your hands in the first place?

Unless..

'No.. He couldn't have possibly noticed. Not even Tanjirou-san nor Zenitsu-san even brought it up earlier..'

"What.. Is it, Inosuke-san?" You asked while looking away for a moment. The tension building up between you two didn't quite help at all.

Inosuke didn't specify which hands he asked you to extend, so being cautious of your little "secret" possibly getting caught, you extended your left hand instead without a second thought.

"There's nothing wrong with my hand.. See?"

You subconsciously lower your voice, waving your uninjured hand as if it'll somehow work to convince the person in front of you.

However, Inosuke was not having it one bit.

"Oi (M/N), don't mess with me. Your other hand, damn it! Show me!"

It didn't take a minute for Inosuke to briskly stomp his way towards you, not letting you react in time as he was quick to catch your other hand that you tried to hide behind your figure. You could only yelped in response, roughly getting dragged closer towards him.

..What Tanjirou said back then was practically right. Inosuke's facial features does look quite petite when seen from this up-close.

His action just now startled you, making you unable to form proper words as your mouth went agape slightly because of the close range.

"Hah! SEE!? I was right!"

He pointed at the scar that was left on your right hand. It was simply from when you were preparing dinner with Hisa, but thanks to your recklessness, it was an accident that even made the old lady surprised herself.

At first glance, it may seem like nothing major for some people, but it was quite the frightening experience for you.

You couldn't just easily brush off the sickening feeling growing in your stomach. In truth, even now and then, it's a fact that you're still afraid of getting a little too close to any flame sources. The flaming red hues and fiery sensation are things that you never wanted to get too close to, and that warmth emitting from it never truly gave you the comfort a normal person would've normally felt, at least not anymore.