♪───Ｏ（≧∇≦）Ｏ────♪
"Ew, did you say Giyuu?" Sekido's tiny voice came from your box.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" You smack your hand against your forehead, "Do I call you Tomioka, or Giyuu?"
"It doesn't matter to me," Giyuu says.
"Well, if it doesn't matter, then I must come up with a nickname for you!" You tease as you robotically walk over to the Water Pillar.
Giyuu furrows his eyebrows together, "Must you? If you can't remember my name, then I'll just tell you when you forget."
"What? No, I-"
"-You don't have to make up a name. In fact, Giyuu might be easier for you to remember."
"Wait, I just meant-"
"-If you have problems remembering, then I'll just remind you. A nickname isn't necessary."
"HOLY FUCK, DUDE! CHILL!" You laugh in disbelief while rubbing your face in your hands.
At first, you thought Shinobu was being mean when she said no one liked Giyuu, but you were beginning to understand now.
Sekido heard the entire conversation and died of secondhand embarrassment.
He searched through your backpack that was with him inside the box. He takes your phone and earphones out and listens to some music as you suffer alone.
"I was just joking, Giyuu," You move your hands to adjust at Sanemi's haori, "Let's get going, yeah?"
Giyuu eyes you for a second.
"..."
"..."
You sweat nervously from under his stare.
"..."
"..."
"Isn't that Shinazugawa's haori?" Giyuu points at you, more specifically the haori.
"Uh, yeah. He-I-I asked if I could borrow it since my uniform looks like this," You rub your temple, "Stupid Maeda guy ruined it and I don't have my haori anymore."
Giyuu hums quietly before turning around and walking, "Let's go."
"Yes sir!" You hurry up to walk by Giyuu's side.
——
"(L/n)," Giyuu starts after 10 minutes of awkward silence, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Ah! You just did!" You grin.
"..."
"..."
"Can I ask you a question?" Giyuu repeats.
Uh, okay. Let's try this again.
You smirk smugly: "I don't know, can you?"
"...can I?"
"Yeah, whatever," You nod in defeat.
Giyuu looks at you for a second, "Why did you disobey orders given by Shinazugawa, who is of higher rank, when your life was in danger on the night of your kidnapping?"
"Well, Akaza was going to kill him if I didn't intervene," You answer as if it was obvious, "Sanemi knew the risks of fighting an Upper Moon, but prioritized my life instead."
"Yes, because he's a Hashira."
"I don't think rank matters in that scenario, Giyuu. What matters is the fact that someone is willing to risk their life to protect mine," You look up to Giyuu with a smile, "And what kind of Demon Slayer would I be if I wasn't willing to do the same?"
Giyuu doesn't respond after that.
You two continue down the dirt road to your destination.
Tu Cielito didn't say much about the assignment, only that you and a Pillar were to report North of the Butterfly Estate and it'll take a while to arrive.
"What made you impulsively decide to do what you did?" Giyuu asks after about 5 minutes.
You scratch the back of your head: "Honestly, 'fuck it' tends to be the last thought running through my mind before making any final decisions."
Giyuu hums: "That's... concerning."
"You'll get used to it."
"Shinazugawa may have let it slide, but you can't disobey my orders if I were to give them to you," Giyuu said, "Your death will have no effect of me-"
"-Gee, you're so romantic."
"-But I know it will have an effect on others."
"Huh?" You raise an eyebrow, "Look, first things first. You can't just say 'I don't care if you die but others care if you die'. You just can't say that to people."
"Tanjiro sends me letters often, and most times, the topic revolves around you. Rengoku and Uzui were also upset when Shinazugawa and Sekido reported your kidnapping." Giyuu says, "Tanjiro has had it bad enough as it is, so you can't allow yourself to be reckless when there are others waiting for you."
It took a short moment to comprehend all that since Giyuu didn't bother to simplify his words. But when it finally registered, you couldn't stop yourself from feeling like shit.
And not for the right reasons.
"They'll be fine without me," You smile, "Remember I'm clairvoyant. So trust me when I say, it really doesn't matter that I'm alive."
"You're not going to be suicidal on this mission, are you?" Giyuu sounds more irritated than concerned.
What a charmer.
"What? No! If I'm going to die, I want it to be something from badass," You skip forward in your steps to walk backwards in front of Giyuu, "I refuse to be killed by some dank ass demon! I want my body to be found in a funny position. And I can't do that if a demon kills me."
"That's..." Giyuu furrows his eyebrows, "Not reassuring."
"Oh come on, Giyuu! What's the worst that can happen?" You grin.
"...you won't be able to die in a 'badass' way."
You move out of the way so you can return to your spot next to Giyuu.
"Hey, you're pretty funny, Giyuu!" You smirk, "You must be liked by a lot of people!"
"...yes, I am."
That liar.
——
"Hey, Giyuu. What does that say?" You point towards a wooden sign with white kanji painted on top.
You can insult someone in Japanese, but you still can't read Kanji no matter how hard you try.
Giyuu takes a moment to read it: "It says 'road work ahead'. I'm assuming the city is expanding their roads out into these parts."
Oh my God.
"Road work ahead?" You tug at Giyuu's haori, "Uh-yeah! I sure hope it does!"
"..."
"!!!"
"..."
"!!!"
The corner of Giyuu's lips quirk up before he turns his head away from you.
OH! I SAW THAT!! I TOTALLY SAW THAT!!! I MADE GIYUU SMILE WITH HUMOR AHEAD OF HIS TIME!!! I MADE GIYUU SMILE WITH A CLASSIC VINE THAT TOOTS MY HORN!!!!
"I am so funny." You say to yourself in a cocky tone, "I am literally the funniest person in the fucking world right now. No one can compare to me. I have the Universe in my hands."
"(L/n)," Giyuu's tone was s o f t, "Do... do you have other jokes similar to that?"
Yes, baby boy.
"Yeah! What's brown and sticky?"
"...poop?"
Never had you imagined you'd get Tomioka Fucking Giyuu to say poop.
"Nope!" You hid your grin behind your hand, "A stick."
Giyuu brought his hand up to his mouth, presumably to cover his smile, but you can see his cheeks rise up as the corner of his eyes begin to wrinkle.
"That was really dumb." Giyuu mutters.
Giyuu. Baby. Please tell me your sense of humor is horrible like mine.
"Okay, okay. What's green and has wheels?"
"...A cart?"
"Grass! I lied about the wheels!"
"Pfft-"
"-Giyuu! That wasn't even funny! Come on!"
"I didn't—laugh."
"By the way, how long until we reach our destination?" You did poor Giyuu a favor to change the subject.
Giyuu looks up at the sky. The sun was already beginning to set. You two have been walking for almost the entire day with a few breaks in between.
At this rate...
"Maybe another day or two."
"What?!" You groan, "Ugh! My ankle is starting to hurt, I think I should just cut it off at this point and have you pull me around in a cart. We'd probably get to our design faster that way."
"I don't understand English." Giyuu blinks.
You don't bother to repeat yourself: "Can you tell me what's been going on? Aside from the obvious, I mean."
"There's a Martial Arts Dojo for male and female students that recently started up. Though none of the students have gone missing yet, I got word from an anonymous source that the Dojo Master was fraternizing with a strong demon." Giyuu explains, "This person thinks that the Dojo Master is gathering the students up for a massacre very soon."
You take a minute to unpack all of that.
"Holy shit!"
Assuming that you didn't fuck up royally and this is something that's supposed to happen, how did Giyuu do this before???
"I tried to join the dojo on my own, but according to one of the staff, they were looking for only women to join at that time."
"Ew, why?"
"I didn't ask, though I assume it's because women are more nutritious for demons to eat, and they didn't have enough that joined," Giyuu looks over to you, "I thought to bring you along rather than have Mitsuri or Kocho accompany me because it would be more believable that you're a starting student. It'll be less suspicious."
Ughhhhhh!
"Okay," You groan, "So, how exactly is this going to work? Is it going to be like school?"
"School?"
You nod, "Yeah. I go to the dojo for a certain amount of time, then I leave? I've never been to a dojo before."
"...that's right, you're from America," Giyuu scratches his chin, "You'll have to play as deaf and a mute."
"What? Why? My Japanese is-" How do you say impeccable? "-Imbecile!"
"Do you mean impeccable?"
"Fuck."
"We'll discuss it more once we find a place to settle in," Giyuu says, "We might have to find refuge in the-"
"-Wisteria House 15 minutes ahead!" Tu Cielito flies in from behind, "15 minutes!"
"Mi Cielito!" You grin, holding your forearm out, "You followed us all the way out here?"
Tu Cielito does two circles in the air before perching on your arm.
"That's a parrot." Giyuu blinks.
You stroke her front while your expression softens: "Her name is Mi Cielito, she's my carrier bird. She was given to me by someone important."
"I see..."
"You want to pet her? She's very nice," You smile in encouragement, "Just be gentle, and try not to look threatening."
Giyuu gets war flashbacks when that dog bit his fucking hand.
"Animals don't tend to like me." Giyuu frowns.
"They can sense if you have any bad intentions, and they get scared if you're scared," You explain, "She won't hurt you if you don't scare her."
Verrrry hesitantly, Giyuu brings his hand up.
She won't hurt me if I'm not scared of her. She's a bird, like Kanzaburo. She seems really friendly, maybe they would get along.
Without even realizing it, Giyuu was gently caressing her feathers while internally imagining Tu Cielito and his own bird, Kanzaburo, having a bird picnic. Or whatever birds do when they hang out.
You both had to stop walking so Giyuu could pet her, and it seems like Tu Cielito liked it.
See Giyuu! You thought playfully. You're not disliked by everyone!
Tu Cielito then flies off your arm, momentarily spooking the Water Pillar. But she only moved to sit on top of Sekido's box for a nap.
"She's awesome, right?" You start to walk again, "Not so scary when there's mutual trust."
"I'm not disliked by everyone." Giyuu nods.
"Right! You have a best friend now! Mi Cielito is a Queen!"
——
The Wisteria House was fucking huge! Were there a lot of Slayers that lived in this area?!
The lady that was in charge was young, maybe Giyuu's age or younger. She was shorter than both him and you.
She was very beautiful. Like, very beautiful.
She was blonde with naturally wavy hair and green eyes. And her figure was just *positive grunting*!
But that's not important. Much.
What is important was how she was cold to Giyuu, but when she saw you, she immediately lit up.
And oh God, she went from beautiful to sexy and tempting.
You noticed from the corner of your eye that she would periodically loosen her yukata around the chest and would press her arms together when talking with you.
Her name-you will never forget her name-is Chō Aimi.
Aimi is a lesbian.
Aimi is beautiful.
And Aimi wants you to fuck her.
How do you know?
She told you:
—
"After your bath, maybe, I can come back to your room and keep you company?" She crossed her arms under her glorious tits and pushed them up, "No, I won't beat around the bush anymore. I want you to fuck me."
Your eyes couldn't leave her chest: "Oh..."
—
You told Giyuu that Sekido was staying with him for the night.